Per our discussion above, here is the link to the discussion on what to put onto the shelves of built-in's. It had gotten all the way back to page 15 of decorating forum.

Here is a link that might be useful: linky

@loribug- You are cracking me up! We are also friends with our builder but I fear that by the end of this process either he or I is going to kill the other! I really wanted to text back and ask him why on Earth we are waiting through 2 sunny days until a day with 60% chance of rain to start framing, but alas, my hubby kept me from giving that response!
Just keep telling them March 1st, maybe it will subliminally set up in their brains!!

I have pictures!!
Front of the house

back of the house

side of the house

Breakfast room

sticks - this is a favorite photo
{{gwi:1519496}}

rb-yes, white trim through out. It will be a soft white like our perimeter cabinets.

akshars-what is that above your roof? It looks blue, vaguely familiar yet I don't fully recognize it. Is that the SKY? LOL. Gorgeous. I have yet to see our shingles. It rained during so they were all dark and then it promptly snowed the night they finished and they haven't been seen since. Insulation and drywall are next for us too. We are very close in timing. :)

marjorie-thank you for linking that back. I tried to find it but after getting to page 6 with seemingly no luck I was going to ask if you remembered the name of the thread. I will definitely check it out. I can't wait to see some pics! I was struck by that tile you pinned - the Jeffrey Court glass, ohhhlala. Very nice, I am bedazzled by it.

uponthehilltop-count me in the mix of oh no it's too small, oh no it's too big, oh yes, maybe it's just right! It's like the 3 bears story. On the GC thing, that is tricky oh so tricky. We are GCing ourselves so it's dh (and I can only get so angry with him ya know)...and he hired his brother to frame.......... So, it has been a lesson in patience with a few nice days we had missed and then we had crap weather for a lot of it but I have to say they have done a stellar job. The walls are square and they have been very picky about it. So it's not been the fastest but they do great work (which is I suppose what you get when you hire someone that does more finish carpentry than framing-very precise). Just the other day I told DH, if you weren't my spouse and we hired a GC - just know that this would NOT fly but I'm married to you and see you every day so I will deal with it but that is the only reason why I am letting this go! So DH has been doing nearly all of the communicating with his brother. Besides the 2-3 weeks of delay that it sat idle before they got started it has went smoothly and we have managed to stay just ahead of the weather. The electrical, plumbing and HVAC (all people from our community or that we know) have so far went off without a hitch as well. Hang in there.

lori-ohhh, so that's all I've gotta do. Well I am going to pick my date and start chanting it! We are saying hopefully Spring Break (which is the first week of April). So I am going to drop the hopefully and pick that firm date! Issue is that we are flooring and painting and trimming and bricking the fireplace ourselves so if we don't make it we will likely be to blame! 30 minutes? Really? I need to get my act together. I have spent HOURS surfing for lighting. I did finally review that with DH and placed the order today. Moving on to counter tops. I decided to just go WITH the ID and GET.IT.DONE! We are going to pick a date and shop till we drop and I am checking it off the list darn it. Count me in on being glad Christmas is done. So sad to say but sometimes with all of the busyness it sucks the joy right out of Christmas. :( And New Years? Whatevah, it's just another day 'round here.

mlweaving - cross-posting so I missed it. Love love love those windows in the breakfast room and your porch and of course the dormers! :) Very nice and it is coming right along!

mlweaving - I love those photos! I love your porch area!
Autumn - thanks, lol! If my hubby was my GC I think I would need to be medicated to make it through! Glad things are being done CORRECTLY. That is certainly most important!

Thanks to everyone who responded about my slab size question...

We only have a dirt pad right now with strings around it to mark where the slab will be formed up but I just found a good deal on some lights and made an order. Six lights for 39.95, that is only 6.65 per light fixture. So, I ordered them for the closets and pantry. For the those who don't know...I'm a low budget build. I don't even have lights figured into the budget at all, so this is a third of my lighting and it's a big deal. And I like them, they remind me of something I might of seen in my grandma's house.

Dez

Uponthehillptop- I've had days that I want to email our GC and ream him and my hubby has to talk me off the ledge as well. I can't even count the days where there has been absolutely no work done on the house. We've already passed our initial close date, so every day that goes by makes me want to lose it. Haha.

