I am getting excited. Like really excited because our new house has windows and a roof. Yay! I wanted to do a post all about my design selections for the new house. I’m sure once it is FINALLY finished, there will be questions. Since it will be a crazy time of moving, I figured now would be a good time to go over all the color selections and design choices.

On the exterior, we chose to go full hardy board and shaker shingles all the way around. It will be painted Sherwin Williams “pure white”. The front door will be Sherwin Williams “black of night.” We also chose a black roof ( metal wasn’t an option or I would have done that). I wanted to keep it simple, clean , and classic for the exterior. Black and white about sums it up 🙂 .

For the interior wall color, we went with Sherwin Williams “high reflective white.”  I saw it in another floor plan our builder was finishing, and really liked how it looked. I know you’re probably thinking that is a lot of white. Trust me, I will make it look good once I decorate. I love white, but you already know that, shocker!

For cabinets, we chose Kemper Larson Maple premium finish in white.  The counter tops are quartz in Cosmos group 3 “aspen.”  We decided to carry the quartz through all the bathrooms as well as the laundry room sink. In the kitchen, we went ahead and did subway tile backsplash (Group B, AZT H line 3×6 “cotton glossy” with “frost” Mapei grout). Now our master shower is also white subway tile but a little bit different color white (“Subway cream/white 3×6 white 93 with “warm gray” Mapei grout”). For the master bath and half bathroom, we chose white octagon and dot matte finish with “warm gray” Mapei grout (on the actual master bathroom floor we used Mapei “silver” grout vs. the shower floor of “warm gray” grout). We figured the bathroom floor would be high traffic and went with a shade darker grout there.

 The kids bathroom and laundry room both have Aqua 8×32 AZT, which is a whitewashed wood plank look tile (with Mapei “alabaster” grout). The entire main floor has laminate hardwood by Armstrong Rustics Premium(heather gray L6607) . The upstairs carpet is Shaw Victory Lane HGN 43 LCL pin-dot in “praire 710.

I really wanted marble hexagon tile on the shower floor in the master bathroom. After doing a ton of research; I was hesitant to spend the money on marble. It seemed that over time the marble would turn colors to orange, brown, and yellow. This is from iron deposits found naturally in the marble. Over time, the water causes the marble to rust and the iron leaches through. You have to be VERY careful with marble. Marble has to be grouted well, sealed well, and sealed OFTEN to TRY to avoid the rust stains. In the end, I decided to go with a ceramic tile (the white octagon and dot matte) to avoid the upkeep, possible staining, and save money.

Since I didn’t want marble tile in a wet area, I chose it for around the fireplace. We chose EMS winter frost large hexagon tile with Mapei “frost” grout. I think that about covers all of the major design choices. I figured this would be a good reference for the future questions. Now if I could just see it all done!

I thought it would be a good time to give an update on how the house is coming along. Well, it finally is starting to look like a house. They have been framing and I am getting excited to see it take shape. The second story has just started to be framed and the roof still needs to be framed. It has come a long way from the piece of dirt we have been looking at for a while.

It all started when we found this lot. We actually had money down on another lot with another builder. Mr. Whitelane and I had stopped by this model home and weren’t very happy with how the sales lady treated our children. I walked out and never wanted to go back. However, the same builder was in another location not too far away and we stopped in to see that model home. We really already had a lot and were just looking to get ideas at the model home. Except the sales lady at this model home location, was sooooo much nicer and friendly to our kids (we only have 2 by the way so it’s not like they are a handful or wild). She started talking to us and we were upfront with her about just being there to look because we already had a lot. She showed us a house that someone else was building in the neighborhood. It was a lot like some of the things I was envisioning for our house (color scheme wise). It didn’t have all of the things we were hoping for (like two story living room ceilings) BUT we could see the 9ft. ceiling working for us in this floor plan. Look at the medium wood flooring, the white cabinets on white walls and trim…you know I love white.

After seeing this we walked back to the sales office and my husband told her about our experience with the sales lady at the other location and how that had turned me off to this builder. She then assured us that we would never have to work with the other (mean sales lady) again and would only be working with her (nice lady). We went over some of the different options and floorplans. The main thing for Mr. Whitelane was the lot size. He wanted a half acre or close to that. Turns out that someone had JUST backed out of an almost half acre lot at the location we had previously visited (where the mean sales lady was). We immediately went to look at it and knew that this was where we should build. The lot and location were everything we wanted. And turns out that mean sales lady quit not too long after (guess she hated her job and it showed).

 

So we got out of the lot with the other builder asap and were happy to find this lot (bonus the mean sales was gone now too). We picked a floor plan that was not everything we wanted. They only offer certain floorplans in certain communities. We wanted to be in this certain community because we loved this large lot. So we can’t have our cake and eat it too 🙂 . However, as time went on I really learned to love the layout of the floorplan we picked more.

After many design center appointments, they finally sent our plans off to the city to get approved. Then we got them back rejected. So we had to tweak a few things and send them again (with approval this time). Shortly after that this lot of dirt started to be dug. It’s amazing how exciting a hole in the ground can be. After everything was dug they then put the footings and basement walls up, which was again so exciting for us. We just love documenting and taking pictures along the way of this journey. Once that was done they backfilled around the basement concrete.

That’s when the good stuff finally started happening. Framing. It’s only been about a week since the framing started. It is so neat to finally see a house start to form. Trust me I have already been there measuring out where I want certain furniture pieces 🙂 . So that’s where we are for now. Don’t worry, I’ll be posting more updates as progress happens at the house.

