We’re Building a House: Update #2

We (well they) are making great progress on our new home and we couldn’t be more excited! While it does seem like it’s taking forever because we’re so anxious, time really is flying by and it almost feels like we just got started. Since my last post a lot has happened. I’ve been showing sneak peeks on my FB page, but I decided to save the ins and outs and more detailed information for my blog readers.

Foundation

Once we saw the foundation I think that’s when reality set in, especially because we were driving by not expecting to see anything new. Approximately five weeks after finishing up at the design center, they broke ground and started on our lot. I was told that in the foundation phase when you see the concrete your home will appear smaller than what it really is and that’s exactly how I felt. I was walking on the foundation trying to envision where everything would be and it just didn’t seem right at first, but I recalled some wise words from a friend, “just relax, it will all turn out fine” – that’s helped me a lot during this process, but not that I’ve anxious or anything 🙂

Framing

The framing phase is when they frame out the floor plan with wooden beams and make way for the electrical wiring, the insulation and so forth. At this point we could walk through the house and get a feel for how things will be and how they were making way for what was to come. Also at this point I pulled out my notes app to notate anything that wasn’t right, needed to be fixed or something that was questionable and based on the horror stories I’ve heard from other people who’ve built homes, I’m glad to say this list was very very minimal – hardly anything. This was also the phase when the daily stalking began because there were changes from day to day and I didn’t want to miss anything!

Brick

Oh, the brick! My fave! So I have to give Joe credit for this because he picked out the brick. I initially wanted a darker brick that was actually one of the popular ones in the neighborhood, many of the homes had it and I thought it was beautiful. However, my husband wanted us to be different and chose a brick that no other house in our neighborhood has, yet! We were sent by our designer to a home in one of their other neighborhoods to view it in person and I have to admit I loved it. But then on my daily trips through my neighborhood I always saw the one I initially wanted I started to want it all over again! BUT when they started laying the brick on our house and I saw the character and originality, I was sold!

Sheetrock Walk-through

I learned that sheetrock is drywall, imagine that! When we were told that they would be doing the sheetrock next, I said “awesome” and then googled later because in my mind I’m thinking more cement! Anyway, once those walls went up it got really real! We had our first walk through with our sales woman and construction manager. He took his time to walk around the entire house inside and out going over everything they had done and what they would be doing. He was very informative with information about water, AC and all the other important house stuff lol. He also answered some questions I had written down in my notes 🙂

Paint, Doors and Cabinets

Once I started seeing the doors and cabinets go up, then it began to look like a real house to me. On one of my morning visits (because I now do a morning and evening visit lol) I was excited to see all the doors and cabinets had been delivered. Joe and I got to somewhat see the process of the door installation which involves them painting the doors after arriving and applying several coats of paint and sealant. They also have painted the entire house (we got our master in a different color from the rest of the house), put up the crown molding, installed the cabinets, tubs and the countertops. Joe and I went to visit when they first started painting and I must say I had second thoughts about the color I chose (I’ll share details and specifics about colors, flooring, countertops, etc. in the final post). Some grays have blue undertones and I was afraid it wasn’t going to look good, but Joe assured me that everything would be beautiful and now that the crown molding is up, the cabinets are up and the kitchen countertops are installed, it looks great!

So my final post will be once the house is complete and I’m hoping to do a vlog 🙂 If you’ve built your home and/or have gone through the home buying process, share with me your thoughts, tips or experiences! I’d love to hear from you!

Live well,