The end is in site

This house is going up way faster than I expected. I really thought it would take at least 8 months to build but they are almost done! Our contract has an end date of sometime in mid-January but Tommy said he’ll be done on December 30th! Who wants to help us move?

Nearly all the lighting is done now. I was slightly concerned that the foyer light would be to big for the space but it fits the space perfectly. I think anything smaller would have been too small.

Front Porch Light

Entry Way Light

They also installed the granite.

Kitchen Granite

Master Bathroom Granite

Installing Kitchen Granite

They are also making progress tiling the Master Bathroom.

Whirlpool Tub Tile

Master Shower Tile

They’ve also been working on the final grading. It has been raining a lot lately so it is super muddy.

And last but not least, they started painting real colors. The closets are all painted and they hung the closet shelves. I only have pictures of a few of the colors but there are more to come.

Overall Color

Master Closet

This house is going up way faster than I expected. I really thought it would take at least 8 months to build but they are almost done! Our contract has an end date of sometime in mid-January but Tommy said he’ll be done on December 30th! Who wants to help us move?

Nearly all the lighting is done now. I was slightly concerned that the foyer light would be to big for the space but it fits the space perfectly. I think anything smaller would have been too small.

 

Changes inside and out

This past week was a short one with Thanksgiving being in there and yet they still managed to make some pretty dramatic changes.

We’ve now got shutters on the exterior of the house.

Exterior with Shutters

They started installing the hood. It’s still missing the top molding.

Kitchen Hood

They’ve also been installing the hardwood floor. The upstairs is mostly finished and they were working  the downstairs when we visited.

Hardwood Flooring

They’ve been working on preparing the master shower for tile for a while and now they’ve actually started laying the tile.

Master Bath Tile

Master Shower Floor Tile

While we were there, we also noticed they added some additional trim to the chair rail to make it more substantial looking.

Chair Rail

Finally, one little snag with the lights. I hate the look of amber glass so when we choose lights we specifically looked for white glass, however the fans that were installed had amber glass. We told Tommy and he’s working to fix it.

Fan with Amber Glass

 

Interior Progress

I use to work on a weather satellite and I joke that it gave me some pull with the weather. In fact when Roderick and I were first dating we liked doing outdoor activities. Often it would threaten rain but by the time our date rolled around it was beautiful out. Unfortunately it looks like my pull is waning. Tommy’s been trying to do the final grading for almost a month now and it’s just been too muddy.

They are more than making up for the lack of exterior activity with interior progress. Behold a tour of the highlights.

All of the tile floors were laid but still need to be grouted. I can’t remember if I mentioned it but another nice little thing that we’re doing is using an epoxy grout which is easier to clean. They are also laying it so as to minimize the amount of grout. I love the look of tile but hate hate HATE cleaning it. It cost about $200 more per room but if it performs like I expect, it will be well worth the cost.

Monkey Bathroom Tile

Laundry Room Tile

Fish Bathroom Tile

They’ve started installing the bathroom hardware too.

Downstairs Bathroom Tile and Hardware

They’ve installed most of the lighting and it looks fantastic. The day I visited was cold and dreary but the house was so warm and inviting (even unfinished) because of the bright lights. I’m an admitted lightaholic. The brighter the better! I think we’ve got 60 watt bulbs in all of them. The huge chandelier in the foyer hasn’t been installed yet and I just can’t wait to see what it will look like.

Dining Room Light

Diningroom Transoms

They’ve also installed the fireplace mantle, a beautiful piece of solid maple. They are going to route it in place and then stain it to match the kitchen cabinets.

Great Room Fan and Fireplace Mantle

Kitchen Lights

Kitchen Hardware

And the piece de resistance the stairs! I love love LOVE LOVE the metal rails! They are beautiful, they are sturdy, and best of all they didn’t cost us anything extra. Have I mentioned that we love our builder?

