River House Diary

Pete was a busy boy today and hung our flower pots on the front porch. Too bad we centered the pots between columns and not on the windows. Who knew the windows weren’t centered? Now we do. Hanging flower pots; personal collection

Yesterday our the shutters for the two double windows on either side of the front porch were installed. We chose Bahama, or hurricane, shutters for light control and privacy. They were fabricated by Atlantic Breeze in Morehead City. We choose to have them powder coated in Azure to match the stair and screen porch railings. Close up of the storm shutter on the front bedroom window; personal collection Front facade of our house with storm shutters; courtesy Pete Dagutis

No-see-ums aren’t always insects. Sometimes they are porch railings. Our builder designed these railings to impede the view of the river as little as possible. They were fabricated by American Marine & Fabricators in New Bern. The railings were powder coated RAL 5009 Azure Blue and the cables are stainless steel. Screen porch railings; personal collection

I have strong opinions about the craziest things. Walkways to the front porch or front door are one such thing. First, they should be wide enough for two people to walk comfortably abreast — that’s at least 6 feet. If they start at the driveway, there should be a landing area where a guest’s car would typically park so they can step on it easily without worrying about “falling off” the driveway onto the grass or a plant bed. A luxury would be to have that landing area be large enough for a bench so that one’s guests can set packages or bags on the bench while gathering their other possessions. And most importantly, there are few straight lines in nature — so design a curved walkway. Imagine how pleased I was to see our new walkway yesterday morning. The Eastern Carolina Lawn Care crew ran out of daylight so it still needs sand between the pavers. Front walkway; personal collection

As a cost savings measure we chose to go with a stucco foundation instead of one faced with brick or stone. I very much wanted to use tabby concrete , but apparently it is a lost art as our builder couldn’t Locate any cement contractors that knew how to make and apply it. We chose the Driftwood color for the final finish coat of stucco and it was applied last week while the hardwood floors were being stained. Foundation stucco applied Saturday; personal collection

We contracted with landscape designer Maryanne White to develop a preliminary plan for River House. We could not afford to implement the entire plan right away and decided to install, a cobblestone driveway border, front walkway, foundation plantings, a retaining wall at the back of the house and sod to stabilize the slope to the river as quickly as possible. We're working with Kevin Faulkner of Eastern Carolina Lawn Care , who came highly recommended by our builder. Everything was pretty clear in the quote, except which plants were considered "foundation" plants. An exercise in coloring cleared that right up with one email exchange. Foundation plants for River House; courtesy of Kevin Faulkner

The concrete crew worked Saturday afternoon to prepare the driveway for its concrete pour. Driveway before concrete pour; personal collection

Since the lot slopes down to the river the screen porch steps are more complicated than the steps to the front porch. We decided to have a landing instead of a straight flight and have the steps from the landing to the ground descend parallel to the porch. That way, if we add a patio later, the steps won’t end in the middle of the patio, splitting it in two. Screen porch steps; personal collection From the screen porch; personal collection

We met with the landscaper Friday. That’s good news and bad news. The good news is thinking about landscaping means we’re near the end of the construction process. The bad news is the slope of the lot means there will be more costs associated with landscaping that are not in the contract. We’ve pretty much decided we need a retaining wall and the landscaper agreed. And we might as well build it now while we’re a construction zone rather tear things up later. So our mission Monday was to decide on pavers for the front walk and back patio and material to use to build a retaining wall. Belgard was recommended as they pretty much own the market down here. We learned we’re pretty open style wise, though everyone is suggesting Cambridge or Dublin Cobble based on the style of our house, but we think Savannah is the color. Belgard Dublin Cobble in Savannah; personal collection It’s more tan than I expected but has a bit of blue in the stone. It wasn’t the color I thought we’d choose...