I thought I knew a lot about building a house. I thought I knew everything I wanted. I thought I knew my style. I thought a lot of things….. Let me tell you something, it’s totally different once you’re in the design center or with your builder. There are so many factors and options that I didn’t think about until I was there.

I want to give some tips or advice that I learned along the way that will hopefully help you when you build. First of all, go look at lots of model homes. Take pictures of what you like and don’t like. Take a lot of notes. Drive through neighborhoods and get ideas for exteriors. Front doors, garage doors, colors, stones, and lights are all things you will have to choose. Mr. Whitelane and I would go on countless drives (and still do) to just look at neighborhoods of houses and designs.

Second Pinterest is your friend (like I have to tell you that). If you are unsure if you like something, then go to Pinterest and type into the search box. More pictures than you can imagine will pop up of what you’re looking for. This will really give you a better idea of how much you will like something.

Ask a lot of questions to anybody and everybody. Most people have a learned a thing or two along the way in life. A lot of people have experience with houses. Getting their opinion on things can only give more ideas. Talking to my mother-in-law, mom, cousins, sister, and friends about house designs have helped me so much. Each person gave me different inputs that I used or did not use in the process.

Take your time at design. You are paying a lot of money for this house. Don’t let some pushy sales agent or design lady rush you! Make them get the answers you want. They are supposed to be there to serve you. Don’t be afraid to ask as many questions as needed to clarify anything! I wish I would have been more accretive about getting certain things at our design appointment. Sometimes they will just tell you no or that they can’t do something. Really, they just don’t want to take the extra steps to go to the person above them, if they don’t know the answer. Be pushy and accretive or take someone with you that will!

Bring all of the pictures and notes of things that you like to all of your appointments for design. It always helps to be crystal clear on what you are wanting. I looked back and my pictures plenty of times to make sure what they had at the design center was the same.

This may sound bad but…..don’t trust anybody. Haha. Seriously, though, get everything in writing. If the sales agent or designer tells you something, get it in writing. So many times I was told, “yes, that is how we always do that.” I would always have them write it down on our plan. You can also send an email after the meeting re-stating the conversation, so there would be proof of what was going on. It’s always better to be safe than sorry!

Finally, take pictures and keep a record of everything you chose at the design center. Make sure your paperwork of options matches what you actually chose. If something doesn’t look right then ask questions. When your house is being built you can always refer back to your pictures to make sure what you chose is being installed.

I will be giving more tips as we get further along in our process. This is just a general overview of some things that really helped us so far.

 

I have never paid so much attention to houses as I have since we started building our own house. There are so many details that you don’t realize go into the thought process. From the studs down to the backsplash, everything is a decision. The builder had to adjust our front door and porch because of city requirements. That also meant that there is a side window next to the front door. Only on one side, though. I know, the OCD in me is freaking out because it looks unbalanced and not symmetrical.

When we originally picked our floor plan we were told we could take this window out. Well turns out when push comes to shove we can NOT delete the side window. I guess I just don’t like how everybody can see right into your house. Then, there comes the whole issue of putting up a shutter on the small sidelight window. The space between the casing on the front door and where the casing for the shutter would be installed is small. I’m not sure how both would fit. I worry about the esthetics.

The front door we chose has three big windows at the top and is eight feet tall. So I don’t think we need the extra light from the side light window. We are just stuck with it regardless of whether we want it or not. BUUUTTT later on down the road we could take it out and put in a larger (wider) door to replace the original door and side window. So for now, I am trying to embrace my one sidelight window. Any suggestions or advice about how you like your window(s) by the front door?

Above photo found via Pinterest.

Tray Ceiling? Do you like them? Well, We just found out that three areas in our new home come with a tray ceiling. WHAAAAT!!!? We thought this was an upgrade. Let me take that back. We were TOLD this was an upgrade. Easy choice. We declined because One: we only have nine-foot ceilings to start with. Two: It made the room feel so choppy in the living room because it cut off at the kitchen. You can see what I mean in the picture below.  Our floor plan is really open on the main floor with the kitchen, living, and dining room altogether.

So earlier this week we went to our pre-construction meeting to go over all our finalized plans before they started digging our lot. (EEEKKK! We started digging this week YAY!) That’s when we were told this tray ceiling news. I know it’s an upgrade but let’s be real. Just because it’s free doesn’t mean its good for everyone. It just wasn’t what I envisioned. I can totally live with it upstairs in the bonus room.  The master bedroom I can begrudgingly handle it. In the master bedroom, the tray ceiling does this weird jog by the door. You can see what I mean in the picture below. IF it didn’t do that weird jog , then I would totally be okay.  SEE? Why people? WHY? I want it to just go straight across to the wall and be square with NO JOG! HAHA ( Can you tell I have been thinking about this?)

This is not our forever dream home. However, we are working really hard and making a lot of sacrifices to build this house. We will be there longer term but probably not forever. So it is still important to make it a place we love. When you invest so much money in a house and work so hard to reach a goal; you want it to be the way you envisioned.

So I am wondering what you think about tray ceilings? I am trying my hardest to get them taken out, at least in the living room. You would think this wouldn’t be hard (uhhgg wrong).  I would love to hear more about your experience and what your feelings are about tray ceilings!

All photos by Oakwood Homes Utah found here.