Andreim - I'm jealous of your land and house you're building. I love the modern design. I'll keep following your blog. I can't wait to see the finished product. Montel - fly ash concrete is an alternative to portland cement made from the waste produce by goal powerplants which makes it more of a "green" product. After the foundation was poured, no stain was applied. It was just diamond polished to 1500 grit. The contractor performed most of the process before any of the framing was complete since the machine used to do grinding/polishing is quite large. He did the final polish before move in and did buff in a very small acrylic coating to give it some pop. Most websites say a protective sealant is not necessary since the concrete it already been hardened with a densifier before the final polish and because it's mechanically smooth. The shiny surface is actually produced by the smoothness of polished concrete vs the typical sealant producing the shiny finish. Polished concrete cost quite a bit more than just sealed concrete. You can also stain the concrete before the polish for a different color just like regular stained/sealed concrete. -Thomas

Today they started to put the forms up for the basement walls. They'll finish tomorrow and pour the concrete Wednesday. We will have 9 foot walls, 8 inches thick. We were surprised to see that they had already dug the hole for the septic tank and put it in! Loessismore.... your driveway looks alot like ours, what area of the country are you in?

Autumn, oicu, jdez, skyangel -- Thanks for the comment on the Blanco sticker. It does look like someone tried to remove it, and now it is warped :/ I would like it to stay on so as not to leave any residue or something, since it does look like it is meant to stay. Oicu, we have the same sink, but different colors. Ours is truffle. It was our original choice to match the faucet, but I went back and forth between that and metallic gray. Jdez, nice sink! That was another option I was looking at, but didn't get to see an actual sample. Musicgal-- Lovely home! Robynstamps -- Almost there! We are 2 weeks away from closing. The windows that are not in the center have yet to be corrected, but we have been told we are still on track. The deck is done. Yesterday they started on the wood floors and carpet. Appliances have been coming in (basement refrigerator has 2 big dents and needs to be replaced). Closets have been started as well. Lights need to go up, and plumbing fixtures are being installed here and there. We come at the end of the day and see 2 additional faucets in, it's crazy. Still waiting on more trim material (lots were not up to the trim carpenter's standards). Other things that need to get started: kitchen backsplash, wallpaper, window treatments. Hope we make it!! We are closing on our current house too. Lots of packing going on that is why I haven't been here much. Wish us luck!

It's just stark right now. I wouldn't go white with the house being right on the sidewalk, but a buff the color of grasscloth would be awesome. I LOVE the idea of the dutch door and was going to suggest something similar. How awesome! Don't worry about low water. ALLLLLLLLLLL container plants have to be watered regularly, so what you need is a drip irrigation system on a timer going to everything (which you can do yourself) rather than chasing a vain hope that these plants won't need regular supplemental watering. Drip irrigation is extremely efficient and uses very little water at a go, but keep in mind that your plants have a very limited area to get water from. 1. You'll have to lose the lights for my plan. Can you put new ones int he soffits? 2. Fabulous house numbers down R side of door--also black. 3. Decorative brackets for eaves and a prettier fascia. 4. Lose the screen for a concealed one. 5. Paint the door aqua! Add a black kick-plate and door hardware--a touch of class without the fussiness of bronze here. 7. Add more substantial trim around the door using the Home Depot foam stuff. It works greant and is super-easy to install. 8. Normally, I love windowboxes, but under yours would be...concrete. Ew. So I'm going to vote for big planters--2' deep and coming up to 18" beneath your windows, and 1' wider than the windows, total (6" on each side). You must, must raise them! And paint them aqua, too (the surface should be smooth, like stucco)! In these, plant sedums, spurge, pennyroyal, potato vine, guara (trim!), blue flax, thyme, variegated monkey grass, etc. Get a good foundation of evergreen plants, then go for chartruese foliage with a solid combination of "spillers, thrillers, and fillers"--google that! Stick to pink/mauve/blue for your palette for you blooms, and with that little space, ALWAYS leave a spot for annuals! You need their punch. Grow stuff that's supposed to reach 24-30", for the tall accents. The tall planter will be more visible from the street, and the overlap with the window (there'll be less than you think ) will provide real charm and life. 9. A big white pot should sit between the garage doors and the window planter. And in it--bougainvillea! Pink bouganvillea! Whack it back regularly, but train it over the garage on a pergola-like lattice. 10. Get another large pot for the other corner of the house and put really vertical grass in it--Jose Select Tall Wheatgrass, for instance, with some great bright annuals planted around it. (It'll look interesting in winter, even dead.) 11. Buy a retractable awning to stretch from 6" to the left of the L window to 6 inches to the R of the R window. When retracted, it should look something like a valence for the house--and should include a your house colors in a vertical stripe--the vertical stripe is CRUCIAL, as the horizontal stripes make your car look like an RV. This will make your entire front yard into an entertaining space--AND will give you a bright and cheerful "inside/out" kind of punch, too, when retracted. 12. When you get those carriage doors, get black hardware and paint them aqua, too! 13. Stain the concrete with a casual pattern. Don't try to do irregular flagstones--that always looks fake--but use painter's tape to mark out a simple block pattern, working with the slabs that are there. IF you are allowed and can afford it, actually making a patio of stone or brick would be even better, but if you have to not touch part as the "sidewalk", you're better off staining, which will make the space seem bigger. Do the whole "yard," not just under the awning. 14. Get a big coconut husk doormat. Make it as wide as will fit. 15. Get a patio set with two chairs and a sofa in a palatte-harmonizing color--buff, preferably, with accent pillows of aqua patterned indoor/outdoor fabric. Chairs have their back to the driveway, sofa has its back to the yard of the yellow house next door. Skip the coffee table that comes in with the set, as it'd block the front door. Instead, get small teak/ipe side tables in a dark stain--one between the chairs and one next to the sofa. Add some big planters with tall plants to give dimension and shade. 16. The driveway is now the place for your outdoor dinner table! Get a set that seats 6--not one with the pivoting chairs on a circular base but a more classic design. Back-bolsters in an accent fabric can do wonders. Classic: http://www.walmart.com/ip/Braddock-Heights-Woven-Patio-Dining-Set/10899373 http://www.walmart.com/ip/Braddock-Heights-4-Piece-Patio-Conversation-Set/10574359 I particularly like the black metal for this design and how it coordinates with the hardware accents. 17. You can even add a rug! Yes, there are now attractive indoor/outdoor rugs to put under your conversational grouping. 18. Finally, place groupings of LARGE pots around, filled with (drip-irrigated) plants. If you can move a pot easily by yourself, it's too small! Put them alone (very large) or in groups of 3 or 5. Range the heights of the plants from 6' down to creeping plants that spill over the edge, and design each group of pots together, staying strictly to your palette. Somewhere between 3 and 5 of these groupings, total, will "finish" the front yard. I don't know about your side setbacks, but you can probably find a way to attach a grill semi-permanently to the L side of the house, too. How much fun! HTH!