Monday, July 1, 2024

LONG AWAITED ANNOUNCEMENT


As you all know, I got a clean bill of health at my last cardiologist appointment and that's kind of what we were waiting for.  So here it is, the announcement we, and of course many of you, have waited years to be able to say:

WE.

ARE.

BUILDING.

A.

HOUSE!

Well, OK, we aren't building it ourselves, my workshop skills aren't that good, ha!  We picked a builder, we picked a plan, we started the design process and yesterday, we signed the contract!

A couple months back I posted about how we went out to speak with a builder and the whole experience was awesome.  The quality of their builds was great and just what we wanted.  We did our research and even chatted with some customers who built homes with them in our area via the Nextdoor app.  We decided yes!

It's been twelve years (2012) since we established the farm and gave it the name Seda Bolsa, so in this, the twelfth year of its current incarnation, after all that we and indeed, the world, have been through, it seemed like the right time to finally turn dreams into reality.

We chose a great floor plan and are making some modifications to it (we have had several visits so far, the appointments we've been having on the weekends) and next we will get to sit with the design team and figure out countertops, paint colors, flooring, light fixtures, etc.  They said three or four visits will get everything finalized, though we have been modifying it on our desks with pens and paper for weeks now, ha.

A few tidbits to tease you:

2nd Man will get his dream kitchen; double ovens, 36" induction cooktop, farmhouse sink, lots of cabinet  and drawer space and best of all, a HUGE island (with no sink in the island, it will be all glorious prep space)...

A giant walk-in pantry (my big wish) with built-in floor to ceiling shelving on both sides and a counter with shelves above at the far end...

Space for a future "Summer kitchen/Grilling porch"...

A study/office that we can fill with bookcases...

 Lots of storage space throughout the house...

A walk-in shower with a rain shower head...

A nice, deep covered porch on the back that we will be able to furnish like an outdoor room because it will be entirely SCREENED IN...

A good size front covered porch, of course with room for at least two rocking chairs...

An oversized two car garage to keep our cars safe...

A large laundry room with space for a separate freezer (you know me and my vacuum sealer, ha)...

And by having a brand new home, we'll finally have central a/c and heat, PEX plumbing to keep our pipes safe in freezes, it will be on a slab so no more crawling under the house and hopefully no creatures (or at least 'less'), plus all the other stuff we haven't had...new roof, insulated double pane windows, smart home features, etc.

There are other changes we are planning and thinking about but we're locked in now to the build and most of our final decisions.  We still have our color appointments to pick out the interior stuff. 

More details on those soon!


By the way, "D" and "A" from the builder's office have been incredibly generous with their time and suggestions and most of all, patience, as we made several trips/appointments to figure things out.  So of course yesterday when we went, 2nd Man did what he does best and made a dozen NY style "black and white cookies" as a thank you.  We hope they enjoyed them!

THANK YOU BOTH!

We are blessed that we can just stay here in our apartment like we always have during this whole construction process.  It also helps that we're flexible and timing is open, we don't have a set deadline that it has to be ready though the sooner the better, ha.

Of course, we're gonna have to empty the current house and I'll still have to go out and mow and take care of things while they are working on the house (THAT'S most likely going to be a mess, ha).

The first thing we have to do is get the house packed up and keep what we want to have in the new house and pick out the stuff we're going to sell/give away/etc.

Y'all ready for posts about house construction?  There will be a lot going on along the way.  Room designs, color choices, choices on faucets and countertops and lights etc.  We will share as much as we can and of course, tons of pics as things progress on the house.

So buckle up, there are going to be big things happening.  Hopefully all will be good, but as with any project like this, there could be hiccups along the way and we'll share it all, the good and the bad, ha.

Like we mentioned yesterday...

Our dream begins and in the end though, we hope to end up with a great little "new farmhouse" and who knows, maybe someday when we're gone, someone else will be able to enjoy what we have created on our little slice of heaven.

HOUSE. COMING. SOON(ISH).

43 comments:

  1. Oh, Happy Day. How exciting! Happy for you both.
    Have an enjoyable day.

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    1. Thank you! It's going to be an adventure for sure! Hope you've had a great week.

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  2. Very happy for you guys. Been a long time coming. Looking forward to lots of construction posts.

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    1. It has been, life kept throwing up roadblocks but here we are, finally! Thanks!

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  3. Congratulations, that is awesome news.

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  4. WooHooo! Awesome long overdue news.
    One question - since the house is on a slab (not that basements are an absolutely safe place), will there be a reinforced room for protection from tornadoes?
    Hope all goes well with emptying the old house, and good bye to Snakey and the mice.

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    1. thank you and we agree, long overdue for sure. We are looking into that. We can't have basements dues to the water table here. We have considered a safe room space and they are looking into that for us. We might get an in ground cellar, we'll see how it goes. Definitely want something along those lines.

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  5. That is the best news ever. I can't wait to see the tour.

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    1. Aww, thank you. We'll have lots of posts with different things as they come along.

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  6. Thrilled for you. I will be following along with interest. Can't wait to see what your colour choices will be.

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    1. Thanks, yep, we'll see. We have a "color appointment" soon to pick paint colors, I already know for sure I want the laundry room to be pale blue, have always liked that look. 2nd Man wants a light yellow in the guest room. Fun times ahead. :-)

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  7. Congratulations! I love “building” new houses! I know you two will too! Deb

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    1. Thank you! Fun times ahead, am I right? Ha. Thanks for coming along for the ride!

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  8. Your enthusiasm and excitement are wonderful. It is great that your new abode will be exactly as you want it to be. A member of our family has just started in on constructing a new house and it is going to take TWO YEARS. Be warned! Roderick

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    1. YAY!! Thanks Roderick! I think you were most excited of all. They are telling us once they break ground, six to nine months. They kind of specialize in rural custom homes and have a process, we shall see. We have 180 days to get the property ready, we are not waiting that long, ha. We are excited to start. They said some people just put things off. Not us, we're ready! Stay tuned and thanks for joining us for this journey. We appreciate you.

