Can I come back to play?

[thewop]

I know it's been a while, but I (FINALLY) have a reason to come back and hang out with you guys! Life has been INSANE the last year or so.  Life Recap:

-I had another baby August 2014 (a BOY)

-Decided house was too small now that we have 2 kids, 1 bathroom, and minimal closet space. Looked into upgrading to bigger house.

-DD (5yo) started Kindergarten (tears)

-Found multiple homes- outbid each time- that crap gets old

-GOT PROMOTED (like, holy sh*t- I've wanted this for years and I finally got it)

-Kept home shopping with crap market of low inventory and over priced homes not updated since 1995.  Incredibly frustrating.

-Researched building

-Found lot/builder

-Waffled since we never, EVER thought we'd build.  Like never ever.  It has always been something out of our budget/lifestyle, until we did more research. Plus remodeling = no thank you for us.

-Signed agreement with builder.  Freaked the F out.  We're really doing this.  Good decision?

-Found out neighbor's roommate got picked up for Meth overdose.  Yep, moving/building now is a good decision.

-Overwhelmed with 1 million decisions that need to be made with building. 

-Overwhelmed with new position at work, but surviving.

The house we're building isn't a custom home, but not a spec home.  Kind of in between if that's a thing.  We went with a modest, popular floor plan with some tweaks that met our wants/needs (added 1/2 bath off mudroom, widened foyer area, etc.).  It won't be a super high end home (we're probably going laminate instead of granite *gasp*), but I think it will be nice, and a HUGE upgrade from our 950 sq ft ranch built in the 60's.  My H has a classic car and does a LOT of mechanic work on the side, so a home with a 3 stall garage was a must, and we had a really hard time finding what we wanted in our budget.  We also decided that remodeling is the total suck.  We did it with our current house, and not having to do that again sounds fabulous.  With both of us working full time, a 5 YO and a 19 MO, it should be worth it to spend a little more on the house, and a lot less time updating/finishing it.  We should only have to finish the basement and we can do that at our leisure without it affecting our everyday life too much.   I am a little self conscious about the "we're building!" thing since it's a very modest house.  Only 1500 sq ft, 3 bed, 2.5 bath.  BUT, I'm excited about what this house will have to offer, and we won't have to take DD out of her current school district or DS out of daycare. 

So if TL;DR, HI!  I used to be a regular, didn't have much going on with the home front, had another child, and focused on work, but now we're building a house and I need help making it look pretty!

 

[simpsongal]

OF course, welcome back! Most of my H&G work amounts to dreaming until one kid finishes daycare....

[momin2013]

Hello! I don't go here much, but we built last year and actually found it to be a lot of fun. I would describe it sort of as one big, giant shopping trip. For the most expensive thing we will probably ever buy, lol.

If you have any questions about the building process, I'd be happy to answer them from my own experience if I can!

[dr.girlfriend]

Hi! I don't think you need to have this baggage around having a home built...all our homes were built, it's just that you get a say in yours! Hope the process is smooth and easy, and I look forward to all the decorating posts!

[hbomdiggity]

I get you. We had a charming (and small) 1920s craftsman. we did a ton of work on it before DS (and as he was a newborn). Then major work changes and we ended up moving to a new city. The charming homes still needed a ton of work - time and money we didn't have. so we ended up with a new build. It was completed before we saw it, so none of the design paralysis. It admittedly lacks some charm, but in its place are less quirks and less work. and it just works best for our family.

[mrsemilys]

Welcome back! Our kiddos are the same age! Congrats on the new build!

[thewop]

Thanks everyone!

[thewop]

@lauralynne my H has a 1989 Mustang only 50k miles. He doesnt drive it much these days since it's insured as a classic but it's still fun to have.

[ginkgoleaf]

Hi! I just moved into a house we built back in December. It was a whirlwind of picking things out, but the process was so smooth and we love how it turned out.

[mrs.jacinthe]

Welcome back! I haven't been around much either, as I've been struggling with work/life balance lately. Congrats on that promotion and baby and new house!!