Drive Way Design and Cabinets Going In!!!!

I haven't posted in a while because not much happened over the holiday break.  But it's beginning to pick back up.  The retaining walls for the driveway and the rebar and forms have been laid in preparation for the concrete pour.  We will have lots of room to park so plan your road trips!  The cabinets are beginning to go in.  It's sooooo exciting to see them going in.  I had forgotten what they were going to look like and it's always sooooo scary to think, "Am I really going to like them?"  I mean you go to the cabinet builder's shop and look at all of their samples and pick your doors, stain, trim work, inserts, trying to plan what your going to put where before you're ever in the house...then you wonder..."Did I make the right choice?"  I'm saying "I" instead of "we" because Jose pretty much gave me free reign in the kitchen.  Of course he was with me when we were at the cabinet builders making these decisions but he only vetoed the distressed cobalt blue cabinets. The side staircase is completed.  I sort of freaked when i saw the concrete bases but they told me these would be covered with the grading and dirt work when they are done. Whew!  Here's the updated pictures...

The driveway is layed out, retaining wall is done and it's ready for a pour!

Kitchen cabinets!!!! My favorite thing is the drawers for pots and pans below the cooktop and the two spice racks on either side of the drawers!  I can't wait to cook in this kitchen!

More cabinets on the backside of the stone two tiered bar.  I can't wait to fill these up!  The pipe sticking up in the foreground will have the island with the sink, dishwasher and microwave.  It's going to be the same color as the built-in cabinets in the family room, ivory with a a chocolate glaze.

The refrigerator/freezer will go in this spot and their will be two cabinets on either side that will open up to the side.  Good place to put mops/brooms/cleaning stuff.  I saw one of these on pinterest and it worked out perfectly to add it here.

This is the beginning of our built-ins.  They still have to add the top piece, shelves and all the decorative pieces.  We paid extra to have this piece painted and glazed.  Hindsight...I really could have done this myself but I was too scared to try.  I really like it, but wish I would have trusted my gut and saved us some cash.

Looking in to the kitchen from the family room.

I believe this is my very favorite thing in our house.  Yall know how I loooooove my books!  For the first time in my life I'm going to have a place to put them.  We've got floor to ceiling built-in bookcases in the study/office on one whole wall. This room has a curved wall. I couldn't get them all in one shot because I'm not sure how to do panarama shots so I took two.

Another shot of the built-in bookcases.  Shelve aren't in yet.  We are having these painted the color of our trim.  

Lakeside view at sunset.  We're going to stain the side staircase riverwood to match the cedar sunburst on the upstairs porch.
They are shooting for us to be in in February.  I think it will be March.

The Light At the End of the Tunnel!

Well we were given an estimated date for completion this week...Late January, Early February!  We can't believe it!  This has been 2 and 1/2 years in the making.  The exterior stone has been completed (almost, there's a tiny portion of the back corner still unfinished), the inside has been sprayed and primed ready to paint, the shelving is going in the closets, the crown molding is in and the garage doors are on!  Here are some pictures Jose took on Friday.  They still need to add the shutters and stain the cedar sunbursts and posts on the front and back of the house. We chose Sherwin Williams Riverwood for our outdoor stain to match the front door.  It's a really nice rich darker stain with cherry undertones.  It's started to come together and we are beyond excitement.  We're going to have the garage doors painted the same green color of the Hardy.

Sheetrock and Stone!!!!!!

We have been sooooooo busy with work, school, and football...I haven't had time to update the blog in a while.  So I have quite a few pictures.  The electrical is in, the sheetrock is up (they were taping today) and they started laying to the stone yesterday!   Here's the updated pictures...

Sonoma Gold Texas Sandstone (close up)

We really wanted to use local stone.  I just loooooove it!

Apparently they wait and do all the stone pieces that have to be cut (the space between where the Hardiplank stops and stone starts & the base posts on the front and back columns) last.

Men at Work!

I was so happy when I drove up today and saw our stone.  We picked this out 2 years ago and I had forgotten what it looked like.  I've been told that more gold tones will come through as it ages which is fine with me.  We are having this same stone around our fireplace and on the two-tiered bar between the living room and kitchen.

 Jose's Garage Sheetrocked!  

 My Garage 

 Standing in the kitchen looking over what will be the island, over the two tiered bar, and into the living room

 The view from my garage, through the mudroom going into to the kitchen.  You can see the plumbing where the sink will be.

 Jose, standing in the kitchen

 The master bedroom.  The bed will go on that wall

 Master bath

 The kitchen again, looking at the spot where the island will be, both pantry's, the mudroom and my garage

 Master bathroom, Jose's closet on the left, mine on the right, looking at the toilet closet and the walk-in shower to the right.  The best thing about this house is,..no shower door!!!! (I hate cleaning a shower door so we designed one that didn't need a door!)  

 Master bath vanities and toilet closet again

 Dining area to the left of the kitchen

 Standing in the master bedroom looking into the master bath

 Walking down the stairs, closet and kitchenette to the right

 Looking up the stairs from the landing

 Standing in the family room downstairs, kitchenette is to the left, looking up the stairs to the first landing.

And here's the big booboo...This is the wall where our refrigerator and freezer will be, notice ice maker hookup but no where to plug them in...failed to put in one of the most important GFCI outlets and the other two electrical outlets on this wall.   Yes they are aware and that will be corrected.   Would have been nice if they had caught this before the sheetrock and taping...which started today.

Shingles, Windows,& Paint Oh My!!!

Friday we met with Eric Blane, Lighting Reflections in Conroe, to solidify our lighting selections (that wasn't a cheap meeting and Eric has better prices than anyone around, even Lowes or Home Depot!)  We just happen to have a lot of stinkin' lights!  Anyway, we left Conroe for Warrenton/Round Top Fall Antiques Show for the weekend so we didn't see progress on the house Friday or Saturday.  We drove up on our way back in town today and BOOM!  Shingles are done, windows are going in and they've started painting!!!! Here are some pictures...

Our shingles are on! And they started painting the hardy plank!

Our paint color is a sagey green the trim is going to be Texas Sandstone.  The trim matches the tones and mortar in our stone.

 Close up of the paint and trim around Jose's garage

Wonder why they only painted trim around the bottom portion of the garage? 

Close up of paint and trim

Wonder why they skipped around painting?  I find this so odd?  Does anyone know why they did that?  You would think you would start on one side and go all the way around.

Big picture windows and back doors are in!!!

View of the back of the house facing the water...And look they even started painting here!  Go Figure!?!

One side of the house...

The other side of the house...

Close ups of the paint and trim in the shade and in the sun.  It's amazing how different it can look.
We are getting very excited!  Thanks to all for sharing our joy!