I did forget to say we ordered a glass door fire place screen from Lowes. I can't wait until it gets here. Other then that I am at a loss. You can not see by the picture but they put a piece of sandstone for the mantel, sounded great but once they put it in I forced myself to like it and I hate it more everyday. I think be cause I can see the saw marks and it drives me crazy for some reason.

Kel, it is just so good to "see" you!! Welcome back, you were missed!!! Oh, that beautiful sunset. Just gorgeous, and everything looks great. You know, we've been in since Thanksgiving, and I still have so many things to do. It just takes time, baby steps! I'll check in again tomorrow, I have to hit the hay. But I just couldn't resist saying "hi" and it's good to see you back!

Amy

Yea, Kelly! So glad you're back. It all looks just wonderful (but I'm with you on the white paint around the front door, although I like the rug in the eating area . . . Fortunately, it doesn't matter what we think! do what you like.)

Especially love the exterior, front door, floors . . .and could go on and on. (What does the cat think of all those TURKEYS?)

Lucky girl, lucky family! Hope you're all everlastingly happy in your new home! Stay in touch, please!

It looks wonderful. I have to say it's not a mess to me. It's take some time to get everything just how you want it but it's basically finished and it's your's! Yay!

Well done. The microwave 8ft in the air is pretty funny looking.

I certainly agree with not liking the current fireplace. You have three types of stone in that room (travertine floor, assuming man-made veneer, and the limestone), which is a little too much.

On the fireplace mantle, you could get a big chunk of cedar, route a groove and slide it over the limestone, if you like the wood mantle look.

I also have a crazy idea to use travertine to make a mantle, and it's not crazy expensive if you or DH can tile.

Your home looks wonderful! Congratulations! Don't sweat the decorating stuff. It will all come together. I'm still trying to break ground, so I'll trade you places LOL! Enjoy it all for building losers like me LOL!

Blessings for many happy memories in your beautiful new home!

kelntx, Love your stone, front door, travertine, and the view. As for using too many stones in the great room, I like the idea of using different materials which you did--kind of like using different kinds of woods in a house. Too much of the same thing is boring to me. As for the fireplace, I think once you get some decorations on it, you might like it better. As for the trim around the front door, I think it should be the same as your baseboard, which it looks like it is. I think you did a wonderful job. Thank you for sharing your pictures.

HI Amy! It feels nice to have the internet at home! I have it at work but of course I can not be surfing the internet at work! I am home today sick, I think I have a stomach bug. Thank goodness we have internet now! LOL! How are things going with you??

Hi Kate!! How is everything going with you?!?! Yeah, the white paint has to go. I already have addressed it with the builder but his answer confused me. He said the door jam was not the right wood to stain so they had to paint it??? I might have misunderstood him but both DH and I agree the white looks bad. I almost want to paint it the same color as the wall. Everyone loves that rug! LOL! Our next project is the crown molding. Should be fun with all the rounded corners!!

ajpl - thanks! I am happy to just be in!!

Charolotte - builder said the microwave is at the standard hight but I don't think so! I have to stand on a step stool. We still are not sure why the tile guy did what he did. Makes me a tad bit upset they have not been out to get it fixed. Suppose to be today or tomorrow but I have heard that before! LOL!

There is only on type of stone that we used throughout the house (besides the travertine floors which have the same color brown as the sandstone). The stone on the outside of the house, the fireplace and the rock bar is all sandstone, not limestone. You might not be able to tell from the pictures but it is all rocked with the same stone. I am not sure which stone you are talking about being veneer but the rock is all solid rock, no veneer, same with the travertine floor. I love the fireplace itself, I should have been more clear. I hate the mantel! LOL! It blends in with the fireplace to much and it has the cut marks on it which bothers me. We were very direct in the fact that the stone work had to be hand chipped not cut so why they did the mantel that way I have no idea. I'm not sure how we would be able to get that huge piece out to replace it but I wanted something totally different and explained what I wanted to the builder. That is the only frustrating part. I'm not sure what it would look like tiled. It really is my fault for not saying something from the get go. Of course when the rocked the fireplace I thought I would learn to like it. I did tell the rockers I didn't like how it blended in and they told me is was "suppose to". Whatever! If I had it to do over I would have put so many things in writing instead of verbal.

eventhecatisaboy - Thank you for the well wishes! It is fun (on some days) trying to get it all together. Good luck on your home, I can't wait to see you progress along :-)

Kel

It looks great even though there is still stuff that needs to be done. I think that is true for most.

For the doors and the sidelights and transom, I would have it all trimmed out so that whole area is the white trim around.

Here is a dark pic of ours, but it has trim all around each part.

