That looks fabulous. I will meet with my GC Monday to discuss options for the shakes and will bring these us. Thanks again.

so i'm late and you may have made your decisions already, but autumn, i'd go for the shelf personally, but i'm sure you could create balance without it as well.

and upon, i'd TOTALLY do the upper cabinets if you can swing the cost!! even if you don't need the storage space, i'd like the balance it creates.

as for the questions:

@schiksal: the blue on our ceiling isn't exactly anywhere else, though i did use it as an accent color on a piece of artwork i did for the room, so maybe the answer is yes? nothing else that's permanent though.

this is the artwork i'm referring to - the blue is actually the same paint, but it has been distressed here so it looks less vibrant.

i've posted pics of the floor previously but here they are again. they're site finished red oak, hand scraped with the grain, water popped and stained with a custom blend of weathered oak and classic gray by duraseal with a satin poly finish. in some lights they look grayer, and in other lights they look more of a weathered tan.

@oicu: the cabinets are actually custom and from a local cabinet maker my builder has worked with for years. i was a little wary because i was expecting a kitchen designer to play with a fancy piece of software and tweak and tweak the kitchen for us, but whatever technology the process lacked they made up for in beautiful quality. thanks for noticing! :) they're solid maple if that helps.

here's a closeup of the island drawers/trash pullout.

and the cabinet hardware is... drumroll....wait for it... from IKEA!! we stumbled on them after searching high and low and not finding anything big and chunky that's kinda rustic/cottage, kinda classic, and in black. and the price was great too! they come in packs of 2 for $7.99! only problem is they come with very short screws and we had thick cabinets and drawers. ikea's hardware comes with metric screws so be prepared to hunt for longer matching thread metric screws. we got ours at fastenal, which i only discovered after searching online for how to get screws for ikea hardware. :)

the hearth was such a point of drama, but what hasn't been in our build, right? haha it was built at the wrong height and ultimately they had to bring in 3 or 4 trades to rip out sheetrock, disconnect and reconnect the gas and electrical stuff, and move the fireplace up to accomodate the higher hearth. it sits about 17" which was our compromise as it was supposed to be 18" but it's a great height for us to sit and our family is on the taller side.

the fireplace stone is natural stone, but cut into thin veneer for freight purposes. the stone is from the northeast, specifically the boston area, and we had it hauled all the way to texas because we love the stone from home and wanted to bring that piece of home to our new home. it's VERY expensive to haul it that far, but the stone itself is within the normal range of stone prices.

hope that helps!

Had to share my island that was installed on Friday. I'm totally in love with the color and are sure my super white counters will be the crowning glory. One glitch with the drawer side of the island...I got slab drawers rather than shaker. New drawer fronts have been ordered, so I'm okay with this little stumble.

Everyone is making great progress!

This post was edited by JDez on Sat, Apr 5, 14 at 22:04

nhbaskets, love that color!! it's reading like a dusty aqua on my monitor. is that right? sooo pretty! the superwhite will be stunning with it!

Maggiepie--it's more blue/gray. The color we were trying to duplicate is BM Mineral Alloy. Came out more blue, however, which I'm perfectly okay with.

Looks beautiful nhbaskets! We are going to have similar islands. Mine is BM Steel Wool which is supposed to be more gray than blue but comes off as more blue. I'm loving it though! Gorgeous!!

I LOVE all the pics that everyone is sharing! Welcome to our new posters, too!

My husband and one of my sons is in Utah right now and they were able to stop by our build. (My husband starts building his practice at the same time so that is why I get to be in charge of this build. It's nice, though!)

My project manager said they will start framing by the end of this week! I am sooooo excited! I cannot believe it!!

Have a great weekend everyone! Looks like a lot will be going on in the next week in Utah! We are moving out there in 7 weeks so I won't miss too much.

schicksal and skyangel

Our spring up here don't start till May.

I become more and more less of a fan of the snow every year, that's why I have a home in Phoenix too.

I live in Northern Alberta, Canada.

I like my tractor, snow removal is a breeze! ha

Do you all like this chandelier? We have a very formal dining room with 16 foot ceilings and I am struggling to find the right fit.
I found an awesome deal on this fixture...
http://www.wayfair.com/Feiss-Florentine-Dome-12-Light-Chandelier-F2327-8-4FG-L6085-K~MU6408.html?refid=BR49-MU6408

maggiepie: Good work by that cabinet maker. Nothing beats handcrafted. And we'll have to remember to check IKEA for handles/pulls.

