I have a roof, although I'm not loving the brown color. I didn't have a choice, the siding color and roof combo was a pre approved selection that I couldn't change. Hopefully it won't look terrible with my yellow siding.

I also have porch columns. Electrical and HVAC have started. I need to make a few lighting and outlet changes. My stairwell has a two story ceiling and they are planning to put flush mount light up there, how the heck would I ever change those? So I want the flushmount a to be changed to can lights instead, at least with those I can use the suction cup pole thing, no ladder over stairs required.

I need to decide if I want pendants over my island or just can lights. I don't want things to look too busy so I'm leaning towards the can lights. I also need to decide if I want the schoolhouse flushmount over the kitchen sink/window or a schoolhouse pendant.

This is the kitchen, the sink window is a single, straight ahead

My kitchen layout, but flipped.

What do you think, pendants or cans over island? And for the sink window, a schoolhouse flush mount or pendant?

Amber & Cpartist: the lone shutter is something I cannot change. The builder is doing shutters as an accent and I actually don't mind it. I just hope the colors, now including the brown roof, all work.

amberm145-I think I have expensive taste sometimes too but not on purpose! Oh yes I still hear about some things over here and we have been moved in for a year. ;) The stove is one that crops up. It's a 30" gas slide in - nothing special but dh thought it was already over the top so when I first wanted the Bosch (because it had great reviews and I liked the burner layout) he flipped a script as it was even more than the one we ended up with. Dh is dutch - I reckon it's similar to Scottish in the saving/spending category. Was the leathered really bumpy? Mine I guess I would describe as dimply but I don't mind it at all. I do like the flat vs. shiny so I am really happy with it. Good luck finding the right texture for you and in budget. It's tough.

I'm curious about why honed granite would stain. In my trade, we use precision flat plates made out of a dark gray granite, honed to be ridiculously flat- like .0002". They never stain, despite being exposed to various shop chemicals and oils, including a deep blue dye that we lay out steel with. We clean them with a mild detergent solution. Maybe it's the particular type of granite? It is extremely hard, even as granite goes.

I'll join the white discussion. I went with BM White Dove, in their Advance formula. That is some NICE paint. It levels so well, it looks like it was sprayed. It's definitely a warm white, but not all the way to what i would call 'creamy'. We're going to use it for trim throughout the house.

1Mushcreek, your honing is removing high spots, creating a flat smooth, polished finish on Absolute Black. Genuine Absolute Black. Surface plates aren't matte finished, which is what the term means in the granite industry, not the machinist world. In the stone world, honing is using abrasives to remove the polished finish and leave the stone with a rougher, matte finish. It has nothing to do with making it ''flat''.

As you know, polishing anything uses a series of progressive grits to abrade the surface, with each progression leaving smaller and smaller surface scratches. It's gnlse small surface scratches that trap and hold dirt, and especially oils. So, the stone isn't ''staining'', as it's virtually non-porous, but it does hold dirt in it's texture grooves. Polished stone doesn't have the same dirt grabbing problem as the honed, because the surface texture is much finer.

@ Amber

Due to the slope of the lot, we ended up having to step our garage down as well. We originally didn't think the slope would make that much difference. I actually like the change in elevation that it made and it didn't change the dimensions of the garage at all, at least in ours.

Granite surface plates aren't polished, though. I don't know what you'd call the finish, but it has no shine at all. The plates are periodically resurfaced for flatness, using a cast iron plate and abrasives. I guess you'd call it a very smooth honed finish. I wish I could buy (afford) counter tops with that finish and color.

I have read that a lot of Absolute Black counters are not actually Absolute Black, that it's a different stone called absolute black because it's so popular. And if true absolute black granite is used in industrial tools, it makes sense that something less tough is used in countertops.

Sophie, your explanation makes the most sense of everything I've heard. I have been told that they just stop before buffing, and I didn't think buffing would make a surface impervious to staining.

