Photo Update

The trim carpenters have arrived and they're working on installing the cabinetry as I write. I'll update on the project later, but here are some recent photos of the kitchen and kids' bathroom, plus pics of tile/countertops/cabinetry/paint that I've selected. I hope you enjoy!

Kids' bathroom and guest bathrom

Master bathroom floor (with gray dot) and kitchen tile. The master bathroom will also feature these subway tiles in slightly different colors.

Mudroom bench and kids' bathroom cabinets

Coffee nook, space for future refrigerator and pantry opening

Future breakfast nook and stairs to sub-level



Kitchen island and range wall

Kitchen overview

Practicing What You Preach is Tough

The first resident

No more mud!

A sampling of our haul

Front with porch cavity

Once the stone and brick were completed last week, the yard was littered with mounds of unused concrete, brick pieces, and stone chunks. Instead of having it all go in the dumpster or being mixed in with the dirt that will be used to grade the yard, we decided that it would be a much better idea to put it in the cavity of our front porch.

The mason finished the outside wall of our front porch last week, but the cavity hasn't yet been filled with dirt and finished with concrete. The mason had thrown into the cavity a few used buckets and empty bottles, which I pulled out, but it gave us the idea of filling it in with more substantial matter. We collectively hauled to the front porch what probably amounted to about 800 pounds of concrete, brick, and stone pieces, plus a huge piece of bent rebar that's been rusting in the yard for two months that was too big to put in Patrick's truck for recycling.

We've tried hard to make the house as sustainable as we can afford, so it made sense to reuse these materials. First, we've already paid for them, so why not use the materials to their fullest extent instead of throwing them in the dumpster? Second, the concrete, brick, and stone will add considerable strength to the front porch. Third, diverting the waste stream to a usable space means that we use fewer raw materials, saving money and natural resources. It was backbreaking work and we were all exhausted when we finished, but it feels really good to be able to put ideas on sustainability to work, even when building a fairly "conventional" house.

I've said before that we go to the house each weekend to clean up the messes that the workers leave. We find not just construction waste such as nails, wood, drywall, etc. but also drink cups/lids/straws, discarded banana peels, food wrappers and such. Yesterday, we spent hours sweeping up drywall and plaster dust and getting plaster blobs off the floor. We also found that about a cup of unshelled sunflower seeds along with other trash had fallen in the gap that is the base of our kitchen island. It blows my mind that people working on a new house would be so careless as to throw their trash all over the place or leave it where it falls. Building a house is, of course, a huge financial undertaking and it's disturbing to see that people treat our future home with such disrespect. The sunflower seeds-if they weren't removed by us-would spend the life of our house rotting and attracting rodents and insects. And we wonder why our indoor air quality is worse than outside air quality?

On a much lighter note, I picked out the tile for the bathrooms, kitchen, and laundry room this week. Fun stuff! I fell in love with one particular tile as soon as I walked in store and ended up designing the kitchen around it. When I got home that night, I realized that the tile is in the same pattern on our dog's collar--hilarious! I guess I'm fairly consistent in my taste. I could pick tile all day!!

I also got all the paint colors nailed down (seven, plus trim). All that's left to pick is the door and cabinetry hardware.

I can hardly believe that we're getting so close to completion now. I know it's another two months until we're in, but still, it's hard to contain our excitement at this point. Patrick is always sad to leave the house after cleaning and is trying to see the light at the end of the tunnel, and it really won't be much longer now. The trim carpenter will be there this week and will hang interior doors, install cabinetry, and make bookshelves and a mudroom bench. The driveway, back porch, and part of the sidewalk are poured and curing. The back deck should begin this week. There's no denying it's coming together now. And we are happy!

Putting on a Pretty Face

After seeing nothing but concrete and framing for so long, it feels good to watch the house finally take shape. On Friday the painter started putting the exterior paint and trim on the house and today the masons began installing the stone, with the brick to follow in a few days.

The driveway should be poured next week when the masons are done (or done with the section near the garage anyway). Apparently the price of concrete goes up on November 1 by $5/sf due to the need for a "winter mix". We should definitely get the driveway in by that time and are hoping to have the sidewalk poured, but at least the largest remaining concrete expense will be covered.

The blown-in cellulose is in, except for the attic/ceiling space, which will be done right at the end so that the drywall has time to properly cure. The GC says this will give the ceiling plenty of time dry, which should keep it from sagging. Sounds good to me.

The plumbing nightmare continues. We still have no selections, nor do we know the price of anything except the initial Kohler request. I keep asking, as does the GC, but still nothing. Who needs plumbing anyway?

However, we do have the geothermal wells and pumps in now! It's an open loop system so we have one well in the front and one in the back, but it can also be used for irrigation and is non-potable! With the geothermal system, as soon as we have permanent power we can start heating the house. I'm so happy we went with the geothermal. I hope it really delivers the projected savings.

