More on building the house

Spent last night when I couldn't sleep looking for light fixtures, ceiling fans, and look at tons of kitchen cabinets.  I love those hickory cabinets but just couldn't see putting them in with the countertops I like.  And I like the countertops more than I liked the cabinets, so finding a new cabinet was the solution.

I settled on Aspen Beadboard cabinets.  A nice white so it will match the countertops very well and also keep the kitchen nice and bright.  I also like that they have so many options and such a great variety of cabinet sizes.  Varying heights of wall cabinets, varying depth of base cabinets, solid or glass doors, etc.  They also have the double wall oven cabinet and microwave cabinet that I liked.  I think the beadboard will go well with the overall look we're going for as well.  So, these are the cabinets:

For lighting, other than the can lighting, I picked out a matched set of lights for the foyer, dining room and pendant lights over the bar.  The foyer light will be the largest with five lights, and a smaller matched light with three lights for the dining room since it's a much smaller area.  

The pendant lights aren't an exact match.  I'd love to find the same fluted glass for the pendants if I can.  But if I can't, then it's at least close enough.  

Lastly, I picked ceiling fans.  In the house we have now, we've put them in just about all the rooms.  We use them a lot.  I'm thinking with a new home though that has plenty air flow and excellent insulation we shouldn't need them everywhere.  I've chosen to put them in the bedrooms and on the patio in the back.  Still unsure if I want them on the front patio.  I'm envisioning maybe one on each side, but still undecided.  These are the patio fans:

And the bedroom fans.  I like these but was a bit worried about the texture.  The fans we have now are smooth paddles but collect dust like crazy.  This one though has a special coating that they say deflects nearly 60% of dust.  Considering it's also going to be a new house which means much less dust than a very old home, I think the two things combined will keep it from getting too bad.  

So that's where we stand for now.  I also worked on a plan for a pool house out back.  I might have posted the photo before, but will post again along with the sketch.  It'll be a preformed in ground pool, just a rectangular shape with a small square addition on the top left corner that will be housed under a fake cave.  The area next to the 'cave' will house all of the pumps and filters and we'll put more fake stone around it to hide it from view.  Built in planters will be in the room as well as a mini kitchen and a bathroom / dressing room.  Windows along the top will be remotely operated to open and vent out any humid air, as well as having a dehumidifying system.  Between the bathroom and mini kitchen will be a fireplace for the cooler days.  

My original plan for this had been an efficiency apartment attached to the right, but I think I prefer it just the way it is.  Will make a wonderful little area to swim and get some exercise year round.  I've seen a lot of pre-set sized wood frame buildings that you can pick up fairly cheap.  Add in the pre-formed in ground pool and you've got a great little pool house for a fraction of what it would cost to do a custom build.