Cslaughter, your house looks wonderful. The pictures of you have been giving me nightmares though. ;)

hosecar, the whole house looks great and I love that wood ceiling.

am_e, I can't believe you're all moved in. Congrats.

I have to remark on your dog comment, I was worried for ours too:) He's finally settling down, but dogs sure don't like change (worse than some people:). I felt bad for how anxious he was for a bit there.

We've been taking the dog over to the house on Sunday's when it's quiet and letting her walk around and sniff. She's pretty good though. As long as she has her couch and her blanket, and knows where the kitchen is, she's happy.

Looking good Stanleyridge.

So I've definitely discovered my taste in light fixtures outstrips my budget. Every time I think I found "the one", I then have to pick myself up off the floor after seeing the price. Sigh

For our floors they will be #2 red oak 2 1/4 and Duraseal will be the stain, we can have them mix two they will however charge us double. Which at this point for the right color I am willing to do. They will finish with two coats of a waterbase finish so should be no ambering. Really just want to tone down the red of the red oak, as if I want to upgrade to white oak they will charge me triple and hubby says that is a no go. I am actually having issues sleeping due to the kitchen decisions. If I go a dark floor then the coffee color cabinets might clash, plus I have two dogs and am a bit of a neat freak so the dark might bother me but I will have a central vac with a hidden door in the kickplate to sweep into as well.

If I change the cabinets to white I am worried about the cracking/joints showing over time that from what I have researched is very common with painted cabinets. And then I don't know if I would use the white quartz I have picked for the counters. We looked at a bunch of cabinets yesterday and honestly the only ones I liked were the white painted or the dark espresso/coffee color.

So any opinions on color combos are appreciated. Specifically if I do white cabinets what color floors keeping in mind I want to tone down the red in the red oak. Or if I switch them to white painted, again what color floors and then would the white quartz still work? Originally I wanted white cabinets, navy island (builder wont paint we would have to do island) and quartz with sparkles (dark gray or black) or recycled glass counters but hubby says too pricey. I am so confused now as what to do! Any advice appreciated.

Nodak do you have lots of light coming directly into the kitchen from windows?

We are hoping to be in our home within a month or so, working on finishing off the interior. We have said that before but it might actually happen this time! Our interior doors and trim are all in, tile work is done and plaster is complete. Painting is underway now and white oak hardwood floors go in next week. We are very happy with the plaster work Canamould did for us (although we are mostly self building, this is one thing we turned to the professionals for).

Here is our foyer.

The coffered ceiling in our kitchen underway.

Great room.

Master bedroom.

Hallway.

Dining room.

Nodak I had red oak floors in my previous 2 houses and can tell you it is one of the most forgiving floors you can have. I know the stress over these details, especially color, but if you choose a medium stain you will be fine with your dark cabinets - promise, cross my heart. Our brain tells our eye that wood floors within a certain range of 'natural' wood tones is normal and then places that visual expanse of wood into a background category in our mind. If the floor is not within that natural tone range, say a gray stain or extremely dark brown/blackish or a color, then it's no longer in the background category and your brain sees it as a design element which is fine if that's what you want but know that going in. When we're building we focus to the extreme on whatever choice we have to make at that moment but none of these choices will be seen in isolation when the house is done. Sample the Medium Brown and Provincial - both will look really nice with dark cabinets. And I'll second cpartist's question about the stain on your maple cabinets. Have you seen that stain on maple on more than a small sample? Can you get a full door sample and even better, a referral to a customer who has used it in a kitchen? Maple can be tricky with stain.

As an artist and former wallpaper and fabric designer, I agree with everything DLM said ^^^

They are getting our subfloor cleaned up and ready to start installing the hardwood! The plumber installed the water heater and master bathtub on Friday and the butcher block island top is being delivered tomorrow.

Tons of progress on our build this month and I can't believe we still have an expected four months until completion. Drywall was hung, mudded, sanded, and primed. Exterior stone is about 85% done. Beadboard went up on the porch ceilings. Kitchen cabinets are being set. Trim woodworkers, tile installers, front porch decking, and exterior painters are prepping for their work.

Some stone work above the front porch still needs to be completed, but decking will go in near the end of this week.

Front door will be delivered soon and flat beadboard has been installed. Barrel vault beadboard is on site waiting to be installed.

Retaining wall exterior stone will probably be completed this week.

Three of our five exterior doors have been delivered and installed. They are beautiful 8 foot solid mahogany doors.

Kitchen cabinets are set before the floor is installed. Finishing trim at the ceiling still needs to be installed, as well as the center island.

