Its August!! Time flies when your building houses. Happy home building everyone!

Can't believe it's August. Crazy.

Guest Bath is 90% done...still need to put shower door in but that will be put off [appliances still not all done lol]...

lighting questions- what do you recommend for lighting for light over a kitchen table that is right next to the island? These are the style pendants I'm going to get for over our island. Do I go with the longer linear style for over the table? Is that too much, too close?
Also rule of thumb for how similar in style I need to be then for the foyer and dining room?

It’s tricky, isn’t it? I love your pendants, but the linear fixture is not as appealing....and it’s going to make the view from the great room really cluttered....I would probably choose something I loved over the table and can lights over the island...and if what you love is the lanterns over the island, then I would choose a plain drum shade fixture over the table...I think the foyer and dining room lights should speak to each other, and the overall vibe of the house, but they can ignore the back areas.

Happy August Building everyone! Our ground breaking was put off to tomorrow or Monday after we took Friday as vacay-day ugh. More trees had to come down for the excavator so at least something was done. 8 trees And no stakes were hit in the process. Amazing!

@Trish Walter- I really like the tile floor in there

@Ashley- your DR looks more formal as it's a separate room. What style of lights do you have in other rooms? what style is your table?

Finally we are starting this week! We close Monday and had our pre-construction meeting this past Wednesday. The tree clearing to within 10 feet of the foundation and then the pad will be happening, maybe this week!

Here are our kitchen pendants and our breakfast room fixture. The relate to one another (especially with the curves) but do not match.

@keepingthefaith this is our current kitchen table, but it will become our formal dining room table. It is so tricky to visualize it all!

Sherryl- love your choices!

Maybe something simple like this to not compete with the island pendants? I have no clue what I'm going to do for our new kitchen table yet. Current table will become our formal dining room table. I'm so clueless at stuff like this.

Our foyer, great room, dining, and kitchen are all open to each other and these are our fixtures:

Dining Room:

Foyer:

Living:

Kitchen Island Pendants:

I still have to choose three sconces to go over my triple window in front of my kitchen sink but I'm going to wait to see if I go more gold or more bronze/black in the kitchen to decide those since I can go with all gold, all bronze or black or mostly bronze/black with a tad of gold :/

The crackle pendants are pretty large and I LOVE them in person. They were such a good price on Overstock.com even if I did have to order a total of 6 to get 3 that weren't either broken in transport or had a factory defect. Their customer service was phenomenal to deal with, though, unlike the service of the first company I ordered kitchen lights from and then returned. I'm still waiting on a large portion of my return with them...ugh!

Time is flying and it is so exciting to see the current list of people finishing and moving. Such beautiful homes, everyone! And hang in there all who are starting. It’s a wild and woolly ride. We are 1 year and 9 months in our house. Finally getting the last of the punch list completed. Waiting on screw pops to be fixed because we aren’t comfortable letting people into our house to work. Especially since I’ve counted over 100 things they need to do. Our front columns were badly done and they are finally fixing them. Should be done Tuesday. Still need to redo some insulation in attic but also not happening soon due to virus concerns(ours, not theirs)😡 I’m sure the builder will be glad to get us off his “finish” list. Lol. In the meantime, still painting garage, but the closets this time. Other half of walls waiting for drier and cooler temps. Minnesota has been as warm and humid as Georgia most of the summer. It’s gross. My garbage can room. The boards are to keep the lids from destroying the paint when they are raised. The vent is to help the airflow in garage and convection as we have a skylight in the main area of garage.

oooo Shead, I love all your choices! I'll look into those crackle ones.

@Ashley, thanks! The foyer is my least favorite. I may end up changing my mind on it once everything else comes together. I ordered one from Amazon at first that ended up being WAY too big so I sent it back. This one is from a Home Depot and I got it for $80ish on sale. It’s now $140ish. I’m trying hard to stay within or under my light fixture allowance since I’ve gone over on so much else 😬. Some are inexpensive enough that I can change out down the road without much loss.

Siding is mostly done on the outside, and drywall has started on the ceilings. I haven't heard yet if my interior doors showed up at the hardware store that put in the order, but they were supposed to arrive this past week (after 2 months of waiting).

I heard a fun way to ”practice“ light fixtures! Hang a balloon the size of the fixture by taping it to the ceiling. I had no idea on sizing and wish I had known this when we were picking. But honestly I just chose things I liked and it ended up working out!

@hummingbird678 your beams turned out awesome!

@hummingbird678 Didn't you just start building? Are you dried in already?

Speaking of lighting; None of my lightings match. It will be a mad house :).

@snowcountry we broke ground the first week of May. My builder tries to do a house in 3 months, but we've had several delays (due to supply chains/COVID) so far. Since he also will be away most of September (he hunts most of his family's food for the year that month), we're looking at probably October to finish.

Kitchen cabs and countertops all in - so excited! Been at this for a year (owner build), so ready to be done 😊

following for the updates

Trish, I have been looking for an elongated octagon mirror for our powder room. It looks like you found one! Where did you get it? Or if it’s not elongated, what are the measurements? Maybe it would work!

I’ve been researching light fixtures too, but we have time luckily.
So much to consider!

Alicia, it’s overwhelming all the decisions and easy to obsess - but hey, at least it’s a diversion from COVID!!!!

Alicia and Ashley, if you have time, try organizing your lights into a spreadsheet or document where you can see them all together then order them by putting rooms that go together. In other words, if your DR sight line is the foyer and not the kitchen, you don't need your island pendants to coordinate, but you may want it to compliment your entryway. I found that putting a picture, the URL, and price and quantity into a spreadsheet very helpful. I also found that a year later I hated some, still loved others, and some had been discontinued.

