House Plans, More Before Photos, Funny Things Kids Say

Here are more photos of the lot, photos of the house plans and an artist rendering of the house.  The house will actually look a lot different than this rendering. It will be much more traditional than this photo. We're using brick instead of rock/ cedar shakes and the porch columns will be white wood. But you'll get the idea.

The house plans are different too. Because of slope of the lot, the plans are completely flipped. So everything on the left is on the right, etc. 

   

   

Here JT and Caroline are seeking shade under the only tree on the lot right now.  They were thrilled to be forced to dress in Auburn clothes and taken out in 95 degree heat to take a few pictures. But, I wanted to have photos of them there before any major work began on the lot.

When we were talking about building the house one day in the car, John Thomas was excited and said he wanted us to have a Jacuzzi in the backyard. Caroline, copying his excitement, said, "Yes, I want a Cajuzzi too!"

Our conversation on the drive over to the lot:
John Thomas:  Will the builders be there working?

Me:  No,  they would be getting ready to travel to the
lawyer's office to meet us for the closing.

John Thomas: Can I help them build?

Me: I don't think there would be anything right now that you could do for them. 

John Thomas: Well, I'm really good building with Legos.

Here's the view from the back yard to the street the house will face. It's a fairly narrow lot, but we should have plenty of room in the backyard for parties and playdates.

One thing we really like about the neighborhood is that the houses are pretty close together and the kids should be able to play with neighborhood kids easily.

Kids aren't the only ones that say funny things. This is a photo of my shoes after walking around in freshly turned dirt. I showed up to the closing like this and asked Craig and Maribeth to guess where I had been.  Maribeth had sent me a text photo that morning of the lot to let me know Craig had been anxious to get started on the house and had done some grading work.  I told them that I was surprised how "dirty" the lot was.  I didn't mean "unclean", I meant I was expecting it to have more clay in the soil that just dirt.  I guess I will learn more technical terms as this project progresses!

Deciding to Build and Day One of Construction

John Thomas and Caroline checking out our lot on day one- June 22, 2012.

The Walker Family is finally getting ready to settle down permanently in Auburn. After living in Auburn for the last year in a small rental house and later in an even smaller apartment, we decided that we should build our dream house. We searched Auburn real estate listings for close to a year for the perfect house, at the perfect deal. But no luck, it just wasn't out there. I always dreamed about building a house and had kept a house plan page torn from a Southern Living magazine for around 15 years with what I thought my perfect home would be.


One Friday afternoon about six weeks ago, Brian came back in town a little early after working in Columbus and he decided he wouldn't go back in the office. I convinced him to drive around just to look at lots. We drove into one of our favorite, and I think,one of the most beautiful, subdivisions in Auburn. Although we had been in the neighborhood many times, we really hadn't looked at anything too seriously.  We spotted a lot, one of only a couple that had yet to be built on. It had a sign for a builder and Brian decided to call to ask about it.  The builders said that they owned the lot and wanted to build on it either as a custom home or a spec home. They asked if they could meet us at the lot to show us the house plan they were planning to use. I was hopeful, but since I had held onto a house plan for 15 years, I was not expecting their plan to compare to my perfect home plan.

In less than an hour, we were meeting with Craig and Maribeth Wolfe, of Landmark Builders right in the middle of the lot. They are both Auburn alums and are close to our ages with a young daughter. We immediately felt comfortable with them and with their ideas for the house. When Maribeth showed me the house plan she was suggesting, I couldn't believe it. The layout, rooms, square footage and special features were exactly what I wanted. I've always wanted a butler's pantry to house my many sets of formal china and Brian has always wanted an outdoor fireplace. Plus, it was a two-story house with a large bonus room- both on John Thomas's and Caroline's wish list.  It also had a formal dining room that was separate from the living area, a mud room, a stairwell in the entry, a large bar in the kitchen, and two covered porches. And for our many out of town friends that are Tiger fans, there is a guest bedroom large enough to host weekend visitors and still hold all my crafting/sewing supplies!


After that initial visit, it still took us a few weeks to make up our mind about building the house. We debated and crunched numbers, debated and toured more existing houses, debated and decided yes, then, no. Finally, we decided that yes, we did want to take on this opportunity. We closed on the construction loan on June 22, 2012.  Hopefully, with good weather, we will be in the house by Thanksgiving.  In the mean time, I will be writing this blog to have a record of our home build and to share the progress with our friends and family.