We are IN! We moved out beds in on Thurs and the rest of the stuff on Friday. We are slowly and methodically unpacking. I won't rest until we are done! We have a lot of trades showing up on Tuesday to finish up. Our landscaper, painter, electrician, GC, plumber, etc are all supposed to be here early to "finish things up". We are finally nearing the end of the road and are so happy to be in. I'll post pictures as soon as we are "respectable", but here is a sneak preview of the kitchen/living room. j.

jaymielo, those cabinets look great!

We are waiting for our fire sprinkler inspection, then our framing inspection before drywall. The insulation is already in, so we should be starting drywall on Monday.

The interior isn't that exciting yet, so here is a pic of the nearly complete exterior.

Here is a link that might be useful: Home construction blog

Tomorrow is the beginning of week 59 and I hope we're gonna rock-n-roll this month! :) Our master bathroom floor will be tiled this week (warm floors were installed last week) and the marble slabs should also be going in. The pool bath floors will get tiled and so will bath 5 floors; the rest of the bathrooms are completely tiled and ready for the vanities to be installed (we went with freestanding vanities). Interior walls will be painted, kitchen/pantry/great room cabinets will be lacquered and the laundry and dog/hobby room cabinets are scheduled to arrive on Wednesday.

Front:
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Rear:
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Congrats Jaymie. It looks terrific. can't wait to see the rest of the pics.

We are still in the beginning stage. The pump for the well is in and the electric pole/panel have arrived. The slab get poured tomorrow.

Sorry about the size of picture. I have resized it in photobucket but is still comes out large. What am I doing wrong?

here are a few new pics i have to share. We got a sneak peak at the cabinets tonight and here is one of the vanity cabinets. Painting wise they just about got everything painted with one coat so far.

Everyone looks great!

We've been living in the house for 5 months now. It's great to be here and we're loving how the house lives and the property.

I still have a temporary kitchen and it is wearing very thin. Hopefully I'll know more about that later in the week.

We finished the little barn and we are working on the garage now. I'm workingon some stone work around the driveway and walkways and I have two small pieces of completed yard waiting to grow grass!

The cabinets are in, the granite is going in this week. I have installed about half the light fixtures. I am nearly done with the tile in the tub surround, then I'll need to grout that tile and the pantry tile. Painting is done except for the bedroom where I still need to lay the hardwood. Then I'll finish all the floors and can start the baseboards. Still shooting for a Jan 1 move-in date!

Jaymie, I don't think I ever saw your tile work before. It's just stunning and couldn't be a more perfect fit in your house. And you DID make it in before us! LOL CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

NWhome...I don't think I've seen any pictures of your house before. You're really making me homesick. It's beautiful. Love those shakes!

Molto bello, vineyard! Looks like you're getting close to the finish line. :o)

Tn...you're getting so close! Those ceilings are beautiful.

In the past month we've done the trim, cabinets, bathroom countertops, front & side porches and steps, cubbies, and purchased all the fabrics & trims for the window treatments. Just what I needed...another project. LOL

I can't believe all of the progress. I haven't been posting much because I've been working on getting this house done.

After the really high $$$ price quotes to finish our floors, I decided to do it myself. Saved $8000. I did have someone sand the floors but I applied 4 coats of Waterlox (that equals 34 Gallons). I still need to finish all of the stair treads and the butcherblock counter (3 more gallons). I'm very happy with the floors.

Today my cabinets were delivered, I can't wait for them to be installed.

Here is a link that might be useful: Cabinets

Thanks persnickety! I don't post here frequently because we are doing a lot of our own work on the house. That leaves me with only enough time to lurk usually. Your house is progressing nicely!

Our long distance build is moving along at a good pace. We're heading into the home stretch. I had the opportunity to visit our home two weeks ago and was so pleased with how it is turning out! The trim carpenters are onsite and the hardwood floors are being installed. The masons are finishing up with the exterior stone and the painting crew has a little bit of the exterior trim to do and then they'll be moving inside. My custom cabinetry guy is waiting to install all of the gorgeous cabinets that he built for me. We are on schedule for the end of October as a move-in date.

Everybody's houses are turning out so nicely!

Jaymielo...your home is gorgeous...congratulations on moving in!

Persnickety...what great millwork you have in your home!

Framing is wrapping up, but we're under roof (even if it's just osb and felt).

Windows arrive today, doors next week.

Plumber begins on Friday, HVAC on Monday, Roofer sometime next week.

Things are moving, I'll post pics later.

