Change of plans

About halfway through the home building process things changed dramatically.  Our builder, Dave, became very ill and was diagnosed with liver cancer.  Our worries about our house were replaced by worries about our friend and his family.  Fortunately, after lots of tests, it was determined that the cancer hadn't spread.  Chemotherapy and radiation were necessary to treat the cancer until ultimately a liver transplant would cure him.  Dave recommended another builder in town, Jake, to carry on with the home building.  We already knew Jake fairly well and knew he was a good builder, so we felt comfortable with him taking over the process.  It was awesome to work with Dave, and hope he will build something else for us after he gets through with all of his treatments.  So far, he has managed his treatments extremely well and the outlook is very good that he will get a liver transplant in the near future.

Windows and doors are finally here.

Windows and doors are here.  Notice how they are strapped down, this is an  important trade secret.  We had a big wind storm one morning that blew a lot of the windows over.  Luckily  Dave's guys were on site and with some help from the cement crew were able to strap the windows down.   Even with all the quick action the master bedroom closet window did break, and will have to have the glass replaced.  We were very  lucky it wasn't a major disaster.

I'm not even sure how they hung the window with the glass broken.  The new glass is sitting in the basement waiting to be installed.

The new windows do block a bit little of the view, but I am okay with it because they are so pretty and add so much character to the house.

Nothing can ever be perfect when building a house, and  that is the case here. The transoms that go above most of the windows on the main floor have a flaw in the them that makes it so they don't align perfectly with the window below it.  Lucky for us, Kim, our window dealer, was able to get the window company to remake the flawed ones.

Some of the new windows waiting to be installed.

A word of advice to all future home builders. Never use a catalog sample to color match a paint. We did.  What  a rookie mistake.  Now the trim and windows don't match.  We might repaint all of the trim again unless we come to love the contrast. What do you think?  Yes, there is something strange going on with the paint on the siding too. Some kind of white film. It may have to be repainted also.  You know me, I love painting.

 Front doors are hard to pick, but I love the one we chose - the glass is beautiful.  It still needs to be stained or painted. Rand wants it stained and I am leaning towards painting it.  There are also a few patio doors that have been  installed around the house.  Below is a picture of the one installed by the covered patio.

I am so, so happy to have the windows and doors in. The wind has been blowing right through the house making it freezing and miserable to be on the main floor. The windows and doors are already helping block a lot of that wind and cold air.  Maybe we will be able to have a conversation upstairs instead of always heading to the basement to talk.

Anyone know a good landscaper?

Pile of rocks that soon will become a retaining wall.

Large rock slabs will convert the neighborhood slide into a set of stairs.

We had a large area we needed to retain because we are on a sloped lot. We decided we better bring in a professional - a landscape architect to make sure we put the rock retaining wall in the right place. They are very hard to move later.  After trying to get someone to help us design the wall and other landscape features we gave up.  Landscapers must be in high demand because none of the ones we talked to seemed to be able to break away from whatever they were busy doing to help us out.  We think we ended up laying out the wall pretty well.

Outdoor covered porch!

The outdoor covered porch - going to be a nice quite place to hangout, watch the kids playing on the lawn, and BBQ some kind of meat.  It has taken on a life of it's own. Mistake #1:  you should never go to a Parade of Homes when you are about to break ground on your dream home.  It will cost you, a lot of cash.  We fell in love with the idea of having an outdoor fireplace.  Dave, our builder, said "sure no problem" and just like that it was done.  

Inspiration  photo from the Parade of Homes.

Pouring of the concert slab that will soon become the awesome outdoor space.  Cement is so pretty when it has just been poured.  To bad it doesn't stay that color.

Framing for the fireplace started.  A little different then the inspiration photo.  I couldn't stand to give up the light, so we kept the back wall open.  Still to come,  some kind of hearth bench in front of the fireplace.

 

Beautiful coffered ceiling  above the porch. The cedar will be stained a natural color and the coffer beams will be painted the same color as the trim.  We will still add a few can lights,  and a  ceiling fan in case it gets too hot from the fireplace. 

Completion of framing

Porch pillars are underway.  They help define the style of the house.

I love this picture.  I thought the entry hall had a low, flat, cozy ceiling.  I  was  so wrong.  We had a miscommunication with the engineer on this space. However, I'm thrilled with the miscommunication, "It is awesome."

Yes, this picture is out of order, but I wanted to show how awesome the entry turned out.

I love this  photo! The angle makes it look like we are all alone in the mountains instead of in the middle of town.

A picture is worth a thousand words.  Here are a few thousand words on the framing of the house.  We are very pleased, and the house looks great.

Just like that....  the framing is done.  The framing went great, there were a few surprises... some wonderful, like the entry, some not so great. For example, I lost the linen cabinet in my kids bathroom.  A four inch wall was omitted in the bathroom plans.   We also inherited a few plant shelves (will show later).  I'm not sure if I am happy about those or not.  Time will tell.

Things are moving along

The pouring of the basement slab has been started. The cement guys are pouring it in two sections.  The underground plumbing is all in and ready to go.

Surprise! The framing has started.  They have been framing so fast I don't have any pictures of the basement in progress. They are already starting on the main floor framing.

The framing has been my favorite part so far,  except for the clearing of the lot. The windows are huge, so huge we decided to change the office into a music room. We can't stand the thought of putting a desk in front of one of them, and blocking the view.

Basement walls

Here are the forms for the cement walls. The footings have already been poured.

Here the window frames are in place and cement will be poured around them. The best part about the windows is I can use them as landmarks, to help me visualize the layout of the rooms in the basement.

Now that the forms are down, we have real walls. The girls love the huge piles of dirt everywhere. The trenches that encircle the house are fun places to play.

We like how our builder shows attention to detail even in things that no one will ever see.  Notice the straight line on the damp proofing.

 There has been so much progress in such a short time. The footing have been poured and the cement walls are done.  The basement has been back filled, and window wells are in. We decided to use fiberglass window wells.  The metal ones have problems with rusting and cement is very expensive. With fiberglass you have to be very careful with back filling as rocks can break through the sides of the window well. The cool thing about them is they have a built in ladder for egress. Ours are a darker tan color then the sandstone one shown in the photo.

Clearing the lot and excavation.

 

Our builder, Dave and I spray painting the soil where the exterior walls will go. We are  marking  the outside walls and seeing if we like the way the house fits on the lot.  Drum roll...  enter the first change in the plans. We  decide to rotate the house just a little so that we would have a straight-on view of the mountains.

 What a difference a cleared lot makes. Look at the view.  How exciting!

I love the view of the mountains.  That is the whole reason we picked this lot.  I love watching the tractor and could have sat there all day watching it work - plus the sweet smell of the dirt.  I know, I know, maybe it's house fever but that dirt smelled awesome.

Seriously, in three days, the lot has gone from trees and sage brush to a great big hole shaped just like the house. It has been fun to walk around and tell the girls what all the different spaces will be. However they are mostly interested in where their bedrooms will be. Girls!

The Good, The Bad and The Over Budget!

We are finally, after three years of planning and dreaming, breaking ground on our dream home. It seems a little unreal that we are finally taking this huge step. A few months back we finalized the purchase of the lot, and the drawing of plans, which took years and a great Home Designer program.  To be official started all that is left is the ground breaking.   We want to be able to share this experience with our friends and family, and also hope to print a coffee table book from this blog.  All the good, the bad,  and the over budget that goes into building our dream home will be included in this blogging extravaganza.  Enjoy our pain and elation!