rbattaglia,
nice island! Agreed on the SW Sea Salt....I added several rooms to my idea books with that color, it's beautiful. So many good colors, need to find a good place for them all!

DRYWALL!!! whoop whoop :)

my cleaning fairy has flew the coop!

They set the furnace this morning. Blew in the insulation in the ceiling yesterday. Have to come back to do the attic over the garage tomorrow.
Mud/tape starting tomorrow... flooring guy supposed to come today to measure.

Finally lots of things seem to be falling into place.
Builder said yesterday our goal is to get everything as done as possible for final inspection and the bank loan taken care of. Then the outside stuff that isn't finished b/c of weather can be done when it can....

fingers crossed!!!

I've started packing decor...I have a lot of crap. ugh.. lol

Everyone's homes look so good! :)

loribug, your drywall looks really good, love those windows!

They started our floors today. Got about half of the great room done. We are really pleased with how they look….

They also delivered our interior doors and trim…. excited!

Alright Autumn 4, no siding pics AND no word on the granite? You are killing me.

Carol33- your floors look amazing!

Loribug- I really liked the drywall stage. It felt like everything was really come together. Looks good!

Good news on our appraisal...we disputed the appraisal with the pretty valid points and the appraiser agreed and came up on his valuation. So awesome! This helps us tremendously!!

Carpet was started today, more plumbing was done, and pretty much everything is almost done. Biggest thing now is tying up loose ends. Looks like we probably won't be in this week, but hoping for next. Soooo close!

Rbatt, yay on the appraisal! I hope it's smooth sailing from here on out.

rb - yes! Awesome news. So happy for you. What a relief. Thank you for the foggy day suggestion, I like it. I am waffling between light and airy and more intense for a color pop and just where to do what.

carol-those are some beautiful floors. Wow! Our doors are the same but will be painted white, love'em.

lori lori lori-I wondered if you flew the coup! Looks good and I can relate to that big pile of dry wall scrap! They did actually remove it all but I spent the better part of the evening last night sweeping. The dust is unreal and I am sure it's nothing compared to mudding!

paint-so I like foggy day and I like sea salt. I agree with illini; so many nice colors that we have to fit in somewhere!

jdez-ME TOO! I haven't heard back from the fabricator, hoping today? The bank had me in fits yesterday. I am not a mathematician but I can ADD. Somehow they did the draw and shorted us $4,041 dollars. Shaking my head. So more emails, what the heck? It's a spreadsheet, it does the adding for you. COME ON PEOPLE!!! I don't get it. This is my first build, maybe this is their first mortgage? LOL! Okay not really laughing. I am disgusted...

So by the time I got out there it was too DARK to take a pic of the siding - I was checking it out by flashlight and I LOVE IT! We have church tonight so I won't get out there but tomorrow I WILL get a pic! Hubby installed the decking for the covered porch, sigh. I can't wait to sit out there! It's single digits for temps right now though so a quick peek and then I was busy sweeping to stay warm.

Insulation guys did not show yesterday so no heat yet. They are supposed to come today and I hope they do. Mudding starts next week Monday and we need to get the heat ON.

So here is a shot of the 'office space' standing between kitchen and living rooms - you can see it is out there in the open for all the world to see. I want to paint it something different...and I will have to configure it so all of our paper MESS is not visible as I know that will bug dh and me. :/

To the left is the fridge opening, straight ahead is the office and mudroom hall (it's angled). It does let in a lot of light and that I like. To the right you can see the doorway to the powder room.

A bit closer:

Office Window:

Am jealous now. Still working on the estimate.

Carol.33,
What is your hardwood floor grade? I like yours.
Was choosing better and select, should I down grade?

Thanks

Framing second/main level. Finally looking like a house!!!!

Carol, Beautiful floor. Like the doors also. We are debating between two doors and this one of the choices though ours will be painted.

rb24, YaY! Great news on getting the appraisal issues resolved. Next week will be here in no time. Your island counter top looks great. Do post more pictures.

houses14, welcome and don't worry once you get started you will make quick progress in the starting.

MFatt16, yes it is exciting to see the framing go up. That has been the best part of the build so far for me.

Autumn, Looks like they are making lot of progress. Understand the frustration with the bank. Hope things go smoother.

