"I spent 4 hours at the Ferguson showroom yesterday, picking plumbing fixtures FINALLY!"

Karen - Was that you I saw in the bathtub? 🤣

I like the woven shades, as well. But can I also do curtain panels to soften the look?

Your husband did a fantastic job on the barn doors!

I once ordered cabinets doors for built-ins through eBay. Made to order!

Kat - The center niche is what I am asking about. That's where an entertainment credenza type furniture is going under the T.V. It's robins egg blue. The breakfast area (under the wide arch) is partially shown in the last photo above. it will have the banquette under the windows.

The French doors in family room, and the single in the breakfast area are real pine. The outsides will be stained and will also have to be experimented on. The single will be on the front, along with the front door, but sits back and around the corner. So a true match is not needed.

@Karen Love your barn doors! At the workshop and garage, I have similarly-styled doors and love how they function and look.

@Kat Do you know which type of "mahogany" you have? All of my exterior doors are Sapele. They have all been painted on the exterior but, interiorly, five (i.e., front entry and rear hall french doors) will be sealed. Initially, I was only going to do an oil but decided to dye them in order to tone down the redness. One thing I will say is that they have darkened, naturally, since first installed. So, be prepared for a bit of color change.

@nhb22 So, you probably already know what I am going to say but I will say it nonetheless: do not accent the television niche unless you want it to be a focal point. Typically, fireplaces are where focus is centered. And, my preference is that the other elements should be subordinate to it.

In regards to your panels: How much space do you have between the trim and where the bookcase begins? I have seen several images of high end homes with panel-dressed windows adjacent to bookcases. There appears to be very little space but it works. I will try to find some of those images for you.

Thanks, @Karen, re. window trim. I am going to start looking at various styles on Pinterest. I don't know what is included in our estimate as far as finish carpentry, so I probably have to stay pretty simple so as not to go over budget. Builder told us yesterday that lighting and several other things were up from the last estimate. No surprise there.

@tendrac I don't know for sure. We ordered from Dallas Doors, and they were a good portion of our door budget, although some of that is due to the need to be impact rated. All I know is they are Mahogany.

Also, do you by chance have an opinion on our house color. I've been planning for white/off white, but finding the perfect white to match my huge mistake of vinyl windows is hard, and when I ask it's always suggested I paint the house another color.

We went with vinyl because we needed impact windows and costs of course skyrockted with Covid. But I'm worried if I don't match at least the white on the trim to the windows frame and SDL vinyl then it will look off in the areas where all we have between windows is trim pieces. On the road side and back of our house we have places with 3, 4 and 5 windows with only trim between. I worry not only about how the windows will look but also that my spandrel and brackets won't have the look I want them to have.

The exterior color is just so huge to not get right, or at least right that I feel good about it. Some will always dislike the color one choose

@Kat Would it be possible for you to obtain the species information from the company? If you plan on staining, I would definitely recommend that you test samples on scrap wood instead of directly on the door. This is what I did. I was able to obtain scrap lumber, free of charge. This included white oak, Sapele, and walnut. And, it helped tremendously with creating custom samples and seeing how different finishes worked with the different grains of the wood samples.

For the windows: My personal choice would be to have a custom paint color made to match the vinyl windows and use it as the trim color for the entire exterior (i.e., fascia, eaves, casings, etc). Then from there, I would look for a complimentary main color and accent color, if applicable. Will you have any features that will require an accent color?

Can you see if the company offers touch-up paint, then use that to have a custom match created for your trim color?

Near the end of the month and we are waiting on windows, feeling bummed as we were told they were ordered in April. Then we saw a nearby lot get theirs installed, were told there were cancellations and reorders….I mean, who knows. Husband spoke/ vented to the builder. Electrician made it today so that is good but we need those windows to keep the steps moving. 2 months left in 2021, hmmmm. Deep breaths, just needed to vent. I know it will all be worth it just having one of those days.

@Amy10N, That is a long wait for windows. Ours (Pella) were originally eight weeks out when ordered, but that eight weeks turned into twelve. Then that was not all of them; two were still AWOL. We finally got those, so I think the total time was about 16 weeks, so approximately four months for all of them.

