Awesome Kitchen, Carol.33. But I'm no help with backsplash...I don't have one. Love the countertops!

Robyn, Well done on the mood board! I fiddled with a few yesterday. Love the jar light, of course. And your flooring looks very similar to ours, what is it?

I am so tired, I can hardly think. I'm just brain dead. I really don't know why... lol

Stairs are in for good now, the other day they still had to be taken back apart and cleaned well. They will get a coat of poly when the last of the railing and trim gets it.

I think I *finally* have all of the plug & switch covers on, except one in the upstairs hall that I didn't notice until I was shutting off all the lights. I just left it. lol

Still have to get the electrician back to do phone/cable and a few odds & ends. He's waiting on the cabinets to be installed (aren't we all!!??) so he can wrap up undercab lights all at the same time and be done.

DH & farm help (adopted son...lol) put the small tiles on our shower ceiling last night. Never laid tile before, it looks pretty good. Idk why the tile guy wouldn't or couldn't do it, but it's done now. All ready for grout!

I am a real nerd. I printed light switch labels on small clear address labels. I labeled them all last night. They peel right off easily, and all you see is the word. Already helped a ton. I have so many switches I don't know what to do with them all. I also have a few mystery switches. I guess that will get resolved when the electrician comes to finish!

Vanity & laundry room cabinets are going in as we speak. DH is there and has called a couple times. I'm having a hard time sitting still, knowing that's what's going on. I'm just hoping & praying it's all easy.... nervous....

The mood boards are looking great! I wish I had steam left to make one, but at this point, I really don't!

Autumn--Great job on the tiling!

Carol.33--Your kitchen is beautiful and reminds me of the kitchen in my last house with cherry perimeter cabs and a white island. I also had a similar granite on the counters. I had a white glass mosaic with 1x2 tiles laid in subway pattern for the backsplash which really helped tie in the white island with the perimeter. Here's the best pic I could find. Doesn't show the backsplash in detail, but gives you an idea of how the white backsplash ties in the island.

On our front, I am really excited that we finally got power at the house so now when we go over in the dark after work we can actually see what's been done! Hardwoods are now installed and they have finished installing tile in a few of the bathrooms (no grout yet). They are working on the master bath tile today, so I can't wait to see how that turns out! Cabinets were delivered and are sitting in my garage. I think they will start installing them tomorrow or Friday when all the tile is done. Yay!!!

View of Great Room towards kitchen:

Guest shower:

Daughther's bathroom (will have accent tile in turquoise and white glass mosaic):

Carol-I saw crackle tile when I was out looking this past weekend http://www.tileshop.com/search/index.aspx?q=Imperial%20Bianco%20Crazed (Imperial Bianco) very pretty!! hope this helps your search

Kellithee- SW side of WI is a beautiful area. We are just north of Milw county in a little historical town- old stone grist mills and a creek that runs through it. My H keeps saying "our subdivision would be perfect if it wasnt for that farm..." haha you cant throw a stick in WI without hitting a cow!

ontariomom - Thank you! I have Glacier White on my wish list but I am leaning towards a good gray/white countertop. I have some quartzites on my list as well as granite. We will have to see what they have in my area once it’s time to actually pick out my counters!

All of my mood board are just pics I have in my inspiration folder on my computer. I have saved a lot of images from the computer.

Carol - Wow! How fun to be moving in soon. You will be surprised at how fast they can finish up (within reason!) Is your counter top River White? That’s on my wish list, too.

Autumn - I don’t have a huge budget for my backsplash so I will have to find something similar to that look. I am flying out tomorrow to meet with some of my reps in Utah.
Your tile is gorgeous!!

lori- The flooring is just a sample picture of Wood Tile I found online. I am picking mine out this Friday. I am changing half of my flooring choices already. :)

bluemoon - Thanks for the link to the crackle tile! I am going to send it over to my flooring guy.

bluemoon - thank you for the crackle tile tip. I'll check it out. There is a TileShop fairly close to us.

robyn - yes, our counters are River White. I like it very much and it was fairly reasonably priced.

mommytoty - thank you for the picture of your previous kitchen…. the colors are very similar to ours. I think that white will be the best way to go for the backsplash too. Getting the right shade of white may be tricky though.

Autumn - love your tile! I really like how you used the same tile for 2 rooms but set them in such a way that they look totally different.