Stairs

Stair Sconces

Stair Close-up

 

Primed and Ready

With each visit the house is looking more and more like a home. Having the trim up made a big impact, and so did having the walls primed. Other than the priming, not a whole lot has happened recently because of all the rain.

Foyer

Foyer - Door View

I love the trim in the dining room and I’m glad Roderick and Tommy convinced me to include the trim in the tray ceiling.

Dining Room

Kitchen

Great Room

Look at all the space! Have I mentioned how great Tommy is recently? He’s giving us a sensor light in there so we won’t have to turn a light on or off with our hands full. Yet another one of his thoughtful touches!

Pantry

Playroom

There is so much storage in the bench seat!

Playroom Window Bench Storage

In addition to priming, they started installing all the door hardware.

Door Hardware

I love what they did under the windows in the master bedroom.

Master

Unassembled Chandelier

While this past week wasn’t all that busy, next week will more than make up for it. They are going to deliver and install our appliances, start tiling, start installing the hardwood floor, install the stair rails, do the final grading, install the lamp post, and maybe even paint the first coat of our real color. I can’t wait to get over next Saturday to see the changes!

 

 

 

It was red and yellow and green and brown …

I think paint and grout color were the two hardest things to choose. Tommy will paint 4 rooms custom colors for us, and we get to choose the color that all the rest of the walls will be painted. I think white walls are so boring so eventually, all the rooms in our house will be painted. Our current house has a room of every color except black and we want the new house to be just as fun. We decided to let them paint the bathrooms because there is sooooo much cutting in involved. We’ve painted many of the rooms in our current house. Roderick has a very steady hand, me … not so much. I’m a big fan of tape.

Earlier this week I met with a friend who is an interior designer. We had a general idea of the color we wanted and she helped me pick the right shade. It makes me feel better that we got the approval of someone who knows what they are doing. I really love color so I have a tendency to pick very vibrant shades. Plus what it looks like on a tiny sample and what it looks like on a huge wall are often totally different.

The master bathroom will have a warm tan tile and we thought a dark slate blue/gray would compliment it well.

Master Bath Tile

Master Bath

I found an awesome soap pump at Target (the fish spin around the bottle) so one of the kids bathrooms will have a fish theme. We were thinking blue, but our friend Amy suggested a more blue green so that it won’t look little boy blue. I think this color will work well with the theme but still work when the kids out grow a theme.

Fish Bathroom Accessories

Fish Bathroom

I’ve been eyeballing this at Target for years now. I love monkeys and our sons room would have been monkey themed if I could have found a crib set we liked. We chose a nice muted green that I think will also grow with the room.

Monkey Bathroom Accessories

Monkey Bathroom Color

Of all the colors we had to choose I think the main color was the hardest. The foyer is two stories tall and is only ever going to be painted once, I want to make sure the color is right. We want a warm neutral yellow. We chose this shade, and Amy assured me it was a good choice … but I’m still a little hesitant. One little sample against the wall looks really yellow, but I think if the entire wall is that color it will be very neutral. What are your thoughts … lighter, tanner, darker, paint it fuchsia?

Main Wall Color

Main Color Closeup

We also choose a beautiful neutral brown for the downstairs bathroom but I neglected to take any pictures of it. The downstairs bathroom is smallish and I want to create an intimate feel. We’ve got to decide fast because they are starting to paint on Monday! Like I’ve said before, they are moving FAST!

 

If you are wondering about the title, I was a music geek in high school (now I’m just a regular geek) and was in the musical Joseph and the Technicolor dream coat. I still remember the lyrics to most of the songs.

It was red and yellow and green and brown
And scarlet and black and ochre and peach
And ruby and olive and violet and fawn
And lilac and gold and chocolate and mauve
And cream and crimson and silver and rose
And azure and lemon and russet and grey
And purple and white and pink and orange
And BLUE!

 

Cabinets

They were installing the cabinets today. The granite will be installed later next week. So exciting!

