Taking Shape

Finally, the dream is really starting to take shape!  I expect the next few weeks will be a flurry of activity as the second storey comes into view, and the house will take on a whole different look.

 

Here are a few photos from the ground up, the most recent shots taken yesterday:

 

 

Broken Ground

It's happened! We have finally begun construction on our home! We're consumed with finalizing decisions and choices, and once the framework goes up we'll be wishing for more hours in the day/more days in the week!  With Travelin BRITS deploying again, we're trying to stay ahead of the game in making our choices for appliances, cabinetry, counter tops, plumbing fixtures, windows, doors, and flooring. 

It's been an ordeal as our first "dream home" plan helped us realize we needed to re-assess and realistically evaluate how much we wanted to spend.  The exposed wood beams, trusses and columns of the original design, while beautiful and very desireable, sent the cost per square foot through the roof!  If only money wasn't so important in these matters, right?

In the end we decided to absorb the cost of the original plan and opt for a more cost effective plan with fewer exposed wood details. Finding another plan we both agreed on didn't take as long as either of us anticipated, and we are happy with our final decision. So is our builder!

Marvin Tisdale of Tisdale Builders, Inc., has been patient, helpful, and innovative in helping us realize our dream.  A master builder in the Pee Dee region, with an impressive website and portfolio, that you can view here, we feel confident in his interpretation of what we are envisioning. Especially with the use of our antique Moroccan doors incorporated as functional doors throughout the house. Stay tuned for future posts that will feature the doors and other items we've collected in our years of military assignments around the world.

For now, here are some basic photos from the very beginning.

 

staubbing out the 4 corners

 

 





gotta be good with measurements



 house site leveled
 

footings dug and rebar being placed

 

footings dug and rebar being placed

 

pouring of the cement 

 

 

cement into footings

 

 

cement into footings

 

 

delivery of cinder blocks for foundation

 

 

with the use of a backhoe, clay is brought into the house to

make it level before the slab is poured 

 

 

 

spreading clay within the foundation "walls"

 

the backhoe in action

 

The Dream

Pardon my absence!  I've been a little busy.  Building a house is a time-consuming process.  That’s a really silly, very obvious comment….  But when you’re actually doing it, it’s a realization that stops you in your tracks, especially if you’re on a limited time frame. 

Building a house is also a dream that often never comes to life, for you're always waiting for the right time and place to come along.  As I get older, I realize Carpe Diem should be my mantra!

My family and I returned from Morocco to South Carolina exactly 18 months ago.  My husband is currently serving a 2 year assignment with Army Central Command (ARCENT).  The first 9 months of the assignment, he was deployed.  Needless to say, a house building project should be done together so nothing was accomplished during his absence.  Not that I couldn’t have made some decisions, or gotten some of the work started, but let’s just suffice it to say that two heads are better than one when making decisions about the home where we will spend the rest of our lives. Hence, the “limited time constraint”. It’s almost time for my husband's next assignment, and we haven’t even broken ground yet!

 

Let me back up a bit.  When we started dating almost 30 years ago, our dream was barely a thought. We were young, inexperienced, and had the door to the world opening before us.  We were on the move, not to mention we are owned by the US Army so we have to go when and where they tell us!  Stay in South Carolina?  No way!  Not when we had the opportunity to see the world!  So off we went to faraway lands, both domestic and foreign.  But our dream kept popping up.  There were changes, there were new ideas, there were new hopes, and there were new military assignments that kept us on the move, so the dream had to wait.  However, we held to it tightly, because it was our future, our goal.

My parents were always aware of our dream.  My father gave the dream his blessing before he passed away back in 1987, and assured us that anything is possible with faith in God and hard work. And so, through our entire marriage, my mother was often reminded of our intentions….to return to South Carolina, build a home, and start a cattle farm.  The first step to reality occurred two Christmases ago when my mother deeded the land to me.  Were it not for my dear parents, who were true stewards of the land, the dream would still be just that, a dream.

Join me here, as I try to post as regularly as possible, the many hurdles and victories involved in building a home in a rural community on undeveloped land.