Swhite,
It looks great!!! Really coming along! I love the stone you chose. Are you leaning toward tans/beiges for the siding? I had a hard time choosing between about 20 shades of beige when my husband walked over and said, "just get the green". It took him 2 seconds.

I enjoy watching these exteriors as they progress, it goes so fast!

Thank you all for the compliments. I can't begin to express how thrilled we are to be in our first (and only) 'our' house.

Rookie: We came up with all the details. We hired an architect to put our ideas together and he came up with the basic form of the house and the relationship between the various spaces. He did a terrific job, though with the program information my wife had put together, it would have been pretty hard not to. He took the drawings through design development, and then we went out for preliminary pricing. The pricing came back WAY out of our budget, and then the economy tanked, so we took over the development of the plans from him. I work in architecture (not design, though) so it was pretty easy to take over at that point. He had put in (at our request) a bunch of wonderful built-ins, but those were all value-engineered out. The bedroom wing was completely reconfigured for efficiency and cost-effectiveness. Two things lost in that exercise were the upstairs laundry and Jennifer's 'nook,' a REALLY cool away space off the master bedroom. The window seat that is in there now is the way cheaper replacement for that very expensive alcove. All the trim and built-ins were designed by me with Jennifer's approval and suggestions. What we were trying to do is capture the feel of the original design without the sky-high cost. We both feel we succeeded, and I'm anxious to here what Todd, the architect has to say about it.

I do have additional photos of the storage cabinets/benches in the bathrooms if anyone is interested.

BB19: Pretty much all the furniture we have in our 'city' house is prairie style, so we wanted something that would work with that, but we really aren't into the 'heavy' look that a completely prairie-style house can have. We also wanted the house to have a bit of Scandinavian feel, too. I don't know what I'd call our trim, but farmhouse vernacular would work, I guess. The whole concept of this house was to be an updated farmhouse, and the form of the house was to (with the future garage that was also value-engineered out) suggest a typical farmstead with a collection of buildings forming outside as well as inside spaces. We've already had locals thank us for 'fitting-in,' so I guess we succeeded in that respect.

Doors and cabinets are select maple with a clear matte finish; the floors are second and better maple, also clear unstained matte finish. I wanted to do select for the floors, but Jennifer wanted something with more character. I really like the floors now. The floors are Colonial Craft Plank Flor - a site finished engineered flooring for stability over the radiant heat. We came so close to doing white cabinets in the kitchen, but I'm glad we did the maple. Front door is white oak in a sienna stain, but we really wish it would have been available quarter-sawn instead of plain-sawn. As it is now, we aren't that thrilled with it

Paint colors are as follows:

Exterior: SW Moderne White / Roof is Metal Sales Ash Gray
Interior trim: SW Snowbound semi-gloss
Ceilings, closets & workroom downstairs: SW Snowbound
Link, laundry room & hallway to laundry room: SW Humble Gold
Bathrooms: SW Grassland
All other rooms: SW Ancient Marble

We knew we'd like the colors, because our current house is virtually the same : )

Jay

I guess I screwed up on the link to the rest of this week's photos. Here's the correct link.

Jay

Here is a link that might be useful: The rest of today's photos start here

Jay,

Thank you for sharing. That home fits perfectly with the landscape. Simple but beautiful. Great job!

Tooskineejs! I swear I shrieked out loud when I saw your pics. And I am NOT a shrieker. You'll have to trust me on that. Your house just oozes charm. Now, excuse me while I go back and drool over your house.

tooskineejs, not enough interior photo's! PRETTY PLEASE post more!

Jay, really nice house! How much land do you have? What size (height) is your baseboards? Is that ipe decking?

swhite, coming along nicely!

ramor, WOW.. looks fantastic! That's one big kitchen too!

crescent50, beautiful home! Love your daughter's built in's, how large is her bedroom? I'd love to do this, but think my boy's room is too small. :( (we're downsizing)

We closed on our 5.25 acre parcel here in SW Florida.. now the fun begins. We have to deal with environmental issues Scrub jays & gopher turtles) and jump through hoops and probably pay $$$ in order to get permits, all this can take a year or more! I had hoped to start building by November.. not going to happen!

