Closed...finally

Well...Taylor and I are officially homeowners. We finally closed on our house on Friday. It is such a relief to have all that paperwork out of the way, so we know exactly how much money we have to play with. So congratulations to us...we are officially broke!!
In other news, we got our electric hooked up this past week and we turned it on Thursday night...finally heat and lights! It has been cold the past few days, so having the heat blasting out to get the sheetrock warm was great. Taylor and I knocked out the support beams put in place for the transportation of the house, and finished seaming everything this weekend. The housing company put laminate flooring down in the two bathrooms, so my little bro Antonio and I pulled up all the trim, laminate, and luon. It was a riot to see my 8-year old brother with a mini crow-bar and hammer pulling up the luon. We had a blast!
Our friend, Ethan came over yesterday and started all the prep work to lay the tile in the kitchen and entryway. He came up with a really cool idea for the entry way, but I'm going to keep it a secret...you'll have to stop by or stay posted to see what he does!
Things are looking great and moving along fairly quickly. On deck for this week are laying tile, installing the wood floors, building stairs to the basement, mudding the sheetrock seams, and getting the plumbing all connected. Also, our kitchen appliances are scheduled to arrive on Friday...can't wait to see them all in our kitchen! I'm so excited.
Stay tuned for more!

First Look at Interiors

Arrival Day - In Pictures

Arrival Day!!!

So, we can finally take a small sigh of relief! December 3rd has whipped by and left a trail of mud and muck up our driveway to our new home. What a day Wednesday was! I took the day off and made my way over to "The Property" to watch the action unfold. The day started out busy, trying to get food set up for the crew and run my millions of errands before missing any of the big event. As the day started to unfold, the time seemed to be standing still. The night before, one half of the house had arrived. Due to permits and no driving at night, the second half and the crane were going to come up in the morning. The crane arrived in the a.m. and the crew started deciding where things should go. Our driveway had become muddy and icy at the same time with the crazy weather we've been having. Trudeau arrived to run the tractor and lay some dirt and gravel down for traction. The crane finally made it up the driveway and got into position. Finally...the action was starting to unfold as the first half of the house arrived. Then it came to a sudden halt. The trailer the house was on couldn't make it around the existing buildings and we had a really tough time getting it up the driveway. The first piece didn't get into position to be set on the foundation until 3:00.
Things felt hopeless and the day just dragged on. I tried to keep my spirits up with joking and keeping busy. I knew that regardless, we would have a house sooner or later; we just had to be patient. Needless to say, the first half finally made its way up onto the foundation. It was an amazing sight to see. Then...the second half had arrived. We figured that since things had finally been figured out with the first half, the second half would be a relative breeze. Not quite so! The second half was actually on a smaller trailer with smaller wheels, etc...so it was pretty much back to square one. This half didn't take nearly as long, but we ran out of light before the piece could be set.
Day 1...done.
House...not finished.
Day 2 started early in the morning. The plan was to get the second piece prepped to set first thing in the morning. I got there around 8:00 and stayed for an hour hoping to see the final piece set. Unfortunately, I had to work and missed the whole thing. The front half was set at about 10:00am on Wednesday. The crew stayed all day to raise the roof and get it sealed up.
Day 2...done.
House...still not finished.
So...most of the house is sealed in. The roof is still not completely finished and the crew will be back when they are available to finish the shingles and such. In the meantime, we are getting the electric all set with the hopes of turning it on this coming Monday. Taylor and I are putting together our plan of attack so that we can achieve our goal of moving in by January 31st.
I ordered our flooring yesterday and actually won a $400 gift certificate towards flooring at Young Lyon last night at Joy to the Children. That will definitely come in handy! Our heat should be on in the next few days and then we will start prepping the walls for stain and paint. Any help is greatly appreciated if anyone is interested.
Thanks for everyone's support thus far. We look forward to having everyone over once the house is in "working" condition!!

