Wow Jay that's a lot of staining and I thought we had a lot of woodwork. Compared to you we have none. LOL

They all look so great!

Jaymie...what stain did you use on the doors? It looks great. Glad to hear that the cabinet maker is still above water. Sending good vibes his way. :o)

Brutuses...it's Nichiha shake siding in Macadamia. It's one of the new colors for this year. It actually looks darker in person, but the trim boards are primed gray and make the siding look really light. Hopefully, we'll get the trim painted next week. My to-do list keeps getting longer. *sigh*

No pics yet, but was promised that we would begin excavation today...FINALLY!

Dawn, we are doing an ICF home too, looks like yours is making real progress!

Today was a huge day! Here is everything that was done just today:

Roof was finished! (Been waiting for that moment for 2 1/2 months)
Septic tank installed
Water main put in
Generator arrived (Keeping at current home till they are ready to install it)
Windows arrived and the crew started installing them.

I don't remember the last time I have had this big of a smile on my face! Here are some pics:

Now I guess we should put our current house on the market. Been packing up all the stuff we know we won't use before the "Big Move" and putting it in storage. Kind of staging for the sell.

Of all the time I have been reading these forums. This is the post I look forward to every month!!! No one will ever understand the excitement of getting windows and a roof installed until you build a house. They just don't get excited like everyone here :)

Brutuses, That is a lot of staining. I'm thinking "Thank God" we decided to paint the base boards and casing. Otherwise, I think it might be overwhelming. It has been a bit of a coordination nightmare though. Who knew there where these many decision to make on where to stain, where to keep the wood natural, where to paint white and where to paint "wall color". Egads!

Persnickety. Our cabinetry will be stained Minwax "Red Oak", but it is QS white oak, which doesn't soak up a lot of the stain, so it isn't too red. I had the painters match this color on the doors, which are regular sawn red oak, a softer wood. To get a match, they "mellowed" out the "Red Oak" color with "Early American". It is being applied to the pine windows and the red oak doors and working well. They will have to remix for the cedar garage doors and mahogany front door, but they are doing a great job and are oh so patient with me. ;-)

ajpl, what a beautiful pair of Chessies!!!
I love their color (our first Chesapeake was liver colored).
Thanks for sharing :)

Dawn

jay, I just remembered my poor DH having to paint over 300 boards for our porches. Took him quite a while to complete that task!!

I can't believe it's already July! I'm so happy to see everyone's progress! We're doing pretty good, we now have the shop up, and will hopefully be working on siding this weekend (we just found out that our metal roofing order was delayed two weeks because they no longer carry the color we requested (off-white)-not sure why it took two weeks to figure that out, but trying not to let that bother me...). So glad the shop is going along though, because we closed on our old house yesterday!! We now have two months to get the shop ready to move into, but that shouldn't be too much of an issue...as long as we don't have too many more delays!!

We also backfilled around the house last night (it was too dark to take pics), we didn't finish, so hopefully our excavator won't be too busy with harvest to finish, because our framer is starting Monday-Yeah!!

It's so nice to see framing going up, it finally feels real!!

well are almost done with the brick, all they lack is bricking the steps and finishing up the stone on the front of the house. It has been a slow process we have had great weather but they have been doing several other jobs in between ours, so we only have about 3 days of brick laying a week. Sheetrock has been mudded twice now, they starting stomping some of the ceilings today, painter has been hired, vinyl siding man is coming next week, should have the central heat/air in next week, they buried and connected our electricity today to the main pole. Lots and lots of new things fixing to be happening this month!

front view of house with the stone started

side view looking in at the living room into the breakfast area

Just finished the sheetrock and driveway today. I don't have pictures yet of the inside but here is the outside.

http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=2rptp49&s=3
http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=552f50&s=3
http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=hsnxfp&s=3
http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=zu43o8&s=3

OK, here are a couple, nothing too exciting. Before the end of the month I'll have much more, I think.

First photo is the beadboard in guest room and second is beadboard in guest bath.

