I have never bothered to sign in to say "Great job." or "Really like what you have done." but I feel compelled to say the above and more! Your pictures are just utterly fabulous and every detail looks superb, jaw-droppingly wonderful. Wow. Oh and just as an aside, Go Buckeyes.

Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. Need I say more?

About the micro drawer, you're the second person I've heard suggest the manual door. I'm so glad to know this tidbit since this is what we are planning on (micro drawer).

Congratulations, your house is beautiful. Oh wait, I said that already. LOL

Love it, love it. The white woodwork and dark woods are especially wonderful together . . . The stairs are perfect.

Simply gorgeous! I love it! When you think of home, this is what you want to picture! How lucky and blessed! You deserve to feel proud!

Many blessings and happy memory making to you and yours!

oh my goodness! this is the house in my head! right now we're still on paper, but i'm telling you THIS IS MY HOUSE! so now that we've already established your impeccable taste, let's talk details (if you're willing to share): do you have a source for walnut floors, and which grade is that? i think i'm using something called common #2. what did you use on your exterior siding? we're looking into nichiha... what windows did you choose? questions, i have questions! please share the details of your lovely home. and above all enjoy it. you did a wonderful job, congratualtions!

What a 'welcome' and 'comforting' looking home you've created! It's just beautiful!

Very nice!

Too weird... we have the same color wide plank flooring, same glass shower enclosure w/ handle and the same faucet you have on the island! You channel good taste very well... ;-)

Soonermagic...your build has been one of my favorites to watch. There was so much attention paid to the details that the whole house oozes charm & character. I definitely see why your new neighbors love you. :o)

The house is classic, comfortable, and elegant without being stuffy. You did an outstanding job!!! Can you tell I'm smitten?

I'm happy to supply whatever details ya'll ask for. So here goes:
Floors - combination of common #1 and common #2 walnut in random widths of 3, 4, 5 inch planks. No stain, just sanded and poly'ed.
Exterior Siding is Hardiplank smooth and Hardi shingle (I call it "drunken shingles" but that's certainly not its technical name). Paint is Benjamin Moore in Briarwood. The exterior white trim is real cedar (not hardi) painted to match the windows.
The windows are all Kolbe Kolbe. All downstairs windows and all windows facing the front of the house are wood on the inside and alum clad on the outside. The handful of other windows upstairs are vinyl. All windows except the kitchen window and the window above the master bath are double hung (love them). The kitchen window is a casement (adore this window) and the window above master bath is a fixed window. There are some questionable reviews on Kolbe on the windows forum, but I'm very pleased with them and they fit our budget.

Lovely home, Soonermagic!! I love the island in the kitchen and your wood floor is absolutely gorgeous!! I miss Oklahoma and my old University and stomping ground :(

Here's wishing a fellow Sooner many years of happy memories.

ponydoc, beachrat, crossing fingers and toes, channeling Woody Hayes, GO BUCKS!!!

Amy

WOW! I LOVE it! Very charming and you did a wonderful job. I love your hard wood floors and the front door! I can't wait until I am where you are!!!

Congrats!

Kel

Soonermagic-

Photos of your house evoke feelings of 'HOME' to me.

I love your wall colors. Would you mind sharing the paint color you used in your main living area?

Thank you and congratulations. :-)

Han

Wow! It looks great! There are so many ideas that we want for our new house - built in bookcases with a window seat in between, steam shower, black/dark island with white cabinets - although we're still leaning towards our lower cabinets being black, wood floors - we're looking at brazillian walnut.
Absolutely gorgeous!! great job!

As hard as it is to congratulate a Sooner I guess this Cowboy will. :) It looks awesome. And I've been in a nice older house down by the university and yours fits right into what I remember about that home. You all did a wonderful job it's beautiful!

Oh my goodness, the wait has been well worth it. Your home is just beautiful, Sooner! There is not one thing that I feel should have been done differently! It is spectacular in every way. I love the feeling it evokes... reminds me of a house that Thomas Kinkaid (sp?) would paint... just oozes charm!

I especially like your kitchen. That is one beautiful, but subtle space. It doesn't shout "look at me" but demands to be looked upon, none the less. It's just stunning.

I too wondered if you would share your paint color selection in the main living area (where the front door is located). Love that shade on my monitor, and I'm choosing paint this weekend. :o)

Many happy years in your new, beautiful home. I imagine you will be pinching yourself for sometime to come, waking up in the magical home that you have created.

Beautiful home! It looks so warm and cozy and homey-all of which are my favorite qualities in a good home. Good job!! Enjoy :0)

Sandy

Thanks for all the positive comments on the house. We truly love it and it does feel like home ... hopefully home for a very long time and hopefully a home that we'll fill with kids (and soon!).