Final work before House Arrival

December 3rd is the Date!!

So..things have been happening pretty quickly now. We had some down time the end of October into November, as we got 10 inches of snow right before Halloween. It was a little strange to think that we had almost a foot of snow in our new, unused basement already! The weather set the well-digging back a week or two. After a week or so of cold and blistery winter weather, fall came back with avengence and we have been experiencing warmer than normal weather since...well, until today! So, the well diggers came about 10 days ago and started digging. Taylor decided to start a pool and all his employees guessed how far down we would have to dig. The winner would ge dinner for two at Lisa G's. We were quoted 400 feet, but I had a good feeling...or maybe I'm just optomistic; so I guessed 263 feet. They stopped at 76 feet and said they had to wait a day to test the water. I was praying 76 feet was going to be it, but it wasn't. The water wasn't clean enough, so they continued to dig. They went past 263 and ended up stopping at 280 feet. Seth won the bet...I believe right on the nose. Regardless, 280 is a lot better than 400 seeing as we were paying by the foot, we definitely made out! We are receiving 15 gal/min which they tell me is pretty good.

The contractor has been working on the front of the basement, trying to get it all set. We had the in-floor heating put down, and the concrete was poured about 6 weeks ago. Jay (our contractor) then proceeded to the front of the basement. He has built all of the front. The only thing left for the basement are the windows and doors, which will be placed in after the house arrives. Speaking of the house, we have been waiting and waiting for an arrival date all month to no avail..that is until this past week. We have finally received notice that our house will be arriving on December 2nd and will be set on December 3rd!!! Taylor and I are so excited, but very anxious and nervous at the same time. There are so many things that we need to get together before the house comes. Also, with it being December, we are hoping that the snow holds off and that the weather isn't too cold. We just ordered our siding last week and are just trying to find a day to go pick it up. We are using Crane siding in Cabin brown with red trim. The siding will be a combination of 6" wide horizontal boards and cedar-esque shakes. Along with the siding, Taylor and I are going to check out flooring, lighting and paint colors next week so that we can be ready. 2 1/2 weeks is not very long!
I'll post more info about the delivery and such when it gets a little closer. I am also planning on being at the site when they set it so that we can document the whole thing. Check out the pictures to see how the site has come along so far!
Cheers to everyone and we hope you will all be able to visit our new place very soon!!

Making Progress

Things have been going along pretty well lately. The windows have been cut out of the foundation and the plumbing was dug and buried this past week. We are waiting for the contractor to stick build the front of the basement; but the concrete floor needs to be poured first. Trudeau's was there this past week prepping the basement floor so that our contractor can lay the infloor heating in and have the floor poured. He should be building the front basement wall after that. We are on the schedule for our well also. They said they are 2-3 weeks out and Trudeau's says that is perfect for them. I'm hoping that they don't have to dig to far for the well. They gave us a standard quote and we are hoping that it doesn't cost that much. It would be our only saving grace!!! Anyway, I'm getting a little nervous because it is starting to get cold here and I just want to make sure that all the digging is done before the ground freezes. This weekend, Taylor and I are cutting down more trees..ugh! I'm so sick of cutting down trees and hauling them halfway across the lot. We have to cut down the largest tree on the property tomorrow. We thought we could get away with keeping it, but it turns out that it is just not going to work. With the trees being the last of my manual labor on this house for a little bit, I've started looking at lighting and flooring options. It is really difficult to make decisions on this stuff when you can't visualize what the inside of your house is going to look like. I just don't want to wait until the house gets here to start making these decisions, as I know some items need to be specially ordered. Anyway, it also keeps my mind busy; otherwise I'd be going stir crazy wondering when our house will be here! Enough for now...I'll post more pictures after we cut our tree down!

From Then until Now

Hurry Up and Wait!

