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kramerkel

Southerland by Don Gardner

kramerkel
12 years ago

Here is the land on which we are building our home.

The view that will be from my front porch



This is the view from the field --- this will look at the right/rear of the home

Comments (129)

  • kramerkel
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    We are not doing any columns or transoms. We are leaving it open. With the rustic look we didn't think it would go with the columns. Drywall is starting today. Finally!!! Feels like we haven't gotten much done in the last 2 weeks, but we had lots of little things that needed done. Where are you on your build Dixie331?

  • Dixie331
    11 years ago

    I agree about the interior columns - makes it too formal I think. We are going to do the transoms above the doorways I think. So far, we have our hole dug, and the footer is being framed in this week.... So far so good on weather! My husband being the electrical geek that he is just ordered a ton of stuff for security, intercom, cameras - and some smarthome stuff so we can control the lights, power, etc from an app on our phone. Im clueless but hes excited about it. He splurges there, I splurge then on the kitchen!!!

    okay - so you really need to take some pix of the house and post them. Very anxious to see it coming together!!!

  • kramerkel
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Your in luck! LOL I just took some today. Drywall is going great. The upstairs is hung! Porch floor in front is being stained. Glad all is going well for you. You should really try to come down to see what you do like and don't like before you frame it up.



  • kramerkel
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Kids bathrooom


    Bonus room

  • kramerkel
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Should be painting next week. Bought most of the tile for the bathrooms and also bought for the kitchen and laundry room floor. Pics to post later

  • kramerkel
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Front elevation: Gutters are done, exterior paint is almost complete. Pic doesn't show the true color


    Garage door is installed today 6-22-12

    Back elevation:

  • Dixie331
    11 years ago

    I love the color! We are going with a color called Scottish Thistle - its a mix between green and grey - I think its Mastic siding. What color shutters are you going to do? The back is beautiful! We are going to have to do a side walk out basement (similar to the one in the virtual tour) because of the scape of our land. Are you finishing your basement with your build? I would love to - we have to see how our budget goes first. Love the pix!!!

  • kramerkel
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Yard work getting done.


    Basket weave pattern on kitchen ceiling

    Swirl pattern

    Brick pattern

  • kramerkel
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Yard work


    Dixie331-- I am so glad to hear you found a color you like. My husband is not sure if he wants shutters bc of the trim around the windows. We aren't finishing the basement yet due to budget. We start painting this weekend.

  • kramerkel
    Original Author
    11 years ago

  • lacombe
    11 years ago

    Your house is coming along soo nice.I just love Don's house plans.Your Home is Beautiful.I like where the garage is located,on the side.That's where all garages should be if it was up to me.Looking forward to seeing it all done and finished.

  • kramerkel
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Thanks so much. We started painting today. I love where the garage is also. We set up a total new drive just for it.

  • kramerkel
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Bonus room has started:


    My youngest boys room: We will finish the 2nd color today on the other 2 walls

  • kramerkel
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    To all those following this forum blog--- the picture of a guy hanging out his window-- I DON'T KNOW HIM!!! I have no idea how his pic ended up here.
    So here we are. This is my lil family


    Dixie331 -- it was awesome meeting you the other day. Thanks for the gift. I am so glad you had the opportunity to check out the house before you started the framing process. Can't wait to see yours go up.

  • kramerkel
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Dining room and study: It is a rustic red color and cairo gold


    Stain on the window: Red oak

  • kelhuck
    11 years ago

    Pic of guy in truck = hilarious!! hahaha! Maybe you should check out your tinypic acct though- I hope it didn't get hacked!

    Looks like the house is coming along well. Thanks for posting updates! (And beautiful family, too!)

  • Dixie331
    11 years ago

    omg, the colors look fantastic!!! I love how you did the 2 colors together - they go great! Ok, question - what color are you going to do your foyer?

  • kramerkel
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Here is my kitchen/ breakfast room:



    Can't wait to see the hickory cabinets!!
    Dixie331--- I won't know a color name but in will be a neutral very light tanish color. Alot of what we are using was oops paint and then paint from our church that they didn't use. It has all come together so nicely.
    Kelhuck-- Thanks!
    Tile guy is coming tomorrow for our master bathroom! Can't wait!

  • kramerkel
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Dixie331-- the foyer we made a color out of some that we had-- so no name but it is a tan color. We did chocolate on the fireplace wall and one of the stair walls. We did the red on a staircase wall as well. It is looking so good.
    Here is our tile for the bathrooms. They started our master bathroom this week.

