Same spot, different day...

We definitely made significant progress the past 2 weeks. We have footers, foundation walls, a few updated designs and I'm finally having to commit to selections! 

Excavation was completed and unfortunately, we had a a couple huge 10-12 ft sink holes that we basically had to fill with gravel.  It wasn't pretty, and it wasn't cheap, but we're past the "unknowns" and are finally moving on to the fun stuff.  So, while most of you see just dirt and gravel in the few pics below, I actually see hundred dollar bills....shredded....to pieces.....no way to be taped back together....and about to be buried under concrete....forever.  And, I decided since we had to spend thousands (and I mean thousands) of dollars on gravel, it was all getting a picture or two on here! I mean, there has to be some evidence that it's at least there, right? Because in a couple more weeks, the gravel will never be seen again...ever.  (deep breath...deep breath...I'm trying to let it go, really I am!) 

Here is Mark standing in the basement, under the master bedroom....

Footers are down and walls soon to go up....

Mark again, in the basement, looking thrilled to be back after just a couple days...

So, here's one of my "same spot, different day" photos I'll be taking.  I thought it would be a good idea to try and stand in the same spot and take a pic of the front of the house every time we go back. 

And we finally have foundation walls...and our very first window!  Woohoo!!!!

Perhaps I've just pushed Mark to the edge with all the house decisions, and now, when we are so close to progress, he can't take anymore and is ready to just throw in the towel and jump!

 Down in the basement....

 Same spot on the hill....

So, are you wondering how, on an open field of 5 acres, I am able to return to the exact same spot every time?  Well, turns out Bambi's cousin didn't quite make it across Evergreen Mills safely.  We are guessing he got jacked by a vehicle trying to cross the road, somehow made it over our fence, but that's when he must have tripped, fallen and couldn't get up.  And, the buzzards took care of the rest.  So, here is my landmark that I search for to know I'm always in the same spot. 

  

Lovely, isn't it?  Okay, enough of that....ugh!



Here are some updated final designs for the house....

Workspace between the kitchen and family room (the one that will have this really cool barn door to it)

Pantry built-in design...

Updated mudroom bench.  I decided it would be better for Nick to have a shelf/cubby above his coat to put his hats, gloves and any other misc items, otherwise they'll just be on the floor.

This is the master bath design, also showing the zero-clearance shower floor which I absolutely love!

And, finally, the update to the basement bar!  This will be covered in old barn board with rustic gas piping as the foot rail.

On my finish selections, I had to finalize my stone, exterior doors, and plumbing last week.  I should be able to finish up the roof color, fireplaces and cabinets this week.  Whew...that's about it for now.  We are scheduled to start framing this week, so I'll update once that is moving along.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.....

This just may be the most beautiful sight I've ever seen.....

While it's really not that pretty on the outside right now, I keep telling myself "it will be soon...it will be soon...it will be soon".  

So, "yes"...to those just dying to know (I'm sure the suspense has been killing you over the past few months)....we FINALLY broke ground last week!  And, from the beautiful landscape above, you can see we have some work to do!  Since our property is old farm land (with about 18" of pure muck on the top followed by that thick Virginia red clay), we need to have some work done to make sure we don't end up with a wet basement the first day we move in....because I may just have a mental breakdown if the kick @$$ rustic bar we designed gets jacked!

Here area a few other shots of the driveway before we officially broke ground:

From the road....the driveway path has been dug...

Another shot of the driveway as you get closer to the house....it has since been filled with gravel/crushed concrete....

And, who doesn't want to see more of the muck that we are scooping out of the ground?!?!  It's just fantastic, isn't it?  I know I was excited when I first saw it.

Here we are today...finally no more muck!  A little more digging to do, and we should be able to get the foundation in soon.

Sooooo close.....

Okay, so I think at this point, the Septic guys think I'm a complete psycho (and the LC building dept may be right behind them in that thought!)  I've been stalking my builder and the septic peeps for the status on the design for about a week and a half now. Fortunately, I think they finished up everything 3 days early!!  Of course, they probably rushed through it so they'd get rid of me.  And, frankly, I'm fine with that! So, that's good news!  The design is now with the LC health department, and once they say "ok", we should have a building permit within 24 hours.   Well, at least that's what the lady at the building dept told me as I hovered over her shoulder the other day looking at the status of my permit application.  Fortunately, the building department has approved everything, and they are just waiting for septic to say ok.  Since neither department seems too busy right now, I'm hoping the design is good and we can start digging the week after Thanksgiving!

My builder is getting things moving as well.  We "slipped in" a huge truck on the property today to begin creating the driveway.  Not sure if that was allowed, but if asked, I don't see any trucks out there now, so I don't know what anyone is talking about!  The driveway is carved out and I think they are going to try to get the parking area in front of the garage as well as the circular drive created as well.  It's a loonnng driveway - a bit over 350 feet, so getting the space for the real trucks to get back there is needed.  This way we can start digging & hauling dirt once we get the permits are squared away.

So, I continue to pick out plumbing fixtures, cabinetry and close out designs on the house.  Getting all this done before we even start building should leave me plenty of time to stalk my builder when we are finally moving along with the house!

Here's a sneak peak at the 2 color combo options I'm debating between for the kitchen....

Still waiting for permits.....

So we are still waiting for the septic permit to be completed.  We ended up bumping the house over about 10 feet last week so that we could put the tanks on the side of the house.  Now we are just waiting on the grading, design and permits to be completed.

In the meantime, I have a few more designs completed for the inside of the house. 

