Jkent9024: We are having Fantasy Ocean Marble in the kitchen and master bathroom and a quartz with glass-like flecks in it in the guest/grandkids’ bathroom and the laundry room. We are having butcher block in the pantry (and butcher block above the washer and dryer if not enough quartz for that, besides the sink area in the laundry room). I think if they are all the same, it looks like a builder house, rather than carefully chosen finishes in a custom home; at least it seems like the millions of big builder homes in our Houston suburbs all have the same granite throughout. Maybe that’s not a fair statement, but it seems that way.

Nhb22 - I love those!! Beautiful!

@nhb22 The quartz for your bathroom and the tile for your kitchen are very pretty!

In regards to the "natural" colors, my first choice would be SW Natural Tan with the SW Natural Linen (depending on how intense it reads in your space) being a close second. On your sample board, the SW Natural Choice seems a little drab next to the SW High Tea.

Btw, I love the idea of wallpaper in the morning room bathroom. I have wallpaper going in my dining room and my girls' j&j bathroom. Regrettably, I had to pull it for the master (the one I liked blew the budget) and the main powder room. I know many people dread using it, so I try not to bring it up as an option. But, I love how it adds interest and texture to a space.

@jkent9024 I do not believe that all the countertops in a home should be the same. I think that oftentimes people choose their materials based on the decor and how they plan on using the space, whereby some stones are better suited for some locations than others. So, personally, I think that different materials are acceptable. Also, I feel that different types of stones can be used in the same space if they work together and with the design.

Well guys I'm feeling very discouraged. I was ready to pull the trigger on my back splash tile that I have had sitting on the counter for almost a year and the only trim they offer is a bull nose that is the same size as the tiles. UGH! I really love the simple 2.5x9 subway with a little texture and a satin finish. But I can not find a pencil tile with a satin finish. They are either glossy or matte. Would it look bad to cut the bull nose down so it is not as wide? I want to avoid a fat vertical edge. I don't want a schluter edge because I don't want to find out that its not the right color of white. What should I do?

@nhb22 your tile has gorgeous trim options, why can't all tile have that!

I'm so frustrated because we live in such a rural area that I have very limited options in our two small shops. If you ask for something they don't have it. Usually getting a sample takes weeks for them to get in. If I order samples online it costs tons of money! I dealt with this our entire build and it sucked having to settle on something because of time. Sorry I'm venting but I'm so frustrated today.

@K H, So sorry. I hate disappointments like that! I am sure we're going to have many as we move through our build, especially with all the supply shortages I keep hearing and reading about. I fully expect we're going to have to change some of our choices along the way. It's frustrating, but I suspect when all is said and done, we're all going to end up with very nice houses that we can be proud of. I hope you'll be able to find a solution that will work for you!

KH - I feel your pain. I told my husband today that I am over it!!! Not only is picking color frustrating, but no one in our family can agree on the front porch railing. 😣 And no one has been at the house working since Wednesday morning. The sheet rock sanders were suppose to start on Thursday. They have been no shows. The contractors were going to get the yard cleaned up and close the house up so that no persons can get in and possibly tear it up, or get injured. Nothing has been done!

@jkent9024 - We are doing different countertop surfaces, and using remnants in the bar and laundry room. Three of the baths will have the white quartz with gray veins. The powered room is an antique piece of furniture with a wooden top.

tendrac - I had to redo the above color board. I was in such a rush to get out of the house to go to grandsons BD party today that I made a mistake and posted the same color twice. In addition, I went ahead and lightened the swatches close to their true colors.

The High Tea color will not be next to Natural Choice, should I use that color.

I would love to do wallpaper in the powered room. Just not sure what type. I need something plain that will blend with dark blue, and orange. There will be the white trim, a wood mirror, and the wood piece for the vanity (using a bronze colored glass sink). I have antique brass sconces and a bronze faucet.

Nhb22 - I feel your pain too! Our brickers are at another job (whose contractor wrote them hot checks and skipped town, but since their scaffolding is there, they needed to finish so they could move it). We can’t get the electrical panel, gas hookup, etc., until after this one side of brick is done, and they now need the scaffolding. So frustrating!

Nhb22 - I would sure do a fun wallpaper in your powder room!

Hoping to get some opinions. Currently, our home is to have 2 columns separating the foyer from the office/formal living room. We are contimplating removing them and just have drywall to the columns So we can do built ins. My husband likes the openness but I’m leaning towards removing them. I’ll attack a picture that is almost identical. We just finished framing but framers have to come back to fix a few things so we need to decide.

