Decisions, Decisions

Other than actually deciding to build a house, we're facing some the biggest decisions this week for the home build. There are a few choices for the house that are causing me lost sleep, eye twitching, and a constant gnawing sensation in the pit of my stomach.

From the beginning, I have worried about brick. Of all the choices you get to make for a custom home, brick is the most permanent. Other than painting over it, once you pick it, it's there--forever. Just ask my mother, who in 1972 chose a white brick and has regretted it almost every day since. I hope I'm still living in this house 40 years from now, and I hope I'm not hating the brick. Of course, if I do, I will paint it.  I really wanted painted brick to begin with. But on a limited budget, that was one $10,000 item we could do without.

So with the idea of a painted brick, we ordered some samples that could have a "mortar rub" applied, to give a somewhat similar look. I like houses that look like they have been painted, but with some of the paint worn off. But after seeing the sample wall done, we decided the house would look like it had been in a paintball fight- and lost. Here's the sample:

So, we will probably go with the bricks on the left and just a "messy" mortar joint. These bricks have a grayish texture on some of the bricks to make them look like moss is growing on them.  Unless, I can't sleep again tonight and then we may have to revisit the brick.

Last week, we had to pick windows. Who would have ever though that there would be so many choices of windows? Not only size and color, but also, the window pane pattern. There are probably 25-30 choices of window grids. It's not really something that you think that much about until you are instructed to choose one for your new house. And then you spend hours driving through neighborhoods scouting out the grid patterns in the houses.  It really just comes down to personal preference and style of house. Just on the four streets that compose our little neighborhood, you could find every type and color of window that is available. I made a decision and then 48 hours later after driving Brian around to specifically look at grid patterns, we changed our mind.  I think we're happy now though.

Next week, we have to make a decision about our front door. Solid wood -  mostly glass, part glass and part wood, six feet tall -  eight feet tall,  side lights - transoms. 

This morning, I spent two hours at Waverly Wood Works. I missed the non-descript driveway to the cabinet shop and ended up at the Waverly Post Office. I left there with directions and a recommendation from the post master. The cabinet shop is full of beautiful examples of cabinets. Doors panels, glass inserts, corbels, stain colors, drawer pulls...more choices than anyone could imagine.

We went room by room talking about the color, style and design of the cabinets. It was overwhelming. But I think if we can afford what we want to do, it will be beautiful.

Here's Maribeth with the cabinet samples.

Handprints and Footprints

One of the main reasons I wanted to write this blog, was for John Thomas and Caroline to be able to look back years from now and remember building the house. I've tried to take them to each stage of the home build so that they can learn about what it takes to build a house. But, I really want them to know that they are the main reason we decided to build a home and to build it in this neighborhood.

When my parents built a patio behind their fairly new house in the mid-70s, they had my footprints pressed in the concrete to commemorate the build and preserve how small my footprint was. I remember throughout my childhood checking out those prints.  So I knew that I would want to include this for my kids in some way.

I asked the kids if they would want to do their hands or their feet and John Thomas, of course, said "both!" So we settled for one of each for each of them.  Caroline started first, but in my excitement, I had her do it the wrong way. In order for them to be able to compare their prints through the years, they needed to be turned around. So these first ones of Caroline ended up being erased.

I commented to the concrete guy that I bet he didn't realize that he would be doing an arts and crafts project today when he came to work!  But he was great and really helped out with the kids so I could take pictures.  I asked him how many times a year he did something like this when he was working on a house.  He said only two or three times.  I was surprised that more people didn't want to do it.  If Brian had been there, I would have had all of us do it.

It took three tries to get John Thomas's footprint. He kept pressing his heel in too deep.

The concrete guy was so sweet-- he carried each of them over to the water hose and washed them off when they were done.

John Thomas, age 8,  July 24, 2012.

Caroline, age 5, July 24, 2012.

