Wedding Anniversary & Home Building Advice for Couples

Today is our wedding anniversary! Now I'm officially an old married lady right? Can we still call ourselves newlyweds since we've been  married 4 years now? Don't care. Still doing it.

Four years ago today Adam and I tied the knot. It still feels like just last year! We had a great wedding day. A lovely day, kind of chilly, but still lovely.

And we've had an even better four years of marriage.
I think we'll make it a few more years together. As long as we don't have to build another house...

TRUE STORY:
Before we built the house...
Other people: "If your marriage can make it through building a house together, it can get through anything!"
Us: "Yep, ok, haha."
After we built the house...
Us: "If your marriage can make it through building a house together, it can get through anything!"

So here is my two cents to those couples who are considering building home together.... since why wouldn't you listen to a marriage expert like me?

If you are taking on a big project like building a house for example. You won't always agree on everything. In fact, you might not agree on much.
Building a home is a huge deal, especially if you are acting as your own general contractor like we did!

You will lose sleep together, worrying about bills and bids. You will fight with each other, probably slam a door here or there, you might even flip each other off behind each backs one time...(guilty.)
But you'll get over it. You will compromise. You will get the job done. You will be able to sit down with a cold beverage (preferably with booze in it) and finally be able to enjoy your hard work.
And it will all be worth it.

We are celebrating our anniversary by doing just that. Relaxing together at home!


Photos courtesy of our wonderful photographers Lifeworks Imaging. Yes I was a blonde bride.
To see more of our wedding day photos see our 2 year Anniversary post!
To find out more about building our home, the construction process, and what I meant by acting as our own general contractor, check out our construction FAQ page.

Digiversary

This week is our Digaversary.

One year ago this week we were breaking ground. 

Read about breaking ground and basement digging here in Part 1 & Part 2 and part 3. 

It has been a bit of a whirlwind for us. We purchased the ground and started the dig 6 months later. Before that, we thought we would buy a nice little starter home...

We built our forever home over the course of this past year. I cannot say that it was easy. There were more than a couple of arguments between Adam and I. A few tears shed. So many nights we would lie in bed awake. Up worrying and stressing over money, budget, time, design plans, mistakes. You name it--we lost sleep over it.

Don’t forget about regular life too. I switched jobs. Adam worked a lot of extra hours. We traveled East to D.C. land to visit both of our siblings. We went to weddings out of state, out of town, and right here at home. We went on a family trip to Mexico, and a few weekends up north to visit the folks too.
All of those things had to be worked into only the busiest months of course, in between laying our hardwood floors, managing the build, moving.

Day before the dig.

We worked together as a team for the most part. Adam kept track of the budget, and playing the role of general contractor. He was the one meeting with the electrician or the HVAC installers each week and supervising the work. I concentrated on all the details; from trim and baseboard style, to paint colors, fixtures, and cabinets.

Don’t worry though, I didn’t have all the fun. I also had to be “the bad cop general contractor”.  

For example: Our tile guy…let’s just say screwed up. More than once. And guess who had to tell him to shove his last bill you know where because he “fixed” a mistake he made and then charged us $150….although it was still not fixed? 
Me. I had to tell him. And get yelled at, and hung up on. (You can see the level of professionalism we had)

Do we regret building our forever home before we are 30? No. We are glad we did it.
Would we do it again? Hell no.

People said to us “If you can make it through building a home together than you can make it through anything!” Well, they were right. It was tough. It was stressful. It was fun. It was exciting. It was scary. It drained our bank account…But we made it through.  

We made a good team for this project. And the result is our home, which we both love. Sure, there are things we wish we would have done differently. Should have put a closet here, maybe chosen a different color of this or that…and have so many other things we still need to do. 
Like grass. I’d like some grass.

But we are very happy and looking forward to our future together, right here, at home. 

Scout too.