@haylo33 those columns look structural to me. Is removal really an option? I do love the idea of built ins. If you don’t want an open office I would walk it off completely. You could possibly do transom glass or glass double doors so that you can still get some natural light from the front window?

@K H removal wasn’t the right word for me to use. Basically, we would just have drywall to end where the current columns are places. So we’d still have a large opening into the room, but a clearly defined area.

@haylo33 Since you used the word "formal" to describe your living room / office and, also, because this space is right off your foyer, I would say that I lean more towards bringing the drywall over and defining the space. As shown in the photo, the way the columns are finished is similar to what would typically be seen in an informal space like a basement, here in my area. Also, I think one can never have too much wall space. . .for such things as built-ins in addition to outlets, switches, and for decor.

Sherryl, That's all so wrong!!!

haylo33 - I agree with tendrac and K H. We had an almost exact area in our previous home. It was even more open than your space. The space was rather small for a living room, but that's what it was used for. Though we never used it.😂 I did love the built-ins, however. More than a few times, I wished the LR had been closed in. I could have used the room for a closet because it was just outside of our bedroom entrance. We had a study opposite this area that was walled in, so we did not need this space for an office.

Here it is:

@sherryl we are doing a blend of Farmhouse and craftsman as well. Our houses do look very similar! Yours is so pretty!

@tendrac we are in Arkansas, from what I'm hearing material procurement is a problem everywhere. I also agree that demand is not the only issue. I'm just glad we finished framing when we did as price have really climbed in the last month.

@K H thanks! I'm not very active on IG, but will try to post more pictures. We are so excited about our wall of windows, I really enjoy the view :) And I have a floor to ceiling window in my office! One of my favorite features are the high ceilings on 2 of the bedrooms, I wanted a 2 story look without the 2nd level(above grade that is we have a walkout basement).

I can't wait to get this house done, with interest rates creeping up it is making me nervous. I did find a bank that can do a six month lock with a float down so we may go that route for peace of mind.

I love seeing everyone's progress! I wish I had more time to read through all the comments, but once you get behind it's hard to keep up, lol!

I thought about starting a YouTube channel for the house build, kind of like a vlog. I have done two time-lapse videos so far, most of which was framing. It has been super fun to watch! If I get a chance I will try to post the links.

A little construction humor for the day.....If you don't laugh you cry, right?

@haylo33 I would definitely close that space in to define it more.

Does anybody have experience with Quartzite. I was completely set on marble, but I keep reading about this stone and the online photos make it really similar looking alternative.

I want a Calacatta Gold look, but the availability around here is not great and the cost is pretty prohibitive.

The Calacatta Vagli slabs we went to see were too small for our island and since we are still so early on, I'm not ready to commit to a seam and hoping something else will come along that is big enough.

@Kat, that meme is too perfect. I remember moaning over the summer when lumber was between $700-800 a board foot, and now it's well over $1100! Of course we're getting close to the framing stage, so it couldn't be a worse time to be buying lumber.

@Kat We are moving into our new build Wednesday and have quartzite in both the kitchen and pantry. We chose Taj Mahal as it is one of the most durable stones. It can have variety of colors depending on the particular slab you choose. Our slabs have cream, taupe, gray, beige, and white. We were able to get slabs large enough that we will not have a seam on our 5 by 8 foot island.

Emily I know,! It’s horrible. When our builder sent out our house for pricing end of November the prices had dropped a bit. He got the price back December the 4th but now lumber is almost double! I keep thinking it has to drop but now I’m. It so sure.

Also our window prices had dropped in March by 10k from November, but when he resent it last week as the 30 day quote had expired it went back up the 10k.

We can’t seem to catch a break at all with this!

@mark1993 I'd love to see photos if you are willing to share. I hope to find something with grey, that also has some gold tones to warm it up.

@Kat- I would be happy to! I will try to remember to take pictures and share. I just hope I can remember! 😉

@Kat forgive my ignorance but what is quartzite? I never knew there were no many countertop options until I started reading this forum. I had never heard of soapstone or quartzite until now.

@haylo33 I had never paid much attention to quartzite assuming it was a manmade product like Quartz, but after doing more research discovered it is actually a natural stone product. My understanding (and from looking online) is that the patterns are much more like marble than granite and while not cheap it can be more affordable than marble.

I had been after marble, and had originally planned on Carrara which runs around $75-$100/SF in our neck of the woods, but then I fell in love with Calacatta from Italy, but the ones that I like the coloring/veining of are very expensive. I've been quoted between $176/SF for the Calacatta Vagli all the way up to over $400/SF for the Calacatta OMG ( I understood the OMG at that point) with Calacatta Gold (what I was after) falling somewhere in the middle.

