Home Builders R Us

And the Final Reveal!

2010-08-22T19:24:00.001-07:00

I know some of you may have been waiting for this for a year and a half....since we moved in Nov. 2008, but I wanted to build the suspense....lol :)

Here are some inside photos before we moved in....

The above photo is looking from our front door right as you walk into our home.

Above pic Looking from the hallway into our living room

Ben got tired and since we didn't have any furniture in the home yet, he decided to rest on the island!

So much has been going on in making out house complete since we moved in! We have painted several accent walls, added a retaining wall, filled in with grass (after adding the retaining wall) on the south side of our home and also in the back yard. We keep thinking the projects will end, but they just don't seem too. Ben's man cave (AKA the garage) has become his own , complete with a nice new mower that we call Moe so that he can take care off our 1 acre lot, added some awesome shelving units so we have a place to put everything and some nice work benches. He also convinced me to put a portable AC unit out there so that he can crank it on and work in the summer months when it gets to be over 100 degrees here.

Inside the the home we have decorated a lot. There are still many pieces of furniture that we need, but this will come over time. The most important thing is that we have a nice new couch/loveseat that we purchased when we moved in. I will have to post some more pictures of what each room looks like with furniture/paint in the near future.

We love country living and have some awesome neighboors that we have become friends with. Ben has even served on the HOA board since we moved in. We love to have visitors and are house is always open to friends/family.

Brick & Stone

2008-11-01T10:49:00.000-07:00

The brick and stone go on and this baby is starting to look like a house.

A Southern view.

We just love the color combo.

You can't get me to climb on top of that scaffolding. I like my neck just the way it is.

Brick is beautiful.

The exterior is pretty much complete. Now they just need to work on the innards.

Just look at the sky... It's even prettier in person.

San Antonio

2008-11-01T09:48:00.000-07:00

Jill and Ben inside the Alamo. They wouldn't let us climb the tree, but it would have been a lot of fun.

Here's the Alamo. Not too big, but cool to see.

There's another building nearby that looks like an old hotel.

Here's the mall right on the river walk. We wish we had more good pictures of the river walk. A lot of them were taken at night and didn't turn out :(

Just loungin' at the hotel. We're sitting on a huge spinning chair. It was like a merry-go-round for grown-ups :)

Randomness

2008-10-31T21:45:00.000-07:00

The gameroom is kind of an odd place for a tub, but Jill doesn't seem to mind :)

Jill's new pot rack... I must say, it's a magnificent creation.

A giant octopus is eating our air conditioner!!!

I can smell the burnt marshmallows already.

I thought they already installed the drain line to the septic tank. Well, I guess this one will come in handy when Hannah comes to visit :)

Meat on them Bones

2008-09-21T19:02:00.000-07:00

The exterior sheathing starts going up. No more walking through walls :(

The roof decking goes on and another dormer pops up. Now if we could just get the yard to match the slope of the roof we could have one heck of a slip-n-slide :)

The wood posts go in at the front entry. Those things are huge! The trees they used to make them must have been at least a hundred years old. I wonder if our Dads planted them?

Check out the balcony. Soon to be our favorite place to hangout, but hopefully not fall out... Unless it's on purpose. We are planning on installing a zipline you know.

We have windows!!! Lots and lots of windows!

Jill cracks the whip and tells those brick layers to get to layin'.

Just Look at the View

2008-09-06T03:15:00.001-07:00

You can see downtown from here (if you climb up on the roof).

These photos speak for themselves:

The House Takes Shape

2008-09-06T02:16:00.000-07:00

You can just barely see our house through the neighbor's yard just behind our lot.

Now this is starting to look like a house!

We love the winding staircase :)

These guys could be gymnasts... They would put Olympians to shame on the balance beam.

Here's a view from our kitchen. I was doing some gymnastics myself trying to jump over all these supports holding up the walls.

Bringing up the rear.

This looks like one of those optical illusions.

The framing is done, now lets get some meat on them bones!!

Moovin' On Up (to the second floor)

2008-08-01T20:10:00.000-07:00

The second floor, looking toward the backyard.

Let's go check out the front.

A category F5 tornado ripped through the community and pummeled our house. Strangely, it stacked all the pieces in neat little piles :)

Just chillin' on the roof.

That first step's a doozie!

Framin' Frenzy

2008-07-28T20:31:00.000-07:00

Here's what two days of framing looks like:

The unframed garage... So beautiful, yet still so flat.

A view from the backyard.

Jill seems to be having difficulty getting out of the house, even though there are only three walls - and you can walk through them :)

The most important part of the house takes shape... The gee-raj. This is where Ben will be living.

Another lovely view from the backyard.

The sun is setting on another day of crazy fast framing.

One Rock Solid Foundation

2008-07-24T20:28:00.000-07:00

Jill is scoping out the forms used to shape the foundation.

If you follow the white drain pipes, you'll see the path that all of our waste products will take when they exit the house :)

They had to use hazmat containment plastic to prevent our toxic waste from contaminating the ground water.

That's one big cement pumper!

You think that cement pumper was big? You should see what they used to pump the port-o-potty after Hannah was done with it :-0

Ahhh... the finished product. Kind of makes you want to put on some roller skates.

Our trip to Bakersfield

2008-07-20T10:00:00.000-07:00

We went to Bakersfield when Josh (Ben's Brother) and family came back to visit. It had been a couple years since we had been together and we had a great time!

Uncle Ben taught Nathan and Emily how to make funny noises with there mouths

Jill with Ben's cousins (Kara's) baby named Zach. He was such a cute baby and she really enjoyed playing with him and walking him around

The night we arrived in Bakersfield we went to a restaurant called "Famous Dave's." It was very good....

Just had to post this one....Our niece Emily smiling so big for the camera....adorable :)

Let the Construction Begin!!!

2008-07-20T09:31:00.000-07:00

It was cool to see the land transform when they were grading.

You don't want to get near those big ol' trucks....they will get you!

Ben shows the professionals how it is done :)

Looks like the tractor and Trailblazer are getting along. Or are they?

Ben gets his hands (and feet) dirty.

Finally some progress. When all that time it looked like they were just pushing dirt around.

Such a pretty sky...

Design Center

2008-07-20T09:11:00.000-07:00

It took us a while to pick everything we wanted in our new home, but it was sure a lot of fun!

Our material selections

Ben with his favorite chunk of wood...of course it had to be one of the most expensive to fit Ben's fine taste!

Jill using her expert design skills...haha :)

Our Lot

2008-07-20T08:48:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of our lot (au naturale) before they did any grading:

Looking NW

Looking SW

Jill's parents came to visit us and see our lot.

This is a road that we take to get to our community. So pretty...