Tinker: Thanks. We have a little over 40 acres. Baseboard is 7-1/4" in a custom profile. The deck is indeed ipe, finished with Penofin and hand rubbed - I still have the splinters to prove it :)

What the heck is a gopher turtle??

Jay

Thanks for the info Jay. I couldn't quite put my finger on it before but your house does have a light and airy scandinavian feel to it. Nothing "heavy" about it yet still cozy. I'm sure the design architect will be blown away. I think it belongs in an architectural/home magazine. It's just perfect.

swhite10 - Our exterior colors are: Benjamin Moore Carrington Beige (bottom), BM Greenbrier Beige (top), and BM Seashell (trim). Not all of the trim was painted yet in those pictures. The Seashell is in the the very top portion of the wall under the gable in the close up picture of the side of the house.

nutherokie - thanks for the compliment. We love it too! Now if we could just get the build done so we could move in...

aduncan81 - I love your front entry doors. Our front door will be similar with glass on the upper two-thirds, but without the rounded top edge.

thomas0612 - I anxious to see your finished house. I think it is going to look really cool.

jumab - those back porches look spectacular! One of my favorite things is when the living area in a house connects with and extends to the outside.

Hi Tinker- sorry I am just seeing this now.
My daughter's room is 12x15-- not so big so we are hoping that the built- in will be both functional and pretty.
We are doing lots of built-ins throughout the house. I love the look & anticipate having to buy a lot less furniture as a result.
Here is a more recent picture of Katie's room. We are waiting on doors.

I love your house crescent. Lots of nice trim work, built-ins and large windows. Your house also has great curb appeal. Only problem with your house for me would be too many floors:). I have a basement and 3 floors in the house I'm still in and I'm getting too old to climb all the stairs.

I really enjoy seeing all the pics each month. All the houses are different but beautiful in their own ways. They all appear to fit the climate, area and personalities of the owners.
Ramor - I've been watching your for some time and the outside was great, but the interior is fantastic!
Jay - If I hadn't seen it myself, I would think your pics were in an architectural magazine.
Lauramn - Love the view!
Crescent50 - Gorgeous details in all the rooms. Your daughter is so fortunate to have this beautiful room. I love the pendants in the kitchen.
Tooskinnejs - Wow!
Our build started on August 5th but our builder walked away a week ago, framing had just started. At first I was devastated but now see we were actually fortunate he left so soon into the build. We've kept the framing crew working with some GC's consultingi and helping us out. We expect to get two bids on picking up from here on out. I'll post pics in a week or two. I think one GC gave us the best advice. He said to look at the build each piece at a time, instead of freaking out when we look at all of it.

Final update to this thread - Our range is in, so the house itself is done. We still have a lot to do/have done to the area around the house, and then further down the road the restoration of the rst of 40 to prairie.

Jay

Jay- Absolutely beautiful!

Ramor-- thanks for the nice words. I grew up in a 3 story house & couldn't imagine anything else. However, we did do a full bath rather than a powder room on the main level just in case we ever needed/wanted 1 story living. It is attached to the office which could easily be converted to a bedroom.
I keep hoping that you will post more pictures of your beautiful home. Our kitchen is similar (wellborn savannah- cocoa & greystone) & I love the accent piece behind your range.
Would you mind sharing details?-- We are doing a crema marfila subway backsplash & I love the idea of adding some color/design.
Thanks so much!

We moved in over the weekend. I am exhausted, but WOOHOO! Will post pics when house is uncluttered enough to take some--might be October. LOL

Vonda

Crescent- LONG TIME! OMG i am in love with your house-- it is amazing!!!! What color blue is in your master suite? Please please post more pics as you move in.... CONGRATS
PS arent you in NJ too??

crescent just read the posts and see your paint color- oops lol
such a great great house!

pamelah,

Sorry it took me so long to get back to you. I was waiting for the foundation walls to be finished, so I could show you what is actually house vs. what is retaining walls for the yard and parking area. This view shows the foundation walls the best.

And here is the shot you requested from the back of the lot. It's a hard shot to get because the lot drops off so much and there's a dirt pile in the way. About 2/3 of the way back, you can just see the footers for the back wall of the house, although they've been covered up by a good bit of red mud.

buckhead- WOW! Thanks so much for posting those pics! It's going to be great to watch this build.
There is a part of me that would have enjoyed construction as a business. Dad built boats and houses; my brother is a nationally acclaimed structural engineer. There's just something magical about watching a difficult project progress to completion.

pamelah- Can I adopt your nationally acclaimed structural engineer brother for this build? I may need him!