@Karen When we were redoing our daughters' bathroom, I looked into replacing the vanity cabinet doors. I ultimately decided the current ones were salvageable with some Bondo and paint, but almost ordered doors from "The Cabinet Door Store" that a friend had used. It should show up in a google search.

I don't think I shared these photos we got from our builder on Wednesday. Framing has started! It rained yesterday afternoon and most of today, so I'm not sure how much more has gotten done, but my in-laws are in town so we're going out to the site tomorrow to show it to them.

@Kat I dont know if you have seen this info on matching the whites. I chose my trim color on my house solely because it matched the replacement windows perfectly. Everyone comments and it does look beautiful inside and out… yes I matched it same color inside as well. If you dont match it perfectly something will look off/ grubby gray . Here is the link https://www.google.com/search?q=what+whites+match+what+windows&rlz=1CDGOYI_enUS676US676&oq=what+whites+match+what+windows&aqs=chrome..69i57.15353j0j7&hl=en-US&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8

So hard to get a good pic but it matches perfectly up close. good luck!

@jkent9024 I think I'm going to call the manufacturer Monday and see what I can learn. I know our builder has said that they've had a hard time matching it.

When we first started planning I had been set on painting our house alabaster and would use the same paint in a semi-gloss for trim. Of cousre the alabaster does not match. The one color that does seem to look fairly close is Simply White. I took it over the other morning and looked and just now my husband and I went over again and looked at it and it still looks relatively close in real life. In photos it seems a bit more off.

Interestingly a lady on instagram was saying she was going to paint her whole exterior house Simply White, but when she tested the samples it looked too yellow so she went with Alabaster.

Our primed siding is yellow/gold, her primed siding was a light beige/greige color.

I really wonder how accurate of an idea we can get with these other colors surrounding it when we test the colors out.

@tendrac I don't think there will be any features that need an accent color really. Just casing, moulding and siding.

Edited to add @tendrac that we'll also have our spandrel and brackets, but I was planning on doing them the same color as the trim.

@Kat I just saw you said SW Simply White. That is what I used inside and out. It does match perfectly the replacement windows in this house and indeed it is hard to photograph but believe me it looks exceptional . c

@jkent9024 Congratulations on getting the framing started!

@jkent9024, Wow, your builder has a drone!? Lucky you! It looks amazing! Your site looks a bit like ours, but your house is a lot larger. Congratulations on start of framing -- that's an exciting time!

tendrac - I was hoping you would weigh in. 😉 I already told the painter this evening that we were not painting the entertainment wall High Tea, but it's good to have a reassuring vote.

Also, in case you did not see, KH posted several photos of curtain panels close to walls and built-ins. I have no idea what type or color of curtains I will use, but I do think they will add to the overall look.

@jkent9024 - Very cool!!! Love your setting. 😀

Trailrunner Zone 7a VA - That's a helpful link. We matched our exterior house trim to the soffit. Turned out a little grayer than I expected (I am a crisp white lover) but we have received several complements on the color of the trim.

Amy10N - I guess it depends on the window manufacturer, but ours took about 6 weeks to come in. This was before the pandemic really kicked in, however.

We went over to the house this evening to check on our arborvitae, Our neighbor let us know that he witnessed a herd of deer happily having a dinner of our trees on Sunday night. 😮 It does appear that some of the foliage is missing!

While at the house, DH and I put up "caution" tape to keep the neighborhood children off of our grass while trick-or-treating on Sunday night. 🤣

Kat - Here's a better photo of our breakfast nook. The banquette will be L shaped and extend to the window end.

Please take a look at THIS thread about the blue ceiling color. And along with the coffers, should we also paint the breakfast nook ceiling blue?

@User Thank you so much! That is very reasuring to know you used the Simple White. Did you just get yours mixed at Sherwin Williams? The one I have is from Benjamin Moore.

@jkent9024 your ariel shots are very cool and you have such a beautiful property.

@nhb22 I love your breakfast nook area. Do I remember that you added it to the plan? It really is the perfect spot for a built in banquette.

