mdmomof, looks great. How long have you been building?

iamsum: thanx. started in Jan 09.

Love the tile. Thanks for posting your exterior pics. We are currently building and doing the metal roof as well. I told my DH that I wanted the gutters a contrasting color to match the trim color and he thought I was crazy. Yours looks great.... and I'll have contrasting gutters as well!!

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.

Mdmom- LOVE LOVE LOVE your kitchen- beautiful choices!!

very nice mdmomof, good to see it done in less than a year.

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.

Exterior almost done at this point on house I designed for gf . Interior trim complete and painting started. We moved her brother into his last week but they still have countertops to be installed so not totally complete. Will post some pics after turkey day dinner

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BigKahuna- absolutly breathtaking!

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....

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Back of Island

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Granite
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Refridge/oven area- not in yet

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Dining room before wood floors installed
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Peak at the wood floors
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Here is the laundry room tile-- washer was not delivered- they forgot it lol
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The only thing i didn't upgrade the little silly tub - oh well- loving the dryer and the tile
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Guest bath-- raising panel on cabinet- waiting for this

Master Bathroom- waiting for shower door, mirrors -being made to match the vanity, and lighting
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One strip of tile is on order- but otherwise shower wall is done

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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

a couple more pics of finished (or mostly finished) rooms. sorry for the bad camera phone pics..

MDMomof3 love love your master bath-- yummy!!!!!!!!!! beautiful job- so exciting isnt it!

Thanks! I actually have to give the credit of design to my husband. Thats why his side has the body tiles and rainshower...lol!

mdm did you check out our house posts above yours-- we are sooo excited!

I did and it looks great! It seems we have very similar taste ;) I really like your granite, kitchen cabinets and onyx in the shower. Only 5 weeks left? During the last weeks I went by the site twice a day. When did you start?

We Started the process almost 2 years ago-- we actually broke ground in August 2009.

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)

Susienj... Great job...nice details and color selections. Your doing well and your efforts show. I understand the builder to a point asking you not to be there but should not have issue with you on site after hours or then schedule meeting to review work and progress. Its for both your benefit... can be more expensive to change mistakes later. MDmom great work as well. You are getting very close it seams. Love the tub shower. Nice and open yet has nice division of space...great tile choices

We have framing! We broke ground 10/07 so we seem to be moving along pretty quickly! We had A LOT of rain the past two weeks and I thought we were doomed... but I guess not :)

We started framing this week! So we're just getting started. These pictures are the walkout wall of the basement

Looking at the walkout wall:

My kids were playing in the dirt!

Looking toward the backyard

suzienj - what color is your brick if you don't mind sharing?

Porches are coming along. Still need the doors (hopefully in a few days).

we started may 5th and are framed, roofed (if that's a word), sheetrocked, and got the antique heart pine flooring going in this week! yay! they say we will be in by feb., but i have to get to making some decisions soon so that will happen! will try to post pics, since we are building a version of abberley lane from southern living. someone else may like it (especially if you are looking for a house with zero wasted space!).

We broke ground today on our new home.

Here is a link that might be useful: Blog with pics of progress

We have a front door, sliders are in, some HVAC, plumbing and electrical stuff happening. :-)

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Here is a link that might be useful: Our Build in Pictures

SHelly..Great start love the walkout..Love to see the large windows to take advantage of the views and least expensive space to finish. Gonna be sweet I can tell.

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 !

Big, thanks! We are located in Central Missouri, so hoping we get to use the porch alot. We are building a pond out back there, so I picture lots of good times.

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!

Framing started about six weeks ago, unfortunately, Arkansas has had record amounts of rainfall, so things are moving SLOWLY! Front of house

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!

I don't think I've posted an update in about 6 months... We have been in for a few months and the site has been graded and we now have a lawn! I think the exterior will look so much better once the hardscape and landscaping go in next spring but these photos will have to do for now. Once I get around to taking pics of the bedrooms and living room, I will post them.

Beautiful!

Mdev, Very nicely done on all aspects ...interior and exterior. I found the similarities of colors between yours and the house shown above I am doing for my girlfriend. We are painting now and your wall colors are very close as well as the cabinet and trim colors. No wonder I like yours so well. Again Congrats on a beautiful home. Is that an Ipe front porch ? We used it on the rear porches! Great minds think alike HaHa ! May I ask what your granite color is ?

mdev- love the kitchen. What wood flooring did you use (brand and color if prefinished)? Also, is that slate in the foyer?

Hi- thanks for the kind words :)

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.

mdev:

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

Beautiful! Where did you get the light over the counter? I love that style.

Months are running together. We are still working on trim. Cabinets are still not complete. Granite is in, Santa Cecelia Light. Fireplace is complete. Lights are still going in. Paint is still on-going. DH is working late every night. He built a hidden book shelf which fits into the wall but opens out to storage under the stairs, pretty cool. He also stained the concrete in the basement where the pool table will go. He is also building shelves for closets. He also built that water feature out of a large rock which was dug from our basement and he put in landscape lighting. Carpet goes in next week. Hopefully plumbing will be complete when plumber gets over H1N1. Oh! My backsplash started going in today and this was a nervous decision for me but I love how it is turning out. I hope that when I am able to post in December, I can say-WE ARE MOVED IN!

Construction started in August ... I'm a little behind in posting progress. We've learned so much from this site, so wanted to share our progress.

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

mdev, love the charming exterior. The inside is not my style, but it shows a consistency of vision executed throughout.

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.

korierae- thanks- Hardie plank evening blue.

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

rangerro - Oh my goodness! I hope this doesn't creep you out, but dh & I recognize your house!:-) We walk through the neighborhood and notice the various houses going up and compare, since we're building too. We broke ground in early August(building on an acre in the country) and are close to the same stage as you. We've got electrical and hvac finishing this week. Your house is looking great!

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

Hard to believe we are almost done!! sooo close.

Working on "packing!!"

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Master Bathroom

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KITCHEN

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Suzie- The house looks beautiful- I just can't believe how fast it has moved since they started framing. It gives me hope!
GL with packing and keep posting pictures :)

Suzie - Your house turned out so pretty! I bet you are so excited to move in and furnish and decorate. I can't wait till we're at that point.

At long last, framing has begun at our house. With any luck, they will have a roof on in the next 2 weeks before the weather gets too cold and snowy.
We just finalized our windows- so many decisions left to make but I am very excited!

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

Looking into the front door

Crescent- CONGRATS - now its time to sit back and watch it happen!! Time will start to fly. good luck!!!!

we demoed our house oct 5 and now we just started framing yesterday and already we got a ton of work done imo.

progression pics

old house

foundation

framing

Actually, it is now mid November but, at this point, who's counting? LOL!

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.

Week 2 of Framing

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!

Crescent50-- looks like we are at the same stage! This is week 2 of framing for us as well!

Its getting closer to the end for us!!

The front porch

Front doors

Close up of the front doors

Showing the brick shutters on the front windows

What you see when you walk in the front doors

howmuchlonger , how tall are your french doors? Im thinking about going 8 feet with ours and yours look like they might be 8 feet. How do you like them?

Some siding and some stone... YEAH!!

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Here is a link that might be useful: Our Build in Pictures

mdev
Love your house - would love to see the floorplan!

iamsum: I'm not sure how tall our french doors are lol I know our ceilings are 8 foot (if that helps you any). I love them so far!! We have it set up to were both will open up and I have them to swing open to the outside since the bar is so close. And I can't wait to see how they look once they get stained to look like wood doors!!