@Karl, me too! What a beautiful view!

Karl, I thought painting too. What an amazing photo and incredible view. I hope that you’ll keep posting updates of your build.

Karl, I too had to take a double look at your son in front of the window. What a gorgeous view!

Love all the updates!! Everything is looking so good.

CP - just wanted to chime in and say how much I love your counters. I was so hoping a slab would jump out at me when I was shopping, but I just couldn't find anything I loved. I settled for quartz. If I had seen yours, I would have jumped at it!

My progress is just little projects here and there. Our cabinet guys had messed up our vent hood cover and they had fixed it after I had already painted it. So for the last 5 months it's had some nail holes and some unpainted wood on it. I finally resanded it, recaulked it and repainted it last week. This weekend, the weather was finally good after raining for 8 solid days. We did some trim work on our exterior front porch. Just need to wrap the bottom of the columns, do some touch up paint and oil the cumaru and our front porch will finally be done. No pics to show for my efforts though!

Karl....Another beautiful home (with great windows - I am a window fanatic!). Yes, gray paint up into the vault.

Karl, love the woods and water view!

cp I LOVE your countertops, they are stunning, and I'm happy to hear your floors are level. Hopefully, all your other problems will vanish soon.

nidnay, that is an awesome chandelier!

I just read this whole thread this afternoon and there are just too many things to comment on! So mainly I just "liked" a lot of posts.

I'm not totally jealous of everyone's progress, but cold weather, snow, health issues and other family stuff took doing anything on our build this month completely off the table, unless you count me continuing to tinker with the floor plan. (It's become a running joke amongst family and friends) but HEY, it is so much improved since the original last summer, I say let 'em laugh.

After my doctor's appointment this morning I stopped in to talk with the kitchen designer I met with and talked about what I'm looking for, etc and gazed at samples and found quartz and granite that I about swooned over. It will be interesting to see what she comes up wth and whether it will break the bank. Still months and months for DH and me building before I'm anywhere ready for finishes but it was sure fun to look at.

Hopefully, I'll have finally have some progess report in March.

Our kitchen is finally ready for appliances!

After the appliances are in, we'll get the toe-kicks and the sink cabinet door installed.

We're just plugging along: https://cedarcitymcm.wordpress.com/

Love your black windows! So lovely.

We've hit an issue. Snow continues to be on the ground and has stalled us 100%. We can't frame anymore till garage foundation done.

On top of that we have made a homeowner blunder and given the OK for the order of levers for all doors that we now realize is not what we wanted. It got harried in the ordering of different sets and somehow we misordered. There is blame to go around but I know it is us who will have to deal with the cost in the end. Ugh. So upset and now just trying to sort out if we need to change it or just accept it.

What do you think? This is the front door set with the lever we wanted:

http://emtek.com/multi-point-lock-trim/modern-style-10-keyed-418

And this is the lever we accidentally OKed instead :(

http://emtek.com/passage-privacy-levers/brass-hercules-lever

Is it worth $500 plus to change it? This lever is set to be on all the doors interior and exterior.

Alison....have they even ordered your door hardware yet?

Yep all the exterior door hardware is now at the builder's office. Was ordered with the custom front door. So we have to pay a 50% restocking fee plus shipping back to the US if we don't want it. Interior doors not ordered.

Alison, can they just swap out just the lever, so you’d only be out that cost and not the whole unit?

Btw we are doing the Helios levers (flat black) in our house, love them!

Today’s issue we are dealing with is the back door arrived with the handle bore at 34”. Seems so low, especially on a 96” tall door. We expected 36” which we assumed is standard, along with most answers I googled, but acceptable range is 34-48”. Why would one assume we want the lowest? Door provider sent over Masonite’s spec sheet for standard double bore and it’s 34.25”.

GC is checking to see what they did on the front doors since they haven’t arrived yet, so holding our breath. Waiting to see front door before we force the issue. Two inches doesn’t seem like much, but when I’m balancing a tray of meat and trying to use my elbow to open the door, every bit counts.

Apparently they can't just swap out the lever. I don't really understand why. I think maybe when attached to the multipoint lock it is actually attached not separate?

Now you are making me want to check height of door handles! Holy crap this is so frustrating. So many things to be on top of.

Alison.....the pic shows different finishes.....is it just the difference in the lever, or did you get the wrong finish as well?

Lever. They are all finished in satin nickel for exterior. The lever and lock set. The issue is the helios vs hercules lever.

