Paint is done. My walls look pink. I want to cry.

Aly, what color did you pick?

SW Eider White. Fortunately I have very white cabinets, a lot of windows with white trim, white trim fireplace to the ceiling... but the walls still have a pink tint. :(

AlyandDrew: don’t panic yet. When our color first went on I cried because I swore it was purple. My five year old niece said “I love all your purple walls.” Everyone said it would change once all things were in place. Our color is SW Versatile Gray. We have been in our house a little over 6 months and I see not even the faintest hue of purple. My niece doesn’t either. Paint is funny how it changes with the surroundings. I hope it ends up being ok for you.

Aly - agreed. We are now getting trim in and my sister just mentioned tonight how much more grey my paint now looks vs the beige she previously felt it was. Tomorrow carpet goes in and I’m sure it will change again.

Hello! Every build is looking so great even with mistakes that I just had to post so when ours happen I will have a place to come to vent. We're excited to share the building of our dream on 60 acres way up in Leelanau county Michigan while our primary home is in southwest Florida. Yes, reverse snowbirds. What could go wrong?!

Wow, what an incredible place to be able to build, Leelanau. We have been up that way a couple of times (we are from the thumb area) and it's breathtaking!

Windows installed yesterday

Looking forward to enjoying morning tea and views from the deck outside master bedroom

pinebaron, those views are amazing! I will be right over with my morning tea.

I had my pre-concealment walk through, mostly everything looks good, I pointed out some minor tweaks, but nothing that I can't live with. I did bring up the sound insulation, and I am glad that I did. It seemed that everyone forgot about it even though it was in the proposal. Prewire wire is done and insulation, drywall, and siding are on the schedule for next week. Once the drywall is up and mudded, I would be roughly 90 days out from finishing.

Next steps is finishing my lighting choices, and my exterior paint colors. I keep changing my mind on the color. I might just have to pick a couple out of a hat and see how they look on the house.

Leelanau...summer in Michigan, winter in Florida! Fun.

Nice progress folks ! Spoke to engineer and they’re on schedule to be done by the 8th. We’re shooting for a before Christmas start, Builder is ready and ducks in a row.

Alyanddrew...how many rooms did you paint in the eider white?

Open plan - kitchen, 2 story foyer and great room, master, bathroom/closet, Mudroom, pantry, flex room... it's basically the entire main level of the house and two story space

At 8:30 AM mostly white looking but when the direst sun moves away from the east facing great room several areas feel rosy. The master which is north facing is totally rosy hued. Because there is SO much wall I don't think furniture will do much to tone it down.

Gutters are installed. Tongue and grove installation continues. View looking lovely. Masterbath tile installed and grouted. Propane tank was delivered. Now we have to figure out where to bury it.

we have a poured foundation! now for some inspections and then onto framing. :) REally, really hoping to at least get a roof on before the weather becomes horrible...

Everyone's builds are looking great!

Windows and doors are in. The look of the house completely changed overnight!

Any suggestions for lights on the porch? I think they're going to have to be unbalanced. I can fit one wall light to the right of the door or I can have one light hanging in front of the door. The front isn't symmetrical and I knew this ahead of time... I think it's the camera angle that makes it more pronounced here, it should look different once the real porch posts are in and the steps are finished.

DH and the builder met with the the vinyl guy yesterday. We will have a blue gray colonial beaded siding. Adding frieze board and 6" trim around the doors and windows (I think they said 6", could have been 5")

I forgot to have the door guy change the lights to match the windows. But I can live with it. The man door to the garage only has vertical lights.

Builder and DH want crown molding in the living areas. I haven't been able to find anything I like that's standard. I don't want anything fancy looking - I'd be happy with just a plain 1x4. LOL So, I'm googling for ideas today.

BethA - What about simple cove molding? We used 5 1/2".

Thanks gpeach! I'll look at the cove molding, too. I had eliminated it, because it looked too modern or formal, but I like the pic you posted.

I like the cove molding. Very simple, very nice. Can't say I've considered this before but it looks great.

Alyanddrew...have you gotten a price on repainting? I hate to even ask. It sounds like it's a lot of repainting. Don't feel too bad. I have made similar mistakes.

BethA - House looks great! It looks very similar to ours from the front. We have one porch light to the right of our door and one hanging from the porch ceiling, centered in the entryway space...includes windows and the door. They are on different switches so we can have one or the other or both on at the same time. I don't want fancy crown molding either so I'm considering either none or doing a picture mold about 8-12" below the ceiling. Similar to this picture. And I'd actually hang pictures from it too.

