We're still playing with the layout kit. It is super handy. We've already seen how we can improve the laundry room, and move the pantry to make it bigger. Now we can put the wall oven in the pantry, and have it close to the kitchen. The kitchen seems too small to have the oven in there. I want a separate oven because our stove is an old O'Keefe and Merritt, and it has a tiny oven with uneven heat.

Now my only other real concern about the house layout is the lack of a foyer. The house we live in now doesn't have one - the front door opens right into the small living room, so I make the family use the back door which opens into a kind of mud room. That's were we leave our shoes and coats, and stuff that needs to go the shed or into a car. We need to create a space like that in the new house, by the front door. It doesn't seem right to have a nice front porch and entry, but always use the back door... After I figure it out and finish the layout, I'll take a picture of it and put it up here on the blog.

The other thing that is going on right now is fixing Rob's credit report. His credit has improved hugely in the past years, but there are some things that were supposed to have been removed years ago that the mortgage company wants gone. That could take until July, so we're kind of on hold for the land loan until then. In the meantime, I will buy the study plans, start pulling together our team of sub-contractors, and we'll start checking the Habitat Home Store for windows and doors. What we buy there will determine the final design of the outside.

Oh, and we went through a brief time of second-guessing the plans completely. We really should be building a square or rectangular house for monetary reasons, so we had to go all back through our reasoning for picking these plans with so many corners. It comes down to it being the only design under 2000 sq ft that really works for us. Yeah, I remember now...

Choosing a house

My first thoughts about a house were 'farmhouse'. I would love to have a little farm, with my chickens, a bigger garden than I have now, and a Dexter cow (http://www.sweet-dream-farm.com/dexters.html). So I was looking at house plans for square houses with big porches. Maybe an eat-in kitchen, and a grilling deck. Window seats. To get that kind of land - a big parcel, not in a flood zone - we would have to go to Burgaw or beyond, and that's just too far right now. Plus, the budget for building is strict and limited. That's why we looked at the lot by the river, because being in a flood zone made it affordable. My house plan search turned to pier and piling foundations, to build it up high enough to bring the flood insurance low enough. Again I looked at hundreds of plans, looking for something that can be built 'up', has decks, and looks good sitting up high. And again we changed our minds about the distance and the isolation of the land, and decided on the lot by Rocky Point.

Now I was looking for a house plan with a view to the rear of the house so we could see the pond from the living room and dining room. Only I thought we would face the house sideways, towards the driveway, so the view would actually be on the side. Hundreds of house plans later, I narrow down the choices, but Rob has this thing for having the front of the house face the main road, even though we would build way back and leave it wooded in front. Search some more - rear view, a deck, no garage, inexpensive to build (did I mention we're on a tight budget?), and oddly we are attracted to both farmhouses and contemporary designs.

I found one (http://www.thehousedesigners.com/plan_details.asp?PlanNum=2808). It has everything we're looking for, and a screened rear porch, AND... a bonus space upstairs that isn't built over a garage, that we can finish later when we have money. We may have to leave out the bay window bump-outs, and it won't have the fireplace. I bought this great little layout kit where you use peel-and-stick shapes to draw your floor plan and arrange all your furniture on it (http://www.amazon.com/Home-Quick-Planner-Furniture-Architectural/dp/1880301032/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1209338502&sr=8-1).

All of this has been the easy stuff. I will be acting as the owner/contractor, pulling the permits, hiring the sub-contractors, dealing with inspections, and no doubt suffering from ulcers and heart palpatations for the next year. It looms ahead like the biggest math test imaginable. I am researching like crazy, trying to prepare. The next immediate steps are to order study plans and a material list, and meet with our friend who is a framer and who will hopefully be a consultant on the whole deal. At least we have him - the framer is a big part of the project. I don't really mean 'at least we have him', I mean we're lucky to have him.

How it started

You would think one would make a real rational and thought-out decision when you are dealing with a land purchase and a home loan. But, no - we did it kind of backwards. Our 'rich uncle' has some money she wants to invest for about a year, and we've done business with her before. Twice she has lent us money for a house. One house is currently a rental that brings in enough to cover the interest-only mortgage and the property taxes, but its appreciating at a good rate. Eventually we'll sell it, and she will get her orginal investment plus interest, and maybe part of the appreciated amount. I'm not sure on that... The other house is the one we live in now. Its also interest-only, but the idea is we will re-finance eventually to a conventional loan, and she'll get her orginal investment plus years worth of 7% interest. So we've done well for her, and she's happy to lend us this money for a year and make some money in the process. So all of a sudden, we had money to build a house, and one year to do it. Funny, huh?

We started looking for some land. At first we thought we could do $20, ooo, but that doesn't go very far here or in the neighboring counties, so we upped the amount, and then upped it again. We found a really nice lot not far from the river - 5 acres, very secluded, wooded, backed up to a tree farm. Down side - it is in a flood-zone, and 40 minutes farther away from the marina where our sailboat is, and from Wilmington. That would also mean more costs for getting the building supplies up there, and it would be harder to supervise the building process. But boy, it was pretty. The day after we were shown that lot, we looked at a lot closer to where we live now. Its actually 2 lots. The back lot is a flag lot, which means doesn't have access to the road except by an access road through the front lot. And its is about 2/3rds under water.

After we saw the 2 lots, we spent days making a list of the good and bad of both. I wasn't too thrilled with the pond at first, or the lesser amount of land (3.5 acres) which still cost more than the larger lot. But the location was great, and I had my friend come look at it. She's a marine biologist major who spent time working on the river, so I was asking her would it be too buggy and swampy. She loved the pond, and I hitch-hiked her enthusiasm. We made the decision for the pond land.

Where it all stands now is we are getting the loan together for the land, and will get the money all at once for the home-building. Next post will be more about the house plans and permits.