House Building; Step by Step

Pull out your magnifying glass......here are our house plans. 

There are a lot of changes made since I took this photo but overall you get the idea of what our dreams are made of...

We have 3 levels. The first photo is the main level. Zoom in and enjoy. 

Next level our basement. 

We are taking about 1000 square feet and creating an apartment. I feel strongly about having an apartment. We shall see what the future holds and why this was inspired but here's a close up on the apartment. It has its own private entrance.

 Here's the rest of our basement. It is a wide open space for accommodating large family gatherings. We will have a kitchenette down there for popcorn and serving food. Visualize one of those large old fashioned popcorn makers....

 3rd level is strictly for Bria and Ada. They will each have their own bedroom, walk in closet, and a bathroom to share. There will be a utility closet and a linen closet up there and a skylight in bathroom. It's so cute, just wait till you see it.

Let's begin the fun of documenting this journey. 

Our lot is just shy of half acre. 

2200 west is our backyard which was the motivator for this lot. 

I don't want backyard neighbors.

 when we saw this backhoe on our property we about peed our pants. It is happening. It is no longer a pipe dream. 

 pouring the cement

 We have a library in the basement which is the cut out you see below. It will have a fireplace and bookshelves. I see myself nestling in close to the fire flickering, reading some of my favorite books. 

YES!

 our separate entrance for apartment

  We will have dark grey, light grey and white as exterior with stone. The colors are a little distorted in my photo but here's our choices. The stone for our downstairs fireplace will be same as our exterior stone. Have you ever seen a cuter shingle ha ha

Let's take a look at the inside shall we:

our laundry room floor and powder bathroom... love it. 

It's bold and different and makes me smile

 our carpet is just lush!! I saw it in a model home and knew it was what I wanted at first glance. Color is a little distorted but it gives you an idea.

 our master bathroom floor. Oh man I am so excited to walk on this darling design

far left will be master vanity

 middle is master shower. 

We will have little to no tile in our house. 

This cultured marble won our hearts when we saw it.

far left is shower for main and girl's bathroom

 I wanted to show what this looks like displayed in their showroom. 

Isn't it all that and a cup of cheese. 

 main bathroom vanity with black cabinets

 girls bathroom upstairs vanity is glacier  and shower walls mossy graphite with black cabinets

The hardwood will be in entry way, office, kitchen, mudroom, living room, dining room and halls on main level.

flooring for main bathroom

 my backsplash in kitchen. Subway tile is just so cute.

 third style down will be my kitchen cabinet knobs. My kitchen cabinets are solid flat front cabinets

Day for framing begins.... 

Framing has gone so fast (thanks weather for cooperating). It normally takes 3 weeks but we are not even 2 weeks and look at our house. It was such a pleasant surprise to see our 3rd level was begun a day ago. Oh man can you hear my excitement??? I am giddy. 

That's all for now...stay tuned 
We made a few changes to the house after walking through it as the framing began. We now have a Costco door (small little door in the pantry that you can access through garage, no more hauling loads and loads of groceries through the house) spoiled I know but so fun. We  added a window in our master bathroom and moved a wall from the laundry to pantry, ain't no one need a large laundry room ha ha. Love visualizing a dream and then watching it become reality.

It's been almost a week with no progress on the house but look what they accomplished in one day. The roof is almost completed and the basement is officially done. We watched the crane pick up the tresses and put them where they belong. Watching and learning the house building process is pretty fascinating. It seemed so complicated but as I watch each step its really rather simple. Not saying the work is simple, the process is.

This is one of the bedrooms upstairs. I wondered why they weren't framing it in, now I see the tresses were specially designed to create the walls. Fascinating. 

 Here's a view from the kitchen to the master bedroom and bathroom

 our dining area is coming together

today they should complete the framing. They still need to finishing framing two bedrooms, covered patio, and then roofing will begin......
The work is cruising here's what happened today

 side view

back view

It's getting more and more exciting each time I see the progress. This is one of the bedrooms over the garage. It will have a bench seat with cubbies and two steps to get down to it.

 Here's the second bedroom above the other garage. Can you spy with your little the roughly framed closet?

 a view from same bedroom just different angle

 We have one of two furnaces. It's so cool(or warm haha)

 In the basement they are beginning to add the heating ducts

 view from the living room area looking at apartment

 Mechanical room

 Main level from master bedroom  looking at master bath

our covered patio is almost complete

 office is behind me, hall to master bedroom and Malia's bedroom and bathroom. Can you see the tub?

 I'm standing in the entry way. Our front door is the open space

 this is the kitchen, pantry(see the orange spray paint? that's the Costco door), bathroom(behind where you can't see is the laundry room mudroom and two closets)

Finally a decision has been made. I have been going back and forth on my kitchen colors. I know white cabinets are all the rage and I will be honest it looks so pretty but I feel like its trendy and I am more of a timeless classic gal. I listened to our interior designer I listened to people who opted for white in their kitchen and for a while I decided on white. But it didn't feel right. Every time I thought about it the thought was always will you regret going with white. So I spent some time on Pinterest and searched and searched until I found this........

 I knew this was my color because see that backsplash? I had already decided on it. So there ya go. Since I made this decision I am at complete peace. I know I am sounding dramatic but man it has been a huge decision. Kitchens are the heart of your home. The focal point. I am so happy!!!

 Shingles!!!!

 My mind is a little blown at the moment. So I had a few questions and we scheduled a walk through with Trace who is in charge of the building to go over my issues. The cabinet guy was with him. We went through the rooms that I had concerns about and we discussed moving walls and changing closets and just a list of things. That was at 10:30am and when I took Corby back around 6:30 would you believe my list had been completed. I picked up my jaw and just was speechless. They are fast little beavers working away.
My Costco door has been framed!

 This situation was stressing me out way more than it should. So the laundry room shares a wall with the pantry and after it was framed I could tell my laundry room was larger than I desired. I asked Trace if we could move the wall from laundry room to pantry. He is one of the coolest guys I know and was like sure. He pulled out his measuring tape and said we can go 19" does that work. I was so happy. Then I looked at the laundry room and was concerned about the spacing for washer/dryer and sink. Trace laughed at me and said we can make any size sink you need. Thats the benefit of custom builders ha ha oh yes I forget that feature. I will still get my laundry basket cubby and sink and my larger pantry. I am just so happy! It is fun to see it come to reality.