I see a wall!

Hello loves!

Not sure why Florida is cold right now but I'm over it. We headed out last night to the house before we hit up the gym and we found a wall! Well part of a wall but hey I'll take it!

Wall!!!! I hugged it. Yep I'm that girl who looks silly but I am so excited! 

We were a little worried about the bank dragging its feet to get us funded, I'm pretty sure they made up some form for us to sign to expedite the money distribution to Todd... we all came to the conclusion that this must be the banks first construction loan... ever. Losers. haha :) 

This is the wonderful Hubs standing where our front door will be! Todd had mentioned to us that he was building the house up a little bit but we didnt expect it to be this high. Let me tell you, I thought I had a good mental picture of what things were going to look like but I am doubting myself! 

We got the final specs for the front door yesterday and we just have to sign off on the order. We had a few changes to be made, since we have a full block house we wont need the clips to hold the door in it will just be bolted directly to the walls. We decided to have the Right hand door swing (Thank you to everyone who answered my FaceBook post) and the left be our stable one. Not sure if I mentioned it but each door weighs 400 pounds... (please, please bolt the door in real good) 

Love this color for the finish on the door... our garage door is going to be more brown than black but if they clash then we might be able to just get the painters to color it the same. 

This fancy hunk of metal is going to be our door handle! They had a standard thumb lock push thing but if you are going all out on your doors you might as well have something so amazing for the handle too! The Hubs likes to make this castle-esk noise for the door opening which just cracks me up. This bisch better not be that loud!! 

We op-ed out of having anything but standard glass on the doors since we will have the wall and gate up and that will really block people from seeing in. If when everything is done and installed you can still see in we are going to get a film applied to add a buffer, but so far it doesnt look like it is going to be an issue. 

Still waiting to see a mock up of our cabinets but a home show this weekend really took us off track. Its hard to drive by so many granite places and not be able to stop in and just pick something out! I am so anxious to do these sorts of details already. I know I just need to relax because its all going to hit me at once but I go to bed at night dreaming about the inside of this house! 

I did start a small garden at our rental now. We dont have much for grass... uh sorry.. we dont have grass at all to be exact. My orchids growing in my "dining room" just arnt cutting my need of plants and greenery. My basil (I hate basil but it does wonders for a sore throat) is going strong, I learned that pruning it will help it grow bigger... crap. Yes, I pruned it and its loving it. :( I did get my trash can avacado a new pot and he loves it, I also found out that it loves the sound of the washer and dryer. Strange I know but let me tell you about this guy. He started growing in my fridge (one of those lost veggies in the bottom drawer that turns into a science expirement) and I had my trash bucket filled with extra potting soil, so I dropped the budding seed into it and in about a week this thing was about a foot tall! I loved it!!! So with some egg shell sprinkles to keep the slugs off I can proudly say that it is about 5 feet tall. He is living in the garage since it is the warmest place in the house and was sad looking when I was doing laundry and I had moved it inside for the day... crap. I need to get out of this small house I'm starting to go cray :) Happy planting! haha 

How to fix a bad day

So after a terrible day at the artist market (if you can even call it that) there was some progress made on our house! The footers were poured yesterday. Note to anyone who is building... after your mind makes it look huge on paper for about 5 months when you get to it actually starting it will look small.... much too small to live in actually... because of this I think I have decided to not go to the job site till the walls inside are up and the roof is on... haha I kid! I cant stay away from the compound for that long!!

I popped on my "construction boots" I keep in the back of my car and I headed out onto the land! 

This is the first round of block we have had delivered to the lot. Yes super exciting... I do need to take a min and talk about the "Cat Situation" 

I completely forgot to talk about this before hand but it is a serious issue going on here on the property... I think it will soon be upgraded to "The War on Cats". So the crazy neighbor who I previously mentioned ((the one who comes out every few days to talk about where all the wild animals are going to go and what is going on here)) has decided to feed the animals.... on our property. yep. In her coocoo for cocoapuff bird brain she thinks that if she places multiple bowls of cat food and water around our property it will keep the wild animals (raccoons) from eating the cat food on her porch for the strays. Hello! Earth to crazy pants!! If you place cat food around and they run out they will look for more cat food!!!! Derp!!!! So we found a few bowls and piles of cat food around and I decided enough was enough... I'm not even going to comment on the kind of danger she is putting herself, people, and other animals (mainly my dogs) in by feeding an animal that contracts rabies quite frequently! Anywho... I scooped up the cat food into the bowls and placed them all nicely back on her porch (where they still sit 2 weeks later) I also placed a note with them... my first draft was very passive aggressive (or maybe just heavy on the aggressive part) and The Hubs made me re-write it. Long story short, our trip out there last night we found some more... so I picked them up and walked them over to a house that is recently forsale and placed them over there. I dont think she ventures out that far so I doubt she will find them! Once we have a dumpster out there I will just start throwing them away. My next call will be to animal control and the police since feeding raccoons is a crime... haha 

Back to the more pressing issues... :) So since the house seemed a little small I grabbed my trusty tape measurer out of the car and got to work! ((Okay so I just walked around ordering The Hubs to go here or there)) when suddenly it exploded....

