I figured I’d catch you guys up on the house stuff so far by answering a few of the most common questions that seemed to pop up on the blog and via Instagram comments and DMs. I can also do a follow-up post to this one if there are more things you would like to see addressed. If I missed anything pressing, just let me know in the comments section!
I’d also selfishly LOVE to use this post as a way to receive some advice from all of you! We are very much novices to this whole process and while we’re done designing our plans and framing on our home is complete, I’m a sponge right now and welcome your advice moving forward! Please share away if there’s something you love in your current home or something you did while building or renovating a home that ended up blowing you away or, in another breath, if there is something you did that ended up being a headache or unnecessary in the end, I’d love to know about that, too! The more of your thoughts you can share, the merrier!
Quick House Q&A
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What decisions have you made that contribute to this being your “forever home?”
We are making a lot of decisions that center around us being in this home for a very long time. First, the property we purchased checked major life-goal boxes for us. It’s on the water (we are HUGE lake people) and the lot is flat, making it ideal for lots of outside play for the kids. We’re also looking at our home as a long-term investment from a financial perspective.
(I love that Sadie visited our lot a bunch of times before she passed. It feels like part of her will be with us there, too.)
In terms of our floorplans, we opted to work with an architect, something we likely would not have paid to do had this not been a home we saw ourselves in long-term, as it’s a significant upfront cost. That being said, we already feel like every cent we paid to our architect has been worth it tenfold because we are obsessed with the layout of our house and thought about it extensively. (Shout out to Troy from Smith-Slovik for being a total rockstar architect and turning our sketches and vision into something even better… and actually buildable!) During this phase, we poured hours into making sure every square inch of our home will meet the needs of our family now and in future years.
For example, we’re building a very large pantry with an extra fridge/freezer inside of it because we know we’ll go through a lot of food as the boys get bigger and hope to have a house that can comfortably host friends and family, especially since our entire family with the exception of my father-in-law lives out of state. We also have space for our parents to stay when they come visit without stairs to hopefully make their visits comfortable as they get older and wish to stay longer. That is just the tip of the iceberg but those are some things we’re considering from a “forever home” standpoint.
We’re also a little more willing to spend money on areas like high quality cabinets that we might scrimp on if we saw ourselves selling this home within five years if that makes sense.
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Do the boys know and understand what is happening?
Chase and Ryder are so excited about the new house and have been “in the know” from the beginning! (Rhett is too little to understand.) The big kids really loved the beginning of the construction process — clearing the land, pouring the foundation, framing — it totally blew them away!
They’ve also enjoyed sharing their ideas for the house with us and we’ve done a lot of cool things to the home with them in mind, mostly centering around storage and making use of awkward spaces to create enclosed “secret spaces” for them in their rooms where they can have little clubhouses, etc. Above all else, this is a family home and we wanted to build it to accommodate children and everyday life in an intelligent way. Chase’s request for a waterslide leading from his room into the lake, however, got vetoed.
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Will Chase or Ryder have to change schools?
Ryan has actually been eyeing the property we purchased for several years so we were so excited and thankful when everything seemed to align. The location is ideal for us and Chase and Ryder will thankfully not need to move schools. I know the whole school thing is HUGE and we definitely did not want to move far away from the area because we love and value our boys’ schools so, so much.
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What are some things you will be doing in your new home that you do not have in your current home?
First and foremost, please know that I am well aware that all of the “issues” I mention below in our current house are not big issues. We truly do love our home and could’ve been here long-term as well. We’re just thankful we’re on the path we are on with the new house but have so much love for our first house, too.
Okay, now to answer the question…
We love our current house so much and while the size (square footage-wise) is just fine, the allocation of space has been an issue for a while.
We do not have a “real” pantry outside of our kitchen cabinets and the lack of a mudroom/drop zone is my number one gripe with our current home since having kids. We will now have a butler’s pantry (a term that was totally new to me before this process but it was at the top of my “must” list for the new house) and a mudroom with lockers, pullout drawers for shoes and a drop zone for mail and school papers. Hallelujah! When people ask what I’m most excited about with our new house, I say the outside space (the lake!) and the pantry/mudroom.
