I am new and just posted yesterday in the March thread..so in case you didn't see it, we're building the Frank Betz Amelia plan with a few modifications on an acre lot. We've went from slab Monday morning to framing done and windows were being finished as we were leaving. I am so excited.

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Well, if you discount the fact that the house was supposed to be done in February, pretty good.
The cabinet boxes are finally in. (No doors or drawer fronts yet.) Painters will start after the stairs are done. They started staining those today.

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Exterior finally done except for front door stain and garage doors.

couple shots of the kitchen
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That's the paint color in the back of the fridge/freezer opening. My backsplash tile is the one on the bottom left.

master bath chugging along
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Sandstone slab finely installed. Kitchen counter will be the same stone.
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Finally have hand rails that they started staining today with the stair tread..
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I will have much better pics in about 2 weeks. Unfortunately, since the cabinet guy held us up almost 2 months, now the stone guy is busy and won't have my counter done for at least 3 more weeks.

Past completion date and way over budget. I'm sooo ready to be done! But I think that might be the faint glow of the light at the end of the tunnel??? Probably just a building mirage!

deb1211....from the pic, it doesn't 'look' like the footer plate in the fireplace is treated lumber like the rest of the walls. It might be but just doesn't look like it in pic. All lumber that comes into contact with cement must be treated lumber.
Great pics of all houses!!

Our build came a long way during March. Our estimated closing date is May 2. Right now all that is left is the finishing touches.

Today they were finishing up the roof and installing showers.
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and since this is something a lot of people ask about, here is a view of the upstairs family room that we had done instead of a 2-story family room
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Wow...so much progress on everyone's homes!! I am waiting until the masons finishing bricking the front of our house to post pics. They have been held up because the custom double doors for the entry were late, and they can't do the detail brickwork until the doors are installed or something. BUT...I jogged up there yesterday, and the doors have been delivered! Hopefully they will install tomorrow!

Robin - I had my husband check what you mentioned and that pic is deceptive cuz it's actually sitting on another piece of lumber

jhwu - I LOVE your home! It's gorgeous! Do you know what white paint you used for your interior? We're doing a modern home as well and I just selected White Dove from BM but am not sure it's quite right.
I would love to some exterior pictures?
soesoe75

Thanks jain_rupali and soesoe75!

The kitchen cabinets were done by Virginie @ Henrybuilt, and the fireplace tiles are a two color mix of "shaped diamonds" by Heath. The white paint in the interior around the kitchen area is BM Hazy Skies, whereas the white paint in the bathrooms are BM Cotton Balls.

Been lurking forever, finally got my stuff in one pile to post!

-bump past the March post-

Loved seeing all of the pictures --- also glad to see some new posters here! Lots of fun to see so many different types of homes as well.

We have drywall and cabinets. Working on trim, though the crew was very fast and got most of the trim done, and it is not what I wanted. This is the first time we have had this situation --- I don't want it torn down, but I don't want to be annoyed by it forever. Not entirely sure how to proceed, so today I am very frustrated! The baseboard was supposed to be 9", it is on as 7" --- is it really a big deal, no, and the crown was supposed to have a 4" backer --- it is all on with no backer. Huge deal, no, but I wish I didn't have to be a bad guy and make them re-do it, or just settle for the wrong thing. The builder says he is happy to take it all off and start over, but I hate to do that from a time perspective, and I hate for him to have to eat that big mistake. Anyway, today is frustrating, but we'll get over it. Overall the house is progressing well, we are happy with it, and look forward to getting a bit closer!

Here are several shots:
Front of the house --- one column is sitting there, though not entirely in the correct place yet!

Keeping room to kitchen view:

Keep the pictures coming!

Everyone's homes look fantastic!

Jhwu, so glad to see your house is finally (almost) done, after the ordeal with your contractor! I remember your post about him. Hopefully he shaped up and got things finished. Congrats, gorgeous home!