For what it’s worth, if it were me, I would pay the extra $500 to get the lever I wanted (but that’s me). To my eye, they are very different and I wouldn’t care for the sharp edges on the round handle of the lever you accidentally ordered.

Wow! Those are very different looks, but I'm not sure if it would be something worth the money to correct? I really think the second one is still very pretty. Looks like it would look really nice in person. What is your overall look - modern at all? That's a tough one. Now I need to go check the height of my doorknobs too. I never even thought of that - ours are 96 inches also.

Karl, that picture is priceless. The view is captured perfectly with your son looking out. That would be a cool shot to commission at artist to paint for you.

Cant wait to see your finished kitchen P.

Yes the house is modern. I feel they are very different from each other too! Ugh.

http://emtek.com/multi-point-lock-trim/ss-10-nonkey-6

Is more similar to what it would look like in the end but our finish is satin nickel for exterior doors.

Not trying to start any problems with handle heights! My boyfriend who is average height noticed how low it felt and once you see it, it’s hard to not see it. That is also with just a subfloor, so once 3/4”floors are down it will be a little lower for where we would grab to open. I may not have noticed at all, and my builder says it’s never came up on his other builds before and they are all the same heights. But not sure he’s seen the likes of me before.

I actually prefer the second one. It has a more architectural feel to it.

Jackie, I have the same issue with my doors but mine was caused because our builder's mason set the window headers 2" too low. Long story that's on my Saga thread.

cpartist would you like it if interior doors were chrome like in the picture?

Yes I prefer chrome. (All my bath fixtures are chrome and in my condo I sold, we did Emtek chrome handles.)

Chrome never goes out of style while some of the other finishes seem to go in and out of style.

Alison

what about just accepting the order and once you are moved in you can always swap them out a few at a time so as not to take a big hit all at once. Or, just have the builder order the ones you wanted just for the public places that visitors would see and swap out the rest a little at a time.

Alison we have that Emtek Hercules set on our French Doors to our porch and I can tell you it has a very nice feel but probably all Emtek hardware does. In chrome or satin nickel it will look modern and have 'presence' because of the mass and as CP said, the architectural feel. That said,, if you think it's going to bug you every time you reach for a door handle then figure out a place to scale back a little if you have to in order to make this work.

I’d rather make a change now and be done with it then change later. But I’m beginning to wonder if it’s worth it to bother.

First time poster, first time home builder.

Pre-drywall inspection this week.

Alison - that lever error would bug the crap out of me!

However, as an impartial observer....I wouldn't even notice your handles. :) Easy to say, I know - but true. If it really bugs you enough then change them. DH and I have what we call the 'stupid fund'. It is for when we make colossal 'f'ups. (like parking tickets) - then we just dip into the stupid fund and neither of us is allowed to say anything about it, because the next time the mistake will be the other person. If you really hate your levers, then just dip into the stupid fund. On the other hand, you could save yourself $500 and go out for a fabulous dinner and have enough left over for a pair of designer jeans.... Your call.

Best wishes E Lail! We look forward to seeing your progress.

Ok this isn’t the hill to die on. I don’t absolutely hate Hercules and in fact once I googled it in more pics think it’s unique and bold. Will spend the $$& elsewhere and keep it all as is for now.

^ very zen. :)

I agree with taranator - that's a wise move. There will be something else to get even more wigged out about later if all of our builds above are any clue!

I liked the look of the Hercules better. It looks more substantial to me. $500 isn't a huge amount, but it could be an upgrade in your backsplash, a new rug, extra electrical outlets, etc.

We've been living in the house for 2 months now. We are still working on the punch list. Wood floors in main area are getting another coat of poly tomorrow to fix areas where tape pulled up the finish. DH has work meetings to attend in Charlotte so I will travel with him to be out of the house. Then we have a night planned in Asheville and will be home Saturday afternoon. Hopefully thats enough time for floors to dry and smell reduced. Nothing like moving all our furniture again.

We have waited over 2 months for the cabinet doors above our hood. The foremen dropped them off Friday and they were suppose to be installed today but we measured them and they aren't going to work. There will end up being about a 1 inch gap where the doors meet. All my other cabinets have barely any gap. I am more than annoyed.

vinmarks.....gosh, this stupid stuff never ends.

Enjoy your time in Asheville (Biltmore?).

