So you would think building a new home would (or could?) be fun. I think we are so fortunate to even get a new home with many homeless. So why am I so darn stressed and simple decisions feel hard?
Of course, I googled this.
Why-Stress-Takes-Over-During-House-Building
Good to know not alone...
My official goal for tomorrow is to do something fun with kids and destress. I know we'll be happy in our new home- just gotta work on dealing with the stress of living in rental without our stuff, 2 yr old going crazy, girls unhappy with crazy brother, and husband working from home. Delays with rain this summer. ...and on and on (won't list to further wallow-just focus on quality kid time tomorrow:)
Wednesday, July 31, 2013
Monday, July 29, 2013
House #1: I get to choose a stain color for the porch ceiling!!
So I totally didn't expect would get to choose a stain color for real wood ceiling on my porch- am so excited!
...and of course this got me researching options. Had seen another local builder who painted them blue...research reveals, this has historical reasons: ward away ghosts, wasps, bugs, and also to extend feeling of daylight hours.
Houzz article on blue ceilings...
However, even though all those (minus the ghost stories) sound like good reasons, not sure would be great to paint over when have opportunity for stain. If didn't love stain, imagine could paint later?
So- do I match to my ebony door or go lighter? I think if my siding weren't Evening Blue (fairly dark) I would go with Ebony in a New York second. Just with the dark siding..., I'm unsure. Dilemmas!
Dark ceiling with semi-dark siding
...and of course this got me researching options. Had seen another local builder who painted them blue...research reveals, this has historical reasons: ward away ghosts, wasps, bugs, and also to extend feeling of daylight hours.
Houzz article on blue ceilings...
However, even though all those (minus the ghost stories) sound like good reasons, not sure would be great to paint over when have opportunity for stain. If didn't love stain, imagine could paint later?
So- do I match to my ebony door or go lighter? I think if my siding weren't Evening Blue (fairly dark) I would go with Ebony in a New York second. Just with the dark siding..., I'm unsure. Dilemmas!
Dark ceiling with semi-dark siding
Traditional Exterior by Minneapolis Design-Build Firms Sicora, Inc.
A picture from my builder with provincial minwax stain ceiling...
Friday, July 26, 2013
Blue houses...
So we've selected Evening Blue as our siding color- it's a Hardie plank color that comes baked on/pre-finished. I'm hoping this will be more durable & require less maintenance down the line- but that remains to be proven:)
Today my door was delivered and the builder told me it was time to select a stain color.
Google and houzz haven't had a TON of evening blue houses for inspiration so I drove around and took pictures of local (blue) homes- which I'm pretty sure are Evening Blue. Hopefully I didn't look THAT creepy in my lil minivan, snappin' photos. I airbrushed out the house numbers ....so here's what I found...
Note: I added one maroon house because I'm pretty sure my builder built it and it has the same door and column type I will have:)
It's amazing how the details can make the same siding color look completely unique/different.
Today my door was delivered and the builder told me it was time to select a stain color.
Google and houzz haven't had a TON of evening blue houses for inspiration so I drove around and took pictures of local (blue) homes- which I'm pretty sure are Evening Blue. Hopefully I didn't look THAT creepy in my lil minivan, snappin' photos. I airbrushed out the house numbers ....so here's what I found...
Note: I added one maroon house because I'm pretty sure my builder built it and it has the same door and column type I will have:)
It's amazing how the details can make the same siding color look completely unique/different.
Wednesday, July 24, 2013
House #1: Stone column & Trex deck color selection...
Today, our builder let me know we were ready to finalize stone and Trex selections.
My siding is Evening Blue Hardie Plank with Arctic White trim. We went with a gray-blue stone mix for the columns and light gray Trex for the back porch. The back porch will have white hand rails. I liked the dark gray for Trex but figured the lighter would fade less and my builder told me the lighter color would feel cooler under (little) feet.
Googled Evening Blue siding and checked Houzz.com to get ideas before we made our final selections. It's a bit nerve wracking - hopefully my choices will translate to real life nicely!
Here's a picture of the house at this stage. Inside, the are hanging drywall...should be done by the weekend- at which point, will visit with the kids. Can't wait!
PS Yes, this picture is from today...COULDN'T resist driving by when was in town picking up mail:) Next trip, will post pictures of the interior!!! YAY!
My siding is Evening Blue Hardie Plank with Arctic White trim. We went with a gray-blue stone mix for the columns and light gray Trex for the back porch. The back porch will have white hand rails. I liked the dark gray for Trex but figured the lighter would fade less and my builder told me the lighter color would feel cooler under (little) feet.
Googled Evening Blue siding and checked Houzz.com to get ideas before we made our final selections. It's a bit nerve wracking - hopefully my choices will translate to real life nicely!
Here's a picture of the house at this stage. Inside, the are hanging drywall...should be done by the weekend- at which point, will visit with the kids. Can't wait!
House #1: Fun with insulation...
So our house has blown cellulose insulation- basically newsprint with some water/borate solution that is blown/packed into the house cavities and shaved flat. It dries out and fills crevices nicely...or it should. Somehow, ours got loose in spots. I was out at the site and noticed an area that looked almost like a small child had grabbed it out. ...and a few other areas that had sunk in. I called my builder and (from vacation) he came to check it out.