Some may not like these corner drawers, but think they're a good solution to the blind corner issue. I think we'll put long things like rolling pins and baking mats in these drawers.

Hired an architect and getting our first conceptuals this week! We're about as early as you can get in the process, but I'm very eager for the journey ahead. We're not planning on building until this time next year, so we have a lot of time to line up our ducks before construction. :) Excited to participate in these discussions over the coming months!

Jay Walsh - Kitchen is approximately 16' x 19', and the island is about 4' x 8'. I'm planning three seats though you could fit four. Three gives everyone a lot of space, and we are a family of three.

@hoscar1 Is your width 16' ? Ours will be 17' wide with an 4'X7' island and I am trying to guage the size.

we built the entry counter over the weekend and installed matching formica on the entry bench. I figured it would hold up better than painting it. I will have trash/recycle underneath for sorting mail and garbage coming in from the cars. charging station. Any other creative decorating/use ideas welcome!

Cslaughter27, I love your doors. I went back and forth with those and the ones we picked. I had the 5 panel doors in my old house and I loved them. Good pick!

Jay Walsh - yes width of room is about 16' with 4' wide island in the middle, so your 17' should be plenty of space.

We made all our tile selections this weekend and we are thrilled with how it went. We made great selections and got lucky with some close out stock and stayed under budget! We got way more mosaic inserts and bands than we thought we budgeted for. Can wait to start sharing some reveals come July!...

My addition is going so slow. I might have to sacrifice my beautiful Texas ebony that I am fond of as it is in the way of the footers and roof. I planted it two years ago (it was not cheap) and it has grown like wildfire.

Also, the support poles for the overhang by the pool have to be moved closer together as there are pool pipes in the way of the original design. I am not happy with this either, but there's not much I can do about it.

Sewer and plumbing is installed.

Casa Di Villani I am in love with all your ceiling details, your house is going to be gorgeous.

dazureus The exterior of your house is lovely, love the stone work.

DLM2000 You bring up very good points, I will see about asking them about those colors. I guess i am confused as to what colors are mid tone with only one coat and which ones are dark tone. Many of the dark ones I have seen here on Houzz are multiple layers so very dark. I actually asked the builder to quote out the price difference to do white cabinets in case we decide to go that route. But even then I do think everyone has convinced me that really dark floors are not a good idea.

cpartist I have seen a cabinet door with the coffee stain and it did not look streaky at all but was very dark. Originally I did want white but convinced myself after reading up on it that the lines that show with painted cabinets would bother me and they cost more so I got convinced to do dark cabinets. I am now swinging back around to white and hoping the cost isn't too much higher than stained cabinets. Do you think white cabinets, white quartz with flecks of gray would look ok? And still try to do mid tone floors then with it? I know it sounds odd but I really want to do a teal glass tile back splash for color as well. Appliances will all be stainless. Sink is a blanco granite in gray.

As far as window situation the kitchen itself doesn't have any but it's very open concept and our great room has very tall ceilings with windows on 3 sides, 4 each side and that is right in front of the kitchen. The dining room on the other side has a huge sliding door. So I don't think the light situation will be an issue, there is also recessed lighting and 3 pendants over the island.

Thanks all for the advice, it is much appreciated!

Nodak, do you have an island too? I ask because I'm doing white perimeter cabinets with a dark oak island.

Which quartz are you looking at using?

I love the idea of you doing a teal backsplash. That will take it away from the all white kitchen and add a wonderful splash of color.

No recent pics but wanted to jump on and say all of our rough-in inspections passed! My DH is doing the audio/internet/TV wiring now and hopefully we'll get the framing inspection by end of this week or beginning of next week.

We also have been busy building the perimeter wall for our back porch. We'll be doing a Pennsylvania Bluestone and we need to build a concrete wall and pour a concrete slab for the base. This work we're doing ourselves, so its much slower but it's not holding anything up.

Just got the town planning commission to approve the initial driveway plan. Now the board just has to officially accept it (which they almost always do once the planning commission accepts the proposal). The vote is in 2 weeks, but since it will be approved, we are going to go ahead and have the engineer work up the official technical plans for the drive, where to level the existing ag drive, where to build it up, runoff control etc so we can get a bid from the driveway guy. Already pre-approved from the bank for our estimated costs the builder gave us. Now just need to get the final numbers, get the driveway started, get a few more permits and we are off and running.

Butcher block island top was delivered today! Character Walnut from Hardwood Lumber Company.

Lakeerieamber your butcher block looks great! It looks like your kitchen is really coming together nicely.

cpartist Yes we will have an island for now I am thinking leave it in the coffee color and maybe down the line paint it SW Naval. Attaching a pic of our quartz color. And a possible tile for back splash.