Mlweaving- the porch is great and the windows in the breakfast area are wonderful.

I'm really hoping for no more snow here in MN so we can get some siding! Crossing my fingers. I told my husband today, the are literally going to have to plow are yard to do any siding or brick. There is easily 4 feet around the outside.

Uponthehilltop- It's very normal unless you are their only project and the only project of all the trades. Going days/weeks sometimes with no work done is normal, a good GC will do his/her best to schedule all the trades to keep things moving. But sometimes they or the trades are busy and work does not get done until the trades are able to come, sometimes days, sometimes a week or two later, frustrating I know as we have been through this a few times. In the end you won't likely remember this, it's just another job to them, your dream home to you. But it all eventually comes together. :)

Great progress everyone, love looking at all your homes. We've taken a break for Christmas so have not been to the site lately to see what's happening. All the finishing carpenter work and built ins should be done, basement development should be ready for texture and paint in the new year. I'm excited now to see the progress. :)

Happy new year and building everyone, looking forward to all of us in our new homes soon! :)

This post was edited by xc60 on Fri, Dec 27, 13 at 0:54

Uponthehilltop, We have a standing meeting with our GC every Thursday morning. We change this sometimes if we need to meet or he has any questions for us. When we meet we try to get the plan for the next week and what inspections are scheduled and any questions we have. I think having a weekly communication with GC/Foreman would be good. And it is common not to have much work done for a few days once in a while. But if it goes for too long and to frequently I would have a chat with the GC.

Mlweaving, Love the breakfast room and the dormers.

Lori, March 1st will be here in no time. I think you will have all the pretty things soon.

Autumn,
Hah Blue sky :) One of the perks in living in California. We have had a dry season so far. I am not complaining as we got through to rood complete with out much rain. Hope you get to see the shingles soon.
Yes our time line are very close.

rb24, I can understand your frustration with the delays. Hope things go smoothly from now on and we get to see more pictures.

jDez, wow 39 dollars for 6 fixtures is great deal in deed.

jdez-always a good feeling to get a deal! Last house for a remodel I snagged a kohler memoirs pedestal and sink for $60 bucks total. I still get excited when I think about it. Lowe's was changing out their display and I was at the right place at the right time. :) Everyone has their limit on their budget - I think we are low-mid range and it is still just as exciting. We are putting in sweat equity to allow us to afford certain things that otherwise we could not. When do you anticipate pouring? Are you in a part of the country with decent weather right now for it?

akshars-somehow I missed you were in CA, knew it was someplace warm and indeed it is. I bet it's so nice this time of year! Any closer on choosing a stone? My plan is to go on a day once the kids are back in school and make a selection. I am still all over the place in choices...

xc60-take some pics! I'd love to see your built-ins. :)

rb-we are supposed to start with siding on the 2nd and we are supposed to have single digits for a stretch at that time also. We have had about a foot of snow in the past couple of days. I think it's time for a little lul in the weather action so we can get some good building days in! DH has been bringing the snow blower back and forth blowing out two drive ways - what a drag! We aren't even planning on doing brick until spring at this rate - and the front porch wasn't poured before the snow hit. :(

uponthehilltop - the GC and I work different schedules and so you'd think the communication would be so EASY because we live in the same house but I've found a few oops's where we have not connected on something that we should have. And so it goes. All is well that ends well.

Autumn 4 - We had actually allocated $2k for lighting in our budget; however, our dirt costs $1800 more than we planned and the building permit was three times the amount we thought it would be. So, now, every paycheck, I buy lights out of our checking account. And I plan to shop the Habitat for Humanity ReStore when the interior work begins. Hopefully I can find some good stuff. If all goes well and we sell our current house for a decent price, there should be only about a five year mortgage with low payments or no mortgage if we get really lucky. As for the slab, no problem, they plan to pour the concrete next week. We are in South Louisiana. No freezing here. It has gotten to 30 degrees a couple of mornings but only for an hour or so. No worries. (Now watch the freak ice storm of the millenium hit the coast)

jdez-sounds very familiar. Our lighting is also a 2k budget (with ceiling fans we are slightly under) and our dirt also went over but more like 2500-3k. :( Lumber was also much much higher than anticipated (we worked off of numbers for a fairly recent actual build but didn't realize lumber had jumped as much as 45% from when it was built, ugh stupid stupid and knocked the wind right out of us!). We had sold our house though so we continued to move forward. Our goal was similar - low to no mortgage but with the lumber and ending up with a slightly larger home than we had considered we will have a 15 year mortgage. Not terrible but I am still somewhat disappointed, we worked so hard to pay the last one off in 15. Our intent was not to go back into debt or certainly not 15 years worth. All choices we have made though. I sincerely hope you are able to keep and meet your goal, rooting for you all the way! I haven't heard of any freak ice storms going your way - but my parents lost power on 12/22 due to ice and still do not have it back. :/

SIDING!!!