Lori, We are in the same stage. Drywall was the most messy so far. They did clean up some after they are done and they started doing the taping yesterday and now my shoes and pants are a mess. So if people stop by in your work clothes be careful.

On our end they have started Taping and mudding yesterday. Hope they are done by this week. Our Kitchen cabinets have already arrived and now we have no place to store them so the KD is holding for an additional week but if we are still behind next week this time we will have to move the cabinets to storage and pay for that. Getting a little frustrated with the GC. He has been very tough to get hold of him the last week and we are behind on stuff.

Well, it happened again!! Nice long post and then gone!! I used the "back" button too and still gone :( I think it is because I get multiple interruptions and stop typing for a while then by the time I hit post something gets screwed up....

Take two.....

rbattaglia--So happy for you! Yay!

Autumn and loribug--Drywall is looking great!!

akshars--Ooohh, you have cabinets!! I think we will be in the same boat with the cabinets done but not ready to install.

MFatt--How about them HAWKS!! What a game! I was a nervous wreck the whole time! Framing is looking great. Your site and layout look similar to ours. We are also doing a 1 story with walkout basement so we could get the sound views on the main level. Our lot was fairly flat, though, so all the digging and moving dirt has been expensive, but worth it.

I think I have found the exterior paint color!!! Cabot's Driftwood Gray! I have loved this color on every house I have seen it on (in pics), but didn't think we could use it because it is a stain. However, it appears Cabot makes a "solid stain" which is essentially paint and can be used on Hardie. I need to verify this, but will be so happy if it works!

As far as interior paint, SW Sea Salt has been top of the list for the Great Room/Kitchen area. Looks like a lot of you on here like it too! :) The kitchen island will be painted BM Beach Glass, so just have to make sure those two colors work well togther. The perimeter cabinets and all the doors/millwork/trim will be SW Pure White. I had originally selected BM White Dove, but it had too much of a creamy/yellow undertone and did not go with the white quartz for the island. Pure White is still soft, but no yellow.

We have HEAT!! Yay! They will insulate today and tomorrow and then drywall starts on Monday. :)

I want our drywallers to be done! They come one day and then take off two days. They are holding us up! We also have cabinets ready for delivery in addition to all our trim, beams and interior doors. We need the inside of the house available, people!

Today the siding guys had to rip off everything they did the other day because they did not do the flashing they were supposed to around our windows and doors. Our son-in-law met with them this morning. Not sure if I mentioned before or not, but they ordered the wrong shakes for our gables. They ordered single rough-split straight edge and we requested double rough-split staggered. At the rate of this winter weather keeps rolling in and them not being able to install every day, maybe we won't be waiting around for it after all. Who knows.

On a good note, we ended up working with a fabulous ID/sales woman from a furniture store we went to last week. She spent hours with us picking out furniture for the family room - couch, recliner, cocktail ottoman, rug, accent chest for our entry, lamps, rug, entertainment wall unit, and end tables. She created a furniture layout for the entry and family room. She even suggested a paint color. Guess what? She picked the same paint strip that I had picked as my favorite from the Benjamin Moore store over a month ago before furniture shopping! I feel like she can read my mind. She's good. She even went to another furniture store and picked out fabrics for us to use on two accent chairs we are buying at another furniture store! She's offered to help us with colors or any furniture arrangement in any of the other rooms, too. She didn't charge us for any of this. I think I need to get her a gift card for her help.

I am starting to really drool over everyones idea boards of tile, granite, paint and light fixtures. I feel like I had my mind made up but now I am rethinking.....

Got some new pictures today. There has been some progress.

Front of the house:

Looking from inside the MB:

Kitchen:

{{gwi:1401800}}

Future screened back porch:

houses14 - our floors are 4" character grade hickory, with the golden stain from Baird Brothers in Canton, Ohio.

We will be going Monday to make our final granite selection. We went a month or so ago and liked the River White. This time we have to decide for sure so it won't be so easy. I have had a real tough time picking tile for the foyer and bathrooms…. still not sure yet! Gonna have to make a decision soon, stressing bad!

hoosiers-oh yikes, I hope that is not how our mudders work. That will be frustrating. We have doors and trim scheduled for delivery on 2/4. I hope they are DONE by then! Great work on the furnishings front.

jdez-ahhhh, look at that sky and sun shining through your window openings. Glorious! Very nice!

mommytoty-eek, I am getting sweaty palms here! I ordered soft white cabs (similar to white dove, but I hope they don't read dingy yellow when I get them in). :( So far that is not how they have looked. The next white option they had was really stark. That was a tough call for me and we are matching trim and doors to the cabinets!