So truth be told I had "fixed" this thing a few times before and it had suffered a few soda spills while sitting in a cup holder for months but this guy has made it through and generally got the job done... sure he was only 10 feet long but when out furniture shopping it worked... but I think its time to lay him to rest... I will try and pass him on to Todd to see if he can cement him into the walls where he can measure life to his fullest. I know he will probably just be tossed but as long as I dont have to do it I dont care :)  Turns out the house is still big and we will go forward as planned haha! 

We washed the day down with some mexican food and called it a day...  

Time to Pour!

Nope... not another celebratory drink... but CONCRETE!!!!

Thanks to Todd again for the photos ((smartphones are amazing)) We have lift off!!! We are still waiting on funding but finally our paperwork has been filed with Sarasota County and we are able to actually begin! Today is a great day. Sure its like 3 degrees outside but the dogs are behaving, I am officially an artist vendor downtown, and my land has concrete on it!!!!! 

We will be stopping by there later today, I would like to slip in a secret R&B in the concrete so someone can find it later on... you know like 2045 or something :) I will be also placing a family photo of us (and the dogs) into the walls like a secret time capsule. Well I have to get back to my art projects I need to finish for tomorrow... If you are in the area this weekend and the rest of the good weather weekends come find me!!!  

Quick update on our front door... since it takes 9-12 weeks to make we placed our order yesterday and placed our deposit on it... we also were able to choose our handles, finish, and how the door will open. Speaking on how to open the door I would love some feed back on which one would you make as your main door the one on the right or the one on the left??!! 

We have till tomorrow to let them know! 

Side note on this if it helps your decision... each door is 400 pounds. Yes, 400. :D  

You see that?!

Yes I super sized this picture for you all to see! That folks is work being done on the house... yes. HOUSE! We have brought in about 20 loads of dirt to get this mess of land level and set and we are on a roll! 

This photo was actually sent to us from our lovely contractor Todd. He is super excited about this... the only thing we are waiting on now is the funding of our mortgage. This WAS supposed to be funded the day of our closing but our "specialist" seems to have dropped the ball on this. Calls to her have been sent to voicemail and emails not responded to... yet. I might be making my way to the bank tomorrow morning to pop in an see what the dealio is. 

These beauts are what we will be going with for the laundry room. We were a little worried because we made a trip to Best Buy on sunday and saw there was a returned dryer, then monday we went to HHGregg and saw a returned washer! Putting puzzle pieces together I think they were the same set but I decided to do my research on these bad boys so this wasnt just a freak omen not to get them... turns out they have a A- rating from Better Homes & Gardens and a 4.4 out of 5 on over 40 reviews on Best Buy's website. My only worry was how loud a few of the reviews said the pipes ended up being when the washer was filling up with its sensor. A little bit of padding on these and it shouldnt be an issue at all.

This stainless steel beast is the LG Counter-Depth French Door Refrigerator. Since we are tucking it in to our cabinets it limited how big this guy could be without screwing up the doors being able to open at a full 90 degrees. Fun Fact: Counter depth fridges are more expensive than larger fridges. This is not a fun fact when it blows past your fridge budget but thats okay thats what you have contingency plans for!! This too got great reviews. I wasnt too impressed with the small produce drawers when I first saw it and yes I poopoo'd it a bit since my peppers would be crammed but it features LED lighting and one of the best temp controls. Better Homes & Gardens gave this a great review as well! 

I'll keep you updated on more appliance choices! 

We did it!

Good Morning... or afternoon, I'm not quite sure. I'm just incredibly sleepy. I hope you all are having a day filled with sunshine and bubbles! I sure am!! We are finally getting off that roller coaster ride called "Your First Construction Loan" boy has it had some serious ups and downs and complete flips along the way! We signed our final paperwork yesterday with Mary Lou and Michelle. As we walked into the bigger office they were giggling and saying "Man, we didn't have much luck in this office last time around" so we did hesitate before we entered the room and they eventually clarified what had happened previously on a closing they did. Long story short they thought the last couple should get a divorce, they have higher hopes for us. :)

After signing a small Rain Forest worth of paperwork and handing over a large check we have entered into the first stages of the American Dream... or Debt. TaaDaa! We are the proud parents of a mortgage! I think it might be nice to go over a few things we have learned along this tiring process....

• Money: You need to begin planning and saving to build your dream home by the time you have your first piggy bank. This is no joke. If you want everything in said dream home that you have ever wished for then seriously start saving. 

• Patience: I do not usually have much of this, but I have a little now. "I'll get right back to you" in bankers terms really means 'I'll call you in a few days'. This can possibly be the same with almost every person you will come into contact with until the day your house is finished. The Hubs is the best in this department and so he kept me away from the phone for most of this. 

