New Home Construction

[EddieWalker]

Bmac,

Happy New Year!!

Your not out of shape, those boxes have just gotten allot heavier over the years!!! hahahha Besides, three stories is to many to climb without an elevator anyway. Time to put one of those in too. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Good luck on picking out paint colors. I made that mistake with Steph on our place. We went to every store imaginable to get samples, then went back again just to check again. Then I realized that all I was doing was getting in the way!!! She looked at magazines, books, the internet and those samples so many times it became painful to watch.

You'd think with all that planning she'd have it down. Nope, two rooms had to be repainted afterwards due to looking like crap. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Don't make the mistake I made. You opinion isn't relevant, important, or even considered in picking out colors for a room!!! What's worse, women will get angry at you for offering an honest opinion. As a man, your not mentaly equiped with the inborn knowledge women have with decide what color is right for a given application. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

As for lighting. I've found the specialty stores that cater to contractors to have the best prices and options. I've compared prices to Home Depot and Lowes on the exact same models.

Look through their catalogs in the varous families of lights. Then when you find one in your price range that your wife likes, you can pick the various models that go together. The lighting store I use delivers and includes bulbs.

Good luck,
Eddie

 

[bmac]

Eddie,

<font color="blue"> Happy New Year!!
</font> Same to you and Steph.

<font color="blue"> You opinion isn't relevant, important, or even considered in picking out colors for a room!!! </font>

Fortunately, Julie is working with a decorator on paint colors, tile, lighting fixtures, etc. I'm meeting with her and the decorator to review the colors he will be suggesting. My presence is required to nod in agreement with whatever she (my wife) says. I have very simple tastes - white walls, white trim. Goes with everything. Never have to worry about matching with a new sofa. Easy. Sadly, Julie has other ideas.

We got a call from a friend this morning. Her husband has been painting for the past couple of days. Now that he is done, she decides she doesn't like the kitchen color that SHE picked out. Now, this friend had used the same decorator we are using and decided to ignore his suggestions and pick the colors herself. We won't make the same mistake. In fact, her advice to us this morning was "Listen to Joe!"

We are using a lighting place. We'll take advantage of their expertise and use the decorator for style selection.

Eddie, good to hear from you. If you don't mind, I think I'll adopt your theory about the tile. Those boxes HAVE gotten heavier. That's a good one. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

How are your projects coming along?

 

[jim_wilson]

The problem with picking paint colors is that the color you perceive as looking good on the paint chip or in the catalog might not look so good once it is applied to a wall. The texture of the surface that the color is applied to will change the way you perceive the color also. When I was in the planning stages of doing our house over I made my wife go to the local paint store and pick out the colors she thought she liked for the exterior. She also got small sample tins of each color when she did this. I then took each color and painted an approximately 3ft x 3ft square to the back of the house (we were ripping all the shingles off anyway) with white bands between each color square (we were pretty sure white was going to be the trim color). She didn't like admitting it but I was right - the colors she liked in the store were not the ones she ended up liking when they were actually applied to the exterior of the house and viewed in sunlight.

If you really want to get your interior colors right the first time I would suggest getting a decent size piece of wallboard or sheetrock - finish the surface off the same way the wall in your house will be finished - and start applying color samples. You will be able to move the piece around in the room and see how the light affects the color you see. This will turn out to be a lot less work in the end than changing your mind on colors after the room is painted - and it will probably avoid a lot of arguments later as you grumble about having to repaint a room /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[bmac]

Good suggestions. Our plan is to have the primer tinted to the color we THINK we want. Then, we can make any adjustments if we don't like our original selection.

Eddie, you were right on target about my role in the color selection. As I've mentioned before, we went to a Southern Living Idea House several months ago. I really liked the color scheme (along with other things) of this house. We met the decorator at the house today and showed him pictures of the Idea House, after which he started coming up with other options (which is what we are paying him for). Once it became clear that my input was no longer needed, my son and I went out and started clearing trails in the woods for the ATVs. When they finished selecting the colors, my wife called to see if I wanted to come in and see what they picked out. I declined her offer because, as you said, I was irrelevant in this process. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

The most important thing is that my wife like the colors that are ultimately chosen. I'm more concerned with how the 4 wheeler trails are going to work out.

 

[Jagmandave]

Yep, you've got the right idea, if she likes it, it's fine.

Me, I also go with satin white walls, gloss white trim.................

 

[bmac]

As most of you know, the work now is slow and tedious. Not much progress to photograph. They did get the columns and flooring done on the front porch, the tile guy is making progress and the trim guys were back today. The installation of the kitchen cabinets has been pushed back one week to Jan. 23. We picked out the granite for the kitchen counters and almost all of the light fixtures. So, we've been busy but not much to show with pictures.

I did take a few today. First, the front porch. Here are the installed columns.

 

[bmac]

BTW, not sure that I really have to say this, but in the last photo, the front door is just temporary - the transom and side panels are the real deal, but not the door.

Another view of the columns. These are some sort of pre-cast composite material, I think. Definately not wood.

 

[bmac]

And another. When there is not much new to show, I just take more pictures of each thing. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[bmac]

Here is the porch floor. It is a composite tongue-and-groove material called Tendura. Here's a link to the company's web site, if anyone is interested.

Tendura

 

[bmac]

A close-up of the floor. Although it has to be painted or stained (something I was trying to avoid), its supposed to hold up better than wood and there will not be any splinters. It is fastened to the underlying joists with screws hidden in the joints so no fasteners are visible. Looks good,

 

[bmac]

OK, here's some of the tile work in progress. This is my daughter's bath.

 

[bmac]

The side of her tub. We picked out the tile and just let the tile man use his imagination as to how he wanted to arrange things. For the most part, I am pleased with art work.

 

[bmac]

My son's bathroom. We got a darker tile for him.

 

[bmac]

Inside his shower.

 

[bmac]

Its hard to take pictures inside such cramped quarters.

 

[bmac]

The guest shower. The tile ceiling actually looks better in person than in this picture.

 

[bmac]

Well, that's all for now. The master bath is in progress but not ready for pictures. Had to order more of the electric radiant floor heating mats before he can continue with the floor in there. The shower will keep him busy for a day or so.

Thanks for following along. I'll post more pictures as progress warrants.

 

[tjkadar]

Progress looks good!

 

[bmac]

Well, tile work continues and the cabinets have been installed in the kitchen, baths, laundry room and our little office off the mudroom. The built-in shelves on each side of the fireplace in the family room have also been installed.

I'll start with a few pictures of the master bath shower. As a reminder to those who have been following along, this is not your typical shower. As you enter from the bathroom, you have essentially a dead end with an opening off to the right. This first section is the dry part of the shower. Once you take a right, you enter the wet part of the shower. Due to the close proximity of all of the walls, I cannot really take a good picture to show the orientation of everything.

Anyway, here is the dry part as viewd from the bathroom. The tile guy did some nice decorative work on the left wall and put a small seat in the corner. As you can see, nothing has been grouted yet. The entrance to the wet part of the shower is to the right of the seat.

 

[bmac]

Looking into the wet part of the shower, about all I can show is the nice tile work and the recessed soap/shampoo holder he put in. There is an identical one on the opposite wall. The floor tile had just been set, so I couldn't step in to take a picture from a different angle. But you get the idea.