Landscaping

Thankfully, the weather was nice today. The landscapers were able to completely install our landscape lighting, irrigation system, and plant all of our shrubs. The front, sides, and back yard are temporarily covered in straw. I look forward to seeing the pretty green grass in the next few weeks.

We used a combination of different shrubs to give a woodsy/multi-textured look. We planted: arborvitae, japanese yews, loropetalum, indian hawthorne, and cleyera. Once the sod goes down in a few weeks, they will plant a Maple Tree and River Birch Tree in the back yard.

Almost Finished!!

Yesterday, we met with our foreman to do a walk through. We were absolutely amazed to see that the house was so close to being finished. With the exception of our landscaping, all of the major details have been completed. At this point, it is mostly small things that need to be touched up or corrected. It is looking like we will be closing in the next 1-2 weeks. It is so exciting to know that the finish line is right around the corner.

The hardwood floor details:


Dining Room & Foyer


Greatroom


Carpet Details:

Upstairs Hallway Carpet


Master Bedroom Carpet


Upstairs Bedroom Carpet


Fridgidare Appliances:

Stove & Microwave


Refrigerator


Dishwasher


We have had a few rainy days, so unfortunately, our landscaping has been delayed. Hopefully, they will be finished in the next day or two. We have decided to plant our shrubs now, but wait until late September to plant our trees & lay the sod. Apparently, this is a very bad time of the year to lay sod because it is so hot. So, for the first month or so, our yard will consist of straw.

Plants in garage, ready to plant.


Irrigation System

Backsplash, Front Door, Mantle, and Furniture

Now that our estimated completion date has been moved up, the contractors have been working long hours, every day! Thankfully, the final details have been coming together nicely. We should be seeing a final product next week!

We were so excited to see that the glass tile backsplash was finally installed in the kitchen. I have been waiting for months to see how it would look. The combination of the glass tile with the granite is so beautiful. So far, this is my favorite part of the house!







The front door was also installed today. We used a full glass front door with a prarie grill. The wood will be stained to match our cedar columns.




The fireplace mantle is in place. Once they come to paint the final coats on the walls, they will paint the mantle white, to match the trim.



We have also been furniture shopping for our keeping room and greatroom. Klaussner is a great furniture line because you can customize the fabric and wood selections. For the keeping room, we have decided to use 4 chairs from Klaussner. The fabric is called "Rust".


This is the style of chair, called "Virgina".


This is a sample of the fabric we will have covering the chairs. This fabric really gives the chairs a rustic, warm look.

The couches for our greatroom are also by Klaussner. We have a large greatroom, so we will be using 2 of the couches, and a chair (which we have not decided upon yet).

The design of the couch is called "Sonoma". I love the straight lines combined with the low, sloping arms. It is also about 8 feet long, so it will provide a lot of seating space.


The fabric that will be covering the couches is a black, brown, and tan tweed.

Gutters, Staircase, Mailbox, & Garage Doors

We received an exciting update from our foreman yesterday. According to him, the new goal is to have the house completed by August 24th. That is 13 days from today!! It seems like there are so many minor details still left to complete.

Yesterday, they hung all of our gutters. At the last minute, we changed our minds on what color to use. During our exterior selections process, we decided on white. I never really paid much attention to the colors of gutters until now. As it was getting closer to the time to hang ours, I began noticing other new construction homes had used colors other than white. Several people will match their gutters to the roof color, and others choose to match them with the trim color. After much thought (and lost sleep), we changed from white to terra bronze. This color blends well with our roofing and siding colors. I am so happy with the way they have turned out! It was very much outside my comfort zone to go with such a dark color, especially when the idea is to get the object to blend in to the background. This was definitely the right way to go!





Today, our interior staircase was completed. One more coat of stain will go on the treads once the workers are finished with a majority of the work upstairs. The open catwalk looks absolutely beautiful from the foyer and the greatroom.


View from the foyer.

View from the greatroom.

Today, we also noticed our mailbox was in place.


It makes it seem so official!

Our garage doors were installed and in working order today. We used the carriage style doors with black accent straps. We are thinking about painting the doors Timberbark, to match the color of our siding. They are so stark white, and I think they will blend in better being dark (like the gutters).


Exterior

Interior

Cedar Columns, Lighting, and Stained Stairs

The house seems to be coming right along. We are still planning on a close date of September 10th, but we are thinking it might actually be before then. Over the past few days, our lighting and cedar columns were installed, and the interior stair treads got their first coat of stain.


The front porch cedar columns are in place. The curved arms will be delivered this week.


I love the look of the over garage lights. They are large, rectangular sconces with a clear seeded glass made by Forte Lighting. The iron pattern mimics the prarie grills in our windows.


The back porch light is such a cute little transitional sconce also made by Forte Lighting.


Our master bathroom lights are part of the Halstead collection from Craftmade. They are a 3 bulb, chrome finish, with frosted glass globes.


Yesterday, the first coat of stain was applied to the interior stair treads. They have such a rich, dark brown coloring. This gives us an idea of what to expect with the rest of our hardwood flooring!

Plumbing Hardware, Door Knobs, Heat & Air, and Water Heater

Today, our bathroom and kitchen plumbing fixtures were installed. We decided to use polished chrome in the bathrooms and kitchen. I really like the way the shiny fixtures blend with the glass tiles.


(Master Bathroom Tub)


(Master Bathroom Sinks)


For our interior door hardware, we chose an antique nickel finish. I love the egg shaped knobs because they are so unique.


Our exterior heat and air units were delivered. We upgraded our two units to Carrier 15 SEER (Seasonal Energy Efficiency Rating). These are very efficient, and will hopefully keep our electric bill under control!


The upgraded Rinnai tankless water heater was also delivered and mounted to the garage wall. This specific type of water heater produces hot water on demand. Unlike traditional water heaters, the Rinnai has an unlimited supply of hot water. Also, the type of water heater uses 40% less energy. Rinnai units are designed to be highly efficient and only heat water when it is needed.

Granite, Stairs, Columns, and Concrete

The past week has been really busy at the house, and the details are coming together beautifully! Today, our granite was installed. Selecting granite was really a learning experience. The most important thing to know is: always see the exact slab that will be used. Because it is a natural stone, it varies a great deal from one slab to the next. After 3 trips to Atlanta, we finally decided on Giallo Ornamental. It is an upgraded granite because of the tiger-stripe design. This design provides so much movement, and highlights the fact that it is a natural stone product.







I am so glad that our stairs are finally being built. It has been really scary going up and down the temporary boards! The staircase should be completed by the end of the week, or possibly the first of next week.





We were so thrilled yesterday to see that the cedar columns were delivered. We are using 10"x10" rough sawn cedar columns with curved braces on the front porch.


Natural, unstained cedar columns.


Cedar columns with 'Early American' Minwax stain.

Last week, the lot was leveled. They poured the driveway, walkway, and sidewalks.