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We got some mid-week sprinkles which allowed my son and husband to tackle the large brush piles.

Things are really heating up on the house. This was a dramatic week of progress because our trusses were delivered. And now that they are up, the house is starting to take shape.

It took the huge truck a while to figure out how to get to the house- our roads are very narrow and have ditches on both sides. He backed all the way down the road to get out.

The scissor trusses were designed to give us a vaulted ceiling in the dining room, office and master bedroom. I’m really happy with how the angles turned out.

 

And on another semi-related note: When we acquired the house, it was still full of “stuff”. I wanted to keep the dining room set and a china hutch. They were dated, but solid and have great lines. My friend (and Montana neighbor), Joanie, who is an expert chalk-painter, is helping me re-finish these pieces. We just finished the chairs. Chalk-painted in “Old White”, distressed, waxed in clear and then a dark wax accent finish. With the new material I chose for the seats, I’m so excited to see them coming together!

I wanted to write a little about the design and the vision of the house. As a designer, it’s difficult to commit to a design for myself. For this reason alone, I do not have a tattoo. I’ve changed my MPrint Studios logo many times over my 16 years in business (I’m in the process of updating it again- stay tuned). And when it comes to home decor… there are so many different styles that I love, the question is, what can I live with for a really long time (because we probably won’t be moving for a while!). One style that I’ve always dreamed of having is a white farmhouse, and honestly, that was the only style that I could envision this home turning into. Plus, it plays into our illusion that we are indeed on a farm. It’s kind of an in-thing right now, I know, but I think it’s also timeless.

So traditional farmhouse style… visualize front porch, white siding, black trim, grid windows and dark gray roof (I wanted all metal, but we are only using the metal on the porch roof as an accent). Inside, the design will also be rustic, industrial, and vintage farmhouse. I’ll share all of the finishes for each room as we get farther along. It’s been six long months of pinning and web searches– I’m SO ready to shop!

See the plans for our elevations below.

You can check out my Pinterest boards for some of the images that have inspired me for this home design.

http://www.pinterest.com/mtugg/

 

 

Our persimmon trees turn a bright orange- both fruit and leaves. Beautiful and delicious!

Thankfully, the weather has been totally cooperating for the last couple weeks, and, fingers crossed, will continue for a bit longer (sorry to all those people hoping for early snow, i.e. my son!)

The crew has made progress, but it hasn’t been without some hitches. The demo is now complete, and there were many surprises along the way. At one point, we just dodged a bullet of having to take the few remaining walls and roof down, basically starting from scratch. I was not ready to open that can of worms, for fear of not retaining our status as a “remodel”. If we remove more than 50% of the walls (which is very close to what we now have!), it would be considered a new build. That would mean a lot more in permit fees, possibly having to get variances for set backs and adding sprinkler systems in the ceiling. No thank you. Luckily, the contractor and the engineer came up with some retrofit solutions that allowed us to stick to plan– making adjustments to fix the issues.

So the progress is anti-climatic this time because much of it was hidden under the house. They had to set some new piers and tie downs on the foundation, frame in the new addition and do the rough plumbing under the house while it was opened up. This coming week, they plan to finish framing in the walls, and the trusses are due to be delivered on Thursday. Can’t wait to see how the roof line will look!

Side Note: Shout out to the 2016 Faith and Fantasy Ball Committee. I love working on the decorating committee every year- we have developed a great team. I’m also proud to design the invitations and logo for this event for the past many years. This year was the 50 year anniversary of the Sutter Auburn Faith Hospital Foundation. To celebrate, the theme was “A Golden Masquerade”. The decor turned out spectacular. The party was amazing.

A reminder to myself in the future: stop signing up for projects with gold glitter ;)! Auburn is lucky to have such a generous community and quality hospital.

 

 

 

The last week was pretty rainy, ending with a very wet Friday. Of course the roof was completely off, with the exception of the small portion of the ceiling that’s staying. We are now left with a bit less than three walls and a floor. It’s basically like starting over. But that’s ok, because it’s progress! The trusses are scheduled for November 10, and in the meantime, the crew will be working on the framing.

