River House Diary

A few days ago the project manager for our house texted me and wanted to know if we wanted the window in the toilet closet of our master bathroom. It had been left off the doors and windows order and he wanted to be sure we hadn’t eliminated it. I assured him we wanted the window. Building a house from over 700 miles away can be nerve-wracking because you want to be on-site to oversee every detail. It’s great to learn our project manager is so thorough. Missing window from left side elevation drawing; courtesy of Austin Bayliss Missing from floor plan; courtesy of Austin Bayliss

My brother, Ted, stopped our house yesterday and took a couple of photos. Back of the house; courtesy of Ted Jennings Front of the house; courtesy of Ted Jennings Windows and doors will be delivered next week.

Ted braved the temporary stairs to photograph the upstairs. Like yesterday, I've included a plan of the upper level and indicated from where each photo was taken at the end of this post. This photo was taken from A on the plan below. It is looking down river and shows the great room raised ceiling -- it's 11-feet 6-inches tall while the rest of the main level is 10 feet. Also visible is the dormer window over the front door. Attic space above the kitchen and great room; courtesy of Ted Jennings This was taken from B on the plan below, which is in the Bonus Room. It is over the master bedroom instead of the garage to take advantage of the river views. The room we will use as an office: courtesy of Ted Jennings This is taken from C in the plan below, which looks across the floored attic space to the window above the garage doors at the front of the house. Floored attic space over garage; courtesy of Ted Jennings Diagram of the upper level of the house that

Our house actually has rooms now, or a least skeletons of rooms. I've included a floor plan at the end of this post that identifies where each photo was taken. This photo was taken from A on the plan below, which is the front of the garage. The door on the left is on the left side of the house and enters into Pete's workshop area. The left most window at the back is in our master bath. Towards the right of the photo is the door into the house from the garage (see the wood ramp). It leads to an entry hall with a closet, stairs to the upper level, a half bath, laundry room, and access to our bedroom and kitchen. From the garage looking toward the back or river side of the house; courtesy of Ted Jennings This photo was taken from B on the plan below, which is the entry hall looking through the kitchen wall to the great room. One of the French doors in the great room is visible on the left as is the slider in the back bedroom (Bedroom 3). The entry to the bedroom hall is

Our builder didn't send photos last week and we were going through withdrawals wondering what was going on and the status of the construction. My brother, Ted, very generously stopped by and took a lot of photos. I posted these on Facebook today. Front of the house; courtesy of Ted Jennings Back of the house; courtesy of Ted Jennings View of the Neuse River from the Master Bedroom; courtesy of Ted Jennings The other bank of windows in the Master Bedroom looks down river; courtesy of Ted Jennings Eat-in area of the Kitchen. You can see some of the Master Bedroom windows on the left; courtesy of Ted Jennings

I have looked at more photos on Houzz.com of kitchen and bath cabinets than I care to admit. I was looking for some unknown, and it turns out, nonexistent rule on when to use knobs, pulls or bin pulls. I did find this article helpful in confirming my decisions: How to Select Cabinet Knobs and Pulls . Yesterday we got the final quote from the cabinet supplier which included all the hardware. I’ve decided whatever she specified is good enough for me. So we will be using Jeffrey Alexander’s Hayworth collection throughout the house except for the Master Bath and Den. Jeffrey Alexander Hayworth cabinet hardware; personal collection

What is it about a man and his recliner? After we demolished the swamp witch, fieldstone waterfall and goldfish pond in the basement of our first house, we went furniture shopping at La-Z-Boy. Our sales lady was old enough to be Pete’s grandmother and came up to his belt buckle, but she flirted with him shamelessly. She knew her sale depended on finding the right recliner for Pete. And she did. And it was a monstrosity. Any piece of furniture named the Grand Canyon is going to be bad. When we moved into our Oakton house, it took about four years to talk Pete into even looking at different recliners. He finally conceded and we got a less ugly one. He doesn’t like it as well and occasionally complains that his “footies” hang over the foot rest -- something his "girlfriend" at La-Z-Boy told him was the sign of a bad recliner fit. I’m not buying it, though. He falls asleep in it just as fast as he did sitting in his first recliner. How quickly he nods off in that chair has beco

Our Foyer chandelier was a bit of a splurge I’ll admit. It arrived at my brother’s house this week. Okay, it’s in the wrong house, but the right city. I know it’s safe from my sister-in-law because it isn’t pink! Au Courant Interiors Cynthia chandelier; courtesy of Dawn Jennings Zuniga Interiors really wanted it unpacked and checked for damage so Ted humored us and even sent this photo. I can’t wait to see it hanging from the stained tongue-and-groove ceiling .

