Spray paint, snow drifts, and floor plans version 2
Joe asked me to get my own account today so I could write my own comments and not just add to his posts (I will ask him to help me clean it up tomorrow as it is late and I am having some technical issues). This post is long but will probably make you laugh.
Today was.... well interesting. Last night we received new floor plans from Jon and Kandy (see below). We were very excited. They looked good and they made some changes we really liked but there were still some things we thought needed be be fine tuned and moved around. No big deal right? All part of the process of building your dream home "where you plan to live for the rest of your lives." Then we had a long talk and decided that we really didn't understand the space very well or what it felt like. I am big into flow and function given the space is supposed to be just the right size and not too big. So, this morning Coleman (age 3) and I measured all our rooms in our current home and I decided that some of the rooms on the plans were "perhaps" too small. Then we came up with today's plan.
The plan: walk up to the top of our 15 acres in subzero temperatures in 2 feet of snow and spray paint out the spaces so we could see what it really looked like. We figured we should do this before we went any further. Now this idea may sound crazy but honestly it seemed like sheer genius at the time. I thought I would be surprised how big it looked and be reassured that this was not a space crisis. Joe seemed to think it would help him get a better idea of interior spaces.
We put the kids down for a nap at my Mom's house and drove out to the land with a property size tape measure, a yard stick (to measure the drifts) and a can of bright yellow marking spray paint. We were pretty optimistic and excited despite the weather. I should have brought the camera because we looked like freaking lunatics out in the freezing cold spray painting a field. If you are in Wisconsin right now, and can appreciate the weather, you understand why this just might be considered crazy. I had to keep the paint inside my coat so it wouldn't freeze. It is now certain we are nothing if not dedicated to this project.
Anyway, we spray painted out all the rooms and then put in a few pieces of furniture we knew the size of. This was not a quick task. Then we stood back and freaked out. It looked tiny! Joe immediately said, "it must be some sort of optical illusion, I think we need plywood walls." To which I said, "you must be kidding." So we walked from room to room and tried to picture it with walls. It seemed impossibly small so then we remeasured the rooms. Much to our dismay, if anything we painted a little on the big side. Then we start to look really crazy. I laid down in the pretend king size bed, sat in our fake couch, and tried to walk around our fully extended dining room table.. all were depressing. We stayed there until Joe could not feel his fingers or toes and my butt was completely numb. Something was wrong.
After this we drove around the town of Berry for a bit looking at new homes and trying to guess how they compared to our "not so big" approximate 2,200 square feet. This was a dumb idea too since most people seem to build homes bigger than they need and you are only looking at the shell with no clue what is on the inside.
Finally, we arrived back at my Mom's house and I had (for the second time in this process) reached the decision that if we could not build the house of our dreams we should just buy one in the city and wait until we could afford the house we really wanted. Luckily, my Mom recognized our insanity and suggested we measure the rooms in her house and see how they compare to our plans. These did not seem small and were not much bigger than the ones on our plans.
Well, we are left with some uncertainty. We think we may need something along the lines of a diorama. Maybe something with little GI Joe figurines, Barbie pets, and perfectly scaled furniture? Coleman did ask for a dinosaur on the farm, maybe we can fit this in the diorama too...
Today was.... well interesting. Last night we received new floor plans from Jon and Kandy (see below). We were very excited. They looked good and they made some changes we really liked but there were still some things we thought needed be be fine tuned and moved around. No big deal right? All part of the process of building your dream home "where you plan to live for the rest of your lives." Then we had a long talk and decided that we really didn't understand the space very well or what it felt like. I am big into flow and function given the space is supposed to be just the right size and not too big. So, this morning Coleman (age 3) and I measured all our rooms in our current home and I decided that some of the rooms on the plans were "perhaps" too small. Then we came up with today's plan.
The plan: walk up to the top of our 15 acres in subzero temperatures in 2 feet of snow and spray paint out the spaces so we could see what it really looked like. We figured we should do this before we went any further. Now this idea may sound crazy but honestly it seemed like sheer genius at the time. I thought I would be surprised how big it looked and be reassured that this was not a space crisis. Joe seemed to think it would help him get a better idea of interior spaces.
We put the kids down for a nap at my Mom's house and drove out to the land with a property size tape measure, a yard stick (to measure the drifts) and a can of bright yellow marking spray paint. We were pretty optimistic and excited despite the weather. I should have brought the camera because we looked like freaking lunatics out in the freezing cold spray painting a field. If you are in Wisconsin right now, and can appreciate the weather, you understand why this just might be considered crazy. I had to keep the paint inside my coat so it wouldn't freeze. It is now certain we are nothing if not dedicated to this project.
Anyway, we spray painted out all the rooms and then put in a few pieces of furniture we knew the size of. This was not a quick task. Then we stood back and freaked out. It looked tiny! Joe immediately said, "it must be some sort of optical illusion, I think we need plywood walls." To which I said, "you must be kidding." So we walked from room to room and tried to picture it with walls. It seemed impossibly small so then we remeasured the rooms. Much to our dismay, if anything we painted a little on the big side. Then we start to look really crazy. I laid down in the pretend king size bed, sat in our fake couch, and tried to walk around our fully extended dining room table.. all were depressing. We stayed there until Joe could not feel his fingers or toes and my butt was completely numb. Something was wrong.
After this we drove around the town of Berry for a bit looking at new homes and trying to guess how they compared to our "not so big" approximate 2,200 square feet. This was a dumb idea too since most people seem to build homes bigger than they need and you are only looking at the shell with no clue what is on the inside.
Finally, we arrived back at my Mom's house and I had (for the second time in this process) reached the decision that if we could not build the house of our dreams we should just buy one in the city and wait until we could afford the house we really wanted. Luckily, my Mom recognized our insanity and suggested we measure the rooms in her house and see how they compare to our plans. These did not seem small and were not much bigger than the ones on our plans.
Well, we are left with some uncertainty. We think we may need something along the lines of a diorama. Maybe something with little GI Joe figurines, Barbie pets, and perfectly scaled furniture? Coleman did ask for a dinosaur on the farm, maybe we can fit this in the diorama too...
posted by Tasha at
10:05 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home