Day 380

Do you know what you have a lot of when you build a house?

Dust. Also nails, bits and pieces of wood, fly-away product spec inserts, and more than a few half empty water-Gatorade-Propel bottles, but mostly, DUST. Since the installers were scheduled to start the floors this week hubs and I spent a big chunk of last weekend sweeping, vacuuming, and bagging up those half empty water bottles that somehow did not make it to the dumpster.

The dumpster that sits a few feet up the drive.

The one they have to walk right past on the way to their vehicles.

Our crews have been absolutely fabulous, but some clean up after themselves better than others. Some I'm guessing had bedrooms growing up that looked a lot like our job site. ahem

It was a gorgeous fall weekend and it felt good to make the house all 'Spic and Spain'. That's how my girls used to say it when they were small, and how we say it still. Of course 'Spic and Spain' is a relative term when you're talking construction site, but Hubs enjoys vacuuming and I dislike a mess so win-win.

The house looks like a house, and I need to say that because I wasn't sure it ever would. We're there now though, and I cannot wait to pour myself a cup of coffee in the kitchen and sip it on the back porch. There's still about three weeks of work that needs doing, but we have counter tops and cabinetry, the sinks and tubs are set, there's electricity in the lines, fans on the porches, and chandeliers hanging from the ceilings. We are happy.

This house feels good to us. We cross the threshold, look at each other, and we smile.

Hubs and I have lived in a bunch of houses, but our most favorite by far was our England house. We didn't own that house, but we did call it home for six years so it felt like ours. Every room had a door and a key and there were no closets and there was chintz on the bedroom windows that my oldest never could quite come to grips with, but we all loved that house and the home we made there.

Our house hunting trek to England was a whirlwind. We set some kind of record with the relocation company in that we viewed twenty five houses in a day and a half. Ours was the last house we saw but as soon as we crossed the threshold into the front room we looked at each other and we smiled. We fell in love with the beautiful beams and trusses running across the ceiling and the windows with a view that made our hearts sing.

That house wrapped itself around us and whispered 'this is home'.

Lake town in the Palmetto State is a far cry from a small English village, but our new house? Well when I step through my new front door-

...for one brief moment I flash back to my old front door and a house across the pond. The one that spoke home to me in a hundred little unexpected ways. I walk in and I look up. I see the beams and all the wood and a view that makes my heart sing. I feel this new house wrap itself around in me in a way that feels familiar....

I hear her whisper, 'this is home'.

B is for Bob the Builder

Continuing with the April A-Z Challenge on the blog today...
go here to catch up with Day 1-Letter A

 Day 2- B is for Bob the Builder

Technically our builder's name isn't Bob, but let's call him Bob anyway.  So you've got your land and your plan and now you need someone to build your house. We actually hired our builder and agreed on a plan all at the same time.  Here's how it went down...

Friends from hubs previous place of employment retired to our lake. They built a home from the ground up in a nearby neighborhood and it's stunning. They very kindly introduced us to a couple in their neighborhood who are realtors and we asked them to help us find a house. Initially we thought we'd buy an existing home, but everything we saw was either perfect waterfront, imperfect living space or imperfect waterfront, perfect living space. 

Truth be told hubs had his heart set on building, but I needed a bit of convincing. He thought it would be a grand adventure and I thought it would be a true test of everything under the sun. Reality is a little bit of both. 

The realtor showed us the lot we ended up purchasing and we fell in love with the view. We knew we wanted land that had a gradual slope as opposed to a steep drop off, and we wanted to be near the wide water end of a cove, and we wanted to be in an established neighborhood. This lot ticked every box. 

We'd done some research online (you can find anything on the Internet people) and there were a couple of builders we knew we wanted to interview as a result. Our very helpful realtor suggested we also get in touch with Bob the Builder because he thought the quality of his work was stellar. All three contenders came out to the lot (not at the same time!) and told us what they could do, and for how much they could do it, and in what sort of time frame it could be done.  

Bob was our last interview and honestly we just clicked with him right off the bat. He's relaxed and easy going and we liked him. His office is in his home so he invited us to come out and view his work and the finishes he uses, and to see if he had a house plan that might work for us. By this time hubs and I had been in umpteen houses around the lake and we'd looked at dozens of plans online, but hadn't found one that was just right.  

Until we went to Bob's house. He showed us around and as he was gathering paperwork hubs and I looked at each other and said, 'We want this house.' It's a custom home, built once (he lives in it) and we consider that a big bonus. He knows where potential trouble spots lie, and if any changes need to be made in terms of living space. 

Because of the way our lot slopes our house will be the opposite of Bob the Builder's. His garage is left and ours is right and everything interior is flipped too, but still we know how the house feels and we love it. We added a screened-in porch which meant adding stairs outside (one thing always leads to another when you're building a house), and we wanted four bedrooms as opposed to three, so we've put our stamp on it too. 

Bob the Builder's wife is an interior designer and they're a package deal. We liked her immediately too, and it didn't hurt that their real first names are the very same as hubs mom and dad. I'm not saying that's why we hired them, but it might have swayed things in their favor.  We still checked references which I think you need to do.  

I will probably talk more about Mrs. Bob the Builder in another post because she is the one who steers us in the right direction and keeps us from blowing our budget and talks us down from time to time. Home building is stressful y'all and it's good to have someone warm and reassuring walking beside you throughout the process.  

I think the builder is probably the most important piece of the home build puzzle. We've all heard horror stories of people who've had to fire and/or sue their builder, so before signing a contract with someone do your homework, check references, and understand that you're not only building a home you're building a relationship with someone. You'll be working with the builder every day for nearly a year (perhaps longer, but let's hope we're in by the one year mark) so you definitely want to feel comfortable with their work style and communication.

