housework: good (and gooder!) news

Been vaguely busy on the house the past several days. Lots going on! Here's the latest stink:

• Met with the builder and architect to discuss the bid and path forward: The long and short of it: We're building a house! Our evil plan to design toward a spec house and then add gewgaws later worked wonderfully. Instead of being in a position of deciding what to cut from the house, we're in the much more pleasant position of deciding what to upgrade. Trust me: That's a much better place to be! What we need to do now:
• Sign a contract with the builder (one will be forthcoming soon after some budget adjustments).
• Start working on getting permits (the architects will take the lead on this...).
• Get a construction loan (preferably a single-close loan).
• Refine the plans a wee bit.
• Start building!
• Deciding what to upgrade:
• Because the non-storefront window bid came in higher than expected, we're going to price out storefront for the whole house. At the very least, we'll storefront the windows in the front of the living room and the door for the master.  
• Instead of feeding air into the HVAC system and creating a positive pressure, we're going to price out an ERV, a neutral pressure ventilation system where air is removed as it is added. The builder has put one in before and says it runs about 2 grand (less than the 4 grand I was thinking...).
• Putting in the cubist pooper! (O hell yeah!) Will need to put in a "false wall" for the tank. Builder has done one before, so here. we. go!

• Need to refine the plans a wee bit: We need to revise the electrical plan to include the speakers and surround-sound system (and make the other changes we need). 
• Landscaping: The landscaper has gone AWOL again, so if we don't hear from him soon, we're bailing on him. The builder says he can install landscaping at most likely a lower cost. 
• The bids: I don't think it's typical, but we requested to see the detailed bids for certain categories (HVAC, appliances, plumbing, cabinets) to verify certain things and get more information to inform design and material decisions. In response, the builder gave us all the bids. This was cool since it's neat (for me) to see the breakdowns. What we learned looking at the detailed bids:
• We wanted to gawk at the HVAC bid to confirm that the contractor picked up on the flex-duct-no-longer-than-8-feet rule. Can't quite tell if they if they picked up on this... We did learn that the system is a Bryant system (not a Carrier) with 18 SEER and that the bid includes jumper ducts (awesome!).
• We wanted to gawk at the appliance bid to verify that they had our cooktop (and to see why the darn thing was costing so much). The builder got two bids on the appliances, and he shared both with us. Half a year ago I visited with one of the bidders about the cooktop, and they did not want to talk to me about the cooktop (hence my suspicion on the bid). As it turns out, my suspicions were justified: Neither bid included the cooktop we wanted. Even worse, they substituted other stuff that was crazy high: $3,600 v. $1,500 for one bid and $2,200 v. $1,500 for the other. Looks like we'll have to order that top ourselves (if we can get it shipped to the U.S.; starting to wonder if that will be an issue...). Setting aside the cooktop, the $3,600 bidder had far better prices than the other, coming in $700 less (and they even included the garbage disposal!). In fact, we could get better prices online through Amazon than one of the bidders. So much for the builder discount... 
• The garage door is not the one specified by the architects and has no windows. Will need to discuss...
• The plumbing bidder (who is also the $3,600 appliance bidder) can get stuff less than I can online. Yay! Except for the tub (Boo!). They couldn't get the bathroom faucets, so they're not included in the bid.  
• Solved the problem on the 23K v 30K (really 31K) cabinet bid. The builder didn't include the drawers in the living room in his spreadsheet. Stop a moment and do that math...  That's right: 8 grand for 12 (shallow) drawers in the living room (not including the shelves above). Holy buzzing bug butts! There's gold in them thar shelves!!!

• LEGOhaus! I brought the LEGOhaus to the meeting, and it was a big hit (and a useful reference point as we talked about the house during the meeting). Camera phones were poppin', the architects were bopping', and the soup eaters were sopping'! The builder said he had been in the business for 16 years and had never had a client build their house out of LEGOs. Well, there you go. The architects were excited when we offered to leave the haus with them for a bit. They want to take some nice photos of it. 
• Speaking of LEGOhaus: We went to the LEGOstore a couple weeks ago to get the windows I got hoobled out of as well as a number of other random pieces and LEGO versions of ourselves. Hey look! There we are! CELEBRATING!!!

LEGOhaus: Complete!

The LEGOhaus is done! But not without its challenges... First off, the software program with the design (and step-by-step assembly instructions) decided to stop working this weekend (this is analogous to Frank Lloyd Wright running off to Europe with your wife AND your construction documents). At first I thought it was because the software was incompatible with a recent operating system upgrade I made, but based on a European LEGOfans listserv (yes, there is a rabid online culture of [likely unmarried...] adult dudes dedicated to building stuff with LEGOs), it was a LEGOserver issue. After disconnecting from the interwebs and restarting the software, I was back in business!

What I learned during the construction process:

• Don't, in your LEGO-frenzied excitement and zeal to be green, recycle the shipping paperwork. I swear (in fact, I know) that they didn't send me everything ("I know" because I ordered a bat, and I do not have a bat. The rat, however, arrived safely.). I received parts I didn't order and got shortchanged on the windows (folks who have actually built houses say this also happens in real life, so perhaps this is good psychological practice).
• Construction skills deteriorate with numbers of beers imbibed.
• It's difficult to separate small LEGO pieces from each each other when they are plates (plates are super thin, one third LEGO brick height).
• It is not advisable to separate LEGOs with a sharp knife.
• It is really not advisable to separate LEGOs with a sharp knife after drinking (too many) beers.
• Loose LEGOs need to be kept away from felines.
• It's good to have (unmarried) friends with LEGOs, friends with kids with LEGOs, or friends with kids that used to play with LEGOs. I really needed those extra pieces! Note: It is bad mojo to steal LEGOs from four and five-year olds. 
• It doesn't take too long to put a model together. It only took me a few hours: A couple last night and about an hour or so this morning (you can see the quality-of-light change in the photos below for the switch over).

