I love everyone's new homes! It's enjoyable to see new posts on this thread.

Andi - the stone looks great to me!

Cbusmom....we did 5" rift and quartered white oak floors and finished them a mixture of 2 parts special walnut, 1 part rosewood bona stains. I was terrified as well but love the way they turned out. Are you going light or dark?

I agree, all of these homes are looking so good!

Andi- I think your stone guys did well!!

ohlaches- The plan is to go dark...so nervous. Can you post pictures of yours???

Everyone's progress is so fun to watch - none more so than Baby Harry what a handsome little guy!
Andi K - The stone looks great- are you adding it under the porch too? We are trying to decide it our budget allows this.
Uitvlugt -Oh you found it! We had to change the roofline (beam problem) on the south end of the house mid framing. Extended cornice returns are planned for the problem areas.

Thanks everyone re: the stone! I am feeling much better about the whole thing, that's for sure!

ppbenn - yes, we are doing the entire section w/the porch in stone, and then all around the water table of the house will also be stone. The side door to the left is the mudroom, and that little section will be in an old style log cabin look, and then the rest of the house is in the nichiha smooth siding. I went into this wanting a very old farmhouse look. And, I figure the log cabin section will either look amazing or completly horrendous, and if it's that bad, we'll just replace it with stone. You have an AMAZING lot/view!!

Things are moving along nicely for us. They put some of our hardishakes up, our lights are roughed in and the front door was put in today. It keeps getting more and more exciting!

We are in our 20th week! Paint done, floors done, lights in. Really just counters, appliances, and remaining electric left to go. Hope to close on 5/17.

Everyone's homes look spectacular. Can't wait to get to the point where I can share some real progress!
For now, we have a hole and the footings have been poured. My husband and father in law will be starting the foundation later this week.

I sure had hoped to have more pics to share this month with walls and a roof, but alas weather has delayed us once again. Our flowable fill is in, but we are still waiting for a dry day to get the last two feet of footings done! I hope to be able to update with way more progress soon. Still trying my best to be patient!!!!
Love the pic from ppbenn of the house on the hill! What a sight!
Thanks again for the support here!!
Here is the back of the house footings, yes that's 6 1/2 feet down!!!

STATS:
Building a modified Frank Betz: Highland Place
4 Bedrooms
4 Bathrooms
Approx 3200 sq ft

Why are your footers so deep?

abdrury, Our lot has a drainage issue and in order to redirect the flow of water we brought in fill to build up the front of the lot and the envelop of the house. Solid ground was several feet down before we brought in the fill so add the fill and we ended up with 6 1/2 ft of footers on the very back of the house but only 2 1/2 to 3 ft on the front side. We have a Geotechnical Engineer that was brought in to correct our soil/drainage issues. It has been a VERY long 3 months since we broke ground Feb 1 and just got the footings in last week.

I'm trying to move on and focus on the progress made so far.

Paint on 2nd story gable

We have our lot picked out and locked and paid for (it is a little over 1/3rd an acre. Not huge but a HUGE improvement from the 1/10th of a acre we live on right now lol)... and our plans have been sent to the city for approval. We should start building in the next 2 weeks or so!!! I can't wait!! Everyone's houses here look amazing!!

We are making progress. We haven't tried to go inside yet, but maybe we'll try to get a closer look over the weekend. We had our architect out to inspect the foundation a couple of weeks ago. Everything looked fine, and she thought they did a better job grading the lot than they had promised on our plans. (Lot grading was a huge issue when we were interviewing builders.) The whole family has been sick, so we haven't made too much progress with interior decisions.

We have a front door and brick is done on one side!!!

Actual progress! After weeks of dodging rain, we finally got the footings poured. It seemed like every time we got ready to pour, it would rain all night and fill the hole with mud.

The first picture is the just-poured footing, with rebar sticking up to connect the basement walls, and the second picture is after I got all of the ICF forms down into the basement, ready to start stacking.

BTW- It has been raining for the last 3 days again- some 'drought'!

Coming along, sheathing roof today. This is a view of an ohia post looking from LR/DR into kitchen.

Picture dump...master bath, girls' (10,4) lights, son's (7) shower, and more of the 1st floor. Sorry they're so big and there's so many. I'd rather be doing this than doing all the organizing and packing I should be doing!

We're still waiting on a few light fixtures. Our entry lights and living fan were back ordered. Our bathroom chandelier will be put in later. And the glass has to be replaced on one of our island pendants and on our sink window light. Our dining light arrived this week. We're due to move in within a month but have a lot to do within that time.

Even since I took this last week, the yard has been landscaped and gutters have been put on. Now we're waiting for the shutters and upstairs porch brackets. The supplier ordered the wrong upstairs porch door so it will be replaced. A different supplier ordered the wrong knobs for downstairs so they're being replaced this week. The front door is being stained tomorrow. Electrical is being turned on this week and wood flooring will be delivered to be acclimated.

