So Kit and I have been going back and forth as to what to do about a house. Do we buy an existing house while the market is still low, even if it's a house that we aren't crazy about - most everything in our price range needs to be updated a LOT...OR do we maintain our "renter's" status until the economy and jobs seem more secure - we do adore our landlords...OR do we go ahead and build a conventional home on the property we bought in Summit Park since reality has now set in and we won't be building our container house in the near future?
As of the past week, we've been moving in the direction of building a conventional home. We've been talking with a builder (Jeff with UHB) who has been great! We've met with him twice in the last month, and each time he'll ask us questions/make suggestions about the plan. As I've spent a lot of time deliberating over each plan issue, I usually have a ready answer for every suggestion he presents - my answer is usually no...then I go home and challenge myself with seeing if I can make his suggestions work for us. This past weekend I took on the biggest "Jeff Challenge" yet, reducing the square footage to be able to just use the footprint of the previous owners already poured footings...the outcome...we LOVE the new plan even better than the old one! I really do love a good challenge. My mom always said I work best under pressure, and seeing as we need to get this house through permitting about a month or two ago, the pressure is definitely on.
So here's where we are with the plans...
Almost 2400 sf livable, just over 3000 sf including the garage.
(4) bedrooms, (2) full baths, (1) 3/4 bath, (1) powder room
We've maintained a nice open great room which takes full advantage of our amazing view. We've moved the master to the top floor and made it more of a suite with a nice big walk-in closet, sitting area, and a private deck that again faces the great view. By moving things around on the lowest level, we've made room for a bedroom/office with its own bathroom. With Kit's growing photography business, we thought having a home office that's professional and accessible for clients was a good idea. The wide entry hallway will be a great space for clients to see his work or for him to debut the client's images in a gallery setting when the client comes in for their veiwing appointment.
We're still trying to build very eco-conscious. We still plan to have radiant heating in the floors to heat the house in the winter, and use cross-ventilation as the main way to cool the house in the summer. We're hoping to be able to utilize the water from snow melt in some way, but have to make sure that we're not breaking the laws regarding water rights in Utah. All appliances will be energy-star and most will be reused, and the plumbing fixtures will be low-flow.
We're feeling pretty excited about the whole house thing again! Yay!
Looks really neat! So when will this house be finished? In time for next year's reunion?
ReplyDeleteShould be. The builder said 4-6 months. As we've built the hotel I've realized that time frames exist to make the person being told the time frame happy (that's the first number) and to cover the person stating the time frames hiney (that's the second number). The second number is more realistic. So the 4-month build will probably only happen if the stars are all aligned.
ReplyDelete