Finishing touches

It's amazing the difference lighting and plumbing fixtures have on making the house look finished.  We still aren't sure when everything will be finished, but we are in the final stretch.  The main projects left are to finish the hardwood floors, paint touch-ups, closet shelving, landscape (AKA - fixing all the trenches these huge trucks have created in the yard) and the front porch railing.  The exciting thing now is that the power is on so we don't have to bring the flashlights out every evening we want to check things out. 

Here are some recent pics:

Merry (late) Christmas!  Nicholas had a great Christmas with his main present from Santa being a Power Wheel.  It's been raining and pretty cold so he hasn't had a ton of time on it, but he did pick up on steering really quickly and I know he will LOVE riding it. 

These past few weeks (and really this whole year) have flown by.  At this point all the light fixtures are installed, except our large foyer chandelier.  The floors have received their first coat of stain (Antique Brown) and poly and look great!  The driveway and front walk were finished today.  Countertops will be installed Friday and we still have to pick out the kitchen backsplash. 

At this point we are hoping to have everything wrapped up the first week of January. 

One of my favorite fixtures are the island pendants

 Even though the floors have lots of dust on them, they look great!

The fireplace and hearth are finally finished.  

A look at our newly paved driveway and the mud that we track through on a daily basis.  Luckily they didn't have to cut down any trees. 

Almost there...

Moving right along...

These past few weeks have been crazy busy at the house. 

Flooring - all the hardwood and tile floors are installed.  The only thing left on these is to grout the tile and sand/stain the hardwoods.  They also installed the tile in the showers. 

Paint - they primed the whole house and finished painting all the trim and doors.  This week they will work on the walls.

Built-ins - our mudroom built-ins are completed.  I also received a wonderful surprise last night when I found out the pantry shelves were installed.  I had thought he was putting in wire shelving (which I really didn't want for the pantry).  But we got the real deal!  I almost squealed when I saw the pictures.  I can't express how much I LOVE that pantry.  They are also working on the shelves and desk area that is in the laundry room.

Cabinetry - all the kitchen cabinets and bathroom cabinets were installed this week.  They look great! 

 

Fireplace - the stone fireplace is completed and we love it.

Granite - we have picked out the granite.  We are going with Giallo Fiesta for the kitchen and New Desert Brown for the bathrooms.   

Trim, Doors and Floors

After seeing the house tonight, I am reassured as to why we decided to use the builder we did.  His detail work is just absolutely gorgeous.  That being said as of tonight almost all of the crown molding and base boards are installed, all the doors are installed (including garage) and they have started to lay down the hardwood floors.  Each day that I see progress like this I get more and more excited. 

Another week of great progress and our timeline is estimated to be finished right at Christmas, so we will more than likely be moving in the week after.  Fingers crossed...

Molding around the opening between the living room and kitchen

 Stair treads are installed and waiting for the iron balusters

Coffered ceiling in the dining room - LOVE THIS!!!

 Detail work above the windows in the master bedroom

Hardwood floors in the kitchen (the island will be located where the pipes are coming out)

Garage doors - SO excited about these since I've never had a garage before!!

 

Very productive week

There have been several different crews at the house this week - brick layers, sheetrock guys and a deck crew.  Needless to say there has been a LOT of progress this week.  As of today, they are putting the finishing touches on the brick, the decks are built and completed except for some of the screens and all the drywall is up and taped. 

Our cabinets were ordered on Wednesday, so that will have a big impact on our move-in date since those typically take 6 weeks to ship.  Still keeping our fingers crossed about being finished by Christmas. 

The last of the brick to be done was on the front of the house and the top of the retaining wall.  Love how this turned out. 

I LOVE our screened-in porches!!  All of this was built this week and they even finished the bead board ceilings. 

Some interior pictures of the drywall.  As many people have said it does make the space look smaller.
I think because of the ceiling.

