Drywall for Christmas

I was at the Hideout this past weekend because our kitchen cabinets were being delivered.  I arrived 30 minutes early to check out some updates.  The drywall was in place and there was a crew on site taping and floating.  Unfortunately, they began in the house and were just getting started in the garage - which meant I was going to be piling up a bunch of cabinets in the middle of their work.  After some 'negotiating' in Spanish we got everything dropped off and covered in the garage.  I managed to snap a few pictures before heading back home, but I couldn't get to the second floor because the staircase had been removed so I'll return soon to get some more shots when the work is done.

The had to remove the stairs to drywall the west wall.  The ladder is providing the crew access to the upstairs.

There is a nice pile of trash on our back porch!

The drywall crew told me they will be complete this week.  We are scheduling the garage door install for Saturday the 28th, and will be getting the welders in for the stair install as soon as possible. Merry Christmas!

Insulation and Water

We've had some electrical updates - mostly moving recessed light cans around and pushed some receptacles up or down as needed.  Once that was done the insulation crews came by and did their stuff.

We went with batt insulation in the garage which should be fine for that space.  Since we are planning to set this up as "kid hangout" we will be installing a split system ductless AC unit in back wall to keep it comfortable in the summer time.  I really like the Mitsubishi systems and have heard good reviews on the product.  I'll post an update once we get it installed and field tested in the 100 degree heat.

The house was shot with spray foam insulation.  All of the exterior walls are 2x6 framing so we get a great thermal and moisture barrier with the spray product.

Directly behind the insulation crew is the drywall team and the builder asked us to get water onsite ASAP as they will need it to complete the dry wall finishing.  We called APEX back to the site to finish the pump & tank install, and they had it wrapped up in a day.  We will be building a shed to house the pump and pressure tank and protect them from freezing temperatures (yes, it freezes in Austin).  We were glad to discover the water was odor free.  Some of our neighbors' well water has a strong sulfur smell.  We'll put a conditioning system in the house to remove some minerals and then we're ready to go.  The tank in the photo is 2500 gal and will ensure we have consistent pressure and volume in times of peak demand.

The weather here has been wonderful this week so we hope to have the exterior paint applied, and some photos of the drywall to share soon.

Roof is Up

The Galvalume standing seam roof is finally installed!  We are now water tight and just in time to ward off the first winter storm of the season.

Paint! Part Deux

I despise choosing paint color.  I thought (as you could tell from a previous post)  we were home free.  Then out of the blue our builder called Roberta to "make sure" she "really" wanted the color scheme we requested.  And the first thing that came to my mind was, "Is this guy not married... why is he doing this to me?"

I once painted Gavin's bedroom 3 different colors in a single weekend because someone didn't like the green they chose...  The someone wasn't Gavin.

So last weekend, with the almost-healed paint scab picked at by our builder friend, I found myself in a crash course of paint selection.  Again.  The feeling is not unlike cramming for your last final exam of the year.  You don't even care anymore, you just want to get it behind you, and on the other hand, you've put in so much hard work thus far it would be a shame not to ace the test.  We needed an answer by Monday so the deadline was big and in our face.

Roberta went back to the HOUZZ for internet therapy.  As expected that only pried the lid open a little further on other colors that might look good.  So we pulled the plug on the PC, loaded up the family and went off to Sherwin Williams to buy paint samples and test them on the actual house.  It turned into a fun family event.  We stopped at Home Depot to buy everyone cheap paint brushes, then over to Sherwin Williams.   Half hour later we had 5 cans of paint and 3 eager young artists thinking they were going to graffiti the new house.

Long story short:  we are sticking with Eider White for the majority of the house.  But Iron Ore looked black next to the Eider white so we moved one tone lighter in that color family to Grizzle Gray.  While we were there we also figured out how to tackle the trim.  Here are a few shots from the day.

Here is the pallet we are working with...

Grizzle Gray on Top, Iron Ore below.

When we started putting Eider White on the house in the bright afternoon sun we thought it was going to be too 'White'.  So after some debating we all packed up and went back to the paint store and bought a sample of the next darker option in that color family.  The name of that color is Repose, and you can see it above.  It was definitely more gray than we wanted.  The extended field trip brought groans from the kids but they were no match for a  little P. Terry's bribery.

Here are Grizzle Gray, Iron Ore and Cityscape (top to bottom) next to Eider White.

 And for a final sanity check we used the SW online color visualizer to paint a photo of the house with our color choices.  Hopefully the final result looks something like these:

Next post will be a roof update.  Thanks for reading...

