Progress.....

Well, folks, the Smiths are no longer residing in the Colony. We have downgraded to a way-retro ranch in Mt. Vernon until our home is completed.

And on the homefront, last week saw some progress on our lot! Monday afternoon Anna and I got to see the truck carrying the big yellow bulldozer pull up and drop it off. The next day stakes were laid out and a survey completed, then Wednesday they started scraping sod!




This week we've met with the contractor supervising the building process and it seems just about everything is on schedule. (Although he did say he had to have the foundation dug WAY low - to the point where we will be resting on solid rock.) Gravel has been brought in and spread out, the perimeters have been marked and the footers should be poured this week. Then the slab for the garage will be poured and then the framers come in and things get really exciting!




We're thanking God for this scretch of nice, dry, sunny weather and praying it holds for another week or so! The girls are in Pennsylvania visiting my family, so Earl and I have had time to sort out the craziness that resulted from moving as well as cleaning this rental that has been largely uninhabited for the past two years. It's not pretty, but it works.

Starting this Friday is Spring Break....and might I say - "HALLELUJAH!"

And We Put it All Together...

This is not our house. This is the Model House. Ironically, we unknowingly chose many of the same features we had seen (and had apparently forgotten about).

This weekend we had our good friends from Pittsburgh visiting and we took them on a tour through the Model Home. Earl and I got a kick out of seeing some things we had chosen (from tiny little swatches at the Dec Center) actually installed in a real house!

This is the stone we chose for the front of our house. This was the toughest decision, so I was quite happy to see it all looks great together!

The standard deck on the back...

The kitchen.....ahhhh....the kitchen. I can't wait to see my kitchen when it is all put together! We chose the same flooring and cabinets, and same appliances, but our counters are different.

These counters were our second choice. I really like these counters! (Let the second-guessing BEGIN!) But all I could think about was how the bread crumbs would show up like glowing beacons of light against the dark slate color....




I'm thinking we will need to upgrade our faucet.... heh heh heh

The living room that isn't ours. Ours is slightly wider and slightly shorter, and we will have a fireplace where that middle window is.


A similar railing.....we opted for the white spindles instead of wrought iron.

The tub. I've always wanted a big soaking tub. This one shall be mine! I might even share with Earl. ;-)

We're going with the standard white tile....I'm liking this gray stuff, though! And our shower will be frosted glass, because I'd like to spend more quality time with my family and less with Windex...

And the lot....

From the backyard looking towards the road...

Back corner looking left. Wave at the Kellers!


Front right corner.


And front left corner.

On our current home front....today was the inspection and appraisal. We haven't heard anything yet, so we're praying for a clean bill of house health!

Timeline of a "God Thing"

February 14th - Earl saw a commercial advertising a tax incentive for second time home buyers. We looked up some info. about it and decided to investigate more...

February 19th - After several days at home (snow day then pulled back muscle) I had done alot of research on new houses! We met with aa Ball Homes representative to check out some houses under construction. Unfortunately, we learned that Ball Homes would not work for us. (Even though the kitchen in the one model was beautiful....9 foot ceilings, tiered cabinets, travertine tile, stainless steel appliances - it was awesome!)

February 21st - Meet up with a realtor to see a house. The house was big, and had a HUGE backyard, but it needed ALOT of work. New flooring, new paint floor to ceiling, new kitchen appliances. Nevertheless, we saw the potential and....

February 22nd - Make an offer! (significantly below asking price to compensate for all the work it needed)

February 23rd - Much to our aggravation, the sellers raised the asking price of the house. Needless to say, they did not accept our offer.

February 25th - On a whim, I decide to check into Dominion Home Builders to check it off the llist once and for all. To our amazement, they offer a lot and floorplan at a price we can afford!

February 26th - Meet with the Dominion Sales Rep and add up all the upgrades, discuss final costs and get very excited!

February 27th - Tour a home with a floorplan very similar to the one we chose.......then sign all the paperwork!

March 2nd - After a crazy busy, stressful weekend getting our house decluttered and cleaned, we meet with our realtor to get our house listed.

March 3rd - Our home listing arrives on the internet around 10am....by 2pm we have our first showing (totally SHOCKED at this point)....they come back before 4pm to see it again, and by suppertime we have an offer. We counter offer and they accept!

March 4th - We head to Louisville to pick out all our new house stuff, get a meeting with the loan guy to discuss financing, then return home to sign paperwork to make the offer official.

It's been a whirlwind! We can't NOT see the hand of God in every action along the way....what an amazing thing! I am so happy/overwhelmed/blessed/stressed/amazed/estatic/and most surprisingly, confused...almost guilty,even. Who are we to receive all these blessings? I just pray that we continue the correct way down this path that God must have laid out for us!


Today we had so much fun picking out all the details of our new house. I was really excited about this, so it was surprising to feel the pressure pile on when faced with all the monumental and insignificant choices.

I think we did a good job, though! With the exception of some minor drama over window blinds, we agreed on everything and got in and out fairly quickly.

This will be our outside. The front of the house will be entirely stone, with black shutters, black front door with white trim, black shingles, and white garage door.


Our interior doors will be the basic two-panel...


The kitchen goodies were the best part, no contest! We went there with one thing in mind (specifically, cherry floors and cabinets) and ended up choosing something completely different! We decided on a warm, rich brown called saddle for both the hardwood floors and the cabinets. The counters will be a marble-y tan and brown, named Milano Brown. Should look nice next to our stainless steel appliances!


Bathrooms and utility room were simple...we stuck to the same flooring for all of them. They'll also have the same saddle cabinets, along with white tile.


Up the stairs and across the loft will sport a stained wooden rail and white spindles...


Whew, what a morning! Now we just have to wait four long months for it all to be put together!


God is so great!