edited the post.

Not sure why it posted twice.

This post was edited by akshars_mom on Wed, Nov 13, 13 at 12:32

lori_inthenw, I sent you an email via your profile with more siding details.

[duplicate]

This post was edited by jrldh on Wed, Nov 13, 13 at 16:38

amtrucker, beautifully done! You have a lot of upgrades that I can see. You have transom windows on each of the first floor windows, which, since we're doing it, I know is significant in the upgrade dept. And you have the mantel hood over the range instead of a stock stainless, and tile flooring in your kitchen.
IOW, you have a beautiful home, nicely appointed and well done. Please enjoy it!

loribug, what a lovely picture. All warm harvest and sunset, gives one a feeling of plenty.

We are in the middle of a cold snap and have experienced gale force winds. Given that we live on a boat which is currently tied up to a dock in a marina on the Beaufort River in SC, and last night we lost power to the marina, while clocking 55mph winds, and it got down to the high 30's last night,...just say I'm glad we have a down comforter and that the sun came out today. It's still blowing and cold. I'm wearing fleece and a hat and mittens. It's going to be a long winter living on the boat while we build this house.
If we were still in Michigan the boat would be safely out of the water and in the barn at Eldean in Holland. And if we weren't building this winter, and if our youngest weren't getting married in April, we'd be on our way to the Bahamas right now.
Sigh. But I truly can't wait to get into my house. ;)

Akshars_mom,

Just to let you know we are only about half way done so no end in sight for us LOL. The heat was turned on before insulation as we are living in the house (addition not new build). I wish the end was in sight! We are partway done electrical rough in and plumbing rough in. It is just the heating that is ahead.

Carol

We've been very, very busy here in MO. I was hoping to get my brick done before it got too cold but it wasn't to be. Here are some random shots... First off the door I picked out. it isn't stained yet. I'm hoping when we stain it dark brown it will pop. I love the transom.
a href="http://tinypic.com?ref=2agjdd5"; target="_blank">

Here is a picture of the well drillers finishing up the geo wells. Our water well went 385' and he told me he thought it was one of the better wells he has drilled in a while. I had to have 5 separate wells drilled. The geo wells had to total 750' to meet specs...

Here is the back of the house. The contractor is getting ready to pour the back upper patio and the suspended concrete deck. After that is all done we'll get a roof on the screened-in and we'll be completely sewn up.

I saved my favorite for last. This is our view from our great room. I can't wait to watch the barges and boats going up and down the river. I'm also looking forward to seeing the bald eagles flying the river this winter. I have a lot of folks telling me to cut the trees but I'm not going to. I love the fall colors and the river will be in plain view for 6 months out of the year. The rest of the time it will be oaks and maples...

Good luck to everyone. I hope I can start posting up some interior pictures before long. This has been such a roller coaster ride... at times very fun and other times pretty scary.

Saftgeek-

saftgeek - wow! The door is spectacular - and that view from the back even more so! Awesome! I agree with your assessment of the process. ;)

Beautiful home, Saftgeek! Love your door, wall of windows, and your view!

Mlweaving, are you seasick? Those winds sound horrible.

Carol, I cannot imagine living in the house with your renovation. Just walking inside ours while the guys stapled the roofing felt on yesterday was maddening. :-)

Lori, love love love your house in the middle of corn fields! It's looking great. I think the yellow house wrap just added to the autumn scene! :-)

Autumn, sorry about the rain delays. But it looks like your house is taking shape.

We are also GCing along with our SIL and daughter and using our SIL's parents commercial construction company. It has its advantages and disadvantages. As prepared as I thought we were there are so many things that come up. Just yesterday the roofer called to verify roofing materials we had ordered and asked about white drip edge. We have no white on the house. Well, since the materials were being delivered today, we had to go down to roofing company and pick up sample colors and take to where we are buying our hardie board and trim to match up drop edge with facia color. This was one sample I discovered I didn't have. Then back to roofing place to give them info. Just stuff like that. :-)

The framers think they will be done today. They put in some long days this week. Today's punch list is build the fireplace structure, one closet, framing for two vaulted flat ceilings, install windows and one exterior door. We ordered our front door pre finished so they will come back and install it before siding goes up.