Now I have to go back & catch up :)

hilltop... You know I'm the entertainment committee around here, right?
I just try to keep every body sane lol

I would give my EYE teeth for my builder to text or email. That's part of the problem... I text his wife lol She's a wonderful woman! I can't do that during the day though, b/c she works a separate job of course.
One of the contractors is another friend, and he texts with the best of them, so I text him pretty often. He did our roof & siding.
DH talks to builder more than I do probably, but I still don't know what the He!! is going on! lol
Now if I could just get someone to tell me when the dang insulation is supposed to be going in, I'd be happy happy happy!!

Yes... everyone pick a date and chant!!!
MARCH 1ST MARCH 1ST MARCH 1ST. Or you can just chant for me, what ever works for ya! :)

Marji!!!! BEAUTIFUL home. I am in love....

I've already forgotten all the other stuff I aimed to comment on!

So after all that rose colored glasses, glass half full, it all works out talk - only the electricians showed up today! No plumber and no hvac guy. Hmph!

lori-of course I love the dormer shot, love love love it! I wanna pick March 31st but I better not, March seems awfully close. I am going with April 4 (April 1 does not sound like a good idea-haha)! April 4!!! So how long has it taken them to side it? Is this a week long thing plus or several days? I can't wait to see siding. Ahhh, it's a HOUSE!

Lori,The siding looks great. I like your approach of choosing a date and keep telling the contractors that. Hope you make March 1st.

Autumn,
I think I am going to go with Terra Bianca. I had a chat with the ID today and she said it does not look busy and to not worry about it. So we will try to find a back splash and flooring for the house on Monday and based on that make purchase of the slabs.
Hope the hVAC and plumber show up next week. Great news on being done with lighting selection. So what did you select?

JDez, It is great that you are able to do this with out a mortgage.

Yesterday was on of the few times DH or me did not to the builds site. Curious to see if they did any work yesterday. I will go today and check it out.

House is completely enclosed now. Plumbing and electrical are in. Doors have knobs and can lock. I'll post the back of the house next.

Back of the house.

yay for locking doors Kelli!! :)

I have my locks, I should probably put them on lol

Let's see...siding, started Monday or Tuesday... maybe (I've lost track already) and they should be done today with a holiday in there...

This post was edited by loribug26 on Fri, Dec 27, 13 at 15:54

First floor framing is complete, starting on the second floor.

Mlweaving & Lori--your houses are very similar in style to ours. They look great! Hopefully soon we'll have dormers.

Mlweaving--love your breakfast room!

Lori-siding looks great! March will be here before you know it.

Kelli--that's great to be enclosed. I can't wait until we get to that point.

JDez--love your lights and the great price.

Yay Kellie for being totally closed in and having some of the mechanicals done.

Lori, love your siding! I'm waiting with bated breath to see inside pics of that fab window wall.

Akshars, I'm so happy you chose the Terra Bianca. It's gorgeous! I know I'm not one to talk, since my backsplash is chosen and I'm thrilled with it, but if you don't find the best bs don't let that hold you up. Again, if you go over to kitchen forum you'll see many many that are ABB.

Framers are almost finished. Siding is due to begin next week. And we have been out to house every day for the last several days. And we are finally biting the bullet and have decided to change the framing in the upstairs bath. I don't know how this got past us on the blueprints, but the bath is ridiculously narrow and broken up by a linen closet in the middle of the room, and it just doesn't work. The builder agrees with us, and even the foreman of the framing crew mentioned it to the builder - that it's a crazy size. So we're discussing options, but I think we're going to go with the least expensive and least intrusive option - take out the linen closet. the bath will still be stupid narrow, but we can make it work.