Gee another snow day and we've already went past the allotted amount by 4....

mommytoty-I can't wait to see your daughters bath with the turquoise accent tile! Be sure to post a pic okay? For some reason I am rather taken with turquoise and aqua right now. ;)

lori-forgot to comment on your house pics (busy concocting more recipes, hahaha) - everything looks great! I love the stairs, our old mantle last house was reclaimed and it had so much character. Love the house pic from afar. Those are cool shots. I actually can appreciate your 'nerd' tendency as we have a few 4 switch configs and I'm not sure what/where they go without flipping them all either!

carol-thanks. I have come to realize that I like tone on tone and layers of texture. The master and laundry are separated by the master closet so I didn't mind they were the same tile. Cutting and turning them gave me some dimension and 'fun' that I wanted in there. Laundry can be fun right? Ha! I keep looking at your cab to counter, I can't wait to see mine. I love them!

robyn-safe travels! With that view I'm thinking it would be hard to come BACK! So let me know what you find on the crackle. I've looked and stared and oohed and aaahed on the kitchen forum over many crackle back splashes. I just have not found one that was within budget in the color we'd need. PLUS dh is really wanted a mesh backed tile for quicker install. I can't argue with that but so far our tiling has went smoothly enough that I might be able to convince him otherwise!

The plan is to grout tonight. DH is on a long work stretch so slower progress until his next weekend off.

so i was going to wait to update with photos because i was so disappointed to see such little progress in the early part of this week. it seems 5 trades will show up and kick butt on fridays, as we have a standing friday meeting at the house. on tuesday i was convinced friday is the only day they show up! they started tile last friday, and our construction manager told us it'd only take a couple days, which sounded crazy but based on the size of the crew, i thought just might be possible. when we went to see finished tile on tuesday night, we were so sad to see the house in the same condition as when we left on saturday. nobody showed monday or tuesday. floors are done, and all the bathrooms except the master. the backsplash tile was all up, but not grouted.

our shower had 2 errors, and the backsplash in the guest house had a major error. so tuesday night i was really on a downer. come to find out, the accent tile for our shower is backordered. they asked if we want to reselect, but they've already installed the MATCHING accent on the floor in the shower. are they going to rip that out? duh! so now they can't finish our shower until mid-march. which means the plumber can't finish our shower until mid-march. we signed off on all our tile in october. it's not our builder's fault but i'm just so tired of hearing that the buliding industry can't keep up with demand right now in our area.

also, they mostly finished the stonework on our fireplace, but didn't do the hearth and haven't been back since friday.

the concrete for all our flatwork was supposed to have been poured tuesday, and they didn't show.

i'm trying to put on my optimistic hat today.

i haven't seen the backsplash with grout yet, but i am SO in love with it even as it is. this photo doesn't show its finished state but the tile was carried all the way up to the beams behind the range and where the hood will go. they did a beautiful job chiseling the tiles into the shape of the crown. these are a couple photos mid-process.

with spacers:

though the fireplace isn't finished, we're THRILLED with our stone choice! looks even nicer now that the mortar has dried.

also thrilled with our tile selections. we didn't splurge on hardwood in the game room because it's a big room, at a high cost, and it's going to take some major wear and tear for the next several years. that said, we're not from an area where you see big rooms of tile and were really worried about it, so we went with a checkerboard pattern to jazz it up and think it looks great! color is, as usual, messed up by the double blue plastic layer of window protection.

i'm TOLD that the electrician will be there hanging lights tomorrow, and the plumber will be there too! they're picking up our tub today that we've had in storage since august! so i'm very hopeful that tomorrow is a typical friday with lots of trades working hard to lessen the blow of seeing nobody at the house the rest of the week. haha

Maggie, everything looks gorgeous, but I so feel your pain on lack of progress. It is so frustrating! Everyone warned me about these things but you always hope it won't happen to you :-\

So my new worry of the day... Slab was poured a week ago today. I was told framing would start Monday, which never happened. Here we are Thursday and still no action. My husband drove by the lot this morning and saw this:

And a close up:

Workers sweeping WATER THAT HAS POOLED IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FOUNDATION! This cannot be good. I don't know if they have pulled the tendons yet (we have post tension foundation) or if that would even make a difference but this worries me significantly. We have a call into the builder to see what's going on. Anyone have any experience with this??

