Thomas0612,

Love your house - nice job!

Jay

Thomas0612,

I too love your house! can you tell me more about your floors and fireplace? i love them! also, can you post more pics of the rest of house?

great job.

thanks

Thanks for the compliments. We were looking for an easy maintenance floor especially with 2 dogs that shed a ton. We decided that polished concrete would meet that need. It's natural fly ash concrete with no stain at all. We've been impressed with it and would have loved to have radiant but couldn't justify the cost with being in tx.

The fireplace is a direct vent gas fireplace Napoleon lhd50. I'll attempt to post a link below. It heats the entire house adequately (1740 sq feet) even when it's 12 degrees outside even though we just use it to heat the main room. None of our friends have ever heard of direct vent and were impressed by the amount of heat it puts out (almost 24k btu with 30k btu input). It's still more cost efficient for us to use the ductless mini split heat pumps even when it's down into the teens.

I'll take some pics of the two bathrooms and master. The front 2 bedrooms aren't that exciting. I'll post them in the next few days. I'll see if I can post the floor plan as well.

Efficiency wise we have gone with casement and awning style to minimize air infiltration. Insulation is all open cell spray foam with 5.5' in the wall and 7.5' in the roofline (sealed 'attic') with 2'of polyiso on top of the roof deck and under the tpo roof. Provides almost r20 in the wall and r39 in the roof which far exceeds the requirement in tx. Also went with 5 ductless mini split heat pumps instead of central hvac to allow for affordable zoning, and high seer. hot what is provided by a rheem natural gas tankless water heater. We Would have gone solar hot water but too much shade trees which is a good thing 9 months of the year here in tx.

Everyone stay warm!

-Thomas

Here is a link that might be useful: Napoleon LHD50

I was just about to post to ask for more info about your floor Thomas, but you answered my questions. It looks great, as does the rest of the house.

Nini, glad to see your pic, lookin' good!

Have a nice weekend all and looking forward to March!

Thomas, your house looks like something out of a magazine. When I grow up, I want to be cool enough to live in a house like that. Just amazing.

Thanks again. Buckhead, I think you'd be downgrading substantially from the house your building. I love the idea of an open garage to the backside of the yard for bands and party tent use.

Love looking at everyone's homes!

Here we are.. with beautiful weather conditions, sunny and in the 70's.. yet we still don't have our plans! 6 months later.. I just didn't expect this!

Our house has been on the market... with no real buyers, and I've been stressed trying to keep it show ready "just in-case" someone wants to see it. We finally removed it from the MLS.. and I feel so much more relaxed! We decided to build and than sell.. and move only once. We are fortunate we are able too..

keep posting your progress, hopefully I'll be able to start soon.

Tinker: We were in the same boat as you...trying to sell before building. Finally decided to bite the bullet and proceed anyway. Financially it was OK, and having to move only once is going to be such a bonus.

Shortly after we broke ground, we got a good offer. They are working on getting financing (deadline next week), and now we have another party who is waiting to see if that works out. If not, we expect another offer. So right now everything looks like it will work out perfectly.

Good luck to you.

Joyce

Well we are 99% moved in and I am excited to finally finally share some pictures. Yes, we still have boxes in the garage. Yes, we still need lots of little minor details ironed out. But I am just so excited to simply be here. So thank you to all who gave advice, allowed me to lurk, hijack a few posts, and encourage us along the way. Now if I can get the pictures to post...

askonovd- Your house is absolutely stunning, you did a beautiful job! I'm wondering what the dimensions of your kitchen and craft/laundry room are. Would you be able to tell me what house plan you used? Those are some of the best pictures I've seen!