On the stone, was that from stoneyard.com in Littleton MA? I'm a couple towns away from them! I saw their work in a local restaurant and am leaning towards using them. Shipping costs aside, are you happy with them? Was it easy (er?) to work with? quality, color, feel all good?

robynstamps Envious of that view. The red barn against the backdrop of the mountains? What a view to wake up to.

oicu - not sure the source of the stone because my builder will only use his own vendors, so they found a way to get boston field stone to us out here. i gave them photos of our fieldstone retaining wall from our last house and suggested the idea of doing a natural veneer, but they took it from there. that looks similar, but if it's natural stone it would look similar if it's pulled out of the ground up there. :) i can't believe i didn't realize you're in the boston area!!

we used morgado stone to construct our walls just north of boston, and they did an awesome job. i think they're based out of hampton beach. that obviously wasn't veneer though.

i'll warn you, the stone sitting in piles doesn't look like the finished color or the finished product so don't panic. they're certainly lighter to move around the job site, but otherwise didn't hear any feedback on how it was to work with. as for cost for the veneer, natural stone veneer is comparable to the cost of cultured stone veneer for material alone (unless you're hauling across the country), but the natural is more expensive to install because the cultured stuff comes in shapes that are more easily pieced together.

here's a picture of our stone walls done by Morgado, and I believe they do veneer as well.

I just checked out IKEA online for hardware and they have more than they used too. I wonder if I could get away with black cup pulls from there if my appliances are stainless and my faucet is ORB?

Akshars - Do you realize that you are just days away from being able to move into your new house? As stressful as the time crunch is, it still has to be exciting.

Hoosier - You probably mentioned it before and I have forgotten or just missed it, but what color do you plan to paint the primed Hardie?

Nhbaskets - I love your island color. Very pretty.

Schicksal - Cool front door. It reminds me of the house I lived in when until I was 12 yrs old.

Maggiepie - Every aspect of your home has turned out beautiful. I know you've been through a lot but I can tell that each little battle was worth it.

Robyn - Seven weeks will be over with before you know it! Keep lots of framing pictures because that part goes fast.

Hilltop - Your granite is beautiful! I also love the color of your island. I think I agree with Autumn4, if you put cabs all the way to the ceiling, do mostly solid doors so that the buffet wall stands out. Maybe a couple of glass doors on the opposite wall just to tie them together but not all glass doors. Although, come to think of it, all glass doors all the way around would look pretty awesome too. So I am oficially no help. Sorry. BTW, your front door is really pretty.

Our builder was supposed to install the cedar porch posts, build the bathtub deck (that he forgot to do before the plumbers came), and build a deck in the attic for HVAC installation that will happen on Tuesday. None of it was done. He better be busy on Monday because I hate to nag. Also, been looking over the books and we are quite a bit over budget. Of course, we knew this but having it confirmed made it real. Oh well, hopefully we'll make up some of it along the way. Good day my peeps!

What about these for kitchen island lights? We have a casual/rustic great room and kitchen with basically no colors. All stained woods, hickory floors, no paint yet. I was thinking of colored pendants and then incorporating the decorating accessories to that. Sort of an accent and inspiration color so to speak.

Disclaimer: I am not a decorator.

JDez, we did a color match of the Norwegian Wood color of our soffits/fascia. The light color on all three sample boards will be for the lap siding and the trim on the corners, tops and bottoms. Our gutters will be in the Norwegian Wood color, too.

We did a color match of our window exteriors (Marvin Integrity Bronze). We will use that color for the window and door trim and the column trim.

LOL, I should say "will have" we are not even close to that yet.

Typing this again. I somehow lost my entire post when I got up to eat a biscuit. That's what I get for attacking carbohydrates, anyways....

MFatt - I love the pendant and the color. I have been drooling over several similar type lights from Barn Light Electric but have yet to make a decision or decide if I will spend that much.

Hoosier - I love it! You seem to have come up with a color scheme that works with everything from your stone to your windows to your roof. We were originally going to have painted wood siding but discovered that Hardie was about one third the cost and less maintenance. Our original colors that we planned for our exterior was SW Outerspace (kind of a dark gray that looks blue in different light) and BM Flint as the trim color. The colored hardie wasn't much more than the primed, so then we decided to save the cost of a painter and go with Evening Blue with white trim. But I couldn't get the original vision out of my mind, so we went back to the primed hardie. Our main color will be Outerspace but now we can't decide if we want the Flint or white trim because our windows are white. I guess we'll make that decision when the painter asks us what color we want...lol. I hope it all comes together as good as your choices did. I can't wait to see yours finished.