{{gwi:1427764}}

Thanks trudymom!! I guess the white around the door just looks so stark to me. Our new neighbors next to us (they just bought the 14 acres next to us) loves it! LOL! The husband is a builder and he suggested that maybe we should paint that wall a light shade so the white does not stand out so much against the wall and the door. I was kidding about painting it the same color as the wall though *wink*. I wish I would have listened to some folks on the board and went with a wood mantel. It might not be to late. I should just be honest and come clean with the builder and tell him I hate it.

I did have my first bad experience though. Because of how our house sits on a hill we had to have the septic sprayers run down the length of the yard. I was standing out there the other day and the darn thing turned on! It is set to empty at midnight but DH had just gotten DD out of her bath and I guess the water draining kicked it on. They got a good laugh but I was not laughing!!

Kel :-)

lyfia that looks great! Why didn't we think of that?!?!?! You just made me go stand in front of the door and picture that in my head! LOL! Thank you so much for posting your picture. I can't wait to show DH tonight when he gets home. I am surprised the builder didn't mention that idea.

Your house is beautiful and I love the stone. I also love the rug you hate. LOL

I agree with Lyfia on having the entire area trimmed out.

Congratulations.

Thank you brutuses! Everyone loves that rug! LOL! There is a matching rug at the front door also. We had this rug in the living room at first but we needed something in the eating area. The mail man just brought something to the door a few minutes ago and said "I really like that rug!" I just laughed. The dog even loves the rug....her hair is all over it each day!

It looks good! I know you're thrilled to finally be in there. I personally think the white trim looks good. But I've linked a pic of mine, I couldn't get it to post. LOL

I think bdpeck is right if you want to do a wood mantle, that is essentially how they put ours up. The only thing is I don't know for sure how they'd attach the wood to the stone as ours was a 2x4 attached to the wall then the wood beam placed over the 2x4 and nailed to it.

Here is a link that might be useful:

Jeannekay - OH my your front door is beautiful!!! I like the white trim around your door. Maybe I am thinking to hard about it! LOL! I do like the idea of trimming out the side lights, etc.

bdpeck did make a gppd suggestion for the mantel. We will have to look into it!

Very nice Texas Home! I'm sure the wait was worth it!

Our builder managed to get away with not installing our mantle so DH took care of it. We also have a sandstone fireplace and wanted a rustic beam. I found a place in Kerrville (www.architecturalbeamsdirect.com) where we purchased our mantle.

DH rented this huge drill from McCoy's and drilled holes in the back of the beam large enough to fit rebar. Then he filled the holes with epoxy and put one foot pieces of rebar in the holes. Then he drilled the same size holes into the stone on the fireplace and again used the epoxy and then fit the mantle onto the stone. It required some tapping from a sledge hammer to fit it on there. The mantle still needs some adjusting to make it more level which DH says he'll get around to one of these days (after I have a fit about it!). Anyway, it is very sturdy and didn't take long at all. Here's a pic:
{{gwi:1427766}}

Real Stone! I almost fell out of my chair. You must have found some great stone workers and a good supplier. I just assumed that it would be a man-made veneer with how much you used.

I meant sandstone, not limestone, sorry about that. If it's just the two types, then nix my too many stones comment. You can never have too many types of wood, but for stone, two's company and three's a crowd for me.

Kellyeng's pic is exactly what I was thinking for a wood mantle possibility. Or you can build out a travertine mantle using tiles and trim made of travertine stone. It would stand out, but not introduce a new material.

It looks like you've got 42" upper cabinets. From the look of it, the cabinet above the microwave would work for 30" uppers (standard), just not for your 42s. If I'm right about the 42s, then I expect the distance from the tile to the bottom of your microwave is about 12", give or take, I can't remember if microwaves hang down a little or not.

Here's a picture of our cedar beam. DH installed the two brackets before the stonemasons went to work. They go back into the wall and are attached to studs/supports/whatever. The stonemasons worked around them. DH and a friend put the beam on top. It's anchored, so no chance of coming off, but I don't remember how they did it.

In case someone asks, the stonemasons told DH how far out to build the pocket for the stone to go back behind the trim. I wanted it to go all the way around the room. He put it up beforehand also.

Since you can't really redo what you've got - why don't you wrap your beam in cedar boards to get the size mantel you want.

fyi, I emailed Totally Blessed and told her she was being paged. Didn't want to post on your thread, making it go down. She's doing well and the house is coming along.