With the cost of lumber continuing to rise to scary levels, I am doing my best to find alternatives that are still beautiful and yet a bit easier on our budget. I did some digging and discovered quartzite may be a real possibility. There seems to be some beautiful choices.

Supposedly it is much more heat resistant that quartz, which is important to me and I prefer natural stone regardless.

While I do my best to protect our counters I have teens and truthfully any one of us could make the mistake of putting a hot pan directly on a counter and I don't want to have to worry that one mistake will ruin my countertops.

Not sure how much this helps, but if you like the look of marble, then definitely do some research.

@Kat I’ll have to look into it. We are planning on granite as that it what we have now and I prefer natural stone as well.

My house is almost done! Still waiting on the front door, which will be painted SW Sea Serpent, and the bathroom tile, but the finish line is in sight. It’s not custom, and there are a few things I wish could’ve been done differently, but I’m excited!

@Kat while quartzite is a very beautiful natural stone, it is difficult to get it installed in large slabs because the veining causes brittleness.(I'm sure this is why it is so expensive!) I had several installers say they wouldn't touch the stuff because of having to replace many slabs due to breakage on installation of large slabs. When you are working with such heavy large pieces with heavy veining it makes sense. I found a quartzite that I loved and wanted but it was 12k, (silverwater quartzite or sea pearl quartzite) so I settled on a Cambria quartz it was 7k a traditional level 1 granite would have been around 4k for our kitchen. I just couldn't justify the expense.

We failed our final electrical inspection yesterday. The electricians appealed to the county supervisor and we passed today :) They changed the code in October disallowing electrical panels in closets. Ours are in the master bedroom closet on the main floor because of flood risk in the lower level garage.

Final inspection for the CO is tomorrow. I have cleaners coming to the house tomorrow and movers are scheduled for Thursday.

@K H, I just happened to see an episode of "Flipping 101" today on HGTV where a beautiful slab was broken by the installers. I think it was Quartzite as it had a marble look to it (white with gray veining). The replacement was only $2500, though, so maybe not.

We are using plain white quartz for our countertops. Just can't justify the higher cost of natural stone, and I don't care for granite or the care thereof. I think/hope our backsplash tiles, artwork, and other accessories will keep things from looking too plain.

@Marie J., Congratulations! It must be a great feeling to be at the finish line. 😁

@Emily I love HGTV but I think they lie about the pricing of things. It just isn't realistic when it comes to budgets etc... IMO!

@bytheriverbank Congrats! Your home has been a tough build. I bet you are soooooo ready to be in!

@Keepthefaith MIGirl The garage floors are a little bit pampering, but also nice to do tractor and implement maintenance.

we got back patio poured as well and I shot a panorama from there and the front porch...

Back (don’t mind the trees that need cleaned up)

And Front

I am feeling pretty discouraged today. We were supposed to close on 4/20 but we expected delays even though we have been on top of everything and pushing things along. We finalized our kitchen in December yet we are now looking at a 5/7 delivery date. We were able to secure temp housing until 5/31 and that's a definite move out date. Now the builder is saying there is no way he will finish by then. I really do not know what we will do. Our town is a summer beach town so rentals skyrocket after Memorial Day and most places are already booked. We have two small dogs so that makes our options very limited.

Tanya, when our house we currently live in was not ready and we had moved 1500 miles, we lived at a Residence Inn with our 3 dogs! It’s not ideal, but it worked. Our moving van had to put our stuff in storage too. If everything is booked, then it might be too - just a thought.

@Sherryl I'll take a look. I feel terrible because my daughter is graduating college and she will be home mid-May through early July. We were really hoping to have this time together. With 5 of us including 2 college age girls, a hotel would be tough but might be our only option. I have an apartment near my work to stay in but there is no way 5 of us and 2 dogs can stay there. We wouldn't even be allowed per my lease.

@Tanya Shelly I really understand how you are feeling. We drop our youngest off at college on 5/14 and have been pushing to get the house finished so she could be settled before college. Assuming we get our CO on Thursday, we’ll move in to a house that still needs work. We still need door knobs and cabinet hardware. The glass for the showers isn’t installed. All the finishing details basically. I ordered bootie covers today because the subs will be coming and going after we move in and it’s going to be a cleaning nightmare. None of our patios or walkways are poured and the sand gets everywhere.

@bytheriverbank Hopefully all goes well for Thursday! Our town is really strict about getting COs so our punch list can only be very cosmetic issues. I'd be happy to move in with items still to be done ugh

@Tanya Shelly I'd reach out to a few of the beach rental agencies in your area. My daughter, who just graduated university in December, is now a property manager of one in our area (and worked at two others while in college as a reservationist) and while all the nice beach ones are fully rented months out, there are often some that are many rows back or maybe in need of some TLC, that would be happy to have a couple of months lease.