Our current laundry room is small and doubles as the place where we leave our shoes though there isn’t really space for them in this area at all. Having a dedicated laundry room where I can dry our clothes in the laundry room and not drape them over our dining room chairs sounds pretty awesome. And in the list of things that feel unnecessary but also really cool — we’re adding a small dog bath in the laundry room. This was originally designed with Sadie in mind so if you have any ideas for how we can incorporate her memory into it in a subtle way, I’m all ears. We see a dog (maybe more than one?) in our future, so we are making decisions to make this home very pet-friendly, too.
Our current house also has limited closet storage in the house overall — all things that were totally fine before kids but as we’ve added more children to our family, we’re feeling this more and more. I wanted climate-controlled storage I could walk into (not in the attic) because I constantly need to access storage items since we do a ton of hand-me-downs for the boys for both clothing and toys. Closets and adequate storage all over the house were a must.
In terms of the yard at our current house, it is very sloped and not great for outside playtime, something that feels increasingly important to us with young kids. For the new house, we prioritized a great yard/outside space for the boys.
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How did you select your builder?
We met with four builders before deciding to go with Luke of King Farm Building Group. (He is basically a one-man show which we liked a lot.) We actually partnered with a different larger builder through the architect phase of the build and paid a fee to that builder to have them accompany us on that journey. It was well worth it but we parted ways after we learned of some quality issues with other homes they built in the area.
Luke came very highly recommended to us and seemed to check a lot of our boxes. He was the most thorough with his cost estimations and worked with us the most on the price of our build since most of his home builds are closer to the city and he was interested in adding a lake home to his repertoire. He also received extensive praise from a local designer regarding the quality of his homes and was the builder we meshed with the best from a personality standpoint. We were given a lot of advice from friends going into this process and the number one piece of advice we received was to take your time selecting a builder and make sure they are someone you can see yourself communicating with regularly in a positive way.
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Are you using an interior designer?
No. Never have I ever had more respect for interior designers than I do now that we are more than a year into this process. We are not currently using an interior designer due to budget constraints and, for the sake of complete honesty, this can make the process feel very overwhelming at times. There is a LOT to designing a home beyond just picking out pretty lighting, lovely plumbing fixtures and floors. There’s a big learning curve involved in making the right selections and it involves a lot of measurements, Googling the heck out of things like the right lighting sizes for certain spaces, etc.
Our builder sets us up with great vendors but if they don’t have exactly what we want (like certain Anthropologie light fixtures, for example), we’re responsible for placing orders on our own and then also responsible for making sure everything arrives on time and comes with everything it needs to be installed in our home. That’s the kind of stuff I feel very inexperienced in handling but fortunately the internet has a tooon of information out there… It’s just a matter finding the time to dive into finding it!
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What have been some things that have been a priority for you in the design process? From a visual standpoint?
Windows! We allocated a lot of our budget to windows because natural light is huge for us. We also wanted to take full advantage of our lake view and there’s just no replacing natural sunlight in a home.
I also spent a TON of time selecting the design elements for our staircase. I don’t love stairs as a focal point in a home but I also really appreciate a subtle yet beautiful staircase. I am so, so pleased with the stair design we ended up with and can’t wait to show you guys what it looks like once it is in our home.
Question of the Day
Please share any thoughts you have regarding things you love in your current home and decisions you may have made while renovating or building a home that were well worth all of the time and effort. Please also share something you wish you would’ve done during the home renovation/build process that may have initially been overlooked or something you did that wasn’t worth it in the end.
I’m all ears and soaking up all the information and advice I can right now!
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Gorgeous spot! What kind of safe guards will you have in place as far as living on the water and having little ones?
How exciting!! Would love to see your house plans if you can share them!
One random thing that we have that I thought was so smart when we moved into our current house… we have power outlets on the roof for Christmas lights. No extension cords wrapping through the yard! And those power switches are on a light switch right inside the front door. So i can control the outlets on the roof with that light switch. I don’t know who thought of it, but it’s genius 🙂
JUST emailed our electrician to request this now!! Thank you!!!
We just finished a big reno and here are some of my biggest tips!