Here's what the house looked like yesterday before it got too dark.

Front:

Rear:

I also picked up sample doors for bathrooms yesterday. We made a decision to go with hickory with a brandy wine stain with a touch of black in it. It blends in great with the mahogany cabinets DH is building and granite. Now I have to take door and granite samples to tile place and make sure what I picked there matches. And, DH has agreed to let the cabinet guy give us a quote for the window seats. DH said he'd make them but he's running out of time and if I wait for him we might not have them until years after moving in.

Never ending! Sure glad we are retired. Can't imagine trying to do this while working.

Hoosier...that's why we aren't GC'ing our own. So glad I have someone I can trust to do it for me, even if it isn't my daddy, which I always thought it would be. He's just 2 hrs away and still driving a school bus, so not enough time to do it all. Close enough though, his son dates our daughter :)

WE HAVE WINDOWS!! whoop whoop :) I barely made it before dark last night, so I snapped a few inside with my flash. I'll get outside views tonight!

{{gwi:1510175}}
{{gwi:1510177}}

I totally had a brain freeze and forgot to order my exterior doors. I knew I was supposed to do that when windows were ordered, but I just totally forgot. So they're going on order today or tomorrow depending on if I can afford what I picked out.

Saftgeek & Lori (and anyone else with recently installed windows) . . . the framers are installing our windows as I type this. Most are already in. Anyway, the framer said to take off all the stickers on the windows ASAP. The longer they are on there, the sun bakes them on and it takes forever to take off. SIL attested to that and says they had a devil of a time getting theirs off later. So, DH is down there removing all the screens and storing them and taking off all the stickers.

I'm glad DH is always around. The framers built the garage windows too large and so had to re-frame that area. They were planning on using some osb and DH said he didn't want them to use that. So he planed some wood for them that was cut to fit the area. :-)

Lori - love all your windows!

Framer called me back down there to determine the height of our master bedroom flat part of the ceiling. After seeing where it is going in the room, now I'm tempted to do something in that flat area. We weren't putting any beams because we have a king heavy wood canopy bed and I think it would be too much as we are doing all stained trim. Hmmmmm. I'm off to houzz to be tempted.

Thank you mlweaving, they are all mid-level upgrades, overall we are extremely happy with how things turned out. Would of love to have done more but can not complain about what we got!

saft- love your door and your view! Looks great!

Looks great hoosiers and lori! I keep showing my DH and saying seeeee, they started the SAME time we did!!!!???? Grrr! My new saying instead of "it is what it is" is "Rome wasn't built in a day", because I swear it's taking long enough you'd think it was as difficult as Rome, lol!

The second floor is supposed to be framed today but a light crew so ??? More rain in the forecast this weekend. The first floor took on too much rain (as in 4-5"). We may need to sand it. :(

juju-how are you doing on the lake? Is the weather okay? It's windy too so I can only imagine that wind right on the water. Brrr!

Good Idea on the window stickers, I've heard that before, thanks for reminding me!!

I think Hoosier is about to catch up & pass us! wow... :)

Autumn, I know fighting the weather sucks. I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to get all the leaves out of the house that are now trapped... from it being open while they were all falling off!

amtrucker, love the countertops!

saftgeek, what a beautiful view! I have trees people keep asking if we're going to take down b/c they are close to the back of the house. I say "Stay AWAY from my trees!!!"

This post was edited by loribug26 on Thu, Nov 14, 13 at 15:52

haven't checked this thread in a while,
Autumn,
We have been into Bekins (Jack-ha! same story with him), and there is a Gerritt's on this side of town too. We may check out Laninga's (sp?) too. Both Bekins and Gerritt's carry the rangetop we want, but I'm undecided on the fridge and they don't carry the same brands so that may make my choice for me (Gerritt's has GE-I'm looking at the Cafe, and Bekin's has KA, which I also liked). I am almost for sure set on the ovens being Electrolux, which only Gerritt's has. Microwaves are completely a toss up (I have no idea how to pick one of those).

I'll post an update with pics later today, but the footings went in yesterday and the forms went up today and the walls should be poured tomorrow (weather dependent I heard it's supposed to rain). We had the landscaper out there to look at our grade as we are making a pretty good grade out the back for the walkout. But he said it's mowable and doesn't need retaining walls so it should be ok once we pretty it up with some plantings.

