Some of our favorite attractions at the Builders’ Show were the “smart” home displays.  The capabilities they promise cause me to envision a house that the Jetson’s would be at home in – integrated control of lighting, heating, sound, security, etc.  Add to that what the future will bring in terms of smart grid technology and green automation capabilities and the possibilities are dazzling.

Although we’ve installed various levels of these systems in our custom homes, I am excited about the opportunity to do it in our own.  In order to get a handle on what we want and what we can afford, we created (yet another) wish list.  (There are far more options available; these are just the ones we selected.) –

•    HVAC

•     Turn off girls’ wing when they’re not home
•     Temperature control to minimize usage

•    Lighting

•     Scene-setting dimmers in living area and master bedroom
•     Light driveway when someone is expected
•     Light gazebo path

•    Security

•     Automatically lock all doors when leaving the house
•     Doorbell rings in office, master bath, entryway

•    Audio and video

•     Sound systems – playing music throughout the house
•     Networking capabilities to share video and DVDs
•     Speakers on porch and patio, surround sound in living room

•    Intercoms

•     Intercom to girls’ wing and office area

•    Integrated systems

•     Total home control systems integrating the above; i. e., an LCD console user interface in the kitchen, which functions as an intercom station, gives you full control of the music in your home, allows you to set various scenes (dimmer for a dinner party, brighter for preparing meals or cleaning up) setting lighting and music volume levels. You can even operate it from your smart phone inside or outside your home.

 

The next consideration is whether to go wired or wireless.  Although wireless appears to be the wave of the future and is less expensive, it’s not yet very common in the U.S., especially in residential use.  (It is a good option for home renovation, however.)  We’re opting for the tried-and-true hard-wire systems.  Although they cost more up front, we’ll always have the fallback.  Wire is cheap and easy to install in a home under construction.  At the show, we especially liked Legrand and Lutron.  They both have excellent sites if you're interested in all that this technology has to offer.  But we’ll also talk to our own subcontractors who have installed similar systems in most of our custom homes.

The bottom line is, as with our other wish lists, to prepare for the future as much as our crystal ball allows. In addition to wiring whatever we can think of, we’ll install conduit wherever we can imagine a future need.  We’ll start gradually on our wish list and add options as they become available or affordable.

I’m ready to kick back with Jane Jetson and let my house do all the work!  We’ll see how much makes the final budget cut.

It’s good to be back! Sorry that I haven’t checked in.  We’ve been busy preparing our current home for sale and tweaking plans for our new home, not to mention some holidays thrown in, too.

We’ve just returned from the International Builders’ Show in Orlando and we’re brimming with ideas, for both our clients at Fairhaven Homes as well as our own new home.  It was my first time there and I received quite an education.  It took us 2½ days to see all of the vendors we were interested in.   The vast displays of faucets, wood floors,  cabinets, appliances, lighting – you get the drift – were too much fun to explore.  In addition, I learned fascinating facts about such diverse subjects as geothermal systems and back-up generators to the latest in LED lighting.  I was dazzled by the window and door displays, particularly the very appealing NanaWalls.  You’ve probably seen them in commercial applications, but they are a showstopper in a private home.  Perhaps our favorites were the “smart home” vendors.  We returned several times to their booths to get a broad education on their various unique options, which I will share with you in detail in a future blog.

2011 will be a busy and  eventful year for this builder's wife.  I look forward to sharing what I learn with you.

We were ready to add furniture to the CAD floor plan to see whether it would fit and how well the rooms would flow. Today, after a short lesson, I was off and running. I went around the house measuring the furniture I wanted, then sat in front of the computer and started plopping pieces into place. Chief Architect is awesome in that you can view a 3D version of the plan, including the furniture. But it’s comical in that its library of furniture is quite unique. The aqua dresser in the master bedroom just wasn’t what I was looking for. However, I can change the colors and textures of each piece until they begin to at least resemble my real-life pieces.

You might notice in this rendition that we did manage to get a porch back in the plan (in front of the master bedroom). Whew! Talk about wanting to have your cake and eat it, too; that was a challenge! The room sizes changed so we had to move some furniture to different rooms than originally planned.

The room in the back of the house we’re now calling our living room. Fitting all of the furniture we want in there has been tricky. It has involved moving the kitchen over and rearranging the stairway. We’ve decided to put the kitchen table in the front corner of the house where it can overlook the best views. And then perhaps have a little sitting area in the same room. Things are now flowing well in those areas. However, the master bedroom doesn’t have room for the armoire or dresser once we shortened that room up to add the porch. Charlie has created deluxe his-and-hers closets with lots of shelves so he was ready to ditch the furniture. I don’t so much mind losing the armoire since I won’t need it to hide a dinosaur television in anymore. But I’m rather attached to the dresser, so we were able to make room for it by moving a door over and stealing a little space from the master bath.

With no dining room, I’ll need somewhere to store all of my china. We’ve done several iterations of kitchen cabinet designs, some with glass doors, trying to ensure that there will be enough storage. But must I part with my sideboard? In the interest of downsizing and wise use of space, a lot of my current furniture will have to go. Do I really want to sell those pieces or could some of them go in a girl’s room? I say I’m not attached to them but they’re not that old and we probably won’t be able to sell them for what they’re worth. And some pieces are awfully nice. My mom is wondering what will happen to her antiques once she passes them down. Good question! I think I need to admit that I’m a little attached. This downsizing thing is proving to be a challenge!

Now it’s time to start selecting plants from my current home that I want to take with me.  I have many flowers that were given to me by friends and I want to be sure to take samples of each to continue the legacy.  When we fixed up the rental we cleaned out and tilled some old flower beds (once we found them! Some were filled with gravel, others overgrown.)  They are now ready to be filled with my transplants, so while the weather is right I’ll dig up some of my black-eyed susans and daylilies, coneflowers and gooseneck loosestrife and take them to their new home.

For all of the derogatory remarks I’ve made about our rental house, a great gardener once lived there.  I have discovered beautiful irises, peonies and naked lady lilies among other beauties.  I’ve moved many of them out of the way of the new road and put them in existing beds for the time being.  A major part of fixing up the rental was giving it more curb appeal.  Besides mulching the old flower beds, I had an overabundance of liriope that I dug up, divided and planted around the front of the house and down the fence line.  It leant some continuity and consistency to the look of the property.  And all it cost was my labor! 

On every spec home we built (back in the day), in addition to our extensive landscape package we made sure to add some color near the front door.  This makes such a difference in the buyer’s (or renter’s) first impression.  Although it was the middle of a heat wave last July we planted some cheery yellow daisies on both sides of the front stoop.  I am certain that it had a positive subliminal effect on those entering.

Moving from a wide open lot to a wooded one should greatly increase our energy efficiency, shading our home in the summer and allowing in the sun in the winter, while sheltering us from some wind.  We don’t intend to have much lawn, vastly reducing the time and energy spent on mowing.  We intend to have a terraced patio with a path leading down to the gazebo and a fire pit somewhere in between.  I also want a patio garden outside of my office.  

It seems too soon to be thinking in this detail but the more we can envision what we want now the better it will all come together once the actual work begins.