The Plan

"The Plan."  We knew from the beginning that we wouldn't find a plan to suit our needs perfectly.  I still poured over design websites and took pieces of plans that we could look to for inspiration.  We wanted a house to suit our family and how we live, just like everyone else.

This is us.  Morgan (15), Isaac (5), my husband, Michael, me holding Kate (2), Ethan (13), Molly Claire (9) and Aaron (17).

You can see that we have quite a few kids.  6 to be exact.  3 boys and 3 girls- ages 2-17.  We knew that we wanted them to share rooms- we even offered the older ones their own rooms.  Only our oldest boy liked that idea!  We decided in the end to keep them together and have two bedroom suites.  They are large bedrooms, and they each have walk-in closets and attached bathrooms.  So three bedrooms with room to add one in the basement in the future.  We wanted a hearth room, an extra large "eat-in" area off the kitchen and a formal dining room.  We also wanted a separate room for the baby grand piano, because it's quite loud in our current home.  A good sized mudroom, separate laundry, and high on my list.....a walk-in pantry.

So we came up with a plan.  We changed the plan several times, and we think that we have it just about perfect.  We love it.  I love it so much on paper, I can't even imagine how in love I will be once it is built!

My husband, Michael, is the General Contractor.  This is definitely not the norm, since he is an attorney by trade.  Five years ago, he general contracted the building that houses his office, and it turned out perfectly!  It was a lot of work, so he knew what he was getting into, and he has poured many hours into it thus far.   I think that it is amazing how he knows so much from research and contractors about the building process.

So even after the plan was finished and bids were in, there were still permits to obtain before we could break ground.  Waiting, waiting, waiting.  It will, I am sure, be many months of waiting and more waiting--so we better get used to it.  Finally, the 2nd week of June, they started clearing our 6 acres.  It is just a short drive outside of town, only seven minutes from where we live now.  Just off of a little country road, a small subdivision and we are the first to be building there.   Each lot is 3 acres, but most people bought two and have 6 acres to build on.  This will be great, to have neighbors, but for everyone to have some space.



Here are some pictures taken from last week.  The whole excavation process is set to be finished by this Friday, June 21st.  Since there is a large hole in the earth we finally feel like this is really going to happen!

 A real live digger!!

                                      

                                      

My girls and I in our Hunter boots!

This has been a very exciting part of the process.  Now that there is a hole, I can't wait until there is a basement and then walls.  It makes me very anxious for the next phase.  In the mean time, we took a couple of trips up to Madison to the Parade of Homes.  It was helpful to see different exterior products and flooring.  I can try to work on some interior choices while we are waiting for more progress to come!