No really, we already have a bathroom! I drove by last Friday and who was actually excited to see a port-o-potty? This girl! And we have cement! It’s coming along. Now we just have a wait for the cement to cure and then we can look forward to framing. We’re making progress. Baby steps, but still steps.
We have a bathroom!
Look! Cement!
Whooo-hooo! Ground has officially been broken!!! Never thought I’d be so excited to see a pile of dirt.
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.
So yesterday was a day full of decisions for me and mom. First stop was the Lazaro model home to meet with Darryl. We decided on the roof (black moire), gutters (white), windows (white), trim (white), outside outlets, outside water spouts, undercabinet light locations, can light locations (inside and out), and the fireplace surround (a cultured marble in white and grey).
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!