We're on a fast movin train and I like it!

Well hello there.   A lot has happened around here in a week or so!

Let me show you around the construction site!

Our lot is really hard to get a picture of.  This is my sad attempt.

I think our driveway runs right through that open area but who the heck would know.  It all starts looking the same.

Actually here is a better pic from the street.  The drive is going to the right of that lovely cedar there.

I was at work the day all the fun started and the hubs texted me this pic..Gah!

It's really pretty alarming to see this part.

I would have to say we have already driven out to the site 224 times since that occurred;)  I kid!  But man it's hard to stay away.  When you have waited this long for something to come to fruition you don't want to miss a thing.

So that day after work I made my poor hubs and the crew go to the site again so I could see it with my own eyes.

This pic doesn't even do this pile of trees justice.  Did I mention it's our job to get rid of that mess?  Apparently it's pretty expensive to pay someone to haul a pile like this away and we are always looking for a way to save some money but I think we got in over our heads on this one.  

Look at those faces!  It looks like they just opened the oven and got scorched (I don't have any experience with that)

It was hotter than hades here that day!

Below is a peek at the one we lovingly call Boogers coming back up the drive after it was cleared.

Let the exploring begin!  This lot was so thick with brush and trees that we haven't been able to get a good feel for it until now and the kids are loving it already.

We can't wait to see how much fun they will have out here!

This is a view looking back down the driveway towards the street.

 Are you curious about the next step?

Well here ya have it!

Yup that's the way it all began.   A little prehistoric foundation marker.

Can you spot the other corner marked here?  Tee Hee...these make me laugh.

There are perfect little spots to make trails to for the kids to play and ride bikes and probably hide from me!

We haven't been able to see if we have a view or not in the past due to the thick brush but if you stand in just the right spot in front of where the house will sit then you can see there is one!

Unfortunately I doubt we will see this once we move in.  We are sticking to our one story ranch (ish) plans.  Maybe we will have to build a lookout tower/deck someday..  Oh...that sounds fun! 

 This pic was taken from the street so you can see how far back the house sits.  In a we got lots o extra $ to burn situation we would have loved to set the house further back on the lot.  The further back from the street you go the further the builder has to run concrete, water lines, and electricity.  That = more $$.

 We managed to get it 150 feet back.  I think it provides just enough of that private feeling we are going for.  Can you spot our little monkey wearing pink?  I think she is standing near the front door.

Can you picture the casa siting right back there in that cleared spot beyond those trees? 

Now can you?

So exciting!  I still can't picture it.  Everything always looks and feels different from what I imagined.  That is a scary thought when you plan a whole house from scratch!

This picture has both the back and front of the house in black and white.

 It will be a little different than this as we had to shrink the front and back porches a little to help us get closer to our budget but you still get the feel for it.

Anywho, the day after the lot was cleared the framing for the foundation started going up!

Now it's getting real.  That's my dirty ol hubs trying to show me where the kids room is.  It's hard to make since of it all even at this stage.

Oh and he will love this!  Here is is pretending to sit at his desk in his office.  Hey dude...you did it!  I just made the command and took the picture;)

Your looking at the back door now.  Isn't it lovely?

This next picture was a shocker to me.  We knew our lot sloped a little and we knew it added to the foundation costs but dude!  That is one of the back corners of the house.  The concrete will go up to that plum line(do you see it?).  I didn't picture having that much foundation on the back but it is what it is and we can disguise it in some way I just know it;)

As I frolicked(it's been a long time since I've frolicked) around and imagined the outcome,  my poor dad slaved away at that massive pile of cedar trees.  (That's why the hubs was so dirty)  They spent several hours pulling and sawing and barely made a dent.

You know what is cute?  Both the hubs and my dad said they enjoyed it!  It made them feel all manly and stuff.  My guy loves to work with his hands and get dirty and although we have enjoyed being renters and not having projects I think he misses it just a little.  Yay for me!

 So do you wanna see what happens after they frame for the foundation?

