The foundation blocks have been delivered!
The blocks are in place as of May 7.
It’s looking like a foundation!
Just a bit more work done on May 8. Garage foundation has been filled in.
The first floor is in the main living area and I LOVE the wood floor we are putting in! After debating between solid hardwood and engineered hardwood, we decided on the very first sample mom picked out. It’s a gorgeous engineered hardwood. It’s hickory with a dark finish and a distressed look. But I’m thinking you’d rather see it…
I want to pet it … it’s sooo pretty!
After picking out the wood floors, it was time for mom to pick out her bathroom floor. She originally wanted vinyl in her bathroom. And, since we’ll have vinyl in the laundry room, I was going to use the same vinyl mom put in her bathroom in the laundry. After looking through books and books of vinyl, and mom not finding any she really liked, mom decided she wanted to try tile. So, I went back to the first book and the 2nd or 3rd sample we saw is the one I picked out for the laundry room.
Laundry room floor
Next up, the bathrooms. The standard selection of tile is amazingly boring and leans towards beige, so we really didn’t have too many to look at. We didn’t want to go over budget on this, so we both settled on the same, off white tile. We’re both planning a dark vanity and I think the floor will contrast nicely. We’re installing them slightly differently in each bath. Mom is going to have it installed on the diagonal and I’m going to have them installed in a brick pattern.
Bathroom tile
While working on the tile for the bathroom floors we decided to see what we could do with the tile for my shower. We picked out a gorgeous combination! We’re going to use the same tile on the shower walls as we did on the floor. As an accent, we’re doing the about 5 rows of long, skinny glass tiles about 4.5 feet up from the floor. And speaking of the floor, we’re going to put down black flat rocks. It all looks really nice with the wall color I’m planning for that bathroom.
The tile is on the left, the circle disk on the tile will be the threshold and shelves. Top right is the accent tile. Paint sample is on the right. And, bottom right is the stone floor in the shower.
Our last decision of the night was the carpet that will go in all the bedrooms, including mom’s office. It was a quick decision as we both wanted grey and luckily we liked the same one. It’s really soft and is a new DuPont fiber that is supposed to repel stains. I’m hoping it works!
Grey carpet
Up next…cabinets!
We have a bathroom!
Look! Cement!
After work tonight I decided to just do a random drive-by of the lot and was so excited to see a pile of dirt. I’m sure my soon-to-be-neighbors weren’t as excited as I was. Especially seeing a crazy woman wandering around in the street taking pictures of dirt.
We were told Saturday that ground breaking would be soon. He wasn’t kidding!
Our new pile of dirt!
Our lot as of April 23!
It’s broken! That’s where our house will sit!
So, I decided to start blogging to capture the entire process of building a home. Actually, building a dream home with my mom.
After much mind-changing, mom and I have decided to build a new custom home. Our process went something like this: Let’s build a custom home! Oh, wow, that’s expensive, let’s build a track home. Wait, what if we spend even less money and just modify mom’s existing home to work! EEEK! Adding on to mom’s is going to mean we are living in a construction zone and the kitchen will be out of commission for quite a while. Ugh. Ok, let’s build a track home. Hmmm, before pulling the trigger on building a track home that isn’t exactly where we want it or what we want, maybe we should talk to the custom builder again. Let’s build a custom home!
And, that’s how we came full circle to “Let’s build a custom home!”
We’re building with JR Lazaro Builders. The president of the company, John, is someone I went to high school with and have known for years. Mom and I both have a really good feeling working with John and appreciate his advice throughout the process, which includes both “spend money on this” as well as “don’t spend money on that.” After much back and forth, we finalized our floor plans and elevation!
On March 22, 2014, we signed the agreement with the builder.
Right now, this is very exciting, but it’s just starting, so we’ll see how I feel in 3 months.
After leaving Darryl, we headed up to the northside to visit The Container Store and design and price the pantry. Mom and I went in with a specific pantry in mind. This one:
The Container Store Elfa Pantry
We got the layout designed, and now just have to wait for the shelving sale in the fall. So excited about this! This may be my favorite room.
After The Container Store we headed to Sherwin Williams to start looking at paint. Paint might be our quickest decision. For the entry, great room, kitchen, dining, study, mudroom, laundry room, mom’s office, mom’s bathroom and the garage, we’re going with a nice true gray, Light French Grey (SW0055). For my bedroom and bath, we’re doing Jubilee (SW6248), a silvery blue. And for the pantry, we decided on Cooled Blue (SW6759). Mom still has to make a final decision on her bedroom.
And we have some ideas for the rest of the paint on the outside, but we need to look at it with the brick. Hopefully we’ll have it soon!