Getting vertical, grading, destiny and love at first sight!

This week they framed the entire first floor. There is one little wall missing on the keeping room, but otherwise we can walk it and see how it feels. It feels good! We made a big deal about "lines of sight" and it was very cool to stand in an area that should "align" well and see it in action. Our favorite view so far is out of the master bath big window -- to the north of the house--- The window will be a tall archtop type, and we are hoping the tree will be totally visible. Here is how it looks at framing......
The first floor front view so far.....

Yes, it is still high up, but we still have a giant mountain of dirt to move --- we didn't even have to call in the dirt guy yet!!

Other exciting things....

I have fallen in love.... with a piece of stone.... White Diamond.... so very pretty, but of course I am not sure if they have enough for us....

Here is a picture of white diamond and an old drawer front I have which I painted in my planned cabinet / trim color for the house. Right now we plan all of the trim to be this color, and the kitchen cabinetry, as well as the master bath. Benjamin Moore Manchester Tan....I know it is a "tan" but with our dark floors, I think it will look good. Here is the granite along with my little old sample drawer....Nick likes it too, so it is REALLY a good thing!

Weird things.... our lot slopes from low in front to high in back, so while I tried to line up our big tree through the living room windows in placing the house, it worked out, but what I didn't factor is that we can see the tree trunk, not the upper part of the tree. Oops! But, we did realize that while we are lying in bed, then the view improves --- so guests, first thing when you walk in the house, don't look out the rear window, you must only look out the rear from our bed!! Here it is from a few feet down, at our bed level in our master (east side)....

Rear view....

Last but not least....I have been thinking about all of these fun things to do with this long skinny under the porch space (9x40) --- my ideas so far have been roller skating track, kids clubhouse, and bowling alley. Remember last week I was thinking about this and saying good thing my mom doesn't read this because she would know one of these things might really happen and maybe she would attempt to talk some sense into me (who needs it, all of my ideas are surely better than the voice recognition trap door the kids have in mind, right? Not to mention, mom, remember about a year ago when we came up with the idea for the slide into the basement and you were wondering if that is how you had to get down there? Consider all of the latest ideas big improvements!) Well, this week they had to do some grading and guess what the kids found.... A BOWLING BALL, buried in the muck. Is it destiny? I thought perhaps so until Nick and I saw them carrying the bowling ball to the highest point they could find and then they threw it into the mud puddle to see how big the splash would be. End of the bowling alley dream..... I am now starting to have nightmares about the "bowling" idea!! Mom, don't feel relief yet, we still have time to come up with a REALLY cool idea. Give us time!!!

Up for this week --- getting the porches "panned" --- this will be nice because we will not have giant drop offs in the front and rear of the house. Then they can put the flagstone on them and we can actually use them. Also, I think they'll finish the last wall on the first floor and maybe begin the 2nd floor flooring. I told the kids that in the next 2 weeks we'd be able to walk in their rooms and figure out which ones will belong to each kid. Nicholas gave me a stern reminder.... "Mom, remember, I want the one with no dog poop!" OK, will try to accommodate that request.