Hi Everyone,
I'm brand new to the forum, although I've been reading it for weeks. Excavators began digging our new house yesterday! I was waiting until I was "officially" building before I posted! Went to the site yesterday and was scared to death! Second guessing every decision we had made, fearful we are to close to our neighbors to the right, afraid we'll have no back yard, afraid the design won't work, just a million different emotions and concerns. Hopefully it is just new builder anxiety! However I am thrilled they've actually begun! I look forward to sharing the progress with everyone and getting feedback and input. Thanks so much. Cathi

Wow! There are so many beautiful pictures posted this month.

nwhome, I love the exterior of your home!

tnhousewife05, You guys are really getting there. Love all your color and cabinetry.

persnicketydesign, Looks like we just beat you! Everything is looking great. I particularly like the way you ended up framing the doorway in the last picture. It looks like you and DH made a good decision.

alliern, WOW! Your house is stunning! Is it by chance a Mascord home (it looks familiar to me) or is it a custom design? Either way, it is spectacular!

Jaymielo, nope not a Mascord home...custom design...Colorado-esque exterior (so we don't stick out in the neighborhood) and New England Coastal interior.

Jenanla...you did your floors yourself? Holy cow, Batman! What a brave sould you are. I'm "floored". ;o)

Alliern...your house looks like it's straight out of a movie set. There is so much detail work involved! Another to add to my dream home list.

Cathi...welcome to the boards! I think all of us go through the second guessing stage, but when those first walls start going up all those fears fade away. Show us some pictures. You'd be amazed at how excited we can get over a hole in the ground. LOL

persnickety- The floors were really easy, considering I've never attempted to finish floors before. I found working with the Waterlox as simple as the video on their website. I don't think I would have done the floors myself if we were using stain and poly. (not as forgiving as the Waterlox). The entire project took me 24 hrs. over the course of 10 days. (worked on them whenever I could get childcare).

Finished floor in attic (sorry about the glare)

We (mostly DH) are doing much of the work ourselves. DH did all of the site work, dug foundation, cut in driveway, painted the entire interior of the house etc., etc. (His list goes on and on)

I stained all of the exterior trim, painted almost half of the light fixtures (got a great deal online, but the color was wrong), and finished the floors.

I may attempt to spray (paint) the interior doors and balusters. I'm not so confident about this but anywhere I can save is a bonus.

Hi guys, We are starting sheetrock tomorrow. They finished the insulation today and things are rolling along. It is so exciting to be at this point. I am buying hardware and light fixtures all over the place!

Everyones houses are so beautiful. Aliern, that ceiling is beautiful. I love seeing all of the different home styles.

Here are a few pictures. They still have the columns to finish and the front stair case.

We were supposed to start dirt work yesterday, so of course it rained for the first time in two months! Let the games begin!

This past month has been devoted to getting all the mechanicals in and dealing with various framing "punch list" issues pointed out by our third-party inspector. BYT - I think it was totally worth the couple of hundred dollars to hire him and I plan to have him come back again before my final walk-through. He saw dozens of things I would have overlooked that very well might have caused major problems down the road... or at least would have been a whole lot more expensive to fix later.

Other than HV/AC, plumbing, and electrical, the rest of our Hardieplank has been installed and we've has a security company out to prewire the security system.

Next comes exterior painting, building the decks, and insulating the interior. Then sheetrock and then, finally, the really fun part - making the surface pretty! - can begin. I've picked Brazilian Tigerwood (aka "Koa") for my hardwood floors and am chomping at the bit to see it go in!

Hopefully I'll have more pictures to share next month.

Bevangel...come on, don't tease us. I want to see more pictures of those red windows...with Hardieplank!

Everyone is making such wonderful progress. I've been getting through Gustav so I haven't been around and work at the house had to slow down. DH is laying tile in foyer, that's about it for now. Now if I can live through Ike, I'll get back to building!!

tn, that vanity is gorgeous!!

Thought I'd chime in for a second while I have a little break from it all...As I said last month our PC was sick and I didn't get to post any more recent pics of progress. We have been mostly working on the porch this summer. It took much longer than we had anticipated. the ceiling is T&G and I think we might have gotten a bad batch of boards because they just don't seem to be going together easily, but we are down to the final coat of paint now then we will start the flooring. We went with Mahogany and will put a clear finish on it, Probably Cabots Austrian oil.
We also:
-finished the flooring in the MA bdrm (only things left in that room now are the electrical fixtures, and trimwork)
- FP in MA bdrm
- finished front house siding along porch (I have stained all of our siding boards myself and painted most of the exterior trim)
Hope the storms miss you brutus...I'll be thinking of you.

jaymie - I keep looking at your pics so much thought and detail has gone into your home and it shows throughout.
I promise I will post pics now that we have a working PC

I love looking at all the pics of these wonderful homes. Isn't it fun to put our own signature original designs together? We are at the fun part now. Everything we do "finishes" a detail and that is great to see after all these years. AND WE DID IT mostly OURSELVES. I can't even believe it myself.

flowerchild, I can't wait to see updated pictures. You have accomplished so much. I'm in awe of all of the people on this forum who are owner/builders and doing so much work themselves. I barely made it through with a GC! ;-)

I promised you a picture of our front door stained a while ago. This isn't the best. It is really hard to see the stained glass detail with the light shining behind it. It is cloudy today, so I thought I might have better luck, but maybe I need to take the picture at night... Anyway, here it is from the outside and inside.