Thankfully my builder is used to hanging houses off of cliffs in the North Georgia Mountains, so my steep lot is no problem for him and his subs.

Crescent50---can I ask where you got your daughters ceiling fan?? I have been looking for one JUST like that with no luck. Thanks--and beautiful house pics!!

crescent,
I'll post some more pics later when the house is cleaned a little more. The floors have to be fine sanded once more and another coat of polyurethane. Our builtins need cleaning and adjusting plus some still have missing hardware. We're going to change a couple of light fixtures, landscaping etc.

If you are asking about the medallian over the cooktop, we got it from a company called waterjet wonders.

Here is a link that might be useful: Medallian

jolsongoude

I absolutely just LOVE your house!!! We're going to start building this Spring...our first 'real' house in almost 34 years. Where did you get your design? I love the simplicity. We're building very simple & small. We live in snow country Alaska so we have to keep that in mind.

Melaska:

Thank you. The basic design has been living in our heads for quite some time now. The idea of two structures connected by a link was cemented in 1992 when we saw the house that was featured in the movie 'Housesitter.' We had a ton of ideas that we had developed over the years, but couldn't really put them together into a cohesive form. We hired a local architect, who was able to really bring our ideas to life. The rest of the story is written in another post above. Good luck with your build - simple rules!

Jay

Here is a link that might be useful: Housesitter

I enjoy looking at this tread (and pictures) over and over!

aduncan81, can you tell me about your front doors? Love them! Your whole house is turning out beautiful!

cresent, just want to say again, I love your home, very beautiful! Love your built-in's and I'm sure you'll love them as well!

buckheadbilly, no, no, no.. you are NOT the tortoise people, we are - literally! We have gopher tortoise on our property and can't even clear our site much less build until we sfely get a permit, and relocate them.

lauramn, I was 28 when we built our first home.. now I'm 49 and on #6! Hopefully, you'll stay more put than I do! You'll love your land, and it is getting harder and harder to find!

montanapacnw, I don't think I commented on your view before.. WOW, breathtaking!

Ramor, hope you received that CO and are busy moving! You'll soon feel like it's "home".

nutherokie, looking good!

tooskinneejs, I don't know how old your neighborhood is, but you made your house look like it belongs there! I really, really love your home and can't wait for MORE pictures!

WINDOWS.. I have been reading the window forum, but all so confusing! I'm leaning to Anderson or Pella, and see labels from both companies stuck on some of your windows. (looks like more Anderson) How did you all decide?!!

tinker, I feel your pain on the gopher tortoises. Getting a permit through the arborist division in the City of Atlanta is a similar process. Apparently we own our land but not our trees.

Ramor- thanks for the link. I love the medalians ! Now I just have to pick one :)

Suzinj- Hello there- hope you are enjoying your new house. Yup- we are in NJ & so excited to finally be getting ready to move. It has been a long road but we are really happy with how things are turning out. Just a few more weeks...

arkansasfarmchick- congrats on moving in-- can't wait to see some pictures.

stephpi- the ceiling fan in my daughters room is four seasons by Casablanca with a matching light kit. I want to find lavender shades for it.
Hopefully this link will work:

http://www.casablancafanco.com/Products/Accessories/Ceiling-Fans/Parent-Fitters/K44V/
Light kit for daughters room
http://www.casablancafanco.com/Products/Ceiling-Fans/Four-Seasons®-III-84U11D/

Jay,

Thanks for that great link. I do remember that lovely house in the movie - I can see it was a great inspiration for you.

Crescent-
Hi- so what part of NJ are you? I have not seen a house like that in our area (South brunswick).... we are in a community of homes... yours looks like a single custom home-- do you have neighbors? I really wanted to be in a neighborhood- but i loooove the charm of your home... congrats!

