Where It All Began: My Personal Home Building Journey - Phase 1

September 2021:

Tucked away in one of the many totes flooding our storage unit was an old white binder. Barely hanging on the front cover was a clear pocket with a hand-smeared sketch. Inside, separated by dividers, were pages of bent corner cuts-outs and amateur computer mock-ups.

I’ve had my house plans drawn since I was 19. The roof lines, the windows and the room shapes, all calculated. Pictures of exteriors, drawings after drawings, magazine pages, paint color favorites, patterns that I loved, all separated room by room. Over and over I would map it out until it was perfect. I loved the challenge of fitting needs within spaces until it worked out exactly how I had imagined. Just when I would get it right, I would reconfigure just for the sake of improving. I obsessed with mixing design choices that I liked, or a lot of the times, creating what I had never seen. I spent hours and years navigating in these thoughts just for fun.

That’s the good ole white binder.

That white binder is a spark that started inside of me many, many years ago. I never realized the passion it was stirring up inside me. Later on, I upgraded to a fancy leather binder. That new binder held the new version of my dreams that was finally set ablaze with the start of our new build. My lifelong creativity churned down a path that makes so much sense to me now. Little did I know, a new career ambition was blossoming as well!

As you can tell, I’ve had this house in my mind for a long time, but it was an unbelievable experience watching it come to life in front of my own eyes. We called this special 4 acres our meadow haven. It brought so much joy to my family and that is why I brought you along. There were too many good lessons, too much beauty seen and unearthed, not to share. 

____

After cultivating the land for over two years we raised the dirt (and our glasses), celebrating the start to the construction. We finally got the guts to sign and go for it in September of 2021.

Cement was first, symbolizing that our commitment was solidified. Shortly after, the studs and boards went up and it was full speed ahead...all the way up to the roof lines! Those beautiful peaks that I had imagined, researched, calculated and configured were massive. I knew exactly how I wanted it to look but I had no idea how it was going to feel seeing them in real life.

After framing, things slowed down a bit and, in the quietness, we enjoyed picnics under the carport, fires in the back, racing scooters across the open floor, and planting trees in the yard. Those were precious memories I will hold on to forever.

Next up were plumbing, windows, and doors. Then it was blacked in, as they call it! There it was. It was our house!

I can only smile, remembering the delight of those moments and the joy for the anticipation of what was to come. 

Check out the original Phase 1 video here!