+ SHOW US YOUR PAD/ FLAT/ CAVE/ PENT-HOUSE/ CARDBOARD BOX/… +
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Well, in the last 90 days, we managed to:
1. Start on a New House Build (First time we have started with a tree'd lot and gone through the whole process)
2. Secure a Temporary Lease (With my neighbor next door lol)
3. Finish Our Remodel
4. Get Our House in Escrow
5. Get Repairs Made
6. Close on Our HouseAnd we finally move out on Friday.
For those that followed along with my renovation journey, you I hope you enjoy the final images:
http://www.232marlberrytrace.com/We are stoked for the new build, as it is going to have everything we have felt our old house lacked for the last few years… A bit more space for the kiddos, more bathrooms, bigger outdoor living areas, a pro-line kitchen and a dedicated office for my wife, and a larger parking pad.
Here is a general rendering of what the new spot will look like - still finalizing colors, but it will be a lot of white.
Best thing is getting to start fresh with our furniture. We are moving towards a contemporary direction with touches of antique and mid-century - so I'm excited what we can do with the blending.
Of course, I am most excited about the kitchen. Getting to have a bigger Range + Gas will be a blessing, plus the footprint is essentially 2.5x the size of our current kitchen.
Design Inspiration (Kitchen) Here:
Thankfully, permitting passed 10 days ago, so they cleared our lot last week, and managed to put pilings in yesterday! The graded rectangular space in the front right corner will be a a stem wall with slab for the garage, so overall, not much back yard, but still enough to do some big stone pavers for a walking path and a paver patio for a grilling area.
I'll probably over-inundate this thread with the progress - somehow the builder is aiming for a November completion date… I'm not insane enough to think that's possible lol
Cheers,
Adam
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That's incredibly exciting @Appfaff and I'm buzzing with energy for your new build. One of the best things about packing and moving is finally going through and making the keep/donate/toss decisions with things you've pondered for years, or things the kids grew out of.
Not trying to make this post about me, but I'm trying to convince my wife to buy a lot and build. We have a pretty modern town home right now with an open floorplan, and our goal is to get into a hobby farm so the horses are on our land. With the crazy housing market, anything in our price range has an old home without an open floor plan. the kitchen suffers and it gives me anxiety thinking of moving backward in house amenities.
building could solve that, but it seems like a massive undertaking.
best of luck as you move forward,
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Thank you @Giles !
@jordanscollected - If you have a property that is desirable right now and you can take a massive cash out, I would highly consider it. The options you have for both land purchases and building are greater when you have some liquid you can throw around - And it's easier to justify paying a little more on a buy when you cash out on the market at the same time (at least it was for us).
Have you considered finding land with a small house that someone would give you like a 5-7 year owner finance balloon on? That could allow you to buy the land, deal with a house you don't love, and then sell your townhome for a massive premium? Then use the profit to fund your dream home on the land, and then rent out the small house when you are done building?
At that point, you would have high valued assets and additional cashflow that would make a refinance to pay off the balloon really favorable to you.
If you ever want to chat about it, just give me a ring!
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[mention]Appfaff [/mention] congrats, I’m looking forward to seeing your new home and MCM furniture!
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@Appfaff looks amazing! please do keep us updated
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Wow cool, those trees and the house are beautiful
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@Appfaff congratulations on the sale and everything else. Your old house buffed up nicely.
Have you considered going electric only in the new place? That's what I'd do if I was building. I was discussing things with my brother a week or two ago, and we both felt that with the move away from fossil fuels it would make sense from a future proofing perspective.
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I would love to do a geothermal heat pump and solar panels (especially if they didn't look like shit) on an off-the-grid, self-sustaining home and property. That will have to wait until retirement.
@Graeme given the bloodbath of a housing market you described in Australia, I found this "let them eat cake" moment surpassed the arrogance, lack of empathy, and disconnectedness of Marie Antoinette.
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Thanks everyone!
@Anesthetist - I wouldn't expect too much MCM period correct stuff, but I'm definitely throwing some inspired pieces into the mix. It's a coastal home, so it will be light and bright and relatively contemporary, but we are doing White Oak flooring, white oak ceiling beams, some traditional Southern style elements but pushing for very sleek furniture.
@Graeme - We are not tied into Natural Gas, as the utilities companies didn't lay lines before our area was developed. Some of the newer neighborhoods have natural gas to the homes, but we would be on propane. We are all electric now, and the bills are low as we are in a co-op area, but it limits some of the equipment you can outfit the house with, at least in our area. With propane we can have gas ranges and gas powered tankless water heaters, which was two things we knew we wanted.