EDIT: I went and looked at my paint cards and the trim color is BM Storm. I don't know where I got "Flint" from. Maybe that was a color for something else?

This post was edited by JDez on Sun, Apr 6, 14 at 16:16

I have been checking out Barn Light Electric too but I stumbled on these looking at Maggie's hardware from Ikea and I am thinking this might be the ticket. My lighting budget is too low, I knew it before but I am realizing the error of my ways now :)

MFatt, i like the pendant idea a lot. in fact, i've walked by those green ones at ikea multiple times and thought...hmm... where can i put those!? :)

one note of warning though, many of their pendants are wired to be plugged in with an on/off rocker, so your electrician would have to nip and tuck to make some of the ikea lights work. not sure if that is one of them.

the other thing is that the inside of it isn't particularly attractive, so hang it as low as is reasonable so you're never looking directly up into it. we have that problem with our hallway lights. they're open bottom lanterns and you see mostly bottoms.

we sat down with my parents at lunch today and mapped out several different scenarios for the logistics of our move. we have two leases ending on different days (theirs on the 15th, ours on the 18th) and can't seem to get anyone to tell us the specific steps between the final walk through and someone handing us our keys. no matter how we slice it, and no matter how stressful it is, it is SO exciting to think we're almost there. we can see our possible final walkthrough date on the 10 day forecast now!!!

Oh man, I hope this phase is soon behind you and you can tell is all it was worth the time and struggles :)

Do you mean the lighted are made to be hardwired? I don't quite get the rocker comment.

I hope they have those at my local store. Apparently they don't sell them online. Freaking Ikea.

MFatt - They cost a little more but look at Etsy. I have found some Barn Light Electric look-a-likes for less and they are custom made. Search "enamel pendant light, rustic pendant light", etc. They are a good bit more than the IKEA light though. That price is phenomenal.

I'll check out Etsy. I have been eyeballing some cute kitchy kitchen art but I haven't checked lights at all there.

MFatt - i mean some of the less expensive fixtures at ikea are geared more towards temporary/apartment style living where the lights are not hardwired, but rather they come with a plug that you plug into an outlet, and to turn it on and off it has a little rocker switch like this:

it's not a huge deal for an electrician to snip it and wire it directly, but if you have a builder or electrician who will not go an extra inch let along go the extra mile, just something to keep in mind if tensions are running at all high! and i'm not even sure if that fixture is one that plugs directly in to the wall either.

if ikea and etsy don't work out for you, American Nail Plate is another mfr like barn light electric, but they're sold more places, so it ups your chances of getting a sale or coupon code. i got some ANP stuff at lightinguniverse.com (ATG stores) and i was on their email list so all my purchases there were at 25% off. ANP's pendants run about $90 and up before any sort of sale, and shipping is free from lighting universe. ANP is all custom/made to order, so allow several weeks!

I get it now. I wasn't familiar with the rocker switch but I totally get it now. I read an article on how to switch from a plug in to a hardwire but this maybe different since the rocker is usually mid-length on the wire. I will head into the store and check them out. I will also check out ANP, Thanks!

You should be able to rewire the lights pretty easy as long as they can be taken apart. They look pretty nice btw.

Our progress is pretty boring, just more painting. The way things have been going I think I'll wrap up on Wednesday, then on Thursday the flooring starts going in. It'll be nice to do something else, my shoulders are killing me from rolling paint everywhere.

Whee...

This post was edited by schicksal on Mon, Apr 7, 14 at 9:19

Hey Everyone,

I can finally post in this thread! I closed on 15 acres in Rockingham County, NC last Thursday.

I am planning a salt box inspired farm house, detached garage, and barn. I am excited to share my progress and follow everyone's updates!

- JK

JK - Welcome. Can't wait to follow your progress. Let's see some pics of your build site.

JDez - it's hard to get a good photo now, it's all wooded with the exception of spot we brush cut to park, I will have more photos soon. Here is a video of the driveway I share with my new neighbor. If you turn left at the end clearing, it will take you back to her house. If you turn right, you will head into the patch of brush we cleared to park in. Thankfully, most of it is hardwoods, so it's very easy to navigate through the forest.

There are also 2 creeks, a small pine forest in the back, and lots of large rocks in and around the creeks. I also found the dashboard and windshield of an old Ford F-1.

http://s67.photobucket.com/albums/h313/jkliveng/?action=view&current=Driveway_zps527a14d8.mp4

Here is a link that might be useful: Driveway Video

cdika, I'm also in Alberta. I feel your pain. We have less snow down here right now, but it's not done falling for the year yet.