  • Dixie331
    11 years ago

    I think the tan in the foyer is going to look great!! I cant wait to see how your cabinet and floors look with the red! We priced out a garage door today. Clopay has a sale going on.....but omg, not what I expected...why is everything that looks so nice have to cost so much! lol

  • kramerkel
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    I know! Watch for sales on paint. That one gets expensive.
    Our garage door 9x16 was 1500.00 I know it wasn't more than that, it could have been a little less.
    Have you put a page on yet??? Has your framers started??
    I am so ready to see my cabinets go up. They are gonna set the kitchen off. The tile floors are amazing. Our masterbath is almost done. They are working on my tub area today.

  • kramerkel
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Great room:



    Boy's room:

    tile floor:

  • kramerkel
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Our flooring is going down tomorrow.

  • kramerkel
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Kitchen/ breakfast room---laundry room --Tile is complete. Cabinets go in Thursday morning.
    Today my wood floors are being installed. Woohoo! I am seeing a light at the end of the very long tunnel. Oh my what a journey this has been.
    My oldest son starts public school tomorrow for the 1st time ever. Very nervous for him.
    I am starting a new job Friday and my husband is taking night classes starting Monday.
    We are really going to be busy trying to finish this house with all the other stuff going on. Praying we get to move in --appx 4-6 wks from now.

  • kramerkel
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Kitchen cabinets: Woohoo! I love them


    Wood floor:

  • Dixie331
    11 years ago

    omg - your cabinets are sooo nice! my husband wants to go wtih the hickory now but we already put a deposit on a vanilla color. We are doing hickory in our laundry! I love the colors, it looks very rustic with the wood and the red walls! the flooring looks great, I like your choice of wood! Our roof trusses go up tomorrow!!! So exciting. maybe one day I will figure out how to post pix and do my own string!!!

  • mmat817
    11 years ago

    I stumbled across your blog yesterday. My husband and I just purchased land and we are looking to build the Southerland as well. It was very informative to read thru your experiences, awesome house and cant wait to see more pics!!

  • kramerkel
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Dixie331 --- can't wait to see your pics go up. It's not hard to post just takes a lil time.
    mmat817-- where are you located?? I absolutely love this house plan. We did make some changes as you can see with our pics. I will be uploading more pics prob in a week. This is now a slow process. Waiting on trim to go up and bathrooms to get finished.
    Any questions are welcome.

  • mmat817
    11 years ago

    kramerkel ~ we are located in Arkansas. After years of searching we finally found the perfect spot! Its 5.50 acres, cleared with a pond. We just spoke with a perspective builder tonight. We want to make changes too. Think we are going with a half basement and maynot have the spare br bathroom upstairs. Gosh, so many decisions to make.. Love your house, Im really getting excited and thank you for welcoming questions cause Im sure we'll have alot!

    Dixie331, Im anxious to see your progress as well!!

  • kramerkel
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Oh! Your property is beautiful. Perfect spot to build.
    I grew up in Grove, Oklahoma. Near the Arkansas border. Good luck on your build. If you take out the spare br and bth are you making it open loft?? Would be nice to see what you come up with. Some appliances will be in next week. Hope I can get some new pics for everyone.

  • mmat817
    11 years ago

    What we thought of doing is changing upstairs that when you get to the top and go to the right, not having the balcony there that looks down to the foyer but extending all the way to the window and building a computer nook there. Also, we thought when reaching the top landing, extending a balcony to the left all the way to that 2nd story window over the living rm next to kitchen. The albordale plan has that. Then installing bookshelves along that exterior 3rd bdrm and placing couple of chairs, etc..like a reading nook. basicly the balcony would extend a straight shot from 2nd story front to back window. Then take that wall out infront of the upstairs bathroom so there is not so much zig zag going from the other bdrms since were not going to put in the spare bdrm bathroom. Also thought about not puting a closet in the living rm/office and making that a walk through so as to create a complete circle. I love flow. Thats a great idea about extending the garage 6 ft to allow a bigger bonus and utility room. Anyway, these are just some of the changes weve thought about. We might go thru with some, we might not do any!! LOL This will definately be a learning journey!!! Cant wait to see more of your progress!!

  • kramerkel
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    I think I get what you are doing. We were between the arbordale and the southerland. We did like the loft area it had. However the downstairs in the arbordale is larger than the southerland. That would be something to think about. We took out the closet in the study room but just made the closet one big one from the lvg room. It would probably look nice with a walk through.
    Are you keeping the French doors in front?? We eliminated them bc of space and I didn't want to constantly be checking to see if my boys unlocked them. LOL
    It would be nice to see how it looks without the zigzag wall at the stairs. We kept the guest room w/ bath bc we have visitors from out of town often and it would be the only open room. We love that we extended the garage. Dixie331 also extended the width for more laundry space/mud room. When do you plan on building??? We have started moving some furniture in today. Getting so excited to be completely moved. Our guest bathroom is getting tile work done this week. It is looking so good.