@Nkwkfld - yes, the pine and palm trees are one of the things we love most about the neighborhood - sadly, mine had to be cut down on our lot, but plenty remain in the easements and the lot behind us (not in our community) that hopefully will not be developed anytime soon.
@mclaincausey - I'd love solar panels, but having large items strapped to your roof in a hurricane and tornado prone zone is less than appealing for your insurance company. We already deal with practical extortion from the insurance companies due to wind insurance premiums - however my neighbors did install some on their single level home and they "almost" don't look hideous lol
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Yeah that is absolutely fair @Appfaff and their actuaries are probably not wrong on a lot of that–I was thinking something like those vaporware ones Elon Musk was touting that would be cheaper than asphalt tile, more durable, and looked like slate. Even without hurricanes, solar panels are fugly--which doesn't necessarily mean the juice isn't worth the squeeze, it would just be much more appealing if they didn't look so bad.
I'd be tempted to just build a concrete bunker if I were still living in the gulf coast
I bet we'll see your home in Veranda
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Whoa! I'm super excited for you and the family, Adam! Looks like it'll be a stunner and that's a great move with the kitchen. We always comment about how we should've expanded out current kitchen when we initially remolded but we were already tight on space. Are you doing a standing seam metal roof? Main bedroom downstairs, kiddos up?
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@mclaincausey - hey, if you can't build a concrete bunker, build a box on stilts, right?? Thanksfully we don't have to go with a BFE of 7-12', we just have to be 36" off the edges for the water basin to drain.
@Clint_D - Thanks so much Clint! We are excited as well. Since the back porch is about 400 square feet (roughly 36 x 11) - the upstairs has more heated and cooled SF than the downstairs, so the Big Master is upstairs with a cathedral ceiling, double size shower and 13 x 6 walk in closet. Almost unnecessarily large lol And yes, kids each have rooms with private ensuites - tubs with subway tile to the ceiling (We might put arabesque in avery's bath) - and carrarra tile
walk ins in the junior and senior master. Overall, it's very similar to the finishes we chosen for our remodel, just someone else is doing it - which is a win for me hahahahaHowever there is a junior master on the main level that will house an extra work desk, and hopefully an Eames Lounger
My wife's office is a small hall office space, but we are pushing to smoked glass pocket doors for a cool modern touch. -
Sounds like y'all have things pretty well figured out! If you have time, you should check out some of these YouTube videos from Matt Risinger about construction science:
He's a local builder in Austin and he stays up to date on a lot of newer building trends and products. If you're looking to do some pocket doors, Cavity Sliders puts out a really well designed product that even has a soft close feature:
https://www.cavitysliders.com/Products
Sugatsune also makes really nice hinges and other hardware:
https://www.sugatsune.com/search-by-category/?industry=Residential
Best of luck on the build!
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Killer!!! Thanks @Clint_D - Yeah, our house doesn't deserve Rocky Mountain or Ashley Norton hardware, but will check these out!!
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@Graeme given the bloodbath of a housing market you described in Australia, I found this "let them eat cake" moment surpassed the arrogance, lack of empathy, and disconnectedness of Marie Antoinette.
The trouble with Australia is that it's been described as a property market with an economy bolted on the side, so there is any sign of a slowdown, the government will try to reinflate it. The net result is that Sydney is the second most unaffordable housing market in the world according to Demographia, coming in behind Hong Kong.
Others have made similar comments to Scott Morrison. Joe Hockey, a former treasurer, advised would-be owners to "get a good job". Meanwhile, Tim Gurner, an incredibly wealthy property developer in his late thirties, suggested millennials avoid Avocado Toast. He doesn't mention getting a leg-up from his family to help him get started at nineteen…
I've been convinced that the Australian property market is heading for a trainwreck for over a decade. In that time, the average house price in Sydney has gone from $600K to $1.6 million. So what do I know?
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New clock… My Oerbier clock (a vintage Ikea!) broke during the move... But this mothertrucker's so funky I re-named him James Braun...
And some random 60ies West-German bowl… Apparently it's an ashtray but it's about 10" long so...
I was gifted these by a local artist…
It's hard to decide where all my framed shit goes cause I paid a lot to get these walls painted and drilling into them seems… harsh...
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Use nails [emoji3]
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