Inside & Out

During the last half of December, our crews have been tripping over each other inside and outside of the house and are heading into the final stretch to complete this project. I've heard an old adage spoken two different ways, and whether God is in the details or if it's the devil, certainly the challenge now is to get those details right. A quarter-inch here and a color choice there has a chain reaction that is often unforeseen when the decision first presents itself.

For one, the biscuit-colored farmhouse sink that I picked out last spring from a square-inch sample will not work with the white cabinets. Anyone in the market for a farmhouse sink? It's going on Craig's List. A new white sink has already arrived, and this mistake is one that I accept but certainly hope is isolated. It was an expensive one.

When we returned after our Christmas travels, we were pleased to find the progress made on the home, but much work has yet to be done. Most of the trim carpentry is completed, the pavers are in, and countertops have been installed in the bathrooms. Our project manager  returns to the job site today, and the goal is now to keep the crews working toward a February completion. In the meantime, we are working to get our current home ready to list, and Randy is diligently building and installing the closet shelving. In all of the busyness of our lives right now, though, we do have to stop and pinch ourselves that we are going to live in this house. It's surreal to us. I have lots of new photos to share.

Fireplace in sitting room

Shelving by Randy in my closet

Tub in master bath

Stained bead board in Randy's office

Stairs, notice the not-yet "secret door" on the right

Staircase

Stained bead board in great room coffers

Marble countertop on a master bath vanity

Dining room

Bunk room

Wainscoting panels in foyer

Paver sidewalk

Driveway

Getting There

Barring any unforeseen problems, we are approximately two months away from moving into our new home. Target: early to mid-February.  In these final weeks, Randy is busy building the closet shelving, I have finalized lighting choices, and we have a pretty good start to a landscaping plan.

The hardwood floors are in -- although they will need to be finished when we get a little further along. The cabinet maker is installing the cabinets, the stair carpenter is working to get the stairs completed, the trim carpenter continues to plug along, and the tile work continues inside and out. The painters have returned to start caulking the trim so they can resume working inside.

In the meantime, I've learned why special touches like sconces and bead board are so disdained by builders and that my husband and my project manager -- brothers, mind you -- have very different opinions about the most comfortable height for televisions.

Admittedly, we are a little nervous leaving this project for our Christmas trip. Every day raises questions about more details, and the details are now going to be visible for a long time to come. But we are grateful we have a good crew of guys out there. Here are some of the  latest photos:

Front porch

Kitchen, sink side

Kitchen, cooktop side

Randy's office

Back side of house -- finally completed!

Bonus room

Mudroom, sink side

Mudroom, cubby side

staircase

Almost Home

Yesterday, we took our Christmas card pictures out at the new house. Not the most idyllic holiday setting, but the backdrop says everything about what we've been doing this year, and it's one step closer for us to claim it as our new home. We included our project manager this year because he's been so key in our getting to this point. Here's a sneak peek:

Floored

Master bathroom tile -- Italian marble

Great room -- heart pine

Kitchen - beadboard ceiling

Garage side of house

Dining room columns

Jackie/Jill bathroom

Our wonderful crew continues to work on the flooring -- both tile and hardwood. Also, the painters have almost finished the exterior of the house, and the trim carpenter is plugging along. Here are a few photos of their progress.

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Busy Block

With three houses under construction, our little cul-de-sac is lined daily with a variety of construction trucks and loaded with workers. We have met our soon-to-be neighbors and are looking forward to sharing our end of the street with these families.

Progress on our house continues. The trim carpenter has arrived and has a good start on the crown molding, and tile installers have begun work on the master bathroom. This photo is the back of the shower.

Tomorrow is a bittersweet day as it will be our last with Aaron and his crew. They will be finishing the last of the siding and trim on the back of the house. We are sending them off with a cookout.

The painters will be back next week to work on the exterior and interior, and prep work for the hardwood floors should be completed.

We Have Paint!

The biggest difference in the house this week is the first layer of primer is on some of the wall. They are priming in the same colors I chose, so the photos above give you a good feel for house the great room will look.

The countertop and hearth for the outdoor kitchen are completed. We chose concrete, due to its durability, the fact that it is very economical compared to natural stone and that the installers could mimic the color and features of the fireplace mantel. Concrete countertops are still fairly new. Getting the color just right took some trial and error, and at one point we thought we might have to put tile over it, but the installers were eager to please us and were able achieve the look we had imagined.

I am finalizing the tile order this week as prep work for the hardwood floors and painting, inside and out, continues on.

Now the Real Fun Begins

We have entered a new phase on this construction project. With dry-walling completed, now comes the fun part -- making selections that will turn this big box into a home. I have spent the last several days choosing tile, paint colors and trim details. Lighting and landscaping are just around the bend, but first, the crew has arrived to install the hardwood floors.

