Front door and tiled floor looking out from the great room. It will look a lot better after it is cleaned up.

The kitchen sink window and screened porch from the south side. The screen has yet to be installed. The corbels still need to be painted. The trim color is light gray, although it really doesn't look it in the photos.

The kitchen side window and the screen and side porches. Their ceilings are cherry stained pine. The finish is fantastic.

Here are a couple of updated pics of ours.

Standing in entry way - barrel arch and niche

New roof & siding, back of house, they were still working on the front when we left.

Mitri- love the open concept and arch!

We are crusing now- 5 week closing countdown-- appliances to come this week, lighting fixtures too... waiting for countertops for island, and bathrooms..1st coat of paint is in and i love all the colors..wood floors went in -but builder covered them so i could only peak- uggg so pretty. We are getting there!!

Will post pics soon!

Thank you.

We went back an forth on the gutter color decision: should it match the roof or the trim? Initially, we told the builder to match the roof, then we changed our minds -- three times. LOL. I think we drove our builder crazy.

We finally made up our minds after looking at every house we could find with a forest green metal roof and noting its gutter colors. Those whose gutters matched the trim just seemed to be more eye pleasing overall, so we went with match the trim, instead of match the roof.

We never did consider trying to match the siding color.

Our house is having foundation forms inspected tomorrow and assuming we pass we'll have the cement guys out immediately after that. We're probably going to start framing on wednesday or thursday. Our contractor says it will be approximately 3 weeks to frame, i hope he can hit that timeframe. It's only been a month and we're already getting antsy in this apartment.

OK so on a fantastic note- we are making HUGE progress- tentative closing in 5 weeks. I am in love with everything from the tile to the knobs. I can honestly say i would do NOTHING different. Here's some pics- enjoy (i'm finally smiling)! Sorry i posted a lot of pics- just so happy tonight!

Here is the kitchen tile going in 18x18 on diagonal. After this is grouted the cherry island will be going in -- and then we are waiting for the Espresso (brown) ceasarstone top for the island- so exciting... and waiting for lighting fixtures....

Back of Island

Granite

Refridge/oven area- not in yet

Dining room before wood floors installed

Peak at the wood floors

Here is the laundry room tile-- washer was not delivered- they forgot it lol

The only thing i didn't upgrade the little silly tub - oh well- loving the dryer and the tile

Guest bath-- raising panel on cabinet- waiting for this

Master Bathroom- waiting for shower door, mirrors -being made to match the vanity, and lighting

One strip of tile is on order- but otherwise shower wall is done

Shower Onyx

Tub

Waiting for columns for front- otherwise its done

Foyer-- still another coat of stain- wood floors are covered :( and 1 more coat of paint

Back Stair case

Builder told me today that i can't come by any more during the day while the workers are working. I told him i'm trying to catch any mistakes so we cna adddress them quickly. But he still made me leave.

DH and i went back tonight and while i was there I relized the shower faucets in two rooms were flip flopped- called him up -- he rearched and i was right>>> plumber will be back tomorrow to fix. I bit my tongue to say "GOOD THING I WAS HERE CHECKING ON THINGS)

Looking at the walkout wall:

My kids were playing in the dirt!

Looking toward the backyard

Fish..Nice start as well.You will be surprised how quick things will move now. Love the big covered porches. My clients all love them that have them. Best use of outdoor space for most. You will love it all year . Rain, sun, sleet..no worries !

Hawk... looks like you might have walkout possibilities there as well ??? Good luck with a successful build.

GoPintos... Very nice great wrap around porch. Thats alot of porch. WHat decking are you using? Suggest checking out the porch an decking forum if you are not sure. Lots of great feedback on various choices pros & con. Are you in the south? thats where we most often see the metal roofs. Lots of deck and space to get away there !

I will head over to the porch forum also, see what kind of pointers I can pick up.

For this deck we used the treated lumber of some sort, since it is covered. We will probably put in a pool next spring and I want to figure out some way to tie it in to the porch to take advantage of the covered porch, but the pool deck will be that other stuff, that I can't think of the name off hand.

All the columns will be wrapped, so they will be white. The front and side will have a white spindle railing, but across the back, and the upper deck, we will have a clear see-through panel, which I can't think of the name of it off hand either. It was kind of expensive, but I didn't want to spoil the view from inside or outside.

That is about all I know :-) I figure we should stain or seal it somehow, but I haven't thought that far ahead yet. Maybe I will get some good ideas from the porch ppl :-)

Thanks!

Rear house

North side of house... can't wait to sit on the porch and watch the wildlife!

So many beautiful homes .... I love looking at all the progress and getting ideas!

Yes, Ipe front deck. Granite is Typhoon Bordeaux. Lots of variability from slab to slab so make sure you pick your slabs.

Mesquite wood floor. We purchased the raw wood and had it sanded and finished onsite (yes more work, more dust and more $$) but I like the smooth look. Mesquite is very dimensionally stable which is what we needed over the in-floor radiant heat. We'll see how it holds up this first winter with shrinkage and such.

Slate in the mudroom & powder room only- versailles pattern. Since we live in New England, there is no way I want to expose my wood floors to snow & mud season. My DH talked me into it and he was right.

i love your house! what brand/color is your siding? vinyl?

The electrician is in working now. Hopefully, we'll have bricks in time for the December update!

The choice of blackboard paint on the backsplash is intriguing, and gives me an idea. I'm planning on NO backsplash at the moment, not even a lip -- I had planned to fill that in later. But your use of trim to frame sections of the backsplash might work in my heavily trimmed home to unify the plain backsplash with the rest of the living areas.

stayn2busy- All the kitchen lights are Hubbardton Forge- local company not that far from us in VT but I think they are distributed nationally.

I haven't snapped pics of wires hanging out yet, but here are a few from last week....

Back/side of house

Entry way with our lovely temporary door

Working on "packing!!"

Master Bathroom

KITCHEN

Partial Framing for the 1st floor- Family Room and Garage areas are still not done.

Looking into the front door

progression pics

old house

foundation

framing

After starting in May 2008 (yes, 2008) and firing our GC in February 2009, I finally have sheetrock!!! I had thought insulaton and sheetrock were going to be the next stage way back in about August or September 2008 which, I think, was the last time I posted any pictures.

Things started going to H - E - double-hockey sticks immediately thereafter. Well, actually, now-fired GC apparently started going in that direction the day we signed our contract with him. I became aware he didn't really know what he was doing re the science of building pretty quickly, but I didn't start finding out about his monetary machinations till we got hit with the first lien from unpaid subs and materialmen in October 2008.

Its been a long slow haul but we have finally fixed all of the structural issues GC left behind, (at least all the ones that CAN be fixed) and the taping and floating is going on right now! We still have some exterior trim details to finish redoing but I have someone coming next week for those. Then we'll repaint the exterior portions that had to be pulled down or redone since GC had his painter out (whom HE never paid).

I'll try and post a few pictures on the December update, but I'm so happy to see sheetrock on the walls and to actually feel like I may someday have a house I can live in that I just had to share now.

The weather was good this week but rain is expected over the next few days so I am sure that will slow things down.
I am keeping my fingers crossed that they can get a roof on the house by the beginning of December.

Looking forward to sharing more progress pictures and seeing more beautiful houses.
It is very exciting that several of you will be in on time to celebrate the holidays!