Great progress everyone. I cringe for all of you when I read about the errors and mistakes. Two steps forward, one step back. I think it's unavoidable in building. Our siding is going up and this morning looking at pics that dh took I noticed that the frieze board is missing...so I made him do a mad dash out there to point it out. Even the best builder can miss things I think. So dh continues to drag me kicking and screaming through this process. I'm trying to tick off these damn decisions one at a time. I tend to obsess so each one drives me crazy with anxiety. Looking forward to not waking up every night at 4:00 am questioning my latest one while dh snores happily away. Wishing you all the best....

About 3k to repaint the walls that were pained eider white. We are going for it. It hurts to spend more money but in the big picture I don't want to hate my wall color. Looking at Light French gray. Upstairs was painted on the rocks but its pretty light (although I like it) and my husband likes darker so I think the light French gray may work better. Have to decide today!!!

Paint a couple of test areas with different colors first!

AlyandDrew, gray is trending now because it looks "ok" with everything, but IMO never looks great or fun or warm. We call it prison gray here and people are starting to get tired of it. Maybe also try to look at colors with the same base but a warmer or brighter tone.

ILoveRed your house is looking wonderful.

Thanks CP. just took this one 5 minutes ago. If it doesn't kill us, we may get to enjoy it someday :-)

Aly...I would do it too. If the bulk of the house is painted a color you hate, it will be worth it. But please don't rush the decision on paint color!

@gthigpen your house was part of my inspiration for the exterior! I really wanted something similar to Calabash Cottage, but we had windows in the two bedrooms upstairs, so the big, single cross gable wouldn't work. I didn't want "doghouse" style dormers, either. I saw your house and then googled and found some others that were the same style.

I like the picture molding, too. how tall are your ceilings? Ours are 9'.

If it doesn't kill us, we may get to enjoy it someday :-)

Ain't that the truth!

Aly, I have seen Light French Gray in a new house, and it is a true gray without undertones as far as my eye could discern. Very pretty if you want to go with gray. I can post photos if it would help you.

DCtoVA: Thanks. You are welcome any time for tea though you'd probably want to stop by for drinks in the bars in the home too.

Siding started yesterday, not a whole lot done but we like the siding layout DW and I designed for the siding guys; 7" and 3" reveals. Not much to show for now but one gets the idea. Material is just primed for now, will be painted white.

I will not turn down free pictures! :) I found this blurb which made me feel better on Pottery Barn's website:

potterybarn.com/tips-and-ideas/bring-out-the-best-in-your-home-with-neutral-colors/

5. LIGHT FRENCH GRAY (SW 0055)

Light French Gray is another versatile color that can help you transform the mood of a room. By pairing it with any number of different colors, it can take on a totally distinct personality. Paired with aqua and blue colors, it creates an ocean vibe. The color looks elegant and sophisticated when layered with black accessories and furniture.

In the end paint is really just such a personal preference. There may be trends but at the end of the day we like what we like and let's face it paint color is SO fickle by changing with lighting and and decor. I guess it makes it interesting huh? I think part of my problem is I don't actually know exactly what I want. I don't have furniture picked out for my great room yet. I have a hard time visualizing what the whole space will look like in colors from a swatch or even samples.

Even if Light French Gray turns out too dark for my preference (compared to my upstairs rooms in On The Rocks) it's considered a light color and based on the description above is also a neutral. I have taupe/brown currently (for about 9 years) and I'm just over it so we'll go gray with this house. :) After awhile I won't even think about it. Everything in this building process gets put under a microscope during the decision making process. 3 more weeks!!!

My advice to myself (in retrospect) is to pick out several colors and put them on sample boards to move around and when one is chosen use a gallon in the same type of product/formula that it will be painted in (contractor paint if you are having a contractor buy and paint or retail paint if you are buying and doing yourself) and paint most of a wall to really see what it would look like. It's hard to do that when you pay someone else because they are likely spraying it and won't want to come paint just one wall but had this been done for me I never would have chosen the Eider White! One of my mistakes was using samples and even next to one another....

I know my GC wanted me to pick colors before he did trim or cabinets. I simply looked at Sherwin Williams pamphlets of colors that went with several themes, decided what appealed to me and went from there. You may also decide you want all the rooms the same color - in that case I'd suggest a warm neutral. (Personally, i find gray depressing.) And especially in the case of light neutrals, use large swaths of sample.

Aly...I agree. Example of an almost snafu. I was convinced I wanted White Dove for my cabinets because my favorite kitchens on GW used this color. All of the trim would then follow this color. KD had the cabinetmaker make me a door in WhiteDove and I took it to the house. I hated it in my house! So bright white. Too cool for my taste. I was shocked. But a big mistake was barely averted. Now I'm pretty sure I'm using Swiss Coffee. We shall see.

hope your next color is "just right".

Aly, if you want to pm me, I can send you a couple of photos. It is not my house.

