Cajun: RIP

So sorry to hear of your loss DLM.

Thank you all - I'm sure many/most of you know the loss all too well. We were able to bury him in a beautiful spot on our property where we had planned to make a semi hidden sitting area by the creek. We'll plant a tree and get a bench - feels right. Tomorrow it's back to full steam ahead.

Please don't let my news be a thread killer!!! Let's get some pictures up today - I hope to have good light and get a few to share.

DLM, it's hard to lose a beloved pet. I'm sorry for your loss but so happy you rescued him. He looks like a great dog.

cslaughter, Wow--that is a fast build! I'm impressed with your builder.

Dazureus, I love your cedar siding--beautiful and it goes so well with the style of the house.

On our front, we now have the garage and almost all interior walls framed. They also have some huge beams overhead to start building the 2nd floor, so I'm hoping that happens in the next day or so. This is from the front entry. The hole on the right will be stairs up from where I took the picture, down from the living room side. The living room is behind. They've covered most of the windows on that side to block the extremely strong, cold winds that come from that direction so they can work a little more comfortably.

It's been nice to be able to walk the floor plan that until now has been on paper only. It's reassuring to go into some areas that I was a little worried about and see the actual size. That walkway from the front door past the stairs into the living room we were afraid would be too narrow, but now that I can see where walls will be I'm reassured that it will be fine.

The painters are on site today priming the walls and staining the windows. They should be done by the middle of next week and then the trim will arrive from the stain shop and be installed. Now that the floors and walls are all cleaned up, it is really feeling like a home! Took these pics yesterday.

future kitchen:

Front entry looking back into the living spaces:

DH's small office:

housequester- ya our builder has been great, he's really got his schedule down to a T. The past few days have been really dry so I was glad they were able to finish the framing and get the roof on. shingles next week! I might drive by in the next hour or so to see what its looking like now.

DLM - accept my late condolences on the loss of your furkid. I know the pain too well. The fog will clear, but it will take a while. (((hugs)))

Hey, y'all. Been thoroughly enjoying everyone's progress for about year and thought it only fair I introduce myself. We found our handful of acres a year ago and hopefully will start building our forever home next month. We needed to sell our sweet little 90 year old house before beginning this journey and hope to close on that sale in a couple of weeks. Our land is raw woods surrounded by creek, so driveway and utilities will be our biggest challenge. Can't wait to actually have progress to share in the "February 2017 - How is your build progressing?"

DLM...I'm so sorry. 15 yrs...what a loss. It's amazing what joy our pups bring into our lives.

carsoneray- Welcome to the monthly progress thread! Looks like nice property- approximately what part of the country are you building in?

DLM, so sorry about Cajun. :(

He sounds specially wonderful.

mushcreek - Thank you! We are in the Southeast - North Georgia, specifically.

Beautiful property carsoneray - welcome aboard!

I promised pics so here we go!

Railings are done for the screen porch which may not get screened now after all . Bugs haven't been an issue so far but we can always add it later - at least the screening went in under the floor so we'd be ready. Here are in process shots - DH & DS did all of this with no fasteners. I absolutely love it - exactly what I pictured in my dreams.

Kitchen is well under way, waiting for counters which should be done next week. Part of the hood is front left and the rest is back right and will obviously go on the tiled portion of the wall.

Before grout and with a peak through the window of the Tiny House

DH is getting the rest of the trim done, cased openings and baseboards at the moment so here's another gratuitous shot of our LR ;-) And I need to get on the rest of the sash staining. He forgets that not only do I have my own to-list at the build, I still have laundry, groceries, meals and packing to handle as well!!

Most of the floors are covered and I'm having trouble getting a pic that looks right color-wise but it's 4" white oak in Minwax Weather Oak with Bona Traffic HD finish. Had planned on using Bona stain in Twig but it wasn't right. Very glad I didn't chance it

Floor tile in the master bath - thrilled with it. Cabinets are in since this pic so will update that soon.

Lots more going on and will try and get more pics soon.

DLM,I am in love with your tile behind your range, your wood floors, and you master tile. All perfection! Great choices!