It's worth a shot. Even if they don't have anything, they may be able to suggest something.

Also check and see if your local area has a Facebook group. Being on an island with two towns we have a several groups and there are always people asking for assistance with just this type of thing and it's amazing how somebody who knows somebody is able to help them out.

Good Luck. I can imagine how frustrating it all is.

@bytheriverbank, I love the style of your home. Would you mind sharing a picture of the front and list the materials used? Thanks.

@K H I will keep that in mind and check with the fabricators.

The person who first got me researching quartzite had a beautiful slab for her island, similar to what I'd hope to find in looks and it measures 10'9" long by 5' wide so a bit bigger than mine at 10' by 4.

While there will obviously be edge finishing, I have no sink in my island, so that may help with minimizing the risk of breaking.

@Emily we've had granite in our last two kitchens and I'm kind of over the look of it, but can honestly say it has been the easiest thing to care for. In our last home we had it for 8 years and our kitchen remodel here is on it's 4th year and still looking like new. We've never resealed either. Bad I suppose, but just being truthful. haha.

Quartz concerns me because of the heat. I may end up using a bit in my pantry to save money though since there won't be anything too hot in there, although we are having our microwave in it..haha

@Kat, That's interesting about your granite experience. I always read and hear that you have to seal it yearly, and I just don't want to do that! But I also don't care for the busy-ness of most of it. I have seen some I like, but a lot more that I don't care for. As for quartz and heat, we are used to having countertops that can't take heat (Corian, laminate) in the past, so that won't be a problem. No kids, so it's just us, and we are used to putting down hot pads if we need to set something hot on the counter. I do agree that it would be nice not to have to do that, but at this point, we can't afford to increase our budget a penny, as we're already going to be way high with lumber as it is and still hoping for a metal roof!

@Emily I'm sick watching the lumber. It's at over $1200 today. Has your contractor placed your order yet? When do you think he will be?

I think it'll likely be June by the time we start framing so late May order placement, but if it keeps going up like this. $200 in a week, I don't know what we'll do. Every day I say, it has to stop, and the next it's higher.

@Kat, I couldn't agree more. It's just ridiculous, and DH found an article yesterday that indicated it probably won't be going down anytime soon:

Lumber Prices Up and About to Spike Even Higher.

I expect we're on target for framing in May, as we're still waiting on the footings guys, but I'm sure our builder will place a lumber order before the foundation is complete. Sure, we could wait for months to see if it comes down, but the way things are going, that's unlikely. And we're in a rental now, so the longer we stay, the more rent money we bleed. It's a lose-lose situation for sure. 😥😥😥

@tc9876 I don’t have any good pics of the whole front. Usually when I show up people are parked right in front and it blocks the house. The mason is still finishing up the stonework. I snapped these pics of the front entry a couple of days ago.

@Kat Thanks! I just went online and requested to join a few local groups. I appreciate the advice!

@bytheriverbank Very nice! What is the type and color of the siding?

@tc9876

We used Hardie Plank siding in a 2-1 pattern.

Porches and overhangs are tongue and groove cedar with clear coat finish

Exterior color is SW Gauntlet Gray

Exterior trim and garage doors are BM Dragon’s Breathe

Front door is SW Tricorn Black

Rock is ***I don‘t remember. Sorry

Our gutters are square. Fascia boards are done in an overlapping pattern.

Our deck is Ipe and was oiled.

Front column light is Halle Grande Wall Lantern by Ian Fowler.

Garage lights are Fresno by Chapman & Myers

@Kat- I took a photo of the Taj Mahal quartzite as we moved in today.

@mark1993 The quartzite is just beautiful. Your entire kitchen is. What color are your cabinets?Congratulations on your move-in!

Mark1993 - just gorgeous! We were going to do Taj Mahal in our current kitchen when we did a reno a couple of years ago, and each slab had a problem (too much fill) and the fabricator refused delivery on them. I had to switch to granite River White, which turned out great. As we are building now and moving, I’m glad we didn’t end up spending so much! This time we’re getting Fantasy Ocean marble - different feel is in this house. But I LOVE your quartzite and kitchen!

@Kat@Sherryl- Thank you both so much! We moved in yesterday and love how everything turned out. The cabinets were painted by the cabinet maker. We specified SW Alabaster which is what was used on all walls and trim, but the cabinets were yellowish! So we had them repainted using SW Pure White.

The Taj Mahal was a splurge, but as I said in an earlier post, they are pretty much bulletproof. Taj was also used in our pantry.