What else? I picked out the countertops last week. I picked out granite for the kitchen and master bath. The guest bath has a gorgeous travertine, which is more fragile than the granite but since the space won't be used as much as the "lived in" rooms, I'm hoping it will hold up well. In the kids' bath we put in quartz since I fully expect them to leave toothpaste squeezed on the counter and myriad other staining materials. And, hey, the countertops were only $56 over budget!!!

I ordered the last of the lights this week (Yea, holding out for another sale actually worked!) and am so excited to think about how this is all coming together. Check out the photos and tell me what you think.

The Selection Sprint

The past few weeks have truly been a whirlwind. After getting the cabinetry just right, we moved on to selecting flooring. Because Patrick loves it, we've selected a prefinished handscraped Golden Teak for the main level. Personally, I'm not crazy about the handscraped finish, but he really had his heart set on it. I'm sure I'll come to like it in once I've lived on it. For the basement, we've selected a bamboo. I really wanted to install cork in the basement, but it was prohibitively expensive. It's not that cork is badly priced, but we had initially wanted stained concrete in the basement, but that was when we were laying radiant heat. Without the warm radiant heat underfoot, the concrete wasn't at all appealing. Cork was. But the budget was a mere $3K. I actually found a cork on sale that would've come in on budget, but it was nearly black and with our tan-colored dog with long toenails, it didn't seem like the best combination. After much back and forth, we found a bamboo that comes in under budget (at least until you consider installation, but it'll still be close). However, we did put cork in the master bedroom closet because that'll feel nice and warm on cold winter days. Besides, it's the sale cork.

I think I spent about 30 hours online last week looking at plumbing fixtures. The plumbing game seems to be a complete racket. They don't tell you what you have for a budget and have this arrangement where everything requires a change order. Why do we need a change order when nothing has been changed, I wonder? Just to bump up the cost?? Anyway, you go down to the supplier and spend hours selecting your products, keeping your fingers crossed that you'll end up on budget. Quelle surprise when you don't.

After finding very little that I even liked (on budget, that is) at the showroom and feeling overwhelmed by the cost of it all, I spent a day-plus on the Kohler website picking out the faucets, shower sets, tub sets, toilets, sinks, and kitchen faucet and sink that I want. I received the quote today and it's high--at least I think it is since I don't actually have a budget number from the plumber. The thought of going through all this again makes me feel a little ill, but if I find out I'm horribly over, I'll probably take another stab at it. I did manage to find a cast iron claw foot tub for just over $1K, which if you've been looking you'll know that's an incredible steal. Really. I'm sure it'll require a change order since I'm not going through the local supplier.

What else? I've ordered ceiling fans for the master bedroom and living room and am looking at fans for the kids' rooms and the deck. I figured I'd let the kids have one that they want instead of me choosing a plain one. Hey, it's their house, too.

I did the electrical walk-through last Friday. It was such a crazy week last week that I was completely unprepared for the walk-through. Thankfully, it was Friday afternoon so I had the weekend to think about it some more. I sent my GC an email with about 20 changes on Sunday night and ended up taking my Sharpie to the house early Monday morning to make changes before the electrical crew started. BTW, it killed the electrician that I wouldn't let him put a recessed can in the guest room, which I found pretty amusing.

Other things: the fireplace has been installed. The plumbing has been laid. Insulation should go in later this week, and I'm hoping that we'll have a front door very soon. What's next? Tile and countertops.

So much happening now!

Even though it seemed that the framing was taking forever, there were so many decisions being made that now the house is progressing very quickly. As the photos show, we now have a complete roof (woo hoo!!) and the windows are being installed. Patrick and I have been working hard to keep the subfloor and construction materials dry by cleaning up the site frequently and standing the wood up against the walls so the floor won't stay wet too long, so it'll be very, very nice to have a roof, windows, and doors.

One thing that's been great about the framing coming to an end is that we can now see where our front porch and back deck will be. Looking at the third photo in the list, that entire eave space will be our L-shaped deck. After having seven to eight months of cold weather in Vermont, we're looking forward to enjoying some outside time on the spacious deck.

For those of you reading from Vermont and New Hampshire, Patrick reminded me yesterday that at this time last year, this is exactly what we were doing in Manchester (this explains the weird, out-of-place final photo). We were replacing the roof, windows, removing the vinyl siding, and repairing the cedar siding underneath. Remember the lovely green paint beneath the vinyl and how it became pockmarked with white during repair? I think the whole town thought we were nuts.

...

So, what else is going on? Well, we've finally selected the kitchen cabinetry!! It was waaay more difficult than I expected it to be--largely because of budget. If everything were truly custom, there would've been no real issues, but as custom means big $$$, we had problems. We've finally found a design I love and I believe the cabinetry will very nice.

