Courtney's Content: Housebuilding *Pre Construction meeting & Building Permit*

We met with our builder and real estate agents yesterday at noon (his agent and ours) and formalized the plans for building a house. We signed a buy-sell on the house on Monday, and seem to have all of the ducks in a row. The builder is submited the building plans yesterday for review, which should take two weeks. Hopefully we’ll see a foundation upon our return from Oregon the week after Labor Day!

We close out the sale of the condo on Monday, August 31st, which means we have to move in the next 10 days. I’m definitely not looking forward to it, but since we sold the condo with the appliances and washer and dryer, it won’t be as awful as it could be! Just furniture, belongings and clothes. I started to say today that we don’t have much stuff… but maybe I’m dreaming!
We are going to rent an apartment from the builder we are working with. Primarily because he won’t ask us to sign a lease and its available right now. I believe we will start trickling stuff over there this weekend, and round up our good friends to help us move the last weekend of August.

The mention of building instead of buying an existing residence does raise some eyebrows with people. Believe me, if there were a historic home out there in our price range, we would have jumped on it. I would love nothing more than in a historic district, with lots of charm and built-ins. But even with the lowered real estate prices, a 1905 Craftsman is still out of our price range.

I also feel a twinge guilty for not buying an existing house on the market. I know many sellers are desperate to get out of their homes, but nothing we saw as we stalked the real estate market online even jumped out at us as worthy of a look. We had our eye on a house a couple of blocks north of us to buy, but then it went under contract last month. We started talking about building; and then got really serious about building once the condo sold. Essentially, we can construct exactly what we want for about $10k less than we could have bought and $30k less than they were going for two years ago. And on a better lot with better views. Score!

So, with that introduction, let me show you our house:

The lot, looking north (so the house will face south)

This is the lot it will go on. The building to the north is Heritage Christian School, who will be constructing soccer fields between their building and our back yard line. This means we will not have a back yard neighbor, and should have awesome views to the north.

Changing the kitchen

These are the plans for the house. Since I couldn’t leave well enough alone, we already have some ideas for how we want to modify them. Specifically, turning the kitchen from a galley style to an L with an island style, which hopefully will allow us both to cook in the same room at the same time- something lacking in the condo.

We are also moving the double doors from the dining room to the kitchen and turning the double doors of the dining room into oversize windows. The kitchen and dining room will get a lot of natural light from the east in the mornings.

Moving the closet in bedroom 3 and changing up the master bedroom closet.

We are also shifting the closet in the bedroom #3 to over the stairs, which makes the bedroom much more functional.

In the master bedroom we are reconfiguring the master bath and closet. Dusty didn’t like the idea of having to walk through the bathroom to get to the closet. What if I were in there taking care of business and he needed a shirt, he asked. Good point. So in the reconfiguration, we should be able to get windows into the sinks area of the bathroom, and the toilet/ shower area. Natural light and ventilation.

Standing on the street looking to the northwest. Great sunsets!

This is a photo of our lot, standing on the street and looking to the North West. All of the built Ryegate plans we like are mirror images of the plans above. So our house will match the plans, but be a mirror image of the photos shown. Got that?

From this point on the street, you will look at the driveway, stairwell, and courtyard area of the house. Kind of from the angle in the two houses below.

We really like the strips for a driveway instead of a full concrete driveway. It makes the front yard seem so much bigger. I'm wondering how this functions in the winter... might have to knock on their door and ask!

As you are coming down our street from East to West, you’ll see the long side of the L shaped plan. The developer plans to build a one story house on the lot next to us (we’ll see if it ever happens), so our house will be really exposed. Again, flip the plan in your imagination; you’ll see the sidewall with the living room fireplace, windows, and dining room windows.

You'll see the side elevation as you come down the street towards the mountains. I'm not a fan of board and batten siding (in the upper half of the building shown here), so we will be using shingles to finish the accents and gables of our house. Kind of like the shingles shown below, down the chimney and in the gable.

Mmmmm shingles in the gable

As a budding gardener, I’m already thinking about the outdoor living spaces of the house. I’m really excited to get to start from scratch! I will do another post on landscaping thoughts (ideas anyone?), but I think we are most excited about the east elevation of the house, where the house kind of wraps around the driveway to the garage. The shape of the buildings and the aspen trees to the east will create a really cool courtyard area. We have plans for a hammock on the porch, and I’m wondering if a clothes line is possible. Basically, everything this green house has!