So, alot has happened since my last post. we got our entire foundation dug out last month. The foundation plans were finally stamped and sent back to us a few weeks ago and foundation work started immediately. Our contractor started building with the Logix blocks and finished it in less than a week. The concrete guys came last week and poured inside the blocks; so now we just have to wait for the concrete to cure. The day after we poured the concrete, our building permit showed up (a little late)! Taylor looked at the permit and it said it permitted us to build the foundation walls of the house. Taylor called the building department and told them we had already done it; so they revised the permit to include everything and sent it back over the next day. We also had to finish up everything for our bank loan. That was crazy...putting all the paperwork together. They want estimates, contracts, schedules, etc. It is really hard when you are acting as the general contractor and you have to go out and get all the estimates and such. You also have to be pretty sure of what you want, as the bank looks at the estimates for certain materials and expects that you will be using those specific materials. Sometimes it is scary, cause you're not sure of what you are going to use but if you say you're going to use something and you change your mind, you could be penalized. That is a lot of pressure when it is your first house!

I feel like this summer we were much busier getting everything prepped and such and now we are not the ones working on the lot. It feels really weird and I kind of feel like things are going at a snail's pace. Then I go visit "the Property" and see all the accomplishments and it feels good!

So as of now, we are waiting to hear back from the bank as to when we will be closing on everything. Our basement floor is being prepped this week to be poured and I think all the electric, phone & cable lines are going to be dug and placed as well. The front wall, which is fully exposed is supposed to be stick built in the next dew weeks also. We are also waiting to hear what the delivery date is going to be for the house. Last we heard, it was going to be the beginning of November but Taylor told me that it was put on hold earlier this week again, so I'm not sure when it is going to come. It has me pretty worried because they are saying this is going to be a really bad winter. I just hope the house gets here and we are able to get the siding up and the two pieces seamed together before it gets too cold or snowy. The problem is that since we are going to be working in November, we will be very limited with light. We are going to have to work as fast as possible and work long hours on the weekends to get it done quickly. I hope all of you are prepared...there is a chance that I will be begging for help on that part! Just want to give you all a heads up!!!

After the house arrives, our well will be dug and the lot will be backfilled. That should be the end of the really large things that need to be done. So in the meantime, I'm trying to keep myself busy with tile and flooring selections, paint chips and lighting. We have so many light fixtures to pick out, but it is really hard to make decisions on that stuff until you see the house and know exactly what type of look you want to achieve. I've been searching through tons of magazines and keeping clippings of styles that I like. Hopefully, this will pay off when it comes time to start decorating.

So, I'll keep you all posted on what is happening going forward. I took a little hiatus, as Taylor and I were on vacation for a week and then my step-mother got very ill and passed away. Things in our lives have been slightly hectic, but I will do my best to keep you all informed as to what is going on. The next two months should be crazy and things should be moving along quickly during that time.

I'll post recent pictures soon!

Planning Board & Excavation

So we went to the Planning Board two weeks ago and submitted our case for architectural review. The board looked at the plan, reviewed the colors, siding choices and shingles and was happy with all selections. They told us that we have to wait for the next meeting so the public could have the chance to review the plans and make any comments. So yesterday we went back to the planning board, walked in and they took our case immediately. Within 2 minutes we were in and out of the planning board with an approval to move forward on the house. I think that may be a record for time at the planning board!!! We are so happy about it.

In other news, we are still waiting for our blue prints to arrive, but in the meantime Trudeau's has started excavating the foundation and smoothing out the lot. It is so exciting to see the process start!!! They got about half of the foundation dug out yesterday. I asked Taylor how they could do this without having the blueprints and he said they have to dig additional space around the foundation anyway, so it does not have to be uber exact. That works for me!! Taylor and I are going to be cutting more trees down all through this week. We want to level out the lot in the front, so we have to cut the trees down so there is a place for all the fill. Trudeau should be done with the excavation in a few days and hopefully we will have our blueprints by then so that we can start building the actual foundation.

