I’ve never experienced a “long” engagement. I married my high school sweetheart at 20 — divorced at 30. Ty and I got engaged on a trip to Amsterdam in November of 2013 (age 41 if you are counting) and married in June the follow year – not a very long engagement there either. Hmm… we’ve been engaged to the bungalow now for over a month and it feels like an eternity. With low interest rates, mortgage departments, appraisers, title companies are all backed up with lots of pent up demand and very little supply, i.e. humans to manage things. As such, all we can do is wait, ponder, perk-a-late ideas and designs for the reno. In reality, it is more of a pre-engagement – yes, you have declared your intent, but you don’t have a date and you aren’t committing any funds yet.
Sigh…it’s hard to nail down the “final” plans until we close on the house and the architect/engineer can get started. In the interim, I’m giving SketchUp a run for its money. I hadn’t used a drafting program in close to 10 years — wow, the progress is amazing. The 3D models that I can insert into the basic layout are fabulous and really help in terms of visualizing how a space will look and feel. It almost feels like cheating.
I’m a wino – there, I admitted it. So, having a place to store wine (likely there will be more than one if I’m being transparent) is important me. One of my priorities in the reno is to include built-ins; custom cabinetry is a staple in Craftsman architecture and as a fan of fabled architects, Greene & Greene, and their “ultimate bungalows”, I’m keen to incorporate it into the design. I’ve included “kind of” what I want in terms of a built-in buffet with wine storage and a more industrial looking (but complimentary) bar area in a nearby space. We’ll see if this level of detail helps or hinders the design. Will keep you posted.
