SEPTIC PLANS ARE IN NEW HOUSE UPDATE

One of the other things they have to do is design the new septic system that will go with our house.

We got the plans via email the other day, printed them out and looked at them compared to the property.  That wooden stake in the above photo is where the "tank area" will go (see further down).

This shows where the house will be in relation to the septic tank system (next image).  The blue circles are the radius of where the water from the spray heads will reach.

They told us it was safe to plant trees and bushes in the area but not a garden, ha.  Of course, our garden will be elsewhere, so no issue there.

We will have three tanks.  A 500-gallon pre-treatment tank, a 500-gallon aerobic treatment and a 750-gallon pump tank (where the pop-up sprinkler heads will spray water when full).

We also learned that the pop-up sprinkler heads are purple, that's required by law to make it know that it is non-potable water.  Of course, I'm worried about mowing over them, so I might have to plan some sort of decorative planting area around them.  We'll see!

This is from the PDF that they sent to help us understand how all of this will work.  To be honest, we're still a little confused about it all, but 2nd Family at the front has the same type of set up.  She said it has worked great and no issues with the spray heads.  Except when there is a freeze, then there is a great Winter ice show, ha.

LAUNDRY ROOM NEW HOUSE TEASER

In case you missed it, click on the previous post from yesterday for pics on the house demolition! 

Here is the utility room.  Or laundry room?  We still say laundry room, but builders seem to call it utility.  Not sure what they are calling them these days.

I was mostly involved in the layout of the this room.  First of all, it's not huge, and the way the floor plan is laid out, we didn't have a lot of room for changes as far as size.  It measures 8' x 8'6" with a 9' ceiling and that will give us a decent sized room.  There will be a center recessed light and we added an exhaust fan.

There is a hallway (above) that runs from the kitchen/dining area to the garage.  In the original plan, there was what they call a "drop zone" near the garage door.  Some sort of built in cabinet/table as a spot to put stuff as you come in. Then there was a door to a small pantry and a door to the laundry room.  We felt that was a lot of doors opening/closing/swinging back and forth and getting in the way of each other.

So, the first change we made was pocket doors.

They will look like the picture above.  One for the pantry and one for the laundry room.  Sure, they are more expensive (isn't everything, sigh), but it just seems that not having doors swinging in and out and in the way, just having an open space between the hall and the rooms made more sense. The door to the garage is still there, because, well, it's a garage, ha.  Both pocket doors will be black, solid core, and 36" wide 8' tall to match the style and color of the regular door to the garage.  We also made sure the pocket doors were centered in each space and across from each other for that symmetric look (this plan doesn't reflect that yet).

We also decided to put a drain in the middle of the floor.  That's something not a lot of people think about but in the event the washer sprung a leak, it will drain into the floor and not into the other rooms.  It'll look much like this, only more in the middle of the room.

Speaking of the floor...

...the flooring in here will be the same tile as in the guest bath.  It should look very pretty.  We were going to go with a generic all one-color tile, but just because it's a utility room doesn't mean it has to look utilitarian!

The last change was bigger.  In the original plan, there was a 'freezer space' in the pantry.  Food storage is very important to us, so we wanted to keep space for a separate freezer but we wanted our pantry to be all pantry without eating up space with a freezer.  We decided to have them move the freezer space from the pantry and into the laundry room.

This necessitated the last change. With a standard side-by-side washer/dryer, the freezer spot would have been on the opposite wall...it would have been crowded.

At our apartment for years now, we've had a nice (supplied by the apartment) stack washer/dryer.  In fact, here is a photo of ours now. We love a stack unit and realized that if we do that here, we can put the freezer next to it and, as we've already measured, still have a little space for a cabinet in between.  

We also had the freezer and stack unit moved from the side wall to the back wall.  That way, when you slide open the door, it's a straight shot to the back, not only more convenient but probably more aesthetically pleasing when you look at it in the space.

Like this!  It'll look pretty close to this on the back wall as you slide open the pocket door (different colors of course).  Pretty cool huh?  We think it'll be nice.