Our dig is now Monday am. Rain delay. But footings on Wednesday! I can't wait to have pictures to post!

Looks great everyone!

@Ashley I have one dining area right between kitchen and great room and have similar island lights.

I have a linear light like you posted and @shead I put it higher so as not to detract from view into great room....and our dining room is really tall so can justify...

Here's a shot...

pretend dining room table is there...it's MIA. lol.

here are island lights...

we did cans in great room because the way we did our beams would interfere. but here's our entry..

I agree with others about doing a vision board for the whole house lighting and also each individual room [all features in the room hardware lighting furniture etc.]. i used powerpoint.

@hummingbird678 love!

@D Walker looks great! woohoo.

@Sherryl

Here's the mirror. Comes in different sizes. I have the 38x32 [vanity is 40"]

https://www.overstock.com/Home-Garden/Carson-Carrington-Salsendi-Metal-Frame-Hexagon-Mirror/28962823/product.html

oh and here's our powder room.

Trish

Trish - all so gorgeous and thank you for the link!!!!

@hummingbird678 Wow, 3 months to build a house is fantastic! I wish our build would go that fast. When I ask my builder how long, he tells me the house will be done when it’s done. I’m expecting a full year.

@bytheriverbank that's what he likes to do. It's not what mine will be (otherwise I'd be moving in right now!). With the COVID delays and his hunting, we'll be in the 5-6 month range. But when he is working, it goes so fast! I'm amazed how much he can do in a day. Unfortunately, there are way too many days we're waiting on something and he can't do much :(

@hummingbird678 5-6 is still amazing!

@Trish Walter your finishes look so great! The beams came out so spectacular! Epic!

Mainly posting to get on the new monthly thread. Not much progress on our end - the interior is just slow now thanks to covid and the plaster subs.

Hopefully the roof and siding will kick off shortly. Septic is progressing behind the scenes and we are working the the PM on some hardscape layout and the driveway.

slow slow slow

We built almost three years ago, but left the walkout unfinished at the time. Multigenerational Duplex Reveal After a few false starts over the last few years, I finally found a great new-to-town contractor to finish it. We added two bedrooms, two baths, a rec room and nice storage. Down to a few punch list items now and got the go ahead to start bring in furnishings last week. Still some to go.

Trish, can the octagon mirror in 38 x 32 be hung either vertically or horizontally?

@Sherryl If you scroll through the pics of the mirror, it shows it hung both ways.

I do see that, but just wanted to make sure.

@N Kay "slow slow slow"

Here, too. What is your builder's excuse? Mine is the terrain except that was done about 9 months ago. Taking a deep breath.

@Trish Walter I love how your lighting turned out. I remember how worried you were about the differing heights because of your vaulted ceiling but everything looks great!

@mojomom Spectacular basement finish, you can't even tell its a basement! What kind of flooring did you do. I really like the color!

KH, the flooring is Cortec Blackstone Oak LVP. We used the same flooring upstairs as well. We live in a snowy climate and have three large dogs and it has been great.

@mojomom We used some coretech in the basement bath that we went ahead and finished. It is a tile pattern. It is already scratched(by our plumber) so I’m not impressed by the tile. But I do like the cushion and feel if it. Maybe the pattern you picked is better for wear and tear!

Hi - new poster here. After months and months of permitting delays, finally broke ground but hit and broke a pipe on day 2. After weeks of dry weather, just happened to rain heavily that night and the large hole they just dug flooded. Should I prepare myself for these types of ups and downs? :(

@HU-113589580 Yeah, there will be ups and downs, and the ones you will experience will be completely different from the ones I experienced, and from those everyone else here experienced. Building is just a highly variable activity. Just enjoy the ride, it is so much fun to watch your dream come together, literally from the ground up! And a couple years from now, when you've been living there for a while, you'll just laugh at all the little hiccups you went through.

@HU-113589580 Welcome on board! I didn't have ups and downs so much as constant delays. I guess there are more than one way to annoy us.

Who is graduating this month? Does anyone have a move-in date in August?

@snowcountry Our builder had a couple of huge jobs with July deadlines - we knew his subs would be focused there. He is now able to focus more on this next round of builds (ours included) but his plaster sub had himself and one or two of his guys test positive for Covid. They haven't stopped completely but it is a skeleton crew and they plug along. I feel like we are overdue for a flurry of activity ;)

@snowcountry when did your build start? When do you expect to wrap up? I'm expecting late Sept early Oct but who knows.

Late August last year. My builder claims they are never too busy to get to my job but there are long pauses when nothing happens.

WOW!!! What phase are you in - I'm sure if I had any memory I'd know but.........

I have a skeleton of a house, sticks and a few sheeted walls and roof. Insulation and drywall is supposed to be this week. Roofers may be in sight in the near future.

I will never whine near you again! We hired our Builder in late Oct. Had an existing foundation (someways easier someways harder) and he got framing started in January (be impressed we are in Montana). The parts not getting plaster are pretty much done and textured, its the plaster that is slow now and that needs to be done for everything else. I do know our siding has been ordered and should be local by now. Our roof is supposed to be soon too - hang in there it will eventually all get done.

I didn't expect it will be an easy or fast build. It is a tough site to build with views to die for. Still, you'd think we will be done by now.

Its all about the views!

Indeed! Who needs "living" when you have views! :)