The texture in leathered granite depends on the makeup of the stone. At the time, I was considering Antique Brown (which looks black to me.) It's a chunky stone, lots of larger blocks of colour. So when they leather it, each block of colour had a different height. Something with small flecks would end up with an orange peel effect. Something with lots of veins would have a rippled effect. I like my smooth slate counters.

Oh, and when we did this kitchen, I wanted laminate. When it came in, dh didn't like it and decided to go for real stone. On the new house, I wanted vinyl siding. Dh insisted on Hardie at more than double the cost. And these are things he calls MY splurges.

aleleux1 - We definitely are twins with the same white too. We are staining the island - supposed to be a bronze walnut. I got a call from the GC yesterday asking me to approve the stain color and when he sent me a picture I almost fainted. It looked way too dark and are granite is verde peacock (black with some iridescent green in it) and our floors are engineered wood mountain view hickory in a color called bark (hand scrapped). So I thought no way was that dark stain going to work. I drove out and picked up a sample flooring piece and then to the house.

It wasn't as bad as we thought but still not sure. I'll post a pic and you all can weigh in.

End of Island with Floor Sample

Island, cabinet door on right and Floor Sample on left

We are now within 3 weeks of completion and I am about half crazy at this point. There seems like so much to do and the contractor and project manager are turning cranky. I keep my phone calls to one per week and the reason for that call is we had fallen 10 weeks behind while I trusted the pros to do their jobs. Now I just want this all over with. But when something looks wrong in the photos, well, that's all I have and I need to bring it up.

We are having the home inspected prior to the completion date. This seemed to come as a complete surprise to them but they recovered from their shock and put their game faces on. I explained that it was difficult for us to assess the work from 1400 miles away and that paying cash did not provide us with the various checkpoints along the way that a bank loan might have. I mean really...I have been so trusting through this whole process. Am I out of line to bring in an inspector?

Meanwhile, back at the hotel 1400 miles away, it is costing me $150 a day to keep our lives in stasis like this. But whatever, it will soon be over!

Hey ChicagoDreamer - have you recovered from your ordeal? Let us know! I guess everyone is just so relieved to have the whole sorry process over with that they disappear on us!

Good luck all!

Renee, I'm a painted cabinet kind of girl, so take my opinion for what it's worth. I think you need more contrast with the floor.

jn3344, I have always said if I bought a new build house, I'd have it inspected. And here, we now have a legal requirement to have the house inspected by a 3rd party. The law says we can't get a building permit without having a "new home warranty". This is a giant scam where the builder (us) has to pay a ridiculous fee to an insurance company so that if the homeowner (us) has an issue with the house that the builder (still us) refuses to fix, the homeowner (us) can complain to the insurance company and they will force the builder (have I mentioned this is us?) to fix it. Yes, the law says I have to buy insurance in case I ever have a dispute with myself. Part of the "service" they offer is inspections on top of the inspections done by the city. So no, I don't think you're out of line to bring in an inspector before possession.

Mushcreek, I love Advance paint. We have done the doors in our current house with that. I've also used it on a bathroom vanity, 2 dressers, and some of the trim. I'm not a BM fan in general, but that's a great paint.

Renee...I had my own issues with staining my island and liking the stain with the floor color. I finally decided I would just paint all of my cabinets instead of just the perimeter.

As far as whites are, we ended up with SW 'creamy' for our trims and SW alabaster for our ceilings...I wanted an off white but not yellow and creamy seemed to meet that criteria. We've been very happy with the color.

Renee-I think it looks fine. My husband keeps reminding me that people aren't really going to notice(unless they've been on these boards ;)). He'll asked me-"do you remember if so and so's powder room's floor matched the cabinets"? The reality is no-which helps when I get so overwhelmed with picking the "right" choice.

I had to laugh at him yesterday though. Our granite bid from the cabinet guy came in much higher than our builder had speculated. Builder said we should shop around-which is what we did yesterday. As we start out, dh said "we are only going to price Astoria"(which is what we had picked out after an hour at the granite place. We get to the new granite place and he's like a kid in a candy store-his eyes light up and he says "let's just take a look around". I was so done with looking at granite, but I'm glad he's interested in picking out finishes.