I cannot believe how much has gone on out on our hill in the past 2 months! They broke ground on Sept 16th and it's been a whirlwind ever since. Windows went in late last week….

(We have since taken the stickers off… couldn't stand looking at them! Glad someone mentioned taking screens out, we hadn't thought of that.)

This afternoon, we were surprised when we got there to see that the guys had just started on the roof.

The sun goes down so early now…. by the time we went in and talked to the electrician a bit, chatted with the neighbor, and checked out the newly poured concrete in the basement, it was nearly dark!

lori-we have trapped leaves too. :) Sounds like a perfect job for my kiddos but we have to get out there before dark to do it!

hoosiers-thanks for the window sticker tip. Have you ever tried backing soda (as a paste)? It really does a great job and a lot less elbow grease!

illini-yes Jack was a hoot. I like the Bosch or GE profile gas ranges but not so much the KA, Bosch or KA dishwasher and thinking the KA fridge. I'm not sure that GE has good reviews with DW. I think I'll go to Gerrit's tomorrow and see what they've got. It's been a while. We had a GE OTR MW and really liked it so when we needed a counter or shelf model I bought another GE. I was used to the buttons and how it worked so we stuck with it. But not sure if you want a speed oven/mw combo. Those I know absolutely nothing about.

carol-love all those windows in that great room. You are moving right along at quite a clip there!

Too dark by the time we got out there to take pics today. I'd say about half of the upstairs is framed and the rest of the lumber and trusses were delivered. KD came out and took measurements and marked out the kitchen on the floor. I really like it and THAT was exciting to see - even if by sharpie on the floor. :)

Went out to our build site this evening. Got there just after sunset, so had to snap pics quick.
We have walls!

Yay marji! :)

Carol, love the prairie mullions... I started to do that, but just went with the old stand by b/c that's what I'm used to. :)

Autumn, I think I'm going to sharpie in my kitchen this weekend :) KD is going to come out soon to measure, but I have preliminary drawings from the plans she's already done.

Carol (OntarioMom), I have been following your journey here. It is amazing that you are able to do so much work on the house while living in the house. I think once the kitchen is done you will start feeling better about the end.

Saftgeek, Great progress. Love all your windows.

Lori, You are moving along fast. all exterior is wrapped up and windows in.

Hoosiers, Thanks for the tip on the window stickers. We are supposed to get them end of November. You are moving along great to.

Marji, Great to see framing on your hous.e You will soon have a farming completed and it will start looking like a house :)

Autumn, Sorry about the weather delays you have been having. Glad to hear framing on second story is moving along.

On our end They have started rough plumbing and we are supposed to receive roof samples today so we check and decide on the roof.

Thanks for your thoughts Autumn and Hoosiers on your Owner/builder journeys. GCing your own build is a stressful, slow journey for sure. It is good to hear that others are working through the process too. Are there any others on this post who are GCing their own projects?

Akshars_mom,

You are quite right that getting the kitchen decisions and cabinet ordering behind us will be a huge weight off our shoulders. I will say that the delays in making kitchen layout decisions costs us months of delays.

All,

Today we are pouring footings in our front to install our natural stone steps (concrete block stringers go in Monday). I will post a picture once the steps are installed. It will sure make a difference as our house will have 5 steps to get to the front door and the front door has looked odd without the steps. After the steps go in the exterior will be 95% done (just need to do landscaping and the railings around balcony and steps). The inside is just studs and some rough-ins done so lots to do and decide there.

Carol

We had a full house Friday. The framing crew, the large roofing crew, visits from HVAC guy, plumber, cabinet distributor, and insulation guy. Poor DH was so busy this week that he barely worked on our cabinets.

The framers finished about noon Friday. They will come back and install front door and exterior laundry room door when those come in. The roofers finished before dark. I don't have a photo of the finished roof but have one I snapped while they were working.

Here is my favorite pic so far on the interior of the house - framed out fireplace to be flanked by two window seats. It also shows the shape of our family room ceiling.