Long time reader first time posting. This forum is great, it has answered so many questions and given my wife and me so many things to think about. My family lives in Kentucky and we are building our first house. Yesterday was very exciting, we have a driveway and basement excavated! I’m documenting the house with a time lapse camera. The link is the first video. Hopefully many more to come!

Here is a link that might be useful: Basement and Driveway Video

Maggiepie - too bad there's no such thing as invisible grout because your backsplash is gorgeous just the way it is. And I love your fireplace and flooring.

Lisa - awesome job on the tile! I absolutely love your floor choices. I think maybe I should copycat you...lol..I haven't even looked at floors yet, at least not seriously. Did you make a final decision on the island countertop, did I miss that? And did you find a backsplash yet?

Loribug - I want your stairs. I love them. The picture of your house as your coming up the drive looks so pretty. It looks like such a nice place to come home to.

Carol33 - your kitchen is beautiful. I love your countertop.It goes perfect with the stain color of your cabinets.

Mommytoty - we will add you to the list to of those who are in possession of their cabinets but as of yet unable to share pics with us photo hogs who stare at GW waiting to see pictures of updates....sigh....

OntarioMom - The builder had not started the ledge yet. He just showed it to DH on the plans. I am in Las Vegas for my job and haven't been on site this week. DH and I do not fight. We make compromises and have very heated discussions at times but when he saw that the plant ledge was a 3 foot wide ledge spanning the length of the entire room he hated it and felt he could not live with it. So that was that. I stewed about it for a couple days but I'm over it.

My procrastination has caught up with me. By Tuesday I have to finalize my cabinet designs with the cabinet guy and by Wednesday, we have to choose our brick. DH will decide on HVAC contractor tomorrow. We have picked out two paint colors. SW Jogging Path for Main Living Area and SW Cascade Green for our bedroom. DS wants red for his room. We haven't decided if we'll do that or not. I want to use something really wild like a real bright green or orange on some of the trim in the kitchen but I don't know if DH will let me. Just thinking out loud. I will try the mood board thing when I get back to the office and I have Powerpoint.

JDez thanks, but the grout will be even better. the tile has a darker edge that you can't really see due to shadows between tiles now. once the pale grout gets in there the detailed edge will show up more! can't wait!!

april - no specific experience, but the water won't hurt the foundation if that's what you're worried about. when they pour concrete in texas in the summer they actually run sprinklers to keep the top from drying faster than the inside. don't panic - framers could just be stuck on another job. :) or maybe those were the framers sweeping off the water in preparation!!

Thanks Maggie, I was more worried about uneven foundation. It rained yesterday and there was a huge puddle of water that collected in the middle of our slab. My understanding is that it should be completely flat without dips or uneven spots. This is arguably the most important part of building a house so I hope it is done right!

@robyn - What was your granite selection? It is beautiful! I love that view too!

Lori - You are moving right along! I agree with JDez, I love those stairs!

Autumn - Looking AMAZING!

JDez - Our daughter begged hard enough that she is getting her pink bedroom :). I say let your DS have the red, you can always change it down the line.

I leave here for one day and simply cannot keep up with the progress! I am posting a few pics of where we are this week. We REALLY need to close by the end of April, and I am getting REALLY nervous!

Hope everyone is having good, low stress days!

Meg :)

Formal Dining Room

Brick - Nervous about this, but hopefully it will dry like it looks on the sample!

DD's Bedroom

Foyer! A HUGE thank you to everyone who encouraged the arches, I am in love with them!

WE HAVE CABINETS!!! Well some… lol  AND you all can see them. B/C they’re local they didn’t get all wrapped up yay!!!

Boy sorry, just had to vent …

Mommytoty ~ I have to laugh every time I read your screen name, one of the girls I work with has a little boy named Ty 

Beautiful last house kitchen! Looks like it came out of a magazine! So much wonderful light!
Floors look great, love the guest shower. I am all about some turquoise, so can’t wait to see the other done!

Bluemoon ~ your town sounds beautiful! Tell your DH to go easy on the farms…some of us make our living that way  LOL at throwing sticks!!

Robyn ~ hope you have an easy time picking flooring. It’s probably the thing that I struggled with the most.
I knew what I wanted just couldn’t really find it in my price range and from a supplier we wanted to use (that was mostly the limitation).

Autumn ~ we’ve finally thawed out enough, the snow is gone. But 4-6 inches in the forecast thru Monday. Wth. Will this winter never end??? Thanks for the compliments.  I’m tellin’ ya girl, get some clear labels & print up those switch labels! Even DH was appreciative. Wow. Ha.