We're almost done with drywall, and they did the mud, tape, sand, then mud again, for smooth finish. Contractor called me yesterday, and said "NO MORE paint on the walls", since we were experimenting with whites, and the kids got a little out of hand... Apparently, you can't really sand the walls easily with paint on the mud (vs primer). OOPS! I told him I'd bring the guys lunch sometime (I usually do every week).

LOOKS WONDERFUL EVERYONE!!!! GOOD JOB!!!

I love seeing the variety of homes posted here! They all look so good and inspire the imagination in new ways.

We made good progress in March. We got the siding on, except for the bit around the French doors flanking the family room fireplace. The chimney was built, but the mason built it "the way we always do it" which was two feet above the roofline rather than the way the plans showed which was five feet above the roofline. So they had to take down the last few courses and redo it, which has delayed us a bit. Here's the back of the house with the masons back on their scaffolding reworking the chimney.

We got most of the insulation in and the geothermal wells filled up with water. Here's the front of the house with the bags full of excess foam insulation that was scraped off back down to the studs/rafters.

I love the way the magnolias in the front and in the back hide the master suite, but I'll share some sneak peeks. Here's an oblique angle that shows the front of the master suite.

And the back of the master suite:

And finally, the one completed arch for the garage. The carport/party pavilion arches won't have trim. They'll be brick all the way through.

Our little house in the woods is coming along quite well. Looks like we'll have occupancy by May 1. They are finishing up interior trim and doors this week, lighting is going in, and granite goes in on the 13th. They ran out of siding, but that came in now so they can finish up the exterior next week. The plan is also to pour concrete for front porch next week. I just have to pick out the stained/stamped concrete. And then the final touches. Here's a couple exterior shots. First one is of the front with siding yet to be finished, front porch needs to be poured, and columns to be built and stone applied.

and a peak at the dining room ceiling:

jhwu - WOW, stunning. Absolutely not my taste, yet absolutely gorgeous! I guess that's how you know you got it right. Worth the wait. Looks like your neighborhood is similar. Very nice.

Buckheadbilly- exactly my taste and gorgeous.

Great job everyone.

ponydoc ( house is now 3 years old but occasionally have to wander back and drool!)

Everyone has such gorgeous homes!
Yesterday they had started bricking ours..they also finished pouring our porch this week and completed the vinyl on the back.
Sorry for the lousy pic..my hubby took this on his cell phone

Deb- you seem to be making fast progress! I'm a lurker and hoping to start sometime before summer!

Deb-Wow, your house is going up quick!! I'm curious, what brick (brand & color) did you go with for the house? Mortar & sand color? Your combination looks like it may just be the shade we've been looking for.

Amielynn--

We just finished working with an architect to create a similar plan! Is that a custom plan? Do you mind posting your floorplan?

Thanks!
Ron

Rawley- It is a custom plan! I will see what I can do about posting it. Right now I have a PDF file and have to figure out how to post it. :^) It is a 3 bed 2.5 bath universal design plan, so there is extra space in odd places, had to account for 5 foot turning radiuses for a wheelchair.

Rawley_ I think I got it.

Hope it can help.

amielynn--don't know which version of Adobe you have for your PDF files, but with mine I can open the desired file, then click on 'FILE' in the top left corner, then 'Save as'. When the save window comes up I can just change the file extension from '.pdf' to '.jpg'. Once the file has been saved as a JPG file I can upload the photo to photobucket & publish it here on Gardenweb. Hope this helps!

I'm a recent Mac convert and am always having to relearn how to do stuff. Rarely do I miss Windows, except when I am saving and moving files!

downsy and mydreamhome - Yes, it's going very fast..faster than I can relay thoughts to the builder sometimes. If you don't go by everyday you might miss something. We skipped going by yesterday but will be back this morning. He told us the brick crew was working this weekend so I expect a lot of progress. Hope to see stone next week.