A Place to Park (or, at our house, a place to park one car and store junk)

When we drove by the lot last week, there was a huge pile of rock that we assumed would be used to fill the garage. Well, we were right. Below are photos from last Thursday of Caroline and John Thomas playing in and around what will be our garage. Today, the garage concrete was poured, leveled, smoothed, and polished with what looked like a huge upside down fan. Because we had to change around the entry to the garage, it's going to end up being fairly large for a two car garage. As anyone who has been to any of our homes and entered through the garage knows, we need every extra square foot of storage space that we can get. I hope that once we get moved in and get rid of some junk that we will be able to actually park two cars in this garage. It seemed really small when we were seeing the just the outline of the space. It does look bigger now that the concrete has been poured.

I have no idea what this contraption does.

Here's Craig, our builder, measuring some kind of rebar coming out of the concrete.

Climbing a Rock Mountain and Playing in Sand

Here are some photos from a couple of visits to the lot this week.  The foundation was finished, so hopefully framing can start next week.  The top photo shows JT and Caroline by the cement mixer. We took popsicles to the workers as a little treat because it has been in the high 90s all week.  I don't see how they are able to work in this heat. They do arrive early (between 5:30-6:00 am), but they put in a full day.

All four of us went to the lot one afternoon and found a couple of the neighborhood kids playing in the big pile of sand. Of course, the Walker children joined right in. There had also been a huge pile of rock that had been delivered. It must have been at least five feet tall.  It seemed to John Thomas to be a perfect mountain to climb. I've often driven by construction companies or rock companies and seen those giganitic mounds of rock and thought to myself that it looked like it would be fun to play on.  I think this rock must be to fill in the garage so that cement can be poured in it this week.

We are continuing to meet new neighbors and finding out about more and more children that live right around us. There seem to be a lot of kids in the 5-8 year old range. Everyone we have met out on the street in front of the lot has been so nice and welcoming.  Can't wait until we can get there permanently!

A Cinder Block Outline

I came back in town today after being gone for a few days and was pleasantly surprised that rain did not keep the block layers from working last Friday. I had driven to North Alabama in a terrible summer thunderstorm on Thursday and was worried that the rain would cause a delay.  But thankfully it didn't. Seeing the blocks on the outline of the house was exciting and I enjoyed trying to envision where the rooms were and where I would place furniture.  John Thomas commented when we were leaving that it seemed small.  He couldn't visualize that this outline only represented the first floor of the house and that there would be a second floor of almost the same size. I tried to explain how houses are measured by square footage and that this house would be a lot more room than our last house. But he still didn't seem to understand. Maybe I can build it in Legos for him!  I'm sure as each element of the house is added, it will seem both larger and smaller at times.  

The kids exploring the new wall around the house.

This is the front left corner of the house where the front porch and dining room will be.

From the back of the house looking towards the street.

Back, right corner where the master bedroom will be.

From the street, looking into the garage.

Digging Footers and Pumping Concrete

So here we are on July 11th (only 20 days after we closed on our lot and construction loan!) and we are FINALLY getting to see something exciting happening on our home build. I really was beginning to think we were never going to get going and therefore, never going to see it finished. Gotta love government beauracracy- getting a driver's license, paying taxes and waiting on house plans to be approved by the city. Nothing happens quickly.

But, it's started now and there is no stopping us! Unless these afternoon thunderstorms keep work from being done. Although they have been a nice relief for this super hot summer, now that the house is started, I hope the rain keeps away.

As most construction sites seem to, our progress has brought out our new neighbors. We've met several that are close by and we're happy to know many of them have children or grandchildren that are frequent visitors. There are two other lots on our street that are starting construction soon after us. I guess the current residents will be happy that all the construction is taking place at the same time instead of having to hear all the noise for months and months on end.

John Thomas and Caroline checking out the site, happy to see the backhoe at work.

I was so excited to see the cement pumping truck pull up. It belongs
to our former next door neighbors in Columbus, Matt and Britney Stahl.
I knew Matt had been working some in Auburn and had hoped that it would
be one of his trucks. It was a great suprise and a nice reminder of how much fun we had on our street in Columbus. Hope we feel as much at home in this house as we did on Spyglass Court.






 

We set up a little "tailgate" for the morning to watch all the action. Marie even joined us for part of the day.









Today had two signs of good luck for us:

One - seeing our former neighbor's truck helping get our new house started,  and

Two - finding a golf ball in the turned dirt. I know, it's not a four leaf clover, but surely Brian will find it to be a promise of good things to come with this house!