The sewer lines are run.  

And they put them where they need to go by using rebar.  Who knew?

So here we are.  Foundation formed, sewer lines run, and we wait....

We have to get that pile of trees chipped up before the next step.  Here's hoping we get it done this week!

Here we GO!

It finally happened!  One would think I might have mentioned it here a little sooner than now but here she is..

We finally closed on our construction loan last week!!!!!

If you want to see more up to date progress pics then head over and like the Hill Country Homebody facebook page because if I know myself I know I will find it hard to be all official and write up a post as often as I would like to.

I never would have thought the closing process would have been so long and drawn out.  It is just a sign of the times I guess.  

So before I start posting about the progress and process for building a home I want to share a few things just in case anyone out there is considering going the route of picking a lot and building.

Often times people are picking a lot in a subdivision that provides a specific builder (say...a DR Horton neighborhood) which we have actually done before and then decided we were getting in over our heads and backed out(another lesson learned).  In those cases (at least in our case 5 years ago) the process is a bit more streamlined.  They have specific lots that specific floor plans will fit on and and of course you pay more for the better lots.  One of the perks to going this route is financing.  It is just more simple.  The builder usually offers financing and you have more down payment options.

If you are going out and searching for a lot to build on there are MANY things to consider.  

The obvious one is location.

The things to consider about location are pretty obvious but just to be thorough...

Proximity to STUFF(aka grocery stores, work, schools).  Are you cool with time in the car commuting or is it worth it to spend a little more $$ for convenience?  You more than likely will have to pay for the convenience but it is a big deal to many.  It was important to us for sure.  We could have bought more acreage further out of course but we didn't want to dread the drive to work, church, or feel disconnected from our friends.  Because of that we will be the "small house" (believe it or not) in the neighborhood.  For us that is the way we like it.  I'm no real estate expert for sure but personally I think it is good to be the more affordable home in the fancy neighborhood if you end up in an official neighborhood.  Which brings up another location issue.  Do you want to be in a neighborhood with people nearby or are you trying to avoid having neighbors all together?  We wanted a mix of both.  It will feel alot like we are out in the country but neighbors are close enough by to borrow an egg from or help watch over our casa while we are away;)

*Now if you know you are not going the big builder in a big neighborhood route you may want to stop here and make sure you can get pre-approved for a construction loan.  It's a booger but can be done.  As far as I know you have to have some cash.  Many banks won't loan for construction without 20% down and there are a few that will do 10%  but it seems the days of anything less than that may be over.  (more on that in another post)

Another thing we had to consider was utilities.  Lack of access to basic services = lots of extra expenses.  Electric service, gas lines, waste water and water in general have to be considered.  If you are in a more rural area do you have access to water lines or will you have to drill a well?  One of the main reasons we chose our lot was because we would have access to a water line at the street and not have to drill a well which is expensive and you aren't necessarily guaranteed to always have water:(  Actually that is a huge problem around here these days.  Many people are having to spend big $$ to drill deeper searching for water since we have been in a drought for soo long.  We unfortunately don't have access to to gas lines in our hood so there will be a propane tank installed (more $$) so that we can have a gas range and more efficient appliances.   In our area we have to have a septic system to deal with sewage and that will add about $12 to $15,000 to your final total.   As for electric, it's not an issue since we are in an established neighborhood(but of course it does cost to tie into those existing lines) and I don't have a clue what you do if that is not the case. Oh and there is the whole underground vs. overhead electric line issue as well.  We essentially will be sitting on solid rock so anytime you have to dig the cost goes up.  If your in an area that actually has soil...that may not be as big of an issue.

Once you narrow down where you want to be, and have decided you have access to the resources you need then you can get picky about the lot (that is if there is an option to be picky).  For us the lot we purchased was the only one available at the time and it was the next to last to sell in the neighborhood.  There are good and bad ways to look at that.  One is...well this is our only option here.  And the other is: this is an established neighborhood and if we ever need to sell our competition won't be 10 other brand new homes on our street. (We have dealt with that too:(  One of the biggest things to consider is "is this lot buildable?"

