We Have The Plans

It took over 6 months, but we have the completed plans for our new house!  We picked them up yesterday, then went straight to the builder’s office to give him 3 of the 5 large copies and the one smaller copy for the county.  He needs to take them to the lumber yard so they can draw up the framing plan.  He said that might take 2 weeks.  While we are waiting on those, I hope to finalize the budget so we can submit everything to the bank and proceed with the loan.  I can’t believe it’s almost the end of March already.

We also received our first cabinet estimate which is higher than expected.  It may get worse if we don’t act soon, because we were told cabinet plywood just went up 20%.  So our estimate will too, if we wait too long.  I need to go check out a couple more cabinet options to see how they compare.  We also got prices back for the granites we looked at.  I knew the Azul Aran would be expensive, but I was shocked at just how much.  Others surprised me at being cheaper than I expected.  I need to sit down now and look at all the numbers so I can decide what to use.

We stopped at another brick supplier yesterday.  I found a couple I liked, but the prices weren’t any better than what I already have picked, so I’d rather just stick with those.  I have one more brick supplier to check out.  I also received samples of Certainteed’s Weatherboards Fiber Cement Siding.  Their ColorMax is similar to Hardie’s ColorPlus, but is slightly cheaper.  Since I was having a hard time finding a green I liked in the Hardie, I wanted to see what Certainteed’s colors were.

SIDING (left to right): Certainteed Taupe, Certainteed Olive, Certainteed Hearthstone, Certainteed Sable Brown, Hardie Woodstock Brown, Hardie Timber Bark, Certainteed Nantucket Gray, Certainteed Suede

BRICK (left to right): Owensboro Brick – Old Allentown, Cherokee Brick – Hampton (shown with Southern Light Buff, Southern Tan & Southern Sandrift mortar samples), Columbus Brick – Annandale (shown with Southern Beige & Southern Buff mortar samples), Brickcraft – Old Indiana

WINDOWS (left to right on bottom): Hurd Aspen Moss, Bronze, Sand, Sage Brown, Bahama Brown

The 2 middle Certainteed colors are similar to the middle Hardie colors.  The darker color is more brown which is a good thing.  I can’t decide what I think about the green shade.  I was worried the Hardie Woodstock Brown wasn’t green enough.  I had high hopes for the Certainteed Olive, but it’s too sage green.  I need to look at them in different lights to decide.  I also want to flip through my paint decks to see how they compare to colors I’d pick if we were painting it.

The picture below has all the siding samples I have in case anyone wants to compare Hardie’s colors to Certainteed.  This Chart comparing the two is pretty accurate to what my samples are.

SIDING (left to right) – Certainteed Taupe with Hardie Monterey Taupe below, Certainteed Olive with Hardie Mountain Sage below, Certainteed Hearthstone, Certainteed Sable Brown, Hardie Woodstock Brown, Hardie Timber Bark, Certainteed Nantucket Gray with Hardie Sandstone Beige below, Certainteed Suede with Certainteed Cypress and Hardie Heathered Moss below.

(All other samples – brick, mortar and window colors – are the same as above .)