Monkey Bathroom (Kid's Bathroom)

Fish Bathroom (Also for the kids)

I think the master sinks are going to be a little tight with two people. We’ll both have plenty of room to use the sinks but I’ll have to move if Roderick wants to open his drawers. It’s what it has to be to fit in the bathroom so meh.

Master Bath Cabinets

Presenting the kitchen! You’d think that adding cabinets would make the kitchen feel smaller but instead it makes it feel huge! We have so many cabinets, if we ever acquire enough stuff to fill all these cabinets, please force me to have a yard sale. We are not stuff people. Of course I said that for our current house too and our cabinets are currently filled to over flowing with baby bottles/plates/bowls/sippy cups so who knows. They were still in the process of installing these and the hood hasn’t even been started yet. I can’t wait to see the finished product.

Left Kitchen Wall

Front Kitchen Wall

Back Kitchen Wall

Kitchen Island

 

A house with all the trimings

The trim is being installed today. We went over this afternoon and the house looks fantastic! I’m not sure what it is about the trim, but it makes the house look huge! It looks so fancy and polished I’m afraid our stuff is going to look like junk in it. Hmm, time to buy more stuff?

I really like the rosettes in the window. Tommy puts in so many nice unexpected little touches.

Master Bath Tub

He even trimmed out the tunnel between the rooms. He’s either going to put in some plywood or maybe a door.

Tunnel Trim

Other Side of the Tunnel

One thing I was hoping for was a fancy turn out at the bottom, unfortunately there is not enough room. Bummer.

Stair Trim

This isn’t the best picture, but the trim really makes the foyer look grand. I can’t wait to see it with the stair rails in.

Foyer Trim

The window seat in the play room really looks sophisticated. They did a great job with the trim.

Playroom Window Seat

Close Up of Window Trim

 

 

 

 

 

Floor and Cabinet Knobs Selection

Here is the wood floor we selected. This is the same color as the floor in our current house but wider planks.

Wood Floor

These are the cabinet knobs we selected. Initially we were thinking of doing oil rubbed bronze to match our lights, but the color blended too closely with the cabinet color. I really like the style of these, nice and clean looking.

Drawer Pull

Knobs

 

 

Fireplace, odds and ends

Our fireplace, which turned out spectacular!  They did a great job laying the stone so that the cable box doesn’t stick out. The still need to add the mantle and seal/paint the soapstone.

Fireplace

Tommy gave us a lot of nice unexpected touches like the extra wide trim on the doors. If I haven’t mentioned it recently, we really love him and highly recommend him to anyone who is thinking of building a house.

Door

Master Shower

This is nice, but I’m wondering if an oil-rubbed bronze front door handle might have looked nicer. I wonder if it’s too late to switch this out.

Front Door Hardware

This is just some of the many many kitchen cabinets. This is the back wall. The lower part will be a desk and the refrigerators (yes plural … we plan to have a large family) will be to the right.

Cabinets

Aaaaand, now I’m finally caught up! They are just moving so fast that I’m probably already behind again.

 

Exterior Paint

I think grout color and paint were the hardest things to choose. We finally (at the very last minute) decided to use the dark beige paint color. Roderick was able to see it before I as. I was really worried about the exterior color, ESPECIALLY since this is the email I got from him:

I’m not sure the outside is exactly what you wanted, but it’s not bad, and it’ll grow on you   It’s slightly more green tinged that you probably wanted … but most of the time I saw it was in the shade (the clouds were out) …

Love you  – -

Me

Bugger got me worried (it will grow on you … sheesh!) so I went out the next day and I actually really like the color. It turned out lighter than I expected with is a good thing since I was worried it would be too dark. I think it may have been still wet when Roderick saw it. I really love the white bay window and the extra large trim around the windows. I think the white just pops off the brown. There are shutters on the window over the bay window that hasn’t been installed yet.

Front of the House

Initially we were thinking of having the back french doors be white, but Tommy told us that white will show all the finger prints and get dirty. He convinced us to choose black and I’m really glad he did.

Back of House