Sulking

Yes, I am a six-year-old. I'm sulking. After arriving at least a month late from the manufacturer, our windows have now been sitting on our land (all alone...pout, pout) for the past three weeks. From what we understand, they may not get in for another two weeks because the installers were not booked by our builder. Imagine the crocodile tears that I could muster up for our builder.

A good friend had two new sliding glass doors shipped with our windows. His were installed the day after arrival and he has been raving non-stop about how much he loves them. We're talking multiple text messages and phone calls about how excited we should be. Okay already! Then we go out to the land and look at the lonely container, wishing for the boxes within to finally be freed.

Honestly, this is like being six-years-old and Santa is supposed to come tomorrow...for six weeks now. Pout, pout.

Come hither bedding

Have any of you experienced the come-hither bed? No boys, not the one with the scantily-clad woman lying across it...nice try. It's the bed that makes you want to lose yourself within it's soft sheets, plush pillows and cozy surroundings. I love these beds.

The problem is that I have a really hard time recreating them for myself. Somehow the options at departments stores don't quite get me there, and as a result, I almost entirely lose my steam for trying to recreate that feeling. My mom is a great inspiration in this area. She will find amazing fabrics to make her bedding, but it must just be one of those things that skips a generation, I'm useless.

Seeing as we will have a few beds to cover, I have intermittently looked about for options....albeit unsuccessfully. Today, thanks to Decor8, I came across bedding that made me stop in my tracks. Say hello to Ankasa.


Look at those b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l pillows. So much detail, yet not overpowering. Their bedding combinations are equally as breathtaking.

They've just opening a new store in New York, and unfortunately for Mr. Big, I'll be traveling there later this year. So there you go, if they've successfully lured me through their doors...I guess that you can say that I've been come-hithered. :)

The barbeque

How to choose the much-anticipated barbeque? They shimmer, shine and gleam in front of salivating men, but the real question is how can you choose from among all of the different models available? (yes, the same situation is true with shoes and women...) In the end, the recommendation of a fellow griller is second to none.

When we were home for the holidays, a good friend suggested that Mr. Big seriously consider a Lynx grill. Not having seen or experienced these grills before, we set out for an afternoon to get more information. After all was said and done, Mr. Big was impressed enough that he won't even entertain the option of other grills...a Lynx it will be.

The next challenge was to determine which size and model would reflect the grilling prowness of Mr. Big. I let out a deep breath of relief as he passed on the 54" and 48" models. He then declared that this 36" masterpiece was exactly what he needed. Perfect! This will leave lots of counter space for dishes, preparations, etc.

Lynx L36R-1

Not so fast little wifey. You see, I had underestimated the impact of having more than one male recommendation. (Silly me) Apparently it is going to be very difficult for us to have diversity in great tasting foods without a Big Green Egg in addition to the grill. A what?


Mr. Big is more excited about this smoker than probably anything in the entire house...and he will be sure to pass on his suggestions to your mates. His eyes actually sparkle when he talks about it. For the record, I don't understand why we need both. But then again, he doesn't understand why I need three pairs of fairly similar black heels. So fair enough. It makes him happy and I'm sure that we'll get some delicious meals out of it.

That being said, don't say that I didn't warn all of the ladies. Beware of pointing and asking "what is that thing?". You may just end up with one yourself...

Modern marvels

At times, building this house has made me realize how out of touch we are with the real world. Life is great on an island because it's simple. But at the same time, we aren't always aware of the latest and greatest improvements or products on the market.

Going back to the toilet fiasco, I was completely unaware that there are now quiet-close toilet seats on the market. Am I the only one in the dark on these? What a good improvement...toilet seats that slowly release themselves with a mere touch, thereby alleviating the dreaded seat slam. No, I do not need that loud proclamation that my business is done. Surprisingly, they are virtually the same price as a regular toilet seat.

Kohler Cachet Quiet Close Seat with Quick Release Technology (spiffy!)

And how about remote sink drains? Apparently there is this new gadget that you place on your sink counter top that will drain your dirty water so that you don't have to fumble through murky left-overs when you are done cleaning your dishes. For some reason, I always find myself tentatively wading through less-than-fresh water when there are sharp knives deep within. This little gadget may just save me a few stiches...

Franke pop up sink strainer

And the final advancement that I will leave you with today are mirror de-foggers. This is my absolute favorite advancement. A thin heater installed (even retroactively) behind your mirrors keeps your bathroom mirrors from fogging up while you are taking a shower. No more handtowel wipe-downs needed! Mr. Big is uber-excited for the shower model that allows for shaving in the shower.


