After a few months of contract negotiations & finalizations with our contractor, mountains of financing forms and loan paperwork with the bank, thorough final material selections, house placement surveying, sticky permit situations & regulations, work has finally begun on our dream home.
These photos were taken nearly two-weeks ago, on Wednesday, July 21st. But with the limited time surrounding CHA preparations, we are just now able to scrape aside a little time to update everyone with our progress.
Of course, a journey like this begins with a hole in the ground. The hole for our daylight basement to be exact.
David and I surely had eyes as big as saucers when we first pulled up to the top of the ridge to see all of this. We were beginning to wonder if this day would ever arrive, and here it is!
These shots were taken from the "back" of the house, looking towards the front.
The daylight portion of the basement will be facing towards the view. This here at the right is the side of the house where my office will be located. I think I'll be able to see a tiny piece of those Tennessee rolling hills while designing on the ol' iMac!
This is looking towards the driveway, where people will pull up to the house.
Seeing David & Ethan in "the hole" gives you a bit more perspective!
The large area of dirt that was left untouched in the left-front of the house will be where the garage goes.
The very front line of the hole will be where the large front porch is located.
This is the basement as would be seen when pulling up the driveway.
Now, this photo may not look like much, but this right here is a newfound piece of heaven up on Cedar Ridge. A little something that our contractor doctored up and prepared for us and exceeded our expectations.
This area wasn't always a tidy little clearing. It was a wooded area with a 15 ft. deep 50+ year old sink hole that had large trees growing up and out of it. Our contractor had the foresight to clear some of the area and fill-in the sink hole, which has provided us with one of the most picturesque sitting areas on the property.
Several large trees create a perfect semi-circle around the cleared area, reaching their branches skyward, making a perfectly dense canopy of shade. In this hot southern heat, this heavily shaded spot has proven to be at least 15-degrees cooler than the rest of our yard.
The contractor has begun the preliminary work to inlay a set of stone steps, through this cluster of trees and up to the driveway and garage of the house. David I have already spent several hours dreaming big about how this little spot will be turned into a quiet sanctuary at the side of the house.
It feels so good to finally begin, to see something taking shape. Everything will be moving a long quite quickly, as our contractor expects to have us in the house by Halloween or Thanksgiving of this year. Nonetheless, it is a whirlwind of a ride that we are happy to be on!