Also went to the tile and flooring place to review selections and choose something else for the master bath floor. I'm thrilled with the travertine hex tiles we chose. The American Olean tile we had chosen for the shower bath were way to MCM for our house.
This pic shows the porcelain tile for the MB flooring, the Winchester tile for the shower walls, and the hex travertine floor tile we just picked out today.

Here is our exterior elevation, I am getting cold feet! What changes would you suggest? Just, please be nice :). It is raining here, so another day with NO work being done....@&)!$@

I also posted a separate thread about it..
http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/build/msg122139278246.html?3

uponthehilltop-I have read your other thread. I am afraid I can't help, I have no knowledge base for that stuff. Many things that I like are sometimes poo poohed around here. I use them because I LIKE them not because they are 'right' or 'true' to a style so I dare not make suggestions. I like your original plan/vision and that doesn't help either as you are trying to cut costs. I do understand the cold feet part though. :( Can you post a picture of the stone or brick you are using? It looks like it's all brick? I do have a ? on the window to the left of the front door - those shudders are actually placed next to the windows and not up by the transom right? I think it was just an oversight because none of the others are like that. I am pointing it out just in case it's not. What if you made the windows on the left side of the door match the one on right?

akshars-I think the Terra Bianca is a very nice choice. It has some flare but it's not in your face.

kelli-all locked in, yay! I'm not sure when we'll get there. I think soon? We are still waiting on 2 doors that were ordered incorrectly. I'm not sure when they are going to be in.

loessismore-looking good! It will really change up once the second floor is on. It's amazing to already go back and look at 'old' pictures.

mlweaving - actually I like both of those knobs and I don't know why they wouldn't work? What about them is making you say that? What is the color that you have chosen for the cabs? Did I miss that?

Hoosiers-where are you? What's going on over there?

I can't remember who asked about lighting but I'll organize that and post it later. So far we have chosen all brushed stainless except for the boys bath. We have natural hickory cabinets up there and I decided I liked it with ORB so I went that way for upstairs. I actually posted a help thread for the dining room and liked what I ended up with, had it in the cart and all then reviewed it with DH and he had a FIT. He hated it so much that he said he'd pay me for it to NOT use it, lol! So I ended up back with a drum shade which I also like and he was fine with. I guess it was way too 'frilly or girly' for him. For someone who 'doesn't care' he sure had a change of tune right quick. It's all about compromises I guess. Turns out he hates the shower head I chose too. :(

I spent 3 hours yesterday sweeping (Lori send that fairy already!) and shop vac'ing the second floor. It's all tidy and good to go. Funny that when I was up close and personal with the floor I realized one of the lines in the OSB looked 'off'. Stood up and realized the wall is totally crooked. It's the only one and I remember dh saying something about it when they were doing it. So anyhow he looked at it and they need to move it. I'm glad I found that NOW. It's off by a whopping 2 inches (framing in the dark under light bulbs has it's disadvantages)! I have to do the main floor today. Not sure I'll be able to finish if it takes me as long as upstairs. It is squeaky clean though. ;)

Alright it won't get swept with me sitting here typing. It's actually 40 degrees and we have sunshine people! YES! It is awesome!

Here is a link that might be useful: Uponthehilltop Elevation Thread

Loribug- love the siding. What color is that? It's hard to tell with the lighting. We are shooting for a dark gray, but I think ours could be a toss up between gray or brown depending on the light.

Uponthehilltop-sorry, I can't be of much help either as we are not doing brick and it's hard to see from the picture. That being said, I have gotten cold feet about almost every selection.

Mlweaving- I like the honeycomb tile look. We had that in our previous house in white. I would have loved that again, but it doesn't fit the scheme of this home.

Stopped by the house yesterday and the painters are hard at work. Plumber was also there working on the furnace. Hopefully once the siding is on, we can get the furnace working.

On another note...I love all of the paint colors. Paint can make such a transformation and I worried about each one. So far, so good. Here is the blue/gray in the office.

The last of the silly holiday pictures- I promise! After the success of the Thanksgiving dinner, we went ahead and had friends over for Christmas brunch. The mantel is a yard sale find that we may use in the house somewhere. I just screwed it to the wall temporarily. The tree is balled and burlapped, and I've already planted it. With any luck, we'll have our first Christmas tree forever.

rbattaglia24....what is the name of the blue/gray paint?