DLM, beautiful pictures! Would you mind sharing details for the master bath tile and grout?

DLM - everything looks so carefully an thoughtfully planned and executed. Warm, welcoming, and peaceful. Congrats on the execution of the vision.

We have a roof! Huge news because the rain hitting the interior mud slabs was causing a ton of issues as the water would seep down and try to move out under the footings / insulation around the footings. Directing all the water to the rear of each building means we can start water management in a "final" sense and get the hookups in place for the cisterns.

Next week - the framing for the overhang structures and the screened porch will be done, can get the painters back, and then have the roofers complete the installation of the roof on the screened porch and the shading structures, as well as the 18" fascia that will hide the sloped panels that will collect and drain water. (So no, our steel workers folks were not drunk when installing all the sloping supports... LOL)

Next up - subslab insulation, more plumbing and then pouring the finish interior slabs so we can get the windows in.

jannicone your build is just-so-cool and fun to watch. Talk about vision!!

alley2007 the tile is Bricklane/Marca Corona White 10" Hex with Mapei grout in Bleached Wood. The tile comes in other colors and each has slightly different patterns on the tiles. They have one that is the EXACT color of the dirt around our build and it would have been perfect in our mudroom/laundry! Decided in the end it was more money than I wanted to spend there - more sq footage than our master bath.

Janni and Deb, both your homes are looking great.

Deb, I love all your tile choices and your floors. They look yummy.

Janni, your house looks HUGE.

They put the forms in for the garage and friend's entry steps in yesterday. Not sure if they're pouring the slab today or Monday. I got conflicting info from my super and the mason. (I think I tend to believe the mason who said Monday, but I'll go look later today)

And there was a thread about how things look smaller or larger depending on how much of the house is completed? I was over my space the other day and my 20'10" x 17'4" living room space looked so small without any walls. I couldn't imaging having enough room to even put two sofas. LOL.

My girlfriend who was visiting and I went to see a half completed house that my builder is doing in another part of town. That house has walls up and finished, floors in, etc. I walked in and said to my friend, "This living room is absolutely huge." Then I measured it. It was 21'8" x 16'6". I'm looking forward to the day I come into my living room and exclaim how large it is. LOL.

Thanks, DLM!

Can't remember who it was that used this same vinyl and posted a pic but thank you again! We ended up using it in our mudroom-laundry-half bath areas. Another choice I'm happy with.

IT HAPPENED! Metropolitan rep came in yesterday with some VCC (vinyl composite core- waterproof vinyl plank) and its great! here is a pic next to the laminate wood that I liked. laminate on the left lvt on the right. The picture shows it a little bit warmer/pinker than real life, at least on my screen. Other samples from top to bottom; Surface Art glass tile backsplash for kitchen, Cosmos Salar quartz for kitchen, cabinet colors, sheet vinyl for wet areas (it has a metallic sheen to it that I love)

The LVT does cost $1/sf more than the laminate wood but I think that is worth not having to worry about literally anything.

Wonderful choice slaughter. So much richer looking than the laminate. Great choice.

Your other choices are great too. One thing to check out just because I haven't heard of Cosmos quartz is to make sure it's made with the Breton technology. There have been problems with some of the quartz manufacturers who have not used the Breton technology. Cracking, etc. Here is a link to the companies that supposedly have worked with the Breton technology.

I have to say DLM2000, that is a fine way to build a screen porch, (that also happens to be constructed similarly ours):

(ignore the scraggly field beyond; we started from raw land, and there is quite of bit of grounds work yet to do...also, the pic is from Oct, there is stone flooring there now:)

Hey there. I still feel like I'm swimming in molasses, but I just got a text about an hour or two ago that my house now has... HEAT! The propane is connected, and running!

It's winter there, of course:

Brrr!

I was up there yesterday, and got to meet the Furnace Guy, who was plugging away at the thing. I am pleased to note that at least some parts are labelled... grin. I am going with forced air since I plan to add in geothermal, which requires that set-up.

I now have a vent hood over my kitchen range. I have decided to show no more kitchen photos until I can do them as a reveal in the Kitchen Forum (and I'll pop one or two over here at that time). There's still things to be done, like, well, electric and all the lighting there.