Maggie ~ sorry about the lack of work. I’m with ya. We should have been done at least 6 weeks ago, if I count the time the house sat with NOTHING happening. I’m still weighing quality over quantity and trying to not be mad about it. It is what it is I suppose. Either way it will be worth it in the end.
Excellent kitchen! Stone is beautiful. Well done on rec room tile!

Hobbs ~ welcome! I wanted to do time lapse too, but never got around to it  awesome!!

JDez ~ ha!! (I’ll fight you for ‘em) You can’t have my stairs, no way, no how. I’m too in love. Thank you so much for the compliments.

Meg ~ awesome arches! Very nice!

I have a question. Right now we have our master bathroom counter set up with a tall storage unit in the center. Now I am thinking that I like standing in the middle of that area to do my make up and hair. The only thing I see that might be hard is that our counter top is 9.5 feet long. Is there a mirror that is that long? We also will have 10' ceilings in that room. I've attached a pic with the unit in the center. I know it looks nice but I'm trying to be practical and also cut some costs. We got our cabinet bid in. :)

I am thinking the same thing Robyn. We planned a similar set up to yours with framed mirrors on either side. I think I would adjust to standing off to one side but we haven't had to make a final decision yet. I think mirrors are available in most lengths but cost is a factor in the larger runs.

I wonder if long mirrors would be cheaper than the cabinet in the middle. That's what I'm trying to figure out.

Nice to see everyone making great progress.

Autumn, Love the tile and great idea on changing the pattern to add more interest with the same tile. Sorry about the snow day. we are almost done with winter (lets us hope so :)). Good luck on the finishing in 60 days as you hope.

Lori, Love the cabinets and Good job :). I think having the red cabinets in the kitchen will add some interest so you did great. I can totally see you be tired at the end. Less than 3 weeks for you so hang on.

jDez, Good luck in making the Kitchen cabinet selections.

Maggie, Love you back splash tile and all the color selections you have made. You are really good at this :). Sorry about the delays and I am in the same boat right now with only tile work going on with two guys. When is your move in date?

Uponthehill, You are making great progress and with out any delays you can be done by end of April. Love the arches and glad you went with them.

Carol, you Kitchen is looking great. If you want to keep the back splash simple but add a little interest you can consider crackle or beveled edge subway tile.

Mommytoty, Your tile work is looking good and would love to see the tile when the accents are done.

Robyn, for the mirrors you can get a custom size from a glass shops. I have heard they are not that expensive if you want something simple but I have not priced them. In regards to you back splash if you were ok with the Encore crackle tile cost most other crackle tiles will be cheaper than that. Encore is one of the expensive tiles I found in my search.

Our refrigerator is being delivered today and the other appliances including washer and dryer will be delivered march 15th. So hopefully we will have finished painting and installing cabinets by then. Hoping the tile work will be done by Monday.

robyn, i agree that center cabinet looks really grand.

however, if you are looking to cut costs, AND you don't really need the extra storage cabinets on top, why not just hang 2 mirrors over each sink? you don't have to do the 9.5' length of mirror if you skip the upper storage.

we had store bought mirrors over each sink in our last master.

the other thing, and this could be dumb - no idea, but i was always afraid of having wood cabinetry sitting on the counters so close to the sink as hubby is a sloppy sink user. :)

this is what our shared vanity looked like. it was about 7.5' long, so not as big as yours, but you get the 2-mirror idea.

Thanks for the idea Maggie! I want to be able to have a mirror in the middle. That is why I'm having a hard time with the cabinet there. :) So, it's probably either a really looooooong mirror or keep the cabinetry and maybe add mirrored doors to the cabinets.

lori-I forgot to add, each time I am up close and personal working I definitely find more work...fill this ding and that ding. :( It is a work zone that is for sure. I need to let go of thinking it will be perfect when we move in. Fat chance, not even reasonable! So regarding the cabs (which I think are fab and I can't wait to see your red and black kitchen) and decisions in general...we took aries advice and peeked at our doorstyles to be sure. DH looked and I said these are different to pick up the glaze. He wrinkled his face and said did I know about that? Ummm, likely no. You told me to take care of it and I did. If I asked you after the fact you'd just complain I made the wrong choice so I didn't bother. He smiled and not another word was said.

