We moved in BEFORE September 1, thanks to our wonderful builder! We are loving the house and feel like we're on vacation every day. The views are amazing-like a mix of Montana and Napa Valley-unbelievable!! We still need porch furniture (and lots of it!) as well as landscaping, but right now we're focusing our efforts on other projects...our child!

Stay with me...

We have lots of new and awesome pictures of the house, however I lost the cord to upload from my camera to the web...hopefully they'll be up by week's end.

Siding is almost all painted, drywall will be complete in the next week, floors (hardwood and tile) going in next week. It's looking like a real house!

Stay tuned!

pics cont'd

pictures of more progress...

Progress

All windows and doors are in, and they look GREAT.

Chimney is going up-but it's been slow because of all the rain we've had this week.

Spray-in insulation is also going in.

Lots of great progress!

baby's room

Looks like baby's room will be masculine! It's a boy!! woo hoo.

More pics of the house to come later this week. Windows are in, roof is on, chimney going up, spray-in insulation happening now.

our famed architect and his mini! Matthew and Rock Evans Hufft...

more pics

LOOKING LIKE A REAL HOUSE!

So, besides the obvious fact that I am a blogging deliquent, there hasn't been much obvious progress over the last month. They did the electrical and plumbing work, and prepped the roof and fireplace, but nothing that excited me too much:)!

But behold, what a difference a couple of weeks makes! Read below for the exciting "goings-on!!"

Metal roof is on and looks AMAZING. It was the best material choice we've made. Not only does it look great, but it will last 100+years. They trimmed the square dormers yesterday-those are SWEET. They give the house a real modern flare.

Windows go in today and tomorrow. We have TONS of windows, so that will really be a noticeable addition.

They delivered the brick/stone for the fireplace and chimney on Friday and the masons will put that up this week.

Siding should also start soon. Spray-in insulation is going in soon too. After that is done, they will begin drywall. Drywall should take a month or so. After drywall is hardwood floors-tile in mudroom and bathrooms.

After drywall is complete and the floors are in, cabinets will be installed. Then, just the last bit of infill.

This place is really coming together!

Just to catch everyone up to speed!

OK, so that you all know the process of this house, please read below.

Paul and I purchased our lot (3 acres) two years ago. At that point, we started talking with Matthew Hufft, our Architect and best friend, about designing our home. We spent well over a year working on this project with Matthew and Jonathan, of Hufft Projects.

Our concept is a MODERN FARM HOUSE. We like the traditional aspects of a farmhouse, such as the white, lap board siding, the front porch, dormers, chimney,etc. We also love modern architecture, so we decided to combine the two.

On our property, sat an old, ranch style house built in the 50's. It was not cool, and really had no redeeming qualities. We said we would keep it and remodel around the existing walls, but decided against it after learning there was mold, a cracked foundation, and a a word of caution from our architect. It was hard to just "tear it down" and waste a good (albeit really ugly) house. Paul decided to gather up some Amish men and have them tear down the house, and they kept all reusable materials. We saved lots of money and they will reuse the materials, so it was a win-win!

Also on the property was a large, 4 stall horse barn-built in 1999 of metal. We decided to remove the metal siding and replace it with white, concrete board siding, like what will be on our house. We also had a stone base put on the barn, for character. Add a screened in porch and a huge, new garage/barn door, and it is a totally different barn! (Update: we are now considering painting it barn red, but will have to sleep on that for another month or two!)

After re-doing the outside of the barn, Paul decided to put a "guest house" in a small portion that used to be a workshop. He took what was a 300 sq ft workshop with a door, a window and concrete floors and made it into a living area with a kitchen, laundry facility, bathroom with a shower, eating area (which now houses my treadmill), and a loft with our bed. We've been living in it since we sold the loft in December, and we love it!

So, back to the house...we hired Kenson Goff, of Goff Homes, to build our house. Construction began in January. Thanks goodness, we've had awesome winter weather. We've been shut down only for about 1 week total, due to a snow/ice storm and a couple of rainy days.

With a baby on the way, due September 18, we hope to be in the house before then. We think August is a feasible date. Paul and I have the same taste and so it has been really easy for us to make decisions. We selected everything, and have most of the items for infill sitting in our barn! That should make the process flow more smoothly-we hope.

Hmmm. this is getting long. oh yeah, check out hufft.com for more info on our architect and our house!

1st post!

Hello All,

I've decided to update you on our house, via blogging! It seems the best way to share information and photos with the masses.

We got back to Springfield, from Mexico, yesterday, March 9. When we arrived, they had 1/2 of the roof tar papered, part of the porch awning up, the dormers on and were beginning the chimney.

The roofers have measured, and the metal is ordered. We should have a roof on in the next couple of weeks-however the roofers are super sketchy, so who knows:) Supposedly, they do good work, but are all "cracked-out" (literally so I am told). Our builder, Kenson, should have a fun time dealing with that.

Also in the next couple of weeks, our chimney will be done and our porch will go up. They dug for the geo-thermal and we learned that since we are doing geo-thermal, we get 30% of our fee back in tax credits, so that is a nice surprise!

We ordered our tile for bathroom floors, and our kitchen counter-tops. In the next week or so we need to decided on cabinetry-we've picked out the style and color, we just need to pick a bid and go with it.

OK, more later. xxxoo