Hello buildingsoon, (love your name) thank you for the kind words. the kitchen is approximately 21 x 18 & the craft/laundry room is approximately 11 x 12. On the 11 foot wall there is a closet that is 2 1/5 feet deep. We sketched out the rough plans ourselves then took them to a designer who did the final draft. We are quite happy with the way things turned out. Good luck on your project. Andrea

askonovd --- What a stunning home! Congratulations on moving in, and great job! I love your kitchen, and think your craft room is super awesome. I wonder if I had that set up if I would wrap packages as beautifully? :-)

Congratulations!

Oh, how I love your kitchen windows, Askonovd!! How lovely! I know you must be so happy in your beautiful new home. :)

askonovd, beautiful pictures! I would love to know the details of the master bath. It is absolutely gorgeous!

Hi gmnolen, that you for your kind words. That is actually the guest bathroom. There is not much to tell but I used white subway tile in the alcove, carrera on the floor with a basketweave inset. The basketweave has a border of 3" green slate. The sink & toilet are Kohlers Memoirs & the tub says aquatic on the inside. I think the tub is 23" deep and I can sink down and be completely in the water up to my chin! The paint is SW Sea Salt. I hope this helps. Andrea

finally moving along. our stairs should be finished up this week. the floors are being done upstairs along with the remainder of the plumbing. the lighting would have been hung already but i wouldn't let them do it until all the floors are done. i know, i'm funny like that. tons of snow here so we're stalled on the exterior. our fatezzi garage doors went in just today so maybe i'll post pics of them later.

dining room was just painted, BM kona.
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gallery; below is the great room and dining room beyond.
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master bedroom with bathroom.
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and loving the way the mudroom is turning out:
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KateK - love that new tub! That was my priority search for today. What brand did you choose?

Cool to see everyone's houses coming together so well. We too are progressing. Slowly but surely...Here are a few happy snaps. Hoping to get dried in this month. Fun stuff!

Thomas, looks like our houses share a bit of a common thread...great stuff from your end. Congrats!

You can check our blog too if you're interested in other photos. http://meadowhouse.wordpress.com.

Here is a link that might be useful: Meadow House blog

mother: bain ultra.

Kate --- The house is looking great --- and much "closer." I wanted to ask how you are feeling about the Waterlox so far? My Walnut (4,5, and 6) is ordered and if I want to use Waterlox, I need to work on my sales pitch this week for the flooring guys. I just ordered samples and have read no negative comments about the product. Have your flooring people found it easy to use or is it turning out to be difficult? Thanks in advance if you have a chance to counsel me!

mythreesons: i would ask them but i never see them. i can't tell, but i think they've done 2 coats so far. the trim carpenter tells me they are very fast so i'm guessing it's no big deal.
i can tell you one thing: after just seeing the results of a not entirely finished floor, i can't imagine using anything else. no more plastic coated floors for me!

That's what I was hoping to hear... thanks!

Oh my goodness, your floors, Kateskourous!!!! Breathtaking! What type of wood are you using? We are planning to use 5" white oak...but I may change to whatever yours is! :)

nini, thanks. they are black walnut. the reason we built instead of buying/renovating was to get these floors.

Kate..Love the trim work. I'm redoing the trim in my house and I have casement windows and trying to put a stool on them and having a hard time in finding out how what to use for them. I've researched the net and no luck. Can you ask your trim carpenters on what they used for them or can you take a closeup of the windows in the dining room. Thanks

KateK. After seeing your house, I feel like tearing mine down and starting over. LOL

Thomas - question on your concrete floors - we are in our final planning and are also doing concrete on our ground floor, which we also plan to use as our finished floor.

You say that is "fly ash with no stain" - is there a poly or other coating on it???

They look very nice - could you post a cropped in picture of just the floor (a crop from one of your other photos)?

dyno, i wouldn't start over (or do this EVER again). thanks for the compliment but keep what you have; it's beautiful!

aries: a stool? i don't understand. sorry, i don't have other pics.