@nhb22 I definitely think that panels will work on your French doors. And, from what I've seen, they can look equally as nice with close proximity to adjacent walls or bookcases as they do on walls with ample space. That inspiration photo that both you and I love (and you just posted) shows a great representation of the aforementioned setup. Here are a couple more images:

Also, if you are not married to the idea of the woven shades, I would like to throw out one more option for dressing your French doors: a double rod with an opaque or semi-opaque sheer (i.e., sheer linen).

One more thing: what is the beam in front of the bookcase alcove? It appears separate from the coffered ceiling. If it is, I suggest--if possible--that you integrate it into the bookcase instead of treating as the wall. I think that it may better define your bookcase.

@nhb22, I honestly think you could go either way with the breakfast nook ceiling color. Either white or blue would be nice IMO.

tendrac - Funny that you should mention sheers. I have been considering that for the single door in the breakfast nook. Those windows will have white plantation blinds, so I was unsure of how the woven blind would look on the door when the rest of the window coverings were white on that side of the house. The door will be painted white, but I did not want blinds on the door. Thinking of a sheer, or nothing at all on that door. As for the set of French doors, I really want to be able to see out and get the sun through the panes during the day. Having said that, do you have any suggestions for a linen sheer for the front facing side door in the breakfast area?

My finish carpenter, builder, and I have been trying to decide how to address that "beam" and integrate into the built-ins. We have spent way too much time on the problem. I guess it is a support beam as it spans across the room and in the middle of that portion of the house. If you have any suggestions, please use the below photo to illustrate.

The opening to the bedroom wing was framed today, so I have drawn it in.

My inspirational picture. Openings will be adjusted to size. And we do not have a T.V. going in the middle. We will have a painting, though. The middle portion will be smaller than pictured.

@Kat I have had both done. First painter has family that owns the SW dealership so got it there and our second painter needed more but uses BM and had it mixed there. Looks the same. c

tendrac - OMGoodness, I must have been partially asleep when reading your post about the sheers. I thought you meant two rods on the door with a sheer (upper and lower.... gathered over the glass.) 🙄 That's what I was thinking about for the front facing side door in the breakfast area. A hanging long sheer would not work in that area. Sadly, nor do I have enough room for sheers of that type hanging on the side of the bookcase.

"Framing" - I meant that the casing had been added around that opening from family room to the short hallway to bedroom. So I mocked it up on the photo. The opening is taller than the French doors, but same height as the archways. I was surprised that the casing was placed because we talked about how to shorten it without having to get the sheetrock guys back in. I thought about it during the night and think I have come up with other ideas.

I do not know the width of the beam, but your length sounds about right. It's that beam that throws me off because I do not like the bare drywall hanging there. I have asked about putting some type of molding there.

The archway is already framed out. See a photo several post up!

Update: Sorry, I was long asleep when you posted. So I just read your second reply and although not quite sure of every detail that you are suggesting (I am going to show this to my finish carpenter), I believe its very similar to my built-in inspirational photo, as far as the bookcase details go. I also believe that we have come up with the same idea of treating that entire wall like it was trimmed out, painted white, and part of the bookcase...correct?

One problem that may make ideas difficult, and the reason the finishing carpenter and I have not made final plans, is because there are small pot lights on the other side of that beam that are suppose to shine down on the bookcase shelves. Again, the cabinets are suppose to be 18" wide and the shelves 11.5 wide (because of the lights.) I did not want the cabinets any wider because that area will be a walkway to the least used set of French doors, but also I have a smaller side chair that I want to fit in that corner. Same with the corner near the arch and stairs. If the cabinets come out any further I would not have room for the chairs to sit back slightly into the niches.

Anyway, I am going to work on another mock-up using trim on the outside of the built-in areas.

As always, thank you for your help! 😉

Update: Mock-up 😁

@nhb22 instead of editing my reply, I decided to create a new one.

Yes! We are on the same page...and, your mock up looks great! Since I do not know all of the limitations of the bookcase, I am only making assumptions. But, I think that what you are saying is that the depth of the "beam" will be greater than the depth of the bookcase shelves?

If this is correct, I think you can still pull off integrating the beam into the bookcase but you will need to be more methodical with the trim / moldings. In this scenario, I would suggest that you use supporting moldings. But, I cannot be certain about which specifically or how to best transition them.

