Building our home in the country.....

[dpenning]

So a couple of years ago my beloved and I bought some acreage in the country. The plan was to retire out there some day. Because I can't stand "someday" I set a financial goal for myself and said when I hit my goal I was going to start working on my house plans.... so I would be ready when we retire.

Weeeellllllll...... the other day after his second glass of wine, DH says "lets sell this place and move to the country". One week later I have a handyman coming in to do cosmetic touch ups to our primary residence, a meeting with a realtor scheduled for next week and my floor plans are finalized.

I have built a home before but it was in a developed community with a builder's floor plan where you just go pick your cosmetic selections, wall color, flooring, etc. This is going to be totally different. We don't know what we don't know but we are going to build from scratch.

We are going to move into the double wide on the property and build our dream home over the next year. I'm not a writer and it is going to be somewhat dry but I've started a blog to document the process. A home in the country....... Any suggestions, thoughts or observations will be welcome.

 

[Boxergirl]

That is so exciting! Congratulations! I look forward to watching the progress. My dh and I have similar plans. We're still a few years away, but I can't wait.

 

[dpenning]

The only really scary part is that my DH has said in the past he would love to have a whole heard of mastiffs.... when we move to the country. I'm hoping he forgets that dream.. one or two is plenty! LOL

 

[PrinceLorde13]

So jealous here, I can't wait to not have neighbors on top of me all the time.

 

[Jakesmum]

That is very exciting! It's also a dream of ours to move out of the city onto our own property (and have a winter home somewhere warm with no snow).

 

[TricAP]

Congratulations! We made our "country" move almost 2 years ago from SoCal to WA and are loving every minute of it! Great mental picture of a herd of mastiff's running around! Enjoy the experience as it comes - every frustrating minute will be worth it in the end.

 

[musicdeb]

Good for you, girl! Can't wait to see the property!

 

[Max's mom]

Congrats. My hubby and I built our home (timberframe construction) 8 years ago. My advice...keep the wine flowing, compromise early and often when it doesn't matter. When things really do matter, you get the win because you gave in on the stuff you didn't care about. Don't respond "I don't care" or "it doesn't matter to me" to the husband when he asks the opinion. Be as neutral as possible, until it matters and you do care. Long story...I picked beige for the main color of the house and have not heard the end of it since. Plan on at least 10% more than you thought it would be to purchase materials. If he says "how hard can it really be?" you should be checking with a professional first. It always takes longer than you thought.

Don't forget why you are building and make time for just the two of you wtihout talking building. It can consume you!
Plan your surfaces from the beginning to be Mastiff friendly, slobber resistant, non-slip and non-scratch.

Best of luck to you~

 

[dpenning]

LOL! He loves to tell the story when we were in home depot and his wife wanted to look at astroturf for the kitchen to keep the dogs from slipping. LMAO

We are not building it ourselves, we are hiring a builder. He has already said he doesn't care what I do.. and for the most part it is true. I am more frugal than he is so I'm not likely to get to carried away and he is red/green color blind so I get to pick all the colors for the house. We don't start interviewing builders until next week but I just got back from home depot looking at cabinets for styles. I'm not sure how these builders work but I figure I can look at styles and colors and learn about different features.

The last house I was part of the build process on was in a development so they had a design center in the model home. No idea how that works when you are going custom. I'm perfectly happy with some of the fixtures I saw at home depot so I don't want to be takes into some "custom" uber expensive thing I just don't need.

It will be an interesting process for sure!

 

[karennj]

Oh my goodness my husband and I almost killed each other over our bathroom remodel (not literally but I could have divorced him at a few points). I could not imagine building a whole house together. I think we actually work really well together too! Remember to pick your battles )

 

[DDSK]

That is totally awesome!!

 

[DennasMom]

My DH and I were just dreaming about this the other day!!

I love your house plan, too. Beautiful!

Congratulations!

 

[dpenning]

Thanks all, one more day till we start meeting builders! It is going to be hard to get any work done today.

Coming up with the floor plan was fun, I had a 6 page list of requirements for my dream home and gave it to the architect. We had certain ideas what it would look like because of the requirements. Half the house can be blocked off with the pocket doors in the middle to be a dog free zone. Bedroom 3 is the dog room, that had to be on the opposite end of the house as the master. We had them add the exterior door so we can put in a doggie door and have access to their run. This way when I tell them to go to their room they shouldn't mind too much, they will have a sectional couch in there to lay on. The other dog concession is the indoor dog shower in the utility room. It will be nice to have a spot to bathe Daisy where she can just walk in, has a floor drain and one of those commercial faucets out of the wall.

The dogs are moving to the country tonight so the contractors can get our Dallas house cleaned up and ready to sell. Lots of mastiff damage to repair to the woodwork. That part will be sad in our new house... I need to work on trimming Daisy's nails more! I'll have a year to do it. *sigh*

 

[musicdeb]

WOW! Can Titan and I have a room to rent?

 

[dpenning]

There will be a double wide available for a little while once the house is done. Of course we will be trying to sell it

 

[Rugers-Kris]

Congratulations! How exciting. I am envious.

 

[dpenning]

Thanks Kris. It is exciting now, once the headaches start I might call it something else. LOL

 

[Harrygto]

you will love the country living
Rocky loves the 5A he gets to run on

 

[dpenning]

We already do Harry! We both swear the dogs know when it is Friday and we get to go to the country. They stay glued to us until it is time to load. We have them out there already and will be staying all week while we have contractors in, it will be funny to see their. Confusion when we don't go home Sunday.

 

[spearchucker]

Got a fence in place?