Joyce, buckhead, and my3sons, and anyone else with siding (fiber cement or wood): Did your contractors put anything like a drainage plane-type of thing (drainage channels, etc) between the housewrap/tyvek etc and the actual siding? Just curious, since we have tyvek, and they started putting put the Nichiha, like Hardi) shingles directly over them. On some websites, though, I have read about the need for drainage planes, so that any water that gets behind the siding can drain downwards, and not collect, and possibly warp the siding from the inside out.

From the pictures posted, it looks like other builders are doing the same thing, but I couldn't figure out if maybe the drainage channels are so small that I just can't see them in the picture. I'll try to post pix later. We're also in the middle of siding, and they're saying they're drywalling on Friday. Yikes! They keep asking when the exterior doors are coming...I haven't told them that I haven't ordered them yet! Double Yikes!

Nanj - It is Poplar and is the larger trim size then most 4.25 Base with 3.25 Casing. I don't know the stain since we told the builder we wanted the same color as he had in a model we looked at. I will say that since Poplar is a softer wood, I do notice it shows quite a few small scratches and marks already.

Mythreesonsnc, Look at all those ladders in your 2nd pic, crazy. I like that you are using the Barn wood for the Mantel, that will definately be a discussion piece. I love the floor after using it a few times now.

Buckhead, love your roof pitches!

Saune, at least your outside items are almost done and the majority is inside items so the Minnesota Winter/Spring can't effect you for too much longer.

juniork, we don't have any drainage channels. We are just nailing to the housewrap.

Minnesotaguy, thanks for the compliment!

OMG... the pictures are beautiful. Congrats to everyone. Look forward to being within the group doing the construction Thang! LOL i just need to figure out how to post pics...or link a blog or something

juniork - no drainage channels here either....

We're making pretty good progress. Realized after my last post that my contractors actually started framing end of September not end of August. Don't know how I could forget such an important detail such as that. The stress is getting to me! Trim is going up. Fireplaces next. Then flooring. Tile guy has actually started prepping bathrooms.

This is an older pic. Now we actually have all the copper on the turret fascia and rounded copper finial cap. And its shingled, of course. My husband has been playing with a photo editing program for work, and used this photo as his test pic:)

This is the idealized end result, as drawn by my wonderful designer Ron Hill at Euro World Designs. I hope our real house can look this beautiful.

Our 'character' cherry trim that is currently being installed. It's stained a dark walnut color, but it's not as dark as it looks in this pic. I wanted a dark true brown, with no hint of red undertones. Floors are 5" character Maple, stain is teensy bit lighter but in same color family. All trim and flooring was provided by local millwork who saws everything from rough lumber.

Tinycastles: Wow, can't wait to see more. Could you post your pics on photobucket, or another site so we can see a slideshow? Absolutely stunning home. Like Cinderella's castle.

Junior: I don't see any channels on our house, but then I'm not knowledgeable on this stuff. I'm pretty much along for the ride. Ha!! Here'a couple pics I snapped yesterday. They started installing cabinets and doors. Oh, and there's a pic of DH's favorite thing...the big loft in the garage for storage.

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Tinycastle, WOW, it is beautiful, with such charming details, I love it! Do you get the car in the design too? :-)

I tried to respond to your mail, but it got kicked back. I started a new thread with info for you.

Thanks Joyce and threesons:) I admit I am terribly behind with my home progress pictures. I may swing up there in a bit and try and get some recent ones. I have quite a few on my computer, but most were taken before the drywall was even up! We are much further along than that now. Here are some pics I snapped earlier with my cell.

Our wood fireplace. The other is gas, and hasn't been staged with the logs and all that jazz.

Living Room window. Love the diamond grilles. If they weren't so darn expensive, I would have them in every window.

Lil' guys... We have these 2'x2' triplets in several areas throughout our home.. the garage dormer, foyer, Dining Area and above the bed in the Master.

threesons-and regarding the car, I actually gave my designer a good ribbing about that...Every sub I talked to commented on it. I told him that it was going to have an adverse effect on the quotes I was seeking, and could he please replace it with an F-150;)

In his first black and white drawing, the woman at the front entrance gate had on a red openback evening gown. He put a hoodie on her in the final version, hahaha. Love it.

thanks everyone, for the answers re the drainage channels behind the siding! I'm glad I'm not alone! I've told them a million times that if the house leaks at all, I'll be haunting them FOREVER!

