home sweet home – All the things

We have just gotten started with our house and we already get lots of questions! If you haven’t ever built a house the details are probably pretty foreign. I have decided to blog the process in sections so those curious minds can see and understand a little more and so I can look back at our timeline!

Building a house is something that we have been dreaming about for a long time. We have been looking for land and trying to find that perfect place to call home. In May we made an offer on what is now our beautiful land.

The first week of July we closed on that land!

The first thing that had to be done was pick a building site and start clearing and getting the pad ready. This was happening around the end of July and first of August. After this the footings were dug and poured. Joel did all of this with help from friends and family. fullsizerender

Then we had to take a small break to have a baby! We welcomed baby #5 on August 9, 2016

Block work was done on August 19th and since we had just had a new baby Joel decided to contract out the block work so this was the first part in the building process that Joel didn’t do himself. fullsizerender-1

Next there is subfloor and again Joel did this himself with the help of some amazing friends! This was happening at the end of August.

First week of September the decking was put on. Once again, friends and family helped Joel knock this out!

Here comes everyones favorite part! The framing! It goes up fast, (1 week) and so everyone suddenly sees the shape of a house and it feels like things are going to be happening quick. Good news is, it is another step done, bad news is, you won’t see a ton of changes in the next few steps! This first picture is day 1 of framing.

I can’t remember if this is day 2 or 3

Day 4

Day 6 framing is done! We did contract out the framing and if you need a framer let us know and we will send a great one your way! This gets us current in construction because this happened today!

Joel up in the rafters!

Joel and I in the window that will be in the dinning room.

Harvey in his room. He gets so excited to go in there and tells anyone who will listen that it is his room!

The girls in their room. All 3 girls will share a room at the request of Jade. Don’t worry, they have a massive closet!

Kamden reluctantly posing in his window. He has helped with every step of this house so far. I am so proud of the work he has put into it!

That is it so far! We have really just gotten started and have a long way to go but we are excited to have the bones of the house! Joel works so hard everyday doing something, even if it isn’t noticeable. There is always something to be done at a construction site and when you are building yourself you have to be willing to do all the little things (that can become big things) like clean up! This house is being built with love labor for sure!

It has been a very long time since I sat down to write. I miss it because it is so therapeutic to me! A lot has happened since I blogged last. We have started a new adventure and I thought this was a great time for me to get back to the blog.

Entrepreneurs, parents to 5 kids, homeschooling, hobby farmers (this is on the back burner but will be happening again), we are dreamers for sure. For the last year we have been searching for land and finally found the perfect piece! In July we closed on the land and started the process of building our new house! Our lives seem to be ever changing as we create new chapters and sometimes that seems overwhelming and chaotic.

But just when you thought we couldn’t get any crazier…… We decided it would be best for our family to move while we build the house. So with our 2 week old brand new baby and other 4 kiddo’s in tow, we moved…. into a camper! Yep, you read that right! We moved our family of 7 into a camper on our land.

We have been asked “Are you crazy? Why would you do that?” When we made the offer of the land, we had not planned to move into a camper. But as time went on and we were getting closer to starting the house, I begain thinking about all the time that Joel would be here working on the house and we would be 25 minutes away at our house. I would be trying to drive back and forth to take dinner to Joel and make sure he didn’t need anything. I knew I would be trying to keep up with our big house with 5 kids (one of which would be a newborn) and I knew we would feel torn between the two properties. When I came to Joel and suggested the camper idea he was shocked and excited because he thought it was a great idea but couldn’t believe I would be willing to do it!

In the end we knew that building a house ourselves would present plenty of obstacles and that either way, staying in our house or moving to a camper, we would be challenged. We just decided that having us all in one location was the challenge that would work best for us!

So if you are up for some funny stories, keep reading because I plan to try to blog this adventure regularly. Life inside a camper with 7 people living in it is guaranteed to never be dull!

Here is our Home Sweet Home, for now!

Tag: home sweet home

Home Sweet Home: part 1

Adventure Awaits!