Brick by Brick

Here it is! - since my last post there has been SOOOO much activity (at least that's what it seems like to me) however, as I type the title I realize, we don't even have bricks yet!!!

Slowly but surely we are getting there - our closing has been bumped out once already however, seeing as we both currently live at home it really isn't the end of the world (just disappointing becuase we can't wait to live together and be in our own place - ahhh!!).

My daily walks, which always included a trip by the site, drove poor Justin insane - until one day it paid off! The whole walk I was trying not to get too excited, saying that they probably haven't broken ground yet and not to be too disappointed (reflecting on the fact that I was talking to myself and looked like I did - see below - people in the subdivision probably think I'm insane). HOWEVER, when I turned the corner it was literally like something out of a movie (at least the movie in my head)... when the "house" (aka patch of dirt) came into sight, THEY WERE DIGGING!!! I thought I was going to pass out - I was so excited and immediately FaceTime-ed Justin.

I look very glamours when I walk the dog.
Clearly...

We got the share the moment together despite him being at work. I was freaking out and it was all I could talk about... for days (oh my life is so small...)

Months of nothing and finally, huge piles of dirt!

Things were moving along nicely until this deep cold we've been in. They're in the process of pouring the concrete walls for the basement and apparently they can't do it when it's too cold. The weather is supposed to warm up this week however, I was not happy when my drive to work today was rainy/slushy which usually means no building. Patience is key and I know it will come - I'm really hoping we have actual walls up in the next couple of weeks. (Note: After I wrote this paragraph I drove by on my way home from work - despite the weather they have the boards up, ready to pour the walls!)

Writing this post I realize there actually hasn't been much movement on the physical house itself however, a lot of our time has been spent planning. In preparation for walls, Justin and I have been busy picking (and rethinking, and re-picking and rethinking etc.) colours as well as purchasing appliances!

Colours were totally stressful (and since our original pick in early December we've gone back and forth on a number of things and are still waiting to finalize the master bathroom). Appliance shopping on the other hand... it really sucks that you do it so rarely; the experience was totally fun and I'm so excited to actually be able to use them!!!

One of the best parts of buying brand new (in our opinion) was the fact that we were able to customize almost everything going into the house. Even though the walls will be white for at least a year we were able to go in with "looks" and colour schemes in mind and pick all our flooring, cabinets and countertops to match. (We're thinking a modern/beachy/nautical theme - sounds overwhelming but it works - trust)

Kitchen/main floor tile, kitchen cabinet and counter

Original upstairs picks...
Main bathroom on the left (sans decorative tile) and master on the right
Carpet for the whole upstairs

I was excited for a black master bathroom - until I came to my senses and realized that a) it's uber trendy AND b) it'll be impossible to keep clean. I'm not the best housekeeper and Justin is even worse so... black bathroom was out. Next thought was to do a marble bathroom - we had the counter top and I see wall to wall marble in all the designer bathrooms - no matching tile. Grr! In the end we had to nix everything except the cabinet in the ensuite (we LOVE the cabinet). We finally agreed on a grey floor tile (noticing a theme here??) and a new countertop however, we couldn't find one single shower tile we liked. What to do...

After MUCH back and forth in the building center, they let us bring our floor tile and the shower tiles we were debating home to look at in a different light and mull it over (in private so we didn't deter other happy couples from purchasing a home together). Here's the thing about picking all your own colours - you look at a tiny swatch of counter or one single floor tile and you're like "yea - that's awesome" but you have to think BIG picture. For example - we're looking at subway tiles for the shower and the splash around the back of the corner tub in the ensuite - well one single little tile in a slightly green shade looks cool - but am I going to like it in surround every single time I shower?? Truth is - I DONT KNOW and I cannot drive myself crazy any longer. We need to sync up with our builder and sign off on things before I go changing my mind again.

On a more exciting and less stressful note... appliances were SOOOO much fun - I was more excited than I am on Christmas morning which, if you read my Holiday Recap, is pretty excited.

We knew we wanted stainless steel, water in the fridge door, and a microwave that would take the place of our range hood (to free up more counter space). When we finalized I went around and took pictures of everything but didn't think to take the price tags off until the very last picture - slight blonde moment...

I've spent the better part of two months trying to figure out how I can share pictures of our appliances but not the price of said appliances on the blog. I (unsuccessfully) tried a variety of photo editing programs before I realized that good old iPhoto will do the job perfectly. (On the note of photos - don't mind my expert photo taking abilities - you'll all have to bare with me until I tackle this year's resolutions before I can try and improve my photography. Until then... crappy pics - sorry kids)

Oh hey reflection... and Justin's disgusting moustache
(We bought them back in November...) 

Our W/D combo is on the second floor so these will be stacked 

DOUBLE OVEN - single item I'm most excited for

French door refrigerator 

Boring old dishwasher

That's the house so far! I've taken a million photos of the house which, to the untrained eye, look identical but - they're not. You'll see the slight variations in my incessant picture taking when I make a photo book of this exciting process (with my expert quality pictures) and make you all look at it when you come visit. Something to look forward to...

On a cute/sappy note - I heard this beautiful quote the other day:

"Love is our true destiny. We do not find the meaning of life by ourselves alone -we find it with another" - Thomas Merton

Poor Justin...

Until next time.