Houston... We Have A Bedroom!

Monday: Tons and tons of hardwood was delivered and layout began...

Tuesday: Rain. Lots and lots of rain. No progress.

Wednesday: No more rain, just a lot of mud. But progress resumed, and suddenly I had a floor!

Thursday: Studs are UP! Nick (who works with Kevin) gave the tour this morning. He showed off some of the "green" elements of the framing. He showed where the windows and doors are going. He showed where the rooms start and stop. He basically just got me super freaking excited. So. Damn. Cool. I was standing in my soon-to-be bedroom. Wheeeeeeee!

I called my mom to update her on the progress. She asked me if I was frozen because I couldn't stop saying how cool everything is. :) She's so funny. Notice how the back wall of the house is finally gone. I am going to have the biggest living room/dining room/kitchen ever. (Okay, maybe not ever... but close!)

The next three weeks....

The update from Kevin:

For the next few days, the cement will set. Then the fun begins.

On Monday, a huge delivery of 4x6 beams will arrive and framing begins! Kevin expects it will take 3 weeks for the entire exterior to be complete, weather permitting. That means framing + insulation + drywall + doors + windows + roof!

Um... YAY!!!!

Kevin also mentioned how happy he was with the leveling process. He said I have one super strong, solid house.

Stages of Progress

I thought it would be fun to show some progress. Here goes!

Updates!

Over the past few days, the leveling company finished digging holes all around my yard. It really looked like one of those games from ShowBiz, where I expect moles to pop up at any minute. Where's a the giant "Whack-A-Mole" rubber mallet when you need it?
They also raised the house a total of 18 inches and replaces a lot of the rotten wood. This picture is taken from the West side of the house. (Notice the awesome a/c unit is still there!)
One thing I hadn't really considered was HOW high the house would be once they raised it. I'm supposed to have this cute courtyard in the middle of the house, but now I'm curious to see how we'll make it work. Perhaps a wood deck? I'll trust the experts for now...
Once they leveled the house, I can get through the front door anymore. So to get in, I have to crawl around the back. I don't recommend doing this in work clothes.
By Monday afternoon, all the cement pillars were in place and drying. Fingers crossed for the rain to stay away for a while!
In other news, I've been working with Jennifer (my designer) on interior finish outs. I picked my flooring - bamboo!! It's super cheap, which means I can cover my bedrooms in it instead of getting carpet. Here it is:
I'm also working on countertops, cabinet colors, tiles, fixtures.... I'm so happy Jennifer is helping me with this! :)

I'm still having a blast. For some, I know building a house is incredibly stressful. Sure, seeing my bank account fall each month is hard. But the end result will be awesome... This experience is amazing!

Leveling + Digging + Staking!

My yard is full of holes & people.

The new addition is staked out.

Things are moving! Fingers are crossed that the weather holds up in December!!!





...and I picked out my windows today. I steered away from Lowe's and am going with Atrium Windows. That's a big relief!

Demo is Done & Foundation Work Begins...

Blue's been pretty busy lately, so he had his assistant, mini-blue, stop for a moment to take a picture of the demolition. He's pretty happy with the progress!
This is what the front room - soon to be "music room" - looks like post-demo. The room is going to be so big!

Notice that there is no longer a fireplace. That opened up the room a ton!
Today they started leveling the house.
And this is the original, 1900 built house. It's so tiny!
Kevin said that he's happy with how it looks, meaning that they didn't find any crazy surprises during demo. Things appear to be on track so far. Every day I make sure to take a peek, meet the crew, and ooh & ahh over the progress. :)D

DEMO DAY THREE!

I spoke with Arther, who owns the demolition company. He said that it was VERY smart to tear out the addition - basically it was a joke of a build. I'm taking, using scrap wood from pallets. Lovely.

He said people get kinda scared at this point. Not me... I think it looks awesome!

Permit in Place!

DEMO DAY ONE!

Yee Haw!!!!

Go Time!!

Today I signed the G/C contract with Kevin... which means we start demo at 10:30am tomorrow.

By the way...

YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(i'm a little excited.)

My Bruce Lee Moment

Yesterday I kicked down a wall. In flip flops. And I got my foot stuck.

However, that was AWESOME! And... I got my first glimpse at how very cool my living room/dining room/kitchen is going to be. This picture is standing in the front room (where my couch will go) looking back 2 rooms to where the kitchen will be (green wall.) I felt like I was in a home improvement show, at the moment where the homeowner goes "Wow! This is real!"
I'm meeting Kevin today to sign the paperwork, and demo starts this week! Official demo, that is... not the kind done by people in their flip flops.

In other news, I think I've picked out all my plumbing fixtures. This might not sound like a big monumental task, but let me tell you. It is a HUGE task. Luckily, I have the world's most awesome & patient parents. They took me to the Great Indoors in Dallas and we spent over two hours looking at things such as: kitchen sinks, kitchen faucets, bathroom faucets, bathroom sinks, bathtubs, toilets, shower systems, lighting, appliances, etc... After taking lots of notes, I came home and plugged everything into an online store I've been using. Assuming I can actually order from this site, I will save about 30-50% on everything - wahoo! I feel much calmer now that I know what I'll be getting and don't have to worry about that stuff anymore.

