Outside and Landscaping

We have moved into our new home but are still decorating.  The outside is complete and I have lots of pictures to show you.  Most of the photos were taken by our friend from Houston, Roy Kerstiens, Thanks Roy.  I wish I had the eye for photography and half the knowledge that he has.  I had a hard time choosing which pictures to show you so there a lot of them on this post.

You can go to This page to see what the property looked like before we started building.

View from the street looking toward the house.

The next few pictures are as you enter the gate and drive down the driveway.  The front of the house is about 400 feet from the street.

From the front balcony looking toward the street.

Family room looking toward the Choctawhatchee Bay

The next few were taken from the Bay looking toward the house.

Back Yard 

Pool taken from the back balcony

Our daytime view

And we get to enjoy sunsets 

Craftroom and Study

We are getting closer to completion of our new home so I thought I would show you a few different pictures of my craft room.  I am looking forward to having a place for all the crafty supplies.  I do have a lot of cabinets and two walk-in closets with pantry type shelves.  the light fixtures that you can see on the wall are LED task lights.  The walls are painted Sherwin Williams Seasalt and the ceiling is 12 feet high and painted with a 50% formula of Seasalt.  The counter tops are Solstice granite.  The floors are Travertine installed on the diagonal with a zero grout line.

This cabinet now actually has drawer fronts and pulls.  I just didn't have a current picture.

The door knobs in my craft room are different from the others in the house.

The study/office has bookshelves to the ceiling and it now has a ladder and rail for moving it around the room and reaching high shelves.

Dwight has a better view from the study than I do from the craft room.  He has french doors and a large window looking out onto the bay.  I wanted my craftroom near the kitchen so no great view.  I can multitask though.

Choosing a Mantel for Outdoor Firepace

Something a little rustic and different from ones you see all the time is what we wanted but where do we start?  That question was answered by a TV show that Dwight just happened to spot while channel surfing, How to Do Florida was featuring deadhead logging and Bruner Lumber Company. Deadhead logging is recovering logs that were cut in the 1800's and early 1900's and lost in the river on their way to market.  Bruner recovers Cypress from the Choctawhatchee River so we made an appointment and visited.

We walked around the property and picked out a log.

This is the Cypress log that we chose.  We know that this log was cut prior to 1890 because they started sawing trees down in 1890 and this one was cut with an ax.   It had been in the Choctawhatchee river until Bruner pulled it out.

This is the other end of the log.  Our mantel was cut from this end.  Dwight used a wire brush and cleaned it and sanded the top and bottom.  He then applied about 6 coats of Tung Oil and sanded between each application.  It is not stained but the cleaning and Tung Oil brings out the color of the Cypress.  They call those little dimples in the log scallops and they are caused by the water current and sand in the river.

Below is the fireplace where the mantel is going.

The mantel is installed and the firelpace will be complete when the tile guy returns and finishes the slate.

The other side of the outdoor area.  The columns and the Travertine pavers are done and the fans have been installed.  The single door on the left goes int the master bedroom and the double doors just to the right go into the study.

 The pool still has to be completed but the builder wants that to be last so that we don't have to maintain it before the house is finished.

Construction Continues

I have always thought that the inside finish work progresses slowly and now I know that it is slow. The finish carpenters are still working on the inside woodwork and the painters are having to wait for them.  The cabinet maker is doing great work but they are not on schedule either and the Granite company is having to wait for them.  Both the finish carpenters and the cabinet company are getting close to finishing so we should see more progress soon.

The pelicans continue to keep a watch on things.

On the outside the balustrades are almost finished and they are starting to install the columns.

This is the base for the columns.

The outdoor fireplace is almost done.  We need a cover for the fireplace and TV above it.  We also still have to find a mantel.  The tile is slate.

This is the wall behind the outdoor kitchen.  The cabinets will be Cyprus with a granite counter-top.

This is the upstairs balcony.  The Travertine tile is the same on the front porch.

Moving to the inside, the tile is done in the master shower.  This tile is marble.  You cannot see it very well but the floor of the shower is the same as the trim.

Our bathroom cabinets are partially installed.

This is on the other side of the bathroom and is where the tub will go.  The floor tile is covered so I cannot show you that.  It is the same marble as the shower with 4 tiles together and a 2 inch black diamond shape at the corners.

The cabinets are partially installed in the kitchen

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 The walnut floor before finishing.

These floors are now finished but the builder covered them with the blue covering before I got a picture.

Tile, Wood Trim and Paint Colors

The tile craftsmen have been busy as bees and have made a lot of progress.  Unfortunately my photography skills need help and the lighting was not great so the colors are not perfect in these pictures.

Great Room Travertine floor.  

The craft room, laundry room and pool bath are the same.

Pool bath shower wall.  This is vein cut travertine and is actually the same stone as the floor, just a different cut and it is polished but the floor is honed.

One of the upstairs bathroom shower wall.

The upstairs bathroom (that has a tub) floor.

The bath wall 

The other bathroom upstairs and the master bath isn't done.

The carpenter built this to use building the trim for the arches.

The interior doors.  

The blue that you see on the floor is a thick plastic covering that our builder uses to protect the finished floors.

This is one of the arches that the carpenter built the thingamajig for.

The cabinet maker left this crown sample for us to choose for the top of the cabinets.  We chose the one on the left for the kitchen and butler's pantry.  The center one is going in the study and the upstairs bar area.  We are not using the one on the right.  The wood that you can partially see in the background is a pilaster that is going to trim some cabinets.

There is still a lot of woodwork to be completed.

This guy is really good at his craft.  He is using a garage for his cutting area.

Below are some of the paint colors that we are considering.  The one on the left of each sample is for walls and the right one is ceiling.  Choosing paint colors has been one of the most difficult decisions that we have had to make.  

An upstairs bedroom

Powder bath

Study, upstairs trophy room and laundry room

Upstairs bedroom

This is more of a green than you see in the picture.  I am using it in the craft room and pool bath.

Master bedroom and bath

All the downstairs open areas including great room, entry, dining room and hallways.  The upstairs open area, rec room and hallways