Kitchen

The kitchen is coming together fabulously if I do say so myself! I'm so pleased with how the floor, cabinets, countertop, wall color, light fixtures, and backsplash look together. The backsplash is a natural slate in various sizes. I found it in the bathroom of Tile Mart and fell in love. We'll be using the same tile as the backsplash for our whirlpool tub.

We went with a quartz countertop from Cambria. Cambria is "the Cadillac of quartz" per our salesman at Hannapel and the only quartz made in the USA.

Another nice feature in the kitchen is the microwave in the island. It frees up counter space and is also more easily accessible for the little people in our house. Hopefully the reasoning behind its placement doesn't backfire :)

Vanities

Our vanities were delivered Friday and Matt wasted no time getting them set. I'm very pleased with how they look. In the master bath we chose and quarter-sawn oak and in the 2nd / girl's bath we went with a white finish.

Siding = Done! Hurray!!!

Front

Matt was so happy last night when he came home and announced the siding was DONE! It really looks great. Now we can focus on the final details inside...

Back

Hardwood

Cabinets

Courtesy of Phil Anderson at Cut Above Wood Design.

Siding Looks Great!

We went with Sherwin Williams Green Sprout and the shakes are Edemame - since it turned out so well, I suggest picking out paint colors when you're hungry.

Porch

Our porch has been Matt's major project for weeks now. And it looks great! I love the stone and the columns that Matt's been building are exactly how I pictured them. Check out the picture. The column on the far left is the only one completed when I took this picture.

Stone, Sheetrock, Siding Trim, Oh My!

Matt has been working a lot recently on the exterior of the house. A lot of trim and the bead board for the porches. He's still doing trim this weekend and doesn't expect to be finished any time soon. There's just so much of it to put up and Matt's a perfectionist, which is fine by me. It'll take longer, but since we expect to live in this house for the rest of our lives, it'll be worth it.

View of the back of the house and porch which Matt and his dad have been focusing on lately (thanks Mike for all your help!!!)

The stone guys have finally started the exterior stone. I don't know how much of a feel you can get for it by this pictures, but it looks amazing! It'll wrap around the bottom 3 foot of the entire house, the whole kitchen wall and the porch columns.

Here it is on the kitchen wall

And the garage with hardware

A huge improvement to the interior of the house has been the installation of sheetrock. It's in it's final stages and should be finished this week.

The Frog (Family room over garage) aka the girl's playroom

View from the foyer of the fireplace

Fascia & Soffit

Matt started putting on the fascia and soffit as you can see above the garage.

While he's been working on the outside, we've gotten plumbing and most the electric and audio/data/security wiring.

Front Porch

Matt's been spending a lot of time on the front porch lately. He poured the steps (for the back porch too) and built the column forms which will be wrapped in stone.

Then last weekend he cut the hole for the fake window. Which is a real window that he spray painted the inside black so you can't see through to the porch rafters.

Garage Door

We purchased a garage door from Quality Overhead Door and had it installed a few weeks ago. It's a really nice door which folds into 3s rather than 4s which is more typical. I love the windows and the detailing. It also has some cool hardward that will be put on after we trim around the door.

Windows in, porch poured, front door set

I haven't updated pictures in a while, but a lot has been going on with the house. Since Matt finished the roof, he set the windows and poured the front and back porches. We used a brown tinted concrete which looks really nice.

Matt finishing the roof

Matt pouring the front porch

Inside the house has been moving along as well. HVAC and plumbing are roughed-in. And our fireplace is in.

Today, Matt set the front door. It looks nice but still needs to be stained. The next big project for Matt will be siding. We have to decide on a color this week - I'm thinking a green but Matt's set on going with a brown.

The front door (prior to staining)

Front of house

Shingled

Matt finished the roof yesterday. He started Memorial Day weekend and had a few friends help out. Then he spent every night after work until dark doing as much as he could. I know it was hard work for Matt and he's happy to have it done, but his girls at home are especially happy to have him finished too. But the next project awaits him...

Wow, it's really taking shape now!

The house is looking great! I don't know if the pictures do it justice, but it looks huge in person. It seems a lot bigger than the 2100 square feet it actually is.

Front

Side

Back

Roof Trusses

Front of House

The roof trusses got put on today. Wow, does that make our house look big! We already sit so high up and now with the roof on, it look ginormous!

Back of House

Eleanor looking out her bedroom window

Vaulted ceiling in our great room

Master Suite & Garage Framed

The framing is moving right along! We checked out the progress on Thursday...

The garage w/ master suite behind it

Eleanor in her future bedroom

Hallway looking into master suite

Basement

Matt's going strong today, trying to finish filling in the sand in the back porch.

Decking and Fill

VanOverberghe's began framing last week and put up the floor trusses and most of the decking.

Matt spent the day there Saturday bringing in sand. I guess 350 tons of fill was delivered and he and Chris and Grant Hemminger worked all day and it's not quite done. The girls and I ran over to deliver the guys Subway and then came back later with freshly baked cookies, but we didn't stay because the weather really cooled off (and we're spoiled from the warm weather last week).
Here are some pictures taken from the road.

Floor Poured - Framing Started

I haven't posted on the house in a while. It is making progress but April started out a rainy month (and we had a baby!) so progress was slowed. Just after bringing Carolyn and I home from the hospital, Matt was able to get the floor poured in the basement. He's also been over there still cleaning brush and using his chainsaw on all the poor ugly trees.

Here's a picture of the basement floor poured - I admit, it's mainly a picture of our little Carolyn, but through the window you can clearly see the floor. This is Carolyn's first trip to the site of her future home.

And this week the framers are coming in to start the framing! So we'll be making huge progress soon. They will take 4 to 6 weeks to complete, weather dependant.

Basement Walls!

Yesterday after work, Eleanor and I drove past to see what was new. Our house now has basement walls! We waited for Matt and then took a look around. It's pretty exciting to see the outline of the lower level of our house. Eleanor loves it out there and everytime we go I can never get her to leave the dirt hills. Luckily Matt doesn't mind keeping an eye on her and brings her home after they're done checking out everything. My checking out only takes a minute or two :) They like to spend more time. I will get pictures posted tonight of the progress.

Hole? Check. Footers? Check.

We're into week two of our home construction and as of yesterday, we have the footers set and wall forms ready for next week. Matt was off work a couple hours early on Thursday, which worked out great since the concrete trucks were getting stuck in the muck around the house and he had to help. Eleanor and I enjoy stopping by after work to see the progress. Eleanor absolutely loves climbing the dirt hills and playing in the sand. It's her little playground right now.

Ground Breaking

Presenting the location of our future home!

After much planning, decision making, running around, and waiting, as of January 3rd we own the 3 lots at 444 Moccasin in Buchanan! It was a long process full of headaches, but we are now on our way to building our dream home.

The big ground breaking was Friday, March 7th when the excavators came rolling in and began digging out the basement. Just two days into it, we have a big hole and lots of piled up dirt - a good start I'd say.

Weather and time permitting, we should be getting our basement walls poured next week. Every stage of construction is exciting to see, but I personally look forward to seeing something start forming above ground. Hopefully that will be soon!

Our lives are full of excitment with the house and a new baby due to arrive at the end of the month. Plus Matt is super busy with work and has been promoted to foreman! One could say our plates are full. I don't feel a lot of pressure or stress just yet, but I know that will all change when little Carolyn Mae makes her arrival :)