We finally got our basement/foundation poured! Then we got 22+ inches of snow, the DAY they were supposed to backfill! Grr!! I could post pictures of snow, but I'm pretty sure everyone knows what it looks like! I'm hoping for some 40 degree weather and maybe a little rain :)

KateK -- love seeing your progress and LOVE the floors! What width are they? Are they stained, or is that the way they look naturally after applying the Waterlox? What gloss/finish did you use (satin?) I'd never heard of it, and am adding it to my list of must-haves.

Thanks.

Here are some recent photos of our home. It's a 2400 sq ft bungalow finished on both levels and we should be in end of March. Yay!

The stucco was all done in winter being hoarded in with heaters, they are now hoarding it in to do the stone work. Painters finished today and tile starts on Monday.

Here are some recent photos of our home. It's a 2400 sq ft bungalow finished on both levels and we should be in end of March. Yay!

The stucco was all done in winter being hoarded in with heaters, they are now hoarding it in to do the stone work. Painters finished today and tile starts on Monday. I added a couple photos from the summer, one is showing about 5% of the wood we cut and stacked.

xc60, gorgeous! Especially love the mudroom cubbies! I want cubbies, but since mine are in a walk-in closet of sorts, I don't really want to spend the money for custom ones. If anyone knows of a source for budget cubbies, let me know! Kate, your cubbies are beautiful as well!

Kate, that light fixture in your mudroom is gorgeous. Please tell what make and model it is? I tried to look up similar ones on the web, what I got was Meyda Tiffany Star? BUT all those didn't have as many points and facets as your fixture did, it's like yours is a double star or something. The house is really nice!

xc60 - love your house! We are still trying to decide on our final layout so is there any chance of seeing your floor plans? And more pics???

xc60: really nice looking! r u going to keep your mudroom lockers open or use doors over the long storage? i wanted doors to conceal the clutter but i'm now thinking it will be a more user-friendly space without them. and which gray is that in your (what looks like) living room? we used bm silver fox, and it looks very similar.

juniork: all the moravian stars i found from retailers seemed very weak visually. no heft and not enough detail. i found mine on ebay from a seller named randy bell. mine is 18" clear beveled glass with 26 points. there are MANY options from the seller's store. keep in mind: they come with standard round ceiling canopy; the star canopy is extra. good luck!

Here is a link that might be useful: ebay store moravian star

Thanks for the wonderful compliments, and so sorry for the double post. I was posting the pics off my iPhone and the internet kept going down.

Hi Elisabeth, I will try to scan the plans for you in the next day for you, if you do a search for shelly_k, you might be able to find her plans as they are very similar and her house is gorgeous.

Hi Kate, I have to tell you house is simply stunning, I can't wait to see the finished photos. We are not putting doors on the cubbies although if I had more space I would of loved to. Your cubbies are awesome no matter what you decide. If the cubbies are in a private space then doors are not needed as much.

yeah, i think i'm leaning toward leaving the doors off and nixing the shoe drawers for shelves. it's an enclosed space and if i decide i want them we can always add them later.

lolab: i'm sorry, i missed your question. the floors are 4" planks (i THINK). there is a lot of variation of color in walnut which i love, so no stain. waterlox adds tung oil to the formula which enhances the richness of the wood. it appears to add more of a golden hue. gorgeous stuff! we're using a satin finish but the floors as shown in the pic don't have the final coat on yet.

I know this has been asked before, but I just can't face another 'search', in the middle of getting appliance specs (which means actually DECIDING appliances), figuring out the alarm system bid, low voltage wiring, and starting to think about cabinets...which leads me to my question...

Kate and XC, what is the approximate width of each cubby? I am working with a 'mud closet' of just under 4' x 4', and am trying to figure out whether I can actually squeeze in 4 cubbies, or will have to settle for 3...one for each kid, i suppose, but then DH has nowhere to throw his junk. TIA!

Love looking at various stages of everyone's project....keep the pictures coming, and good luck to all! We have rain/drizzle forecast for all this week, which is fine for Tahoe ski week, but not so good when 4 of my skylights aren't in yet!

