Late October construction progress

When last I updated with construction progress on the Alabama house, it looked like this.

New home construction progressI snapped that photo on October 3rd, just before we headed to the airport after our last trip. The good news is that they are making significant progress on our home. The bad news is that pesky rain is forecasted for much of this week and next and may delay the next steps.

Our real estate agent has been kind enough to update us with pictures from time to time. I’m happy to report that as of today, not only is our house framed, but it also has a roof, windows and doors!

 

New home construction progress

That was taken this morning. Although I’m happy to see that work is being done in spite of the rain, I can’t help but feel sorry for that poor guy on the ladder.

You can see that brick has been delivered and is awaiting application. I am SO dying to see the brick. Here in Arizona, most houses are stucco. And so when our real estate agent told us to drive around and get some ideas for the color of brick and stone we wanted, we were at a loss. We had to wait until we went to Huntsville and check out the houses there. I felt like a bit of a stalker driving around taking pictures of houses. For several days I was only finding perfect examples of what I don’t want. For the record, I don’t want it to look like I tried to perfectly match the stone to the brick (like the photo below). To me, there’s just not a lot of visual interest here. The lack of contrast makes this house just look ho-hum.

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I’m going for something that offers more curb appeal. It took some time, but eventually I found what I think is a beautiful brick and stone combo. I love the contrast of the light brick and the dark stone.

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Our builder wasn’t able to identify this particular stone and so we’re having to guess at what will lend a similar appearance. That, as you might imagine, makes me a wee bit nervous. Especially since brick and stone can look so deceiving in small examples. In any case, I guess we’ll find out soon enough when they start laying the brick. I’ll keep you posted. For now, here are more photos of our house in its current state.

New home construction progress

Here’s a shot of what will be our garage.

New home construction progress

This is a side porch off the breakfast nook.

New home construction progress

And this is the back porch.

New home construction progress

This is the view of the backyard. The backyard is a bit of a sore subject for us. When we originally were looking in this neighborhood, there was a different lot we were interested in. Just as we were submitting our contract, that lot was sold to someone else. The lot we ended up buying was not our first choice, namely because of the grade that would leave us with a relatively small backyard. Still, our builder assured us that the lot was ample size for an outdoor kitchen and a modest grassy area. Now–seeing the space–I beg to differ. So, in fact, does the site manager. He’s already come back to us and said that there isn’t room to put the outdoor kitchen where we wanted it. As a result, I’m spending no small portion of my days trying to come up with a solution that works for everybody.

The outdoor kitchen we have slated includes a fireplace, a counter/bar for eating, a grill, fridge, bank of drawers and a sink. It is supposed to look something like this.

New home construction progress

Seeing as how they didn’t excavate enough land to allow for this structure to sort of float between the back retaining wall and the house, I’d like for them to carve out a bit of a hole into the existing grade and create a recessed fireplace that looks something like this. New home construction progress

If they build the fireplace right into the retaining wall and allow it to recede into the bank, it will maximize the space we have in the backyard. We’ll also have a grassy, landscaped area above the fireplace like is pictured.

We should know more soon on how this whole kitchen debacle is going to pan out. Unfortunately, it’s but one of the headaches we’ve encountered with this build. That said, we are confident that all of the hassle will be worth it when we finally get to step foot into our new house on a hill.

New home construction progress

3 comments

  1. Beautiful! I’m sorry that what you originally had planned is not working out, because I know it is frustrating and stressful to change this halfway through and from a distance. However, the fireplace built into the retaining wall is *exactly* what I would do if that were my own backyard. That way you can enjoy the beauty of it even when you’re inside. :)

    Did I imagine that you told me this house was smaller? It doesn’t look smaller!

  2. Wow, this is turning into quite the house! It is beautiful already and its fun to see the progress.

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