Wow every thing is looking great everybody!

My friend & I spent alllllllllll weekend decorating, and trying to get boxes emptied. Most of the "living" stuff is either put away or in the attic or garage. Going to try to get the garage cleaned out this week. My bay is almost empty enough to park in!

Here are some pictures of what I have done....Notice boxes of crap still sitting around and my dining room table is still covered as the "staging area" lol. But it's getting closer!!

We also got the command center up in the hall way, and our half bath decorated, but I seem to have missed taking pictures of them. :( I'll save that for another update I suppose!!

Keep your heads up guys, It seriously is awesome on this side!!
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Wow, Lori! I can't believe you have all that done already. Nice job! Love the quotes on the side of your red cabinet. Looks like a home!!!!!

Can't wait to see more. Can't wait to be in your shoes. :-)

Lori- awesome!! your house looks like a warm cozy home!!

Loribug - Sure is looking like a home. I'm glad you're keeping us updated. I hope you're learning your light switches so you can remove the labels someday. :)

JK - Nice video. Your land is going to be soooo nice!

Lori, awesome job! I've been looking at that quote and wondering where I could put it. You just gave me my answer! Can I ask you where you got it? I haven't seen one with multiple colors before. Love it!

Great job decorating Lori! That wall of photos is especially spectacular!! Glad you are enjoying your new home. :)

robyn......WOW....that is one hellava view you have there from your house!!

Jk, Welcome. It is great yto get started after all the planning.

jDez, Yes I have to keep telling myself that we are almost there just keep going. Did the Porch posts get put in? We want pictures :)

Hooiser, You exterior is going to look great love all the paint choices you have made. exterior choices have been the hardest for me and still how everything will turn out.

Mfatt16, Love the green pendant. I think it will be great pop of color.

Lori, Your house is looking like a home and is very warm. You have done such a great job.

Autumn, Hope you are making good progress with DH off. Post the pictures of the fireplace mantel with shelves or no shelves when you are done.

We are supposedly in the last week folks. All the doors and the hardware went in today and the back splash is installed and grouted. The plumber is supposed to come in today and finish the final stuff and install he range and hood. I will try to get some pictures tomorrow.

Framing nearly complete. Taking longer due to issues integrating with existing structure.

Great room:

Dining room:

Just a quick check in. Wedding is this week, Insomnia reigns.
We're templating our stone for kitchen and living room tomorrow AM, without benefit of kitchen sink (previous post snafu). Although the granite place wanted to do all templating at same time, bathroom floors aren't grouted which means that vanities aren't set, so my guess is that they'll have to come back later for those.

Lori, your house looks so lived in, and I mean that in a good way, that it's hard to believe that you're just moving in. You have been hard at work girl!

MFatt, have you looked at AntiqueLightingSupply.com Industrial Style pendants. You choose your color, your shade style, your cap style, and basically DIY. I stumbled across them when looking for green pendants.

UpontheHilltop, I think your lighting question above got buried, especially without a link to the light you posted.
Are you aware that it's available on Amazon for about $300? Looks like it's discontinued?
Anyway, here is a pic of the light, and a link to the Amazon listing.

It's Huge! With your ceilings you can def handle the 55" high part, but is your table and your room big enough for the 44" diameter? See Sizing your chandelier.
It's also pretty heavy visually. I'm thinking it would take a pretty substantial style of furniture not to be overwhelmed by it.

nhbaskets, Love your blue island. I'll try to get pics of mine tomorrow during the templating process. All the protective cardboard should get taken off and I'll have a photo op.

Marji, good luck with the wedding!

baskets ~ I have a good friend that is a graphic designer, and she cuts vinyl. I took the lines out of several of those quotes that I found online and made my own up. She designed it, cut it, and put it on for me. What I do know is that if you look on ETSY.com you can find people that do the same thing :)

Here are some more pics :)

Bluemoon - Where have you been? No pics to share?

Caben - Nice progress. It may be slow going but at least its going.

Hilltop - What happened to the other light you had bought for the dining room? Did it go somewhere else?

Robyn - Are they framing this week?