@MushCreek - how neat! I hope your tree works out for years and years to come!!

Autumn and Rtbagglia - Thanks for the response. We are working with our builder to make a few changes. We are in the South and the neighborhood we are building in has very strict ARB guidelines, so that is why the home is mostly brick. We are looking at some beautiful brick options...
I will keep everyone posted as to changes we are able to make!
Thanks SO much!!

Uponthehilltop, Sorry I too am not much help withe elevations. I too struggled with our elevation quite a bit and am still worried about how it will looks when it is done. Understand your frustration with no work being done :( We will have no work going on next week because the city needs to inspect and they have no appointments still Friday of next week :(

Autumn, My Dh is like yours. He says he doe snot care about some stuff but then see it and totally rules out. You are right it is all about compromise. Wow you are spending a lot of time sweeping. Hope you are not too tired.

rb24, The paint looks great. What is the flooring you are going with

Mushcreek, Looks like you had fun. Great that you planted the tree.

Kellie, House looks great. It must be great feeling to lock the house.

mlweaving, Love your master bathroom selections. I have seen similar sea pearl and it is beautiful. It did not work with out cabinet color but I think it will be great in the bath.

loessismore, Great to see progress the second floor will be done in no time and it will start looking like a house :)

They have been working on our insulation and should be done by now. The only problem now is no inspection dates available so drywall can't start till inspection is done :(

We finally paid for the granite so no going back now. We found some backsplash that I liked but it is way more expensive then I anticipated and also not 100% sure it works.
Here is a picture of the backsplash I liked. If you have seem something similar some where let me know. What do you think? Do you think we need some browns in the backsplash?

Hi, guys! We're still alive and plugging along. I got a new computer so I'm trying to set it up. We are living with our daughter in an apartment in their bonus area. Nice living conditions, but internet capabilities here have been a challenge to get to where I keep my computer. Wireless connection has put a strain on everything. Enough about that.

I love seeing everyone's progress! We had a slow week. No one worked last week except my DH. He's put up so much blocking that there aren't many areas in-between studs that don't have it! :-)

We have a couple things scheduled for this week. Drywall installers are starting Tuesday! They delivered our drywall on Friday and placed stacks in each room of the house.

You can see some of the blocking DH put up in this picture, too!

Then, DH has spent a lot of time researching about white mold in our crawl space. He found out it was common in new construction. But, we wanted to get rid of it! We didn't want to go any further in the construction with it and risk getting sick later on. Here's what it looked like looking up toward the subfloor from the crawl space.

Isn't it yucky? Anyway, we've been having a recent college grad installing the vapor barrier in the crawl. He is almost done. DH had him try applying Borax on the mold. But, it wasn't sticking to it and very messy. So, DH found out about a Concrobium Mold Control Fogger and about it's good reviews of using it. So, he rented one from Home Depot. Four gallons of the Mold Control liquid and a couple hours later, it was done. Supposedly when the mist dries it crushes the mold and destroys it, then it leaves a permanent barrier to prevent any future mold. He was glad to have that done. I swear, it's always something else to do!

We also have our stone guy coming this week to install the stone on our chimney. He has to wait until drywall is done before he can install the stone on our fireplace surround. And, has to wait until siding is done before he does our exterior wainscotting of stone.

Our SIL is supposed to call the siding guys to see when they are coming. We hope they show up this week, too, so we can get back on track.

Here is a link that might be useful: Concrobium Mold Control Fogger

Rbatt, are you using full spectrum paints? The photo has all sorts of depths in that grey. I love it!
MushCreek, what a lovely idea to plant that tree. Make sure you've got exterior outlets to run lights to it next year.
Uponthehill, I responded on your elevation thread, although I'm hopeless at visualizing what you're trying to describe in relation to your entry portico. I'm just concerned about the ARB issue and changing anything once it's been approved.
Autumn, say it isn't so!! Oh well, mine is the same. Says he has no opinion, then has very definite opinions on everything.
Which is part of why I said I wasn't sure the glass knobs would work. I have 4 parts to every selection.
1. Do I love it - or at least like it well enough considering price point? 2. Does it function well for intended place? 3. Can I afford it? 4. Will dh like it?
The glass knobs maybe don't meet 2, can I use a glass knob instead of a pull on a long drawer? If I use 2 knobs it'll undoubtedly require 2 hands to open, which is a PITB. There aren't good pull options to coordinate with glass knobs. So there is that. And if they pass ?2 I can tell you already that dh will Hate the mercury glass knobs. Hate them. But I did get a tentative ok from him yesterday on the clear glass knobs from TopKnob. So I need to talk to cabinet maker about function.

