Our New House

Finished House Pics

2009-03-23T12:20:00.001-07:00

It's done! We're closing a week from tomorrow and moving in that weekend. And I can honestly say it turned out beautifully but I'm officially ready to be done with packing/moving. We'll breathe a sigh of true happiness when we're all moved.

And for those who are actually interested, the "big" picture is to have a stamped concrete patio in the area in front of the garage. The rest of the yard (which is sideyard~we don't have a backyard) will be grass. Luckily we'll have a 6 foot privacy front in front of our patio, separating us from the house in front of us (yes, in front) as well as around the other side where the next house practically sits on top of us (a change in the building plans for the neighbors house that we never expected). Once the courtyard is finished it could all possibly be as cool as we hoped~super close to the neighbors and all. I mean hey, we already live urban~6 feet from our neighbors on one side and 20 feet (which is almost unthinkable) on the other. Being close doesn't bother us a bit but having a house in front of us will take some getting used to. Last night Eric asked me about covering the glass on our front door. I didn't think we needed to, seeing as we're set back a bit off the courtyard. Then Eric brought up that if the neighbors are on their porch and we come down the stairs in our undies, they'll see us plain as day. Well I say~sucks for them!

Ps...Anyone going to be around next week that likes moving and/or watching a very handsome 23 month old? ;)

Kitchen Appliances

2009-03-16T21:39:00.000-07:00

They're in! Well, except for the refrigerator which we bought on our own and will be delivered after we close.

Which will be in two weeks! The house is finished. Next week I'll put up all the final photos.

Woot!

This Weeks Progress

2009-03-01T21:58:00.000-08:00

We now have cabinets, kitchen countertops & sink. All tile work is finished and so is the lighting. The bathrooms have toilets! All painting and wood work is finished except for the floors which still need to be stained/sealed.

At this rate I'm thinking it will look almost move in ready by next Sunday!

Getting Close

2009-02-16T15:42:00.000-08:00

As of yesterday, the house is painted. The hardwood floors are in and are waiting for a water-base stain/seal. The color of them is pretty accurate though. Eric really wanted light floors and he got them! I think they look beautiful. Drywall, texturing and rounded corners are done. To our amazement, every other material for our house was in the garage minus the slabs of granite. Getting close, for sure!

ps..According to Eric, something is still happening to the roof above the living room window~so, no, it will not look like that when all is said and done!

Siding Is Finished

2009-02-06T18:43:00.000-08:00

The siding is on and by next week the house should be painted. It's in the drywall construction phase now. Eric and I had our first walk through inspection and were really impressed with the "green" building. The blown in insulation is all recycled paper, the wood is recycled pieces of lumber that are pieced together, cutting down on deforestation. Of course there were a handful of other things that make the house green built but those were my two favorite. It's already passed its first energy star inspection.

Interior Is Framed

2009-01-25T08:56:00.000-08:00

It's been a week since we were last out to see the house. The interior was framed and of course we were surprised. I'm beginning to think we should get over the surprise of how quickly they're building our house...it's plain happening and way quicker than we ever would've guessed.

Tomorrow we go for a visit to the interior designers to hand in our final selections. People joke that couples get divorced over decisions like these but I have to say, Eric and I did a great job picking each and every little detail.

He was insistent that the wood floor on the entire main level of the house be very light. I was nervous. With the help of our builder, they found me a real floor, with the exact wood and water base stain that Eric wants..and I loved it!

I had envisioned a glossy marble around the fire place and Eric was thinking he'd prefer more of a tumbled look. We found our marble and Eric loved the glossy!

We made quite a few trips to the slab warehouse, pouring over samples and huge slabs. We certainly had our share of differences but in the end, we had many good laughs while choosing the granite and did a good job of quickly capturing each other as one of us would start to stray toward the slabs we couldn't afford.

Easily agreed upon were tiles and which surrounds to do brick set and where and how to use the decorative stone.

It's all been quite a dream actually and reminds me that Eric and I make good sound choices together. We're a darn good team.

Oh, and the pics are out of order. They line up from the upstairs, down to the basement, back to the main level and out the garage ;)

And one week later......

2009-01-17T07:53:00.001-08:00

Wowza! Our builder told us to expect a finished house a bit earlier than we had expected. He said with the economy the way it is, lots of builders aren't even building so the ones that are have assembled big construction crews and are powering through. No kidding!

Framed!