– Warming drawer: Amazing for prepping dinner, hosting, keeping take out warm until you’re ready to eat – thought we’d never use this and now it’s a necessity!
– 2 dishwashers: Kids. Enough said.
– Paneled appliances: The BEST because they hide fingerprints!! We paneled our fridge, dishwashers, and warming drawer and I’m soo happy.
– Mitered edges on the island: Looks very luxurious and and everyone who comes to our house comments on how much they love it. An upgrade that is well worth it.
– Outlets for your cordless vacuum so it’s always charged: We have one in the laundry room upstairs and one in a closet near the kitchen.
– Consider putting outlets up under the cabinets versus on the backsplash: Personal preference but it’s a very clean look without any breaks in the backsplash and I think it’s another upgrade that is worth it.
– Outlets in mud room: I only have a toddler currently, but have heard for older kids who have tablets for school, they can keep them charging in there.
Also, since you noted you are not using a designer, I would definitely suggest making a mood board for yourself. We did use a designer and this is something she did for us prior to selecting any finishes or furniture. I’d be happy to send you what ours looks like if you want to see an example (I’m sure there’s some online too). Then each time you are going to select tile, hardware, paint colors, furniture, etc., refer back to the mood board to make sure it fits with the overall vision of your house. There are many styles I love, but focusing your vision to one particular overall look will absolutely help everything be cohesive throughout the house so you won’t end up with a modern farmhouse style in one room and traditional in one room, and modern in another! The only room I feel like this doesn’t really apply to is kids’ bedrooms 🙂
We are doing paneled appliances and I am SOOOO psyched for no fingerprints!! Hahah!! And yesss to hidden outlets under the cabinets — that was a day one request from me, too. And thank you for the mood board tip. I have a bunch of Word documents for everything but having them all together sounds muuuch nicer.
Congrats, the land looks really nice. I totally get the need for a mud room and a real pantry. I am glad you found someone you really trust to build for you. Nothing is worse than paying to fix things that were done wrong.
When we redid our living room we put in a new front door that is half glass, I should have listened to my designer when she said, get a shade for the door. I ended up adding one in later. Nice big windows for a lake house makes sense, don’t skimp on your window coverings.
My kitchen has a trash compactor. I was annoyed that it was there at first, but I have grown to love it. We take out the kitchen trash usually once a week. It is really nice, keeps the trash under control and nobody can tip over the can.
So many people were spot on with their recommendations, but 2 things I didn’t see mentioned were a playroom and light switch placement. My oldest just turned 9 and they start wanting Foosball tables, ping pong, etc so make sure you have a large enough space dedicated to them. It’s also nice if it’s a little bit away from the main living area because it gets loud when they all have friends over 🙂
I’m not sure if you have a jack & jill bathroom in the plans, but make sure there is a light switch when entering each bedroom from the hall and from the bathroom. We didn’t think about that so if you enter one bedroom from the bathroom (meaning you went through the other bedroom first), you have to walk across the room to turn the light on. Also, lights in kids closets even if you don’t think you need them!
Can’t wait to see the finished result!
So exciting to build your own home. Not sure if it’s too late in the building process but since you are a family of faith, one thing you could do is write prayers and blessings on the framework in sharpie… have the kids draw pics of what the new house might bring, etc. Consecrate the house and everything in it to the Lord… kind of… 🙂 just my 2 cents, we did this at Willow Creek (I know you know where that is!!) when they were building the new edition and I thought it was really cool. If I ever build a house, i’m definitely doing that!
Blessings on your new home and adventure!
Congrats! I am currently in the design/estimate phase of building and it is all sooooo overwhelming! Excited to follow along and am soaking up all the tips people are sharing.
This is a really funny suggestion but my friend just built their forever home a year ago and now they’re adding a little door/tunnel between their two little girls rooms just for a fun addition! Their girls are 4 and 6 and they love the idea of crawling between their two bedrooms
Congratulations on your new home.
As far as your Sadie tribute, maybe you can find someone to make a tile motif in Sadie’s image,. It would be cute in a dog room and special.
My husband and I finally got to build a house with special features we want. A big pantry, open spaces, lots of windows and a beautiful view. Hope to be hers a long time.