I think we finally have the hardwood floor, laminate and carpet picked out-unless dh decides we need to look further :)

jn3344- The last few days are like going around the dark side of the moon- and the, swinging around full speed ahead towards home. Yes, I think it might be a good idea to bring your friend, the inspector:) The days of niceties may be over if you sense a change of mood in your contracter.

Reesepbc- Hang in there on the exterior. You guys are making good progress. Really like the kitchen layout and the window over your sink in there.

Countertops... they were a pain in more ways than one. But, with regard to the honed granite perimeter I chose, there has been only one real scare and that was on the occasion of my first "party", when someone set down a hot cast iron moist/oily pot lid directly down on the countertop adjacent to the stove. It left a ring. I didn't realize that Joe Shmoe Granite left without sealing the stone. So, I removed all the counter items and did it myself until water beaded off the stone. The ring disappeared and the funny thing is, the worst thing about the counter now is that I can't tell when I have to wipe it down. It looks clean even when it's not. I think that has a lot to do with the color.

Today's project was putting up ladder hooks in the garage. I couldn't get the screws all the way into the 2x4s even though I drilled pilot holes. Anybody know any gadget to remove stripped screws?:(

Thanks for the comments amberm145, pwanna1 and zettlerc. DH and I told the GC that if there isn't a way to lighten it a tad to just leave it and we'll be fine. It has more red tones to it than the floor so hopefully it won't look like one big blob.

On a good note, the flooring people came and measured everything and the counter people came and did the laser template too. I think once the painters are done things will be rocking right along.

Still waiting on GC to give me the schedule so that I can see a firm move-in date and I can give our move-out date to the leasing company.

Chris how far up was yours? Any pics? Ours was almost four feet high until they dropped it and added steps into the garage from the mudroom area. My biggest concern with this is we have a wrap around porch that we don't want railings on......... So It can't be higher than 18 inches. We want to be able to step right off of our porch to go to the barn, etc. I'm not seeing how he's going to make that happen since they just brought in several more loads of clay. I shot him a text double checking, hopefully he can get back to me soon.

Anybody know any gadget to remove stripped screws?:(

Bob Vila used to have a commercial selling something for this. Through Sears?

I bought that kit for stripped screws at HD for a bit less than $20. It didn't work for me but ymmv. I was using it on a stripped lock screw.

reesepbuttercup, I'm one of those who don't like pendant lights because I don't like the visual clutter. I fall in love with certain pendants, but I don't want to obstruct any views so they're a no go. I'm also using cans over the sink. Personal preference, I think.

Just stopping in to say hi to all the peeps who were around when we were in the crazy build phase....some of the homes that were just getting started are looking great! we have been in 5 1/2 months and are getting settled nicely....we are finally finishing up landscaping and trying to grow grass in the driest spring we have had in years! Starting to get some baby grass, though!

HappyValley, your home is gorgeous!!!

I wish we were 5 1/2 months in:(

Jn3344- still here, live and kicking. We moved in last week and our walk through list is 5 pages long. What's also ridiculous is they fix one thing and break another. For ex: They were installing towel holder on the vanity wall which had subway tiles and cracked a tile while drilling. Then they tried to replace the tile and dropped their tool and cracked my countertop. Isn't this ridiculous?!! At this rate, they will never be out of our house.

Jn3344 - I know how you feel. I reached that point of just getting it done long time ago. I would highly recommend getting your house inspected. My GC didn't like it but we found so many things we wouldn't have caught without professional inspection.

I promise I will post pics. It's just that our house is such a mess!!

Looks like everyone's build is progressing!! Hang in there!! Despite the heartaches, we love our house!

@HappyValleyHome Beautiful!! I love the landscaping. We don't have any to speak of, which really in my world is a good thing, b/c I'm terrible at upkeep. But I always envy those with awesome landscaping! Gorgeous home! Enjoy it :)

Hey loribug - waving hi! :) We are planting all perennials for that same reason. Last house we had so much upkeep it was terrible - but it did look nice. Hehehe.