Next paranoid question....tinycastle, why is your fireplace/stove surrounded by hardibacker? Why is my gas fireplace surrounded by plywood only?

Your houses all look incredible! Joyce, LOVE your cabs, esp those uppers with glass! Now I'm thinking that my simple shaker uppers with a square glass panel (to mimic the stacked cabs look) are 'ok', but maybe I want to see how it'd look with your design.

juniork-
Not sure about the plywood vs. hardibacker. I was told by my contractors that they always do it this way, and fireplace manufacturer's installation guide references using a 'non combustible' for framing (which I'm sure also means a treated plywood). Our gas fireplace is also shelled with hardibacker. Sorry I'm not the most helpful in answering your query...Maybe some of the experts can chime in on this.

TinyCastle - Love the 2x2 triplets! We want to do this above our bathhtub in the master. Do you know the window brand?

Geez, lots of lucky ladies on here with 3 sons, LOL! Motherof3- the brand is Andersen. Windows are the newest in their lineup, the A-series, which are the most energy efficient and "green" windows they offer. I'm sure that size is offered in any of their windows though, and not exclusive to A-series. Our triplets are non-operating since they are placed high for privacy/light. We have a single 2'x2' above our double vanity in the Master bath. The ceiling is vaulted so it is much too high to see out of, but it looks pretty cool. It doesn't open, but we have a large arch top window w/diamond grilles behind claw foot tub which does.

still crawling along. we fired the painters; new guys in after the remainder of trim is done. all i know is i'm exhaussssssted!

master bath, chandy is in. sconces are up to but they put them too high. still need more tile work done. i'm planning on hanging very full, silk drapes here.
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guest bath. can never get a good shot. there's a shower in here too.
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gallery from upstairs with great room below. this pic makes the fireplace look disproportionately tall but IRL i like it. the chandy in this room is very large, so the electricians are procrastinating.
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this is my seven year old daughter's room. and don't worry! the pink will be toned down with predominantly brown (with hints of red and coral) fabric for shade and bed draperies. i wanted a red chandy but didn't think she'd go for it. luckily she's trusting!
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the playroom has a niche we're going to top with a mattress and drapes. below will house a trundle bed for sleep-over central. the swings are from IKEA; a steel for $16 each! -i liked the cork floor here since this room is over the garage.
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my daughter's craft room with really great vinyl floor for easy cleanup. it was originally supposed to be closed up, along with another space under the eaves but i had them frame it out w/doors. the other "room" is for my son's vast and ever expanding LEGOES collection.
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i almost fainted when i saw the dining room. i was a little nervous to go so dark but the color is lovely! benjamin moore KONA, if you're in the market for beautiful brown.
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i had a 36" shade made for the chandy in our breakfast room. when i saw it at the shop i was scared. it looked so huge! but when it was brought in and hung my fears were put to rest.
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this is the breakfast room from above:
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and this is my crazy closet. i have big plans here!
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hopefully we'll be DONE (or closer to it) the next time i post. still need the patios done along with some outside trim. i'm just focusing on the finish and not dwelling over went wrong. this is the light at the end of that very dark tunnel.

Great progress everyone-- I love all of the beautiful stone work (exteriors, fireplaces, etc.)!
We moved in right before the holidays but I have yet to post pictures-- too many unfinished details :( but I always love to check back & see how others are doing.

Kate-- So excited for you-- your home looks stunning. Hang in there & I can't wait to see more pictures as you finish up. Your floors are amazing!

Kate, looks AMAZING! I have wondered about those little Ikea swings too --- They look great, make your play space so fun --- did you just hook the brace part into a ceiling rafter? The rest of the house is gorgeous also. The floors are incredible. The waterlox really makes the grain shine. Your kitchen, well, it is gorgeous. Your island is fabulous! The special spaces for the kids will make it all worth it, and of course your bath and closet, hubba hubba! Don't know how to write a whistling sound, so that is the best I can do! You are SOOOO close now!

thanks crescent, PLEASE find some time to post pics. i can't wait to see!

mythreesonsnc: there just happened to be a support beam there so they attached the swings with some steel brackets (also bought at IKEA) to the beam. they're really sturdy and the kids can't wait to get into their "wing" of the house!

