Final Floor Plan? Let's hope so!

Alright, folks. I think we've finally worked out all of the kinks with our plan. Now onto the engineering plan and finding out the cost (which might mean we get to do 1/2 of what we've planned...ugh).

 

Our 1st floor. So, we still don't know where the HVAC chase will go, but it could go near the fireplace, which would leave the downstairs a little less open than we planned. The HVAC subcontractor will be making that decision down the road. And, we've turned the fridge toward the kitchen for my obsessive need for a work triangle.

Asher's room is Bedroom 2. So, his closet has moved from the last plan. Otherwise everything else will stay the same. 

Now we hope and pray that we'll be able to stay in budget with all we have to do. What's our budget? I can't remember if I mentioned that...it's $80,000. We're going to work from the top down, making sure to get the 2nd floor as complete as possible and then doing the changes downstairs. 

On other Crump news, Asher and Ainsley are giddy about Halloween. Ainsley plans to be a ladybug (I think this makes the 3rd year in her short life she's been a ladybug) and Asher will be the boy version of a witch (whether that's a warlock or a wizard). Fun! Pictures will follow next week.

All is good!

Our architect emailed today to let us know that everything went well yesterday. Our house is solid and can support a 2nd story being built. So, the next step is to finalize our floor plans and have an engineering plan drawn up so everything can get priced out. (That's lingo I stole from our architect's email...I don't talk like that.)

And, thanks to my sister-in-law, Patrice, for taking some awesome pictures of us at the pumpkin patch this past weekend...

Appliances

Today our contractor and architect met with an engineer and carpenter to discuss our plans. I'm super excited to learn what was discussed...Can our foundation support a 2nd floor? Will the cost of ripping off the roof and other renovations cost more than the expected $80K? Hopefully we'll find out soon...

In the meantime, I'm on craigslist looking for appliances. This Sunday we bought an awesome cast iron sink with faucet already attached for $50 (no pictures...sorry). I'm still on the search for a fridge, stove, dishwasher, washer/dryer, cabinets/counter and tub. It's awesome the number things you can find on craigslist in great condition for an even better price. For the things we can't find on craigslist, we'll use the Habitat for Humanity Restore in Raleigh and the Reuse Warehouse in Durham. We love reusing other people's throw aways! We're also planning on reusing wood floors for the upstairs...if they're available. Last month we came across some used heart pine floors like ours, but we weren't ready to buy yet. Let's hope we get that lucky again!

Not much more happening with the house right now. Have I told you we expect to start construction by December 1st? Until then we'll be working on getting a better cost list and needed permits. Woohoo!

The Cabinet and the Previous Owner

Here's a picture of the cabinet we bought yesterday at Grandaddy's...

I'm pretty excited about it being the first piece of furniture for our house. Love it!

Another exciting thing that we discovered today is that the heart pine wood floor that is throughout the downstairs continues in the bathroom. And, for some reason there's subfloor and vinyl on top of it right now. Yay! That's one cost that we can avoid as we renovate.

So, the previous owner of our house. I wish I had a history of all the owners of our house. Perhaps as we live there longer, we'll learn about others who have lived there. But the most recent owner lost the home to foreclosure. And, as we began to ponder purchasing the home, I became curious to learn all I could of the previous owner. The first thing I learned is that the woman who owned the home owned it for 8 years. And she had married and divorced while living there. After finding out her name I learned that she was the owner of a graphic design business located in Hillsborough and that she didn't move too far away. I also learned from the neighbors that after having lived in the home for a while, she became a recluse. She also owned and added items to her home often...perhaps hoarding. From the look of the walls, she liked to put things on the wall...with tape, screws, nails, velcro and pushpins. Lots of pushpins. So many pushpins that the movie, "A Beautiful Mind" comes to mind as we pull pins out of the wall. Some of the things that remained on the wall were coat hooks and fortunes from fortune cookies.

Although I am excited to begin working on the home to make it ours, I am sad that someone who lived in the home longer than we've stayed anywhere lost it. Lost her home, marriage and perhaps her mind. I've certainly prayed for her as I've prayed over this house. I believe I'll continue to pray for her as we prepare the house for us to move in.

We're homeowners!

It was the easiest and quickest closing we've attended. And this is the 5th one we've attended....hopefully our last. After closing, we stopped by Grandaddy's Antiques in Mebane and bought an awesome G. I. Sellers cabinet to use as an island in our kitchen. I didn't take a picture, but will get one up here soon.

We spent our afternoon at our new house changing the locks and putting new wheels on our cabinet. We'll likely go back tomorrow and get the front yard a little more manageable. There's a TON of junk in the yard. We'll eventually get some help with clearing it out, but not until the construction is done.

Speaking of construction, we got our revised house plans back! Nothing really changed except the upstairs layout.

 

1st Floor. We eliminated our 2nd closet in the master bedroom...because we're crazy like that.

 2nd Floor. Lots of changes. Looks good, yeah!

And then, after spending some time upstairs this afternoon, Peyton went and created this crazy plan. And I love it. Keeping the upstairs roof intact with no dormers. It's simple and wreaks of charm.

 

Crazy 2nd floor idea

We'll likely drive our architect nuts. But that's ok because he keeps telling us how much fun he's having with this project. So, let's hope he continues to think that way. 

So, which plan do you like the best? I'm curious.

The delay

Our closing was delayed from Tuesday to tomorrow. The appraisal came in a bit late, which is what caused the delay. I'm plum pleased with what the appraisal said, though. So, I forgive it for being late. If all goes well, we shall have keys in hand tomorrow afternoon.

And after a two hour meeting with our architect and contractor, we have a final version of our house plan coming next week. An engineer and framer will be visiting our house next week to see if the plan is possible. Then we begin meeting with subcontractors to determine an exact cost.

We hope to begin construction on December 1st. Pray for good weather, since the plan is to rip the old roof off and start from scratch.

Waiting for Closing

Our closing happens next week. So it's the quiet before the storm. We've got an initial set of plans done and we'll make an appointment with the structural engineer/framers/subcontractors once we finish with closing. For now, I'm making sure we get all of our ducks in a row so we aren't caught off guard on Tuesday with something that fell through the cracks.

And so that this isn't a pictureless post, here are a few of the kiddos that Peyton took recently...