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  9. So, what does Hobart think of this? Have you told him?

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    1. We told him, but he seems unimpressed, ha. Funny thing, we looked at the floor plan and already figured where to put the litter box! Decisions decisions, ha!

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  10. That is great news, hope all goes smoothly with the build

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    1. We hope so too, but we're realistic, things happen, but hopefully it will be as smooth as is possible. :-)

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  11. One word about PEX plumbing. The PEX plumbing from road to house next door failed a year ago - after being in the ground since the house was new, in the early '70s - but it cost thousends to replace.

    It sounds like your new home will be increadibly wonderful!

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    1. Hmm, interesting. Well, everyone here in these parts does PEX now just because our freezes are getting more intense. It will be on a well so we'll see how much they have outside. It will be nice for sure, fit to us, we shall cross our fingers and dive in! ha!

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  12. So happy for you two! I look forward to hearing everything about the build! I haven't anything else going on ... It will be exciting for me, too!

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    1. Cool, well you'll be in for a ride, that's for sure. Ground won't be broken for a month or so but then things will happen quickly (at least we hope). But before then we'll be picking colors, etc.

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  13. Fabulous! Looking forward to the updates and ongoing construction process!

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  14. It sounds divine. I would kill for that pantry alone. So glad you’ll be taking us along on the adventure. Well done.

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    1. Oh the pantry is going to be cool (fingers crossed). We'll be sharing details of the plans in various posts, I'll do one with the pantry itself and some pics of what was our inspiration and the design plans, etc.

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  15. I am sooo happy for y’all!
    Your house sounds wonderful! I’m glad that you will get your dream things in it, like the dream kitchen, the library/office, and the 2 porches.
    Looking forward to seeing posts and pictures when the build starts.

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    1. OH there will be lots of pictures, you know me, ha! Yep, we're going to get the things we've always wanted. Go big or go home, right? Ha!

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  16. Wow, this is exciting news! What fun. And congratulations on the good report from your cardiologist. A great relief.

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    1. You are always so kind. Thank you for that. Yep, all clear, so far of course, knock on wood. We debated very heavily a gut and remodel but there was just SO much wrong with the house and it was HUGELY expensive to remodel and do an add on so we decided to just do a new build. Stay tuned!

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  17. Congratulations! I envy you building a new house exactly to your personal needs. Keep an eye to future needs as you age in place too. One of my favorite cabinets from redoing my kitchen is a tall double door cabinet under the microwave that has glide out shelves. Most of my heavy pots are in there along with the small appliances like the blender, food processor, stick blender, etc., and those long bbq tools. The regular cabinet over the microwave is where the baking canisters are stored along with the big mixing bowls.

    My last comment is that I regret going with granite countertops. It chips.

    Have fun, Katie C.

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    1. Thank you!! Yes, aging in place we have thought about that. We'll have more details on that but suffice to stay, stuff like what you said is something we've thought about and planned for. Now that's interesting bout granite. Our apartments have always had granite, but our house in town (before we moved to the apt building) had formica. Didn't realize that about granite, will have to research that. Thank you!

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  18. Sounds like a dream home! Just curious though, what will happen to the old house? Will it be demolished?
    Looking forward to following the build.
    Congrats!
    CBoord

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    1. Thanks!!! It will be our dream home for sure. The old house will be gone. We have to put this one and the same spot, it's the highest point and the most level and of course cleared and wide open. Plus electricity etc already there. We could move the old house elsewhere on the property but again, that would involve clearing and running electricity to it, even having its own separate well (and those are EXPENSIVE, ha). We hope to have someone buy it and move it and it can live on but if not, we'll have as much donated as we can and then it will be demolished. We plan on wasting as little as possible. Stay tuned!

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  19. How exciting for you, I've built a new house before [well the builders] and it's so exciting.

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    1. This will be our first (though when I was little my parents did it twice, ha). Anyway, it will be a new adventure for us, fingers crossed!

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  20. Wow, huge congratulations to you both! We have built two houses, and remodeled a couple of others, and it is a hugely rewarding and fun process if you have a builder you like. I hope all goes swimmingly for you! Can't wait to follow along and see all the pics! What fun!

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  21. Use a strong Geiger counter on any stone or whatever you call it used for counter tops. No use living with radiation slowly poisoning you.
    Have you considered one of those metal boxes for a storm shelter. My friend has one in his carport.
    The big porch is nice! There is screening that will keep out allergens and dust for comfort.
    One thing about aging is that concrete hurts joints, not even lower joints. My shoulders and elbows can feel the hardness of concrete. Yes, it is a real thing. My house had 4 foot crawl spaces so my electrician loved going under my house...lol. He always came up smiling about being able to sit up.
    If you moved the house on your property and used it for storage and work space, there is no need for electricity or water/well.
    Picking out the colors should be a blast. And, you will have towels and curtains all set for installation when you move in. No shopping for those later.
    Best of all, congratulations on your health!!!
    The orangerie can come later. lol

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  22. Guys, this is wonderful news - I'm so happy for you!

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  23. Lots and lots of decisions. Keep a notebook or journal with articles or photos you like to help you with decisions. We went through this when we built the Lodge in 2003-05. Yes, it took 2 1/2 years. We loved the house but in 2016 it was time to sell. We thought we were done with home maintenance but Covid and need to be closer to at least one daughter brought us to NH and a really old house. I'll enjoy reading your journey to a new house.

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  24. Hmm typed a long comment and it disappeared. Trying again with a short one.

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