If it is hard to access, is too narrow for the type of home you want, or has difficult topography(slopes or    cliffs and whatnot) then you will be spending lots more dough on materials(in our case we slope a bit and one corner of our slab will have to be 5 feet tall)  and I would imagine in many cases labor goes up too.  It is just way easier to build on a flat surface!  You also have to consider if there are any major water or sewer lines or ancient trees that can't be touched per your city.  Again these are things that we've either come across ourselves or heard others mention but I am no expert and I am sure all of these things vary depending upon your area.

Now I'm not gonna lie.  I started to get to the point where I didn't want to do this anymore.  I was thinking why oh why after all the planning and attempting to have our ducks in a row is EVERYTHING taking so long.  We bought the lot three years ago and after sitting on it for a while figured out what we eventually wanted to do with it. We then started the design process about 10 months ago.  After an initial design and cost guestimate  we made it a little bigger in some spots and then ended up in the end having to shrink things like rooms and porches and take away a metal roof and just all kinds of odds and ends to get it into our budget.  I don't know if I have any advice on that part.  There are just so many things to consider.  We didn't feel like we could even design the house before we had a clue what it costs to build so I would talk to as many builders as possible to get some idea before you pay to design something you can't afford.  Our architect did everything we needed and asked him to do.  It was more confusion about cost to build in general that made us have to change things which takes time.  I would say as far as a time sucker goes though it would again have to be the mortgage process.

Are you overwhelmed yet?  I totally am..but I'm hopeful that in the end it will be worth it.  Please oh please be worth it!

So after all that waiting.....

we closed and the next day this happened! 

And so it began

10 years ago.....

I haven't shared many aspects of family or just personal life in general on this here blog but today is a biggie and I'm feeling inclined to share.

10  years ago I married this guy!

We have known each other since I was 18!  We married when I was 26.  You might think there is a story there.  There is but I'm shy;)  Tee Hee

 I think he knew I was addicted to all things home and just plain ol' DIY in general but I bet he never would have guessed we would spend the first few years of married life slaving away trying to make a stinky cheap house a home.  

Actually I would even consider our wedding a big diy project.  It was a quaint little wedding in his parents backyard.  I bought my dress and made the invitations, he rented his tux, his cousin made our cake, and our parents helped us decorate the backyard and rented the chairs.  You could definitely say it was budget friendly.  Actually even at that it wasn't friendly to our budget but we were tired of waiting until we had enough money to get married and it couldn't of turned out more special!

I think that is one of the things that make us love all things do it yourself.  You get to use your imagination and get something truly special out of it!

We have been through many different big transitions together and I have to say I couldn't have picked a better man to "hammer" away at life with! (cheesy I know;)

Time keeps on tickin, tickin

Well hello there....(insert crickets)

I'm dying here. I had decided to embrace the fact that we were going to be in a rental for a while and I wasn't going to be working on "a project" for some time but this is ridonculous! Sadly I can't stand it now. My creative juices need to get to flow before long or I'm gonna burst. Yes for a while we were designing our floor plan. Then we played with the exterior elevations but I'm ready to see concrete(lots of it..hint,hint) textures, paint, and lighting! Bring it on please! We had a closing date for the construction loan last week but yet they found another something has to be reviewed and thus we go to the bottom of the underwriters pile. Tip 145 to building a home: Have Cash and avoid the treacherous waters of the financing industry! If only right?!

So in order to relieve myself(or torture maybe) I took advantage of some time without the kiddos (yay for grandparents coming to visit) to stroll through one of my favorite places! Oh it's yummy in so many ways. I fell in love with Four hands 10 years ago on a warm summer day with a 50% off coupon in my paint covered little hand (they don't do that anymore but do have great warehouse sales). Let me show you why I have a thing for this place. Bad phone pics ahead cause I am way to shy to bring out the big dog while window shopping;)

loved this lacker look sofa table

modern twist on a saw horse for sure

These chandeliers are huge and gorg and of course pricey..