2009-01-11T08:19:00.000-08:00

Eric and I were slightly speechless when we dorve by our house this weekend to see the progress. There's an actual house! Something about seeing that finally convinced me that this is real. So cool!

Moving Along

2008-12-30T18:47:00.000-08:00

The foundation is set. We're now moving along. Austin & Ben came out to stand on the big pile of dirt and seal the deal!

And they Started...Finally!

2008-12-18T08:10:00.000-08:00

Construction has begun! The foundation has been dug and today or tomorrow they will pour the foundation. We are all excited, especially Theo. He is in total awe of anything big and loud. Helicopters, airplanes, trains, city buses, the recycling truck and garbage truck..and of course any type of construction equipment. This is really something, him being able to watch his home being built and the oh so wonderful loud noises and enormous piles of dirt!

Update

2008-10-05T17:52:00.000-07:00

The contract has been finalized. Now we wait for them to pour the foundation~probably in one to two months. It sounds like the lot next to us has possibly sold and they want to pour both foundations at the same time. So..we wait!

And The Color Of The House Is.....

2008-09-23T08:06:00.000-07:00

This was not something we got to pick and were quite nervous to find out what it was going to be. This builder has a few colors that really scare us: peach for starters. Eric and I held our breath as Tom flipped the page and opened it up to a nice brown with an olive greenish/brown trim and red front door and shutters. I couldn't be happier. I think it's neutral and the red front door..well that's a dream come true. For some reason, perhaps my love of barns, I've always liked the idea of having a red front door. So here are a few houses in the exact color scheme (neither of these homes is the model we're building but you get the idea)...

Guess What?!

2008-09-23T08:04:00.001-07:00

We're building a new home on this lot. Squee!!
Eric and I began this search many moons ago, and then we continued it with Theo in tow. We've spent so many hours over the past year in model homes, Theo shredding price lists (smart boy) and playing with pens as we'd chat with sales people. After looking at dozens of models and resales, we kept coming home drained and bummed that we just couldn't find the right one. We did end up falling in love with a particular home. It was 2500 square feet, not including the basement and had gorgeous views of the foothills and horse ranches. We kept going back to the new development, spending hours pouring over lots plans and structural options. But, a few big lumps in our throat never went away after we'd come home from looking at it. It had room in the garage for three cars. The study seemed like a delightful treat in comparison to our current basement office. It boasted gorgeous hallways, something I've learned I love in architecture. The rooms were huge and the kitchen was gourmet. Three bathrooms and a working fireplace, air conditioning....but...while imagining us moving around and really living in this house, well, everything just seemed blurry. If Eric and I really got true with ourselves (and thank God we did), it wasn't us. At all. It's so easy to get lured into the burbs square footage for the price compared to smaller urban living, something that kept us looking in the metro areas for almost a year. The one thing that always stood out after we'd come home from the metro areas was: it just didn't feel like home. On top of that, the no green building, no Energy Star rating, no green space in the actual neighborhoods just didn't feel right to us. I was having a really hard time getting on board with new construction that wasn't green built, but the sea of space was enough to knock me out of my environmentally responsible world from time to time. Eric and I felt positively silly. I mean, who doesn't want a big gorgeous modern home with ample space? But did we really need it? Those were the things nagging us about actually signing a contract on that beautiful home. Of course the cost of furnishing, heating and cooling it were pretty hard to grasp, too.
So then came a day, a little over a month ago now, when Eric and Theo came home to tell me they'd been to a Denver neighborhood and came across a resale that was in this fabulous courtyard. The neighborhood was Stapleton and I could tell Eric was really serious about this house, about this concept of living on a courtyard in such a cool community. The resale was out of our price range, but the next week we went back to the neighborhood thinking maybe we were onto something. And so we were. We found the builder of the resale and found out that they still had a few courtyards to build on. The model we fell in love with is not huge with grand hallways or a gourmet kitchen. It's lovely and cozy. It was oddly sweet, walking into this home that was nothing like what we'd been looking at in the burbs (and nothing like what we 'thought' we wanted) and knowing right away it was for us. It's like our home now but modern. It's realistic, 1501 square feet with the option of 777 square feet of basement for Eric to finish (ha) and we love it. One block to the north is an 80 acre park and across the street to the east is a greenway that extends for miles with paths for walking and bike riding. Oh yeah, and the entire community builds green: commercial, residential and schools.
Today we signed the contract. For the next five to eight months we will watch our dirt lot grow into our home. Squee!!!!!