New Build Progress: Part II

Good morning! Today I’m sharing the latest progress at our new build, in preparation to start sharing some of the design boards for several spaces! If you were expecting a Weekend Recap post, I shared last week that I’ll be moving them to a once-a-month or twice-a-month basis for the time being. Let’s jump into all the latest house updates!

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House Progress

Last I left off in mid-October, they had just started to install our windows. Since that time, all of the windows have been installed (with the exception of the one in Kurtis’ garage gym and two on the back porch), the siding is 95% wrapped up, the drywall is up, the trim is complete (with the exception of all the door trim, as the doors and casings haven’t been installed) and our exterior is painted! It’s starting to feel like a real house!

We’ll start with a miss. We’re pretty sure we both hate the exterior color we chose (Benjamin Moore French Canvas). The house was painted in October, and the challenge with that is our sun here changes pretty dramatically around that time and shifts very far south. So, we don’t know if this is a seasonal issue or just a bad paint selection. But it looks very yellow at certain times of the day (despite the color having green and gray undertones). I would argue in the last two weeks or so, it’s looking less and less yellow and more the color we intended. But we did ask the builder if the painter could give us a bid to change it, as there are still quite a few places on the exterior they still need to paint. We’ve given ourselves a limit on the most we’d spend (it’s not high) so we may have to live with it a few years. Either way, I think the current color will improve once the driveway and landscaping go in, as those will reflect more cool tones (rather than the orange tones of our dumpster and sand out front that is currently there). There is just a section in the front that always looks yellow (the back and one side never do).

Outside of the paint color, we’re thrilled with the progress and still can’t believe at times that this will be our future home!

One of the features that first sold us on this home was the screened-in porch in the backyard. We are so excited for this space and I think the cats will love it even more! To comply with code, we’ll have a small hearth built on the front of the fireplace, but I preferred that over having to raise the fireplace any higher off the decking. The “windows” you see below will just be screens, and with screened openings on both the right and left, it gets such great airflow out here!

It has been fun to watch the seasons change in the backyard. Right now we can see the water at the golf course much better than we can in the summer. Despite living in Florida, we still have a lot of trees that drop their leaves entirely or partially in the winter months.

Once the walls were primed and the interior trim started going up, things really started to change!

One of the features we’re most excited about is having a mud room. We’re definitely a kick your shoes off at the door type family, and I can’t deal with the shoes piling up in our kitchen currently. So it will be so nice to have a little area as a dedicated dump zone. We also love that this gives our family and friends interior access to the carriage house (the little apartment over the garage), as they currently have to go outside to access ours now.

Kurtis is most excited about his future gym.

For me, I’m so excited for my future office! I currently use the space that is intended for the primary bedroom and since we still use the adjoining bathroom and closet to get ready, I don’t have storage space in my office. That will all change once we move! The attached closet isn’t super big, but there will be plenty of room to hang my pillow covers and store other seasonal decor out of sight. I can’t wait!

Over the past few weeks, the trim guys have been hard at work and have finished nearly all of the trim, closets, and stairs.

The risers have also gone in, to prep for the hardwood floors that should be arriving soon. It will be nice to have full-sized stairs to go up and down when we visit!

All of the interior doors have been ordered. They will prime and spray those on site and then once those are installed, they’ll wrap up all of the trim that is currently missing around the door frames.

Late last week, the tile guys prepped all the floors and shower walls to install tile. They let it dry over the weekend, so we believe they’ll start installing the tile that has arrived so far this week!

I also signed off on all of the cabinet renderings so I’m really excited to share those as well. I’m thinking I may start with the kitchen design plans first and then start sharing other spaces over the coming weeks.

Finishes & Selections

At this stage in the game, outside of a few light fixtures and other smaller accessories like mirrors, we’ve finalized all of our selections and most have been ordered or have already arrived. I shared more about our plumbing fixtures, hardwood floors, some tile and more in this post. So I’ll focus on some of the other more recent selections! I also plan to share some more room-focused posts soon, now that there is more progress, to show the design direction for each of the spaces.

Tile Selections

Last we left off in this post, I had finally received our tile bid after months of working on selections. And basically had to rework half the house on a really tight timeline because it was so far over budget. It was a bit frustrating that we received any sort of pricing so late in the game, but we rolled with it and shortly after that post I had a meeting and selected a lot of new products. Kurtis was out of town for work at the time, so he’s going to have a few surprises. I chose some in such a rush that I may too 😉

About half of our tile arrived last week, so once it’s all here (fingers crossed it’s this week!) I’ll share more! You can see a little sneak peek below.

The tile in front is a tumbled Carrara marble that we’ll be using on my office bathroom floor. My office is a room that’s meant to be a mini in-law suite (or primary if the owner preferred a first floor bedroom). So with that, there is a bathroom with a tub and shower adjoining the space. I noticed yesterday that the tile that was ordered for the walls is the incorrect one (it was a prior selection that was supposed to be swapped once we had to switch out the floors for something that was more affordable). So, I’m trying to decide if I can make what is here work and have it look okay or if I need to see about a re-order. Stay tuned on that!

The tile that I liked so much more in person once it arrived is this one! It’s fairly affordable and I think once it’s all installed and grouted it’s going to be so beautiful (we’ll be grouting it much more tightly than the stock photo)! Very classic but an interesting size (smaller than a traditional subway) and with slightly irregular edges.