maggie -oh and the pattern with your tile. I love it and perfect for that space! It is hard to see little action. I hope tomorrow is a flurry of activity for you.

robyn-our master is similar except instead of the tall cab we have a window. Similar in that we have something in the middle that the mirrors need to work around. I think we will be doing something like maggie showed. Saves cost and I don't think we'll miss a nearly wall to wall mirror?

akshars-appliances already?! Wow - YAY! Are you excited? Packed? Feeling like being home?

jdez-the kitchen oh the kitchen. I am trying not to stress about it as I have so much going on that I am on the edge. ;) My hold went off a week ago and I have not been able to get back there with the weather and my work schedule. So, I am confident that when I can get back there either my Alaska White slab will be there or one very similar to it or one I love MORE. It will work out how it is meant to. Nada on the backsplash. It's on the back burner momentarily. I need to focus focus focus. So what is the sitch with the kitchen? Did you get updated drawings? Are you happy with the layout?

Preparing to grout tonight. My fingers are cracking they are so dry. I need to wear gloves tonight. Baby steps baby steps.

robyn, i love that idea of mirrored doors - having the mirror closer to the edge of the vanity will be nice for putting on makeup etc. only problem is, instead of cutting costs, you're adding costs. get used to it girlfriend. you're still early in the process! try to pace yourself on finding ways to spend money. :)

HobbsfamilyKY- congratulations! What type of house are you building?
I'm jealous that you got a basement dug in one day! We are just a few steps ahead of you. Our basement walls are up and they roughed in the basement plumbing today. Probably won't be able to pour basement floor until late next week because of the weather that's coming in. We are in southern Mo.

wow, beautiful stuff going on now! love the tile choices, cabinets, lighting fixtures! Inspiring!

I haven't been out to our house in 3 days now. Sick kids (no I didn't get it-yet), and today a snow day. Thankfully they should be turning on the furnace after insulation. They've had portable heaters going (I should say blasting) in the basement- wowee those get warm.

Signing off on cabinetry tomorrow. Have to get serious about the tile, wood, carpet, counters.

WitchDoctor- congrats on foundation pour!

WitchDoctor - We are building a modest 1800sf ranch with a walkout on the left side. We are worried too about the weather coming in, the footers should be dug tomorrow and if the inspection happens they can pour them tomorrow and Saturday. we will probably be at a standstill for a week with the walls due to the weather though..it's just nice to see progress!!

HobbsFamilyKY: Great time-lapse. Can you shar ethe details on how you made that? What camera setup did you use? What software you use to stitch the photos into a video? Can you keep those on site and produce multi-day long-term time lapses?

We're breaking ground soon and I'd love to make one of these.

oicu812 - I'm using a purpose built camera for this. Here is the link to the model. http://www.brinno.com/html/TLC100.html

It uses a thumb drive for storage and creates an .avi file not individual pictures. you can use the software it has, or others if you know how, to get individual still pics from the .avi file if you want. The utility pole with our temporary electric meter is the perfect place to mount the camera in my situation. i made a bracket from some angle iron and bolted it to the pole. Its actually hidden from view of people driving by so i'm not really worried about someone stealing it.
I'm in IT as a profession so i'm actually messing around with an old android phone with some software on it to make a live webcam that i'm going to put on the pole too. We'll see if that works...

Here is a link that might be useful: Time Lapse Camera Link

We had our appliances, table and chairs and couch delivered on Wednesday. Actually got a call at work that they can't leave the appliances unless either I or my husband sign off the contract. No one told us that even though we called in twice to the store and told them that our BUILDER would be there to have the place open. Oh well I just left work early and got to see them bring in our appliances. Our builder wasn't there and they couldn't get the fridge in. Thankfully he came back and adjusted one of the cabinets. IT was a tight squeeze, our KD definitely left nooo extra wiggle room. Everything is now hooked up except the dishwasher. The washer and dryer are stacked and hooked up except for the vent. The appliances are beautiful! can't wait to move in and start using them. Someone is coming on Sunday with our builder to check out the house (they are thinking of building the same size house). I'm excited that someone will get to see the great work our builder has done. I told him if anyone EVER wants to see the work he's done, send them here. I have no complaints. We did a quick walk through on Wednesday and he fixed all the things that were bugging me, just little stuff. All we have left is countertops and some trim work in the kitchen. I can taste the move in!

kelli!!!!!! Where are the pictures??? I know you were working and all but not even a sneak peek?? ;) I can imagine just imagine 'tasting the move in'. So exciting!

witchdoctor-congrats on the pour it will change so quickly! I am admiring your blue skies and fields. Lovely!

hobbs-welcome and good luck with beating the weather! I hope it slows up for you.