We wished there had been room for a sink in here and there would have been were it not for moving the freezer, but again, an extra freezer was more important.  Hey, we will still have our sink in the garage as you saw in the post on the garage tour.  It's only a few steps away from the laundry room.  In the end, we still get the stand-alone freezer and the utility sink, just not in the same space, ha.

So that's it.  Y'all have seen every room planned in the house except for the kitchen and the pantry.  Big plans there, next week, pantry tour!

THE HOUSE IS GONE

 We'll have another post soon with lots of pics before and after from various angles (including some unique shots!) but since many of you have asked how it went, we're keeping this first post quick and to the point, ha.

It's the end of an era for the little farmhouse.  It had a great run, but it was time to make our future dreams come true...

Here it is right after we bought it...

Here it is Wednesday morning...

Going...

Going...

Gone!

Instead of being sad, we're thinking of what will grow from this spot.  Just like planting a seed and waiting for a beautiful flower to bloom, we'll be waiting for our new home to rise up from this very spot. 

The future awaits!

GOOD FOOD AND HOBART SUNDAY

 Tomorrow an update on the house but today, as usual, it's some good food and some Hobart!

Here's a recent dinner.  A very lean pork chop marinated overnight with a little bit of avocado oil, smoked paprika, cumin and chili pepper.  We added a side of asparagus, brown rice with corn, and an avocado with Greek yogurt and cilantro.  It was good!

Here's a good one!  I was working on my laptop from the table and put Hobart's afghan up there so he could sleep nearby.  But instead of sleeping, he just stared at me like he was saying "aren't you done YET?".  Because...

#notspoiled

BONNE MAMAN FALL TRIO

 It's been a busy week, still things happening at the property so we'll have an update on that.  Until then, here's a post for you on some future good eating!

Over the last few years, we've occasionally bought the Bonne Maman Advent calendar for the holidays.  It gives you 25 days of small jar samples of unique flavors.  In fact, we still have some from last year.

So when we saw this new offering from them, and because we still had a few small jars, we knew we had to try this instead.

This year they have what they are calling their FALL TRIO.

It's a boxed set of three special flavors, two new limited edition flavors and one that is usually only around in the Fall and, thus, sometimes hard to find.

First up, there is a jar of fig preserves which is seasonal.  I LOVE figs (and we have a fig tree growing at the farm) and hope this will inspire me to make fig preserves when we start getting regular harvests.

This is a limited edition flavor, "PUMPKIN SPICE SPREAD".  My Grandmother used to make apple butter and my Dad asked her to make pumpkin butter and she did and it was REALLY good.  I'm hoping this is similar.

And lastly, there is this one, a special flavor;  CRANBERRY-CHERRY PRESERVES.

We just got them in the mail a few days ago, so we're waiting for 2nd Man to make some homemade bread so we can try them all out.  We'll keep you posted.

DINING ROOM NEW HOUSE TEASER

 Now it's time for the dining room.

The dining room is off the kitchen and is at the back of the house.  It measures 13'4" wide by 11'4" deep.  To the left (as looking from above) is the living room and screened in porch, on the right is the hallway to the garage, utility room and pantry and on the other side is the kitchen.  When you walk in the front door after you go through the foyer, you'll see the dining room at the back of the house.

No, we haven't been holding back details on our progress, this isn't ours, ha.  This is from a model that was being built of our exact (well, with changes but this part identical) floor plan.  It's always fun to see it at this stage and we can't WAIT until we have pictures like this of ours in every stage of construction!  Another reason to get pics like this of our own will be to know where pipes and wires are throughout the house.

This is the almost finished dining room from our actual floor plan (later progress of the above framing photo).

We made some changes to the original plan.

First of all, we made our kitchen bigger (longer) so we could have a bigger island and make some appliance changes.  That, in turn, lengthened the dining room.  And that in turn gave us the space to be able to have the screened porch.  This picture is the bigger dining room we will have (minus that door with the X on it, ha).