• Not Waiting: Yes, I know I just touched on patience but this goes for when you begin your dream to build a house. We went through countless (22) floor plans before we came up with the right balance of open areas and functionality. Before you even think to get a pre-approval on a mortgage you need to know the size of your home, the location, the amount of rooms... ect. We had to have completed plans before we even were allowed to talk numbers. (see first bullet point, plans are not cheap) 

• A Box of Tissues: I'm not always an emotional wreck, but when I am its because I'm trying to get a loan. 

• Good Credit: This ladies and gents is a lie! Sure it helps but at the end of the day if you have a crappy appraiser  your credit score doesn't mean shit. We both have watched our credit since day one and have some of the highest scores but even the bank will tell you that it "doesn't matter". (yes, Wells Fargo literally said this) 

• An Outlet: Not the electrical one but something more along the lines of chocolate, the gym, or cooking. For me I used all of these to take out my aggression, sadness, or impatience. 

• A Rock: Mine was The Hubs, and his was me. When he was stressed I took on the role of calm and collected even though I was secretly freaking out myself (a few times this slipped) But again, he is much better at being a rock than I am. I think I would suck at Poker as well, but thats why I dont gamble. 

• Money: Lets just bring this back up. If you want a loan for a house fairly nice sized (Florida sized, not New York sized) home then you need to know that your plans are paid per sqft, your impact fees are based on the sqft, your flooring, drywall, windows, doors, and everything else is all based on sqft. Do not go in over your head on this. Its okay to go smaller! 

• Stay Strong: I think most banks (and lawsuits) use the whole "make em wait" technique to wear someone down. There were the usual "run around" rituals they put us through that we ran off in the gym, but the waiting made us turn to food, chocolate, and eating out because we just didnt feel like cooking. 

• DirectBuy: Do not contact this company. As much as you want to they are going to harass you for months to come. Yes- I wanted to see the showroom, No- I didnt have intentions of buying anything. Fun facts about them: You have to sit through 30 min of mouth flapping before you can see anything, if you dont join after this or decide not to even show up you cannot step foot inside a DB for 5 years! Membership fees are FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS. gross. We are going on month 2 of being a no show here and they have called me from all over the country and from blocked numbers. Its getting out of hand. 

We may never do this again, but I may be lying. I think we are going to be much more prepared next time.... ((says Mrs. OCD who has a binder for everything all the time. Ie: 3 years of Tax returns binder, bank statements, credit scores, pre-approvals, and other financial records binder.)) Okay fine... I think we will be much more emotionally prepared next time. 

Now we begin....

Cabinets!

 With our closing date closing in on us we are finally into the fun stuff! We went a while back and picked out some cabinets for the kitchen... we are going for this look here...

We are going with a back cabinet and a marble top to lighten everything back up in the kitchen... well Todd went in to get them to draw everything up... in doing so he called me 5 times to show me some ideas! This was super exciting for me to finally see where I can start decorating and getting the inside of the house going!!! 

This is going to be a thing here... yes a wine fridge! To go with it we are also going to do this...

yep... wine rack! We arent huge wine drinkers but this is going to be a great feature in the house and great for resale as well! We have so many cabinets going into this kitchen we can spare a few for a higher end something or another :) in the words of our architect "we have more cabinets than most million dollar homes" and remember our pantry is also the size of a small bedroom....

Dont hate me for this in my kitchen I promise if you come and stay with me I will cook you up something wonderful and you will understand! 

We also are undecided on what we are going to do with our range area. Suggestions would be great! We have 11 ft ceilings we are working with as well so we need something thats a little more grand than usual. I'm doing my research on my trusty Houzz app. The only thing I am worried about with this one is losing a little bit of counter space right here next to the range itself. Not that I am hurting for counter space at all, but still I may worry about this later on down the line. 

We also picked our cabinets for the bathrooms, master bath will look something like this 

I love the dark and light contrast in this bathroom! Yes I even love the rug! Everything about this bathroom makes me think of a long glorious soak in a tub by candle light.... sorry for that visual but I am missing a tub like crazy! Call me weird but I refuse to soak in the bathtub/ shower combo here at this rental house, no matter how much I bleach it I just dont think its going to be clean. 

Now the back bathroom will have a pedestal sink with no cabinet, but it has a linen cabinet in it for extra towels and soap and what-not. This bathroom will also only have a shower no tub here. Since we might be shooting for a pool somewhere down the line this from here on out will be call the "Pool Bath" 

 The other bathroom will just be matching the kitchen cabinets for now... we may make changes to this when it gets closer. 

I snuck this photo the other day out at the property! This is Todd... its also Charles & Mike (I think) they are going to be doing our Well set up. We met with them the other day and will be starting this on tuesday. We were set back a little on this because the engineer who originally drew up the plans for the well placed it in the wrong spot on the property. So we had to wait for them to draw everything back up and start all over again. This has to go in before the house because they need water to build... but they should just go to the post office across the street and use that because writing all these checks are giving me a hand cramp! 

If my neck and head weren't killing me right now I could go on a on about everything I am doing today... for now its back to work for me, may leave early and go lay down for a bit and have dreams of our new home.