Grout is in. I need to go do another wipe today but most of the haze was gone when we left last night. I chose a darker grout this time around (last house the one I chose seemed to lighten or I wiped it too much...operator error). I think it's going to be great and will hide dirt well. So we have a light switch in a totally wonky WRONG spot. Ugh. It's UNDER the banister. ??? Dh of course says well I don't think we'll hardly use it so I'm not that worried about it. Who is this man? So I have to talk to the electrician today and see once. It's lower than the rest of the switches, so weird. Otherwise they have done a great job.

Grout:
Laundry tile we cut - 12x24's in 2 and they weren't all exactly the same size so it's not perfect but pretty close. My ocd needs to just let the imperfection go. ;)

I'm so excited for everyone!

Autumn, your floors look great!

We've had a busy week.

Our painter and helper have just a few touch-ups on the staining, but otherwise, they are done! They are supposed to be spraying finish on today and stacking things in the garage to dry. Here are some of the interior doors.

And the stone guys came and made our columns look much better than the mess we created with our original design.

The tile guys came and laid tile on both bathroom floors. And we went through the design for the shower and shower bench. They are supposed to be back today to put the grout in. And, they are supposed to start tiling the shower next week. All the tile for the shower has been delivered.

Another crew worked on the flooring in the laundry room. Unfortunately, they miscalculated how much they needed (guy said it was a LARGE laundry room!) and they ran out of tile! So, they have to order more to finish it. Bummer.

DH is almost done building all our cabinets. Wahoo!!! And, as of yesterday struck a deal with the painter so the painter will stain and finish the laundry and kitchen cabinets and island. DH was going to stain them before he assembled them; but painter wants them assembled and he will mask what is needed. So, DH will start sanding in the next couple of days and wants me to help him assemble them and put them in the house - maybe in the bedrooms (?). I think we've run out of room in the garage with all the stained wood.

The trim carpenter said if all the trim is ready and our hardwood floor was installed within the next two weeks, he could be in and out within a week. If it goes longer than that, he is going to be tied up with parade of homes and won't be available for a long while. We have a back-up person who the painter works for and he said he could do the trim carpentry if the other guy can't. Our flooring is supposed to be delivered next week and we'd like it to acclimate it in the house for awhile before they install.

I also can't wait to see how my cabinets will look. I've seen the laundry cabinets DH made, but we never assembled the kitchen ones yet. All the pieces are made, but not put together. So exciting. And, I've not seen the ones we ordered for the bathrooms and window seats. They are in but the company is holding them until we are ready to have them installed. Then they will deliver. I hope they are okay. Scares me that I haven't seen them yet.

After today, we'll be moving to the March 2014 build thread. We went through our timeline with our son-in-law on Sunday and it looks like end of April/first of May for move-in for us. I hope so!

Autumn- I know! It's awful isn't it? I never remember to bring my camera when I go to work at 5:20am and then I stop at the house on the way home. This weekend though for sure!

Robynstamps: Where in Utah is your lot if you don't mind me asking hun? We're kindred spirits you and I. You're crazy enough to try and build a home here from Oklahoma and I'm crazy enough to build a home in Oregon from here in Utah. I feel your pain on your dilemma about ordering stuff, I've had to have things delivered here and drive 2 carloads of stuff up to the jobsite so far but its worth the money I've saved.

Got appliances purchased so we could take advantage of the Bosch induction cooktop rebate. They'll probably need to sit a while..still no sheetrock >

HobbsFamily, Welcome and great idea on the time lapse camera.

Autumn, Floors look great with the grout. Can you believe you are doing a faster job than our tile guys here :). And I don't see any imperfections so great job. In regards to the appliances we had to have them deliver as we bought some appliances because a rebate was expiring and we need to get them delivered by end of this month. Still no where near ready to think about moving/packing. We are about 6 weeks away from finish.

Hoosier, doors and the stone work looks great. Glad to hear you are moving along and your Dh is done with cabinets.

Kellie, You must be so excited to move in. When do you move in? Its great that you had such a great experience with your builder. Pictures please.