I'm starting to see some snow in pictures. I hope everyone gets to a good place before the real snow falls. We're blowing past our "end of October" deadline but I hope it's only for a couple more weeks. Everything's painted, and wood floors, finished electrical, and finished plumbing is going in. We're well on our way to our COO.

We finally got our 250' driveway in, but it's the base layer only so far. We'll get the finished layer in the motor coach at the house and keep the rest base until all the landscaping is done.

Interior and exterior lighting is nearing completion. These have a flame simulating LED bulb so the seeded glass is required. Our interior lighting is being controlled by Control4 so there needs to be some coordination with the electricians and A/V/D specialists. All the interior LED cans are in and most of the interior feature lights are installed. Still waiting on all the wall plates, switches, and final circuit hook ups before we have functioning lights.

The front steps are almost completed. Just a little more blue stone and we'll finally have real steps to the front door.

The gazebo and back deck have all the blues stone laid and the finishing carpentry work on the columns is nearing completion. I hope the weather holds out to get a final coat of paint on them.

Wood floor is starting to go in. It's a 3/4" x 8" oil/wax finish engineered floor since all our subfloors are concrete. It's all being glued down and so far feels very solid.

Our soapstone kitchen countertops and casear stone (Alpine Mist) island countertops are finally delivered and installed. Now the tile installers can finally get the backsplash installed.

The countertop supplier also fabricated our soapstone sink. Single basin measuring 30"w x 17"d x 8.25h.

Everything in the house is painted, but they'll have to come back and do touch ups after the floor is installed. Here's the floor in the great room with the Hubbardton Forge "Theta" installed. We'll be getting a 24" extension to lower that as much as we can.

Here's the Hubbardton Forge "Winter" in our dining room. We don't have a dining room table yet so extra cable was left so we can adjust the final height.

The stair treads and railing still needs to be stained, which will probably happen after all the wood floor is installed so they can color match the two. That splash of purple in the upstairs doorway is the girls room, the only color in the house.

Wow you're finally almost done dazereus. I love it. I'm in love with Hubbardton Forge and seriously considered some of their fixtures.

I keep putting up videos but here is what the house actually looks like with the first 7 trusses up. Only 10 to go, we hope to be putting up the middle 4 this week. The weather is not cooperating, mid 40s, windy and rain about every other day. Supposedly there are snow showers this morning but I have seen any flakes yet.

We've got the ceiling joist and purlin hangers installed on the four T5 trusses, and yesterday DH started installing the purlins and ceiling joists that I cut. A little bracing between the 2 sections, put the winches on the 4 posts and up they will go. These will be the 40 foot trusses, the biggest ones we have. Once they're up I'll be able to breathe a little easier everything else is either shorter or single truss lifts.

leelanau, looks like you're building a beautiful house and will have a beautiful view. I love the peninsula, vacationed there a couple years ago right after labor day. Did a LOT of wine tasting. Hope to do it again soon but that won't happen till after our house is done. We're just south of Alpena on the northeast side. *waving*

BethA - Our downstairs ceilings are 10', upstairs are 9'. We likely won't do crown at all upstairs since its very informal with just bedrooms and a playroom.

@gthigpen I won't be putting crown upstairs, either.

I found this on Pinterest and really like the simplicity of it. I think it's closer to a Craftsman-style, but I think it will look good with the rest of our trim work without being fussy.

I'm going today to meet someone to pick up a ceiling light I found on Craigslist (simple 3 light bowl-style light from the 1930s). Can't wait to get this re-wired. I've been buying lights as I see something I like. This will go in either my master closet or master bath (I'm leaning towards master bath).

I found a Savoy House Schoolhouse 3 Light vanity bar at Habitat for $20. I'll buy a matching one to go with it over my Master vanity.

https://www.amazon.com/Savoy-House-8-393-3-11-Fairfield-3-Light/dp/B00STHTWMI

Mark I have no idea how to pm you! I'm happy to report the Light French Gray turned out really nice!!!! It's so much better than the pinkish Eider White. Expensive mistake but worth the fix!!

Aly, I am so glad you are happy with the Light French Gray!! The color looks good at all times of the day and evening. I definitely agree that it was worth the $ to fix!

Lots of dirt being moved to make the walkout basement and surroundings land work together. The yellow section of the basement is where we are putting radiant heat in the basement (sports court section) Now just waiting for a good couple of days to pour the basement floor. Framing coming soon.

Yeah Aly!

Todd..where are you building? I'm digging your sport court.

No pics for me. The decisions are coming quick and dirty and this house is giving me a headache. Nothing else to report.

Building in Ohio. Weather broke today and they poured the floor! Yeah....I'll post pics shortly

@Todd -post here https://www.houzz.com/discussions/its-november-2017-how-is-your-build-dsvw-vd~4953106