When walls going up is a good thing.

Waiting is really hard, but it brings me joy to see visible progress.   The window on the left will be the one I look out of at my kitchen sink.  Those trees will always be there as they are part of the protected green space.  In the summer they will provide much needed shielding from the late afternoon sun, and in the winter the leaves will be gone from the deciduous trees giving us extra light, but the evergreens will give us color.  Sadly, there are alder trees back there and when they bloom the pollens attack me in the most unfortunate way, but they are pretty so I forgive them.

There are all sorts of things we're doing to pass the time while we wait.  Picking out furnishings and placing of existing items in the 'room' has been a great way to pass the time.  Here's a view of our living room as it is planned today.

The blank spot on the left is the kitchen and our island will end about 1 foot before the transition.  Our hardwoods will extend the entire width of the space, so an area rug will be needed.

At this point I've picked a couch, a rug and a buffet.  All these things are subject to change and of course 100% reliant on budget.

We've set aside money for furniture, but there are more things on the list than our budget will allow.  I won't be buying a $15,000 hand tufted rug or a couch from Ethan Allen.  But, the $600 rug from Ballard Designs looks pretty awesome and my hope is that the pottery barn couch I'm drooling over isn't too big.

When it comes time to put everything in the room I may call in some expert help (but not in the form of in-laws or parents).

The next dream room to plan is the office/guest suite on the main floor. This may be a space that "works" for now and gets the high design later on.  Sorry dad, you may be sleeping on the slumberjack for a bit.