Building Our Dream Home

As you can see, progress is being made on our dream house.  You can get a better idea of the house footprint.  Garage The outline area on the left in the picture is the garage. The garage will have a small workshop in it also. Initially, we were planning a 3 car garage. Because of the shape of the lot, we opted for a 2 car garage that is much "longer."  This will give us room for the small workshop and parking of the golf cart. I told Ron that he has to use the workshop. 😍Everyone knows I always have lots of projects for him.  Garden Room The area at the back where a roll-up door will go is where we will put the dump cart and my gardening equipment. I have been joking about how Ron will probably lock me in that area. He might want to do that to keep me from spending money.  The area will have a dirt floor; therefore, it is not considered a finished room. Otherwise, it would be a basement.  House overview With this overview, you can see the layout of the fi...

  So many decisions to make. A meeting to discuss plumbing fixtures, a meeting to discuss doors, a meeting to discuss windows. When we went to the meeting to discuss plumbing fixtures, I had no idea how many decisions I would have to make. What finish do you want for each bathroom? What style do you want, What type of handles?  My head was spinning. Doesn't sound like a lot but when you are deciding for 4 bathrooms, a powder room, a kitchen, and a laundry room it is overwhelming.  In addition to the fixtures, type of basin, shower, and bathtub are among other decisions. Do you want to the commode handle to match everything else? How about the towel racks? How many towel racks in each one? Don't forget the toilet paper holder.  In spite of all the decisions that had to be made, I had so much fun being able to choose exactly what I would like to have in each one.  After the plumbing fixture meeting, we had the door meeting. A piece of cake, right? The questions be...

  Building a house can really help build patience in a person. I thought by now I would be able to see what this view would look like from our dream house bedroom window. Not so. Delays, delays, delays.  I gave myself time for a pity party, looked around at others, and realized life is good. By this time next year, I will be able to decorate my house for Christmas and invite all my friends to a gigantic Christmas party. After all, progress is now happening.  People that know me well; know that patience is not my best virtue; but I am learning. Don't you feel sorry for Ron?  Yesterday, a new survey was done (the blue flags in the yard) which means they can begin to lay the foundation next week. In addition, boards were put on the lot (picture to the right) to be used to do something. Ron explained but I forgot. I hope my next post will be showing our beautiful foundation and the building continues.  Until then, give me ideas for things like knobs, hinges, tile, a...

 With the current political environment, I posted the statement above. This lead to a discussion of socialism vs capitalism. A friend posed this question:  “quick serious question, if 78% of Americans live pay check to pay check, and the wealth gap continues to widen, ( the wealthy continue to increase the gap) when does it all fall apart? When approx 78% have very little savings and housing costs are going so high and rent prices very high when does it all collapse and the 1% have all the money and the rest of people get poorer and poorer? You have travelled all over , someone here used Mexico as an example. That is perfect, they have a massive gap in income and we know their problems. The Said-Garza family represents about 20% of GDP in Mexico , we are starting to have a few people here just owning more and more . Which is great capitalism, I support that 100% , but I own and have owned many companies but always paid my employees well , you get better productivity if they ar...

My next project is making a headboard for our bed and 2 nightstands for our bedroom. I was able to get 2 doors like the one in the picture above from my Daddy's house. I hired a wood worker, Keith,  to make them for me.  Because the doors' panels were not equal sizes on the top and bottom parts of the doors, we had to come up with a different idea. I recommended we cut the doors and use the two upper parts of the doors for the headboard. The two lower parts will be used for night stands.  For the headboard, Keith will add some additional wood and a "frame" to the door parts. I showed Keith The picture to the right to give him an idea for a design.  Because of the size of the top of the doors and the size of a king size bed, additional wood would need to be added. Also, the headboard will be about 2 inches larger than the mattress. I think this will look great when we get the pillows, bedspread, etc. on the bed.  The original picture I sent to Keith as an id...

Intro While waiting on approval to begin building, Ron and I decided to begin working on all our projects. First project is the mantel from my Daddy's old house.  The mantel will go in the master bedroom with a fake wood-burning stove in front of it. Some people probably wonder why this mantel is so important to me. Some of the reasons are Like having a piece of my parents with me Love the structure of the mantel Success - didn't win the battle but won the war Having a piece of my parents with me My mother passed away in 1984 and my Dad in 1998. I am orphan. It doesn't matter how old you are after both parents are deceased - you still have a void there. This mantel brings back so many memories from where my Daddy always kept the "bills" to pay to the nails still there that I hung garland at Christmas time. There are times I will just lean over on the mantel and hug the mantel and that action gives me such heartwarming comfort that nothing else could do.  After my ...