Mydreamhome - The brick is Brentwood by Boral with Buff mortar. It took me forever to choose..we kept driving past houses the brick company gave us and agreed this was a classic look. Our stone will be Horizon's Westchester so I can't wait to see them together.

How does one insert pics?

How to Post Pics on GardenWeb:

Setup:
1) Go to photobucket.com and open a free account.
2) Follow their instructions for uploading your pics to their site.
3) To enable sharing of the pics and posting on sites like GW, click 'Share' from the menu right below the pic you want. A new window will open.
4) Click 'Get Link Code'
5) Select the first box next to 'HTML for websites and blogs'. Make sure it is the only box selected and click 'save'. (You can also choose to apply this setting to all pics in your album with a link in your album).

Now your pics are enabled for posting on sites like GW!

Posting pic in GW message:
1) Begin the written portion of your posting on GW.
2) When you are ready to add the pics you desire, open a new browser window and log into your photobucket account.
3) Copy the contents of 'html code' box below the desired pic.
4) Go back to your GW posting on your other browser window, place the cursor where you want to pic to appear, right click and select 'paste'.

Your pics will appear in the preview so you can ensure they appear properly before the final submission.(I know, this looks like a lot of potentially confusing steps, but trust me, once you copy the pics into your posts once or twice it's a piece of cake!)

Well, I promised better pics but I just can't deliver :(

The staining of my stair treads and railing took a turn for the worse. They were burgandy!!! Apparently my builder wasn't on the same page as me. I wanted them to match the PECAN color of my floor downstairs. I'm not quite sure how he got MAHAGONY out of that! I stressed over them all weekend and told the painters this morning to just put a walnut stain over it to tone down the red. (I would rather have dark brown with slight red undertones instead of really red that goes with nothing in the house) I went back out to see how they were looking and they were stripping and sanding them. WHAT?!!! I'm so exited! They said they needed to be done right and to do them right they needed to strip them. With the stain they brought, now my stairs are actually going to be the color I WANTED!!! I should have just delt with the painters myself and we wouldn't have lost a week. I'm not quite sure what my GC was thinking. He supplied the stain that was supposed to go with my floors.

Yet another week down the commode!

Our brick is almost done..they just have a little work around the windows and the peak on one side but here is an updated pic. I can't wait until the stone starts.

Finally got the right size tub installed

First family pic with the house :)

Close up of brick details..still waiting for the correct door to be delivered..we are going with a craftsman style door

They are starting drywall on Monday..can't wait

Well, it's mid-month and we have more updates. Yay!

Our basement walls are up, but no floor yet. In fact, looks a lot like a gross swimming pool because of all the rain we're getting!

And they've started the waterproofing on the outside of the basement walls.

My parents' house is basically at the same point with the basement walls and the waterproofing. We've had so much rain around here it's unbelievable how much work they're actually getting done. It's nice to see that they're taking advantage of the longer days because when we stop by anywhere between 4:30 and 7pm, they're often still working. We're guessing it's because of the time they're losing to the rainy days we've been having.

Yesterday we went out and DH took a video of me hugging the garage wall. Hee hee. It was the first time I'd gotten close up to the house since they dug the hole because I've been ill. The area is so muddy and the terrain so unstable, that I haven't been getting out of the car the few times I've gone to view progress. But I braved it and it was very cool!

We broke ground yesterday! T-6 Months and counting...

Congratulations, Montel!

That's great Montel

ImaCurvy - Great progress..it always makes me super excited too

Our fireplace and grooming tub started going in yesterday and today!! The mantel is only half done- the entire top half has to go in since it goes to the ceiling, but it looks really neat already I think!

Marble fireplace:

Grooming tub (cabinets will be underneath)

Well the snow is melting and the mud is in full force. Yuck! It was nice to see that on the most wettest year I've seen around here the new basement was dry! So our plumbing rough-ins are now complete and our radiant tubes in the basement done so we could finally get the floor poured! We did a black concrete with a non-agressive slate finish.
Our front porch posts are all in place and I am waiting for the exterior finishing to start once our busy electrician finishes the outside lighting rough-ins.

