What would you do....

I have a confession to make. I haven't been writing as passionately as I would like to be about the "Forever Home" because truthfully I am overwhelmed with all of the decisions we have to make so soon.

Who knew that such a simple thing like the placement of a window was going to be so difficult.

I am not a designer.

I am not an architect

and lastly

I am not a good decision maker.


We are framing the master bedroom and the placement of the windows are very important. I am trying to think of furniture placement and the way the sun will shine in from the windows. Where will the mirror and the TV(yes we are having a TV in our bedroom, don't judge) go.

picture via HomeAdore

How much room do I need in the master bathroom. I want the free standing tub directly under the window. But do I want the window to go down to the tub or have it higher up since this is a ground level people can easily look in.

picture via House Beautiful 

What kind of windows do I install. Do I want a window with a mullion in the middle or just 1 nice window that doesn't open. (the side window would open where the sitting space will be)

picture via Home Adore 

Branko has changed his mind on the façade of the house and is now thinking he might want Board and Batton(cedar) with stone. BUT how do we place the stone. The walk out basement is very tricky and we can only use Ledger stone.

picture via Dream Home Source 

How do I want the front over hang to look...do I want pillars or leave it?????

Ohhhh and the ceiling inside the house. We have to rip down most of the cedar ceiling to have spray foam done. I have been given the option to leave the the middle of the house with the cedar...do I whitewash that to give it a unique look or do I just rip it all down and drywall it. AND if the ceilings are going to be white what colour do I stain the beams?????

picture via myself! This is one of the original pictures of the living room before we ripped everything out. 

WHAT WILL BE THE EASIEST WAY TO DO THE PROJECT - this is one of our biggest obstacles. When you are working on something so grande with only 2 people some of the decisions really have to take place surrounding the level of difficulty in the work process.

At least I still know I want a grey kitchen.....

If anybody knows where this picture is originally from please let me know, as I would love to see the rest of this kitchen! 

Thanks for listening friends!! Next week I will be back with Part 2 of the DIY Home Additions!!! 

DIY Home Additions - Part 1

Yes, you are reading that correctly. Today I will be talking about our home additions and the process to do it yourself!

If you have been following along here for a while you will know that Branko and I do pretty much most of our building on our own. The only time we ever call for some help is when something might just be too heavy to lift for myself and Branko can't do it himself.

I showed you the layout of our "Forever Home" here and talked about how we wanted to make 2 additions at each end of the house.

This project got started 2 weeks ago when Branko rented a small excavator to dig the trenches for the footings. Thankfully the soil is actually sand, therefore we were able to do the trench & pour process.

Step 1: Dig footings and pour cement. (It took Branko 3 hours to dig all 3 foots for a 540 sq. ft. area)

Step 2: Tamp the area where the cement is going to be poured so the surface area is level. 

Step 3: Lay the re-bar down(this holds the cement together) 

  

Step 4: Pour the cement and level!!! 

This job was completed by 3 guys. Branko did all of the trenching and preparing himself and had 2 people help with the pouring of the cement. The last picture shows the view of the trees that will be seen from the soaker tub and the 2 top pictures show the views from the area where the bed will be. The above pictures are all where the new master bedroom will sit. The other addition is going to be a new entrance way.


Next week I will share with you how we built the sub-floor and framing over the course of 3 days.

Have you ever attempted building a structure like this yourself?? I would love to hear how it went!