Happyvalley-looks fanstastic! Take heart - we don't have grass yet either and we have been in a year! The weather and replacement of cement and shingles did not help. By the end of July I am hoping it will be planted!

zorrow-you will be. No worries. Just keep plugging away. It seems like forever but it will eventually be over.

chicagodreamer-please do post pics!

Happyvalley-your house is gorgeous. Can't wait to see the inside.

They started putting the lathe on the exterior of the house yesterday! So excited-electrician is almost done we added a few more can lights-my husband is a bit can light happy so we have lots of them. We will have the dreaded swiss cheese ceilings-guess I just won't look up.

I love the positive nature of these threads. The critiques on the other threads, while helpful, had me feeling hesitant to share things. thanks.

I am painting the master light gray also. Medium/dark vanity and grayish beighish LVT (luxury vinyl tile) geesh,cost of that tile was almost as much as my wood floors. I decided that if it doesn't look right, I can repaint once we are moved in. Not that big a deal for me.

Well, I finally am posting an updated picture of our retirement house build. They are starting the brick on the front, drywall is almost ready for primer and then paint and the screened in porch in back is getting the cedar wood sealed with a slight colorant in the sealer that makes the cedar really pop! We hope to get moved in by mid July or so, probably the "or so".

@ChicagoDreamer - Happy to hear! At least you are in there. Sounds like the Keystone Cops are doing your tile. How frustrating...

My latest indignity: Wednesday night "We will update you with progress reports daily. Pictures tomorrow..." So Thursday - nothing. Friday - nothing. Another weekend where I have to fret. Supposedly moving in 2 weeks from Monday! What are the odds you think?

We at least leave this state a week from tomorrow so there's that to look forward to. A change of hotel if nothing else.

He's giving me all this extra time and excess nervous energy to search attorneys. Not smart! Why not update the poor customer when you say you are going to? Not the first time this has happened. It is business as usual for them.

@amberm145: hah, I think I can accurately call our cabinets "harsh white" :) Oh well, as long as they are white! I've wanted white cabinets for forever.

@michelle: Yes, so exciting! We close the last week of June, and we have an inspection in a couple weeks, so I think everything should pretty much be done by then! Can't wait!

@reesepbuttercup: I love pendants over islands. Personal choice, as someone else mentioned. But yes, if you go that route, maybe small ones so it doesn't look crowded?

@jn3344: I'm a total newbie to home building, but I'm surprised that your contractor is surprised you're getting an outside inspection. I thought that was a pretty standard--and safe--thing to do. *Especially* if you're living 1400 miles away!! We're getting one.

@HappyValleyHome: So nice to hear your update! It looks like you do not have in-ground sprinklers, is that right? I'm going to have to search for / start a sprinkler thread. We will have sod and seed and will not have an irrigation system, and I don't know anything about keeping grass alive, or how many sprinklers we'll need, or how often to water it… "a lot" is all I know at this point ;)

Damn you and your weather to justify a pool, musicgal! :)

Ohhhh Musicgal I am coming over-gators or not! It looks beautiful! Michiganders have about 2 1/2 months a year for pool weather so I am with ya Amberm. Not hardly worth it.

A heated pool, maybe? ;) musicgale, I LOVE your pool!!

Musicgale, that pool looks magical!

We are on the schedule to finally get our countertops installed on Wednesday. We've been trying to get them in for a while, but the rain is relentless. Our tile work starts on the 15th. If we have our permanent electricity and air conditioning by then, they will also put in the hardwood floors and carpet, but if we don't, we'll have to wait until July 6th for them to do that. We are ready for our electricity to be pulled in (passed final electrical inspection), but we hit a little snag, which is my latest issue.

