the house of beck | part 1

i figured if i’m going to share our new home project with you, i might as well start at the VERY beginning. sorry for the long-winded post ahead.

drew and i have been together for nearly twelve years. when we got serious and started to really talk about what the future was going to look like for us, we both knew that we wanted to have a piece of land to build on. he grew up on lots of acreage and no immediate neighbors. i grew up in a country neighborhood and had lots of space to ride my bike, go fishing, climb trees. so we knew that, when we had our own kiddos, we wanted the same for them.

fast forward to 2012. we caught wind of this little neighborhood in the next town over. we decided to drive through and look at it. we fell in love! we purchased our little slice of 7-acre heaven shortly thereafter and wanted to build our dream house within the next few years.

well, God had other plans and so we decided to stay in our first home a while longer. we welcomed everett and eleanor into our family there. but two pups and two babes later – we were running out of space.

it was time to sell! i have to say – as a side note – it was SO hard leaving our first house. HARD. i really struggled. we were there for over 7 years and, well, i get super attached. can’t help it! anyway, we sold our home and – thankfully – my parents had a vacant rental house we were able to move into right away! (thanks, mom and dad!!)

that brings us right into summer 2017. our plan was to get going on the house design and start on our dream the following spring. once again, God had other plans. ruby claire joined us in 2018. while i was pregnant, we were able to work really hard and perfect our design – but the stars did NOT align for us and so we pushed back our start date. and here we are: 2019. A LONG TIME COMING, that’s for sure!

looking back now, i am so glad it worked that way. our floor plan is amazing and we’ve been able to really make a ton of decisions on everything well before decision are even needed – which is great when trying to keep momentum on the timeline.

when things really started becoming a reality (and the weather started to warm up some), we wanted to take the kids out there to walk around and show them where their new house would be. they love it out there! we have a creek at the back of our land. i can already imagine the adventures they will go on!

the first leg of this marathon was to get our property cleared. our 7 acres is completely wooded so, sadly, we had to lose some trees. we staked out the perfect spot for our house and started digging the basement.

the basement was quickly followed by forms. we went with a 9′ pour on the foundation. since the entire back of the house is open, we thought that would allow for a better layout for living space down there.

getting the foundation poured ended up being a little crazy, but once we got that knocked out – things seem to be moving right along.

another side note: we aren’t having one company build this house or general it. drew and i have been acting as the general contractor, for the most part, and we get some help from andrew’s dad who has been in construction for his whole working-life. i have to say that, while it’s been interesting to be on the other side of the process, it can be SUPER stressful! a lot of moving parts, for sure!!

where are we at now? the walls (exterior + interior) are all framed up. don’t worry – i know that back wall looks weird. the middle of our house has an 11′ ceiling and 9′ everywhere else…so it does look odd sticking out of there.

we should have a roof by the end of next week and then we wait for windows and exterior doors!

we’ve had a tough time trying to find an exterior brick we like. we are looking for a white brick and we’ve narrowed it down to three choices. it will cover almost all of our front. the windows on the front will be black and there will be cedar accents in the peaks of the house. the front door is a double door and it will match the stain of the cedar. let’s just hope it turns out. kinda stuck with it if it doesn’t… haha!

so there it is! now you’re caught up. i have a ‘home’ clip on my instagram if you want to see more pics and video. i even have a tour (of sorts) on there. follow along here: @the_lucybea.

i will share progress and inspiration boards with you as we go. i’ve been working really hard on my kitchen this week, so i think i’ll share those thoughts next. stay tuned!

ps: major shout out to my hubs. he’s been working his ass off out there almost every single day! he keeps the place spotless and had a huge hand in pouring our foundation. the man does not like a project to linger, so i know he’s ready to roll with the next steps! 😉