Can you obtain additional photos of the the wall and beam? Oh, and, in one of your last photos posted, I saw that your archway and the doorway had casing applied. Your finish carpenter will most likely understand what I meant by resolving the molding / trim pieces into the casing...and, applying those face stiles. From your mockup it seems that you, also, have a good idea of how those trim pieces should work.

As an aside, the past 7 months or so I've been hand sketching and detailing moulding build-ups late into the evening (I just finished my staircase Thursday around 2 am). When our build began, I thought that the detailing of the exterior was going to be quite time-consuming, but the interior has proven to require significantly more energy due to so many unique situations nuances that were unknowable until work commenced.

I agree about the unknowable elements and why people say it takes building 3-4 houses to get everything right! We have several built-ins and they ended up much more shallow than I thought and the space that was available. It seems because I mentioned trimming out the top of the built-ins with a cove molding, they recessed the built-ins to allow the cove molding to perfectly align with the header above. Had I noticed the details, I would have sacrificed the molding to get extra depth in the built-ins.

chispa - It's interesting that we may have a picture of something in our mind, and think that we have explained well enough, only to walk in and see something totally different than what we were thinking. So frustrating!

tendrac - I am blown away with all you are doing in your home...amazing!

I am not going over to the house until Monday morning when the cabinet people are putting finishing touches on kitchen and baths. I will also talk to the finishing carpenters about the built-ins. We have talked about lowering the ceiling (and the lights) over the bookcases to make transition easier. My DH is fighting that because it will involve more more changes, time, and money. In any case, I will take some up close photos.

Yes, multiple times. The trouble appears to be when using the color on cabinets and trim while trying to coordinate with another color on walls. Ours will be on the walls. Trim is SW Pure White, which Kylie says is "OK." Do you have an experience with it, or an opinion?

Crude illustration of a side view of built-in/bookcase. The black line is wall. Black block is the beam/header. Yellow circle is a light. Mustard color is bookcase and shelves. If we built the bookcase all the way up to the ceiling, the lights would cast light on only the top shelf, or so says the finish carpenter. To tell you the truth, I do not understand.

Curious where your jib door goes to? I am jealous as I wanted so badly to have some sort of hidden door. DH poo poo'd that, as well. Beautiful trim work, too!

@nhb22 Now, I understand. The photos didn't show the true depth of the beam in comparison to the finished bookcase. Unfortunately, I agree that this is a bit more complicated. Here are my thoughts:

Personally, I do not think you would gain much by lowering the light from its current position. I agree with your carpenter that the light, as currently positioned, will not illuminate further than the upper shelf. But, in my opinion, lowering it will only minimally affect the light distribution. Have you thought about installing small puck or strip lighting on each shelf or on the interior, face stiles? Or, perhaps, sconces on the exterior of the bookcase for wider and deeper illumination? Alternatively, with your current set-up, glass shelving would allow the light to penetrate throughout the bookcase. Regardless, I think that the recessed or hidden light looks a lot better than an exposed one.

For the beam, I still feel that it can be visually downplayed or integrated into the bookcase. Paint and support molding will most likely be the easiest and cheapest way to do this. Once I see the updated photos, I will try to give a better explanation. But, I want to wait until then just in case there are any other issues that need to be taken into account or which may negatively impact the implementation of this option.

In regards to the SW Antique White: I have no experience with it but saw your thread about finding a complimentary blue for the coffered ceiling. In that article, there were some suggestions about colors that work best with the warm tones in the Antique White. So, I was thinking that it would be a good starting place for color selections.

Eta an example of bookcase light penetration:

@jkent9024 - I meant to thank you for offering the name of “The Cabinet Door Store” the other day. I’ll check them out:)

tendrac - The beam may not be as deep as my drawing. I will get photos tomorrow.

Have you thought about installing small puck or strip lighting on each shelf or on the interior, face stiles?

No. And I am not sure that I am even worried about light distributing, because there is other lighting in that area. I definitely do not want glass shelves!!!

However, I really wanted sconces and was shot down by both my husband and daughter. I am going to talk to electrician about how difficult and expensive that would be to change. I feel sure it will not go over with my DH. He feels the same as you about lowering the ceiling. And I have the perfect sized sconces that I purchased for the dining room. I feel they are too small for the area I purchased them for, but was going with them anyway.