Jackie: Why not avoid a lever on the front door altogether; put an electronic bolt which can open the moment you get close to it; it will only take a nudge to push it in.

vinmarks.....gosh, this stupid stuff never ends.

Please tell me that's not true. Sigh.

@taranator N "Stupid Fund" I like that! May have to start one over here. :-)

I call my stupid fund "fun money".... may have to change it to "stupid fun fund". :)

Yes the stupid stuff never ends. The kicker of the day is a bird got into our woodstove today. I heard this clawing sound coming from the stove pipe and then it ended up in the actual stove box. I was freaking out. My DH was in Charlotte having our taxes done. I called him freaking out. At that point I didn't know what was in there. In my mind I pictured a squirrel trying to claw it's way out. The glass on the stove is smoked up so you can't see in very well plus I didn't want to go near it. Stupid...I know because it can't get out. My husband got home later and we took a flashlight and were able to see it's a bird. A Bluebird. Yes this is going to sound horrible and I feel horrible but he's going to have to die in there. We can't chance him getting out into the house with our floors getting done tomorrow. We have high ceilings in the great room and we'd never get home down.

Yes Nidnay we wanted to visit Biltmore. We are annual pass holders. We called because you need to make reservations on Saturdays and they only had 3:45pm. We will already be on our way home at that time. We are still going to go and have a nice lunch there and walk the grounds weather permitting.

Vinmarks, can you let him out of the stove and open all windows and doors? He'll find his way out. Leaving him to die in your stove will take days.

Vinmarks - do you have a chimney cap with a screen? If not, get one! Owens Chimney Systems in Monroe (and other areas around Charlotte) will custom make you one and it's reasonable.

My parents have had all sorts of things come down their chimney (they don't have a cap and screen). The funniest was a wood duck!

Our brick mason insisted we get one and it was installed the day they finished our chimney.

Vinmarks- do you perhaps have animal control or any local wildlife resources that could remove the bird?

Not that you needed one more thing to deal with :(

I had 2 birds fly into my house as I was packing the truck for vacation years ago. They made a horrible mess with feathers and poop everywhere. Even with all the doors and windows open they wouldn't go away. I tried sheets, tennis rackets, and even leaving them be while loading up the rest of the vacation gear. Finally I closed all the windows and doors and turned my 2 cats (which I had barricaded in my office) loose on them and minutes later both were dead. I nearly missed my flight because I couldn't leave with birds or their filthy mess in the house.

I wouldn't let it out of the stove into my house either. Birds are gross.

Our blower door test was done yesterday and we are waiting on the results to give to our township inspector. Living and bonus room carpet is being installed today, as well as our stair runner. I am very eager to drive out during lunch and see how it looks!

We had called a place that removes animals and they wanted $250 and he said he would use a net and hope for the best. We just couldn't risk it. We spent most of last night moving all our furniture and removing stuff off counters to prepare for the floor guy. We weren't going to risk the bird getting out and having to put the floor guy off. The floor guy showed up early this morning so the bird will have to be left in the stove. If this would have been any other time we would have attempted to get the bird out. I feel completely awful about it.

Beth the chimney is a steel looking pipe and is very tall. Obviously there was a way for the bird to get in so I'm thinking there's no screen. There is a cap. We will have to get someone to come out and somehow get up there to get some sort of screening on there. I don't want this to happen again. You can see the chimney in this pic:

Godswood that is exactly why we didn't want to risk the bird getting out. If we didn't have the wood floor guys coming I would have tried and just dealt with the consequences.

Vinmarks: Your house is in such a pretty setting! Good luck on the bird.

We finally got our front railing installed. I have had nightmares about someone falling off that porch to the driveway below and I'm so glad they are in. The powder coating is called "antique copper" and I love the way it came out. We also got all our kitchen cabinets set. The granite guy was out yesterday to make templates. Now we are finishing up the wood flooring. It's (slowly) getting there.

We FINALLY have HVAC and security. I was luxuriating in the warmth tonight.... it was incredible. And I’ve been playing with my security system for two days. I know exactly when the workers are coming and going or if they leave a door open, what time they get there and what time they leave etc. I can lock my my doors from anywhere via the app. and get notified on my phone when anyone enters, locks or unlocks a door etc. I do have cameras that are not working yet (no internet), but am looking forward to getting that going as well. This part is fun!

HEAT!

Woohoo! Nidnay congrats. Jump over to March 2018 Post.

Ha....totally forgot it was March!