Some of you have asked about the main paint color (in the living and kitchen). It's Sherwin Williams' Pavillion Beige from the new Concepts in Color line. It is the perfect neutral (at least for us with the light in this house). We tried about 10 different neutrals and this was it. I didn't like it on the paint strip and didn't give it to the painter initially, but DH insisted on trying it. I'm glad we did. At first I thought it too dark (when all the white trim was covered up), but the white trim pops beautifully against it and once you fill the house with furniture it simply reads cozy (as many of you have commented!). The white, in case you're interested, is Sherwin Williams alabaster. Used it on all trim and the painted cabinets. As for the color of the stain, I have no idea what the formula is.

I love it! It is so cozy. Very beautiful home with lots of character. Congratulations!

I second all the wonderful comments about your new home. What I really love is how the outside captures the charm of the neighborhood. I love your garage doors!! Congratulations on all your efforts.

soonermagic, these are the first pictures I've seen of your home, haven't been around much lately. Congratulations! For me it embodies the feeling of home perfectly. Not at all like what we just built, but it's the most comfortable and comforting home I've seen in a while. What a beautiful job you've done.

soonermagic,

A much delayed post to this thread, but I'm hoping you might see it.... Would you mind sharing where you got the lights above your island and the matching chandelier. I was just looking at your pictures again and noticed them since I'm thinking of kitchen lighting now. I really like them because they have the clear glass (so I assume they give great light) but they are still beautiful.

Thanks so much!
Jaymie

Jaymie - I did not do matching light fixtures throughout the house. The island pendants and the dining chandlier are not matching fixtures, but do coordinate nicely. The island pendants are from westelm and are ridiculously affordable. They are my favorite low cost item in the whole house. I just checked westelm's website and it appears that they no longer sell those lights. The chandlier is by Hubbardton Forge, it's an oval fixture and I believe the glass was called rain. It's not seeded and it's not perfectly clear. The link below has opal glass, but that's not what we chose. I get a lot of compliments on the chandlier.

Here is a link that might be useful: Oval Chandlier

STUNNING - that's all I can say. Everything is just stunning! I would live there in a heartbeat. You have really great taste!

soonermagic- I don't know how I missed this post! So beautiful! I really love your choice of siding, it really makes the exterior! Stunning front door too! Great job!

soonermagic,

Thanks for the information on lights. They really did look like they coordinated well. Very nice. I'll check out the websites you provided and see what I can find. Thank you! Jaymie

Have been following this and others' builds as we travel down this same road. Your project is truly a work of art. One of my favs so far.
Congrats all around!!
Merry Christmas.

LaDonna & Paul

Oh my gosh! Soonermagic, it's just perfect. I love everything but I'm particularly smitten by your front door and your gorgeous kitchen cabinets. I hope you are enjoying every bit of it!

I love your house. Although we are not doing a tear down, we are building on an infill lot in a historical area. We have not had the plan drafted yet. We bought the lot this fall and hope to start building next summer. Your house has given me many ideas (and questions!)

1. How do you like having the hardwood floors in your master bath? When I showed my husband your pictures, he said he might like that. Our shower will be recessed off of the toilet area so we could tile just that area and use hardwood everywhere else. Like you, we are going to have a modern "spa-like" tub.

2. I noticed that your walls seem textured. Is that real plaster or is that a drywall treatment? A lot of the builders in our area are doing a knock down treatment on the walls, but I don't like it because it looks just like their ceilings. It's too uniform. I'm kinda interested in a textured wall, but I think I want smooth ceilings.

3. Does your detached garage have upstairs storage? I'm thinking about having permanent stairs to a loft area or else a stand up attic above the garage. I'm just a little concerned that it's going to make our detached garage look a little bigger than all of the others on our alley which will then result in a denial from the historical commission. Your garage looks nice. What are the dimensions of your garage? I'm thinking we will have to go long and narrow, probably 22 x 26 to fit properly on our 0.19 acre lot.

Thanks for sharing your pictures. I've only recently joined this forum, so forgive me if some of my questions have already been asked/ answered.

NCAmy - Answers to your questions:

1. I love the look of the hardwoods in the master bath. My DH and builder insisted on running the hardwoods into the bath and closet. Neither of them, though, have to clean the floors of course! I'm not concerned about splashing water ruining the floors; we're adults afterall! But, I am concerned about sanitizing the floors. In general, love taking Pinesol to a bathroom and always feel like the bathroom is fresh and clean with that Pinesol smell. Of course, that's not happeningin our master bath. For now, I'm just vacuuming with our wonderful canister vac a few times a week and mopping Method's Good for Wood on the floors every other weekend. Good for Wood makes them shiny, but I doubt it's doing much disinfecting. Another positive about having wood floors, is that the floor is never cold to the touch, as it would have been with a stone or tile floor of some type. As for your modern tub, pick it out *before* framing of the bathroom begins and make sure it will fit your space. My builder arbitrarily decided to give us a larger shower during framing, and the tub I originally picked out wouldn't fit. While I love the one we ended up with, it was absurdly expensive and the only modern tub that I could find that would fit our space.
2. Thanks for noticing the wall texture! We told our drywaller that we were trying to build a house to look as if it had been there since the 40's. He literally went to the library and researched wall texture used in the 40's. He added sand to mixture and did a medium texture hand trowel on walls and ceiling. I really love it. It is subtly unique. I agree with you that the knock down texture isn't correct for a period-inspired house. On about day 7 of applying the texture by hand, the drywaller commented to me that he has a knock down machine at home that could have completed the task in less than half the time. Oh well! That's not the look I was going for.
3. We do have attic storage above the garage. The city would not allow us to build an apartment above the garage, but we knew we needed storage. I don't have the garage dimensions on me, but its a tad bit wider than the standard two-car garage and about three feet longer than the standard two-car garage.

Good luck in your build!

GORGEOUS, GORGEOUS!

Can I ask the sq footage and what the footprint is? We have a narrow building footprint (30x50) because of wetland restrictions and are having a hard time finding the "right" home for our narrow space.

I absolutely love your new home!! English cottage is one of my favorite styles. You certainly have been true to the design, right down to the carriage style garage doors!! Your interior choices are just as gorgeous.

Love the flagstone path, too. What's not to love about the exterior, interior, and garden? You certainly must have accomplished your dream. ;o)

Sniff - The sq footage is just over 2800. We have 3 bedrooms, 3.5 baths, a study, and a gameroom. The original floorplan had the gameroom as a fourth bedroom, but we removed the closet to make room for pool table. I don't have the floorplan with me at the office and don't recall the footprint. But, it is long and narrow.

Your home is perfectly classic and stunning! My husband and I lived in Norman while he attended OU, so I know that your home fits perfectly with the neighborhood. Congratulations on a job WELL DONE!!!

"how 'bout them Sooners?!"

Im sure you are sick of hearing this but your home is stunning! Not only is it beautiful today but it has an appeal that is timeless. What an amazing job.

Hi one more question, where did you get your foyer light. Love it. Thanks

I love your exterior (and interior too!!). Can I ask what products you used. Type of shakes, vinyl (or not) and where did you get your garage doors? I love the way they match....

Really beautiful! I love the front door. Very "story book" and inviting.

Hi there!

Most of the light fixtures, including the foyer, came from http://www.schoolhouseelectric.com/.

The shakes and the siding are all Hardi; the trim is all real cedar. We painted the Hardi and the garage door BM Briarwood. I don't recall the mfg of the garage door, but there are a number of companies that carry this type of "carriage style" garage door.

I have to ask... The bronze in the book case... Is that Johnny Appleseed? Who is the artist?

Love the house!

Terry

Oh my goodness I am so happy I clicked on gardenweb tonight or I would have missed this g-orgeous home. We are getting ready to build in Norman too! You will have to tell me who you used as some of your contractors!!! We are still designing the floorplan but would appreciate any and all advice. Our land is actually off Indian Hills/Broadway, way north on 26 acres.

Anyway, TMI----Love Love Love your house!
Jen

Jenifer - Our builder was Brent Swift. If you don't have a builder yet, check him out. Email me at tspullin at hotmail and I'll share with you our list of subs, but I wholeheartedly recommend Brent. I love Norman this time of year don't you ... the Redbud trees just about to pop and burst with color.

Terry - That statute is of the Seedsower ... specific to OU ... the fullsize Seedsower stands at one of the main entrances to the university and the Seedsower appears on the University crest. Something about sowing the seeds of knowledge ... not apples.

Thanks! Enjoy your beautiful home!

Sent you an email, Thanks!

Your house is STUNNING! How wide is your Kitchen?

I have not actually measured, but the floorplan says the kitchen is 15'4".

sooner, when did you break ground? It seems that this went together in about nine months, if I remember correctly. (Again, beautiful!)

happykate - It was a dreadfully long process, exaberated by the fact that we lived in a hotel for the first six months and housesat for folks we really didn't know very well for the second six months. We began discussions with the builder in August 2006, the original house was torn down in September 2006, we signed the contract with the builder in October 2006. We moved in at the end of October 2007.

Our house will be feature in the local home & garden magazine next month. I'll post pics when the mag hits the stands.

Hi Soonermagic - we are working on a bathroom remodel and are running into the same issue that you had with your tub -- i.e. the only modern tub that we can find to fit our space is the Wet Cube. We like the WET, but it is very pricey. Now that you have made your purchase and lived with the WET would you buy it again? Is it worth it? Is it comfortable? Do you actually use it? Our alternative is to make a much larger steam shower and not have a tub if we decide not to go with the WET. You are the first person who we have found who actually bought the WET, so we would really appreciate your thoughts on this. Thanks much - L