There was a time(before kids) when I wanted the hubs to help me dream up a wood light fixture.  I guess I missed the boat because it has definitely been done now and they are lovely.  I don't think we could have pulled these babies off!

Oh BABY!  I love dining tables..

So much so that over a year ago I bought one here at a warehouse sale and it still patiently awaits us in the garage.  We actually designed our dining nook around it so I suppose I shouldn't change my mind sale it and buy this one if I want to have a healthy marriage right?  But look at those industrial legs...I just drooled a little.

Um yes!  Nothing better than this buffet.  Clean lines, rustic wood..ahhhh

Oh more metal love.  Stools and tables oh my!

Look at the perfect little pop of color in this bad boy.

I may or may not ;) have a plan for this buffet in the casa..We shall see what happens but I get all sweaty just thinking about it!

This chair was awesomely awkward and weird which I am always drawn to.

A little space age collegiate action for the office.  It's for somebody for sure!

You can also find wonderful more traditional pieces too.  This is beautiful in person!

A little more traditionally funky can be found in this chair!  If your tired of me making up design words this may not be the place for you.  I can't help it.

Velvety cozy cool

Kid proof and it looks good.  That is what many of us are searching for when buying new furniture right?  Can't go wrong with this neutral chair in leather (unless your anti leather) then you can go very wrong with this;)

A little bling is always good! Loved these moroccan inspired metal tables.

I can see this holding fluffy towels and bathroom goodies in our master bath.

This grey diddy will also be making himself known soon in a living room near your computer.  Keep your eyes peeled for him.  

Oh mercy! Love the bling, the rustic, and cozy all mixed together.  If I had to define my house "style" I would just hold this picture up and wouldn't have to say a word.  This is it...or what I want it to be anyway.

The only thing missing on this chair are the three jumping kids with blueberry stained fingers.  I will leave this beauty for all you clean and civilized folk out there.

This would have been an awesome fathers day gift for the hubs upcoming home office if we were the kind of people that spent $400 without consulting one another or sleeping on it.  But we aren't so I didn't!  Your welcome honey.  Hope it was good anyway.

I wanted to buy you this one too babe but until we change the rules I can't surprise you with awesomeness like this!

So there was my 30 minutes of bliss last week.  I'm glad you could come along.  It's funny that now that we have a family and are always busy and tired that I find things like perusing target or a place like this with a cup of Jo in my hand pure pleasure but I do! Even though I didn't buy a thing. (YET!)

These sweet cheeks want to be squished! Please help!

We interrupt this shelter/craft blog for a very very special little girl! Do you see this face?

This is Juliette

and she wants to come home to her family that is patiently awaiting her!

Our dear friends were blessed with their happy little Bailey Boo(that's what her daddy calls her) over a year ago and have since fallen in love with (and quite honestly feel called to) the idea of adopting another baby girl with an extra chromosome! I couldn't think of a better family to do this.

This is the always grinning Bailey and her big brother Taylor!  I can't imagine the grins Miss Bailey will provide when she gets to have a sister to play with, learn with, cry with and love on!

It's hard to imagine so many precious babies are given up for adoption at birth because they have Down's Syndrome?  It's heart wrenching and there is a way we can do our part to help place these children in happy healthy homes and get them out of orphanages.  Miss Juliette happens to be in Eastern Europe.  Adoption is expensive and as you can imagine traveling to Europe several times through the process to bring her home will be very expensive.  Danny and Christy are reaching out and trying to get the funds needed to bring their girl home!  I hope you will take a minute to stop by Juliette's blog to watch her journey home and maybe even help get her here!  Danny and Christy have offered up an iPad Giveaway to get the ball rolling on raising some funds and the giveaway ends in 6 days so hurry and head over.  Seriously people an IPad Giveaway!  As if Miss Juliette's face wasn't enough of a reason to help!