They built the steps to the front porch yesterday. This is when choosing a brick clad foundation instead of stucco would have made deciding how to design the steps much easier. I’m not convinced I like the simple wood steps but will wait and see. Front steps; personal collection

It's hard to describe how much a couple of coats of paint changes a house. I am loving our exterior. River view elevation; personal collection

The trim carpenters, cabinetmaker and tile installers are are still finishing up their work inside, but the painters began working on the exterior Thursday. It’s amazing how a little white paint can change the appearance of a house. Front elevation after the garage wing had been painted; personal collection

Due to the height from the ground, the screen porch will require railings for safety. Rear elevation of River House as of 26 November; personal collection The railings will be aluminum with stainless steel cables . The construction method provides the safety required by the building codes without obstructing much of the view. The aluminum can be powder coated almost any color you desire. That raised the question of what is our exterior color palette beyond gray and white? What should the complementary colors be? I asked Zuniga Interiors to create our exterior color palette and this is what they came up with. I think it's grand especially with existing colors and brushed aluminum exterior lights. The porch railings and Bahama shutters on the two double windows at the front of the house will match Sherwin Williams 6496 Oceanside as closely as possible and I'll use the other colors for flower pots and other decorative items. Exterior color palette provided by Zuniga I...

The contract for our house was priced based on a level lot and our lot is not level. It slopes 10 feet from the road to the river. We understood the contract could not accommodate the slope as we had not yet decided where the house would be located. For the same reason, exterior steps -- front porch and screen porch -- were not included in the contract. As a result, we mentally added money to our budget for the unknowns related to the lot slope. We did, however, add money to the contract to screen in the rear porch. In our minds, that extra money included everything related to a completely finished screen porch, minus steps. So we were more than a bit surprised when our project manager sent us a quote for screen porch railings. It was no surprise the railings were required because building codes required them due to the height of the porch from the ground. What was a surprise to us was the fact those railings were not included in the extra we added to the contract for the screen po...

Pete and I have both been surprised at how long it is taking to install the exterior siding . They were just starting it when we were last in North Carolina, which was October 1st, and they are still not finished. Exterior siding; personal collection

We made the most compromises for budgetary reasons on our selections for roofing and siding. Instead of Hardie cement board, we chose CertainTeed's CedarBoards , an insulated vinyl siding. We are using a 7" single lapboard and 12" board-and-batten styles. The color is Oxford Blue, a very light blue-gray. Screen porch area of the house; courtesy Austin Bayliss Master bedroom wing; courtesy Austin Bayliss

The siding and drywall for our house was delivered recently. It looks like it takes up most of the front yard. Courtesy of Dawn Jennings And the crew didn't waste any time getting started drywalling the ceilings and walls. Courtesy Dawn Jennings

I very much wanted a metal roof for River House but the cost was so prohibitive even I couldn’t do it. So we have a shingle roof, which I think will look nice with the blue-gray siding. Courtesy of Austin Bayliss

The electrical plan for River House specified eight flood lights. Today, the electrician's question was in which direction should the front porch flood lights point? Should the beams be directed to front toward the road or to the two sides of our property? Because we also have exterior lights at either side of the front door, we decided the flood lights would point sideways. We thought it would be better aesthetically, too. Location of the front porch flood lights; personal collection

My sister-in-law stopped by our house yesterday and took many photos. Thank you, thank you! Pete and I pored over them, comparing them to the floor plan and I realized I'd made a few window mistakes. The first one is in our office upstairs. I thought we would put our "T" shaped desk under the window so Pete could view the river while he is working. But I didn't tell our architect that and the window is too long to put a desk under it. Windows in the Bonus Room (aka Office); courtesy of Dawn Jennings The next photo is of our pantry. I love the size! There will be a sink under the window so that I can wash dirty dishes in the pantry without have them cluttering up the main public spaces in the house. I wish now I would have made the window a double one. On the plus side, more wall space equals more shelves for storage. Pantry; courtesy of Dawn Jennings This is Bedroom 3 or the back bedroom. It has a sliding glass door to the screen porch and looks out to...