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).