Guest Bath

Back at the house again after knitting for long hours!!!

The hall bath picture has been altered, so it does face the right direction. As a refresher, this is on the right side of the house, and the bath is between the two bedrooms for company and sewing.

As you can see, it is a pretty standard bathroom! We will have ceramic tile flooring and the tub surround is tile at this point in time. There is a long narrow window high over the tub, so this room does have some natural light. I think all baths should have some natural light, so I am glad about the window. Behind the door there is a very nice size linen closet. At least the builder does realize you need linen closets in the bathroom and not down the hall somwhere as is sometimes standard practice.

Come and visit

First this is an unaltered photo, so it is not oriented the correct way!


If you come and visit, this will be the guest room. The guest wing of the house, as opposed to the master bedroom side of the house, is to the right when you are at the end of the foyer and standing at the beginning of the living room. An opening takes you to a short hall, which has a bedroom at either end and a bath in the center, that opens from the hall.


The closet is a walk in closet, and doesn't show in this picture, you can only see the door opening above the 6' measurement. We plan to put a queen size bed in this room, which should accomodate it well.

Kitchen and Laundry

Big changes to the pictures here! I took time to figure out how to do a few things, so both these pictures have been altered. All the extra blue print stuff is gone (measurements) and I also flipped the pictures so they are oriented the right way, That means they are as they should be, the kitchen to the left of the foyer, etc. etc. What you see is what we will get!

On to the kitchen, in this case, the heart of the home. The kitchen is near the center of this house plan, just off the foyer as you come in the front door. If you look at the foyer picture you will notice a doorway that opens to the left, it is just past the stairs that go to the attic.




This kitchen is a variation of a galley kitchen. While the stove and sink are nearly opposite each other, the refrigerator is at the apex of the triangle, the base connecting the other two (sink, stove) work area. Standing at the doorway from the foyer on your left is a long counter with cabinets above and below. The refrigerator is located on this wall, but not all the way at the end as shown in this picture. In the revised blueprints, the refrigerator has been moved closer to the doorway, and has a set of cabinets on the far side now. We are glad for this, as we thought there was going to be problems opening the doors of the refrigerator as it was originally located.

To the right of the foyer doorway is the L shaped counter and cabinets that contain the dishwasher and the sink. There are cabinets on the foyer wall, but the end of the L where the sink ( and disposal) is located is open to the living area. The counter here is raised and extends into the living area to make a bar.

Across the kitchen on the far wall is the stove. We are going to have a gas stove put in, as it is our preference. The biggest gripe we have had with Eagle Construction is that they will not exhaust this stove outside. Apparently, in this area (Va.) it is not required to vent outside and it is only done by Eagle when the kitchen is on an outside wall. Their answer is an above stove combination of microwave and hood vent that just blows back into the room. So, as this is not acceptable to us, our plans are to go in later and vent out through the attic to the outside through the roof. Since the floor directly above the stove is the unfinished attic, it won’t be a big problem. Of course it wouldn’t be a big problem for them either!

The biggest splurge for us for this whole house is going to be in the kitchen, we are going to have solid surface countertops put in. Since we figure we will spend a great deal of time in this area of the house, and it will be so open to the living area, we wanted something we really liked that would look nice. The are supposed to be very easy to keep up and indestructible. As I mentioned before, we are also going to put in hardwood in here since it is so connected to the hall. If we had little kids on a permanent basis, I’d probably go with vinyl. We didn’t pick tile because of the cost, and for the under foot comfort level.

Now we’ll got through the kitchen to the laundry area and back hall so you can see how they connect to the kitchen, and back door to the garage.



When you pass the refrigerator if you look to your right you will see the pantry. This closet is adequate, we wish it was bigger. Oh Well! Past the pantry is the Laundry Room. What I like about this room, in addition to the window and a door that closes to hide things and sounds, is the laundry tub! This is something we are having plumbed, and we will add later. The Lowes sink is about 1/4 the cost of what Eagle asks, so we can hook it up ourselves.

This back hall goes out to the garage, and also has a hall closet for coats, vacumes, etc.... a nice location I think.

Florida and Family Room

Well, the none-vote, was to go on down the foyer into the family room! So, your wish, is my command!

And, actually, you will get two rooms for the price of one, because the family room, and Florida room are connected, one right behind the other. The Florida room was one of the options that is very popular. Had we not gotten it, the fireplace would have been at the end of the room. Since very fre people in CrossRidge have not gotten the Florida room, we decided for resale in the future, it was best to go with it.

This picture is another of the one’s I had to splice, and so it is a bit off. (So use your imagination).


However, you will still notice this is a big space! The ceiling in both these rooms is cathedral. We think there is some visual break (a Beam) between the two rooms, but are not sure! The end window, in the Florida room, has a big arch over the triple windows, so it should be very light and a nice view of the trees through those window. The door to the outside patio from this room is the size of a sliding glass door, but opens from a central hinge sort of like a french door.

The fireplace is three sided, that is, it is more like a box, against the wall, and you can see the fire from anyplace you stand in either room. This is a gas fireplace, so no wood to mess with, ever! It has a slate surround in the floor, and all the wood work is white (mantle).

The family room will be carpeted. We don’t know for sure where the break line for the floor change from the foyer to the family room is, but suspect it is before you actually get to the area that goes to either side of the house, the area directly in front of the kitchen. The kitchen floor (off the foyer) will be wood, and we will repeat that wood in the Florida room. We decided tile would be much colder in the winter, so went with the wood. And, I didn’t want carpet in case we put plants in that room. The ceiling in the family room has recessed lighting, so that will be nice too. One of the things they do here is wire for surround sound, so we will have that in this room too. Should make movie watching fun.