I have narrowed my ceiling color choices to two. They both look good with my SW Antique White samples.

So, DH thought our ceiling looked awfully blank in one spot so I pulled out my photos pre drywall and sure enough, we were missing a recessed light! Plus the photo showed it had a working light bulb in it which meant for the last month there's been a buried heat source (even if it was a CFL they still emit heat), Thank you to whomever it was suggested we take photos!

Good going, @Buzz Solo in northeast MI! I am fearful of something (more likely an outlet) being covered by the sheetrock and left undiscovered. Since we are moving over two hours from the house site tomorrow, I won't be able to go over with my electrical plan and double check for awhile. We never had this happen in any previous builds, but I've read about it happening here on Houzz, so of course it entered my mind as something to worry about! All our canned lights are very symmetrical, so I'll easily be able to check those, but the outlets are tougher.

Our builder ordered the rest of our appliances on Friday. The dishwasher and fridge had already been ordered. All the remaining appliances are supposed to be available by the end of January, so we'll be good for a Feb. move-in. Obviously there could be delays. Can a CO be issued without all the appliances in place, does anyone know? We are not doing bank financing, so it would just be a county issue, I guess. We wouldn't be able to live there without a fridge and microwave, but we can live without a cooktop, wall oven, and dishwasher for awhile, if needed. W/D would be inconvenient, but we could live without those if need be.

We have a few wires that are buried at the moment, but the electricians haven't come out to trim out and install the lights/outlets. I do have photos to be able to double check what is supposed to be in every room.

The CO is going to be very specific to your town or county. I heard that in my area you need garage doors. I could certainly move in and live a few months without garage doors. Couldn't you just rename the space a car porch! 😄

A friend didn't have a fridge (back ordered) and got a loaner from the appliance store, which she left out in the garage and still got a CO.

Buzz Solo in northeast MI - LOL. We have a couple that are stilled buried, but not in working order with a bulb!. The sheetrock people told me that if something were buried, there would be a slight hump left in the sheetrock. I don't see a hump in your ceiling.

chispa is correct. It varies from state to state, city to city, county to county. We don't have bank financing, either, but still not sure what we need to pass CO. Our builder is not sure of somethings because we are building in a city that he is not familiar with all of the codes.

@Buzz Solo in northeast MI Thank you! I've just added look at the ceiling for missing lights to my list.

I only get to see the house once a week but when I do I always find at least something that needs to be fixed. Yesterday I noticed the framed door trim that butts up to a corner of a wall looks bad. I should have taken a picture so that it would make sense but if you look at the bottom of the door frame it is maybe a .25 of an inch from the wall. By the time your eyes get to the top the door frame is completely butted up to the wall. How do you fix something like that?

Thanks, @chispa and @nhb22, I figured the CO requirements would be a local thing, and I'll certainly address this with our builder if it looks like anything is going to be delayed. The fridge I can see, since it is a public health issue not to have refrigeration, but our fridge, ordered back in August, was supposed to be in late Oct/Nov timeframe (but stored until builder is ready for it), so I don't think that one will be an issue. Our dishwasher was ordered at the same time because the ETA was in February, so if that gets delayed, we can deal with it -- we don't even have a d/w now in our rental. The garage door requirement sounds odd, as attached carports are allowed. I wonder what their reasoning is for that?

I just ordered free samples of shades for our master bath and guest room, so it feels like things are getting real now! We are going to start out sleeping in our guest room, because we have a bed (stored in my mother's basement), whereas we don't have a bed for our master yet. We also want to try out the mattress we're interested in on the guest bed first (queen size) before pulling the trigger on the king-size version (or two Twin XLs) for our master. So, we'll need blackout shades for the guest room first, and bottom-up, top-down shades for privacy in our master bath. Even though we'll be in the deep woods, it just makes me squeamish to think about getting out of the shower without a shade on the window right there.... I can't help but imagining a neighbor deciding to walk down our driveway right then! 😂🤣

@nhb22 Your husband and daughter stay on you, don't they? lol Personally, I love the idea and the look of sconces on bookcases. Since you already have the wiring (and fixtures) there, it shouldn't be too costly to move or daisy-chain that light. I would think that the cost would be equal to or less than that for lowering the ceiling. Hopefully, you can sell your husband (and daughter) on it with some BEAUTIFUL IMAGES like these.