When we opted for our porch to be larger...and then decided to make it screened in...and then decided on the opening doors from the living room, we decided we didn't need this door.  That will give us that much more wall space both inside in the dining room and then on the outside wall of the screened-in porch, we'll have more room as well.  Win/win!

We also chose for a continuous windowsill here (we like that look) and these windows won't open, so they'll be big sheets of glass (double pane/insulated) to give us a view.  This will be the view of what we used to see from the back of the farmhouse, the orchard area will be visible from here and the 200 acres behind us that is used for cattle (we should get some fun views).

Here is the electrical plan for the dining room:

    As with our other rooms, you can never have too many electrical outlets.  Here, we have one on every wall (and two on the window wall).  This room will not have recessed lighting like the others and no ceiling fan of course but will instead have a hanging fixture.  We picked one, from the list of the ones that are included, but they are simple (like the one in the photo above).  We want something dramatic but without having to finance it for years in the mortgage, ha.

Maybe something like this.  We like it, it's kind of retro cool.  But we'll find just the right one and may even have it put up before closing.

We'll use the dining table and chairs we have at the apartment (and had at the house we sold) in the new dining room.  The farmhouse dining table and chairs will go onto the back porch.

We also have this matching buffet and hutch.  They'll fit perfectly in that dining room space.

The dining room, being at the other end of the kitchen so to speak will make it kind of like an eat in kitchen but still in its own defined space.

We'll even have easy dining room table access to a wine fridge in the island...oops, we're getting ahead of ourselves!  More on that soon.

Next week, the laundry room...

THE HOUSE IS EMPTY

 THE.

HOUSE.

IS.

EMPTY.

Saturday was a busy day.  A coworker came with a friend and a big truck because we gave her our bed frame and mattress/box springs for her son.

I had moved it to the barn to get it out of the house using the farm truck but he had a much bigger truck, ha.  In fact, they also took the guest room mattress/box  springs for her mom.  We kept that frame because we want to use it in the new guest room.  We'll just buy a new mattress for it.

She also took some other pieces for herself so it was nice to give stuff to someone who will enjoy it for years to come.

Then, the movers came and took the rest of the furniture, the big pieces we couldn't move with the pickup truck.

We were worried about the steps from the porch.  Well, they had this brilliant solution (I'm sure lots of movers use it but I'm easily impressed, ha).  They backed the truck close to the porch and then got out this two piece "bridge" that arched up over the stairs.  Then they just rolled everything in like it was all at the same level.

The guy told me it was the easiest move they had that day, ha.  It took them about 20 minutes to get everything out of the house.

The other thing we were worried about was fitting it all in the remainder of the storage unit.  We kept the small things about halfway over and left the rest empty.

We had three bookcases, the dining table, the yellow kitchen hutch, the bedroom dresser and armoire, a filing cabinet, coffee table, end table, sideboard, the marble top kitchen table and two more cabinets.

Would it all fit?

Here it is...all in there!  It was like the game Tetris for sure and there was still a little room to spare.  Now we don't have the eight dining room chairs in there.  I put those in the barn (all eight fit nicely in the back of bed of the truck).  If they had gotten there and they didn't fit, they'd charge extra to take it back so I figured the barn was good, at least temporarily.  I used the empty space to bring a couple more items...

...the orchard rack and couple more boxes I missed the first time and a few smaller things.  Oh, and I moved that top box before I left and put it on the floor, it was smashing the one below it (books).  2nd Man is worried about the dining chairs being in the barn since it's not climate controlled but I reminded him the house has not been climate controlled for years.  Plus, we're going to put them on the screened in porch so non-climate controlled again.  If we get a nice cool day when I'm out there, I might move them.  I bet I can make them fit.  I'm great at Tetris!

The last thing I had to do after they left was clear off the porch.  I moved the plants over by the barn where they'll be in mostly shade like they were on the porch.  And bonus, if it rains at least once a week, I won't have to worry about watering them.  If I do have to water though, I'll have to fill up 5 gallon buckets from 2nd Family until our well is up and running.  Then I moved the clay pots and some misc things we are keeping and that was it.  I was finally ready to leave.