Here are a few Kate- including some random snapshots from moving in so no staging:) but it gives you an idea of where we are at.
So much more work to be done but it is great to be in after such a long time and we are enjoying it!
Can't wait to see more of your house...

Exterior after one of many snowstorms this winter:

1st Floor Office:

Office Built-Ins:

Kitchen:

Living Room:

Dining Room:

Dining Room (Just got the table & sideboard delivered last week :)):

Family Room:

Family Room Ceiling:

Bonus Room (will eventually be a pool/poker room):

Master Bath:

Master Bath (Steam Shower):

it looks beautiful! i love all the built ins ...especially outside the dining room. and the family room; LOVE the family room! it looks very spacious and comfortable. congratulations and enjoy many happy years in your new home!

Crescent50,

I absolutely love your library executive desk. Please tell me who it is so I can google away. I am liking your style!

Katekouros

You almost have taken as long as me. It was 4 years for us. It looking good though!

LOVING everyone's pictures! How exciting!

We just finished siding, fireplace and chimney. Now working on insulation then sheet rock.

Just locked in our permanent rate at 4.75%. SO thankful that we ended up below 5%! Yay!!

Supposed to be completed in 60 days. I can finally see the light at the end of this tunnel!

:)
Jenny

Ooooh! Everyone's pics are so beautiful! I can't wait to finally have some to post. But first a few questions--

kate- love those chandeliers-would you mind sharing brand, style/model, and where you got them?

crescent- those vanities & light fixtures you have in the master bath are just what I envisioned for my boys' baths--would you mind sharing brand, style/model & where you got them? Also, love the tile-would love to know the specs on that as well especially the shower!

Peytonroad-
Thanks for the nice words. The office furniture is from Stanley. The line is called Costa del Sol. We love it! Not sure how high your ceilings are or if you are considering the credenza and hutch but it is a very tall piece.

mydreamhome- the lights in our master bath are part of the Roxbury line by Progress Lighting.
I will need to search through some notes for the vanity and tile info but will get it to you as soon as I find it.

Crescent, so glad you shared pictures! It looks beautiful --- love the built-ins too, what nice details on all of the trim. It makes the house! Your kitchen is beautiful, and I love your tile work as well. Congratulations, it looks wonderful!

mydreamhome: the bathroom/bedroom chandies are from murray feiss, gianna collection; breakfast room is the noir chandelier from progress lighting the shade was made custom (both from bellacor.com). the dining room is from circa lighting -venetian.

Thanks for sharing your gorgeous pics everyone. I don't know how you have the time to post them. I've been meaning to for a while but all I end up doing is lurking.

kateskouros - I have a stone fireplace in my great room too (my husband calls it "the monolith") and am stumped as to the type and size of chandelier I should put in the room. Once your procrastinating electricians put yours up, please post! I'm eagerly waiting ;)

kateskouros,

What type of flooring did you use in your dining room and kitchen? Love it!

sillybilly, the electrician is leaving the big one until last. but this is for the great room by elk:

and our floors are black walnut w/waterlox.

I finally have something to share this month. With a lot of problems getting started we've made significant progress over the past month:

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whew, buildinginnj! That is a building in NJ! Can't wait to see more!

buildinnj--great looking house! As a fellow NJ person, I am sure you are thrilled with this weather today:)
Good luck & can't wait to see more pictures!

