Let's Get it Started: Brick, Stone and Siding!

We have had brick done for quite a while, but they just recently started on the stone and the little bit of siding on the house. I figured it was best to post about them all together so that the pictures could do the talking. However, let me first start by saying that we picked the brick from General Shale. It is called Innsbrook. Our builder had just used it on another job he completed and I loved it from the moment we pulled up to their house. I also liked a color called Millstone. I was definitely stuck between the two colors. So what to do? I did what any normal, slightly obsessive girl would do. I enlisted the help of friends and family and traipsed them all over Knoxville looking at the lists of houses General Shale had given me that used those two choices. After seeing maybe 10 houses I was still not sure! Crazy right?!! You either like something or ya don't so I have no idea what my problem was. After all, I did say already that I was pretty much in love with the Innsbrook when I saw it on another of our builder's houses. However, something about that chocolaty brown Millstone was super appealing too. To the chagrin of my best friend, I tricked her into coming with me one day and drove around again to look at houses. Yes, again! In the end I just decided that the Innsbrook was the best choice for our house and went with that brick and the same mortar color our builder had used on the other house. Probably could have saved myself countless hours obsessing about this decision if I had just trusted my gut and gone with Innsbrook from the beginning! Live and learn right? :)

Doing stone was another thing that I knew might prove to be difficult. Greg and I really wanted a strong contrast between the brick and stone. We both were loving stone in the gray family. So we went out to the stone company and picked out the style: ledgestone. Then the company came out with a field sample of our top two color picks to see how it looked against our brick. I liked them both! So what's a girl to do? She's to create her own custom blend of the two, that's what! I told the stone guy what I was after and he helped us create the custom blend. We are in love! Like stars in our eyes in love! Looking at it all I know that we will probably need to add some shutters and maybe paint or stain the front door a dark color to tie it all together, but it is looking good so far. Happy with the choices!

 

Walk out basement door and the lovely brick!

Front elevation of the house. Looks like a castle Greg says!

 

 

Brick and stone together. Love the contrast. Above the brick windows there will be stone accents and vice versa.

 

 

Brick, stone and siding. Stone is installed as a dry stack and has no mortar between the individual pieces.

 

Gray ledgestone. It has a good mix of a gray with black and a gray with brown tones.

Closer view of all three materials together.

 

From the street. Really thinking shutters would be good on the three windows on the left and the window where the siding is.

 

View of the stone on the brick over the doorway arch

 

Trial piece of the gutter to decide if I like it. I do! I really like how it blends into the roofline and pretty much disappears. Do not want light downspouts against my dark brick.



Drywall and Trim Work Oh My!

Well I haven't updated the blog in quite a while because it seemed like all the progress came to a screeching halt! We found out that was mainly due to my cabinetry being backordered from the supplier. You would think that since we have had the plans finalized since June this wouldn't have happened, but if I have learned anything in the building process it's that there are always many moving parts to getting something done and if one falls behind, then it's a domino effect for all. That is kinda frustrating, but I keep reminding myself: "We are building the dream. We are building the dream. We are building the dream!" I know it will all work out. While we waited on cabinetry the drywall was installed, mudded and taped, sanded, primed and then painted with the first coat. I think normally they would not have painted a first coat, but do to the cabinetry delay they had to go ahead and paint. Seeing the drywall go up was really crazy! I was so used to just walking between the studs when I was at the house, that seeing actual walls and closed rooms was really strange. Strange, but in a good way :) I know I have said it before, but we had no idea how big the house was going to be and we had commented on that during the framing and insulation stages. However, now with the walls up, that hits home even more. How could I possibly have ever thought this might not be enough space?!! I guess seeing something on paper and seeing it in real life are just so different! Well, after that tangent, lets get back on topic: drywall. Here it is in all its glory!

 

Living room connected to the kitchen. Love that the fireplace is the focus of that wall.

 

Living room from another angle. Looking into the kitchen and breakfast nook.

 

Dining room with the gorgeous window and great view!

 

 

Master bedroom with lots of light and the view!

 

 Laundry room with door to the outside.

 

 

Bonus room or bedroom #5. Picture does not do it justice. I could do gymnastics in this room it is so big!

 

Media room/Greg's man cave. So glad we didn't do the vaulted ceiling! We would not have had this whole extra room.

Arches starting to be trimmed out around doors and windows. Wasn't crazy about the little circle things at first, but I think they will be ok once they are painted.

 



Master bedroom trey ceiling getting beautiful crown moldings.

 



Living room ceiling before the coffers went in.

 

 

I was at the house the night before to look around and take the previous picture. I come by the next day at lunch and they already had this much done! Impressive!

 

Coffered ceiling is pretty much complete! So pretty!

 

Chair rail and picture boxes in the dining room along with the crown molding.

 

 

Living room ceiling and custom built mantle. The trim guy just said, "What do you want?" Then he did this! Gorgeous!

 

Up close of the mantle. Love how it is boxed out with the picture frames that tie it in to the dining room and breakfast nook trim work.

 

Columns on the dining room walls. Again they mirror the rest of the trim work. The trim makes the house feel so high end! I am just loving it all!

 

 



So even though we got a pretty slow start to August, there has been a lot of work done these last two weeks! I am just so excited! I cannot believe that I will live here soon! We are going from building the dream to living the dream so soon!