From there, I figured he would take care of the situation and didn't think (much) more about it. I gave my site visits a break while I waited for drywall installation to get underway. To my surprise, I got videos from my builder of him touring the house and showing me all of the repaired areas. No one is sure what happened but he fixed every area..and a few I hadn't noticed. I LOVED that they sent me the video so I'd never have any lingering doubts about the repairs (even though I had said to myself I would just trust he'd get his contractors to fix it all properly.)
Transparency is always great when building a house though. The videos re-confirmed my faith that they are working their hardest to give us a great final product. I've certainly had experience where this was not the case!
From there, I figured he would take care of the situation and didn't think (much) more about it. I gave my site visits a break while I waited for drywall installation to get underway. To my surprise, I got videos from my builder of him touring the house and showing me all of the repaired areas. No one is sure what happened but he fixed every area..and a few I hadn't noticed. I LOVED that they sent me the video so I'd never have any lingering doubts about the repairs (even though I had said to myself I would just trust he'd get his contractors to fix it all properly.)
Transparency is always great when building a house though. The videos re-confirmed my faith that they are working their hardest to give us a great final product. I've certainly had experience where this was not the case!
Monday, July 22, 2013
House #2: Update: Address
I have been really remiss in updating this but I am excited today to announce big news (no no I already heard about the royal prince-- this is BIG NEWS) We have an address! We no longer have to refer to our house as the "lot" or by some vague description based on neighboring streets. We have a real bone fine address.
Tuesday, July 16, 2013
House #1: Uneventful mold inspection
We had our mold inspector, Joel Loving come out to inspect the home before the drywall went up.
Joel went through the house carefully and he found just a few problem boards. He said it wasn't a big deal at all and these were easy enough to get replaced.
I should note that every black spot one might see does NOT indicate mold. We had many areas that were simply stained.
I was very pleased with the results of our inspection- we've had HUGE problems in this area in the past and he told me the house looked great. YAY.
He did caution us that a dehumidifier or AC should be run when drywall is up to prevent any new moisture problems. Without power, the new drywall might be affected by rain storms/humidity levels. However, "provided the moisture content of the drywall remains below 15% throughout any period of non-power" all should be fine.
Luckily the electricity people are hard at work at the site and we should have electricity in a couple of days... :) We had a bit of a delay with rain- for a day it looked like we had an electrical moat around the house.
Can't wait to see how it looks with the drywall up...
Joel went through the house carefully and he found just a few problem boards. He said it wasn't a big deal at all and these were easy enough to get replaced.
I should note that every black spot one might see does NOT indicate mold. We had many areas that were simply stained.
I was very pleased with the results of our inspection- we've had HUGE problems in this area in the past and he told me the house looked great. YAY.
He did caution us that a dehumidifier or AC should be run when drywall is up to prevent any new moisture problems. Without power, the new drywall might be affected by rain storms/humidity levels. However, "provided the moisture content of the drywall remains below 15% throughout any period of non-power" all should be fine.
Luckily the electricity people are hard at work at the site and we should have electricity in a couple of days... :) We had a bit of a delay with rain- for a day it looked like we had an electrical moat around the house.
Can't wait to see how it looks with the drywall up...
House #1: The big-siding-mini-debacle-of-July-15-2013...
So I drove by the house the other day and noticed a white band being placed mid-way up on the side of the house. I thought this was an error but turns out it was on our plans- I just hadn't read the plans correctly. At any rate...as I looked at it, I grew to hate it with the passion of 50 million suns. If that is possible. Ok, well maybe one sun. Or just a fire-y bonfire. I consulted my house-building buddies. I consulted my daughter. I consulted my husband (turns out this is the ONE thing he DID have an opinion on ...and he LIKED it. No matter. I still hated it with before-mentioned intensity. My builder kindly removed it for me. ...well, arranged for it to be done from his vacation spot. Felt bad for interrupting that...think I will need to take a treat out to the workers and my builder upon his return from vacation as penance. But I am happy (after viewing tons of pictures on houzz.com of houses with similar bands) that the offending white band is indeed gone.
And now it's over, I wonder...perhaps with others who've built homes as well, was it really worth getting all freaked out over a single white band of siding.
Alls well that ends well, I suppose. Or maybe the next, will simply observe, proceed to glass of wine, then calmly select course of action:) ...and not frantic call to builder mid-vaca:) ...however, in own defense....it was 102 out. and was thinking of workers not having to re-do as much work. But yes, treat to site in order. UPDATE: After much thought about what would be tasty in hot weather- opted to take the siding guy bakery chocolate chip cookies. Figured if they melted a little would be closer to fresh baked:) He seemed to like them. I hoped it would feel less annoying to take down those few boards and replace.
And now it's over, I wonder...perhaps with others who've built homes as well, was it really worth getting all freaked out over a single white band of siding.
Alls well that ends well, I suppose. Or maybe the next, will simply observe, proceed to glass of wine, then calmly select course of action:) ...and not frantic call to builder mid-vaca:) ...however, in own defense....it was 102 out. and was thinking of workers not having to re-do as much work. But yes, treat to site in order. UPDATE: After much thought about what would be tasty in hot weather- opted to take the siding guy bakery chocolate chip cookies. Figured if they melted a little would be closer to fresh baked:) He seemed to like them. I hoped it would feel less annoying to take down those few boards and replace.
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