34: Don't Let Anything Slide

At the end of a construction project, the homeowner and builder have to both agree that everything was completed as per the terms of the building contract and the final check is written. The homeowner gets the key to the house, and it's theirs to occupy...as it is. I'm not encouraging anyone to assume that there will be things in dispute at this point, and I don't recommend withholding the final check unless things have gone seriously awry. I do recommend, though, that the new homeowner makes doubly, triply sure that everything is completed as expected and as specified. It's really easy at this point to be so happy that construction is finally complete that details can be overlooked...even ignored.

I should have learned my lesson. About 10 years ago, I renovated an apartment in New York City. The renovation experience didn't even begin to compare in scope and scale with my experience building a house, but when the renovation was complete, I was so happy and relieved to be back in my apartment I overlooked a few things that had been done incorrectly. Ten years later, I'm still living with mosaic tiles that weren't installed correctly in my bathroom, and—worse—a darker grout that was used on only one of four walls. The color is only slightly darker, but I notice it with a tinge of irritation every time I turn on the light in the bathroom.

Here at Twilight Field, there was one problem that wasn't readily apparent when work was finished and I took possession of the house. The in-wall sound system in the living room was installed, but I didn't yet have a TV to check it and discover that the subwoofer was missing behind it's grillwork...and over a year later I'm still trying to get the system connected and working correctly. My builder has come back and installed the missing subwoofer, but something more is wrong with the system. It's still not working.

Mistakes happen, and it's amazing that this is the only real problem that I've had during or after construction. But, don't let anything (in my case needing to purchase a TV in time) prevent you from checking out everything in the project before you agree that the job is done. I'm back in touch with my builder, and he's coming back to work out the problem. I'll share more about the sound system in another post.

33: Porch Sconces

I found these interesting lanterns at Shades of Light. I had seen a lot of nautical, Arts & Crafts, and modern styles of exterior lights, but I was looking for something that would have a hint of Western farmhouse style. The Catskills were actually a part of the United States' first frontier and "Wild West." These bronze outdoor hurricane lanterns are no longer available, but I highly recommend Shades of Light as a source for something unexpected. They've got lots of styles in their catalog and online.

I used a pair of the sconces at the front door and a single one by the back door. They came in two sizes, and I was very careful to find a size that worked with the scale of the house. I haven't done a lot of specifying product like this, so I didn't place my order until the house was under construction. I used poster paper and roughly sketched the sconces in both of the sizes that they came in. I highly recommend doing this. The drawings don't need to be perfect. After creating the silhouettes, cutting them out and taping them in place on the side of the unfinished house, it was easy to decide on the right size. It was also priceless in determining where to actually have them mounted on the house, which is a decision you definitely want to make with your builder.

I should also point out here that there was one thing that I found really disappointing with my decision to use vinyl siding on the exterior of the house. The product requires mounting boxes, which came in a standard size that is larger than the mounts of my light fixtures. It's a dead give-away that the siding is vinyl, but I like to believe (or hope) that the strong character of the light fixtures distracts from the mounts in the wall.

32: Porch Ceiling Pendant

I found this great looking Moravian Star pendant light online at Shades of Light. At $450 it wasn't an inexpensive choice, but it gives the screened porch and that side of the house a nice touch of character. I put it on a dimmer (don't forget to consider this detail for most of your exterior lights). It makes it possible to set a variety of moods on the porch. I discovered after everything was in place that dimming the light at night also minimized the reflection of light on the screening...opening up the view from the porch after dark.

If you're on a budget, you're on a budget, but I decided to use exterior lighting that would give my new house a sense of a past...even if it's only in my imagination.

31: Screened Porch

In the Catskills there's a serious "fly season," so there was no question that I needed to screen in part of the porch, the part that wraps around the side of the house and connects with the mud room. Oak Tree Homes had the foresight to also add screening beneath the floor of this part of the porch, which keeps flies and other insects from coming up between the planks. Flies, mosquitoes, whatever your challenge...make sure that you have as tight a seal against bugs as possible. As for screen doors, you can find them pre-made, but we ended up having them custom made. I wanted them as simple as possible, and I also had the issue of the 8-foot tall front door to deal with. It was more expensive, but the screen doors are very unobtrusive.

I've added a dark green wicker tea table and two wicker rocking chairs to my screened porch. With the windows open to the living room, I think of this part of the porch as the lungs of the house where interior air can freely exchange with the sweetly perfumed Catskills breezes during warmer weather. It's the also the perfect spot to watch the sun set in summer.

30: Porch Floor

Porch floors can become a lifetime maintenance issue needing a fresh coat of paint every few years to keep them in shape. Composite wood, on the other hand, doesn't wear, and I discovered that the painted look of some product isn't so bad. In the beginning it does loot a little on the shiny side, but it softens a bit in the first few months of sun exposure, and the faux effect should remain pretty much the same without any significant additional change.

The only catch with what I've seen is that there is only one color, this dark green, that I think looks anywhere near like the real McCoy. I just attended the National Homebuilders' Show in Las Vegas where I saw similar products that I wouldn't recommend. If you're looking for composite wood as an alternative to real wood, pay attention to the texture of the molded wood grain and the overall look of the product. My problem with a lot of composite woods is that you can see the particles in the composite, which completely ruins the effect of painted wood.

You also want to plan careful how it will be installed. You don't want an installation where you can see the ends of the planks. It's where the composite material shows. We handled that issue by designing the porch floor with a perpendicular plank that outlines the exposed edges of the porch, which also gives the floor a more finished look.

29: Beadboard

Beadboard comes in 4' x 8' panels and is relatively inexpensive (as well as easy to install). My original idea was to cover the walls of the first floor with wide horizontal planks of wood that would then be painted. I wanted some architectural texture in the rooms, and I was very leery of using too much Sheetrock. Oak Tree Homes was open to the idea of wood planks but warned me that the wood would expand and contract depending on humidity, heat and cold throughout the year. They were concerned that the resulting ever-changing gaps would drive me crazy. Then when we began to take a scalpel to big ticket items in the budget, I quickly came up with an alternative approach.

I simply took the texture that I had originally planned for the walls to the ceiling and switched from what would have been a labor intensive installation on the walls to easily installed beadboard panels for the ceiling of the living room, dining room and kitchen on the first floor.

28: Faux Ceiling Beams

Ok, they're fake. The ceiling didn't really need the support of beams, but I wanted this architectural detail for the first floor. There were some details, though, that I just couldn't imagine and specify for Oak Tree until construction was underway. I remember times during the initial planning stages when I thought, "if I just had four walls I could figure it out." Fortunately, Oak Tree understood, and helped me solve a few details later during construction. Once the house was framed and the interior rooms were being finished with Sheetrock and trim, Oak Tree mocked up a couple of samples in two different sizes.

When we held them up against the ceiling it was immediately clear that the larger size I had thought would be the answer—I wanted them to look substantial and real—was way too big. The next issue involved figuring out how the beams would meet the ceiling. For this, Oak Tree suggested a very simple crown molding that would wrap the room and provide a clean end for the beams.

I'm really pleased with the results. What do you think?