Finally photos

Here's the house when it's one story.

Here's the 2nd floor added.

E & L posing in the upper window. You can see how big the windows are. L decided she didn't want the front bedroom. Windows too big. By taking the back bedroom, she'll gain more wall space and a bigger closet and a nicer view. M was willing to trade.

Here's the rear of the house. Joe was right. The kitchen window is smaller than the bedroom one above it. The wooden box on the right is the fireplace. You can get an idea how high the deck would be off the ground.

This is the east side. They haven't cut the opening for the kitchen window above the cabinets. You can see how big the basement window is: 6 ft. But it is the only window in the basement.

Second story

The second story was added last week. This week the roof trusses are laying in the yard, but may not go up until next week. The crew has another house they are working on and CK is on vacation.

Some of our friends have stopped out to have a look and they are all enthusiastic.

It is exciting to walk through the rooms and get an idea of their size. Like walking through a floor plan that has become 3-D. The windows are huge.

I've been buying light fixtures. Some at Lowe's. Was at Home Depot last Sat. and left my wallet there. Just realized it last night, so drove up today and picked it up. Took off work. Kids went swimming with babysitter. Pool closed early because of ballet tonight so good thing I could pick them up early.

Found things I liked at both stores. Also lots of ideas for pocket doors. I think I will order the outdoor lights at Target. I haven't seen anything I like locally.

Now am working at chosing siding and shingles. Everyone has a different opinion. Will probably go with gray, as no one but me seems to like green and the larger green sample that arrived today seems very light.

Will post photos when I can find the time.

M.F.H.

Rain, rain, rain

As soon as they finished the floor and exterior walls, it started raining. Huge downpour on Wed, with another hard rain overnight. Then rain again on Thurs and Fri and it's been cloudy and cool all day today, Sat.

CK says he's tried all kinds of things to keep the rain off the flooring, etc. and he says nothing really works well, so they just let it rain and let things dry out.
2nd floor lumber is supposed to arrive Mon., so we'll see how soon they can get the house enclosed and how much it continues to rain. Why did I know this was going to happen?

We have not been out to the site since Tues and on Thurs I knew it was too muddy to
even easily get to the house. So I don't know what things look like or how much water
is in the basement - probably not much as it would have to go in the one basement window or through the cutout for the stairs. We'll take a look at it this weekend.

Went over the lighting diagram again with CK and made a list of what fixtures I need to purchase, so A, if you can go shopping the week of July 4th sometime, we can take a look and see what's available and what will work. We can also look at towel racks and discuss faucets.

M.F.H.

More on exterior colors

These photos don't look so good. I don't know if I mis-set something on L's camera, but it isn't dealing well with the lines of the siding and roofs. (rooves?)

CK was over yesterday with actual samples. We narrowed it down to either Victorian gray (a medium gray) with a blue roof or Village green (a medium mossy green) with
a light brown roof called Amber. L does not like the green - so the choice may be
gray w/ blue. Or I could go with an off-white with blue, but the windows wouldn't stand out then and with the nice insets that will be in the center of the front windows, I think it would be nice to have the window noticeable.

The gray house pictured in the previous entry is directly across from my house and is a bit darker than I would probably do, but it doesn't look dark in the photo. As I said before, I do like the whitish house, but you can compare it to the beige house and see what I mean about the windows standing out.

M.F.H.

Siding colors

When I find the time on Sat. I hope to add the siding colors I like best. The homes in the subdivision are mostly beige - light, medium and dark. The nice thing about beige is that it makes the white window frames and trim stand out. Bad thing - too many beige houses. There are also white, off white, light yellow. I like the off white, but then I worry that the trim doesn't stand out, or maybe it doesn't have to. I also like the green, but I haven't seen a 2 story house in green, so it's hard for me to envision it. And if I do off white, then what color do I choose for the fake stone around the front door - off white? I wouldn't want something darker. And maybe fake limestone would like fine with off white. So once I get the photos on line, tell me what you think.

Roof color - I do like a white house with a blue roof. Again, I don't know if a blue roof is acceptable to the developer - all houses there now are shades of brown if I remember correctly.

The house I like best is the off white with the blue door. How would it look with a blue roof?

I have tried out colors at sights that let you do so, but the colors look too garish. I can't manage to combine colors that look good together.

M.F.H.

Walls today

Most of the exterior walls were up today. Yesterday when we went over they were finishing the main floor. Exciting to see the plan come to life. Now if I can get some photos to load.

M.F.H.

More kitchen

The island will be 3 x 6. I like a waterfall edge for the countertops. I really like the wrap under edge, but D says that's an extra $4/ft. If I use a waterfall edge on the island, it can only be for 2 sides, or I could have a square or beveled edge for the island that would be all 4 sides. I'm also considering that I really like a solid surface called Meganite, but it costs 4 times what Formica costs. I possibly could use it just for the island.

Formica isn't just smooth and flat and matte any more. They are trying to make it look more like stone. Some of it has texture or is more shiny. I don't really like them and they cost more.

I brought home samples of knobs and handles. I like brushed nickel the best. I think I can find some handles I like. In fact, they have the knob I now have in my bathroom, so I will probably use it in my new bathroom. The problem lies with what combination of knob/handle to use in the kitchen. All knobs? All handles? Knobs on top? Handles only on drawers/knobs on cabinets. A., I will need your experience and advice.

M.F.H.