As you’ll see tomorrow, the kitchen is in front of these two rooms, and standing at the sink you will be able to look at and converse with someone in main living area.

Back in the front hall

Once you pass the stairs, (on the right in the Foyer Picture) and the Dining Room, (from a day ago) the foyer hall continues on to open into the family room. However, before you get to that room, the kitchen is through a door to the right. The picture here only shows the last column and half wall that were the dining room, and you can see the opening for the kitchen on the right. Not very exciting, but I didn’t want to jump right to the kitchen or the family room, without showing you about how far the foyer went.

The actual distance from the front door to where the kitchen wall on the right ends, and the family room begins is about 16 feet. It’s a fairly long hallway. So vote in the comment box, do you want to go to the kitchen tomorrow, or on into the family room?

Back of the House

Before we walk further into the house I decided we'd take a look at the view from the back. The windows in the center are on the Florida room. This room is directly at the back of the house, an extension that is added, as it is optional. The windows in the picture to the right are bedroom # 3, which will be my sewing/guest room. The windows on the left are the master bedroom. Don't forget, our house will be flipped over.

Dinner Time

Today we’ll look inside the dining room. The flooring here will also be hardwood, the same as the foyer. The hardwood is standard in the foyer and dining rooms of these homes, which means we didn’t have to pay more for wood. Instead, we have to pay more for the windows that are directly opposite the doorway. Seems some people like to have more wall space vs. more light. We opted for the windows. There will be a hanging dining room fixture in here, not nearly as nice as the one Mom and Dad have though. I’d opt for something nicer, but we figure that is something we can change later. We are also getting the Tray ceiling in this room with molding. We decided against chair rail and the other crown molding, as both projects are something we think we can do on our own some day down the line when we run out of projects!

Of course, we don’t have a dining room table, or chairs. We have even talked about using this room for a study instead of dining, and placing the dining table in part of the family room. You’ll see later that the family room has plenty of room for a dining table on the end near the kitchen. At any rate. we both figure we have plenty of time to decide on where the table will be placed. This room will get afternoon sun, but will be partially shaded by the overhang of the porch.

All the houses will be built on 0 lot lines, which means that this side of the house will have all the yard, the garage side will be built right on the line. That way each home is placed as far from it’s neighbor as possible , and all your yard is really on one side of your house.

Step into our House

You've just stepped through the front door. If I had been more clever when I took this shot, you would be able to see all the way down into the family room .... but then I wasn't clever. Remember I was trying to do these shots without being caught. This was like a spy mission. I am getting off track ...

.... As you can see, immediately off the foyer is a flight of stairs that goes up to the unfinished attic area. The stairs will be carpeted. The floyer floor will be hardwood. The attic, as we are getting it, will have a door to close off the downstairs. If you purchased the finished upstairs (bedroom suite and bath) the stairs would open right into that area. Upstairs is also a storage room that contains the furnace and water heater. It's almost a room unto itself 8 x 12 or so.


This shot also shows where the dining room begins. It is to the left of the foyer and has a large opening that is flanked on either side by a low wall and half column. You can see one of these columns in this shot.

Tomorrow .... maybe we'll sit down to dinner.

A tour

Every house has a front door! At least I hope so. I know Mom is waiting to see what everything looks like, so I thought I would begin a tour. As someone once said. Let's begin at the beginning. For me that is on the front porch, standing at the front door. If you look at the picture posted earlier, the front door has a side-light and a transom window over the door, I think it looks quite nice. The door is going to be black, we had no choice of color, as that is all predetermined in the overall layout of the subdiviison. We would have liked a real color (like blue) but I guess it wasn't in the cards.


The earlier model that this model was derived from, had railing on the porch. ours does not, only the two columns. It appears they have a brick base. The columns are white, and have some shape to them. Not much more to say about the porch itself. it is concrete.

The triple windows you see in the picture are for the dining room. I believe they have a transom over them too.

What is this about?

I though I would explain a bit about the pictures you will see in the tour I am going to present to you, my captive audience. These were taken very quilckly with the digital camera off of blueprints we saw several weeks ago. (They should never have left us alone with those prints!!!) Some of the weirdness is caused by me .... I didn't get all the pictures at the same size, and so when some of them are spliced together, as you will see later, they are a bit off. In some cases there are even areas I missed when trying to take overlapping shots. So if the pictures on the tour that will follow seem confusing to you, now you will know why!


All guestions will be answered to the best of my abilites! Hope you will enjoy the tour, hopefully a new room every day!

A home blessing in honor of St. Patirck's Day

Bless This House

Bless this house, o Lord, we pray.
Make it safe by night and day.
Bless these walls so firm and stout,
Keeping want and trouble out.
Bless the roof and chimney tall,
Let thy peace lie over all.
Bless the doors that they may prove
Ever open to joy and love.
Bless the windows shining bright,
Letting in God's heavenly light.
Bless the hearth a-blazing there,
With smoke ascending like a prayer.
Bless the people here within...
Keep them pure and free from sin.
Bless us all, that one day, we
May be fit, O lord, to dwell with Thee.

The front of the house

This is a rendering of the front of our new house. As you can see, it is two story, with a small front porch. The actual house we will get will be a reverse image to this one, our garage will be on the left. The dinning room is on the front, and is the windows you see on the porch. The gables on the second story are strictly cosmetic! You can't even get to them through the attic.

March 10

Contract on new house was signed today!

Lucky Day

Today was our lucky day, we were in the right place at the right time and we now own lucky lot Number 21 - we're pretty happy!



Not sure how much you can tell from this picture. This is taken looking toward our lot. The curb is already in, and is obviously higher than the street! The red dirt is the front of the lot, and the trees are at the back. There is an existing neighborhood there. The stake to the right of center is where our lot begins.