A friend noted that we are now committed to the design of the house since it is memorialized in small bits of Scandinavian plastic. I believe that to be true, yes I do...

The architects don't know we've done this. After hitting the LEGOstore for more windows this week, we'll surprise them with it. Hope they like it!

"Norwegian roof rats!"

"Honey, I'm home!  And it's been a bad, bad (bad) day!"

LEGOs have landed!

I've got a busy weekend between feeding the worms, going on the Cool House Tour, putting together a one-hour presentation on artesian wells, brunch with friends, returning countertop samples, reviewing landscaping plans, flipping through lighting books the interior designer gave us, and seeing a Shakespeare play performed on bicycles (including a sooper-long one shaped like a rattlesnake), so we'll see how far along I get this weekend... But they are here!

LEGOhaus: Take 2

Been getting lots of peer pressure to build the LEGO house despite the challenges. Even received some LEGO donations (thank you!). Concerned about cost, I decided to revisit the design and build on a 1x1x1 brick equal 2 feet by 2 feet by feet scale instead of a 1 foot by 1 foot by 1 foot scale. And it seems to work out fine with much fewer bricks, even with the garage and some of the landscaping added!

We received several tips about a local LEGO store, and I went there on Saturday, LEGO list in hand. However, the LEGO choices were disappointing with lots of specialty LEGO bits but not enough standard bits. I walked out with the large green base plates and plans of purchasing the needed pieces on line. It appears that it will cost about 100 bucks to build this baby. Stay tuned...

LEGO House: Good news, and bad news...

As noted a couple days ago here, I've been designing our house in LEGO bricks, and the good news is: The design is done!

It was not without its challenges (I had to deconstruct stuff several times after realizing I had read the plan wrong or just plain erred), and the proportions aren't exact, but close enough for LEGO work, I say!

Now for the bad news. After finishing the design, I looked for the button to order the pieces. Couldn't find it. Finally searched online, and found this note from LEGO that says, in essence, "Sorry. We don't do that anymore. Haven't since January 16, 2012."

Say what, Mr. Dreamkilling LEGOman?

In less crappy news, you can still buy single LEGO bricks and bits, but the software doesn't give you a list of what and how many pieces (although there are [PC only] programs to help figure this out). So I'll have to look at each of 1,439 LEGO pieces, figure out what they are, and order them from LEGO's Pick a Brick Service. Yuck.

Perhaps it's for the best. A simple 1x1 LEGO brick, the smallest of the small (well, except for a 1x1 plate) goes for 10 cents. That means that at the unattainable best, the house would cost [cough, cough] $144. Given that there are mostly larger (and more expensive) pieces, I bet the house will cost [COUGH, COUGH] over $500. Yikes! LEGOs are expensive! (Now I know why I grew up with Lincoln logs!)

The Woodlands Mall north of Houston has a LEGO store (and I will be in The Woodlands later this summer), so maybe I'll stop in and fight my way through pre-schoolers to purchase LEGO bricks. Maybe...

We've started to build our house!

Out of LEGO bricks, that is.

A pal has gently suggested several times that we need to build a scale model of our house in LEGO bricks. That struck me as vaguely brilliant, so I put it on my Modern house bucket list, something to look into at a later date. However, flying back from Los Angeles (did I tell you we went to L.A.?) this week I was reading a business article about LEGO Group in The Economist, of all places (did you know that a carpenter in Denmark started LEGO in 1932 and that there are now 62 LEGO pieces per person on Earth?). The article was about staying focused on what you do best (something I'm not good at...) and mentioned that LEGO had an online tool to build your house out of LEGO bricks [insert orchestral stabs of discovery].

Sooo... I've started building our house out of LEGO bricks. I didn't try the online designer. Instead, I downloaded the more local LEGO Digital Designer for Mac (there's one for PC as well) last night and started clicking small plastic pieces together. After about three hours, here's where I'm at:

And here's a broader shot of the program:

It took a wee bit of poking around and learning by trial-and-error, but I'm clicking those darn blocks into place pretty darn quick.

I'm using a scale of a 1 by 1 brick equals 1 foot by 1 foot (which just so happened to be a wise decisions since their standard doors equal that scale). And I can't quite get things exact: everything has to fit the 1 by 1 scale (see rear living room window). Once completed, I can hit a button and, for a fee (well played, LEGO, well played...), LEGO will send me the pieces to assemble the house. Pretty darn cool.

Whilst searching for scale guidance  (something I never found...) before embarking, I found a story on the long-haired dude from Top Gear built a real house out of LEGO bricks (also learned that the plural of LEGO is not LEGOs).

LEGO also offers several iconic Modern structures in pre-packaged LEGO kits:

Mies van Der Rohe's Farnsworth House:

Wright's Falling Water:

Wright's Robie House:

Wright's Guggenheim:

Among others.

Let the clicking begin!