Autumn- great job on the tile, good choice on the grout too! (I am definitely getting darker grout wherever there is tile- not only is a good look but like you said it won't *look* dirty/stained)

Hoosier- love the door choice, stone looks awesome.

Looks like insulation is complete at our house and the drywallers are already their with the drywall and putting up the metal strip things (don't know the real name, lol) in prep for hanging drywall. They had their heaters on and it was still only 35 in there (15 outside). Ah well, they have it better than our framers had it with a roof and insulated walls over their heads!

I ordered my weathervane a couple days ago. I hope the guy shipped it as promised.... here is a stock image of it:

[img]

HobbsFamilyKY Thank for the 411. I love that it creates the videos in camera and there's no post-processing required. I just ordered one of those Brinno cameras. Can't wait to play with it. I ordered the higher model that allows to make stop-motion vids too. I know my kids will want to make Lego movies.

illinigirl Nice weathervane. Where did you order? I'm hoping to track down one with a flying pig.

oicu- OMG my husband will be so jealous! He totally wanted a pig and I vetoed. (well, he also wanted a witch). I ordered from Copper Tops in NH. I also checked out weathervanes of Maine, Ecoastweathervanes, and weathervanefactory (they make them to order on site, but I had no time to wait). A lot of the other places all have the same exact stuff. This guy was a little cheaper and promised me no more than 50 dollars for shipping so I went ahead. I spoke directly with him on the phone.

hoosiers-YAY! We should be moving around the same time. How very exciting, love your doors!

illini - boys and bathroom = dark grout. ;) Love the weathervane. Our house at 62 is warmer than this rental at 68 - it's really only 60 in here. I can't take it. Spending as much time at the house as possible. Hands freezing, nose running. Ugh!

oicu812 - I have to say I smile at your user name, if it' cookies then it's oicu8 3 too for me. A pig would be adorable.

kelli-I get it. I figured you weren't planning on a stop home and I am an early riser also. ;) I can wait til the weekend....

akshars-thanks. Tiling isn't really difficult but it's time consuming. 6 weeks - yeah that is too far out to pack what you are using everyday. Dh said something about packing soon but we never unpacked what we didn't need right now. Nonetheless, that will be a process in itself.

Oicu812:
Hows this one, sorry didnt want to break their copyright and post the picture..but its sure cute!

Here is a link that might be useful: Flying Pig weathervane

This post was edited by niteshadepromises on Fri, Feb 28, 14 at 17:29

Hi there everyone. I am in come apart freak-out mode complete with a migraine headache. Here are the pictures of our "hipped cathedral" vaulted ceiling for our gathering room, once it was sheetrocked. The windows are covered by sheetrock, they are full normal length. I am terrified that the ceiling is going to look horrible!
The gathering room ceiling is supposed to be vaulted to give definition to that space from the breakfast room nook.

What do you guys think? Do you think with the magic of paint it will be okay?

The fireplace sheetrock is hanging over a good section of the fireplace opening also, they are going to come back and trim all excess sheetrock this weekend.

I need a drink!

OMG OMG OMG just got word from the bank that our owner-builder loan is approved! YAY! I've been through *FOUR* banks trying to get this thing going. The first two had ridiculous fees for OBs. The third really wanted to make it work, but we would have had to drive 3 hours round trip for each draw (long story, won't bore you). Fourth time's a charm, for this owner builder!

We should close in a week or two, then the fun begins. YAYYYYY!

Congratulations @ Carson!!! Going to be a gorgeous home!

congrats carsonheim!

wish i had better news from today. fridays are usually the big day at our house.

today we were supposed to see all the flatwork poured (scheduled for tuesday or wednesday this week), grouted backsplashes, finish plumbing, and all our electrical fixtures hung. we worked feverishly to have all our bulbs and fixtures up there timed exactly when the electricians were to arrive so that there are no products sitting around asking to be stolen. since we purchased ourselves, nobody will take responsibility for them.

so we got there at 1130. electricians were scheduled for noon. they strolled in at 350pm on a friday and literally wandered around until 4. they started unloading stuff from their truck and i'll be d@mned if the first thing they unpack isn't recess can bulbs that should have been pulled OFF the work order. as it is, the lighting vendor sent bulbs too (in the wrong color, which is why we didn't get from them in the first place) along with notes saying they should not include bulbs. i will never understand how anyone in the industry makes money when these trades insist on doing things the hard way.

and you guessed it. no plumbers, no flatwork, no grout, and not a single fixture hanging at 430pm when we left.

the pleasant surprise was that they finished our fireplace and hearth, and they built our cedar shutters and window headers! they won't be stained until the very end. i'll post pics tomorrow - we're going back up to monitor the lights being hung because they instilled very little confidence today. haha

Oh Maggie, I would be so upset!!! What excuse does the builder give for the slow work? Maybe you should meet twice a week and see if that motivates the crews.