Heres some updated pics-- i'm still searching for more furniture/artwork... a work in progress

foyer
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Office
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Sons room
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Daughters Room
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Kitchen
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Family room- bought one large print- thinking i need maybe some shelves with stuff on them or more art-- over 25 foot ceilings...
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Powder room
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Hallways
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Backyard- just had overseeding done yesterday- so hopefully green grass next year (also had irrigation put in)
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Suzie

WOW! Magnificent home...love the colors. Where is your fridge? Your daughter must feel like a princess in her room. And you all must feel like royalty in your hot tub! :)

Melaska- thank you so much-- fridge is on the other side - didnt want to put to many pics-- its with the double oven.... my daughters room is secretely my favorite room- lol

Thanks tinker! The front doors are 8 foot arch top with 6 pane beveled glass. I believe the manufacturer is Masterpiece Doors. Very solid build.

Posting more pictures of house progress today...

Wow Suzi- your home even looks more beautiful than I remember! Thanks so much for the pictures-- I am looking for some decorating inspiration :)! Your daughters room is just perfect.
I love the back patios and hot tub too- very resort like with the different eating and lounging areas. When the landscaping grows in, I am sure it will be even better!

Thanks for the nice comments on the house. It is a custom build but part of a new cul- de sac. There will eventually be 10 houses on the street so I am looking forward to neighbors- kids for my little ones to play with and teenagers to be babysitters :)

GL with your decorating-- now that we are finished with most of the house selections, I have to start thinking about furniture, window treatments, etc. UGH-- it will definitely be a "work in progress" for some time!

suzieng - Fantastic home. What a good job you have done decorating so far. Your daughter's room is exquisite. I love the dressing table, chair and light fixture. I imagine the outside will be luscious with the landscaping and hot tub.

We've had lots of progress since I posted the pictures on 9/1. Concrete poured, cabinets are mostly in, trim work is mostly done, tile is mostly done, porch columns are in.

We have a driveway now!
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Bar cabinets
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Dining room ceiling and built-in
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Jack n Jill cabinets and tile
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Mudroom bench and lockers
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Master bath tile and cabinets
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Living room built-ins
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Kitchen cabinets
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crescent
I just love my creamy white faux wood blinds (they will not warp like the real wood ones) and the light color is very open--- would look nice in your home!

What part of NJ are you in? Wondering where they are builing this custom culdesac??

Thanks for the compliments- work in progress...will it ever be done??

Hi Suzi! We are in Berkeley Heights- right off of Rte 78, about 10 minutes from Summit.

aduncan-- great house & such quick progress. Your wood built ins around the fireplace are beautiful.

I just got into to this "progress" group in August, and I think I enjoy seeing everyone else's beautiful pictures more than posting my own! jolsongoude, this may be your final "progress" post, but I can't wait to see more pictures after you've completely moved in and settled. Your house is absolutely lovely.

Our biggest achievements have been sheetrock, and getting a lot of the HardieShake siding up. It's amazing what a difference it makes to get the sheetrock taped and mudded, so you can start seeing actual rooms instead of picturing them between the framing!

Siding so far, on side of house you see as you first approach it:

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front view on 9/17/10

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Sheetrock! Back wall is where the cooktop and double ovens will be.

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View to entry from inside: The ceiling is still open, because it will be wood paneled, w/large faux beam running from rock columns on left side of room to pinnacle, then down to matching rock on the right (entrance to actual kitchen space.)

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Sheetrock in Great Room
from L to R: back of house windows, opening to my Library, rocked column defining main tv wall for family room (other rock column barely visible), and passageway to "vestibule" type area leading to master suite part of house.

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view from back of playroom toward the loft stairs and the entrance (to the right of photo)

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I'm sorry I posted so many pics, and there are more in the flickr album I've linked to. Here's hoping October brings this much progress, but I know how much things slow down once you get to the interior. I just got my cabinet maker started on Laundry Room and youngest boy's bath, and I've got to make a decision on interior doors. So, we'll see how it goes!

Here is a link that might be useful: 2010 Construction w/new Sept photos

Riley605, your house is beautiful! I'm really curious about what kind of beam you'll use to span your stone columns and what kind of interior doors you're considering. We've got those decisions up soon. You're really closing in. Do you have a move-in estimate?

Wow! Impressive already with the stone columns and windows! Can't wait to see it with the faux beam and cabinets in it. How wonderful for the kids to have a play room with a stage and a loft.