I am hoping for pics tomorrow. :) Snowing to beat the band again. Awful commute today. I am ready for that groundhog to come up and see NO shadow. Come on Phil!

We are trying to figure out how to have an 'un-superbowl' party. We don't have tv service while in temporary housing. We always have a fun little party just the 4 of us but we've got nothing to watch! Hmm. Still thinking on that one.

It's nice to see so much progress being made on everyone's homes.

The trim guy is still working on the windows and doors. He's been at it for 2 weeks now. He fired his helper so it's just him doing everything.

The tile for the master bathroom is making headway. They finished tiling and grouting the rest of the bathrooms/mudroom/laundry. The cabinets were supposed to be installed on Monday but the cabinet maker wasn't finished with them. I'm hoping he comes tomorrow.

I thought the painters would paint before the cabinets but our GC said they don't paint until after all the cabinets are installed. A couple of our bathroom vanities are furniture type vanities with open shelving below. One would think it would be easier to paint those before the vanities come in.

Mood board for master bathroom.

Tile for one of the bathroom floors

Autumn- we ended up going with the White Dove cabinets and they do not look yellowy at all. They look very white, but not stark white. We did not match trim to cabinets either and I don't regret that either. We didn't want dove white through the whole house, but it looks fine.

Lzhwong- the tile look great! We went very basic with tile, but I love your fancy choices.

Jdez- framing looks good and that part flies by and you'll love the changes you see each day.

Today they finished carpet, plumbing, furnace hookup to propane, garage doors and when I stopped by tonight the "final cleaners" were there. The painters are coming again tomorrow to finalize touch- ups...but otherwise we are looking at closing on Tuesday. Few other loose ends, but we are sooooo close.

Some outdoor items will have to wait until Spring (outdoor pillars being painted and driveway).

I will get more pics tomorrow after everything should be sparkly clean. Oh...and appliances are being delivered tomorrow.

loving everyone's progress.

Framing is going fast, I won't bore you with the pics at this point. I feel so bad for the framers out in this frigid weather (and no relief in sight). I brought them coffee and cookies yesterday.

We made our plumbing fixture selections which I may tweak (that was overwhelming because I put little thought into it before the appointment with the exception of what I needed for the master shower). We are going to look at floors again today.

So far I like what I see.

rb-what color did you do for trim? Dh is going to want that quickly......ever heard of china white?

So, dh goes out last night to turn on the heat and nothing. Nada. Furnace doesn't work! :( Mud being delivered tomorrow, has to stay warm. I hope the HVAC gets out there sooner rather than later. Weather is bad though, no school today and forecasting blizzard conditions for this weekend. We need a weather break!

lori-you have heat yes?!! I hope!!!

lzhog - we have the same shower package, tub and plumbing fixtures as you! Where did you find that awesome toilet paper magazine holder? I love that and I know my DH would love it more.

This is my first post. We are waiting on final bid from our builder but he wanted me to start making as many selections on things as I can.

So far I've selected the hardwood floors (has to be engineered since we building on a slab) we picked Mannington, Mountain View Hickory in Bark. Selected all plumbing fixtures - Delta Victorian line in OB, light fixtures are done too. Having a hard time with the carpet, linolieum and paint colors.

We are doing a victorian style interior except open concept, don't think I could do all the closed off rooms. We have 7 acres out in the county (1/2 mile from city limits) that is already paid for. The well is already in and paid for - didn't hit water till 540' but pretty good water and 15 gallons/minute. It's sad to say that we had to dig a well and the county water line runs under our driveway. Long story - but just say county water tower is at max capacity and they don't want to upgrade their lines or tower :(

We hope to get the final bid over the weekend so we can go to the bank next week and if that goes smooth, and lots of prayers we can break ground in February. Our lease in our townhouse is up on July 31st and I want the house to be done by then. Builder said 4 months from time framing is done to move-in. I know there will be delays due to living in the midwest and the weather is never going to fully cooperate but I can pray. Don't really want to move in with my MIL - which by the way lives on the 50 acres that joins our land. That's close enough. It's one thing when they live with you but no way I want to live with her.

