Exterior photos

Newly installed sidewalk (designed by Tyler at Phillps Garden) and sod just before the Parade opened.
View of the house from the city sidewalk.

Late night planting of the Little Bluestem against the house. We tried to plant the trees ourselves as well (with help from Mom, Nate and Lucas) but quickly realized our limitations to plant trees on a slope. Luckily, Phillips Garden was able to come out the next day to plant the rest of the trees and install the edging.

More photos....

Polygal installation day

Kitchen view from the breakfast bar

Kitchen view of the inset cabinet with metal tambour door

"Mudroom" area with laundry and wardrobes. At the end of the white wardrobe is our creative solution to hide the support beam. The white cube opens up while the orange is fixed to hide the pole. The black door is a chalkboard.

Finally...new photos!

Sorry to all for not posting in over a month! We were so burned out with house details that I didn't want to write about them. The Parade of Homes started on Sept 6th. This weekend will be the third already. We say ALOT of activity in the days before the Parade open. Everything turned out well, however, there are many tweaks left to make before we close and move in.

With the house on the Parade, we have had time to work on our landscaping with Tyler Grissman at Phillips Garden. Our goal is to work in stages, starting with the front yard. We planted Little Bluestem along the front of the house, edged in metal. We also planted 5 Autumn Brilliance Serviceberry trees along the sidewalk to create a "screen" from the neighbors walking by. We didn't realize how exposed we would be with the big windows so the trees should work out really well. They also fit the house style perfectly. We are currently planting gro-lo sumac underneath the Serviceberry to fill in that space. Should be very low maintenance.

We painted the existing garage to match the house, including the blue window detail. Unfortunately, now all you see is the red roof....especially when you are in the house! We have been told by the builders that everyone coming through on the Parade comments on the roof. In due time.....

Master bedroom wardrobes....We should never run out of room to store blankets and pillows!

We tried to do something different with the basement steps. Both Jason and I love rubber commercial stair treads and our builder (Aaron) suggested covering the risers in stainless. Our neighbor, Corey (who did our roof and entry way) did a fantastic job....it looks fantastic. Very excited not to have to vacuum the steps!

Metal in the entry way

Both the bedroom doors and the front entry closet doors are birch with inset frosted acrylic panels. Its has a soft transluscent feel like the polygal over the second bedroom.

Cabinets are in and floors are stained

Master bedroom wardrobes waiting to be installed and master bath vanity

Master shower

Master bath floor

Kitchen cabinets - view from dining room

Mudroom wardrobe with the custom piece to cover the support post (the black door is chalkboard paint) An orange door will cover the post.

Overall, we LOVE the floor color and the cabinets really stand out in the house. Its taking shape....just in time since the parade starts on Sept 6th.

Many thanks to Chris from City View Hardwood and Rich and Lori at Alpine Woodworking for their excellent work!

Floor sanding...and tile

CityView Hardwood sanding the floors

Preparing the floors by slathering on wood putty to seal all the open areas

Our master bath supplies arrive today. Dennis - the tile guy- had to pick up some extra shelf inserts as we all forgot about the shelf in the master shower.

Next week will bring huge changes! Cabinets will be installed by Tuesday or Wednesday, the floor will be stained and finish work should mostly completed. Can't wait to see the cabinets but am also really nervous...hopefully the colors will turn out. That's my worst fear...

Landscaping plan

In order to get the most out of our small yard, Jason and I interviewed a few different landscape designers, all having more of a modern esthtetic. We settled on Phillips Garden design Tyler Grissman - a fellow northeaster - who seems to really get what we are trying to accomplish. Of course we weren't influenced at all by their incredible office space complete with a Wee House addition and custom metal staircase!

Since the Parade of Homes is rapidly approaching , we met today to discuss the front sidewalk which has to be poured with the next few weeks. Tyler's idea was excellent...it gives us some space to hang out in the front and an offset sidewalk to the house. The rest of the plan isn't complete yet, but its off to a fantastic start. Hopefully we won't have to make too many compromises on the front concrete plan due to budget constraints or can make it work with a "modular" concept of completion.

http://www.phillipsgarden.com/

Progress...

Not much has changed on the exterior but most of the siding is complete as well as the roofs

Mike, the siding guy, created a "dog house" to cover the electrical box that sticks out on the side of the house.

Here is the "dog house" with some possible exterior siding colors. I love all of them but Jason is not favoring the brown stripe in the middle. The green at the bottom works well with the brown....but the house next door is a golden yellow and i want something totally different than the immediate neighbors. So we decided to use the blue (ICI Skywatch) as the accent and a medium gray (ICI Icon Gray) for the rest of the house.