The HVAC guy is working at our place. Of course, the space that we set aside for the HVAC in the bonus room will not work. It is against code for it to be in an enclosed room, no matter how big that room might be. So it is being moved to the attic and now we will have to move wiring and drain pipe, etc. I am really starting to hate all these stupid rules. I'm sure they have their reasons for them but it ticks me off that we paid over $400 as part of our building permit for "Plan Review" and no one said anything about this or our stairs or electrical panel location that have all been "out of code". So WTH did they review? Ok, I'm through complaining. Our porch posts might be put in today. They had been delayed by rain. I also finally finished the bathroom project at our current house. I painted it SW Window Pane. It is a nice bright color for a small room. Hopefully, I will have the place ready to list in a month or so. Have a great day!

JDez...that's just a bunch of hooey. :(

I wonder what these people get paid for?

eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!!!!!!!!!

i have such butterflies in my stomach right now. such nervous energy!!

we have our first orientation walk through with our builder today.
we just paid our 1 year insurance binder, and locked our rate and worked out some crazy last minute scares with the bank that turned out to be nothing. my heart can't take much more of this.

the news we got yesterday is that it's possible we could have keys friday, which is a week before our lease expires and such a relief. we are hoping to move in saturday!!!!!! THIS SATURDAY!!!

wish me luck at the walk through!

Good to see that everyone else is making some progress.

The contractor was supposed to start excavation for the basement yesterday, but we have had over 4 inches of rain in the past 6 days here in Indiana. The contractor said he will be onsite the end of this week to layout for the dig which might start next week unless it continues to rain.

This is our first setback and construction has yet to start. We have been planning for 2 years and now this just makes us more anxious.

Caben - WOW!! So happy that your framing is almost complete. It looks good!!

Lori - Looks nice!! That clock is tripping me out, though. Lol!

JDez - They will start framing at the end of the week. They just finished electrical yesterday and should be pouring the basement floor today or tomorrow.

Indiana - Hang in there! Once they start digging, it goes pretty fast. We planned ours for almost 3 years before we started last month and it is an exciting time to finally be building.

Love all the pics from everyone!! We will be in Utah next week and I am going to pick my windows and put my slabs on hold. Can’t wait!

Robyn

Maggiepie, how exciting!!! This Saturday? Good luck with your walk through!

Indiana, I hear you about the rain. We had over 7 inches Thursday and Friday. What a mess. They were supposed to put in our septic this week, but not sure if the ground is too wet.

JDez, what a crazy mess for you. Hope they get the HVAC worked out.

Lori, I love your message center. Still can't believe you got all that installed!

Caben, looking good with the framing. I bet you are glad that part is almost over.

Our painters decided to come back yesterday. Thank goodness. They are here again today. I asked if they'd be here tomorrow and painter said he didn't think so. Then, I said that we would probably have his check for this month and we'd hold it for them in the morning. Then his tune changed and he said they'd could be here in the morning and do more work. Geesh!!!

They did get a lot done yesterday and already this morning. They painted the family room yesterday. You can see in the picture our painter applying primer on the laundry cabinets.

They got all the rest of the kitchen and island cabinets stained yesterday and the woman painter was applying first coat of poly on them today. This is just some of the cabinets she stained.

They sprayed one coat of marine-type finish on the tongue-and-grove that is going in on our porch ceiling. And sprayed the primer on the laundry doors and drawer fronts.

Also, our vanities, bath storage cabinet, and window seats were delivered yesterday. Can't really see them very well with the covering. I'm anxious to see them in place.

Here is a large storage cabinet that will be between our master bath and our closet. It will have a seat under it so we can sit and dress.

Here's the bench with two-door storage that goes under the storage cabinet. It's like a window seat and has a wooden top.

Our cabinet will look just like our daughter's, just different cabinet company and stain.

Here are the bathroom vanities.

Indiana - Sounds like my build! I have fired three banks, just went to close on our construction loan on Friday -- there was a surprise form in their that needs to be signed "by the builder" however we are owner-builders. Threw a huge wrench in the whole thing.

We have a "help you build" consulting company we are going with, and we had to finagle the form so they will sign it.

Now we have to RE-CLOSE again tomorrow since the payoff on our land changed, and everything is time sensitive.

Just an FYI, we were supposed to close the FIRST time in December. Here it is April.....

It. Will. All. Be. Worth. It. In. The. END!!!

Posting from my iPhone so pic is probably sideways.
We do have a blue island that was under all that cardboard.
Templating done.
Time for pedicure then to pack for wedding.
Back next week.
Hope all goes well for everyone here, especially those who are within sight of move-in dates, that would be you Maggie and you Askarsmom.

ML: Here's your picture rotated.