Thursday, September 30, 2010

Rain Delay


Enjoying this rainy day?

The good news is, we have the septic permit in hand. 
Now all we have to do is get it to the Conestoga Zoning Officer...
The bad news is, he happens to be in the hospital.  It's kinda hard to be upset about that one because we wish the best for his health. 
Now it looks like we will be digging the foundation next week or whenever he gets out of the hospital.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

SOLD!

Good-bye Marshall St!!
We finally sold our house in town!

As long as all of the inspections come back clean and nothing falls through between now and October 25th, we will settle!

Bitter-sweet.
This was our first home together.



Friday, September 24, 2010

Patience

One of the best ways to learn patience...
build a house.

Update:
Our excavator was at the lot the end of last week, staking out the septic plan.  He said he would have it drawn up and submitted this week and hopefully we would hear back the beginning of next.  If all goes as planned, he thinks we should be able to get the septic permit (and therefore building permit) the beginning of next week and then he will most likely be able to dig the foundation the end of next week!!!! 
 
It might actually be happening soon!

Friday, September 17, 2010

Burlap

Since this blog is from my point of view, you all will get to hear me babble about my decorating ideas for this house.  I know this is all a bit premature since we haven't even started digging yet, but a girl can dream... right!?

We would like to use a lot of recycled or reused material on this house, including decorations, furniture... etc.

Have you ever heard of Lonely Monk Coffee?
They roast EXCELLENT coffee.
Leon Miller, the Roast Master, is friends with my Dad and has graciously given me some burlap.



What should I do with it?
I have a bunch of ideas...
maybe re-upholster a chair (sounds crazy.. but I think it might work depending on the chair).
maybe curtains for the mudroom...
maybe...

a dog bed? 
Cedar likes it!

I will keep you posted on my burlap creations and be sure to post some pictures!

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Waiting

So, the game is waiting.
Right now we have to wait for the septic plan in order to get the building permits.
Once we have those in hand....
WE BEGIN!
We are hoping for the next few weeks
(although I thought that since May!)

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Granola, Hippies, Tree-Huggers...

Unfortunately we had to cut down 2 of the most beautiful trees on our lot
because they sat right where the house is going to be.
One was a black walnut and the other was a paulownia.
It was a tough decision for us, but we thought
the house would look better towards the front of the lot, which means "good-bye" trees.


the  paulownia coming down

Thank you Dave, for your help with cutting the trees down!  I'm sure it went much smoother than
if Jesse and I tried to do it ourselves!  (P.S.  if anyone wants a tree cut down, Dave Witmer is your man).






Jesse and I spent time on the west coast earlier this year and drove down the coast from Seattle, Wa to Cannon Beach, OR.  We passed hundreds and thousands of acres of trees that were cut down for logging purposes.  Call us granola, hippies... whatever you would like,
but it made us sad.
Those huge, beautiful trees were being cut down, only to be replanted
by a different type of tree that would grow faster for the companies that are selling the wood.
I kept thinking of all the wild life that was being destroyed because of our "need" for wood.
(I won't be offended if you call us tree-huggers!!)

So, because Jesse and I had to cut our trees down, we decided to put them to use.


The wood from the black walnut will become our kitchen island counter top
and the wood from the paulownia tree will hopefully become our home office desk.
Jesse used a woodmizer to plane the trunk of the walnut and it is in the process of drying for our future use.



Wednesday, September 8, 2010

The Beginning


We have been dreaming for a long time of a house that we could design, build and call our own. 
Now we can't believe that it is actually beginning!
After much research, convincing, and consideration we decided to build a straw bale house. 
Any technical questions you may have, please direct to Jesse
(jesse@longviewstructures.com),
as I still don't completely understand how it all works!
I am learning.

We have felt like it has been "the beginnning" for a long time, but things ARE really happening now! 
Jesse has been working hard at finalizing our plans for the house and they are submitted for permits as I write.  We are hoping to have the permits any day now. 

Our lot is a little under an acre and when it is all said and done, we should have about an acre to ourselves. 


Our newest big news... 
We have been looking for old stone to use on our foundation for quite some time now, and
one day in the last few weeks, Jesse was driving home from work
and saw a barn being torn down just about 2 miles from our lot. 
He stopped in and spoke with the owner who said he was going to bury the stone in a hole!
GOOD NEWS FOR US! 
Here it is in it's origional state.

We worked out a deal and had an excavator get the stone for us and drop it on our lot. 
A bit overwhelming when we saw the H-U-G-E pile for the first time. 


We have lots of work ahead of us...