We are finally in the home stretch of our build and all that remains are the interior finishes, appliances, and landscaping. August had the most progress in terms of the contractors staying on schedule and materials arriving and getting installed on time.

A recap of our build progress in August and September:

Exterior Paint

We started planning for our exterior paint earlier in June so we’d have enough time get paint samples, test paint swatches on the exterior, and finally choose the right color. In staying with the classic farmhouse exterior, I knew I wanted a white farmhouse, but choosing the right white was more complex than I thought. Who knew there were so many shades of white. Some were cooler whites, some were warmer whites, some pulled yellow, while some pulled blue, grey and others in between.

We narrowed it down to my top three favorite white exterior paints by Sherwin Williams. I also posted a poll on my Instagram stories.

We then tested the three colors on the actual exterior siding:

Based on the direction our home faces and how much sun it gets throughout the day, Alabaster ended up having the warm white I wanted to achieve.

Exterior paint started the first week of August and took only three days to complete!

I’m so happy with how this color turned out on our exterior!

Cabinets

Cabinets were also delivered and installed the first week of August. I’ve been anticipating this wood hood! Our previous home had a wood hood and I knew this home would absolutely have to have one.

I absolutely love built-ins and how they add so much character to a space, and provide functionality and value to a homeowner. These built-ins were custom designed to fit on each side of the fireplace.

The mudroom is a multi-functional room I am really excited for. I designed this space with kids, gardening, and pets in mind to be accessible from the back patio, and from the garage for our daily entrance and exit to and from school and sports. There is a sink in the utility next to the mudroom lockers for rinsing off cut flowers from the garden, doing a quick mask wash, hand rise, and for pet cleanups, without having to go through the main house/kitchen.

Trim Design and Installed

Trim work lasted a few weeks. It was important for me to meet with our builder to discuss our wants and needs on trim before the trim carpenter got to work. Our trim package included all the closets, utility room, pantry, and staircase.

Drawing out the pantry

Staircase Installation

The staircase design has come together. We originally intended to paint the risers white and leave the treads oak, but the installers accidentally installed the entire staircase with oak. It ended up being a good accident! The entire staircase will also be hand scraped and stained.

For the balusters we went with modern matte black steel and white oak on the railing. I love the warmth feel the wood adds to the modern steel.

Interior Paint and Stain

For our interior paint, we went with the same color but in different sheens. We painted our walls in a flat finish, our baseboards, trim and doors, in a satin finish, and our ceilings in a flat finish throughout.

We stained our kitchen island cabinet and a couple of other trim pieces for some touches of wood and warmth.

September – Floor and Wall Tile

We are halfway through September and are experiencing our first delays in our build – brick and countertops.

Without the countertops installed, the trim carpenter can’t finish the wall trim and the tile installers can’t install the kitchen backsplash.

On a positive note, our other floor and wall tile started this week! We chose natural stone for the mudroom, utility, and master bathroom, and ceramic tiles in penny rounds and mini hex for the other bathrooms.  Check out the progress so far on our mudroom and bathrooms…