These are all relatively inexpensive little options (all less than $100). And for those of us living in remote locations, they sure are exciting. What improvements are you aware of that we wouldn't have seen yet? (can't wait for these answers!)

Floors being ordered

With the windows officially on island, we've received a flurry of emails from our builder. The travertine floor order is about to be placed. Before finalizing, the supplier sent through a photo of the stock on hand to make sure that we are happy with it. Mmmm...we're both loving it.


This is an example of how the floors will be laid. You can really see the grey and beige undertones, which are far more pronounced than in other, less colorful travertine options. To me, it warms up the floor and gives it a bit of character.


So based on these photos, the order has been placed. Can't wait to see it in the house!

The windows are here! The windows are here!

We've been in a holding pattern until the windows arrived on the island. The much-anticipated call was received today...the windows are here! Now we can get going once again. Hopefully they will start installing early next week. Unfortunately, Mr. Big will be traveling for the duration of their installation, but he'll have a real surprise when he returns (and a motor mouth wife describing every detail until then). Woohoo!

It's 1am and I'm shopping for toilets

No joke. People claim that the joy of building your own home is in the details. While true, I also have come to understand that insanity is in the very same details. Tonights detail is the toilet for our powder room.

Originally we had a planned for three bathrooms in the house (two upstairs and one downstairs). After much consultation, we decided to add a powder room downstairs. This worked fine, however, this extra half bath is fairly narrow. As a result, our plans reflected a wall-mounted toilet, which did not have the same depth as a normal toilet.

When the slab was poured, we mentioned to the builder that the plumbing for said toilet was incorrect (through the floor rather than the wall). They said that they would fix it and a few months later it still wasn't done. In a moment of accommodation (and forgetfulness), we told them that we would change the toilet rather than making them change the plumbing. Aren't we nice? In retrospect, we were ignorant as we failed to remember that a standard toilet would not work...as in it would block the doorway. Oh yeah, that's why we needed the (rather unattractive) wall toilet.

So here I sit tonight, well past midnight, frantically trying to find a shallower-than-normal floor toilet. This seemed to be an easy task two hours ago when I started searching. The solution has now been identified, but only after squinting at about thirteen hundred toilet bowl depths. Is that a pathetic use of time or what? At least it's a photogenic toilet after all that.

Duravit Happy D Toilet

Honestly, for our friends and family, if you ever have the pleasure of sitting on this much coveted toilet, feel free to have a giggle at my expense.

Inspiration hits

Wow. Just wow. These ceramic wall compositions by Jennifer Prichard are absolutely breathtaking. Even if I had to, I don't know if I could choose just one. For me, they bring elegance and texture to monochromatic scenes. Lovely.

Patio retreats

Patios, terraces, verandas and other outdoor spaces offer so much opportunity. Everyone seems to love these areas, but they often don't seem to get utilized to their full potential.

Jeff Andrews from Desire to Inspire

When designing the house, our architect planned for a balcony off of the Master Bedroom as our little retreat. Think Sunday morning mimosas and all those nice moments which we all dream of (but somehow rarely take advantage of...) Mr. Big made sure that this balcony had a roof covering so that it wasn't too hot and I was offering all sorts of options on how to make it an "outdoor room". This was all to make sure it was a space that we would use.

We were in Spain for a conference last year and our hotel room had this beautiful little balcony. We spent loads of time out there. At the end of our stay, we realized that it was the cozy seating, comfy pillows and intimate setting that drew us outside throughout our stay. We decided to plan something similar for our space.

The Westin La Quinta in Marbella, Spain

Our seats have been roughed in and the lighting locations have been identified. This will be a great little area to design further down the road.

As you can image, outdoor living is an important element of life in the Caribbean. I'm hopeful that we can find ways to make our outdoor areas just as relaxing and inviting as their indoor counterparts.

Controlling the clothes

I must come clean...Mr. Big is actually much neater with his clothes than I am. We're not bad, but there are times when we don't always get everything put away immediately (enter smirk here).

Looking forward to the house, our master closet will not have a door to hide our messes. Rather, we will have an area in our Master bedroom that will have built in wardrobes.

This would be a good option for those moments when clothes don't immediately get put away (properly that is...). It is actually a coat rack made by Materia, but clothes could also be hung as well. Hmmm...may be an option to keep in the back of the mind. We have good intentions that we'll be nice and tidy, but we all know how intentions can turn out... :)