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Wow, everyone's pix are so beautiful.

TNhousewife, you are really flying - can't believe how far yours has come in so short a time.

Brutuses, I've always loved your colors. Really a timeless look.

Aipl - love yours, it's coming along. How close are you to the beach. (Your dogs are great!)

We are feeling MUCH better about progress than we were a week ago. After 2 or 3 weeks of barely perceptible progress, we were very discouraged and frustrated. Things have picked up again this week, and we are now dried in - shingles finished, chimney for the woodstove installed and flashed, windows and doors in, logs stained. HVAC (geothermal pond loop) started this week too. Only thing left on the outside is a small part of the deck by the back door, the railing for the porch, and decking and railing for the lake-end of the deck. Then they'll start on the septic and well. Insulation and then drywall should begin this week.

We were leaving the site today and saw our very first deer! We knew they were in the area, and had seen tracks, but this was a doe about 30 feet up the hill - I walked out of the house toward the car, looked up, and the doe was just frozen, staring at me. Stayed that way for about 10-15 seconds, then ran off. Wish I'd had the camera in my hand.

Other wildlife we have... some birds nested in the basement before dry-in. Don't know what we're going to do at this point about that - the babies are still there, so of course I can't bring myself to move the nest. (See pic below).

So...a much better, more hopeful week. Builder still insists we'll be in by Labor Day, and I'm starting to think it might really happen.

-t

from up the hill behind the house

basement birds

great room

front porch

June was the month of progress for us. This is where we were beginning of June

This is where we are now

View of Rear of the house: basement and breakfast nook

First level private stairs and framing viewed through garage

Central stair to first floor

Second level floor joists

First level ICF forms
Looks like the riot act worked:-)

t-mac-mo, it's lookng great! We live about a half an hour from the beach so it's not an everyday trip. We have two ponds and live on a small river within a 5 mnute drive of a few lakes so we're in the fresh water a lot more often.

It's very exciting to see all of the progress. Keep up the great work everyone.

I need to get some recent pictures, but at this point all of the interior painting is done, trim and balusters are being painted. Wide pine floors are being installed.

brutuses-I'm wondering if you could give me some info. on the light in your guest room?

janala, it's from Ballards. www.ballarddesigns.com I've been trying for 10 minutes to link, but can't get the web site up. My computer goes from slow to stop at night. LOL Let me know if you can find it on the site.

No pics yet, but the well is in (only took 8 weeks) and the footings are poured. The basement walls should be poured this week and the basement slab next week. It's nice to see some progress.

Well this is where we were as of yesterday around noon... I think that we are moving along at a good pace (we are 5/6 weeks in) considering my DH has done it on his own with a very small amount of help from family here and there.

We moved in!

Where are the photo's please???? You know we're nosey. LOL

Here's a cut out of our "virtual house"; as it would sit on our build site ..........really, really hoping to get the go ahead around August, we'll see!
patience, 1...2...3...4...

I really enjoy seeing everyone's progress. It's good to see other's that are building ICF also. Where we live it's not very common but there are a few. Today we finally poured concrete for the last time. We poured the gables and it's very exciting to be focused on something else. It's taken us about 9 months to pour the foundation, first floor walls, second floor, second floor walls, and finally the gables. Next we put the SIPs panels
on the roof.
If I can get DH to put pictures on I will show y'all. I'm not that tech friendly.

Cork! Pics please or I might have to drop a C note on gas and drive over!

We have been in for about 4 months... lots left to do! Most notably- gutters, porch railings, final grading and punch list as long as my arm.

We finally got our porches treated. Thought we had a "dry spell" - not to be - had rain w/in 6 hours of finishing. Still held up pretty well. Here are some porch pics.

We are focusing on getting the outside down at this point... will wrap the inside over the winter.

Front porch

Back porch

Side Porch

Ignore the muddy pawprints.... Mud is our middle name at present.