Hardwood floors were in the plan when this house was just an idea, and when Randy saw heart pine floors in a neighboring house, he knew that's what he wanted. Old growth heart pine planks come from trees cut in the last year, but the trees are 50 to 150 years old. We are very excited about this feature in the house, as hardwood will cover about 80 percent of the floors. The crew doing the floors are truly artisans, and the floor dyes are custom blended.

The tile I chose has a vintage feel, and installers should arrive within the next couple of weeks as I am currently finalizing choices. All the flooring is being laid first to allow for the straight baseboards and the feet on the cabinetry.

The trim carpenter should start in about a week and a half, and he will most likely be a fixture out there for several weeks. Millwork is also a feature in this house, and he will have lots to do.

In the meantime, the air conditioners are being installed, the exterior work continues, and the painters should start early next week. Picking out the paint colors was great fun for me. The palette includes a creamy color as a neutral base as well as a spectrum of soft blues and greens to bring inside some of nature's colors. While the possibilities at the paint store were seemingly endless, my interior designer helped me hone in colors that work well together.

It will be so exciting to see all of these selections start appearing in the house.

Moving Inside

Great room

They say pictures are worth a thousand words, but I think the progress our crews have made in the last week can be summed up in just one: WOW! The dry-wall crew worked through the weekend to help us make up a few days. As of yesterday, just about every wall was covered, and they were getting ready to mud.

I was stunned at the difference. After staring at studded walls for months, the dry wall made the inside of the house come alive and now highlights some of its architectural details. I must admit, though, the dry wall also pointed out a few details we had missed, but our project manager and Aaron put on their happy faces and are bearing with me. One such detail is that the powder room bathroom door looked quite short next to the double doors for the office, which also will have a transom above them. Another door in the master bath was too short in comparison to the others.

Mudroom

Kitchen

Outdoor kitchen and fireplace

And while we have finally been able to move inside, work continues on the exterior of the house, where the stone masons have almost completed their work on the outdoor kitchen and the outdoor fireplace. Tomorrow, we have a contractor coming to start work on the concrete countertops for those areas.

With our most recent progress, we have a laundry list of to-do's: interior trim, preliminary work on the hardwood floors, final details on the cabinetry, and installation of the HVAC system. Homebuilding is getting exciting!

Breaking Free

Now that the roof is about 99 percent complete, we have been able to move forward. The insulation installers worked through the weekend to help us make up a few days, and we passed our insulation inspection this morning.

Spray-foam insulation in the bonus room

Breakfast nook, looking towards the great room

We chose an open-cell spray foam insulation. This fairly new method is highly energy efficient. We debated for a while between open cell and closed cell, but while the closed cell does not absorb water and actually can hold together your house structurally, it is also much more expensive and is not flame retardant. New building codes in St. Johns County require that a flame-retardant spray be added after installation, upping the cost even more. And while open-cell spray foam does absorb water, it actually allows the water to evaporate. Of course, we hope we never have to worry about water issues.

Speaking of which, Tropical Depression Nicole has been testing our new roof and our new water-proofing system on the balconies. So far, so good. The valley on the roof that was a sore spot for so long is now holding well. We had hoped for a good test before dry-walling started, and the Lord provided.

Ceiling on the back porch

So now that insulation is completed, the dry-wallers start tomorrow -- if Nicole permits. In the meantime, Aaron and his crew continue to plug away on the exterior trim and siding as well as the porch ceilings. They've become a fixture out there, and we have been so thankful for their expertise, their hard work and their faithfulness.

Finally

Last week was a rough week for this project. One roofer was fired and another one hired. Then we gave the first roofer a second chance and fired the other one.

The bottom line was that nothing was getting done on the roof and that delay was holding us up everywhere else. So after a few strong words and even a few tears on his part, I gave the roofer one week, and tomorrow is the deadline. After working on it all weekend, the roofer brought in a new subcontracting crew to do the work, and they have been working diligently all week.

After surveying the work this morning, I think they will make it for the most part, and the new crew thinks they have fixed the leak that was also plaguing this effort. Let's hope so. The insulation installers arrive on Wednesday.

The roof is galvalume metal, which is  common for coastal homes. Metal roofs are known for their energy efficiency, but they also give a nice, "Old Florida" feel to the architecture.

Is That a Roof?

If you look closely, you can see the few panels of metal roofing that were installed on the dormers today. Getting to this point has been like wading through a vat of molasses. All work on the upper levels of the house needed to be completed, plus our project manager has been fighting the Battle of the Leak.

On the south side of the garage, a valley in the roof has been causing us some problems. All involved, including the roofers and the designer, are confident it can been fixed. It's a matter of trial and error. So far, we've seen a lot of the latter.

And while they've been trialing, the carpenters and the painters have been very busy installing the exterior trim and siding. The top levels of the house are painted and look amazing. I picked out the main paint color months ago when we were going to the Architectural Review Board, and seeing it on the house finally was thrilling.