DH and I spent several hours yesterday cleaning the inside of house - sweeping and vacuuming sawdust and picking up nails/screws with a magnet thingy. Then we laid out and marked the kitchen cabinets on the floorboards. Today we have to do the same for the kitchen island, laundry and bathrooms. The plumber and HVAC guys start on Monday. Our high efficiency fireplace is being installed on Thursday and electrician will probably start Friday if plumber is done. Things are moving!!!!

DH is driving me nuts. Now he thinks we should only have one window seat, the one on the left of the fireplace. He thinks the right one will close the room in too much. I'm all about symmetry. I always envisioned both seats. What do you think?

marji-looking good! I know the sun goes down so fast there is hardly time to get out there to snap pics after school pick up/work! I was just browsing that Ming tile you posted. We don't have that much backsplash so I think pricey as it is it would possibly be doable. Have you seen that one in person? Does it read GREEN or is it more subtle? I went back splash browsing IRL on Friday. There is much to see. I think I saw a lot more modern stuff in terms of shape though which I don't like as much.

hoosier-I am a huge reader (when I have time) and love window seats so I'd be fine with 2! However- I have seen many on houzz where there was just one and it looked okay...I thought I had them clipped and I don't! Drat! I am partial to symmetry too so I know what you mean. Very cool ceiling. It's coming right along.

Carol-95% for the outside - that's awesome! What is your timing for the inside? I can bet the kids would think living at the house during renovation would be a cool adventure...at first. I am sure on the parent front not so much!

Visitors - I'll have to finish posting later - appliance shopping on Friday as well.

Hi Autumn,

We really pushed to get the outside done as the neighbours were tired of the eyesore. Living in a house under extreme renovation has been highly stressful for my four kids. They are sharing a room all together in the basement. Living through last winter without proper heat was hell for all. If I knew how bad this would have been or how long it would drag out I would not have built an addition. However, hindsight is 20 20 and we have to finish what we started.

Hoosier,

I would vote for keeping the two window seats. It will look awesome in that room.

Carol

Carol-I am so sorry. I hope in the end it will be worth the agony. You are right, what else can you do but keep going to get to the other side. I can't imagine no heat source-especially in CANADA!!! What won't kill you will make you stronger? ((Hugs)).

Lori-did you get your sharpie kitchen in? :)

On our front-dh framed in the fireplace. Hoping for a full weeks work starting tomorrow. Severe storms right now.

I chose appliances on Friday. We ended up with Kitchen Aid since the majority of what I liked was KA. I think we saved more that way. Illini-Gerrits quoted what Bekins did identically and came in several hundred less and didn't charge for installation. Just food for thought. They said warranty starts upon delivery so we can put money down to secure pricing and not worry about having the warranty clock ticking before install.

It seems every time I make a major decision baking and eating closely follow... :/

Stay safe Midwestern builders!

Hoosier, I too vote for two window seats. I love symmetry too.
Cool ceilings. You are moving right along. They did the roof very fast.

Autumn, Did you decide induction or Gas for the range. Did you order your cabinets.
Hope the storms pass you all soon.

akshars-Hmm, gas BUT after I read your note I checked and KA does have an induction range - freestanding. I am thinking we should choose gas because we do lose power out there but I am very tempted by the induction. I just wish it was a slide in. So I will likely stick with the gas because of that (but I did just email the sales rep for a quote on the induction). How about you? I am waiting on door samples to select the stain for the island and then I will be ready to order. I hope they come in this week!

What is everyone doing for refrigeration? DH wants a french door but I think I would be okay with a bottom freezer single door. We don't need water/ice in the door because we will have a spicket at the sink. Our aisle will be plenty wide. ??

Spent a stormy yesterday making fishtail bracelets with my boys. I guess they are all the rage at school and I was happy to craft since I don't get that chance much with them being boys. :)

This post was edited by Autumn.4 on Mon, Nov 18, 13 at 7:51

Hope all of you building in the Midwest weathered yesterday's storms ok.
Hoosier, add my vote for symmetry and 2 window seats.

Autumn, the pic I posted Nov 8 was taken w my iPhone and is pretty true.
Are your settings set so that you can receive email? I'm going to send you an offline msg.

Carol, don't be surprised if your kids grow up to buy and renovate their own houses. I believe there is a genetic propensity, no matter how uncomfortable the situation gets while you're living in it growing up.
Hope you solve your step issue.