Carson Congratulations, that is soooo exciting! What a great way to start the weekend!

Hilltop I can't see the issue? I just see a really cool looking ceiling! I think it will look fine and remember you will have furniture in the room eventually to help define the space.

We are framing, woohoo! Regarding the dip in the foundation, the builder said no problem. The floor will be floated before the wood is installed so everything will be level. Whew! There is so much to stress about everyday! Here is picture from this morning:

And from this afternoon, because you know I'm stalking it everyday

oh april, congrats! that first 2x6 that goes up is monumental! :)

our construction manager cites being a small building company for the subs not showing up. there are bigger volume builders who take priority in an insanely busy building market. the plumber, for example, has been scheduled for 2 weeks. the day they're supposed to show up plumber realizes they never ordered our water heaters.

the electrician just had a case of the "it's a sunny, 80 degree friday afternoon." no sense of urgency whatsoever.

and i think someone asked our move-in date. we don't have one yet. builder won't commit until 30 days out. they were guessing mid-april. hopefully that's still accurate and we're only 6 weeks out.

@Maggie - Sorry you had such a rough time today! I am learning more about patience than I ever needed to know through this process... Hold tight though, you are getting closer to the end of construction and the beginning of enjoying life in your new home!

@April - I have stalked ours so much that they way when I drive by because they recognize my car, lol! Hope you are enjoying the process. We loved the framing process, so neat to see the house grow! Thanks for the ceiling input...I think furniture, paint, and so on will help. Right now, it puts off a "Beam me up Scottie" vibe, thanks to all the white sheetrock!

Well the footers got dug today and poured too...i'm linking my 2nd time lapse video below. Now we will hurry up and wait...this weather coming in on monday will probably screw everything up for a week before we get walls poured..

Here is a link that might be useful: Footer Pour Time Lapse

LoriB - absolutely love the hickory and I can't wait to see the red kitchen cabinets.

Hoosier - you've been MIA. Your doors and stone are looking beautiful.

Aprilh - Yay!!! Finally something to look at when you drive by. I think it's time to cut the fence and waltz right in there. At least that's what I would do.

Oicu812 - now you have to put a flying pig on your house. Pleeeeeeezzzzz! I would love to see it.

Carson - Woooooooohooooooooo!!!!!! Looking forward to your progress pics.

Hobbs & Witchdoc - welcome. You two have nice looking views.

Autumn4 - after I steal Loribug's stairs, I'll swing on by your place and steal your mud room tile. Will you and DH come install it for me? We'll boil crawfish and enjoy some warm weather after all your hard work...lol. I'm just kidding, I am loving that tile though, seriously.

Hilltop - when I first looked at that ceiling I thought it looked strange but I think it's because the windows look so small. You should wait until they trim all the Sheetrock to see how the room feels to you. I think it'll be ok though.

Maggiepie - at this point in your build does anything surprise you anymore? I hope they at least do a good job with whatever they do.

I flew in from a biz trip today and there was some progress.
{{gwi:1416255}}
I love the windows. They had the doors inside the house but wouldn't you know it, the front door is NOT the door I ordered. Me too Hilltop. I need a drink. It is Mardi Gras weekend after all.

@JDez - Yay for progress! Thanks for the input, guess I will give it through the weekend and see how I feel about it on Monday. The sheetrock guys are working through the weekend, so hopefully the excess sheetrock will get moved away from walls, and trimmed in areas, and they will CLEAN UP THEIR FRAPPIN' MESS, and THEN I will be able to tell more.

Time to hit the Boone's Farm...drinking on a budget these days...Just Kidding, or am I???

Onceuponthehilltop, I don't see the problem with the ceiling. I think it looks fine, but I like vaulted spaces. The door on the other hand...

HobbsFamily: PUMP TRUCK!!!

FellowStalkers: I'm at my site literally everyday at lunch. I also come out almost every night after I put the little ones to sleep.

Thanks LawPaw!! Which door? Curious :).