You can't see a set of double doors to the right that lead to the guest room and bath:

A shot of part of the guest room. There are two more windows on the wall that faces the doors:

Guest bath shot:

Entering the main space from the foyer:

Those window seat cabinets will be painted out:

Pantry:

Wet bar in the middle. To the left is the vestibule area the leads to the half bath, pocket office and laundry. To the right is my husband's den.

Here, I'm standing in the playroom. The yellow is my exercise room, the closed door is the closet across from the stairs and the door next to that is my DD's room. My son's room is across from her room:

Playroom builtins without shelves and doors:

Exercise room:

DD's room:

A view from her room into her brother's LSU purple and gold room:

I can't seem to find the photo of her bathroom. I only have her sink:

DS's bathroom. I can't find his room photo! I love the way his bathroom is coming along!

An old pic to show more of it:

I'm sorry for the tons of photos but I haven't been able to share on here like I wanted to with the build being such a whirlwind and with both kids in two new schools and just with random life things.

babs711-Everything looks amazing!! I love your colors; so soothing!! We're at a similar place but a little farther along and supposed to move May 31st! Are you as stressed out as I am?? I cannot wait for this to be over!

Yes! I'm so stressed out! I feel like we get somewhere and then have to take a step backwards because of something or another. It's crazy. And I'm still pessimistic and haven't called movers yet!!

That is exactly how I feel. We only scheduled movers because we have to be out of our rental on the 31st. If we're not moving into our new house, we're moving in with my parents!

bbs, did you ever decide on a paint for outside, did you just go white? It blends all as one color and would really benefit with a color pop. You home is gorgeous inside!

cbusmomof3..... Can you tell me more the pendant lights above your kitchen island? I have been looking for one similar to that (but brushed nickel or chrome) with a diffuser.

babs711... Can you tell me about your hallway ceiling lights? Name/manufacturer/etc?

Peytonroad, we did go with BM White Dove but are having. Stained door and black shutters. When it came down to it, we've always wanted a pretty white home. With the accents and blue ceiling, it's exactly what we've wanted...once it's finished of course!!! But shutters will be on every window and the vents at the bottom will be painted and the landscaping is there now.

Tncraft, the upstairs lights are Ballard Designs Eldridge pendant.

cbusmomof3, just found out today it will most likely be mid June instead of the first of June. A few things with suppliers have caused some unforeseen setbacks. Our builder doesn't want to push it so he's being cautious since some of the variable are unknown right now...like the kitchen sink that had to be reordered and will have to be reset this week!! I had a feeling this would happen. We're still ahead of schedule but I wanted to be WAY ahead of schedule!!

tncraft-My pendant lights are Savoy House 7730. They do come in either a polished nickel or chrome. They're 11" wide. My island is 9'. They seem well made and I like the diffuser, although I'm still trying to find the perfect bulb. I think I saw that they are on sale right now from Lighting Direct. Hope that helps.

babs711-I'm sorry, that stinks. We were originally supposed to be done April 30th, then mid May, and now May 31st, so I know the feeling. Obviously, it's better to do things right, but the delays are so hard.

Babs. I love your haus. Elegantly restrained.

I'm gonna do one just like it.

Thanks dyno!

cbusmomof3, I have a couple of questions for you. What backsplash tile did you use? I had mine all picked out but ended up needing more than I thought and the ones I picked weren't as mid-range as I'd intended. I just can't bring myself to do it. Plus the lead time is about eight weeks. So I'm back to square one. Also, do you mind sharing information on the lantern in your breakfast area? Our two foyer lanterns were back ordered through the end of may. Now it's mid-June. I'm scared this is going to be a trend. So again, back to square one!! I'm trying to find other options. Thanks so much!

babs, I LOVE your son's bathroom tile. Can you share some details on it?

babs711 LOVE your house! Seriously I could move in with no changes.
Could you please share the tile/ stone in your son's BR? I have been looking for this type / color and have come up with a dead end so far.
Good luck with the wrap up and move in... Like I said beautiful.

babs711-How frustrating. I completely understand not wanting to spend more on the backsplash. When building, everything starts to add up so quickly. Mine is just cheap Daltile subway tile in an off-white color, not white. I don't know the cost/sq.ft but I know it was within my standard.

The lantern is from Pottery Barn. It's called the Stanyan Lantern.

babs711-How frustrating. I completely understand not wanting to spend more on the backsplash. When building, everything starts to add up so quickly. Mine is just cheap Daltile subway tile in an off-white color, not white. I don't know the cost/sq.ft but I know it was within my standard.

The lantern is from Pottery Barn. It's called the Stanyan Lantern.

Oh my goodness. I should have been posting here all this time!