The master roll-in shower is coming along - the photo shows some of the attachments, and I finalized a couple more grab bar locations with the GC yesterday - maybe they'll be in the next time I go there.

I'm bringing up more things. Short sleeved tops and t-shirts are now in one of the master closets. The right side has the same set up (double rods), where I will hang long sleeved items. But I'm using them these days...

There will be a small dresser in here, in the back. Bed linens in the bottom, socks and other personal garments in the top drawers. The single rod is in the middle of the closet, and clothing hanging here will not interfere with the dresser. (There won't be a lot on that rod.)

We have demo permits!!!!! Last step is that permit submitted to city for getting build permits! Then we start! Getting excited! (Finally!...)

Cslaughter.. wow, that LVT looks great!!!!

We finally got a break in the weather and were able to pour some more concrete today. The concrete truck got stuck in the mud and then it was my turn :)

There isn't much to see, but I wanted to participate because i love seeing your photos! This is where we are after starting in MAY!!!! There are some retaining walls, and the foundation 'should' be done by the end of Feb. I probably won't post too many pictures because I can't really get excited until we go vertical!

Yea Poolroom!

Jake, it looks so charming.

Siding going on late last week and today:

Lake Erie amber- mind if I ask what siding you are Using? Love the color!

293summer, thanks, it is just vinyl siding from Foundry siding. It is their perfection shingle style color matched in the color Timberline (dark gray with a bit of a warm green) from provia.

Jake there is nothing like a cape - they just feel so home-y.

ooohhhhh! lakeerieamber - gorgeous!

Beautiful color Lakeerie

Cement shows up at 11 AM tomorrow and we will have our slab poured.

cp and then you get to stand there and say, " Now THAT'S a slab!"

Thanks, DLM and CP. Appreciate the compliment because it was yet another decision I agonized over. I am so not cut out for all of this decision making.

cpartist - Concrete is exciting!

Things are moving right along for us. Grade beam and garage slab concrete were poured. Wood girders were installed on top of the piers.

Yesterday, our flooring joists were completed and inspection is today. Assuming that passes, first floor framing can begin.

CP pics please???

You are going fast now, you may even be done about the time I am!!!

Thank you.

Yes things are finally moving along. Concrete block to build first floor will be delivered on Friday and next week the mason will put up the first floor. He said he'd be done by the end of next week. :)

I posted an Update on my build thread with some pictures of my cement floor tile and the tile I plan on using for my fireplace surround.

Artemis_ma, I'll get some pics tomorrow after it's had a chance to cure overnight. They were busy working and other than embedding my 18 cents in the slab, I didn't want to bother them

"...embedding my 18 cents ..." Nice touch! We did our birth years and marriage year. And I have the mezuzah Ross brought to me from Israel <3

And I have the mezuzah Ross brought to me from Israel <3

NICE!

Cool re the 18 cents and DLM's coins! I have a real copper penny in each corner of my foundation. (You know, the ones minted prior to (I think) 1965.) Good on the mezuzah, too!

Is embedding stuff in the foundation a thing? Now I feel like I missed out on something cool.

dazureus I doubt it's a thing, but it's not too late to do something meaningful for your house. As a 5 yr old I threw pennies into the foundation hole of the house my parents were building. We embedded a penny with our marriage year in the floor of my DH's workshop entry in this build. There was no viewable place to put the other pennies with family birth years in the house foundation so we are going to countersink them into a porch post by the front door. Kind of like a touchable talisman at entry. You can come up with something personal - just think about it.

Actually in our build, no one will ever see or know the 18 cents is there unless in some future time the foundation is dug up. Once I put the coins in, the mason covered it over. I did it not to have it visible but for us and future owners to hopefully have good luck and health in the house.

On the framing though, I may write a few things about us and our thoughts.

DLM2000 we got a copper dragon weather vane made for our turret and they put a penny in it. It's also stamped with "our family name protector". I guess we are personalizing it a little.

Writing on the framework... well it is not too late to do that for the root cellar when it goes in!!! Anyhow, the copper is for good luck, that it also happens to be coins, well it just adds to it.