Decisions and indecisions...

Decisions & Indecisions....

(click any picture for larger view)

First the decisions... The shingles are IKO Renaissance XL in Weathered Slate.

We still need to select the stucco colour and the soffit/fascia colour. All we can say right now is that the stucco will be a taupe or something like that, and the soffit/fascia will not be white.

More decisions...

(top left) Interior doors are Masonite Palazzo series, Bellagio model (two curved panels). We will use the 1 3/4" thick doors for the bedrooms and bathrooms to block more noise, and the 1 3/8" thick doors for the closets, etc, to save a little $$ on the budget. These doors are solid and will be faily heavy, so we will use the ball bearing hinges on these. We have decided to use the slightly taller 7' tall doors instead of the standard 6'8" doors, as the cost is quite minimal (only $10-15 per door).
(top right) This 9-light door is what we would like to have for the french doors at the foyer and the solarium. We haven't been able to get a price on these yet so are crossing our fingers that the price will permit it. The other option is just to use a 1-light door.
(bottom) This is the door hardware we selected from Kwikset. The exterior handleset is the Hawthorne in Venetian Bronze (pretty much the same as the Oil Rubbed Bronze finish that is on our exterior light fixtures). We will use the Pembroke lever in Satin Nickel on the interior doors. This hardware used to be known as Society Brass, but is now known as Kwikset UltraMax Signature, which is a Black & Decker company.

We had planned on using dummy levers on all the closets, but are going to switch to simple knobs on the smaller closet doors instead so we can stay within our budget.

This is the indecision part... the flooring.

We originally decided on the teak engineered flooring. However, after looking at it in various lighting conditions, Freda realized that it had a greenish tone and it wouldn't look too great with the cabinets in the kitchen. Good call! So we made another trek to Burlco Flooring in Merrickville and found this Asian Mahogany engineered product that we think looks pretty good with the cabinets.

Asian mahogany (Keruing) is harder but not as stable as teak, which we had originally selected, although it is harder and more stable than oak which is the most common hardwood flooring in North America. Asian Mahogany is 1520 on the Janka Hardness Scale, Red Oak is 1290, Maple is 1450, and Teak is 1155. [American] Cherry is also something we considered, althought it is softer (950 Janka) but just as stable as oak. The hardness of the wood is relevant as it indicates how easy (or hard) it will be to dent the wood surface - that's what the Janka Hardness test measures - the force required to embed a 0.444-inch steel ball to half its diameter into the wood and is one of the known ways to test the ability and wear of hardwood flooring. As you can understand from this, the higher the number, the harder the species of wood.

However, hardness isn't the only important factor to consider. Stability - the aptitude of a wood species to maintain a moisture level, thereby making it more or less prone to shrinkage and swelling - also important as it says how much the wood will moves as conditions change throughout the season with the varying humidity. With solid wood flooring, less stable woods cause the floor to squeak. The challenge for manufacturers of engineered flooring products is to create a base that is strong enough to withstand the movement of the finish veneer layer without cupping.

The colour of this photo may not be correct, as it depends on your monitor settings, but it looks pretty accurate on mine! :^)

Decisions still to come...
Garage doors...