Love the porches!!

ponydoc, if you don't mind telling us, what decking did you use? It is beautiful and we are at the stage of having to choose ours. "Wood or composite, that is our question. :)"
Thanks

I just have to share! After many months of getting the 'just a few more weeks' song and dance from our cabinet maker, we have finally been promised a completion date. We may pick up the cabinets anytime after 7am this Friday! I'm so happy I could pee my pants! I drove 7 hours to his shop this weekend to convey our urgency (in the nicest way possible). I told him DH wouldn't let me back in the house without the cabinets. He laughed and said "How big is your car? I can give you one." However, as he promised he just called and said they would be really for pick up Friday morning. The cabinets I saw on Saturday were beautiful, so I can't wait to see the completed and installed package. Here is one of our cabinets. This is the base to a dining room corner cabinet.

Please, please, please, let there be no more delays!

Quick post tonight...just got in a little while ago from trimming some of the whole house sound.....seems like the house owns me especially this week with my wife out of town on a youth group missions trip and my daughter at grammies. We're hoping to be in at month end....HVAC is trimming this week plumbing next and in between my pastor and I are trimming the electric. Switch and plug just about done.....low voltage 70% there......light fixtures tomorrow.

This past month it was finishing tile, hardwoods and cabinets. We still have a little work to go on the cabinets. They are Haas "Wexford". Cherry with Cinnamon finish and designer edge. We have a few fillers and whatnots to complete it but may not have it finished before our CO.....[what's an owner/build without a few weekend projects to finish!]

Island

Kitchen Rear

Sink Base

Kitchen/Family Room floors [dusty]

Dining Room

Hearth/Surround

Wow! Looks like everybody here is making progress on their fantastic homes! We too are making progress. Rough electrical, back deck, front porch, roofing, radiant tubing and fireplaces were all installed. They should be pouring the gypcrete for the floors today and the driveway is getting asphalt later this week. Our contractor also said that the stone and stucco exterior application will begin soon.
So far, so good for us. Knocking on wood...things have been quite easy building a house in Colorado from 2,000 miles away in NYC. All of the planning and shopping ahead of time has really helped that out.

Wow, all those stained cabinets are so beautiful.

Building 2000 miles away. I don't know how you manage it. It is beautiful and coming along so nicely.

Brutuses, love the colors, as usual. Persnick, that's a really great exterior! Sprice, your exterior color and your house site are just wonderful. Ajpl & t-mac-mo, all that wood is gorgeous. doc, isn't framing exciting; it goes from dirt to an actual something so quickly.

We probably won't make the July 31st move-in date, but that's OK. Here's where we are:

Wow, you're almost in. That's fabulous. It looks beautiful.

T-Mac-Mo, love your stain. What did you use?

We have our first photos where the house is starting to take shape. Log work is almost done up to the roof and the deck has a good start.

Artielange - Thanks! It's TWP "Dark Oak," on oak logs. We were little nervous about going that dark, but we love it. Our builder was very skeptical (and still isn't all that crazy about it), but we are very happy with the way it turned out.

It's nice to see another log home on the forum! Where are you building?

Look forward to seeing more pix as you progress.

-t

Jaymie- LOVE your cabinets..... I have followed your saga somewhat but not closely- what are they made of? Just gorgeous.

Kempton- Your floors are really beautiful...

gma j - our porches are ipe- brazilian walnut. I had assumed we would do a composite. As we began to look, none of them were that great. I assumed they would be zero maintenance - not the case at all. We just treated the porches this weekend. They look great- even better without muddy pawprints!! The ipe will last longer than we will with a little maintenance. The cost was about the same as the composites. We have about 1000 sq ft of porches so it was a signifcant decision for us.

Good Luck...