Thanks for letting me rant a bit. I love reading all your posts and seeing all the pictures of everyones build. It make me so excited everyday to catch up on you all. I know one of my paint colors will be SW sea salt in Master bath and our cabinets will be white with the island stained. I need to figure out a white that will work on my cabinets - any suggestions?

Thanks again.

Renee0829: The magazine toilet paper holder is Pottery Barn. Restoration Hardware makes one too. I actually bought mine on Ebay. Just save a search for it and one will pop up eventually I got it for 75% off retail and it was new in box. I'm also doing white perimeter cabinets in SW Pure White and a grey island in SW Summit Gray. Hope that helps!

Everyone's houses are looking good!

The mudders were supposed to come on Monday.. and as of yesterday they still hadn't been there. AND our basement door had blown open... thank goodness our backyard neighbors were nice enough to call and let us know. All this while the flu is running rampant through the house. Then our plumber called our builder who then called us to let us know that our master tub has a hairline crack in it. The plumber told him that he can fix it but we'd still see it. What do you think our answer is.. noooo replace it. It shouldn't have cracked in the first place and this is a brand new house, I don't want to have a cracked tub. Also irked that the plumber didn't just call us so now we are doing phonetag. I guess these are minor things but we really wanted to start painting this weekend.

Also a weird thing about our doorknobs... even if they are locked you can still open them up from the inside. Is that a new thing? I can see myself now going out to the garage thinking the door is "open" and then coming back and being locked out. I have a feeling we will be using the deadbolt more than the knob locks. I will have to ask the builder if this is the new norm?

Things are going extremely slow here, we were supposed to be in sometime in Febuary but now not till end of March. If we are lucky. The builder is way behind again, a month behind in finishing the basement, it was supposed to be taped and mudded by Jan 2, still is not done. As for the rest of the home, cabinets not installed till middle of next month, tile end of Feb...... Carpet install not till March 18th. So frustrating as they have zero organizational skills. Almost everything they have put it is wrong. Wrong tub, wrong paint, wrong doors, wrong glass, wrong railings, wrong framing, wrong trim.........

Hopefully since there will be no progress in the main part of home the next couple of weeks they will at least get the basement caught up. The site sup we originally had left and it showed he hadn't been interested in his job for months as he did nothing in our home. Now we have another one who knows little about construction and seems his biggest concern is trying to prevent us being on site. I think they are tired of us catching all their mistakes.

Loving everyone's progress on all your homes! :)

Carol- Those floors and doors are gorgeous!

JDez- & MFatt16- Framing is looking great!

Autumn & Loribug- So excited to see your drywall, yay!!!

lzhwong- Great selections for your master bath, it's going to be beautiful, and the tile in your other bath is very nice.

mommytoty- the round window was worth the wait, wow!!! :)

Sweet.reverie- Congrats on your beautiful home, love your blog and your adorable children.

Back from visiting my dad.
We went straight to the build site last night upon returning.
It looks as if all our wiring is pulled, although cans not installed yet in ceilings. It also looks as if the rough plumbing is in. The HVAC stuff is all over, and the builder emailed us yesterday asking for a meeting to discuss the HVAC upgrade options we have before it's finished.
I'm trying to nail down picky things like which art lighting to install in great room. It's not an easy decision for me because I don't know enough about it, and if I get it wrong it'll be a bear to replace. We have some great artwork and I want to light it properly.
Also, the crew that framed the house is also putting down the decking boards on the wrap around porch, and doing the siding, flashing etc. They work in the most disorganized manner I've ever seen. It's driving my organized self a bit nuts.
About 2/3 of the deck flooring is down, most of the faschia is done, but not all, they've started siding around the garage, then they go back to nailing down decking. It's crazy. I don't get why they don't start one thing and then finish it. Oh, and there are still a few minor things left on the interior. I suppose they'll get to it when they do.

I'm loving seeing all your pics.
lzhwong I love your choices.
And Carol your floors are beautiful. We switched recently from Maple to hickory/pecan. Interestingly, our flooring place told us that we'll get Hickory or Pecan, that it's very difficult to tell the difference in the cut boards and they're labeled interchangeably.
So the contact person we've spec'd out all our lighting and plumbing with at Fergusons has left suddenly and under "it's a long story" circumstances, meanwhile I have to pull everything together and go over everything with a new rep at Fergusons - it shouldn't be a problem, but it's one more thing.
And the flooring/tile place we have to work with is making me very nervous. We were in there just after Thanksgiving to pick out the flooring and request stain samples. Every time we've talked to them since they've had some excuse or another about why they're not ready.

