Monday, November 7, 2011

Decisions, Decisions

I have often heard people talk about the number of decisions that need to be made when you are renovating but I definitely didn't appreciate just how many until now.  Over the past 10 days we have made decisions about our kitchen cabinetry, bathroom vanities, faucets two or three times over, kitchen sink, placement of the attic stairs, roof and siding colors and done some changes to the space.

I for one am absolutely exhausted and didn't quite anticipate the hours and hours of internet research and endless discussions with spouse.  But I might as well get used to it, there are selections to be made for lighting, hardware and more on deck. I can't imagine what this must be like for folks who are building a house from the ground up!

New kitchen wall
It is beginning to take shape though and the contractor is moving quite swiftly.  This week the walls of the new kitchen/great room space went up and most windows went in.  The electrician has rewired much of the bedroom floor and the framing upstairs is just about done.

The contractor is also putting finishing touches on the roof on the entire house.
Exterior of new kitchen/great room
Facing old kitchen

And we did decide to work with Cliqstudios.com.  Our kitchen designer Jayelynn was wonderful.  She came up with a complete design for the kitchen and pantry in about a day each.  I shared with her my inspiration pages from houzz.com and she knew just what we wanted. Corey and I met her for a virtual appointment where she shared her screen through Adobe Connect which allowed us to make and see the adjustments to the design in real time. No abstract or time consuming discussions needed!

And here is the design:


Kitchen Design
Pantry Design
Don't steal the ideas - they were courtesy of Jayelynn working with us :) These are just renderings of the basics of what it will look like and not an exact reproduction. Thanks Jayelynn - we look forward to receiving the cabinets in about a month.

By the way, cliqstudios.com had their cabinetry featured on a recent episode of Kitchen Crashers on the DIY Network which I just happen to be watching as I blog right now. See Cliq's blog for more details on catching the episode in reruns. The designer on the show picked the same cabinets we did!

2 comments:

  1. I'm so glad you are doing this blog. I think it will give me good insight and ideas into what to expect if we go this route. It looks hectic but fun. :)

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  2. How was your experience with Cliqstudios post-sale? Were there any issues and were they resolved promptly and to your complete satisfaction?

    I ask because in the pre-sale phase, I am not very impressed with Cliqstudio's customer care, or should I say, lack thereof. Even after discussing my concerns with the Design Team Leader, I still find myself waiting 1-3 weeks (sometimes longer) for an email response (no joke) while actively attempting to finalize a layout which was for the most part, my own design, to begin with. I realize the designers can get busy, but seriously? I've done a few kitchens before, and find that effectively tweaking the layout requires the participation and input of an attentive KD who, in a reasonably timely fashion, will research your questions, determine what can or cannot be done logistically, and how best to meet the challenges of your specific space. At this point however, I'd be thrilled just to get an email saying "hey there Client, I remember you!"

    Ugggg...

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