Oh, forgot to respond to your question regarding the jib door. That one leads to one of the master closets. I have 8 jib doors in this build and they are all for closets. The most intricate of them will be built into my study's bookcase. It is the last big design feature that I have to draw out. Unfortunately, I just don't have the mental energy to do it right now because it requires a lot of details. And, I have to be exact because it will be the blueprint for the carpenter to build and for materials.

We went to the house yesterday - part of our hardwood flooring is in (prefinished engineered), and they have almost all the cabinets in! I'm so excited. I am going to LOVE the 10' island. The flooring (what we can see of it) looks great.

I'm crossing fingers that the stain I chose will look good with the cabs (we did stained lowers with stained accents on top - shelves & a strip on the hood). After looking at the fireplace wall, I think I want them to stain the shelves there, too - just not sure we can make that change now.

@amk_p That is exciting. We are still waiting on ours but I know once the cabinets are installed it will really take off.

Can you recommend a good "pre drywall" inspector near Ann Arbor, MI? The framing of my house is almost done. Thank you.

@anj_p, Your cabinets are very pretty! Wish we could see your floors, but nice that your builder protected them.

anj_p - Looking so good! What an island!!!

I noticed that you have the same situation on the top of your bookcase that I do. Do you have lights under the headers?

tendrac - Thank you for the photos. I am learning to just do what I want to when it comes to my daughter, but DH does need to have a say. 😉

Click Here for the November 2021 Thread!!

@nhb22 Yes, we have LED disk lights on the top of each built in. This is how it looks in the model:

@Verna Lee I hope you find someone to help you inspect things. So far, there is really only one thing that I missed that is still bothering me. There is a can light only about 14 inches from the back wall of the laundry room where the W/D will sit. I had intended to put upper cabinets there, but to pull them away from the wall so that they are more easily reached from the front of the machines/counter. Well, if I do that, the light will shine down on top of a cabinet, not the countertop. Unfortunately, we can't get into the attic very easily as we had spray foam put up there. DH gave me that look of..."don't even think about asking the electrician to move them out". I need to put my Timothy Leary thinking cap on to find other ways to make the cabinet design work.

Things are moving along on our guest house. Inside and outside are primed and 1 coat of paint on (@nhb22, at this stage, I see a pale grayish white with the teensiest bit of green on the walls (in certain light and at certain times of the day). I think it's from the Low-E windows (grrr). Hoping that when the second coat goes up, it's a bit warmer. If not, I'll wait until I know what furniture will go in there and repaint down the road, once there is electricity to really see what things will look like. Thank goodness it's only 900ft. (DH would kill me if I held things up now.) I knew that I should pick a paint with a tad bit of red in it, but then changed my mind on the last day and went with a paint color that a decorator chose instead.

DH and I hung the internal doors over the past few days (ok, DH hung them and I held things up/handed him things here and there :). He's never done it before, so I was really pleased at how things turned out. He continues to surprise me at his ability to learn a new skill on the fly.

@Karen could you do a swing arm? hang it from the ceiling?

@kh - I hadn’t thought about that! Thank you!! We will need to somehow remove the can light and patch the hole, but maybe that is possible (even if I have to just push the can light into the attic and let it stay there:). It takes a village to build a house:).

@Karen I have 2 of the Mendes lamps in my kitchen. they work great! and whats great is they do stay where they are placed. reviews for swing arm lamps are terrible for almost every one I searched. These are great and I love Lamps Plus.

Those are beautiful @User I'll have to get some and put them in!

@K H you wouldn't believe the hours I spent looking at every possible swing arm /adjustable wall lamp ....sigh...days and days. They were either $300 and up with bad reviews or cheap with bad reviews. These are perfect and great price and beautiful quality. Hm...I can't remember if they were hard wired but my electrician did it if they weren't . They operate from a switch on the wall and have a dimmer. Love to use them as nightlights in the kitchen

@User are yours antique brass or nickel?

They are nickel