We are happy with 12”. It is standard. 15” is still too tight in our opinion. We had 12 at our old house and it was great.

I've finished the rockscape in the front yard thanks to my son coming for a few days to help. I like the rock but I think I need some more plants. We had a big thunderstorm the day we finished and we found out that the drainage plan works perfectly. The rain goes from the roof to the gutters to the rain chains to the hidden buried catch basin under the rain chains to the underground pipe to the faux rock river to the street. I'm so happy it worked! Yay!

Next, my DH just needs to finish the pergola over the garage and the front of the house is done. We hired a guy 3 weeks ago to install thin brick over the exposed basement walls, but haven't seen or heard hide nor hair of him (typical for this build LOL) I put the brick on the front of the house so I'll probably end up doing the basement walls too Ergg! Then we move on to the backyard. We are getting there! :-)

suru11,

What a pretty house! I have never seen a pergola a above a garage before. Unique! I really love your home.

Alison, obviously since you've had it before you know it works for you. :)

Suru, love the rock wall and the planter box!

we now have the first coat of mud on our drywall.

They finally hooked up our digital shower and painters are now finishing up some exterior painting (front porch rails etc.). They also gave a first attempt to install our iron rails on the rear patio. They had to bring them back to the shop due to poor welding in some spots (we’ll see how round two goes).

https://www.houzz.com/user/nidnay What is your shower tile called? Very pretty.

robinhome....thanks. Bathroom tile is Meram Blanc marble.

We had a visitor this morning. Seemed his main goal was to climb the house. He tried numerous times to climb the wood posts. He Eventually climbed our small table to try and climb a post from there. He left only to return later. I heard a thump at my sliding glass door and there he was. Thankfully hes not poisonous.

Our permits came back on Thursday. Hoping to break ground soon. Weather delaying us a bit

Nidnay- I would have a heart attack if I saw that snake out my window.

Vinmarks.....O.M.G!! That thing is HUGE...long. That would definitely freak me out...especially with it peering in the window like that.

The front exterior of the house is almost compete. Fireplace tile is up and theater room is ready for carpet and the bar is ready for stools. About 40 days out from moving in...hopefully

Vinmarks - what kind of snake is that?

https://www.houzz.com/user/vinmarks thanks, now I won't sleep tonight!

Vinmarks, that is one big black snake! All snakes freak me out, but I don’t mind seeing a black snake (as much) since they eat the poisonous and aggressive copperheads. That guy sure was bold looking in your windows like that!! I was in your neck of the woods over the holiday weekend at my mom’s cabin, but no snake or bear sightings at her place. Just lots of lizards :-).

I believe it is a black rat snake. I'm ok with snakes as long as they are not poisonous. I would not want one near me though and I would never pick one up. Hopefully he helps keep down the mice.

amiebeth we have a really big lizard that suns itself on our patio. We originally lived in Charlotte and had the Anoles. This guy was big and I'm not sure what kind of lizard he is:

And then there's the spiders. That's what gives me nightmares. I did some perimeter spraying around the outside of the house because we were getting some spiders in the house. Small ones. I sprayed around the trim and this thing came skittering out. I just about had a heart attack. It was huge.

When my in laws built their house the first two years after there were so many spiders it was utterly horrifying. We are going to spray at our new house before we move in. Will spray in and out and try and reduce the problems. Ugh.

I was just googling this yesterday! But didn’t have much luck. What are you going to spray and where will you concentrate it??

edit: what I am getting at is: are you spraying during construction or just after?

I talked to all the wild life surrounding the home, I'm not kidding. Started with a one to one with a couple of coyotes at very close range and ended with flies; flies were persistent and insisted on buzzing the inside of the yet unfinished media room however I was able to pursuade them to leave. So far I had to exterminate only two moths and have not seen another since. Though I have some pretty strong stuff at my disposal and a commercial type sprayer, I have had no need to use it, besides I want to avoid contaminating the soil and surrounding area if possible.

Vinmarks - that snake looks giant! Would have freaked me out for sure.

When we moved into our house last September, we had a huge bug problem, specifically cockroaches. Yuck, I hate/despise/loath those awful bugs. Unfortunately, living in Texas they come with the territory. I'm guessing it was a case of having trash left around during construction and/or them setting up shop within our walls/attic before everything was sealed. We finally had the house treated and haven't had a problem since thank goodness!

I posted this a while back, but good to repost.....during construction we had a permanent spray system installed in the walls for insect control. For those who are totally creeped out by spiders etc., this might be an option for you (if you haven’t completed the drywall stage yet).

They install very thin plastic tubing in all exterior walls (tubing has tiny holes throughout) and also install several ports where they can pump the solution through all the tubing. So, no insecticide inside the home, but rather in your walls where most critters crawl through first before they even get inside.

Oh my gosh, Vinmarks, that guy is big! My kids would love him (the lizard, that is. The spider would send the kids and the husband screaming- haha).

This guy likes to sun himself on the steps of my mom’s front porch, but he’s pretty tiny. We also saw some big millipedes (I think) in her yard over the weekend when we were helping her do some gardening. Lots of cool critters up there!

We are just getting a local exterminator to come do an exterior and interior spray. We will do it a day or two before we move in.

I used a back pack sprayer and some Bayer advanced bug stuff. I don't like spraying inside so only did the perimeter of the house. I sprayed about a foot of ground at base of house then up about 2 feet on the foundation. I sprayed around all doors and windows. There's a lot of carnage laying around now.