  • mmat817
    11 years ago

    We wont have French doors in front either, just two windows like you have. True the great room isn't as big for the balcony, just wish had room for a loft area. Do you think extending floor over the foyer to make a computer nook is workable? It's hard to tell just looking at plans. I was reading other posts about the Southerland and one said the great room was way too small and another said there was a lot of undiscovered sq footage that pushed it to 5000 sq ft. Not sure what they meant unless referring to the basement? The great rm looks like it would big enough. My husband asked which way did u extend the garage. We will probably start in the spring. Know your excited about moving in!! Looking forward to more pics!

  • kramerkel
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    There is alot of room for a computer nook. My dad wanted me to extend mine out, but I liked the open entry. The only sq ft I could see would be our basement. We will have 4600sf after we finish the basement. We lengthened our garage so our truck would fit in it. It also lengthened our bonus room which we love. The great room for us is just fine. Depends on what people want. I was told that the grt rm would be small, but I like it. Our tv will be in the bonus room. I like the idea of a loft, but you would have to completely loose a room upstairs and open up a wall, but it would have to be the guest room wall facing the great room. The other walls are load bearing. Well you have plenty of time to fine tune what you want before you start. We looked at plans for 5 years before we built. And I love what we have. The space is so open.
    Here's a few more pics



  • mmat817
    11 years ago

    It's coming along and looks great! We're still looking and modifying the plans. First things first, we're building a pole barn. Small project but Im excited and it will get us warmed up for the BIG PROJECT!

  • kramerkel
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Good luck to you! We are moving completely this weekend. We hope! LOL. Still have stairs to complete and vanity tops, hook up water lines to the sinks and put a surround around the fireplace. So close to being finished. Working night shift has slown things down a bit.

  • kramerkel
    Original Author
    11 years ago

  • Dixie331
    11 years ago

    Looking great! I cant wait to see pix of your countertops!!! i finally started my own post - its called "Another Southerland". Not sure how to post more than one pix at a time..duh, will figure it out eventually.

  • kramerkel
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Here's the kitchen! The countertops are granite-- Ubatuba


  • Dixie331
    11 years ago

    wow, they look beautiful!!! I really like the ubatuba!!! when are you getting your stove? I dont see it. How are you cooking? lol We got our bathtub for the boys bath today at Lowes. we are going to try to get our fireplace in next so we have some heat inside while we work. So much more to do, it seems like it wil never get done.

  • kramerkel
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Thanks! Stove is gonna be awhile. We want a Viking or Thermadore 48". We are using electric 2 burner and then an electric toaster oven, also a microwave.
    Here is our fireplace:


    Here is our stairs:

  • kramerkel
    Original Author
    11 years ago

  • kramerkel
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    We are moved in and had our final walk through with the Mortgage company. We are complete with that process. A few items to finish---upstairs bathrooms need a few minor touches and we will be 100% done. woohoo!!!
    Christmas photos--- enjoy


  • lacombe
    11 years ago

    Your house turned out Beautiful.Now your Family can enjoy your first Christmas
    in your new home.I've always loved Don Gardner's House plans.You picked one of my favorite ones.You and your Family have a Wonderful Holiday and New Years filled with Health and Happiness.

  • kramerkel
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Thank you so much! We love it! It is perfect for our family. The boys run all over the place like they have lived here forever.

  • kramerkel
    Original Author
    11 years ago

  • kramerkel
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    We finally have lattice work done around front porch base. Slowly the finishing touches are being done. We love our home. The size is perfect!

  • kramerkel
    Original Author
    10 years ago
  • r blaust
    2 years ago
    last modified: 2 years ago

    I don't know whether anyone here will see this comment as I am posting 7 years after the last one, but many thanks for sharing! We are considering building the Southerland with some modifications to make it more like the Arbordale, including moving the stairs. We lived in the Arbordale for 8 years and absolutely loved it - but it had been built with lots of added square footage on both sides, extending both the front bedroom with bath into a suite and the bonus room - as well as the first floor under the extended bonus room, making the half bath into a full bath. We bought it that way as a resale. We absolutely loved it, but it is time to downsize as 4500sf is more than the two of us need at this stage of life, so we're looking to build a smaller version of it and the Southerland (with some modifications) looks like a great option.

    Many thanks for your insights, pictures and sharing your journey. Would love to see more if anyone has more to share! I couldn't attach a pic of the Arbordale, so i'll try a link for pics.

    Arbordale pics (with mods that add square footage)

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