This is the tray ceiling in the foyer

Bonus room upstairs

 Garage

 Also the garage with steps into house

Foyer

 Living Room

Kitchen and Dining Room (standing in living room)

Master bedroom looking into master bath

She's a brick... HOUSE!

Brick started going up on Monday and it looks great!  The color we chose is called Ole Cahaba with Buff mortar.  Our builder asked what kind of mortar joint we wanted, and I just said flush was fine.  Looking back I should have conferred with Gabe before giving an answer, but luckily he likes it.  We knew we didn't like the mushy looking joints and the other option is the standard concave version. 

They also started our insulation this week.  Even though the quote came in well above our original estimate, we decided to stick with the spray foam insulation since it is incredibly energy efficient and will help keep our power bills down. 

As of tonight (as you can see below) one side of the house is completely done and about half of the back is done.  The have also started work on the front.  The majority of the insulation is finished, with the exception of the top roof lines (where they need ladders to get up there) and the garage. 

This is the ceiling above the dining room.  That insulation is so cool (and should be with how much it costs)!

For the walls they scrape off the excess. 

I would not have wanted to stand on that makeshift platform in order to spray the two story foyer area.   

Drywall is set to be dropped off on Monday.  Our builder has our cabinet samples in, so I can't wait to see those!  Moving right along... 

Roller Coaster

As most people have either heard or experienced, the process of building a house is a roller coaster ride.  At this point, we are really trying to keep our eyes on the end result.  I am very grateful to Gabe for being my rock and keeping me grounded when that roller coaster starts heading south.  We have had many ups and downs throughout these past few months, so I thought I would share some of our highs and lows.

Highs

House Plans:  My favorite part of everything was the ability to create our own house plan to fit our needs.  Ever since I was a little girl, I loved looking at house plans, so when it was time for our own, I had a blast creating ours.  This is something that I like even now walking through the house.  It flows well and will work great for us.

Decisions, Decisions:  It's great that we get to pick out everything from the paint to flooring to countertops.  We don't have to worry about replacing something if we were to just buy a home.  However, there are downfalls to this as well.  I have been obsessed with researching products, trying to get the best deal on everything, and creating a cohesive design, so this can be a low as well because (as Gabe can attest), I tend to second guess decisions. 

Progress:  It's always exciting to see progress being made on the house.  Going from a empty lot to a slab and then framing to give the home the feel of a home is super cool.  It's great to have Mimi and Pop keeping an eye on things so that we know what (if anything) is being worked on. 


Lows  

Budget:  We have been saving since we got married for this day.  One reason that we liked our contractor was because he told us that he is usually able to stay within 10k of the budget.  Our particular contract is a cost plus fixed fee contract, which means that our contractor fee is fixed but everything else is not set.  A huge disappointment for us is that we are already over that standard mark he quoted us and obviously still have a long way to go before we are done.  The worst part about this is that we are over on items that we were not making decisions on (concrete, framing, etc).  Granted there have been a few items here and there that we upgraded, but the majority of our overruns are not our fault.  At this point in the build we are making decisions on items, so we are doing our best to come in at or below budget.  Fingers crossed here... 

Customer Service:  Our builder builds beautiful homes and we were very pleased with the work we saw, however have been very disappointed with the customer service he has provided.  We will text, call or email and MANY times never receive a response.  It feels like we are not a priority, which is disappointing considering the good money we are paying him.  Of course the dilemma here is do you complain to the man in charge of building your home or just accept this issue and pray things get better. 

Delays:  The process to get the build rolling was longer than expected especially with attaining the bank loan, figuring out which city our property belonged to, etc.  I started talking to the house designer a year ago and we first met with the builder back in January.  During the actual build, we have been lucky and only had a few short delays due to one reason or another. 

Some important things I've learned and want to share with those who will also go through this roller coaster is:

• Expect the unexpected and try your best to roll with the punches
• Give yourself a cushion on time and money 
• Building a home is great, but try not to let it take over your life 

I am very thankful for a supportive husband and family and am glad this will be our first and last home :-)