Details, details

It's all about the details at the moment. Since the house is long since framed and drywalled we have a lot more time and energy to dedicate to minor details like the precise distance between the slats on our roof and garage door, or exactly how the stair rods should go into the stair treads.

These are the details we had never thought about before. We may now be at risk of over thinking them. The point at which Ash started debating between a gap of 1-1/2" versus 1-7/16" gap between the slats I had to call time. 

Honestly, now the roof is done, I'm not sure any of these would have been the wrong choice. Or if we'd even notice if the carpenter used a different measurement altogether. But it felt like an important decision at the time.

The debate about how to insert the stair rods into the treads was easier. We want them to look as slick and seamless as possible. The slickest and most seamless option will cost an extra $10 per stair rod, as it involves hand machining each rod so it tapers at the end. A quick sense check against our massively over-run budget, and we were happy to go with the lower cost option. They're going to drill a bigger hole for each stair rod, and use filler to make it, if not seamless, at least, blurred around the edges.

Other details we thought were dealt with but have re-emerged. Like the line where the drywall meets the kitchen cabinets. It was an inch higher at once side than at other. Once seen, that kind of error cannot be unseen. Here's the brains trust - the builder, the cabinet guys, the dry wall guy and the framer - all puzzling over it. 

Unfortunately the fix was to rip out the drywall and redo it. But that's better than the years of therapy we'd have had to go through living with a wonky section of drywall.

Other big yet small choices: the right grout for each tile. I get texted pictures like this:

But I'm doing my best not to lose sight of the big picture. If we choose the wrong shade of grout, the house will still be delightful to live in.