As for the rest of "picking things out," I still have decide things like: flooring, cabinets, countertops, interior wall colors, exterior wall colors, siding, roofing, windows, doors, etc... Luckily I've hired a designer to help me with all of this. She is a color expert and I feel so much calmer knowing she will help me make these decisions. By the way, my mom was the one who encouraged me to contact her - plus one in the mom column!

Fingers crossed that I'll get to post some more extensive demo pictures later this week. And perhaps I'll wear shoes when I take pictures. :)

Elevations + Floorplan

It's hard to tell what things are going to look like from drawings, but these give a pretty good idea. I'm thinking avocado green with a deep purple door. :) And yes, the right side is crooked. That is actually on purpose.

Here's what the house will look like from the front...
Here's what the house will look like from the back...
And here is what the house will look like from the inside!

The things that excite me more than ever about this house, in no particular order:
1) The window seat in the front. I'm thinking deep purple cushions.
2) Having an actual shower. (No more bathing sitting down!)
3) Having a dishwasher.
4) One room entirely devoted to my bike and one room devoted entirely to my piano.
5) A big room for my parents so they can finally stay with me! I call it "Carol's room."

I. Am. So. Excited. (Does that come across yet? Haha...)

The Past Four Months...

I actually can't believe I've owned this house nearly four months already... I've been working at it, but the process takes quite a while. Here is a quick recap to bring us up to speed.

1) I toyed with the idea of having a house mover come take the house away and clear the lot, and then start over from scratch. However, the house mover I contacted wanted nothing to do with the house. Something like "beautiful on the outside, horrible on the inside." Lovely. Meanwhile I had applied for a historical demo permit, which would have gone to review before the neighborhood. After everyone in my neighborhood getting a notice in the mail, people were contacting me, hinting how difficult they would make my life if I wanted to knock it down or move it. Not really caring, and actually liking the idea of saving the house, I withdrew. And... Back to square one.

2) Ben (my awesome friend/realtor) suggested I utilize Richard Weiss to do the plans on a new house. Richard had done Ben's houses as well as others in the neighborhood. I met Richard, liked him and signed him. Then we got started...

3) Plans take a long time! Permits also take a long time! Add: needing to get a geotech study, dealing with tree ordinances, revising plans, etc... However, after all of that - the permits are officially ready!

4) Ben assured me I could GC the job myself. I love Ben for that, however I quickly realized that I would be much better suited utilizing a professional GC. Richard suggested I use Kevin, and after meeting him - I thought he was a great choice. I know, you're supposed to go out and get bids and blah, blah, blah. But my gut said "go with him."

5) My parents came to town, and we went on the AIA Homes Tour. Got some good ideas... but best of all was when my mom and I went to Home Depot for a few hours. This very sweet older man working in the appliance section taught us everything we ever wanted to know about appliances. Microwaves, dishwashers, ovens, refrigerators, washers, dryers.... We learned it! The conversation went like this:
Home Depot Guy: Well, if only you had an hour - I'd get on my soapbox and tell you everything you wanted to know.
Us: An hour? Sure, go ahead.
Home Depot Guy, with a wildly giddy look on his face: Really?
Us: Bring it!
Very informative!

So.... that's pretty much how I ended up where I am now... which is the exciting part. I love the floorplan! I'm starting to pick out the details. Who knew I needed to choose baseboard styles? Or the exact texture for the ceiling? It's fascinating stuff.... and I am so excited.

Which reminds me.... after spending 1.5 hours discussing details after work yesterday, both Richard & Kevin remarked that it was nice to work with a client who was actually excited about the project. Um.... who wouldn't be excited?

So... what's up next? Picking out appliances, tiles, windows, roofing, flooring, fixtures, lighting, paint colors... and probably a LOT more.

Blue & I have got some work to do. :)

Blue!

I would like to officially introduce the ambassador of this blog...

BLUE!

Blue will be the honorary foreman for the Willow Street project... he's pretty excited, can't you tell?

Construction Update - October 25th

So, things are getting started.... I finally had some plans in place and I'm happy to announce that we are on the home stretch. All that's left is some painting and a bit of reinforcements - and my project is done! Here are some pictures of the progres...



Meet the new foreman for the Willow project. He's... dare I say it... AWESOME!!!

Oh, were you wondering about the house? Well that's coming along too. Plans are done and I'm awaiting approval from the City before we can get started.

Pics from the Outside

Here are pics taken from outside the house.

This is the front porch. (Complete with a big tree!)
This is the east side of her, and that is a carport/outside lounge. :)Here's another view of the lounge. (And Austin's massive recyling containers!)
This is an outside storage shed, which actually is really well built and very big. Here's midway in the backyard looking at the house.
One advantage of this house is that I get to look at the pretty modern house just west of me. Here's what it looks like from the backyard.
Here's what that modern house looks like from the front. (Pretty!)
And this is the yellow house that I look at from my front porch.