Boys Study Area

The boys have a small loft area near their bedrooms upstairs, and we decided to put a built-in desk there along with small couch, etc.  Here's the desk with shelves...it will be a black weathered finish, which I think will look great with the reclaimed wood floors!  And then a couple shelves above with a cork board (or something to put up a calendar, reminders, etc)

Family Room

We've been round and round on what to do with the family room fireplace.  I finally found a picture of a room to model everything after.

Here's the link to the picture...

http://www.houzz.com/photos/193103/Crisp-Architects-traditional-family-room-new-york

And, here's the drawing for our family room.  There will be rough wood beams for the trim and across the ceiling (similar to pic) and then the wainscoting throughout the room to match the wainscoting in the foyer/hallways.

Kitchen/Family Room Desk Area

So, this space started as a built in desk, changed to a closet, and is now a desk in a closet!  Actually, I think it will be a really cute space.  Just big enough to check emails, drop "junk" but not be in clear sight.  And, it will have this great barn door to slide shut when needed!

Basement Bar

Again, another space we've gone round and round on.  The designer had this fantastic idea to do a stone wall in the basement.  So, we'll have that, with a closet and refrigerator on either side of the back bar...and then the front bar in the same rustic oak cabinetry.   Here's a 3D shot of the bar...

And here's the shot of the back bar wall...

I forgot to mention last time that the Dining Room paneling is actually going to be built-in closets, too.  So, the wall will appear as thought it's just a paneled wall, but there will actually be doors/storage behind them.  Hope it turns out!

Well, well, well.....

So a couple weeks ago we learned we have 2 big things to take care of before we can actually start digging up dirt - well and septic permits.  We took care of the well permit and drilled last week - a whopping 60 gpm was hit at 200ft.  Yes, that was 60 gpm!  I don't think Jonathan (our builder) could have called with any better news than that!  Of course, needless to say, Mark is now looking at sprinkler systems.   This week I'm working with the engineers on the septic system...oh so fun..not!  The guys are so nice, but wow...I've learned I really have no interest in dirt, rocks and how septic systems work.  And yet, they keep going on and on...it's like listening to Charlie Brown's teacher!  I can't imagine them not noticing my eyes glazing over as they speak - but they are so in to it, I guess they don't realize I'm not.  I just politely nod and say "uh huh, uh huh, okay, so do you need me anymore?"

Fortunately, once we close these out, we should be good to go (finally!!!!).  I am getting a little nervous about getting the house started and closed up before the winter comes!

In the meantime, I continue to work with the kitchen designer (who is amazing...and not just because her name is also Andrea).   Frankly "kitchen designer" is an understatement for her.  She's so talented and creative, I've decided to have her sketch up just about every area in the house.  Here are some shots of what we have  so far....

Kitchen Design

I'm loving this!  I think the designer did a fantastic job of capturing my old farmhouse look. The house will have wide plank reclaimed oak floors - the one thing I did splurge on!  The kitchen cabinet perimeter is going to be a creamy white and the island a rustic knotty alder with a dark walnut stain.  And, it wouldn't be a farmhouse without soapstone countertops!  The cabinet to the right of the range looks funny here, but it's actually going to be a neat little spice cabinet with the old chicken wire style (made to look like a vintage piece).  My only concern about the kitchen is that people may actually expect me to start cooking.  So, I'll have to figure out how to manage that one gracefully.

Here's a pic of the banquette design....this will be off the sink wall.

And, here's a shot of the kitchen built-ins and fireplace...this is basically on the opposite wall of the banquette...I'll have a couple comfy chairs here.  Oh, and a TV above the fireplace that does not play ESPN in the mornings!

Dining Room

The Dining Room is going to have a coffered ceiling, paneled wall and the simple antique style mantel & fireplace. 

Between the Dining Room and Kitchen will be a small passage way with the butler's pantry cabinets.  There was this angled wall from the stairs and she suggested a barrel vault ceiling to hide that. I thought that was a great idea, so we are doing that, too.

Mudroom
And, possibly the most exciting feature of the house (at least for me) is the mudroom.  I'm counting down the days that I don't have sneakers, cleats and Nick's dirty socks piled up on my kitchen floor.  There's a small powder room in there as well.  I'm pretty sure I'm going to go with brick floors in here and the cabinetry will be this really pretty sage green.  The bench on this first wall is going to be made of reclaimed wood to match the reclaimed wood floors throughout the house.

We are still finishing up some additional spaces, so I'll post those once I have them.  But, that's all for now.  (I can't wait til they are actually real photographs!)

Fox Meadow

So I haven't the slightest idea how many lots and locations I dragged Mark to see over the past few years. But, I can tell you it was enough to realize we were both pretty picky in what we wanted.   I didn't want the boys to change schools, he didn't want a commute, and we both wanted at least 2 acres (without an HOA) and the ability to build whatever we wanted.  Needless to say, it took about 4 years of searching for that ideal spot.  And, just as we were trying to work a deal on another lot, this beautiful 5 acre property popped on the market.  And, it was right down the road....

Since then, we (actually I) have been consumed with figuring out what we are building over this past year.  And, while it's been fun to go through the process and the endless number of options, it's also been a little stressful at times.  I can say though that we've had some great people helping us through all the decisions, and we are pretty excited about finally getting started. 

So every now and then Mark and I have run down the road to check out the property. Sure enough on random occasions fox would be running through the field.  So, that's when we decided "Fox Meadow" seemed like the perfect place to call home....