And the Big Surprise Is...

So I know a lot of you read my last post, and I think I caused quite a bit of curiosity with the mention of a big surprise. A handful of you even texted me to make a guess. When every single one of those texts asked the same thing, I wondered if the other 50-something readers had the same thought. I figured I should start this post by putting to rest the probably-most-popular-assumption.....

Nope,

I am not pregnant. :)

It's funny how once you are married, the next question people ask is 

"when are you going to have kids?"

My answer:

 (in spite of my dad's encouragement that he is ready to be a grandpa)

in about 4-5 years

Now that we are all on the same page, any new guesses?

Well, without further ado...

 the big surprise is...

We bought a house!!!

Okay, so this picture looks like we bought a terrible patch of weeds, so let me clarify...

We are building a house!!!

 I think they broke ground a couple weeks ago. Due to some miscommunication we weren't informed like we wanted to be when they actually broke ground. I found out this last week by driving home this way from work. Imagine my surprise when I saw this huge cement hole.

I called my husband to tell him. We met there when he got off work so we could take some pictures together. Here he is standing in what will be his shop!

 My man by his man door.

 Our basement!

So excited about the size of the backyard!

The view we will have from our front porch.

 I picked 3 spots (based on cuts in the curb and cracks in the sidewalk) where I will take pictures through the various stages so we can see the progression. This is the first spot.

Picture location #2

Picture location #3

 When I left the house, I grabbed my camera and the tripod. However, I failed to grab the tripod adapter so that my camera could actually sit on the tripod and be used to take a picture of both of us. Needless to say that meant we had to come back the next day.
 

When we returned, we were greeted with wet concrete. 

This is our 2-car garage.

In addition to the 2-car garage, we added a 3rd tandem stall. 

The back half of this stall will be the shop.

A different shot of the basement.

  

When finished, our house will (structurally) look like this except a mirror image. 

Our garages are on the left and the front porch on the right.

As for colors, our house will look more like this palette.

After looking at some houses and not finding what we were really wanting, we decided to look more seriously into the route of building a home. We quickly found a builder and a floor plan we liked and made some customizations so that it was what we truly wanted in a house. 

The past month we have got to pick out all our appliances, flooring, counter tops, cupboards, door knobs, exterior colors, light fixtures, rock work,  and interior paint. Some choices were easier than others but it has all been very fun and exciting. 

I feel so blessed by this amazing house we get to move into in three months!

Keep coming back to see our house as it comes along. I can't wait until it starts to look like a house and you can see all the different rooms! I am FULL of so many decorating ideas and DIY plans. I look forward to living in this house for many years, decorating it, creating memories, turning it into a home, and yes, someday raising a family in it. I'm excited to be able to share the whole journey with you. I have been inspired by so many other blogs about home remodeling, decorating, etc. and I can't wait to join in.

Hooray for a new house!

So is that what you thought my big surprise would be?