In the carriage house, we went with this popular tile for the shower walls, but we’ll also be integrating this fun penny tile into it with a fun pattern. The penny tiles will also be on the shower floors.

We’re tentatively planning to list our current home for sale in March so we have a lot happening over the coming months!

Vanity Selections

Over Black Friday, I had a list of items to purchase if the price dropped where I wanted it to. I felt like this year there were some really great sales on home items, so I was able to snatch up some lighting and vanities at really great prices!

I’ve ordered two vanities outside of our cabinet maker, as it was actually more cost-effective in some spots when we factored in the expense of countertops and sinks, as well. So, for a few spaces, we opted for something a bit more unique!

We’ll be using this one (larger version here) in the guest bathroom and I’m so excited to see. It’s actually already at the house, but it was wrapped so well we don’t want to open it until the tile floors are done (hopefully in the next week or two)! The floor will be one very similar to this basketweave mosaic tile. It hasn’t arrived yet so I’ll confirm the brand once it does!

For the powder bath, I ordered this vanity (larger version here). I may have to make a game day decision and flip the one above with the one below if I don’t like how the wood looks on the hardwood floors that will run into the powder bath.

We’ll have a little pool bath that can only be accessed from outside. It’s going to have some fun tile because if you can’t have fun in a pool bath, where can you?! Because the tile will have some color and pattern, I chose this highly-rated wood-toned vanity for the space. It’s a tiny room so I like that this is compact, but still an interesting style! I got this one on sale after Christmas (it goes on sale more frequently than the other two shown above) so it’s one I wouldn’t pay full-price for unless you needed it quickly.

The remaining cabinets will be made by the cabinet maker our builder uses. I’ll share the plans as I share more specifics on various rooms!

Lighting Selections

As I shared in this post, all of our plumbing fixtures I selected are in a polished nickel finish. I’ve also chosen polished nickel for all of our door hinges, as I plan to also use polished nickel door hardware throughout the home. So, a lot of our lighting will follow suit.

In the past, I’ve tended to choose a lot of woven rattan and beaded light fixtures for the coastal vibe I love so much. However, this time around, I’ve chosen more traditional lighting (with some coastal ones thrown in), most of which are a polished nickel finish, as well. I know it’s not what “everyone else” is doing, but I’m a firm believer in choosing what you personally love – you’re the one that has to live with it!

The first light fixture I bought for the new house? This brass and leather chandelier for Kurtis’ office which is nothing like what I just described above. But he has a very specific idea on what he wants the space to look like. So, although this chandelier wouldn’t normally flow in a coastal home, I think it’s going to be great in the space and I’ll be sharing the plans for that soon.

After that light fixture, all of the other lighting options I’ve selected so far are either in a polished nickel finish or have a bead or rattan element. We’ll be using this chandelier in the living room (smaller version here). It was one of the first pieces I finalized and have kind of built other selection around it. Visual Comfort does very few sales a year, so I had my list ready to go when Black Friday rolled around! See what I mean about more traditional selections? But I’m also planning to use my beloved Moravian star chandelier again (it’s in our current home in the larger size and we used this side in our Omaha pool house). They’re two of the more expensive items I ordered but I have several very budget-friendly finds in the plan too.

I’ll share the specifics on the other lights we ordered once I share room plans for each space. I think that will help paint a better picture of the overall vibe!

Paint Selections

As I mentioned above, Kurtis has a very clear vision on what he wants his office to look like. Or I should say he has a very specific vibe he’s given me, and I’m filling in the spaces with the actual selections. With that, we are going to color drench his entire office navy blue. It’s definitely going to be dark and moody, but that’s what he’s looking for. We’ll lighten it up with the drapes, rug, and furniture. But he’s wanting a dark, country club old-school golf vibe. Very Ralph Lauren, with windowpane plaid patterns mixed in, as well. We have a wall of built-ins planned and we’ve also had his ceiling planked, all of which will also be painted navy blue. We’ve used Benjamin Moore Hale Navy multiple times in the past (see them all here) and it still looks like a winner at this house!

And, that’s where my easy paint decisions come to an end. Ha! Every time I find a paint sample I love, I bring it to another room and hate it. Granted, I’m sure we don’t have to do the same color in every room, but I also want at least the trim color consistent throughout (and preferably the walls, outside of areas like Kurtis’ office).

I’m also considering painting all of the interior doors a mid-tone muddy blue gray. I know it’s a bold choice (and somewhat permanent for the time we live there), but I think it would be fun! Most of my free time consists of the below – taping paint samples to the wall and moving them around at different times of day. God bless Samplize for their larger samples!

Currently I’m leaning towards Benjamin Moore Silver Gray. It’s the color on the right, below. The other color is BM Wales Gray which leans a little too gray green for our lighting conditions.

For the walls, trim and a lot of the cabinetry, we’re leaning towards Sherwin Williams Snowbound again. We have it in our current home, and it’s one that looks really nice over there, as well. I had originally thought I’d use SW Alabaster, but it’s looking very yellow over there.

And that wraps up the latest progress! Over the next month or so, I’ll start sharing tentative design plans for each of the rooms in the house. We’re getting to the really fun stages of the process!

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