Someone asked who is GCing. We are, and that is the reason I am not on here more! We piled drywall pieces up yesterday. The drywallers are going to haul them off, but we didn't want them throwing them out a window. They have started taping and will be doing that for the next few days. I haven't taken any new pics... I should. I realized that I need my paint colors picked out, as in yesterday. So I am frantically trying to find ideas and get it narrowed down to a few instead of a few hundred, so I can get samples. Lori - your build is flying along!
Trucker - love your porch! And what kind of floors are those. They are beautiful.
Saftgeek - love the wall of windows.

Jen

Autumn,

After much research on the fridge purchase, we bought a Liehber fridge. It has two bottom freezer drawers, and a single door. On the kitchen forum, many like the French door fridge. In order to load and unload our fridge, a single door made more sense. Figure out where you fridge landing space is as that will help you figure out what style of fridge door you might want (if landing space is to one side a single door is practical; if landing space is across to an island the French doors are good.

We got our Liehber fridge as a floor model so allowed us to afford a higher end fridge. It is hard to find good reviews on fridges as many of them don't last long these days (they aren't built like the used to be). The Liebher fridge is quite well rated.

Mlweaving,

Too funny about the kids wanted to renovate someday. I could see that with one or two of the four -- the ones who are more into the adventure than the other 2. Hopefully, the memory of the cold last winter won't stay with them too vividly.

Jen,

I asked about who else was GCing. It is good to know who else has taken on that role. Sounds like you are making good progress if you are at the drywall stage.

Carol

Lots of progress for us since framing started! The basement framing is done and most of the main floor framing is done. The back and front walls went up over the weekend and the big ridge beam is being installed today (Juju--fortunately, they will be able to fix the damage, so we don't have to replace it and hold up the job). They will work on the roof framing this week and hope to be done with framing the end of next week. It is starting to look like a house!!! :)

Here is a pic of the back wall:

And here is a pic of the front.

Hope all the Midwest builders are doing well. I did not realize that there was a Tornado.

Autumn, I am also leaning towards gas as that is what I am used to and we want a 36 inch and the option in induction and 36 inch is very few and available only in the expensive brands. In regards to the fridge we are going with a french door with no ice/water dispenser on the door. I really was tempted by the builtin Bosch but we are already going to be over our cabinet budget so need to watch out here. So we will be doing a counter depth french door mostly from Electrolux.

Carol - OH NO - we have landing space on the island across AND to the left! Such problems huh?. ;)

jennybc-good to see yet another! I am sure when we get to the time that we actually have stuff WE are doing my time will be spent painting and putting down flooring 24/7.

mommy-another spectacular view!

mlweavingmarji-thank you. :)

akshars-at my house we will be learning on the gas stove together. My boys do like to cook even though it's mostly eggs right now. The french door we had quoted doesn't have ice water in the door but it has an internal dispenser which I think my kids would make a mess of so I might not hook it up! There isn't an option without the internal water in french. We recessed our fridge so we can still get the standard depth and save a few dollars there.

Luckily the bad weather split & went north & south of us. But lots of damage all over the state I'm afraid.

I didn't get my sharpie kitchen in :( I wasn't very productive this weekend at all.. now I have a sick kiddo :(

Ordered exterior doors... I may have already said that, I can't remember sh!t. :)

HVAC supposed to start Tues/Weds. Electrician sometime this week too I hope.

Gotta go pick out tub/shower insert asap.

lori-lol! No worries - I think we can all relate to the memory issues. I call my 11 year old my external hard drive because I too can't remember anything. I hope your kiddo gets better fast and that it doesn't spread to the rest of you. Tis the season. :(

Picked out tubs/showers today (got a call at work and you know all my paperwork is at HOME). I guess they come tomorrow for rough in? Glad I already knew what I wanted AND that they were stock items. Geesh!

lori, Sorry to hear about the sick Kiddo. Hopefully he/she feels better soon. We have something going on here also. Both me and my son have bad cold.