PD

Oh wow, a real log home. That is so cool. Can't wait to see it finished. That would be our true dream home, a log home sitting on a lake. Oh man, it don't get much better than that. LOL

alliern, Wowsa! Love the back of your house! Looks like an beautiful setting. Can't wait to follow your progress.

kempton, You're house looks great. I've been wondering how you were doing. Beautiful cabinetry!

brutuses, Thanks for the additional pictures. You're home is so restful. I think that your color palette is one of the most pleasing I've seen. You are making me doubt my selections, which should go on next week.

ponydoc, Still love your 1000 sq ft of porches. Everyone's house looks so relaxing! Aren't we all blessed? The cabinets are QS white oak stained with MW Red Oak. They should be here tomorrow evening, but we won't unload until 7am Sat morning. I'm SO nervous! Haven't slept in days (or maybe that's months)!

LOVE everyone's pictures!

Thanks a lot. We are building on Deep Creek Lake in Western Maryland. We knocked down a 65 year old tiny log cottage to put this house up. We hope to live in this house full time at a later date.

If you're interested,you can see a blog of our construction by clicking on My Page

Finally we have concrete! The garage will be poured next week. Then we can begin framing! It only took 6 mos to get to this point. *sigh* Thanks mother nature. not.

@ Kempton:
What kind of flooring is that. I love the hand-tooled look.

Not going fast enough, that's how it's going!!! We were supposed to be in months ago, but have had nothing but problems! At any rate, right now we have cabinets in and all floors other than carpet. Countertops will be in Monday. We are waiting to get the stonework done on the fireplace and the wrap around porch, of course, needs to be finished.

Exterior front

part of laundry room

view of the kitchen...

The start of our new build was in May. They have finished putting the trusses up since these pictures. They are finishing covering the roof and will start shingling next week. We have a contract on our current house so it is a less stressful time. Just hope they are finished with our new one before we have to move out of the old house.

Everybody's progress looks great! Can't wait to see what they have done by next month.

Drywall is done and tile is in! We flip flopped on the HW flooring for awhile, but finally decided on maple stained with a custom mix of Special & English Walnut...which is what we had originally planned. We really liked the 8" pine until we saw the stained sample boards in the house. It didn't really work with the style of house we're building. So....the maple is scheduled for delivery next Thursday, and then we have to let it acclimate. It will be awhile before we can get them down, but there are plenty of other things for us to do while we're waiting. :o)

Cabinets were ordered from a local custom shop and are supposed to be ready by the end of the month. We decided on recessed panel doors that are painted with SW Alabaster in the kitchen & laundry and maple with a Special Walnut stain in the MB.

We finally got some pictures loaded. Got started on 7/2.

The blank slate
[IMG]http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh183/kandk715/Spring2008House126.jpg[/IMG]

Excavation
[IMG]http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh183/kandk715/Spring2008House175.jpg[/IMG]

Slab footing ready to pour
[IMG]http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh183/kandk715/Spring2008House213.jpg[/IMG]

The pour
[IMG]http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh183/kandk715/Spring2008House225.jpg[/IMG]

Ready for walls!
[IMG]http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh183/kandk715/Spring2008House235.jpg[/IMG]

Isn't weather great? (our boat in the backgound)
[IMG]http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh183/kandk715/Spring2008House236.jpg[/IMG]

back wall coming along
[IMG]http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh183/kandk715/Spring2008House242.jpg[/IMG]

Third time the charm?
Blank Slate

Excavation

Slab ready to pour

The pour

Ready for walls!

Rain & more Rain!

Back wall coming along

Vertical ICF

Things are actually happening in July.
We finally have drywall! (2 years into our build...aagh!) Interior doors and trim begin next week. They are painting our exterior trim now. HVAC units have been set and should be ready to be turned on next week. My cabinet order has finally been placed (an entire year after I finalized the plans with the custom cabinet maker).

We are trying for a late October move-in....

Oh my! I can post!! Yippee!!

Started on Tuesday clearing land and excavating. Today they should finish digging the basement.

Of course the picture looks nothing like the hole we have :o)

We are at least this far! The house is in Texas and will be stucco and stone.

Here is a link that might be useful:

Some more July updates.

Here is the partially constructed kitchen and granite.

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Here's the almost completed mantle. Just need to insert mirror in center.

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Looking wonderful brutuses. Your DH did a fabulous job with your mantle! j.