I'm new to this forum, only have been on the kitchen and home decorating one. We bought our property in Sept.2010, looked since Feb. 09, married in July 09, I sold my home in CT May 2010, began living down here full time in Feb. 2010 when I tripped and broke a bone in my foot looking at property and had to stop commuting back and forth to work from PA since I couldn't drive for over a month. So.......after negotiating with the builder for months (before we even started looking for property since we introduced ourselves as his worst bad dream and then me (the nightmare) we will sign the contract probably tomorrow since we have been changing, adding and deleting this and that. Material costs are up, his suppliers will only guarantee pricing for 15 days so since DH's house isn't on the market yet, we're being VERY careful with extras. Meeting the builder tomorrow to plan out the driveway which should be cut Monday or Tuesday so the equipment for the well can be brought in and then we're set to go. We're committed to this now but I don't think I'd ever do this again, it's been a very stressful last 5 months, almost put the property up for sale since we were arguing so much about the construction. I'm so used to CT after living there all my life and find it extremely difficult getting things done here since you have to drive at least 45 minutes one way to either see lighting or plumbing or the KD, etc. I guess I'm really stressed out since I'm up at 1:30 AM writing this on the forum!

kateskouros,
Please tell me more about your black walnut floors. Do you know anything about what company, store, or brand they came from?

I've been looking for walnut floors like that, with the beautiful mix of dark heartwood and pale sapwood, for the longest time. But I keep getting directed to walnut floor products that use just the dark wood, for a more uniform appearance. Which I don't want. So it would be extremely helpful if you could tip me off on a place where I can get flooring with a good amount of the sapwood mixed in.

Hi Kaourika,

I'm not kateskouros, and I'm sure she'll chime in about the floors. The completely uniform floors of all dark colored walnut are pretty, but I am with you and Kateskouros that the sapwood adds lots of character! Lucky for you, if you like this best because the uniform floors are "select and better" meaning the highest grade and most expensive because they have to sort the wood to get rid of the sapwood pieces! If you want the sapwood, you don't need to pay for select, you can get character grade which allows for sapwood and some knots. I am blanking right now about all of the flooring levels (no coffee yet), so don't quote me on the name of the level! We are in the process of installing our walnut floors right now and it is such a gorgeous wood! I love the sapwood and knots myself!

Everyone's progress looks so great! Kateskouros, I've been wondering how yours was coming along. Beautfiul!

Buildinnj, can't wait to see more photos!

Mskitchen, congrats on your new build. Sounds like you've had a lot of stress over the recent years. I wish you the best with the build. I don't know if this helps, but I made up my mind from the very beginning that I would not let building be stressful. I knew there would be mistakes and that some things wouldn't turn out the way I wanted them, but I was going to be gracious about it. When things get heated, I remind myself that it's just a house. It's not a terminal illness or natural disaster; it's just "stuff." To me our build is a blessing and I don't want stress to ruin it for me. That being said, this forum seems to be a safe place to vent your stress. We'll all look forward to hearing (and seeing!)your progress.

Buckheadhillbilly and all, contract signed a short time ago, builder just left, going out to dinner in an hour or so. Had a bottle of champagne chilling in the frig, no one to drink it except me, so I opened a bottle of chardonnay. Thank you for your kind words and support, I'll need a ton of it!

Everyone's homes look beautiful. I am a bit behind some of you but we picked up the plans from the architect today so now on getting the permits and lining up the subs.

hi, yes. we have a combination of select and sapwood. a lot of the knots had to be filled in since they were like craters, but the floors are truly stunning. i've told this story many times before, but i looked at every house in the county and rejected every one of them. no walnut, no deal.

they're not any specific "brand". just unfinished walnut my GC had brought in.
and i really can't recommend the waterlox enough.

Thanks everyone,

Sorry for the crappy pictures will have to figure out why they got compressed like that...

They have begun putting in the windows and finishing up some of the framing.

Have two quick questions though:
1. Noticed that one of the windows from the isn't centered. If you look at the other windows outside it looks like it should be moved maybe one foot or so. But from the inside it looks fine. I've spoken to our builder about this but I guess should I expect this to be an additional cost or is this his mistake that needs to be fixed? (will post pictures tonight)

2. As I was doing my walk through I noticed some of the wood in the framing had some weird white spots that looked like mold on them and in another room had a ton of bugs looked to be mosquitoes. We've been getting a lot of rain in this area and wondering if this is something I should be concerned with and speak to the builder about? or am I freaking out for no good reason.

Thanks in advance for the advice.