I have 4 cubbies in a 8' space, I figured out and planned the dimensions from other GW members that posted their measurements. I'm not sure of the exact width of each cubbie as that was the only measurement I left to the carpenter as I was not sure of the width of the dividers he used. I am going to the house tomorrow and will measure them for you.

Another idea is a bench with an opening top with a cushion seat and lots of coat hooks above on the wall. Does the same function but takes up a lot less room. You can do an internet search for mudroom bench and tons of photos come up.

my cubbies are 20" wide each. they're 16" deep.
4' is kind of tight by the time it's framed out. do you need individual cubbies? if you can't steal anymore space, take a look at mudrooms with a wall of hooks, adjustable shelves and maybe a top cabinet with a couple of doors.

Thanks Kate!

Hi juniork, sorry it taken so long to get back to you I've had a stressful two days thanks to Sears. A story for another thread. Grrrrr.

Our cubbies are just over 15" wide, it would be better to go around 18"- 20" minimum but we had only 8 feet to work with and think they turned out well.

It's coming....so is the overwhelming stress and anxiety. We started framing last week of August 2010. I thought by the drywall stage the tough stuff would be over. Boy was I wrong. Sprayfoam guys are completely done with house and garage. Currently rocking basement and working on old world plaster for 1st floor. 2nd floor plaster/mud is done except for conical ceiling and rounded walls in turret. We also have a giant mud pit in front of our garage. Where does all the gravel go?!?

I'm ready for the fun stuff. Like cabinets. Flooring. Seeing the fireplaces once the mason does his magic. And seeing the finished exterior someday. We'll be lucky if they can start the stucco/stone by mid March.

THANKS, kate and xc! So anything between 15 and 20" would be good, it sounds like. I think we have about 55" after drywall, in the closet, with about 24" max depth, so it'll just be 3 cubbies for the kids, and hubby and I will dump our stuff elsewhere.

hang in there, tinycastle! I feel like you, but we're drywalling next week, so we're behind you.

Tinycastle -- did you foam the garage ceiling? Anybody else, what did you do to the garage ceiling for insulation?

Thanks!

threesons-
yeah, we foamed the area of the garage ceiling that has our bonus room above it. It is considered unfinished/unconditioned space, but my daughter's bathroom/walk-in closet wall borders that storage space on the 2nd floor, so we didn't want to risk it being too chilly. I am planning on storing holiday decorations and random odds and ends....it is not set up for being finished space. The perimeter of the garage ceiling will have conventional insulation.

juniork-thanks for the words of encouragement:)

In our build, we had them drop the ceiling in the garage below the conditioned space above. Then we insulated the ceiling of the garage. The air space created had its own heating ducts so it is conditioned space. That way the bathroom above has warm floors.

Thanks! When I got there the next morning the bonus space over the garage was insulated already and so was the garage ceiling, so I guess I don't need to worry about getting it all insulated! THanks for the responses.

I'm looking forward to the March progress pics from all.

Andreim - I'm jealous of your land and house you're building. I love the modern design. I'll keep following your blog. I can't wait to see the finished product.

Montel - fly ash concrete is an alternative to portland cement made from the waste produce by goal powerplants which makes it more of a "green" product. After the foundation was poured, no stain was applied. It was just diamond polished to 1500 grit. The contractor performed most of the process before any of the framing was complete since the machine used to do grinding/polishing is quite large. He did the final polish before move in and did buff in a very small acrylic coating to give it some pop. Most websites say a protective sealant is not necessary since the concrete it already been hardened with a densifier before the final polish and because it's mechanically smooth. The shiny surface is actually produced by the smoothness of polished concrete vs the typical sealant producing the shiny finish. Polished concrete cost quite a bit more than just sealed concrete. You can also stain the concrete before the polish for a different color just like regular stained/sealed concrete.

-Thomas