muito obrigado

i know the title's not spanish, but my thanks for these past few weeks of progress on the house are extra special. we had our framing walkthough and were thrilled at the accomodations made by both parties. we had to give a little to get a little, but everyone is happy... it's a Brave New World.

plus, i had to get a new background color on the blog. brown is just too accessible these days; it has been embraced by the massess so i've got to abandon it (for now). the casa is moving along and some of the more exciting elements are beginning to take shape, like framing for the kitchen island and fireplace; and the decking.

this is a well-worn path that jed and i are on, and unfortunately (for our pocketbooks... or rather for our online financial numbers since checks and paper money are just silly) we have graduated from the starry-eyed, dreamy, can't wait to see something in the ground phase to the blowout consumer leg of the race. all i can say is we're looking at things and my "favorite things" list is way better than oprah's. no photos this time since most of the things i've been looking at in the house are orange spray paint spots and sharpie marks.

edificio

oh wait, we have a house now, or at least a structure. it looks amazing and is now moving so fast we can hardly keep up with the changes. i was trying to get a series of photos from the same vantage point, but i know i'm not going to make a cool animation with the progress of the house. besides, everyone drops off the blog planet once they move in! plus, there's always vans and trucks parked in front of the house, and i DON'T want them to go anywhere! here's what it looks like as shot from the only working toilet on the property:



the casa looks small from the front, but it's got alot more going on in the back, which is one of the reasons we picked this design. the main color is well hinted with the primer, but we can't wait to see the green secondary touches!

fundación

oh my gosh, we have cement in the ground. i know there are other folks with blogs who are all starry eyed and optimistic once they see this on their lots, but what can i say? we're at that point now, and it's great!

the house will have a carport at the front of the property that will be painted a vivid green color. hopefully we will be able to keep the landscaping in front of it the same. jed is enjoying the camera on his new phone so here's a sample of one of my favorite photo subjects - people taking photos.

shot of the carport pad where jed is admiring adam and wendy's fabulous front patio


shot down to the mater suite area


next step is hopefully the rest of the foundation. i make my own pieces with concrete, so i know every project is different. it's a complete toss up as far as the finished look of the aggregate once they grind the surface down (fingers crossed).

surfaces, change list, and rain

after i left to singapore and back to india for work, jed got to handle the details for our change list in my absence. he did a great job of handling things that don't bother him, but normally keep me up at night, and so we picked out a couple modifications that will make a HUGE difference for us. they cost us dearly, but will be well worth it once jed grills under his added "grillin' light" and we have the entry EXACTLY as i want it. note: capitalization means my needs were subtle, yet expionsive.

we could have bought a hyundai or gotten instantly rich according to some nigerian bank loophole, but we opted to tweak a few things that make all the difference in the world to me. did i mention this is about me? well in case you forget, jed will be happy to clarify.

we chose white cabinetry in the kitchen and bathrooms and for the kitchen counertops, we got the color that's closest to coffe spills, which is very practical for us (see second image):

and for the bathrooms, we got a color closest to what we like:

the house is green, and the master bathroom tile is too:


as far as the house construction goes, there are foundation forms, and there is rain. the two don't mix. so we're in a holding pattern until the weather cooperates. another house of the same design is making real progress and we're very very excited about the finished product. in regard to timelines and closing dates they're something that people talk about, but i dont' really believe in, so until i actually see ours, this is what i think it looks like:

work has begun!

after several months of staring at a mound of dirt on our lot and living vicariously through another house of the same design, our view has gone from:

to:

notice the bobcat parked on our lot? that means work, which means progress.

we also got to pick out our colors and based on the palette we chose our house would look like this in a cartoon:

it's not much to look at now, but a sight like this is cause for celebration!

moving to agave

after deciding to buy a bigger house, Jed and I found a new contemporary development in east austin. the contstruction timeline is long, so updates will be few and far between... for now.

rendering

elevations

floorplan