Autumn, Thats great that you could recess the fridge. We thought of doing ti but it did not work because of where it was located. I had a couple of questions about your painted cabinets (I saw couple of your threads on the kitchen forum). are the painted cabinets going to be mdf or painted maple? Also are you upgrading to plywood boxes or going with particle board. I am debating this right now. I need to make the selections this week if we want the cabinets on time.

akshars-fridge worked but we do need to pull the base cabs forward 6" so it will make our counter deeper there (short side of L). Cabs: My husband was adamant that we have plywood and framed......so for the kitchen they are painted maple and the stained island I think we are going with alder. The doors and drawer fronts are solid wood EXCEPT for painted. They use MDF for a better finish i.e. less issues with paint cracking at seams due to natural swell and retraction of wood with season change. I linked the cab construction details below.

For the baths/laundry I am okay doing some MDF and frameless - its less expensive and the rooms are not as high use. I am having those rooms quoted by Shiloh (kitchen place) and another lesser line and then we'll go from there. Shiloh is 7 week lead time and the other brand is 3. I hope that helps. It is so stressful!

Here is a link that might be useful: Shiloh Cabinet Construction

Thanks for the details Autumn. The kitchen cabinet selection has been very stressful for me to. My husband hates painting wood so we have been struggling with how to go about it when I was a painted look. We are doing built-ins/window seats also in the great room/dinning which are all open to each other. I do not want that many stained cabinets as it will darken the place. So I think we are finally at the compromize where we are doing the uppers and built-ins in white and the base cabinets and the island in cherry.
I like the look of frame less or inset cabinets so thinking of going with frameless.

Struggling with the particle board/Plywood. I want the plywood but the KD says it is actually stronger so why would you pay the upgrade since we are concerned about the budget.

For your doors is the whole door maple or is it maple is the frame and the center of the door mdf.
Again the KD says MDF is better finish not sure what to do here.

akshars-I know I know - my kd said the same thing about strength but husband isn't buying it so plywood it is. Our last cabs were plywood and held up really well so that's where he's coming from and wants to stay. The company we chose doesn't do mdf boxes so I didn't have to worry so much once we chose the cab mfg but overall it is more expensive (10% most places I quoted).

I believe our door frame is maple and the center is mdf. I think that is pretty common from the several kd's I've talked to. So even if you do MDF boxes the doors/drawers are upgraded to solid wood BUT with paint the center panel is MDF for better finish. That made sense to me.

We were gung ho for inset but got spooked thinking of the adjustment it may needed at seasons change due to wood swell and shrink. If the 'gap' was misaligned and looking uneven it would drive me NUTS. Our house is humidity controlled but I know from our last one that in the summer things still did swell (we had a couple pull outs that would rub a little in the summer) and then shrink (had a few spindles in the banister that would get loose). So anyhow - we decided not to do it even though we LOVE the look and that's how we started down the Shiloh road in the first place as inset was not an up-charge.

Note: Inset cabinets are framed. They cannot be frameless. They are in-set into the frame to get that gorgeous look. We are doing framed full overlay since dh was leery of frameless.

Same design issues here regarding built-ins, kitchen cabs, paint, stain, flooring, and trying to mix it all tastefully and keep it light. Oy.

The painted and cherry combination sound really nice. I think they will go great together. I know I saw a recent kitchen like that on kitchens but I can't remember who's it was! If it comes to me I'll post it.

Be sure to post what you end up with!

This post was edited by Autumn.4 on Mon, Nov 18, 13 at 20:08

Autumn, Thanks for "listening" to me and sharing your thought process while I try to make these choices. I can't discuss a lot of these things with friends as they would not understand all the these details.

My husband also would prefer plywood as that is what we had previously.

For the color choices I am shooting for something like this

[

[Contemporary Kitchen[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/contemporary-kitchen-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_709~s_2103) by Hopkins Architects & Designers Kuhl Design Build LLC

[

[Traditional Kitchen[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-kitchen-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_709~s_2107) by San Francisco Architects & Designers TRG Architects

I will surely keep you posted on what we end up with.

I don't understand the logic for disliking particleboard in furniture. It is a LOT more dimensionally accurate than plywood so it makes for a more accurate final product. Go to HD or Lowes and check out their plywood and their particleboard (or MDF). Which of those is flatter and more even?

There's a reason (and it's not money) why ultra-high end modern kitchen cabinets are made of particleboard and not plywood.