I spent a fun weekend with my friend from out of town. We did some browsing at home stores, consignment shops and boutiques. She was excited to see the house (or what was left of it) and gave me a lot of great feedback on design ideas. When she left on Sunday, I decided to start sanding down the beams in the living room ceiling. This will be a loooooong project. The up side is that holding a palm sander for extended periods of time above your head is a pretty decent arm and core workout. So far, I’m quite pleased with the results of the sanding. I think if I sand it down leaving a little bit of the dark stain in the wood grain, I can apply a couple coats of wax and they will look like rustic old beams. I will be painting the t&g white.

After a few half hour shifts, I finished one side of one beam. Only 14 more sides to go. Through the afternoon of sanding, the storm moved in again from the South. Another spectacular sky!

So for any of my friends out there who would like to stop by and help me sand- you’ll get a work out and I’ll reward you with wine 🙂

I can easily predict when it will rain. If I plan an outdoor event, or if we plan a camping trip, or if it’s time to take the roof off of our house- 99% guarantee, it will rain.

 

The last week has been about demo. Today, much of the roof came off. And yes, of course it’s supposed to rain all week! But I guess my contractor is not too worried because after all, there’s not a whole lot left to get ruined. Pretty much the floorboards and framing- much of which is being removed- is all that remains. It kind of makes me wonder if it would have been easier to bulldoze it and start from scratch. My contractor gave us that option, a couple of times, actually, but ultimately it would have been much more involved. Once you start over, you have a lot of added expenses with permits and new required upgrades (i.e. fire sprinklers).

So the roof trusses are supposed to arrive next week. It will be very exciting to see it finally take shape. The new foundation wall for the addition is also in, as well as the stem wall and subfloor. The kids can’t wait to see the outline of their rooms.

On another note– we are enjoying our first harvest of pecans. I’m looking forward to making spiced and candied nuts for gifts. Any good recipes out there?

The weather has changed! And as occupants of a fifth wheel, there are a few more issues to think about when the storm’s a’brewin’. Time to lower the easy-up, pull in the awning and bring everything in that can’t get wet. Funny side story…I was packing and getting ready to head out on my ladies trip to the beach (yes, in the rain) when I stepped down the stairs from our bedroom into a large puddle of water. The living area was flooded. I heard the water pouring in between the wall behind the TV. The first thing I did, of course, was to call my husband and tell him to hurry home for emergency flooding situation. He advised me to put a tarp on the roof- which was very good thinking. I climbed up the ladder in the deluge of rain to cover the ceiling- so much for taking the time to style my hair. My husband then called back and said that I should turn off the water, because it might be a plumbing leak. Immediately after doing so, the water stopped. What are the odds that a pipe burst on the very day of the first rain storm? Anyway, thanks to my husband for fixing our plumbing as I drove away to a blissful weekend vacation.

Another thing that my husband accomplished this week was digging the fence post holes and setting all of the poles in cement before the rains came. My son helped with driving the auger and they had all the posts in place before the storm.

On the house progress, they have demolished most of the interior. It’s so interesting to see it all opened up. Revealing the ceiling joists, the old log siding, the hidden brick chimney- it’s like getting to see all the secrets the house has been holding.

We had our first sampling of a fall storm on Sunday. The sky and clouds never cease to amaze me. 

It really is just as satisfying as it looks on TV. Punching and kicking though drywall should be seriously prescribed as stress relief. Our family has been looking forward to hitting those first holes in the wall for months, and it did not disappoint. Technically, the contractor is doing the demo for us, but over the weekend, we all took our turns at getting a head start and knocked the drywall down from a main wall.

Of course, when the crew came in yesterday for interior demo, they were a little more efficient. Quite a lot of progress in a day!

They also have the new foundation wall formed, and it passed inspection this morning, so tomorrow they will pour concrete.

Finally! We have closed escrow, picked up permits and started construction- all within two days! It almost feels too good to be true.

Monday was the day our loan finally funded and recorded, and of course, I spent the entire afternoon getting everything signed off for our permits. I felt sure that at some point, something would happen to cause a delay, but the expected never happened. Instead, everything went right and all of a sudden, we were ready to roll!

Tuesday morning, the contractor and crew showed up for work at 7 and they did not mess around. They brought in the small tractor to dig the foundation walls and demolish the small “blueprint room”. Except for a few kinks (like not having electricity to run the pump house, which means no water in the trailer! oops!) things are moving forward. Progress feels good.