The Doors

This is the photo that started it all.  Started my obsession with orange doors.  It is fair to say that this photo also kicked off our interest in light colored homes, but it's the door that earned this post.  Roberta was never 100% in love with the idea but I did win her over and we were going to have an orange door.

Were.

It seems a shame that for months I've been imagining an orange door on this house and won't be having one, so the least I can do is pay a mini-tribute to the idea.  As I've stated before we are planning a white and gray paint scheme on a facade that is geometrically simple (think logarithmic graph paper) and clean.  The thought of having a pop of color to welcome a visitor is appealing.  I took to the internet to find examples of this put to good use, which wasn't hard to do.  And it confirmed that I wasn't the only crazy one.  Here are a few more example of how this was pulled off with success.

Great door, not to mention entry steps and landscaping...

This door makes me curious to discover what's behind it...  we plan to use a solid panel door like this to access the mechanical and storage room.

Different architectural style, but color scheme works.

Big fan of the door, but blue paint and white trim make it a little too choppy.

Our plan was to use the standard doors our builder offered to save some hassle and a few $$.  This was a full lite door with a large glass pane in the center.  We planned to paint the door panel orange like the example below, and use this for all entry doors (garage, mud room and front entry).

But when the doors showed up on site last week we had a change of heart.  The panel had a false wood grain embossed in the finish, and ornate trim molding framing the window.  It was obvious if we hung this on the house it would clash with our modern aesthetic.  So we began the hunt for a replacement.  The front door is large at 42" x 96" and that limited our shopping options.  And we discovered that getting a contemporary full-lite door of this size was more expensive that we expected.  Throughout the project we have made budget adjustments for items that are "high touch" - that is, we invested in the items we would use on a daily basis.  The front door certainly qualifies, plus it is the focal point of the front elevation.  Thankfully, our builder said he would find an alternate full-lite door at the same cost we could use on the secondary entry doors.  Free from the burden of having to buy 5 doors we started looking at more options for the main entry door.

It didn't take Roberta long to find a winner - we are going to use this Aluminum door and door frame.  It should match the exterior lighting and the garage door we selected (more on that below).  The bummer is the door has a 5 week lead time so we have the full-lites installed until it shows up.

Future front door.

Here are a couple shots of the "placeholder" doors:

We also have the garage door.  It was custom ordered because the garage width is not standard.  We are installing an aluminum roll-up with glass panes like like this one.  Since we plan to make the garage a play room for the kids this allow plenty of natural light into the space.

As for the house itself, things have been slightly delayed.  After 4 years of drought it appropriately starts raining when we need it to be dry.  The exterior paint is next to go, and the the Galvalume roof will be installed..  But neither of these can happen until the materials dry out from some heavy rains last week. We're looking for 5 days of dry weather before they can begin - it's been 2 clear days and the next 3 days are 20% probability of precipitation...  Hopefully next weekend we're posting shots of a painted house with a roof!

Models

I was snooping through some old photos on my phone and stumbled across these. Back in February I printed out the elevation drawings of the house and folded them into small models.  It was a crude way to get a peak at the house.  Now that it is under construction it doesn't look too far off from the these...

Sunday Check-In

More soccer games this past weekend, but after Addie's Sunday game we grabbed lunch and snuck out to the Hideout to see the latest.  Electricians and Plumbers had left their mark.  The plumbing rough in was complete and electrical was about half way there.  The framing crew was onsite (on a Sunday!) wrapping up the exterior and getting ready for the roof install.  The back of the house is finally covered.

 



Alex finishing off a sandwich on the back porch.

Roberta providing a sense of scale next to the south wall. 

Forgive me if I sound like an ignorant dolt, but I am loving this PEX plumbing system.  I have no idea how long this has been a standard building material/process but it's absolutely brilliant.  The hot and cold water line for every tap, toilet, and shower in the house ties into a single manifold.  From there we can control water shut-off to the entire house.

 Addie and I had a laugh as I explained how she could sneak down to the command center and turn off the hot water while Gavin was taking a shower and give him a dose of cold water.  I saw the sparkle in her eye - this will become a war...

The plumbing to the kids bathroom sink.

Stackable Washer & Dryer belong here.



 

 Here is the stub-out for the out door shower.  You can see the small curb on the right side where a 6' CMU wall will be installed for a touch of privacy.

The best framers in Austin putting the finishing touches on the breezeway.

 

 River has been a lot of fun (and work) around the house, but she is 100% part of the family.  We let her have some time off the leash at the Hideout and she did well.  Alex did a good job keeping a close eye on her...