Jdez and MFatt your framing is looking good. That's when you really begin to see changes fast.
Autumn, hope you get your banking straightened out, and your heating. And hope it warms up soon.

So glad to hear about the appeal that worked for the appraisal. That's pretty rare.
Hoosier, what a great find re your ID.

rb-I had to go back and re-read. Wow! You are THAT close! Appliances scheduled and all. How exciting!

marjorie-glad you are back. I hope things are well. Did you make any headway on backsplash? Or are you 'on a break'?

xc60-drat. That is not good. We haven't had much of a delay besides framing. Crossing fingers that continues. Isn't the work ethic (or lack thereof) scary?

kellithee-no way. I'd want a new one too. Sorry the bug is making it's way around.

illini-post away! It is super exciting-the first inklings of a house! Did you nail down the kitchen design?

renee-welcome. There are soooo many whites. Do your have your choice (custom) or are you choosing from an offerering? Our island is also gray but it's a gray stain instead of paint so a bit different.

carpet-ack. We haven't really discussed much and don't have a plan for an install date. Maybe I need to get on that?

Bank: "Thank you for your acccurate book keeping! We found the error and have transferred the remainder of funds". Happy they transferred but unsettling that they even had the discrepancy in the first place.

The weather is not making it wasy to go out and shop for things. You can only do so much with online browsing. :(

I am going to venture out to get a pic of siding. The sky is BLUE and the sun is out. It's a wonderful sight and I need to capture it!

Hoosier, We are having the same issue with drywall/mudding crew. They are here 2 days and not the next few days and so on. Hope they are done soon and you can deliver the cabinets and stuff. Sounds like the interior designer is great. Glad you have sorted out the furniture.

jDez, the framing is looking good.

lzwhong, love the selections for your bathrooms. Looks like you are getting close to being done.

rb24, Wow next Tuesday is great news. Waiting to see the clean pictures when you have them. will you be moving next weekend?

Kellithee, Hope the mudding starts soon. Looks like a lot of us are having issue with this part of the project. My GC tells me they are the busiest of the sub-contractors he uses so to bear with it.

Xc60, Sorry about all the delays you are going through.

Autumn, Sorry about the heat issue. Hope you can resolve it soon. Have you heard back from the fabricator if you can get the island without a seam?
I also do not want a seam in the island so we reduced the overhang on one side to 12 inches (was supposed to be 18). May be if you are short by a few inches you can reduce any overhang you plan to have.

Marji, Hope your dad is doing well. I understand your frustration with the framing crew. Hope the flooring place gets their act together soon and has the stain samples for you,

On our end still the mudding and may take until next week as the crew did not show up today. Met with the contractor today and he says he can still make the March 23 date. So let’s see.

Have a question for everyone. Are your floors going in first or is the cabinets. (both in the kitchen and bathrooms). The Contractor says they do them both ways without any issues but KD says she prefers the floor to be done first.

Here is a picture of the drywall and peak of the coffered ceiling in the living area.

kellithee--Funny, we have the same doorknobs in our temporary home that was built in the 60s. It took me a few months and a few times of getting locked out, but now I always double check the lock every time I leave and plan to come right back in. Kind of a pain, but you get used to it.

akshars--Love the coffered cielings! On the flooring, our GC told us the same thing, that they do it both ways. In our house, they plan to lay the hardwood floor first (unstained), then install the cabinets, then stain the floor. He said they will come back through at the very end and apply the last coat on the floor. I am not sure what the process will be for the bathrooms where we have tile floors...

Autumn--The White Dove is a beautiful color, it was just too warm for the other materials I am using. Here is a pic I took with the White Dove paint sample from my cabinet guy. The square material is the Super White quartz. The lighting is bad, but I think you can see how warm the White Dove looks in comparison. I will post a pic with the Pure White next.

Here is the Pure White

lzhwong - Thanks for the info on the magazine toilet paper holder. I will take a look at SW Pure White to see if my DH likes it.