What do you all do with furniture that would make plywood a better product than particleboard? The only time I had particleboard furniture damage was when an aquarium leaked (and that would also have warped plywood or solid wood).

Jrdh, Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the particle board vs plywood. The KD was saying something similar. I think it is just what we used before and comfortable with but we may choose particle board in the end.

akshars-love those pics. What kind of flooring are you doing-have you already chosen it?

I have read also about good quality and bad quality in both particle board and plywood. There is so much information out there that you don't even know exists until you have to start shopping for it. So - I can related to the can't really talk to my friends comment as well. All of my friends that have built somewhat recently went the custom route so yet again all pywood...I didn't have anyone's to look at to compare.

A catalog and pictures just aren't enough to go from and many of the displays I saw were you guessed it - upgraded to plywood or the lower end that weren't great quality anyhow. It's frustrating and overwhelming. My mind tells me MDF would be okay but there is the nag of well what if it isn't and you spent all of this money on an unknown because we have no personal experience with it. Not helpful but that was my thought process. Good luck.

OMG....I disappear for 3 weeks...busy moving...and BANG! Tons of houses becoming homes! Lots of houses that were just slabs...have, walls, windows etc!!! So glad to see so much progress! Enjoy the ride because it will be over before you know it!

I am still moving things from our old house...lived there 13 years and lots of junk to dig through...a slow process, but sooo much decluttering feels great!

Many of you emailed me to know if my house was on Houzz...well, it finally is!

go to www.houzz.com and in the search box type in Konkol...there are several photos of my home, The Nantucket.

I will keep watching the progress of your homes! Go with you gut and get the things that mean the most to you...although we think we will change things out later, but you probably won't!

Moving is tougher than building!!! just my opinion:)

Pam

Although things are moving depressingly slowly here, there was a major milestone- we sold our old house! The closing was today, so we are now technically homeless. Considering the FL housing market, we are feeling lucky indeed to have had a quick sale. It also frees up some money for the new house, and we no longer have a mortgage!

spotty-glad you stopped in! Moving IS the pits! Since we are renting we get to do it twice. It will be worth it though. :)

mushcreek-great news, sold house and no mortgage! That is awesome. Enjoy and hopefully things will pick up for you on the building front. You are on to inside work now yes?

Pam, Great to see you post. Yes moving is hard I have moved twice this year and will need to move again after the house is done. are you enjoying your beautiful views. Great pictures on Houzz.

Mushcreek, Good news on selling the house and being mortgage free. Hopefully things will start moving fast.

Autumn, We are going to with white oak floors. Debating between whether to stain them or leave them as is. The floors will be site finished and we can choose any stain.
Meant to ask you what is the lead time for your cabinets once you order. KD we are leaning towards is saying it is usually 7 to 8 weeks but to expect 8 to 10 weeks because of the holiday :(. We were hoping to get cabinets by mid Jan but looks like it will be end of Jan now :(. we hope to finish the house by mid march.

akshars-7 weeks is what we were told but I don't have sample doors yet so I can't make a choice and actually place the darn order (my fault - waited too long to make a decision on who to use). Our timing is very similar. We are hoping to be moving over spring break!

No pictures because it doesn't look much different from the outside but we should have a roof on by Friday. Yippeeeee!

Where is everyone at on lighting? Have you already chosen what you want for any pendants or chandeliers?

We are in! We're not unpacked enough for photos, but it's nice to be settling in after almost 11 months of temporary housing. It's too late to plant grass, so we're hoping for a hard freeze and some snow cover to contain the mud that is our yard.

Better sneak in my post before this sucker fills! Such a busy month. Spent nearly 2 weeks at the location of our build (doing this long distance) and it was go go go the entire time. Not too many pics to share in the eye candy department but Electrical is happening, Hvac is mostly done, stone is on order (with 2 weeks worth of delays to due product availability >Picked out our granite this trip, Titanium for the Kitchen. Saci for the Laundry. Groin vault in our Master bedroom was a showstopper, every tradesman that walked into the place had to comment on it. Back deck windows looking out on the woods, unfortunately the center transom was sized wrong and has to come out and be replaced, but it still looks pretty good
Great progress this month all!

This post was edited by niteshadepromises on Wed, Nov 20, 13 at 15:27