My cool cat, Cleo.

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Not that anything ever goes according to plan, but yes, we are still waiting to close escrow. Not only are we late for the first closing date, but we were also late for the second. It was supposed to be yesterday. Tonight, we sign title docs, and Monday, they will finally fund and record the deed.

And then, I can finish the permit process. I have to take a checklist around to multiple county agencies to be signed off. Our contractor said he might even be able to start his first couple days next week. This is progress, people! Closing escrow, getting permits and starting construction in the same week- be still, my anxiety-ridden heart.

Countdown to close: 3 days

Countdown to construction: 4 days

The waiting isn’t over, we still haven’t closed. I may die of anxiety over the weekend.

But until that point, I figured I’d keep plugging along on writing, just in case this miracle really does happen.

I wanted to give a quick recap on how this home entered our life. My husband and I have always walked through this neighborhood, which is less than a mile from our old house, and dreamed of owning a piece of it. In fact, almost one year ago, we put an offer in on a home less than a quarter mile from here. We were one of six offers and didn’t get the house. But maybe things are meant to be, as they say.

Around that same time, a very good friend of mine told me about a property in this area that someone she knew was selling. Her husband is in the real estate business and was planning to purchase and flip it to an investor. Every month or so, she would mention that they were getting ready to sell. The owner was 95 and ready to move into a care home. The home, she said, was a wreck; it would have to be completely gutted. Somehow, around March, when we were finally taking the big step to list our home for sale, she mentioned something that made me connect the dots. The home she had been talking about was where a friend of mine- my art director from long ago- grew up. His dad had built it in 1955 and lived there ever since. I told her that we’d love a chance at getting the house.

We knew the lot had great views of the valley and lake and it was in the exact location that we’ve dreamed of. Plus, getting to design a home from a remodel was truly a fantasy of mine. I’m a graphic designer by trade, but have always love home design and decor. I was a kid that looked through the JCPenny catalog and planned out my room according to each different bedspread that I wanted (this was obviously before HGTV and Pinterest!). After a couple of weeks of driving by the house, we were finally allowed to look at the inside. We expected the worst, but I was looking beyond that. Was it a layout that I could work with? (eh- kind of). Was there any charm still left? (not really). We walked through and I sketched out the floorpan as we wound around what seemed to be a Winchester mystery house. Hallways, rooms and doorways everywhere. And that was if you could look past the 70’s carpet, asbestos tile, rat poison and junk that filled the house. (my husband was skeptical=understatement). There was a rock fireplace and beam and board ceilings- that was the extent of the charm. I came home and started sketching a new layout for the house and the property.

My first idea was to build up. The house was already 2200 square feet, but I hoped for more space. There was a funky room that didn’t look like it belonged, so I wanted to tear that down. A large master suite and tv room on an upstairs level would have been perfect. Unfortunately, after having a couple of contractors come to assess whether the project was even realistic with our budget, both said that we should probably just stick to the one story. So I redesigned the layout with the help of my dad (a contractor and now home inspector). It pretty much stays within the footprint, but has a small add-on on one side of the house. The new floorpan is 2369 square feet, and I think it will be perfect. We ultimately decided that the price to add on a second story was better spent on a possible pool house or barn at a later time. Plus, the kids are getting older, so before you know it, we’ll be empty nesters and won’t need as much space.

The day we first saw the house inside, it was raining, gloomy and almost dark. It didn’t matter. We were in love with the property and I was smitten with the idea of design and construction. Since then, we have been going through the pre-construction process, and it has not been easy. We’ve hired a designer, engineer, and contractor. We’ve paid for multiple inspections on septic, well and home. We’ve worked with a lender on our complicated loan and the county on our complicated permits. We’ve hauled off 3 large semi-truck size dumpsters of garbage. We’ve torn out carpet and pulled up tile. We’ve purchased a large fifth wheel and moved on to the property. We knew it would be a challenge and we still signed up for it. We’ve overcome so many obstacles already, that I just have to believe this will all be worth it in the end (the family mantra, for now).

This house is already a part of us. In my mind, I only see the completed product; white farmhouse, sparkling pool, large landscaped yard. I have every detail planned out in my mind- from the door trim to the trees. I can’t wait for it to become reality- it will be so nice for everyone else to see it too.