Autum - We are doing a complete custom home so I get to pick everything :) We are wanting to stain the island vs paint. I think DH said he wants to use alder for the island as it takes stain very well. I thought we should go 2 shades darker than the wood floors but he thinks the floor are already dark so didn't want to do that. What do you think? Our flooring is from Mannington - Mountain View Hickory - Bark is the color.

Any suggestions are welcome. I tried to post our plans but I'm at work and the URL wasn't working so I will do that once I get home.

Heat! yes we have heat!
Taping & mudding is happening!

I'm so worried about my cabinets not being ready in time, but other stuff seems to be going well...

Love all the progress!

Anyone else planning a "command center" ...kitchen, hallway, laundry room? I've been pinning ideas. Now I'm just ready to go buy it all. Ha... wish I had more time & money Doesn't everyone!?

mommytoty, Thanks for the information on what you are doing with the floors. Our cabinet colors are also SW pure white and we plan to match the trim also to the cabinets. Your kitchen selections looks good. In the second picture you posted what is the countertop? Is it marble. Looks beautiful

Lori, Yes I am planning to have kind of command center thought it will be pretty small. We have a 24 inch cabinet at the end of the kitchen run and that will have cabinet doors facing our entrance from the garage. I am hoping this is where all the mail, keys, phones and purse and bags get stored. This is the inspiration

[

And yes I wish had more time and Money :)

mommy-thanks for the pics. Amazing how warm it looks. Not sure what to do with trim now. I was kinda thinking they needed to match but maybe not. Is that a marble hex? I am thinking the solution to my dark perimeter counters with lighter island may be a marble. I don't know. Too much to think about. What paint color is that again (the blue)?

akshars-love the ceiling...we wanted to do something like that but cut it out. Too hard with everything else. It depends on the slab. They didn't give me a definite number or hard fast rule. But for the 1116" slab I was looking at he said would be fine for a 9 foot island. I was thinking like you, could have one overhang a little less than 15" (which is what I am planning).

lori-YAY for heat! We have an open office area thingy that I posted above. That will be command center. It is off the garage entry hall. I have no idea what I want to do there. Or rather I do but I don't have time to think about that right now. ;) Yup on time and money.

So here it is. First note the blue sky. We have not had sunshine like this in a LONG time as in weeks. I love the siding and the shake. Very happy. Pleaes ignore all of the stuff in the way. They were not quite finished but I took the pic while I could get it! We will have to stain the door in the spring I am afraid.

That siding is totally awesome, Autumn. You have certainly made super fast progress.

Love all the pics everyone. Looking good.

Carol

xc60--Sorry to hear about all the mistakes you are finding! So frustrating!! We have caught a few, but they have all been fixed and our GC has been really good about it. A March move-in date sounds wonderful!

loribug--I am planning a "command center" of sorts in our laundry room/mudroom that is connected to the garage. I had a desk built in that room right by the doorway that leads into the rest of the house. We will have a bench with hooks/cubbies accross from that, so my idea is that when we walk into that room from the garage, all shoes/coats/backpacks will get dropped off at the benches and mail/keys/homework will get dropped off on the desk. We used to have a desk in the kitchen in our old house and, while it was nice to have it close to where we spent most of our time, it constantly looked a mess. So, this time, I planned to have that mess out of the kitchen. We'll see how it plays out in reality!!

akshars--Yes, that is a beautiful marble that I think is going to be out of budget now :( Still hoping to find something similar closer to budget.

Autumn--The blue is for the island and it is BM Beach Glass. The siding on your house looks fantastic! Was it pre-painted? What color is it?

Autumn--Sorry, yes, that is an Arabescato marble hex that we are using as an accent tile on the area behind the range. The rest of the backsplash will be white subway tile.

Thanks everyone! :)

Autumn, wow your house looks really great all sided with that blue sky above. The colors you picked are perfect!

Here are a couple pictures I have to show:

First one of view in summer, I'm reminding myself how nice it will be eventually. :)

Master bedroom:

Lighting:

Kitchen Inspiration board:

This post was edited by xc60 on Sun, Jan 26, 14 at 20:37

Renee - it sounds like you have a beautiful place. Can't wait to see pics.

Kellithee - don't tell me I'll have to hide a key. I always feel like there's someone hiding in the woods with binoculars just waiting for me to reveal the location of that hidden key. Too many movies.

xc60 - I hate to hear about all the bad experiences with your build. I know its stressful but it should be fun too.