Akshars, I love arabesque tile, and I think that would be such an awesome backsplash with your stone. But I'm seeing a greenish cast to the one you're picturing it with. And if it's Pratt and Larson, looks like it, it is pricey. Hopefully you don't have a zillion feet of BS. How lucky though to have tile selections right in the showroom with the granite. I've found two more, online anyway they seem to have more ivory and grey tones and less grey-green, but who knows. And I have no idea of price point. I put in text on the tile where I found it.

Hoosier, didn't see your post as we were posting at same time.
Good to know you're getting the mold issue under control. How exciting to see drywall!

We have a framing inspection Tuesday. The framers are scrambling to get all the hurricane tie-downs on each and every stud prior to inspection. And for some reason they just replaced the column supports that they used for the garage with much beefier ones that are bolted into metal frames top and bottom. The previous supports looked plenty beefy, these look like they would support a small office building. My guess is it's more hurricane structure. I cannot believe the amount of waste of lumber on our job site.

Akshars and Lisa, just saw this home on a blog called Home Bunch.
Thought of you with the question of what goes into the built-ins, and Lisa, this looks like your arches, maybe closer to the proportions you're building. I'll link the blog. The photo's looking toward the kitchen end of the room have an island (HUGE) that looks like it's my blue!

Here is a link that might be useful: HomeBunch

Akshars, I used Arabesque tile from Pratt & Larson when we built our guest house (also CA). It looks great. I used one color, but alternated matte and glossy finishes. It gave it more interest, but did not compete with the granite which has some movement.

Hoosier, Good to see you post. Looks like you are moving along well. Glad you are taking care of the mold now. You are not joking about the blocking :)
Can't wait to see the pictures with the drywall.

Mlweaving, Yes the tile I have there is Pratt and Larson and it is expensive and I really need to be sure if I go that route. The tile does have grey and green in the tile board. The Granite does have hints of green but I think your suggestion of ivory and grey is better. Thanks for taking the time to look it up.
I like the one you have from Filmore tile. I will have check that out and see what the pricing will be. Thanks for the link on the builtins I will read the blog when I get a chance.

Chispa, I think doing the two different finishes on the same tile is great idea to reduce too much contrast. I did see one glass tile with the shiny and matt finish. I would love to see a picture of your back splash if you do not mind sharing it.

I plan to check out a few more back splash tiles tomorrow and also start the bathroom tile selection process.

mushcreek-I think it's a great idea that you plant your very first Christmas tree there. What a great memory!

akshars-dh's are funny guys aren't they, sigh? We have a larger broom but it feels awkward to me so I use the regular shorty but it's not all that fast and I guess I'm not either. It was so nice out yesterday I didn't mind puttering around there. :) I probably over-cleaned it since there is more debris to come but oh well. Re: granite - keep it in context as it's coming from ME - the anti-fashionista who can't find her own style let alone advise someone else. ;) However, you asked and I don't think I'd be looking for brown. I think if the tone is right and picks one of the blues out of the granite I think it looks really good together. I like that it has some variation (tone on tone) in it but not really more than one color that makes it busy. I am hoping to do the same when I get to that point. I like the fillmore that Marjorie posted too. I am smitten with crackle tile at the moment and that is over budget for sure!

Chispa - have you ever posted a pic of that kitchen in kitchens? That sounds like a perfect solution. I second the request for a pic.

marjorie-It IS so! And I feel bad as I had so many people help out on my thread, doh! I couldn't believe how vehemently he expressed his displeasure over it, I thought he was going to choke (okay so the look on his face was priceless and I did actually chuckle a little). LOL! Nice approach on making selections. How wide are your drawers? I hope the top knobs will work for you! Thanks for the link to the built ins thread. I will be reading that also and checking it out for your blue too. I am trying to get a vision for the master bath now. The back entry tile we chose literally matches everything but we think we want to do something different in there and we chose darker cabs for the master also. Busy browsing on houzz...

hoosiers-oh my on the mold! You are right there is always something to do no matter how far you've come. Glad it was remedied and thanks for posting a link to resolving it. I haven't seen anything yet but we don't have a crawl space so I don't know if that make a difference or not.

rb-I like your office paint color too. Very nice. What a relief that you are happy with them all actually applied to the walls! It's so tricky to tell from little paint chips.

uponthehilltop-I am sure your designer will be able to get you to where you need to be! That and the links to homes on houzz.