We have granite, barn doors, quartz and cabinet hardware! Electrician will arrive tomorrow so we are madly putting together chandeliers this afternoon.

See the husband that was was on sale yesterday... he's been good today. ;)

Novak why not start a new thread with all your choices photographed for comments. Hard to comment here in this thread. I do like your quartz and tile.

No pictures yet to show, but windows are slowly going in. He's corrected the ones that were put in wrong and they look awesome now. Electrical is finishing up, Low voltage people are in there working, and just approved the cabinets to be made.

In the queue with the city. Waiting for permits. Might take up to 6-8 months....

tarnator: We were afraid of exactly the same thing and rumour was the county building dept. was backed up months however we also signed up for cancellation slots and by sheer stroke of luck got one appointment in ten days and permits granted in less than a month back in November 2016 and that includes time we were trying to justify why not to install a fire sprinkler sytem however lost the battle, agreed to install and permit was granted. Then it was rain, rain and even more rain in PNW; excavation started a month ago and here we are today; not bad for a month's progress, another 14 to go; at least another two weeks of work left to complete garage slabs and a rat slab before framing commences. I think I'll be seeding grass this weekend.

Slab update.. install was supposed to be today with arrival between 11AM-2PM.. got a call at 10:30AM that the slabs still need to be polished. now they say it will be installed sometime late this afternoon.. crossing my fingers but not holding my breath that it actually gets installed today. On the brighter side, our frameless shower door was installed a couple days ago :)

Permits got approved from city!!! Yay .. footers start going in next week as soon as ground dries up from rain from last couple days. Nice sunny days ahead, hoping for Tuesday start.

kirbyyy86 Would you mind sharing the stain color for your barn door? Also do you know what type of wood it's made from? The color of your cabinets and doors are lovely.

All the flooring is done! Yay! The list is shrinking! Here's a pic of my littlest trying out the doorbell :) The front door is still waiting to be stained...

Lakeerie, can I ask what the sconce is? I think that would look good with my house

Cpartist, it is the Quorum Denmark outdoor wall lantern. It comes in different sizes - this one is 14"

Who's ready for slab pics!?

Love the sink and faucet. Perimeter slab is cosmos Venato extra

Testing out the stools

Texture of the island. It is New Alaska White Antiqued.

Pantry

close up of pantry sink

Bev fridge. Our regular one is counter depth so I added this next to it so we don't use up space for beer/soda.

hall bath- off the same slab as the island

master bath- our fabricator called it magnific white aka delicatas extra

close ups

And a close up of the shower tile just because :) it's not as blue as the pic looks.

Thank you Lakeerie.

Cslaughter, it's looking wonderful. That granite is drool worthy.

mojomom - love the house! would you mind sharing the length of your window seat wall and rough opening or actual unit size? I'm so bad at visualizing and we are also doing a window seat wall similar to what you have!

cslaughter27 what are the dimensions of your pantry? house is looking great!

So I think I should introduce myself. I just found this thread yesterday. My husband and I are GCing for the first time and have never built before. We took about 9 months to interview several builders, walk through hundreds of new homes in various stages, and design our own plan and we just broke ground a few days ago. We have a hole ladies and gentlemen!

Alicia it is approx 6x14'6" This is the other side of it

we are putting a dog door between the cabinet and the shelving. Otherwise I would have had the shelving go to the cabinet.

cslaughter27 that's nice and big! Mine is going to be about 6x8 so I'm just trying to figure out what that is going to look like!

I would love to extend it like yours but the other side of it is our pocket office and I think we need it!

Alicia, you've never built before and are GC'ing your own house?

Just takes more time than hiring someone to GC. If you are familiar with all trades it can be done. You will inevitably finish and have a few regrets but they are typically minor in the grand scheme of things. Plus, if you are not doing custom plans that you personally designed, that will save a lot of those "wish I would have done" moments.

We have only purchased finished homes in the past. Our plan is somewhat custom as in we drew it from scratch with a local home design business (that many builders in the area use) but after reviewing hundreds of plans online/in person we aren't doing anything drastically unique. It's basically a collection of a bunch of different inspiration homes we have.

We also have the good fortune to be connected to a solid tradesman in new home construction who referred some trusted subs. I was very cautious about this idea my when husband pitched it but after a lot of research it makes sense for us!

We have foundation walls!

@SabrinainTX sure thing! For all of our stained wood, including beam, cabinets and barn door, we used BAC Chestnut from Sherwin-Williams. The doors are knotty pine, cabinets are maple wood.

@kirbyyy86, you may want to repost in the may thread as Sabrinatx may stop looking here. :-)