We have a tentative closing date of July 6 - dry wall is up and finished, and doors/window casings are going in this week. I'll take some photos to share soon.

Finally get to post in the thread. We don't have a massive house like some of the beautiful homes posted but we are pleased with what we have so far. Its a 4BR/3BA 3 car garage house (2225 sq ft) located in TN. A few pics below of our progress so far:

Lot we picked out

Once lot was cleared we found out that a large hole was there. Structual engineers came out to make sure it wasn't a sink hole(which it wasnt) and we had to write up an addendum so that builder would fill hole to specs of structual engineer and not just try to fill it with anything to get over (if you havn't noticed I don't trust builders).

Hole was about 3ft deep but by engineer's specs wanted it to be dug down to over 6ft to undisturbed earth

Hole was dug down further and footer was poured

This side was blocked up from footer to be even with slab that will be on the lot

foundation ready to be poured

house being framed

Outside framing done

More pics to follow when I get time to upload them. You can follow our blog of our home sell/building progress at the link below:

http://ourhomebuildtn.blogspot.com/

Here is a link that might be useful: Our home sell/build blog

cbus, love your light fixtures. do you mind letting me know what brand/model in your great room dining area? the one that looks like a giant outdoor light pendant and the two smaller black pendants?

Caben, butting in but she answered both of those questions in two replies above. :)

Cbusmomof3, I'm SO SO HAPPY!! I'd been eyeing up the PB Bolton lantern but it was also back ordered about a month ago. My friend works part time at PB kids and offered to check stock on it now since she knew my back order situation with the Troy lanterns. They're back in stock so I cancelled my Troy lanterns. When I called to cancel, they said they were showing them due in at the end of June! First it was end of May, then June 15 and now end of June?! Nope. My friend ordered the Bolton for me as a surprise once I told her I was going tonger them. 40% off!! I saved over $300! I'm thrilled! And they should be here within a week!

Ppben and Laberglund, thank you guys so much!! You know, my son's tile and our master bath floor tile are the two in the house that I'm not sure of. I found them when I was visiting the tile/stone place where I got my kitchen absolute black granite, our marble and where everything was fabricated. They weren't really branded. I'll call and ask.

Oops so she did. I have been admiring them for several posts now and neglected to read all the responses! Thanks!

I think the lantern in cbus' breakfast area is from Pottery Barn. If not, they have one similar.

Sorry it took so long to respond...volunteering at the kids' Field Day all day.

Yes, my lantern is from PB...Stanyan lantern is the name. The pendants are actually ORB and are the Savoy House 7730 pendants. They are 11" wide and also come in chrome (or polished nickel).

Hope that helps :-)

Gettin plans finalized and submitting them to ARB for approval. Also just submitted permit paperwork. Funny how all of a sudden we're getting junk mail from builders. Finalized appliance list and picked out moldings tonight. Finalizing tile this weekend.

Gettin plans finalized and submitting them to ARB for approval. Also just submitted permit paperwork. Funny how all of a sudden we're getting junk mail from builders. Finalized appliance list and picked out moldings tonight. Finalizing tile this weekend.

Babs711- House looks great! I've only seen pics of your kitchen, but the rest of your house is just beautiful. :)

babs711-Yay! So happy the light situation is working out for you. What a great friend!!

First post for me, I love this site and thought I'd join in on the fun!

We are 1 month into our new construction. The roof is almost finished at this point. The small vents were supposed to be on the middle gable, but were installed on the right (wrong area!) side. We actually like it this way, how about you?

http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a2db06b3127ccef0626584256400000030O20AbsmrJs4csWgPbz4A/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D2/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/

It's just starting for us. Today they put the footings in. We are so nervous but this has been a project we have been working and thinking about for two years. I don't know what I would do without gardenweb. It has been such a huge help, although I am mostly a lurker.

Finally have started to be installed, and I'm excited to finally have some photos to share. More in the album I just created on Photobucket, but I will drop a few into the post here:

Bookcases and windowseat in library. The seat has shelves in front and storage behind.

Also in the library are cabinets, TV/media space, and more shelves:

Kitchen cabinets are in. There is a spot for cookbooks at the end of the peninsula. Wood will wrap around the peninsula. Stove with vent hood above it goes on the back wall.

Some of the mud/utilty/laundry room cabinets are in:

View of the living area and kitchen from the master bedroom showing the 5" oak floors:

Going on Monday to template the granite and they hope to install that at the end of next week.

Here is a link that might be useful: Our house pics

My inaugural progress post. We've lost about a week to weather (today included), but things really started taking shape in May. Link to our build blog below.

Front

Rear

Here is a link that might be useful: Build Blog

Moving Day!

Yay Cbusmomof3!!! I'm so happy for you!! Our hardwood is being started tomorrow. We shouldn't be too far behind!!