We have finally been making some great progress!!! Right now we are working through interior trim, and the exterior is getting closer to complete. Stone is done and is having the grout done! Hope to be starting the finishing coats of stucco next week!!! Then we can move on and pour our stamped concrete pool decking- as well as the stamped turn around by the garages! We are hoping to be in by the first or second week of August even though our contract with our builder says July 29th move in date (yes it was in writing- silly on his part.) Side note- We are planting our 500 grape vines on Sunday! We also got offered a Co-Op for a local winery. We are considering it!! :-) Front stone going on! (dont have a finished picture of the porch yet sorry :-( ) Garage doors after install! Working on grout on the stone on the back of the house!! Covered porch framing finally finished- cant wait for them to come back and case the columns on the back porch! We decided to do a cedar tongue and grove stained porch ceiling on the front and back porches. :-) Grout complete on the carriage garage. We did a dark charcoal and I think it looks amazing! Pool ready for the hot tub and stone on the block wall for the hot tub and ready for the stamped concrete to be poured! Cabinets going in! Love the detailing on the hood! Espresso stained Island- the front will have espresso stained wainscoting with an 18 inch over hang and corbels /posts Entry way ceiling painted! Wainscoting in the upstairs hallway going in! Can't wait to see it painted- our trim is SW Creamy! Tray ceilings in the hallway with the crown in! (dont mind the miss matched doors- some of ours were not complete yet and they sent a filler to set the door! and it drives me nuts!) Site built steps started going in! Only the basement has been done so far! Crown going in the bedrooms! Everybody's homes look fantastic!!!! So jealous of those who are further along!!! :-)

I can't tell you what an inspiration it is to see other's progress. Love your homes, they are beautiful! Yesterday, I took floor plan in to get bid on windows (Milgard) doors and interior wood trim, base, etc. I just made a guess about woodwork: something rustic and blockish that will be stained dark, kind of more old world than arts and crafts, but it was a stab in the dark (pine or walnut?). Our style hasn't really fit a mold yet, if it ever will, lol. Keep flip flopping between two ideas for the exterior, but seeing the Nichiha site helped a lot. I'd love the outside to look like the 7 dwarfs cottage /or/ a cedar mountain lodge, can't decide (duh). Here's our building site (it's changed a little since this photo): This is our inspiration: This is our house plan built: Still hope to get permits by August the soonest.

Is Nick's plan that different on the inside? I thought it was mostly the exterior that had changed. BP, I'd considered omitting that wall, but I didn't know how open you wanted the laundry. If you go that route, I'd suggest moving the door down, to put cubbies all along the top wall. I changed the lockers to an area for hanging clothes as you take them from the dryer, maybe with a fold-down ironing board. Or, you might be able to fit a short bench in there, for taking off shoes. IMO, it's OK to explore every option, ad nauseum if necessary, to help decide what you really want and what will really work for your family. In a house of this size and cost, I'd suggest consulting a good KD, after you've considered all the advice (from both forums.) Once you've settled on a plan, bring it back here (with measurements) for a final tweaking. For instance, I see mostly door bases in your elevations. Drawer bases are so much nicer, and can hold many more items. GW discussions--all drawer bases ETA, I couldn't decide on the door swing, so here it is the other way:

We have (some) tile! The wrong tile was ordered for my girls’ bathroom and for the laundry room. Luckily, I saw it RIGHT before it was going to be installed. It was nothing close to what I wanted in looks, but the name was really close- hence the mistake. Now we are waiting for the correct tile to come in, so those rooms and my middle son’s bathroom haven’t been started yet. (mudroom) (Powder room) (Master bath floor) (Basement bath floor) And half of a completed exterior! Nidnay, you mentioned earlier up the thread about shutters being looked at unfavorably on Houzz (I think yours are beautiful, btw, and perfect for your gorgeous house!), but I think my white hardie board with black windows get more disdain than shutters- haha. On another note, anyone else Looking at furniture? We live in a big furniture manufacturing area, so we went to a factory to look at some pieces on Thursday. Now I am trying to decide on fabrics. I’m leaning towards the ones below: Leather for sofa, light color for other sofa (it’s bulletproof fabric, so kid and pet friendly, otherwise I would never look at such a light color with 4 kids and 4 pets!). Patterned fabric and lagoon fabric (pic below this one) would be for chairs. One for the head of table dining room chairs, and one for the 2 arm chairs to go with the sofas. Trying to decide which fabric for which chairs, and keep changing my mind! We have a great room, so these pieces will all be in eye shot of each other. Lagoon