#housethatbrentbuilt: two months to go on our home build!
If you have been keeping up with our home build, you know that we’ve encountered some delays. With the devastating PNW fires and COVID and the resulting busy season for contractors, I suppose it’s to be expected. Our new date is in early November and hopefully, we can stick to it. I’m happy to say that we are still pushing through and have made some very exciting updates! With each step closer, we get more and more excited to be in our new home.
SEPTEMBER UPDATES
What’s new? This months’ progress: drywall is installed, painting has begun, lighting ordered, cabinets delivered, and Shou sugi ban ordered
This month brought cabinetry, which I love! Everything behind the walls is finished and the drywall is up. We’ve decided on some shades of white for the interior walls to start.
Brent and I have learned so much about throughout this process—the biggest of which is to expect delays. It’s part of the process and is next to impossible to avoid. Plan accordingly and factor in buffer time for those projects that end up taking longer than anticipated.
When building your own home, there are a thousand different small choices to make and each one feels just as important as the last. We just finally completed our design decision-making process, but let me tell you, it was not easy. First, it’s incredibly overwhelming and I found myself getting too deep in all of the little details. In the end, it was the easiest to start with the large design decisions – cabinets, countertops, paint, etc. Once you have those key components in place, pick one small piece at a time. Will the process be perfect and work exactly as you wanted it to? Fortunately, we had the guidance of our designer every step in the way and she was skilled at keeping us focused in each decision.
OLD HOUSE UPDATE:
On top of juggling the new house construction, we have also been doing some kitchen remodeling in our old house. I totally wish I would have done a kitchen update years ago. We tried to do some DIY updating a few years ago and ended up with a failed attempt at cabinet painting. Lesson learned—hire experts when needed!
Now, we are looking into getting renters moved in. To say this process is stressful is an understatement. Luckily, we have amazing help from Living Room Realty Property Management to help us. Now is not typically the time of year that most people are on the hunt for new places to rent, but single-family homes are really desirable at the moment. With Living Room Realty’s help we shouldn’t have any problem finding renters. Living Room has coached us on prepping the house, checking that we have records of the state and making sure things are in working order. With all the new rental Laws like pet rent and security deposit, Living Room has been critical in making sure we are successful. We are so appreciative of their services and hard work.
UP NEXT:
So what can we look forward to next? We have ordered our lighting from Destination Lighting and we are absolutely stoked to see the beautiful pieces installed! The exterior of our home has also been making some progress. We decided to go with some Shou sugi ban details on the exterior (examples below). If you are not familiar with this design, it is a bold method of preserving wood by charring it with fire. Typically, this process is used with Japanese cedar and helps to weatherproof the material. The surface of the wood is first charred and then coated with natural oils to give it a beautiful finish. It’s all been ordered and is on its way!
Perhaps most exciting of all—Brent and I are thinking of commissioning a local Portland artist to design a mural for one of our retaining walls. Retaining walls are a pretty typical feature of homes in our area, and many sport a mural. When we were walking through our neighborhood, we were struck by a dynamic abstract mural on a neighbor’s wall and decided to reach out to the artist to see if they would be interested in adding their art to our new home. We can’t think of a better way to bring a piece of Portland into our own space. I’ll update you when we hear back and make a decision on the artist!
Two more months to go! Make sure to come back around Halloween to see what October has in store!