Our Dream House

Since purchasing property in 2011 M & I have gone back and fourth on ideas.  One idea was redoing the old farmhouse over time.  However we both felt this would take too much time & the foundation is in such poor shape, that we really would like a basement.  The next idea was building.  This we know would be more costly, however, maybe be a little faster in the long run.  The next step was agreeing on a house plan, M loves the idea of a 2 story with a wrap around porch.  I love the idea of a small & simply ranch.  As you can foresee we may have a little difficulty with building, as we have a little bit of different tastes.....stay tuned for that step ;)  So as of now, 3 years later, we have agreed on a small & simple ranch, a plan we found a Menards.  I hope and pray that he doesn't change his mind, which he is famous for!  We are planning to tweak a few things and buy the blue prints.  A few things we will be changing as of today are:  making the garage bigger & possibly either doing a mirror image (so the garage is on the right) and/or turning the garage doors so they are now facing the side, making the laundry room a little bigger for a utility sink, and possibly adding a desk, office, command center somewhere between the garage entry and kitchen.  Obviously we haven't started and have quite some time to decide. 

Our plan, once our debt is paid is to sell our current house.  We plan on living with my parents while we build.  We do plan on taking out a small loan to build the house, materials only, as hubby is planning on doing about 90-95% of all the work himself w/ the help of myself and our kids (ages from 16-7) and family & friends on occasion.  We do plan on being a frugal as we possible, even buying some materials used.  I plan on buying used appliances, sinks & bathroom vanities, light fixtures, etc.  We already have some things purchased for the new house.  One of the biggest expenses is kitchen cabinets, hubby bought those used for $200 and I plan on painting them and making them work.  They are high end cabinets, that still have a lot of use let, I just don't like the color.  We may need to buy a couple more new cabinets to paint just to fit the layout of the kitchen, but having the majority already will cut down greatly on the amount we burrow from the bank.

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