Should be a busy summer to get our self build done by Christmas...long time-line I know but we do have other full-time jobs.
Hopefully I'll post some pics soon.
Keep pictures coming I love everyones progress... Good Job!

It's been a long time since I posted on our progress but we've been working through this long, long, cold, cold winter. We'd take our hats off to our crew, but we'd catch cold if we did. It definitely isn't spring here no matter what the calendar says!

The plumber is FINALLY here and the electrician has done his first pass. I am amazed at how tidy most of your sites are - we have saws in the great room, the loft, the dining room and the kitchen, not to mention the scaffolding in the middle of the great room - and I don't imagine any of it moving out anytime soon. What a mess they make! I guess that's what happens when you build in sub-zero weather - you move everything inside for protection.

Here are some recent photos.

Inside the great room; fireplace and upstairs decking.

Underside of the front porch roof and soffit, one of the few areas safe from the weather.

Finally! Some part of the project begins to look like a house!

And when the sun came out, we found even more!

From the front corner, wood siding on the front, cement board on the sides and back of the house for greater forest fire protection, but all stained or painted to match.

We're heading for someplace with a lot less snow for a couple of weeks and are looking forward to the warmer weather but also to the progress we'll see when we get back.

I'm just amazed at the stunning homes posted here. Definitely out of my league, but sure enjoy seeing everyone's progress. Montana, your location and home would be my dream. I can't wait to see the finished home.

We will have occupancy inspection next week. Can't believe the end is in sight. Lots of work now to get moved and settled before the summer company arrives in June.

Finally! They finally finished the brick so I can post a pic! Remember...we are painting this brick...it will NOT be this color! :) They still have to cut through the wall to the shape and size of our double doors...that arched opening is the stoop, the entry doors are in it. The ceiling of the "stoop" is barrel-vaulted.

Oh, and HUGE news...they started drywalling this week and the crew has been there pretty much non-stop and it is DONE! I can't believe it...I mean, I know there is much important stuff to do, but I believe the bulk of the inspections are DONE, so I guess it is just putting in flooring, the cabinets, and millwork? Right? And of course paint and such...but really, I'm fairly close, right? :)

Here is my house, in all its unpainted glory!

Sheet Rock! Whoo Hoo!!!!!

They started finishing the wood floors today. I came up the basement stairs and got a photo standing on the stairs, looking into the great room. I know this isn't everybody's cup of tea but we do love them.

I love your floors joyce!! Very Nice!

Wow, they're lovely, Joyce. What kind of wood is that??

Deb, love the family shot! Beautiful!

and Joyce, that's a gorgeous built-in you have! Very arts & crafts! Which is what we're building, so I really like that detail work.

Curvygirl: the floors are just plain character hickory with no stain. Nothing special. But thanks for the compliments.

Junior: I keep waiting for pictures of your ArtsCrafts house. Please share with us. We like that style, too, and have incorporated some into our house, mostly in the built ins and woodwork. We should have certificate of occupancy next week, I think. All that's left to do is finish these floors, carpet, and put the stone on the front columns. Oh, and one small item, the driveway! Base is laid and ready for asphalt.

Joyce it looks great. Can I ask what stain you used on the oak?

We used Sherwin Williams Chestnut. We also used the same color on the kitchen cabinets which are premium hickory. Not as much "character" as the floors.

That hickory really is lovely. We were considering tigerwood floors for our dining room, but maybe we need to be looking at hickory! :)

we finally got to scrape the plot and mark the house and today was dig day but it snowed..UGH but they say tomorrow is go day

here is the progress so far on my blog link

Here is a link that might be useful: our house building blog

I'll take that cup o' tea, thanks! :) Very lovely!