Oh The Choices We Make

One would think after contemplating building a house for a few years that one would know exactly what they want it to look like (within one's budget of course).  

Well this "one" doesn't.  I actually amaze myself;)  How can a girl who likes everything home and has spent many many hours contemplating spaces, efficiency and of course looks not have every detail all figured out?

Because there are too many choices!  

Here were 3 of my missions today: going to Costco because we are out of the two things I use most often in this casa...coffee and laundry detergent! Driving 60 miles to pick up a stone sample for the exterior of the house and picking a shingle color, metal roof color, and stucco color that all look good together.

I accomplished 1/2 of one of those missions.  Although I didn't have the stone to help guide me along I started trying to put together some exterior colors.  I have an old Sherwin Williams paint deck, some shingle samples and some itty bitty samples of metal roofing..I mean ITTY!

All along we have been thinking of leaning towards more gray tones on the exterior.  I have a few reservations about it being to "cold" so lately I have been drawn to some more taupey gray tones.  I have been "pinning" away for what seems like ages to help me grasp what we are looking for.

Here are some of the looks that have caught my eye.

While our house will be quite different, I love this look and the mix of materials.

                 modern exterior design by calgary general contractor Veranda Estate Homes & Interiors

Here are more of the gray tones we are drawn to.

                        modern exterior design by seattle architect Rhodes Architecture +Light

This is a little closer to the way our home will look.  There will be a lightish stone, stucco, and some metal roof mixed in.

                     eclectic pool design by austin general contractor New Urban Home Builders

I LOVE this home.. Modern yet warm and perfectly contemporary Texas to me.  I looked into this type of stone for our casa and it was way out of our budget.  Bummer!

So I finally laid some samples out today and started playing around.  I did it outside to try to bring out the true colors.  To the right you'll see some of the gray tones I ripped out of my paint deck because I have a hard time visualizing if I can't lay the colors right next to each other.  I think these pics make the grays look a lot lighter and washed out than they are.  I'm playing with the "sticks and stones" color on in the middle of the palate on top of the paint deck too.

Here are those itty bitty metal roof samples I mentioned.  I actually tore off the slate gray color so I can play.

Here I laid the slate gray roof which reads pretty taupey  on top of the driftwood color composite shingle.  We can't afford to do the whole roof in metal and actually almost nixed it completely until we found out that some of the very slight pitches on our porches and over our garage won't allow for shingles.  So we will have a mixed material roof instead.  I like metal a LOT so I'm cool with that!

Here is the gray shingle that we are considering with the itty bitty metal color 

sample and sherwin williams stamped concrete for the stucco color.

Here are the metal and stucco colors against the driftwood roof color which has some gray and brown and may feel a little warmer for us.  Plus from what I understand the lighter the roof the better as far as avoiding the mean ol' Texas sun goes.

This is a horribly washed out picture.  These two potential stucco colors are way darker than they are showing up here against the gray roof materials.

Actually here they are against the driftwood.  See what I mean?

And here is a "gateway gray" against the driftwood for good measure.

Here it is against the gray shingles.

O.k. So I was hoping as I wrote this post I would gain some clarity but I didn't!  Doh!  You see why these decisions are so hard.  They are all so very similar but I have no idea how they will all come together on the big canvas that will be our house!

So that is what I accomplished today on the home building front.  I have a hard time putting the energy into this at times...you want to know why?

At the moment there are many things going on in the 

"not building yet" process.

For instance: 

Friday the frame engineering was completed!  Yipee!

Sunday I paid for the the engineering plan received it via email and sent it to the builder in hopes that we can finally get the completed construction contract to the bank.

 Monday I get a call from the hubs that starts with "Don't panic but....I've been on the phone with the builder and the engineer off and on all day and we have a problem"  Woohoo!

The builder apparently thinks that it is all "over-engineered" and the engineer says that he is not surprised and that they hear that often from builders.  He also was right to assume that the builder felt the foundation was also "over-engineered". 

You wanna know the best part?  The plan that the engineer suggests will add a whopping 15 grand to our costs per the builder.  Seeing as we are already at our max budget we most certainly DO "have a problem".

The next step is to get the builder, framer, and framing engineer together to see how we can safely and affordably deal with this issue.

Side note for the uber thrifty:  If you are ever considering building a home and can purchase a house plan online that already has all of these things done for you I would strongly suggest you look into it.  I know they can seem pricey but we have definitely made an investment in the plans and engineering for this home and it would have been much more budget friendly had we been able to find a house plan that would work on our lot.  Don't forget we are uber conservative with our $ and what may seem like a big investment for us may not for another. 

That being said it is really hard to find a house plan that has everything that your looking for accommodates the dimensions of your lot and works with the topography of the land.

While I have to admit this kind of news about increasing costs(which makes it undoable) is not what I want to hear I have a confession to make.

I have been praying about this process a lot.  Not like a "Dear God please help us to get this house built" kind of prayer but something just the opposite really.  While it's obvious I dig this kind of thing...the planning, the imagining the attempt at designing I don't want it to define me or our family.  Yes it would/will be a fun place to raise our kids.  It's 2.6 acres of entertainment and memory making as far as I'm concerned.  But...I also know that memories can be made and fun can be had absolutely anywhere and honestly it may be better for our family not to go through the mental, physical, and financial stress of building.  

I think this crumbling little rental house has made me realize this more than anything.  Do I like it? No..it has many issues and we are cramped but my kids could care less and are happy and that is all I could ever, ever want!  So I will keep asking God to make it apparent to us.  If we are biting off more than we can chew I would rather know now that's for sure.