We're about halfway through the build now, and we see Bob the Builder and his Mrs. not just as our builders, but also as our friends. They even have two daughters the same ages as our own, and we like to think we'll remain friends long after the house is complete. They'll come to the lake and have supper on the deck he built with food prepared in the kitchen she helped design.

It will be more than a house then.

It will be home. 

The Lake Effect

Hubs and I wound our way south last week, making two stops before finally landing in South Carolina. Day one found us in Richmond for an overnight with hubs brother and sister-in-law. No I did not snap a single picture of the two together. Darn.

I mentioned on my blog a while back that hubs and I lived in Richmond as newlyweds, so the city holds a special place in our hearts. We loved that friends from college were able to join us for dinner too, and we had a good time catching up in person with both family and friends. Before leaving town we buzzed by our very first house which always feels a little surreal. It's been re-sided but was still recognizable.

We continued southward to Tennessee on Sunday and spent two nights with hubs other brother and sister-in-law, plus a quick couple of meals with his folks. When you're us you take what you can get. Hubs and I spent all day Monday hiking in the Smokies which I wrote about here before making our way on to South Carolina on Tuesday morning.

We had appointments with three builders, plus a dock builder, plus the actual closing on our recently purchased lot, plus a rental viewing 'cuz we need to live somewhere between the selling here and the building there, plus a 5K, plus a day in my daughter2's classroom, plus plus plus.

So thankful for my sister and brother-in-law who live in the Upstate and so graciously allow us to use their house as home base. Hubs and I would leave their place by 9 AM or earlier and not return most nights until 8 or 9 PM. It was great to have some home cooked meals too, as all the eating out is not good for the waistline. ahem.

It was a week of serious information overload. While we've owned many houses, we've never built one from the ground up, and there's a steep learning curve. We met with three different builders, all highly capable, and each one with a slightly different process than the one before. I told hubs I feel like I'm dating three guys and can't make up my mind.

For the record, I never dated three guys at the same time. Did that need clarifying?
Also, I think we've made up our mind.

The dock guy was easy peasy and it's a pretty straightforward process. Our dock permit has been approved, and you're given a dock zone within your property lines that you need to stay inside of, but other than that there's not a million decisions like there are with the house. We have good water depth, so will plunk our dock down where it's deepest and then grab our coffee cups and our chairs and watch the house go up from the waterside.

If only it would happen that quickly and easily. Sigh. 

We spent a lot of time in the car last week. My sister lives on one side of town, my daughter on the complete opposite side of town, and the lake is essentially the third point of the triangle, more or less equidistant from them both. Hubs and I like to listen to books on tape while traveling and normally I get something from the library that we'd both enjoy. I didn't have a chance to do that before we left, but my other sister had given me Game of Thrones a while back so we brought that along.

It took a while to get into, but we're liking it now. It's not short. Only 18 more discs to go! And hubs has started calling me m'lady which makes me laugh.

We took care of all the lake business we could Tuesday-Thursday, because I was determined to spend time Friday with my Daughter2. I volunteered in her classroom, and had the best day watching her with her students. She's more than I ever imagined she'd be and I always imagined she'd be awesome.

Friday evening hubs, Daughter2, and one of her teacher friends participated in a 5K. Her friend is a runner, but this was Daughter2's first 5K so that was fun.  I just love that my girls have such sweet friends, especially given how far apart we live.

For now! Soon I'll be close by and all up in her business. Ha! Not really Daughter2! She knows I'm kidding. I am kidding. Promise. But we will have lunches and mani/pedi dates and other fun and I'm excited to have her within arms reach.

Saturday was splendid. There is no better word to describe it. Daughter1's in-laws have a house on the lake and they invited us for a boat ride and lunch at one of the restaurants you can get to via the water. My hubs had a grin the size of South Carolina on his face the entire day.

The Blue Ridge Mountain view from the lake is positively stunning. The photos I took do not do it justice, partly because it's not easy to take a photo from a boat zipping along the water and partly because it's me.

 We're a year out from actually having a completed house to live in, but mentally...

.
...we. are. there. 

Go Jump In A Lake

If you're looking for this week's Wednesday Hodgepodge questions click here.  

L is for Lake

Hubs and I are water people. It's our happy place. We love looking at it, swimming in it, and boating on it. Our plans for someday have always included a house on a lake. A house with a dock, and a deck from which to sip our morning coffee. A spot where the view inspires deep thought or no thought. A place where our sweet girls and their families could look forward to visiting when life allows.

Someday is now.

Well, almost now. We're on our way to now. The house isn't built, but we've got more than a plan. We purchased a lot on our favorite lake and we'll build a house there. South Carolina.

We've never built a house from scratch.
I hear it's kind of a big deal.

That first photo was taken standing on the lot. Our realtor snapped this photo from his boat when they were out checking water depth. Water depth matters to boaters. Also- where does the sun set and do skiers turn around here and is the lot a gentle slope and a whole bunch more.

Our lot is more or less center there. We're on a point at the edge of a cove, which is exactly the sort of lot we hoped to find when we began looking in earnest. The house you see on the left in his photo belongs to our future next door neighbor. Hi Neighbor!

I'm kind of all about the view.
Which is lovely.

Our lot is still thick with trees, many of which will come down in the house build. Those that don't come down will be limbed halfway up their trunk to open up the view. We're pretty excited, but are keeping that in check mostly  until we sell our current home.

I like to imagine myself sitting on our brand new patio sipping a glass of bubbly while the sun sinks low over the water. Hubs tells me a few thousand things need to happen first.

Psht. Details.