Thanks, guys! The beams will span the ceiling, actually, going up from stone column to the long beam that will run the peak of the ceiling, then down the other side of the ceiling to the corresponding stone column. I think we'll just do that in the two places we have columns facing each other. Gets too busy, otherwise.

While we're still debating the costs of real wood to panel the ceiling vs. installing engineered hardwood flooring up there, the beams will be fake - most likely from fauxwoodbeams.com . My parents used them, and it's amazing how beautiful they are!

nutherokie, it's funny that you asked about interior doors - that's my Waterloo right now! In fact, I just posted a question about options I'm considering here on the Building forum. I wondered if I should cross-post to the Decorating forum?

It's a tough call, because anything contemporary is really expensive if it comes ready to install. We're debating ordering birch slab doors, and having our trim carpenter and painter work together to get a recessed dark-stained panel look, w/stick trim in a lighter color. There's a link in the post that sorta illustrates what I'm trying to door, but right now houzz.com is my best friend for interior doors and trim ideas!

I can't wait to see the cabinets: we're ordering true European slab doors from a guy in Arkansas, because no one around here has the proper equipment to build a solid wood, truly frameless cabinet door. In fact, I had to talk my cabinet guy into building frameless AT ALL - since the doors are being ordered and adding to the cost, we'll only use them in the kitchen and around the tv in the great room. They're really all one room, so I want to be consistent. But I'm ordering my oldest son's bath vanity online, we're on-site building a more cottage style for my younger son, and I have NO CLUE what kind of cabinetry we'll have in the master!

When we start installing cabinets, I've got to post some pics of the ones we lost from the last house - they were so completely customized to me and my DH, we didn't even have the same countertops, door styles, or mirror frames. Just all the same wood matched, and it was stunning. I miss the cabinetry, but I do NOT miss the all-slate floor/tub deck/shower/etc. from that bathroom. Never again w/the natural slate.

Here is a link that might be useful: Gotta do it: old cabinets that I loved

Hopefully, we will be moving in soon. The hardwood is being installed this week.

jay, any chance you could share your floorplans? They are unbelievable.

Alto:

Thanks, they're on my website. Link below.

Jay

Here is a link that might be useful: Vitt Hus

I feel like things are in slow motion with the build, although the builder says he's trying to get us in before Christmas. I don't know if I should laugh for cry! Thankfully we're in no hurry as the home we live in now still hasn't sold.
Electrical, plumbing, security, and audio are all in. Insulation should start soon.
Here are some current outside pictures. We are using CertainTeed preprimed plank siding and shakes. I actually love the greenish gray color of the siding, so I'm leaning more towards those colors now. If you have any color suggestions, I'm interested since my list has been narrowed down to 24 colors. I think I have a long way to go with my decision!!

One side is complete:

Front:

Front from angle:

Back (sorry, I was losing daylight quickly!):

I thought we'd be done by now. But we're not! Here's our progress. Its an open floor plan.

Family Room

This will be a kitchen one day

The trim is going in and the rest of the flooring went in yesterday.

crescent50---love the looks of your new home. I think we have similar taste. Would you mind sharing more details and/or some close-up pics of your master bath tile. I think it might be the same mosaic that we have picked out!

Thank you everyone for sharing. We are slowly working on electrical/plumbing/hvac. No great photos to share this month. Hope to post better progress soon!

Here is a link that might be useful: Our New Home

oops, sorry, cresecent50! I got too excited at your pics and didn't scroll down before posting. Thanks for the info :)

It's so fun to see everyones progress and how great your homes are. Some of your homes blow me away and some the views are spectacular. Congrats to all of you!
I closed on Sept 3 and my children and I moved in 3 weeks ago which was a BIG ordeal. DH was out of the country for his parents 50th wedding anniversary and a huge International convention. At first we said we'd wait until he got back but after 10 months in the camper it was time to move to our new house.
WE LOVE LOVE LOVE our house.
I'll post more pics on a new thread in a few weeks but for now here we are:
I designed this home and it all started HERE because of my piano.

Hello, long-time lurker here. Thanks everyone for the beautiful pictures. Many inspiring ideas!

tooskinneejs, could you share what roof shingles you used, including color? It blends so nicely with the color of the siding!
Nora