plumbing, electric, and a sneak peek at our kitchen layout

So, things are still moving along here, but...there is not much to show you. They have been working on the plumbing and the electric.

can lights down the hall.

Let there be light.

Pipes.

I know, such captivating photos to look at! Ha. That's how I feel when I walk into the house. Excited to see progress....But, there is only pipes and wires. Boo.

But here is a sneak peek of our kitchen layout. We ordered the cabinets last week. They take 8 weeks to come in, so sadly, you will not see them until we are closer to move in time. But, at least you get a peek at the layout.

We originally wanted the range in the island not the sink, but it just wouldn't work no matter what we did.
Oh darn, we didn't get one thing we wanted...

It looks like there are hardly any cabinets but it's really like 4x as much as we have now!

I did take some photos of the cabinet samples, so I will get those posted so you can see what style and colors we chose.

Do you have your range or your sink in your island? Do you like it or hate it? 

Exterior Elevations

Last week, I was finally able to share the pretty much final floor plan. Today you get to see the elevation rendering.

Front and back.

Side views.

We made a couple changes after we received these proofs. For example, the pitch of the roof of the walk-in closets is actually only a 6 (same as the roof of the garage). This leaves room for a window above it for the second floor bedroom.

We are still trying to decide if we should add another window in the basement (underneath the extra large dining area window) to even things out. When the basement is finished, there will be a bar/sitting area on the other side. We just aren't sure. What do you think?
And we better decide quick. They start framing...like now.

House Plans Final!

Finally, I can share the house plans with you. We've been making change after change and I believe we are happy with this layout!

main floor. Click image to enlarge.

We really have not made any changes to the second floor since we first picked the plans. The only changes could be moving things around int he bathrooms, or maybe switching up the closets. The 2nd floor layout below are the originals that were drawn up, so the measurements are not an exact fit to the first floor plans at this time. But you get the idea!

Not many changes since the orignal.

Basically, to pick the plan we ended up buying a bunch of house plan books on Amazon, and scouring the internets. We showed our builder what we liked from about a million different homes, and he whipped up some sketches.  We toyed with moving the stairs to the living room, having an office, and even removing the cathedral ceiling in the living room. But we are happy we didn't do any of those crazy things.

We had many sleepless nights discussing the layout. I mean, this is our forever home. It's only Adam, me, and Scouty now, but we do plan to have a few super cute kids someday.
There were several weeknights we were up at midnight measuring every room in our current house to get a feel for the rooms. We had a few panic-y thoughts that a room was too small, or that we wouldn't have enough room for a dining table.

We consulted with friends, family, and a few professionals to come up with the final draft you see above. And we love it.


So, what do you think? Our favorite part is the living room and kitchen/dining area. I can not wait to sip wine on our back covered porch listening to the creek.

Coming up next week, exterior!

houseplans: draft #1983489

Basically, we came up with our house plan by pulling several plans from different books, and websites, and throwing some stuff together to create our own.

We are still making changes, and I have a few ideas that I want to run by our builder, but here is the first floor of our 1 and 1/2 story, walk out basement future home.

Plans update

The third draft of our home plans will be ready this week! We had to do some rearranging and cutting down on square footage. Oh, and we extended the garage to a 3 car. The house will be just under 2200 square feet of living space. Not including the walkout basement, which we may or may not finish our right away. Depending on cost.

We will then get some new bids and hopefully not have to make anymore major changes.

We took a walk out on the ground to decide where the house will sit and see how the garage will sit, since it will be angled.

Husband.

Sneak peek at second draft.

Waiting game

We have finally made some big decisions on the house plans. Our Builder (a.k.a. Uncle Roger) drew up some plans after we explained what we had in mind.

I was so excited when Adam brought this home:

I know you can't see any of the plan here, but that's ok, because we changed a bunch of things since we received the first draft.  I wanted bigger and more closets. Adam wanted the outdoor living space to be larger. We had to come up with a kitchen layout---which is serious business.

I will be sure to post the final plans when we get them. Right now we are just waiting for the bids to come back. Hopefully we aren't crazy over budget and we can actually afford the payments on the house after it's built!

Step 2. Pick the plan.

We pour over these books in front of the tube every evening.

I thought picking a house plan would be fun, and it was at first. But now it's just plain stressful.
Since this will be our forever home, we want to plan for the future. Parties, family get togethers, and even babies (!)
The layout seems to be the most important part to us at the moment.

And then there are so many other choices. I like craftsman and the new american look, Adam leans more toward more elegant looking homes. So, we have to find a middle.

One story, two story, story and a half? Brick, siding, stone, or a combination?

Do we really need a 4th bedroom or den/study area. Do we want the master on the first or second floor?

Not to mention trying to compare cost difference and staying within our budget. (Trying our hardest to avoid PMI)

Have any house planning stories to share? What is your dream layout?

I'd really like a balcony off the master for wine sipping in my bathrobe!