We also got trees yesterday! I won't bore you all with pictures of every plant, but I'm pretty darn happy to see some green. The remainder of the landscaping, grass and beach should be finished by mid week!

Wow! There's some beautiful houses this month!
We broke ground Oct/Nov 07. Here in Virginia we have finally had our red metal roof installed, and although I harbored secret doubts about the color choice prior to installation, now that it's in place I love it! The red windows have also been installed and flashed, and we now have our ThermaTru front door. The guys are also working on the parging for the foundation. The plumbing was tested last week, the central vacuum conduit is in place, and we're making progress on the security/alarm and audio system wiring.
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We expect progress on the fireplace and foam insulation within the next week or two.

Hi all,

Some truly gorgeous houses we've all built. Lots of progress made. I'm always amazed to see all the different choices and how they come together. Well I'll join jaymielo and say We're IN!!!! I didn't get a chance to get any pictures before the boxes showed up...but my builder did!!

So I'll post his link below. My house is the first one shown on his front page...in Zebulon.

Laney

Here is a link that might be useful: Our Home Build

SLOW! Everyone's homes look great. We are framed, roofer, Hvac and windows and doors. Electrical and plumbing starts this week. Next week brick! I bought appliances today at Sears. My cabinet maker needed exact measurements and they had a great appliance 2 day sale! Saved lots! Here are some updated pics.

Front....

window in foyer

Window in master bath

Dining room window

Laney, Congratulations! I hope you are getting settled. We are fairly unpacked... It is just those last few boxes which I just can't seem to get unpacked. You've built a beautiful and unique house. Love your Blue Star! Enjoy!

Well, how about a mid-month update? :) It has been crazy with building and gettina all the kids back to school. We have a roof, hvac, and rough plumbing is complete. We got our fireplace installed and now they are working on the wiring. Our windows and doors will start to go in tomorrow. Hopefully we can get the housewrap and siding on soon as we are in Oregon and the sunny days we are having could come to an end any time! We have been living on site since mid July and it has been great for keeping things on track, but hard to have a life apart from the house. It's a good thing we are enjoying the process.

Congrats to Jaymie and Laney! How exciting for you guys to be in! Your homes are beautiful.
Jaymie, you have done a fabulous job with your home. The attention to detail and how you carried the style all the way through on all of your design decisions is apparent and the result is wonderful. You should send some pics to the Mascord people, they might add you to their site!

luckymom23, Thank you so much for your kind words. It is so nice to hear such nice things.

We are still getting settled. I'm hoping to post some pictures by this weekend. Here is one more sneak preview though of something I'm super excited about. It seems EONS ago a posted this picture of some leaded glass windows I had purchased off eBay from a home which had been demolished in Detriot.

This weekend, we finally installed the windows and I'm SO happy with them. My father worked tirelessly restoring them and making the frame fit "just so" in the stationary windows on either side of the fireplace. It is really hard to get a picture which does them justice, but during the day, they make rainbows all over our living room.

I'm also almost done with the low voltage wiring. We installed lots of speakers and amps this weekend and now I'm treated to music in just about every room on the main floor. Pretty soon, I may be out of projects!

Jaymie,
Those windows are cool! I love a little 'sparkle' in a room...I suppose you could call it your window 'bling' LOL! My FIL does stained glass and he is going to make us something special for a transom in the kitchen 'window'- it is sort of like a pass through over our main sink. He was telling me he thought just using beveled glass and maybe a little color would be nice...I love the look of yours. I have also been checking out your outside stone stairs, we have a similar area going down the side of our house and right now we are jumping off rocks, so another solution will be needed eventually.

luckymom23, I bet that transom will be great! Your house is looking great. I bet you are excited to see it taking shape, and living on site, while all consuming, must be rewarding. We spent a lot of time in the car when we were building! It looks like you are going to have some great big windows and I love the dormer over your garage. Very cozy and inviting!

mdc08, love the bathroom window...what brand?

I would like to have my refidgerator look like my cabinets. Does anyone know if you have to get a special fridge for that? If so what kind? Thanks

Here we are with the outside almost finished. If you followed my post about the color a few weeks ago. I thought it was too brown but the Hardi Color Navajo Beige is just the right color for our house. I really like how it turned out. They still have to add porch railings, landscaping and sod. We should be in by the end of the month. They are installing carpet this week and starting all the final inspections. Everyone's houses look great. Love to see all the beautiful differences. Gives you great ideas!

Gosh, these are all looking so great!

Mmoodyrn...You do have to get a special fridge to make them look like the cabinetry. Ours is a 48" GE Monogram, but just about every manufacturer makes something that accepts custom panels. Your cabinetry people will make the panels for the fridge so that match the rest of your cabinets. :o)

Well, our indoor pool is filled, thanks to the 8" of rain we had. We have 4 feet of water in the basement! The lot is still too wet to get a crane in to lift the trusses. Maybe tomorrow *crossing fingers*

Finally a roof, 2.5 months after ground broken!