Buildinnj, wow that's going to be a very impressive home! Can't wait to watch your progress. For your questions I would suggest you start a new thread for more replies. All the best. :)

Some impressive homes here! My parents are building on a much smaller, simpler scale than most of those shown in this thread. They elected to go with a builder that will do most of the work himself vs one that subbed everything out. Upside is that it will save them money and the GC is always on-site and giving his full attention to this project. Downside is that it will take a while to complete many of the stages. At the same time, going slowly, we have been able to make many changes and really think things over where it might have been too late with a quick build (or too late to do it without incurring an additional cost).

I am going out about twice a week now to take pictures and keeping them in an online album. My parents live on the land and see it everyday, so they didn't see any reason to take any pictures, but now they are seeing how it is nice to have a record of it and to be able to share the progress with the family. A lot of the pictures don't really mean anything unless you know exactly what you are looking at, but hopefully they are almost to the stage where things will really start coming together.

I have floor plans in the slide show, but they are not exact. The plans were drawn off my plans but I never bothered to have the builder send me an electronic copy. To make an easy to read version, I had done it up in 6" blocks. Easy to read, but obviously not to scale as our interior wall are not 6" thick, etc. However, it should be close enough for people to get a general idea of the layout.

The link below takes you to the album. Or you can copy/paste this URL into your browser for the slideshow version.

http://outdoors.webshots.com/slideshow/579912333NLBTfE

Here is a link that might be useful: Link to Album

We start taking out trees tomorrow! This has been a very long journey in designing this house and then getting it to appraise high enough that we could actually build it - very glad to get to this point!

We walked the lot again this morning with our builder and the tree survey in hand and realized the house needs to be shifted over 20 feet or so and slightly rotated to get us the great view we bought the lot for - as it stands our screened porch overlooked one of the neighbors we wanted to avoid. Glad we did that so we can at least get close with the first staking of the house!

I am headed over there to take some "before" pics now and will post the before and after when the trees come out. Very excited!

Congrats Athens! I've been hoping to see your progress on here. I can't wait to see this house, it is gorgeous!

So exciting! It's been a trial for you to get to this point. I wish you smooth sailing as you proceed. Can't wait to see the progress!

Took these "before" pictures of our lot this afternoon and had to post them for prosperity! They start taking trees out tomorrow morning and may work over the weekend . .

Here is the before from the street - two pictures because I couldn't get the whole lot (which is actually 2 lots we bought and combined) in one.

Lot front left:

Lot front right:

Dry creek bed:

This separates the yard from the woods and we had the genius idea today to line it with these huge boulders from the site (we have 30+ visible across the lot and covered in moss) and interplant with ferns, etc. to be a transition from landscaped yard to woods.

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View from raised terrace:

This is standing from the raised terrace in the back (we have a walkout basement) so the view will be from higher up and the trees at the front will be taken out to form the back yard. There is a ridge (you can barely see it through the trees) at the far end of our lot which we should be able to see from our terrace.

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View from screened porch (right next to the terrace so similar view).

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P.S. HUGE thanks to buckheadhillbilly for her advice and inspiration pictures of what to do with the boulders . . . got me very excited and inspired!

Hello! I've never posted here before but have been lurking continuously since we signed the contract for our new build in January..we are building the Frank Betz Amelia plan with some modifications, including losing the 2-story family room in favor of an upstairs family room for our growing kids (6,4,1) as well as bumping the family room out 2-feet.

We did have a snafu with the front elevation..the bonus window wasn't big enough to meet firecode so they scrapped the small bump out that I really liked in favor of another large peak..ah well.

We are finally making great progress this week!

March 28

March 30
Amelia

RE: It's March- How is your build progressing?

• Posted by: nanj (My Page) on Thu, Mar 31, 11 at 20:16

deb - Very exciting! Keep us posted in the next thread for April. Lots of people are interested in Betz homes so I'm sure people will want to hear about your experience and see lots of pictures.

RE: It's March- How is your build progressing?

• Posted by: chris11895 (My Page) on Mon, Apr 4, 11 at 10:49

kateskouros: I Looooove your floors, do you have anymore updated pictures?

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deb - Very exciting! Keep us posted in the next thread for April. Lots of people are interested in Betz homes so I'm sure people will want to hear about your experience and see lots of pictures.

kateskouros: I Looooove your floors, do you have anymore updated pictures?