From the Ground Up

Probably the very most important thing to me is to have a basement! I've lived in Missouri my entire life and somehow or another have never lived somewhere with a basement. In the six years that we have lived here we have had too many close calls with tornados. I must have a basement. 

So, on February 18, 2012 we broke ground! 

Day 1- Taking down trees and digging a little...

After about two weeks of digging and breaking rock (aka breaking the bank) we finally have the foundation dug! 

The forms are up and ready for concrete! 

Of course, nothing is simple and easy. A pump truck was need to to pump the concrete into the the forms for the basement walls. 

And after just a couple of days... I have my very first basement! 

The Plan

Six years ago Chad and I moved into our current house; our starter home. We planned on rehabbing and reselling it right away. Instead we started a family with the birth of our first daughter. We always knew we wouldn't stay in this house and we knew we wanted to build a new house. So, we set our eyes on a piece of land that we thought was beautiful and spent the next couple of years saving to buy it. 

So, about 2 years ago we officially bought the land; 3 acres on a lake in Missouri. Then we began saving and planning to build. 

We looked at thousands of house plans before deciding to have a custom house designed. Apparently, we are picky people! 

In a book we found a house that we love the look on the outside, so we based our design on it. That house is called the Tucker Bayou house (A Southern Living house) and is pictured above.

This is our design.