Karen15 & mlweaving - the blue/gray paint is SW Foggy Day and I really like how it looks in the house. I think the white trim will really make it pop. I don't think it's considered full spectrum, but I guess I'm not familiar with that.

akshars- the flooring in that room will be carpet, it's a den/office, but we have a variation of flooring throughout. I will post more pics once the flooring is laid. So far just the tile is complete. Regarding your backsplash...I love the gray, but I'm a sucker for that color. We are doing a gray subway tile backsplash. I think the color is Dorian.

I'm going to have to make a trip over to the house today and hopefully get more pictures. There is one last paint color I have to see and my husband said it's done, so I'm anxious to get over there.

Went out today just to get a picture so I could get one in on the December build thread. Hopefully, there will much more to see in January. And you're right uponthehilltop, it does look tiny. I hope it feels bigger when the walls go up!

I posted a discussion over on the kitchen forum if you guys could help with feedback...

Here is a link that might be useful: kitchen counter help - new build

rbattaglia24..how funny we have the exact same paint color in our mudroom and bathrooms. We love it. It looks different in every room depending on the light but that's what I like about it :)

Autumn, I love the blue's in general so I think a blue grey which brings out some of the greys/blues in the granite is a great suggestion. I am also no expert when it comes to style :) I just know what I like and what I don't. I love the crackle finish to. Some of the tiles are so much more expensive than I anticipated.

rb24, I did see the Dorian grey backsplash yesterday. That was one of the possibilities :) if we did a simple subway. We may still go that route. Can't wait to see your flooring pictures.

jDez, Yay on getting started. January will have a lot more progress and changes for you.

We were back out at the house yesterday afternoon, and saw that they took the framing for the linen closet out of the upstairs bath, so it's not so crowded, but dh still isn't happy. I could live with it, but if we're going to change it we need to do it now. So we're meeting the builder out there in an hour to discuss moving the framing wall out 2'. I think it's going to be a major expense, dh thinks it's doable.
ugh, change orders.

It is so cold out right now (in the teens) that the framers can't finish the window trim, meanwhile the siding guy starts on Thursday...eek. Apparently the siding is a bit more forgiving with expansion and contraction than the window trim.

Garage door is being installed, YIPPEE! I am so excited for that! I am assuming it will be another big change visually and I can't wait. Plumber and electrician are finishing up today.

mlweaving-ugh. I hope it's easily doable as dh suspects. We are moving that bathroom wall of ours (just straightening) and it appears to be not that big of a deal. Dh is going to do it with the sawzall. Maybe it has to do with what all else you have going on in that wall. Ours has some electrical which will be okay but no plumbing.

akshars-when I look at it sometimes I can see some green but only in every other column (the lighter tiles). The others do not look green at all to me or on my monitor. Stick with what ya love and it will be great.

I am (mentally) ready to start picking paint but I need to finish up flooring and counters first.

Hello all! I wanted to share a pic of our progress. Looks like everyone is moving right along!
@JDez- we are now framing and I am feeling better. Hopefully once framing starts you will feel better too!
Guess we are all on this roller coaster together!
I will post more later!

Our siding and exterior trim is coming along! Still waiting on the round window, which I designed the whole house around and of course it is the last one to arrive! Had to re-arrange the master bath so plumbing and electrical got pushed out a bit, but we are now on the right track. I did have to switch out my tub, which I had already ordered so I am going to have to pay the dreaded "restocking fee." No fun!

We found out that sheetrock prices are going up starting Jan 1 and since we are only a couple weeks away from starting to put up sheetrock, our builder was able to purchase it now and have it held (saved us from going over budget a couple thousand $$). Well, we just got a call from the gas company that they can't put gas in till the end of the month. No gas, no heat, no sheetrock. So now we are trying to figure out other ways to get heat to the house (like bringing in electric heaters), but by the time we spend money on that we might as well have waited and just paid more for the sheetrock!! Oh well!!!