Autumn4 - you finally post a picture of your siding and I'm at work where all photos are blocked. Guess I'll have to wait until later to check it out. And you didn't have to send me your weather, the building crew won't be back to work until Monday because of some kind of freak ice storm thats coming in tonight. And you have blue skies?

Some of you are close to finishing. Are you feeling excitement or relief?

Here are our plans:

First Floor

Cabinets got installed today. I'm not sure why they made the spice cabinets flanking the range 2 doors. Our drawings show one long door and I much prefer it that way. The cabinets are SW pure white.

Family room built ins.

Thanks for the compliments on the siding everyone, I am very happy with how it turned out. It's actually vinyl, the color is storm. I love that sometimes it looks gray and sometimes it looks beige. We are waiting until spring to do the stone as well. Just too much snow and too cold of temps.

The furnace was working this evening. We will check on it again in the morning and make sure it's still heating.

mommy-I have a couple of marble mosaic samples enroute. I hope they work out. DH is all set to go with our first choice but it's just not practical. He says I over analyze but I am the cleaner so.... ;)

jdez-ha! I fear this was the calm before the storm...snow and 40 mph winds are on the way for this weekend.

I am starting to get commitment phobia. I need to pick paint and stick to it! There are just way too many cool colors!

Renee- welcome! What part of the Midwest are you in? I'm in MN and we were encouraged to pick out everything very early too. It actually helped the process a lot. We also did white perimeter cabinets (white dove) and a stained center island, which is a few shades darker than the floors.

Akshars & xc60- I really love those ceilings. Wow!

So half of the appliances were delivered today, but not the exciting ones :) apparently the delivery driver missed half of them. Good job!! Ugh!

Cleaning went great last night, but they will for sure have to come back. There was still a mess with people in there again today.

The mantle was installed today.

I didn't get any other pics because I was in a big rush after work before I had to get the kids.

I'm getting very anxious about finalizing this process. Making sure all added expenses are in line, etc...and dealing with overages is becoming a reality. Even though we are supposed to close Tuesday, my husband coaches basketball and has literally 4 evening games next week. The other nights he has practice and I have a work event on Saturday...so I'm not sure how we'll make moving a priority.

Autumn4, your house is beautiful. I'm sure the inside will be just as spectacular.

Anyone needing paint should register with the SW website if you haven't already and you will get a coupon in your email for 25% off. At least I guess everybody would, I got one today. We are a long way from needing paint though.

Autumn! Gorgeous!!!! I love it!

Wow so much activity today :)

Autumn, Love your siding. Looks beautiful in contrast to the white snow. Glad the heater was working. Sorry about the cold winter you are having. We are having the opposite problem here. No winter so far and no rain. They are expecting water shortage this summer. Yes indeed there are so many great colors. Our contractor uses kelly williams so the colors are a little different. I will have to see if we can find a color close to sea salt that everyone seems to like. We have to choose colors in the next couple of weeks.

Mommytoty, Hope you find a replacement marble at a lower price.

xc60, Nice view of the lake. The great room ceiling and builtins are looking great.

lzwhong, Kitchen ls looking great. Are the kitchen and fireplace built-ins made by local custom guy or a cabinet company. Hope they can fix the issue with spice cabinet doors.

Renee, welcome to the thread. You are smart to be selecting a lot of the finishes now.

rbattaglia24 - I am in the Kansas City Missouri area. Our winter has been very cold and windy but so far not to much snow. I hope that no snow trend continues. Last winter we got 24" in 2 weeks in February.

Akshars - Thanks - so many choices to make and I'm not the best ID person. My brother was supposed to be doing that for me but he died unexpectedly in March of 2012.

I love the SW Dover White but I think it has to much of a yellow undertone. I know a lot of the builders around here use SW Antique White as the builder grade trim paint but it looks like it has yellow undertones too.

Does anyone know a good olive green color that has gray undertones (so it looks green in some light and gray in others)? I really love that color but DH is still trying to grasp it. We have a complete open concept so anyone that can offer me help on the main wall colors for LR, DR and Kitchen would be appreciated.

Since part II was reaching it's limit, I started part III.

Here is a link that might be useful: Link to Jan 2014 part III