We have dealt with so many things since moving in:

1. Mice-check

2. cockroaches-check

3. asian lady beetles-check

4. stink bugs-check

5. spiders-check

6. bird in woodstove-check

7. birds making nests on front porch-check

8. bat roosting above front door-check

Of all the things we have dealt with the one which sent me over the edge is the stink bugs. Those things are the most disgusting things ever. We dealt with them inside the house from the time we moved in at the end of December until last week. And the very worst thing is they will be back come fall.

https://www.houzz.com/user/vinmarksWow that’s a lot of critters! Does that bug spray not damage the wood trim around the windows?

robinhome the spray does not damage the wood trim.

We’ve been anxiously awaiting how this vision was going to work out. Double cabs were the dream but

not in the budget but SO happy we have no “dead space”. Good day at our place!

Your kitchen is beautiful.

vinmarks, We had those black snakes when we lived in northern VA. I remember taking my MIL for a walk in the woods there and 2 of them were intertwined up in a tree, I guess having a "good time". Freaked my MIL out (she's from MI). Walk had to be cut short!

nidnay, your shower is beautiful, as is all of your house.

April H, your kitchen is lovely. Budgets are such a pain!

ljohnson0626 love the high ceilings, that's going to be impressive.

S M love the exterior, and nice looking tile.

Yesterday we completed putting up the last of the roof purlins. DH goes back to more squaring, truing, etc, (eve boards maybe? I forget the order of some things) then we install some blocking, and then, sometime next month, (fingers crossed) the roof steel goes up! That ought to be "fun" to do!

This is the back of the house. Each one of those sections is ~12 feet wide, so the house part is 48 feet long and the garage is 36 ft. There will be 2 rooms inside the garage so the vehicle part will only be about 24 feet deep.

And if we're going to show off critters....

This snapping turtle was in my driveway yesterday afternoon. I was fortunately able to keep Ziggy, my "chase anything if it moves" dog away from it. The shell is about a foot long but I wasn't going to stick my foot next to it for comparison.

On the other hand,

I haven't seen this guy since last May when I nearly walked into him when I stepped out my back door to scare off what I thought was going to be a raccoon. I literally could have reached out and touched him!

That time Ziggy chased the black bear off the deck and up a tree. Unfortunately I could not grab Ziggy before he also leapt off the 6 foot deck. Idiot now has a permanent wonky back injury! Only the young bear's dignity was injured.

Nidnay, your home is gorgeous and so is the setting. Would you mind sharing where you purchased your front porch exterior wall and hanging lights? Also the manufacturer and name of collection. Thanks in advance.

We went by the house last night and nearly all of the interior doors are installed, and a lot of the trim work has been started!

autumncolor..... Exterior lights are Monte Grande by Savoy House (I purchased them from a local lighting store, but you can find them at most online stores). They come in several different sizes and two different finishes (English Bronze & Slate). In person the finishes were so similar and I can’t remember which I chose. They do not have a clear glass option, so I had a local glass/mirror place make me clear panels for ALL of them (it only cost $170 or so to replace all the glass in 8 fixtures). It was impossible to find exterior fixtures in a style I liked with clear glass, so I just decided I would not let the glass determine my fixture choice....it’s so easy to change that out.

Here are the fixtures before glass change...

buzzsolo wow he's big. At least they are slow enough that I can get away from them.

Newest sighting happened this morning. There was a bobcat sitting in the road. I have never seen a bobcat in the wild. We haven't seen any bear yet but word is out that they were spotted in several places in the neighborhood.

Vinmarks, the lot my husband and I own in the development is off of Mountain Vista and we’ve caught a 250 pound bear, bobcat, coyote, and tons of deer, raccoons, and turkey on our game cameras. We have it mounted in a spot where two springs come together to make a much larger spring/creek. So cool that you saw the bobcat in person!!

I wish we could get sights on our bear. He has chewed up the waterline twice since we started working on things in January!! He has been game camera shy so far.

vinmarks, about 10 years ago I was walking my first dog Rocket and my other lab Luna on the trail up in the hill off our driveway, the dogs were buried in the ferns, when a bobcat ran out 15 feet in front of me. The dogs never noticed which was a good thing. Only one I've ever run into in person, plenty close enough for me!

I think I'll miss these woods, mostly deer and coyotes around the farmland. And badgers and turkeys.

amiebeth we are on Walkerby Trail. It's off of Coal Pit Mountain road. We bought not long after they opened the road up. There's one other house around the corner. From what I read it is rare to actually see a bobcat in person. We should set up a game camera. I'm sure we would see a lot more of the things that come out at night. Although I might not want to know what's really out there.

Buzzsolo that's my worry. That I run into one of these animals. I know most don't want anything to do with humans but it still leaves me a bit uneasy when I am outside.

nidnay - what material did you use for your front porch railing?

Our last building plans were conditionally approved - only about 3 months behind schedule. With any luck we will have a hole in the ground for June's thread to contribute :)

Floors! DuraSeal Provinicial on white oak, satin finish.

gthigpen....rails are wood. Not sure what kind though. They did use an oil base primer. We shall see how often they will need repainting :)

They have started painting my brick today!!! eep!

Big progress on the last day of the month! We had electricians, plumbers...and the driveway crew!

@jkm6712-love the floors! We were considering provincial on white oak mixed 75% provincial/ 25% natural. What is your wall color?

Intoodeep....looking awesome!

Snakes and bears, oh my!

Meet with concrete contractor at house today and got eaten alive my mosquitos for the 10 min we were in the back yard.

They poured the front stairs one step too short. There is just over 12” from the landing to the threshold. They are trying to come up with a solution as I do not want 2 more steps within that landing (1 plus the 4” sill step into the house). I’m holding tight to what’s listed in the plans so they will make it really right.

Intoodeep - thanks! The walls are SW Passive. Your house is beautiful!

First coat of paint! :)