It’s been almost two weeks since we arrived in NW Montana from South Florida. The weather has been beautiful most days, although we’ve had a few hot days and a nice rainstorm. We don’t mind the rain, which is certainly needed locally. We’ve had fun visiting local shops and found some great vintage pieces that will add warmth and character to our new build. Last Sunday, we took some time to explore a local park. It was a sunny day, and our four-mile hike was rewarded with beautiful views across Flathead Valley. We are just one week from our move-in date and our build team has been working on many finishing touches, including cabinet and door hardware.
Views of Swan Range, Foy’s Lake and inversion in the pictures below:
Cabinet Hardware
The solid brass cabinet hardware, including pulls and knobs are pretty and well-made. I found them on Amazon, and they were reasonably priced. The kitchen will have mixed metals, including brass, stainless steel and brushed nickel. As you can see in the pictures below, the cabinet hardware is brass, and the faucets, sinks and appliances are brushed nickel or stainless steel.
A mix of brass pulls and knobs in various sizes add functionality to the space. The pulls work best for large drawers and cabinets. We used 12″ pulls for the large drawers and upper cabinets. The 6″ pulls were put on the smaller cabinets. We prefer the knobs on small drawers. You can see our mix of knobs and pulls in the kitchen pictured below:
The 12″ pull is the perfect size for a wide drawer. You definitely want to use a single pull instead of two knobs. If you use two knobs, some folks will be tempted to open the drawer with one knob, which can misalign your drawer. Isn’t the vertical grain match on these walnut cabinets gorgeous?
Interior Door Hardware
The interior door hardware is one of my favorite finds for our new build. The lever handles are a mix of solid brass and dark wood. They are well made and feel really good in your hand. For private spaces, like our primary bedroom and office we are using the same handles but with privacy locks.
As you can see in the entry below, the door handle looks great with the Sherwin Williams Natural Tan paint color we used for our interior doors and trim. During the build planning phase, we considered wood doors and trim, but the cost was just too much, and we actually prefer them painted. We saved $7,000 by going with painted doors verses wood. We are really happy with our paint choices, including Sherwin Williams’s Natural Tan and Greek Villa inside the house and Jasper and black on the exterior. I spent a good amount of time choosing the paint colors, but the painters accidentally used SW’s Natural Tan instead of Natural Linen for our trim. Funny enough, we actually like the Natural Tan, which has similar undertones to our first choice. It looks great, so there is no need to repaint everything. As you can see in the picture below, we put in a walnut floating bench, and fir front door in the entry space. The fun chandelier was affordable and looks great. The door will be stained to match the color of the wood beams and posts on our porches.
We continued the brass in our pocket door hardware, which is both easy to use and looks good. It’s such a small detail, but if you’ve ever tried to open a pocket door with bad hardware, you’ll appreciate this touch. This same hardware is going on all the pocket doors in the house.
Exterior Door Hardware
Our builder, Jason of J Martin Builders suggested we use multi-point locking systems on our exterior doors. The eight-foot doors will be more secure and seal better with the multi-point locks. We chose black, simple metal hardware for our exterior doors. The handles are sturdy and pretty.
As you can see in the picture below, there are three locking points on the front door (top, middle and bottom):
We had to pick Therma-true door handles for the Therma-true glass door for the back of the house. They look great but are a bit fancier than a back door needs, in my humble opinion. You’ll see another multi-point locking system on the back door too. Finally, the multi-point locking system is also on the door going out of the garage (not shown).
Learn more about multi-point locks and other security tips in my post below:
Bath Hardware
We’re using brushed nickel hardware in the guest bathroom. We thought about mixing metals in this space by having brass knobs on the walnut cabinets but didn’t like them with all the other nickel. There will be a few hints of brass on the door handle and overhead lighting in this space.
As you can see the rest of the hardware in the bathroom will be brushed nickel, including the plumbing hardware, towel bar, hand towel ring and paper holder.
The primary bathroom will feature all brass hardware, including brass knobs, lighting, plumbing fixtures and trim. I’m excited to see all the brass fixtures go into this space, including the brass brackets for the shower glass. The glass shower contractor measured our shower space and made recommendations for the glass type, height and fasteners.
Alluvial Quartzite
Our local design partners, Joni Stoll Design found the Alluvial Quartzite that is on our kitchen island. This natural stone is also going on our fireplace surround and on top of the custom-built walnut TV cabinet in the living room. We picked a leathered quartzite, which provides a really nice texture. In addition to the black, it also has white veining and a bit of green, which was a really cool surprise. Can you spot the green?
Quartzite is harder than quartz, with a rating between seven and eight on the Mohs Hardness Scale. Due to this high level of durability, quartzite is highly resistant to physical damage, like scratches, chips, and dents. Quartzite does need to be sealed to prevent water, oils, and other liquids from seeping into the natural stone. Plan to reseal the countertop about once every one to two years to protect the quartzite.
The television will be mounted above the walnut TV cabinet pictured below:
Concrete Patios
One of our goals for our new home build was to have one small step up into the house and to have our primary living spaces on the first floor. We accomplished this goal with our one-story mid-century modern inspired design. The floorplan is the biggest house we’ve ever lived in, but at 2,125 square feet, it is relatively small compared to many houses. We have three concrete patios, one for the front entry, a main patio off the kitchen and a smaller one off the primary bedroom. They are all covered and do not obstruct the mountain view. They also have a very small impact on the amount of light coming into the home.
Movers
Two movers from International Van Lines came this morning to drop off all our stuff. Jim and I had moved around some stuff in the garage to make room for all the boxes. It took 21 days for our stuff to be delivered from South Florida. The timing worked out fine, as there was plenty of room in the garage for everything. Plus, we still have room for additional furnishings should things get delivered earlier than expected. When rearranging the stuff in the garage, we made sure to keep each subcontractor’s stuff together and leave plenty of space from them to work.
This week we’re hoping all the plumbing fixtures get installed this week. The countertop installers should also be back to install the Cambria MacBeth quartz on the backsplash. Lastly, after three visits to the main post office, I was able to get keys for our box for the community mailbox. I also picked up the mail that they were holding for us.
The Sloan corner sectional by Interior Define is set to be delivered August 12th. The Arhaus Walnut Jacob dining table with the Vertex metal base is being delivered August 28th. In addition to the vintage pieces, we’ve found locally, I’ve also ordered a King and Queen bed frame from Wayfair. I’ll continue to look for additional vintage pieces, but some things I suspect will need to be ordered new.
Our builder is confident of our move-in date, but there will be projects that still need to be finished, i.e., Walnut Paneling in the living room, primary bath shower glass, etc. I’ll be sharing additional build updates, as well as progress on our garden, including my meeting with The Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation (DNRC). Stay tuned by subscribing below:
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Design, Garden, & Travel by Majestic Meadows 
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