Creeping featurism

We have a phrase in the software industry--"Creeping Featurism". This happens when the scope of a project slowly enlarges over time, until it devours you whole, like a monster from an old movie.

This week, the scope creeped a bit.  When I visited the Crichtons last week, I described our plans to Alex to re-arrange the bathrooms, expanding into the family room.  Alex said, "Why not just push out the end of the house near the master bedroom to create more room in the middle?"  Hmm--how much would that cost?

So when Scott and Kelly came to measure the house, I asked them about that.  Turns out it wouldn't cost that much, since we're already re-roofing and re-siding.  It would add about 500 square feet, which would bring us up to about 2,750.  This would be more what a buyer expects in this neighborhood and for the price would have to ask.  People also expect a fairly large master bedroom.

It enables so many possibilities for the bathrooms.  We can have some good-sized bathrooms, and even bring the laundry facilities to nearer the bedrooms.  By adding an outer door, the kids can go directly from the pool to the bathroom, so they don't trail water through the house.

It leaves more room in the family/kitchen area.  We've even thought about making what is currently the dining room into the TV room, and moving the dining closer to the kitchen.

And of course Claire will be happy when she gets a much larger bedroom.

Now that we've reset the parameters, we should be getting some really interesting designs from them in the next few weeks. I just hope we can afford it.  I guess we just have to look at it as an "opportunity"!

A floor plan, round 1

This is my current thinking on laying out the kitchen and "media" room. The back of the house is at the top. The kitchen moves from the interior to the outside to get more light in. It is composed of three parallel runs of cabinets. The middle is an island with seating. On the left is the main cooking area. On the right is where Greg cleans up.

Below the kitchen is a pantry, and a blank area to which the bathroom will move. This will create more space in the master bathroom.

To the right of the kitchen is a craft table.

The media room is better interior where it is darker for the television and projector. At the left end of the media room are shelves and a desk.

You have to use your imagination a bit to overcome the limits of the IKEA software. It's not the easiest or most complete, but it is FREE!

Signed a contract

On Friday, 2010 04 30, we signed a project retainer agreement with Main Street Kitchens. Yea! I'm really looking forward to working with Scott, Kelly, and Carol. They seem to understand what we want and are knowledgeable and responsive.

Scott gave us a ballpark estimate with a range of +- 13%. It was a bit higher than we were shooting for, so we may have to make some choices. There's still college and retirement to think of! Maybe we can forgo the diesel generator...yeah, that should about do it. :-)