When we hired our electricians it was in our contract for them to install an automatic transfer switch for standby generator and hook up the generator. We were to provide the actual equipment. After we got started building we decided not to do the generator at this time because I panicked with money flying out left and right. We are nearing the end of the build and decided to see if we could go ahead and wire in the transfer switch and run underground conduit to where the generator will sit before we pour our driveway. This would allow us to come in next year and put the actual generator, have a line plumbed to the main propane line (generator will be next to buried propane tank behind the house), and hook it up. Our electricians have become authorized Generac dealers since we started our build so are now selling the products and doing installs. We decided to get a quote from them. Holy hell....they want to do all kinds of stuff and are wanting 11K. Just to trench and run 70 foot of conduit now (no wire) was $1300!!! We can rent a trencher and purchase all the pieces we need for $200. Sure it's a day's work, but wow. I didn't try to get them to come down on their price or anything. Just decided to go back to the first place we ever spoke to before we started building. It would end up costing us right at 7K with them. Same exact generator. We do have to run the electrical wire 70 ft from the transfer switch to the generator and it's really expensive so that's why it's a little higher. We can swing 7K, but not 11. Now our electricians are refusing to install if we provide materials because they are selling the product now! Now it's a little more work for them because they didn't wire it in from the beginning, but we offered to pay the difference in labor. Despite it being in our contract from the beginning, we decided to get them to install just the transfer switch, we can run the conduit and come back to get the generator wherever we want later. They found out that we talked to the other guys so basically said, "we're not putting a transfer switch on your house. Period." They won't let us get another electrician to do it because they say they won't pull our main power in. If we wait and do it after the main line is pulled in, it's going to cost us about 1K extra because they have to rewire the cable that runs from the meter to the panel through the attic since our panel is located in a different location than the actual meter. After battling with the owner of the company for two days they've agreed to provide just the transfer switch and install it. So glad they came around, but I'll never recommend them to anyone again. The owner is a friend of a friend so that made the whole thing awkward as well. This has all caused a delay in pulling the power in and now they have to order the ATS, which they don't keep in stock. Who knows when we'll have power.

Mushcreek, can I ask what is the height of your columns in front and what is the depth of your eaves on the gable sides?

Aleleux1 - I feel your pain, so sorry!

We finally got a schedule from our builder, it says occupancy July 3rd :-)

Things are going crazy fast now. Painters are priming and going at it fast! Counters go in on the 9th, tile starts on 10th, appliances deliver on 16th, final electrical on 17th, final plumbing and HVAC on 18th and carpet and hardwoods install on 29th. I'm excited but reserved because they still have to get the water line ran from the well and septic in, with all this darn rain I'm not sure things will go as planned. We've only had 4 days in May with no rain!

My columns measure 98" from the porch slab surface. The visible stone is about 40", but goes up inside the lower trim about 4". I wanted to go higher with the stone, but I had to fight with the mason for every inch. He wanted to A) Use flat Tennessee stone, and B) Wanted to only go 24" high. I was originally going to cap them with concrete, and then build the upper part, but it was too complicated figuring out how to do that, so I capped them with PVC 'wood' instead. The stone part is about 24" wide, the upper part tapers from 16" down to 10" wide.

All of my roof overhangs are about 24", but they look bigger because the house is so small. As we have said in your other threads, Craftsman details have to be done right. I know I missed in a few places, but I was just trying to dress up a very ordinary small ranch house on a tight budget. I studied real Craftsman homes around here, as well as 'Craftsman inspired' homes, which in general are very wide of the mark. Most of the modern 'copies' seem to have details that are too small- overhangs, columns, and roof brackets. On bigger houses, these have to be quite large indeed. My roof brackets are made from rough cut 4X6 cypress, so they are a full 4X6 inches. New homes nearby are much bigger than our place, but the roof brackets are made from milled 4X4, which is only 3-1/2" square. Couple that with 16" overhangs and puny porch columns, and the effect is lost.

One thing our house should have is a forward-facing gable on the porch, but I went for the shed roof to make the house blend into the woods better. There are a lot of houses (not Craftsman) around here with long, low shed roofs over the porch, so it fits the vernacular well. I call it 'Low Country Craftsman' so I can sound like I know what I'm talking about LOL!