For once adware worked. You know, when you search for something and then the next several websites you visit that have ads, display ads that match your recent searches. I googled “aqua blue shower curtain” and looked at several garish shower curtains — those kitsch-y, beach-y things. Ugh! This time, however, adware dished up this lovely item from Michael Aram’s Ocean Reef collection. Michael Aram's Ocean Reef shower curtain ; courtesy of Bloomingdale's I ordered it to be sure the color was right and it was; so I ordered towels and a bath mat as well. Shower curtain, tile and wallpaper for Bath 2; personal collection It’s very crazy to be ordering this stuff now when the house doesn’t even have a roof, but when you find the perfect thing, pounce.

Our builder sent new photos yesterday. They plan on completing the first floor walls and ceiling framing next week, weather permitting. Front of the house; courtesy of TAB Premium Built Homes Rear of house; courtesy TAB Premium Built Homes

We still haven't resolved our first door dilemma  and we're on to the second one. Our first floor system passed inspection; framing has started; and we needed to decide on the height of the interior doors. The original house plan specified 10-foot ceilings on the first floor with 8-foot tall doors throughout. When we moved the Bonus Room -- the room originally over the garage -- to the back of the house over the Master Bedroom, the ceiling height in that wing of the house was reduced to 9 feet. Did we still want 8-foot doors or did we want to go with standard 6'8" doors? Since the crown molding comes down the wall 4 inches from the ceiling and the door casing trim is 3-1/2 inches wide, that would leave only 4-1/2 inches of drywall showing between the door and ceiling if we stayed with 8-foot doors. So we elected to use standard size doors in the Master Bedroom/Garage wing of the house. This is ... wait for it ... a cost savings! My very bad drawing for Pete abo

Zuniga Interiors recommended any lever door handle with a rectangular backplate, but Kwikset apparently doesn't do rectangles. We went with the Montreal square backplate levers. I much prefer knobs but we are trying to incorporate universal design elements where we can for aging in place. Montreal Square door lever; courtesy of Kwikset

We're getting near the end of the selections process. The penultimate choices were bath, cabinet and interior door hardware. For most of the bathrooms, I selected towel bars and toilet paper holders that matched the style and finish of the faucets. The Master Bath was a bit more challenging. It's spacious but has few walls for installing towel bars. So I thought I would try a double bar. Moen had no such thing. I ordered this one from Restoration Hardware with matching crystal door knobs and drawer pulls for the vanity. Vintage double towel bar in chrome ; courtesy of Restoration Hardware

My brother, John, is visiting, my brother, Ted, who lives in New Bern. I'm pretty sure the main reason for John's trip was fishing, but they found time to stop by our house today and take some photos. Pete and I live for these visual images as we are stuck in upstate New York. It looks like the main level floor system is almost complete and they were doing a second concrete pour in the garage. Ted (orange T-shirt) watching concrete work; courtesy of John Jennings The main level floor system. It looks like a puzzle or a diabolical obstacle course; courtesy of John Jennings River side of the house. The screen porch is on the left (no wood on top of the cinder blocks). The recessed area is the eat-in area of the kitchen and the right side of the house is our master suite; courtesy of John Jennings

Yesterday, TAB sent photos of the progress on our house. The concrete in the garage was poured and they've started framing the first floor. Once that is completed, an inspection is required, and the subfloor will be next. Taken from the right front corner of the house; courtesy TAB Premium Built Homes Taken from the left front corner of the lot. The garage is in the foreground; courtesy of TAB Premium Built Homes

I'm about 95% sure I’ve changed my mind about which color tile to use in the upstairs Bonus Bath for two reasons: Changing the vanity selection Shower curtain mishap ; the new one will likely have to go in this bathroom. I ordered a sample of Bedrosians 360 3/4" x 3/4" floor and wall tile in Beige. Lagoon is still my favorite, but Beige will work better. Bonus Room carpet and two tile choices for Bonus Bath; personal collection

I purchased the canister and the tissue box holder for our master bath. Pottery Barn's Shell Rimmed Rattan Accessories ; courtesy of Pottery Barn