The bathrooms, too, have been problematic. Fitting a design into a pre-determined size is not very easy, especially when you're as particular about the design as I am. The kids' bathroom ended up being the easiest, though that wasn't simple and I'm still working out stain details b/c what I want isn't available in the door style I picked. The guest bath is finally near-perfect, but it astonishes me that making a nice toe kick that runs the full extension versus 1/3 extension could add $400 to the price. How is that possible?

Now, the master bath. Oh, boy, talk about difficult. The width for the master bath vanity is 80 inches, which seems huge, right? Apparently not. We decided to go ahead and get dual sinks b/c that seems to be what everyone wants, though we really could care less. Spitting toothpaste in each other's hair during the morning rush has never occurred and we've always shared the space nicely. But, because we are realists and don't expect to live here forever, we're taking into account what other people might want. So, fitting two distinct sink chests with drawers into 80 inches is not possible. At least not in a style that I like and that's compatible with the rest of the house design. So it's a double vanity, most of which I find hideous and without any pretense of function or style. I've tried four different cabinet makers/installers and have not hit upon a solution yet. I'm getting close and remain cautiously optimistic, but it's been weeks and weeks of looking and drawing and reworking, and still we don't have a design.

However, all others areas of construction are moving along nicely now. The HVAC crew showed up today to begin working on installing the geothermal system. The plumber, electrician, and audio/security tech all come this week or next. The GC estimates that we'll begin blowing insulation during the first week of October. After that, it's time for the drywall!

Now I need to select plumbing fixtures and flooring. We're thinking about bamboo on the main floor and cork on the sub-level. Both are rapidly renewable resources and relatively inexpensive. Dare I think we may come under budget on this? If we do, that'll help cover the certain overages in the plumbing department! I'll keep you posted.

Still framing...

Although the framing is continuing, it still seems very slow. We are hoping to make up time once framing is complete and we can have different subs working at the same time, but in the interim, we've been slowed down significantly by the holiday weekend and sporadic rain (including the remains of Hermine yesterday). While work on the house has been progressing, we've turned our attention to selecting a front door and cabinetry.

We are spec'd for a fiberglass door, but I'm a strong believer in making the entry welcoming (this also is why we'll have a nicely sized front patio), so we're going with a wood door. Of course, it will exceed the budgeted amount.

For the cabinetry, we're looking at a few different suppliers, one of whom is a former installer. While the installer can see the different possibilities in the kitchen and bathrooms, he's not very forthcoming with design suggestions. The result so far has been fairly boring, IMHO. Last Saturday, we happened by a kitchen design center and talked with the owner. He seems to have a good handle on what we're looking for, so he's working on a plan and estimate for our bathrooms and kitchen. Hopefully his designs will be more inspired. This, too, will exceed the budget, but even the installer's estimate exceeded the builder's budget.

Thankfully, Patrick and I came into this knowing that we would blow the budget in certain areas. We've spent many, many hours and lots of money renovating our last two houses and upgrading builder-grade materials, so we came into this determined to make it the way we want it from the start. We've agreed that at some point we'll put an end to construction and finish the remainder ourselves so we don't end up with a mortgage that makes us uncomfortable. That likely means I'll be painting the entire interior and Patrick will be building cabinetry for the laundry room. It may also mean that the basement is only roughed for now. We've discussed these possibilities with our contractor so he's aware that we may pull the plug before completion. The good news in all this is that Patrick and I enjoy home improvement projects, so we're not upset by the possibility of finishing it ourselves. Besides, we'll be able to enjoy the house from Day One instead of looking to future changes and wishing we'd done things differently.

It's starting to feel like a home

Today, for the first time, when I walked under the installed roof trusses it felt like a home. It's amazing the difference a roof makes, even when it's not yet keeping the elements at bay. Having the roof on gave me a better and deeper understanding of how the floorplan will translate into actual living space in a few short months.

The framers worked until nearly 6 p.m. last night in high winds. It was amazing to feel 35-40 mph gusts and see them staying steady on the roof. As the photo and video show, the first floor is almost fully framed, and I saw this morning that more OSB has arrived, so I'm assuming we will have exterior walls by the end of the week. Very exciting stuff!

...Quick update...
When we stopped by this evening, we were thrilled to see that they've started installing Zip System wall panels on the exterior. This will eliminate the need for Tyvek wrapping and should still provide a good air barrier and moisture control, plus it gets us LEED points should we decide to go for LEED for Homes.

Our GC expects the roof and exterior walls to be fully installed no later than next Friday--a week and a half away. He says that we're running about two weeks behind because of all the hot weather we've had, but hopes we'll be able to make some of that up in the next five or six weeks. I need to get busy ordering materials again so that I'm not holding them up. The windows may be in as soon as this Friday, but we still haven't heard a quote on the front door. At least the GC is up on it and is bearing down on the vendor. It's nice to know that I'm not the only one sweating the details.