Been MIA since last month when we moved in the end of April. We had just moved in and had out of town family visitors who had planned on coming before we were finished. (We thought we would have been in earlier) Plus, we were dealing with a lot of punch list items. Builder was still trying to finish cabinets before we got into the house. So had to deal with no doors or glass in cabinets at first. Finally got finished with the electrician. Now all the fans and exterior lights work. The painter still has some work to do on the exterior and some more interior touch ups. Our screened porch finally was finished this past week before we got eaten alive by the skeeters. We have also had a number of deliveries for furniture we ordered from various places. And we adopted a new kitten who was very sick the last week and is finally getting back to normal. So we have had our hands full until now.

Here are some pictures taken by a professional photographer of the front and back of the house a couple days after we moved in. Once I get the painters tape off the walls for the painter's touch ups I will try to add more indoor pictures.

Amberm and autumn- you have a standing invitation:) Really worked on it this past week to get it spotless and ready for summer.

Happy Valley- your house is stunning. Love the way it nestles into the slope.

Aleleux- Such a pain, these guys. After months of waiting for our company to finish the outdoor lights, they are in a really big hurry for their money (which really should have been part of their original fee because the work was on the blueprint when they bid)- So happy to have the work done finally, I don't mind paying for it at this point. We used a slightly delayed electronic payment. That pound of flesh is rolling in at leisure:-)

Zoe! It's beautiful!!! Need interior pics.

Front door, side door & porch overhang are in. Side door should match the front door, trying to decide if I care or not. I think it may end up bugging me too much to not have them match.

Inspections should happen early this week and then drywall and siding can begin.

Reeses - It would bother me, but I really love the look of the front door. I very, very highly doubt anyone would notice! Actually, I just saw it in another house and it didn't bother me at all. But in my house I would obsess over it.

I'd probably insist they be the same but then again I'm on houzz obsessively.

Laundry room question:

On one side we have uppers and lowers across the whole wall. On the other side (pictured) is a broom closet with a sink cabinet next to it. Then we have a top loader washer and dryer. I just have a shelf/rod over washer and dryer, but no uppers on that wall at all. Really wishing we had done some open shelving or something because now I can't decide to backsplash or not to backsplash. Not sure there is any way to do it that it would look okay. If we did, we would probably use what we are using in the kitchen: 3x6 cream colored glazed ceramic subway. Do I really need it? If so, how can I make it not look weird without any uppers?

I prefer your side door. But do you want a front door with that much glass? That's what my front door looks like, and I plan to get a frosting over the glass for privacy. I would have preferred less glass but I was limited by needing a 7' door, needing something modern, and an apparently irrational hatred of traditional moulding around windows in doors. The back door was supposed to be the same. But we wanted a keypad on the back door, and the keypad wouldn't fit on the all glass door. So my back door has half glass, with the dreaded trim. I dislike it because my cheap, 25 year old Home Depot doors have it, and yet it's still on every door out there.

Back at the old house, we're working hard to get it ready to sell. One of the items on the list was to scrub mold off the back door. It's a French door from the basement to the back yard. It's 100% shaded by the deck above. And now that I've had to scrub that trim, I detest it even more. :P

Another task this weekend was painting the stairwell to the basement. I had quite the collection of quarts of white paint. The walls were off white and probably haven't been painted since the house was built 25 years ago. So I mixed my quarts together and used it in the basement. I kind of like the colour I created. :D

Amberm145

I am getting our house ready for sale also. Our real estate lady will be coming to the house Wednesday morning to talk to us about putting it on the market, hopefully by this Friday. I need to paint a small part of the front porch that has some peeling paint. Cleaning somewhat before the meeting, but The house is kept pretty clean as a whole so I am not going to stress too much about it. Mostly the kitchen and the bath, as they say "kitchens and baths sell the house".

Yes, and they were a lot of work! There is a steel column inside; then the stone, which is filled inside with concrete. The upper columns have 48 individual pieces in each one, most with compound angles. It took me a long time to figure it all out.