So this is really the biggest reason why we decided to start this blog, because being a 26 year old, shopping for a house is super crazy, fun and awesome. In the end though, we decided to build our first home, and I wanted to share with you the journey that we're on, from the beginning to the present and future...
Searching for the perfect home is HARD. As a couple who watched House Hunters, Property Brothers, and really all of HGTV, we knew what we wanted in a house. While I may have been more open to a slightly older home, Mr. K wasn’t. And, rightfully so - after having watched so many shows, we know what could be behind the walls of an older home and under the floorboards. We weren't willing to take the risk, put a big lot of money into it, and then have to fix it up over time. So, that’s what brought us to building.
We are in a unique position to buy a home at our age, especially one that will have close to everything we want. And that’s when the searching for our perfect home began…
A townhouse was first on our list - and for reasons now I can’t quite remember other than the fact that at first we weren't ready to commit to a full single-family home, take care of a big yard, etc. But then, logic started to settle in (for us), and we didn't want to start our family in the townhouse, mainly because of the stairs. Now, I know readers out there have town homes, you've raised your families in them, and it’s worked for you. It just wasn't for us, so we changed our plans.
A smaller yard?!
Yes, we wanted a newer, updated single-family home with a smaller yard. Yup, a smaller yard we wanted which is funny since on HGTV, you usually hear people say they want a big, fenced-in yard. We learned something from my dad though shortly before looking at houses that has stuck with us. He said to my mom one day “We've got to stop doing yard work every weekend, we need to do something for ourselves… get away. I’m sick of this.” And BAM, that’s when we stopped looking for that big yard. We love taking time for ourselves, and while we do have that corner lot with a yard, it’s not as big as homes we saw in other neighborhoods. Our house is new construction, updated per our liking with fixtures, hardwood floors, a Chef’s kitchen for my chef-husband, an infinity island, formal dining room, totally open concept kitchen and living room; a basement we've decided to finish, and four bedrooms upstairs, with a possible fifth in the basement when we choose to do that later down the road.
So, no more spoilers until we see it starting to get built. But in a nutshell, that’s how we decided to build our own single-family home...
And here are a few pictures of our developing lot:
Trust me when I say not much has changed since we signed the contract on Sept.15. Those same piles of dirt you see in the photo are basically still in the same place, maybe moved a little bit for the piping that they put in last week.
Tomorrow, I'll give a little more insight into the options we chose, why, and how in the world we actually managed to pick everything for our new home... being Miss Indecisive here...!
Are you building your own house, have any comments, pieces of advice, questions? Let me know!
See you at the corner,
Krista