Hope you all have a Happy New Year! To think we should all be done and moved in to our new homes in 2014!! :-). Cheers!!

uponthehill-wow look at that! How quickly the landscape changed with framing. :)

mommytoty-as in end of January to hook up? That is a bummer! We are supposed to start drywall in a couple of weeks, insulation next week. I *think* we are ready to kick on the furnace but I guess I should ask dh! I agree - cheers to 2014 and completing the building process!

Snowy and icy here. Our driveway in particular has been a challenge. The siding was delivered this morning and the truck in park slid down the driveway and hit a tree. :( Today did not start out so hot. Electrical and plumbing inspections complete. Framing inspection mostly done - a couple of simple things he wanted changed and then he'll stop back out to green tag it.

I did get a pic of the front with the garage door...and snow blower. This angle (from the deep deep snow) shows the front of the house much better. It's also unobstructed as I don't think anyone dares park up there anymore. :D We will need more fill come spring.

Happy New Year to all! :)

@autumn - Your home is really taking shape! I love it!!

We have a full house today!

Drywall guys started at 7:00 am. The main guy is out sick. One just came back from being off sick and another told me he felt sick. Yikes! And it's cold inside the house. With all the insulation it's keeping the cold in! As soon as they are ready to tape up the drywall we'll turn on the portable electric heater DH has wired up to our temporary electric. The electrician told him what to do. We were waiting until they put the drywall up for ceilings first before turning it on. And we have a delay on the garage doors. It's been cold, too. Here's the heater we are using.

We'll be using it until our geothermal is installed.

Our stone guys came, too, this morning. They've decided to go ahead and install the wainscoting now in addition to the chimney. So they've been busy all morning installing some weather flashing we asked they use.

While we were talking with the stone guy, we decided to add stone along the whole side of the garage. Here he is measuring for it. ChaChing!

And, the insulation guys came back today to spray in the crawl space.

Can't wait to see the house with drywall. I went down there early and peeked in but forgot to take pics. They had the ceilings in two bedrooms and hall bath up. Hopefully I can see the place late this afternoon.

DH found a very large dent in the chimney flue connectors yesterday when he was running speaker wire. He wants to get that fixed before they drywall the fireplace surround. He couldn't get ahold of them by phone so he drove there and they are closed today and tomorrow. Geesh! And one of the drywall guys just drove up to my daughters looking for DH. They need a 1x6 installed along a certain wall that connects to our pocket door of the master closet. He said the framers forgot to install it. I called DH and he was down by Lowes so he would get one.

I am glad we can clear up these things as we find them and not wait days in-between.

Happy New Year, Everyone!

mlweaving, Hope you can get a solution to our bathroom with out much cost/redo.

Uponthehilltop, Wow you are moving along great. With the framing the house look big :)

Mommytoty, You house is looking great. It is always the thing we want the most we have to longer is'nt it.

Hoosier, Can't wait to see drywall pictures. We should start next week. So do you keep the portable heater on 24 hours or only when workers are working? I was not aware that heater should be in for drywall. We already have our heater but did not know we should turn it on. Glad you are finding and fixing issues now rather than later.

Autumn, Love your house picture with all the snow and I am sure you wish for our weather :). Hope the framing passes inspection soon and you can move on to the next phase.

We are done with insulation and today they are supposed to do the shower mop. spend the whole day yesterday looking flooring and tiles for bathroom and back splash. Narrowed to a couple of options and now need to go with DH and hope he likes them to :)

Happy new Year everyone. Here's to all us moving into the new houses in 2014 :)

Uponthehilltop- your house looks huge now that the framing has started. What is the sq ft on that?

Autumn- looking good!

Mommytoyo- the round window is a great feature. I love it!

Today it was soooo cold here. We are talking -25 and that doesn't even include the windchill. Siding and garage doors were delivered today so I'm just hoping for a few above 0 days so they can get started.

We had a full house today...painters, flooring guy, and trim people. They finished all the trim upstairs and mostly on the main floor. All doors are installed as well. I am so happy I went with the white trim and doors...