April 11 - April 15

Let there be WALLS!!!!

March 29 - April 4

We got the awesome news this past week that our project has gotten all of the necessary approvals for us to start digging.  So.....

Out came the diggers.  I have never before noticed how beautiful these machines were.
Due to the walk out basement, we were able to access the bottom of the hole that they dug and explore the many layers of clay, soil, and sand.

Really amazing!

Today they poured the footings for our walls and supports.  I can't believe that this is really happening!

We may be getting some rain this week, if so our progress will be slowed a bit as they pour our walls.... other than that, we are flying forward!!  They are expecting to have the rest of the cement done by the end of this week (depending on the rain...).  Here's hoping for a dry month of April!!

Pinch Me!

Seriously.... Pinch Me!!! I must be dreaming!  Today we had the last of our approval meetings for our house and below is a picture of our architect, Mark, holding all of the paperwork for our building permits.  We are now about to dig and actually get this project rolling!  Today we also finalized all of our flooring, tile, and fireplace choices.  Tomorrow we are finalizing all of our cabinetry.

The next week should bring many changes to our lonely lot.

Is it time to dig yet?

This is a picture of the lot that we purchased in the Harlan Hills Condominium  neighborhood back in June of 2010.  It was out of pure luck that our sweet friend and realtor Michelle Hall thought to take us to this location.  We fell in love with the property immediately.  The view above is what we will have out of our kitchen, living area, master bedroom, and upstairs play area.  This will also be the view from our walk out basement.  The tree line is the part of the university's arboretum.  Right behind our lot is a pond, marsh, and prairie area.  At the time we purchased this lot, were working with a builder.  That relationship didn't work out and cost us about 6 months in time, but taught us many things.  After terminating that relationship we hired Design Shelters to help us move forward and redesign our house.  This relationship has gone much better and we will be starting our dig in the very near future (once the committee approves our house design)!  

This is a view of the street in front of our lot and the green space across the street.  This will be the view from the windows in my office and Logan's upstairs bedroom.  

We visit our lot from time to time and on this visit the kids wanted to make snow angels all over the lot.  We are now ordering doors, windows, stone, and making decisions about how many zones we should have in the house for heating/ air to be the most energy efficient.  Decisions, decisions, decisions.  All of which have a lovely price tag attached to them.  So many opportunities for going WAY over budget!  

I will be updating this blog at least once a week to keep everyone posted on our progress.