Our foundation is being built with Logix blocks, so it's like building with legos that snap together. I think you then pour the cement inside the blocks after everything is built. The blocks are a little more pricey, but way more energy efficient and you can nail your siding and drywall directly to the blocks without any framing. They are awesome!!

I will post some additional pictures up tomorrow...Taylor has the camera and is taking pictures of the lot through the whole process.

Planning Board Meeting

Taylor and I were scheduled to attend the Planning Board Meeting this past Wednesday. I was so nervous, just from hearing all the horror stories of what can happen at a planning board meeting. Anyway, we had to submit our plans for architectural review; which means we had to submit the exterior layout of the house and shingle/siding samples. Basically, the board wants to make sure that we are not painting the house hot pink!
Things went well and the meeting and we were in and out in a matter of 15 minutes. We have to go back later this month so that people from the community can attend and tell us how much they don't like the look of the house! I'm not anticipating anything, as it is pretty much and Adirondack-style vacation home look and the brown siding is going to meld right into the hillside.

In other news, Taylor and I were struggling to get our piece of property sub-divided from Commercial/Residential to Commercial & Residential. I guess we got the papers signed the other day, because now we are able to be sub-divided for the bank which makes me feel a whole lot better. Before, we were going to have our home and business under one mortgage; so if the business went sour, we would lose our home. Now that won't happen and I can breathe just a little more!

Big Wishes...Big Constraints

When you say you want to build a house, you don't really have any clue what goes in to that kind of investment. You think, I'll get a loan, pick a floorplan, and pay someone to do the rest.
I guess that mentality works for someone who is independently wealthy, but not for the rest of us. Taylor and I have known for 3 years that we wanted to build a house. I've been pining of floorplans for 3 YEARS!!! I finally scraped most of them and designed it myself with my needs in mind. See, we're buying a pre-fab; so there are only so many things that you need to do, or have to do. I am limited by structural "boxes" and maximized lengths and widths of those boxes. It can be a pain, but at the same time it is kind of nice. I know my limitations and where I have creative freedom and where I don't. I need those boundaries sometimes!!

Taylor and I live in Lake Placid, where most of the houses are beautiful and are designed to enjoy the views of the mountains. Taylor bought our lot a few years ago for his business and we are lucky enough to be able to build our home on the same lot. We are also very fortunate that the view from our lot is of the Sentinel Range Mountains. We want to make sure that we take advantage of the view, but it also means that our house will not be hidden from the scrutiny of passer-bys. We are building next to a really nice stick-built house and want to make sure that ours fits in with the locale. A typical pre-fab wouldn't cut it for us. The houses around us are all wood siding with beautiful decks and big picture windows. We can't afford all that, so we are doing everything we can to achieve that same look without the cost. It is tricky and very time consuming.

On top of everything else, my mind flies a mile-a-minute when it comes to dreaming up ideas for the house. Paint colors, tile selections, interior decorations...you know; all the fun stuff! If I'm lucky...my head won't explode before the house comes!

"The Property" - from start to now

My First Blog...so bare with me!

People at work are constantly talking about blogs, bloggers, etc., and I have always wanted to create my own blog, but wasn't sure I was ready to share my thoughts with anyone. I mean, who wants to broadcast their thoughts about ANYTHING on the web? I live in a small enough town as it is where most everyone knows your business, why should I help facilitate everyone else in knowing my business??
Anyway, my husband Taylor and I are in the process of building a house this summer...the trials and tribulations of building a house! Man...it deprives you of sleep, puts strain on your relationship, and keeps you begging for more! It is such a love-hate relationship...building a house. It truly is a nightmare, making sure that you don't forget something, because if you do, it could cost you thousands of dollars!! But you love doing it, because in the end, the house is ours and we created it just the way we wanted it.
So, Taylor and I have started clearing our "Property" for the house and I thought..."this is the perfect time to start a blog!"

So...bare with me as I learn this whole blogging thing!