Oh, and your house looks great. Nothing comes close to using real stone.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:1427727}}

bdpeck - you are yet they are 42" cabinets. From the top of the microwave to the counter top is about 43" from the bottom of the microwave to the bottom of the upper cabinet is about 13" give or take. My thought is what happens when they lower the microwave and then there is a gap on the top of the microwave? Hmmmm not sure what he plans on doing and he never shows up when he says so I have no idea if he is going to just pop in one day and do something without asking. The cabinet maker came out and measured and I gave him all the specks on our appliances so I am not sure what happened. As far as the tile guys, they just messed up. The builder was upset about that and said they knew better. I just fear by moving it down we might make it look worse. Something has to be done with the top and they need to do something with the tile work. At this point I just want to leave the step stool in the garage *Wink*

kellyeng- thank you for the sweet comment. I LOVE your mantel! That is what I was picturing at first but when the builder said stone I was thinking something beefy, big and rustic looking, not a thin piece of smoothed out stone. *sigh* I did go to a few stores and found some wonderful wood mantels. (Lesson #1 don' always listen to your builder on everything) In a way I wonder if this is not what the builder had in mind either and no one ever spoke up. Our fault really.

Allison I LOVE LOVE LOVE IT! Oh gosh I wish I would have seen your fireplace cause I would have said "Do it like this!" LOL!

Yours and kellyeng is what I really had in mind but when the builder mentioned stone DH and I got all jazzed thinking it would be this great rustic beefy stone mantel. We got a nerd mantel instead. I am going to show DH y'alls pictures and tell him to figure out how to do it. I really like the idea of using the cedar boards. I bet we could do like like bdpeck said and router the board to fit it. It is 59 inches long, 11 1/2 inches out from the fireplace and 2 1/4 thick. Thanks y'all for the inspiration. Now what to do with the microwave! LOL! Here I thought it would all be over once we moved in HEE HEE!

Thanks. Sorry you didn't see it before. I'm not sure I even posted it much way back when.

We have steel poles on the back of our house that are hidden by brick arches below - on the lower level section. We wrapped them in cedar boards on the main level to make them look more like the cedar beams on the rest of the porch (2 steel and rest are cedar). You can't even tell the difference unless you look really close.

We used the same size (real) beams as the mantel in our main level but I know several in BAH has used iron wrapped in boards. Try searching Housewitch. I know she posted pictures of hers one time.....here....found one....

Here is a link that might be useful: Wrapped beams

WOW, I wonder what wood they used. I really like it and the color of the stain! Thanks Allison for finding that for me.

I just got off the phone with the builder, I think we are leaving the microwave as is and finishing the back splash. He is going to have use a 5inch board on the top to "fill it in" and I think that will look like pooh so I can live with being on my tippy toes!

You're welcome. Took all of two seconds to find.

They used pine.

Welcome back, and congratulations on your progress. Thanks for the photos, it looks good. Looks like it's time to take a short break, and come back for the fun part.
It occurred to me that you might've received some misleading information on how you can mount the micro/convection oven,...don't know. I might've had more options than you, as I designed the custom cabinets and did the installation myself. Also, I wanted a stainless, high-power Vent-A-Hood over the range, PLUS I knew I did NOT want the Advantium over the cooktop. This arrangement has worked out really good for us:

I love your home. You might want to post your question about the front door on the decorating forum. They have some very talented people over there. Could you please share the color and brand of your walls. It all looks so warm and pretty. Thanks

Willie- I like how you have your microwave not above the stove. To tell you the truth I wouldn't have even thought of that. We have decided to just leave it as is and just have them fix the tile mess up they did. I really only use the microwave for popcorn most of the time anyway! LOL!

Pat tea - Thank you! I will post it over there, thanks for the idea. DH liked the idea of trimming out the other windows so we are tossing that around. I had a friend come over this evening and she loved the mantel (sigh) and thought the white around the door looked nice! I could line up 10 people and get 10 different thoughts :-)

The color in the laundry and bath rooms is Svelt Sage from Sherwin Williams and the tan color is Nomadic Dessert from Sherwin Williams. The colors look beautiful in person and the camera does not do it justice. Esp. the Svelt Sage. I LOVE it in the bathrooms :-)

Thank you again for the sweet comments!

Kel

Hey Kel! Welcome back! I am running around between trips but just wanted to make sure I posted about your house. I just love the stone! Really pretty! The whole house turned out great and WOW, what a view! Congrats on making it through the process with a beautiful home at the end!

How exciting! I love all of the stone out and in. I have to admit that I didn't read every line of every post, so hope this isn't a repeat...I agree with you about the white around your door. It's only 3 pieces of wood, so why not just order stain-grade and stain to match the door? I realize I'm spending your money, but that's what I'd do. :)

So happy for you. We'll never finish and move in, but happy that others do!

L

What happen to all the photos?
Would love to see them.

Thanks.