I was driving down the driveway and then I remembered something...

...the construction string lights that I put under the house last year for the freeze!  They were good, heavy duty and kind of pricey, so I figured we should keep them.  You never know when we could use them again.

  We could put these under a tree or between the barn and shed if we put in a concrete pad there, heck we might need them in a chicken coop or the garden or something.  So, I crawled under the house and pulled them all down and put them in the shed.

When I left, I didn't lock the doors and yesterday two guys came out to strip the house of anything they could use.  They are taking the stove of course, the furniture we left (couch, loveseat, a few small tables), they are going to save the shelving from the mudroom, the ceiling fans, light fixtures, even the mudroom sink.  At least things will continue to live on.

Wednesday is the big day...the house is being demolished.  We'll both be out there, filming and taking pictures as this chapter comes to an end and we prepare for the next one.

And of course, we must remember today to say thank you to all who serve our military!  Thank you and your families for what you do for us.

GOOD FOOD AND HOBART SUNDAY

Yesterday was busy and lots of work. I was there almost 8 hours (2nd Man had to work).  More on that in an update tomorrow.  It was hot and sunny and clear and today it's cooler and overcast.  We're off to run some errands that we need to do but in the meantime, here as our (mostly) regular tradition of some good food and some Hobart!

After a busy day at the farm, I came home and 2nd Man made one of my new faves.  It's just a variation on something we used to make but with healthier ingredients.  This is whole wheat pasta with tomatoes, low sodium tomato sauce, onions, and turkey sausage.  All topped with a little shredded reggiano and parsley.  Oh and a nice glass of red wine and of course our salad before the meal.

It was delicious and much needed after my long day.

When I came back, Hobart was laying by the front door and I think he gave me the stink eye for being gone so long on a weekend, ha.  Notice he's laying on a towel.  We bought some new bath towels and decided to give him this old one for a new place to sleep by the front door.  Because...

#notspoiled

LIVING ROOM NEW HOUSE TEASER

We are going to have a large living room.  Family room?  TV room?  Never sure what they call them these days.

It's open to the kitchen and nice and large.

Here it is, it measures 16x20 feet.  Remember, you saw a bit of this in the teaser for the screened in porch because we are having this opening wall/door to the porch.

Normally, this floor plan has a wall of windows and the door to the screened-in porch would be off to the side of the dining room.  But we changed it to this so can enjoy (on those nice days) the indoor/outdoor vibe.

We're going to put our TV on this wall.  This is from a similar model to ours, only we'll have the opening wall of windows.  We are having them put extra support studs in the wall for a wall mounted TV as well as the outlet and cable wires mounted up high so there are no cords running down below for the clean look.  We're also going to buy a new, bigger TV.  

The ceiling is almost 11 feet high in this room so guess what means?  GIANT CHRISTMAS TREE IN THE CORNER!  It will be nice to have a big, open space.  We'll have plenty of room for furniture.

A nice sectional would be good so we can relax and maybe even nap.  Maybe L-shaped and leather. We'll just have to see what we can find when the time comes.

  

Or maybe U-shaped and fabric. It might even be cool to have an L-shaped sectional with swivel chairs on the opening wall side. Then we could open the doors to the screened-in porch so guests can sit and still be part of the conversation in both spaces.

As we have mentioned before, a lot of this will be easier once it's drywalled and we can walk around in it and visualize the space in 3D.

The one thing we didn't get but really contemplated, was a fireplace.  But alas, it was just so expensive.  We might regret it someday but literally the cost to put one in (on the big wall just like above which is a version of our floorplan) was over $15,000.  That was money better spent in the kitchen and other spaces to get what we really wanted there.  There are some options we've seen for something later, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there, ha. 

The room will have recessed lighting and a ceiling fan.  For the ceiling fan though, we went with the standard option.  We actually did that in each room so that it will be easier to swap out later (for something like the above) and get what we really want without "mortgaging" the cost of a ceiling fan, ha.

Next time, dining room, then laundry room and then the posts about kitchen and pantry.