Building a Dream: Part 2

We are moving along on our house project. I feel so blessed to be married to an engineer during this process, because developing land from scratch is incredibly involved, especially here in Pennsylvania where every county is broken into smaller townships or even smaller boroughs, and every township or borough has different rules and regulations. It saves us a lot of time and money because Eddie is able to draw up our plans for things like the sewer, the water lines, the driveway, etc., and stamp them himself.

Our sewer plan was finally approved at the board meeting this past week, so we will be able to settle on the lot this coming Friday. After that, we can apply for the necessary permits and once they come through, we are hoping to break ground in May. Well, we are really hoping for April but we’re saying May to be realistic.

The main floor will look like this and there will be an unfinished basement and an unfinished second floor that we can expand into eventually.

We have chosen the Sorrento model from Ritz Craft homes, but we did a complete redesign of the floor plan so that it would work better on our lot with the existing driveway and because I hated the galley kitchen layout in the original plan.

The exterior will look like this:

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Our lot is 2.4 acres. I am itching to plant a huuuuuuuuge vegetable garden and several fruit trees, but that’s going to have to wait until next year since this year the house will be under construction, obviously. Do you see that entire wall of pantry space in the kitchen nook? Imagine all of the canning I can do.

It’ll be just like Little House on the Prairie, except with indoor plumbing and no typhoid fever.

Our goal is to be moved in by the start of the school year because Nicholas will be going to kindergarten, which will be so adorable because the school is just across the street (actually a gravel road with only two other houses on it) so I can stand on the porch and watch him walk to school once he’s old enough to go by himself.

I already asked for Cracker Barrel rocking chairs for the front porch as my birthday present. My birthday is in mid-September, so we will probably be moving in just before it.

Hopefully this fall this will be our view from the kitchen window. Imagine the corn field at full height and the trees full of red, orange, and yellow leaves. (The borough owns the corn field our lot backs into. The only plans they have for possible future development are to turn this area into a recreational field for the school. Translation: in theory, this view is protected forever.)

I was actually hoping for a lot that was a bit larger and a little more secluded, but this is a perfect location for us. It will cut down Eddie’s commute to just 15 minutes each way, allow us to still attend the same church and preschool, and put Nick in a school district with all-day kindergarten, which is important for him because he needs the structure and he gets quite a few services through the school system and if they can be done in school it will mean far fewer appointments and headaches for me.

Besides, 2.4 acres is plenty. For perspective, That pink speck is Abby and the black one is Nick standing in the middle of the lot, and the building behind the trees in the middle of the photo is the elementary school. This picture was taken from about where our front porch will be.

I’m excited to share our journey with you and I can’t wait until these pictures include some major construction equipment. Hopefully, we are only 6-8 weeks from that point.