The best things that we have invested in are large washer and dryer, heated floors in the bathroom, remote controlled shades, soft close cabinets, Sonos, and space for small appliances to plug into the pantry so they don’t sit on your counter.
My must haves include niches or a bench in the master shower so you don’t have to have a stand alone shelf or leave it all on the floor. Light switches by door and next to where bed would go in bedrooms, no getting out of bed to turn off lights. Ceiling fans everywhere – central TX gets insanely hot and it really helps with keeping costs down in summer. Kitchen counter height cabinets in bathroom – my husband is 6’5 so the lower counters just do not work. Lots of drawers in bathrooms. Drawer unit in master closet. Remote control blinds are amazing. The windows in our family room and kitchen have them, they open at 8am and close at sunset, easy peasy no thought no work after initial setup and no cords to worry about kids or dogs getting tangled in. Worth every penny! My MIL had a dog door into her laundry room where the outside entrance was a little dog house that required 90 degree turns so a person couldn’t use it…always thought that was awesome.
Outer metal doors that have rollers with a deadbolt to close are AWFUL, especially with kids. We have to keep ours dead bolted always because the wind blows them open, our 2 year old can open them and even the dogs can let themselves out. Don’t pick a paint color with a yellow base for rooms with lots of windows…it’ll fade in sunlight and become very yellowed. Careful with wall textures, Orange peel can be pretty tough to patch and make it look like it was never touched.
It may seem weird but try to shop vac the subfloors right before they install the flooring especially if you are getting carpet anywhere. It will horrify you how dusty and nasty they are and you don’t want that working it’s way into your air over time.
Congrats! I’m sure it’s exciting to be able to share the news. I’d love to learn more about how building a home works vs buying an existing home from a financial perspective. Like when you buy an existing house, you go under contract, get your mortgage and eventually move in. But how does financing work for buying a plot of land, hiring a builder, and obviously the long timeline between when the work starts and when you can move in/sell your existing house. It’s all totally new to me and if you’d be open sharing the process (not the actual costs), I’d be so curious to learn more!
Congratulations on building a forever home! We built 6 years ago and some of our favorites are:
* Central vac system with retractable hose (wonderful!)
* Upgraded QUIET bathroom exhaust fans
* Heat lamp in the ceiling of master bath
* Comfort-height toilets
* Sink in the garage
Hi Julie. We put a plug in at the top of the stairs at the railing so we could plug in Xmas garlands on the railings. No cords running anywhere that way.
Two dishwashers!
Congrats on your new home! We just finished an addition of a mudroom to our house and when designing the lockers for our stuff we got the advice to have some sort of enclosed closet space built in as well that we can put all of the back packs in each night, as they can take over any space when kids just throw them off when they walk in the door. Our addition has only been completed for 2 months now and I already can’t imagine not having that!! Happy to share a photo of that would help you with a vision :). Best of luck in such an exciting time!
Outlet on the mantel!!
Doing this for sure!
Outlets on the stairs! Those Christmas decorations will thank you.
Also, garage light switch that is at the top of the stairs as if you are walking into the garage from the house. Ours is lower on the wall as if you are at the bottom of the 3 steps turning it on…which we never are. It drives me crazy and causes lots of wall hand roaming.
Love the natural light! Another top of the list investments of my budget would be tons of wall outlets everywhere. Places you would never think about, not just the stairs. Then double the amount.
Excited to see your finished product!
Not sure if anyone mentioned this…but figured I’d share some of the shower/niche mishaps we encountered after having our 2.5 bathrooms renovated recently. We love the outcome, but there were a few things that we wished we could have foreseen. We did porcelain tiles for both showers; one standing, and one tub with niches. Wish we had made the kids’ niche a bit bigger as we use a lot of liter bottles and those don’t fit. Once theirs was done, we went bigger for our shower and love it, but they slopped it too much and the bottles kept sliding off. Found remedies for both but a bit annoying. So, just something to note. BTW, we did the smaller hexagonal tiles on the bottom of our standing shower and love it. I think I saw someone day not to do small tiles for the floor but I think it comes down to personal preference.