Getting Closer.......

Since, of course - NOTHING is cookie-cutter about this house - bidding has taken FOREVER (& a few days more, even.....).  But - after some refinements to get us MUCH close to budget, we're getting closer & hoping to be able to turn it over to the bank in the next couple weeks for final approvals.

Unfortunately, our hopes of being in our new house (& out of our crappy apartment) by Christmas as looking like just a pipe dream at this point.

As they say.....Rome wasn't built in a day  :) 

Hopefully More SOON!!!!!

Plans in the Builder's Hands - FINALLY!!!

On May 28th, we passed an important milestone of the pricing plans being handed-off from our architect to our builder for him to develop final pricing.  YAY!!!!!!

He was chomping at the bit to get rolling on the pricing, so we're sure looking forward to the next step, which will be handing that all off to the bank for our final, final construction loan approval.  Can't wait!!

& here are a few views of the updated plans for your viewing enjoyment.....we're sure getting closer!!

A Few Early 3-D Drawings

We got some very cool, very early, drawings done by our architect's intern in a program called Google Sketch-up. We can look at the house from all angles. This is when it starts to get FUN & EXCITING!!!

These are obviously very rough & early, but we think pretty cool, as you can start to get a better feel for the space.

& you can CLICK on the images to make them bigger, too :D

Here are a couple of the Front of the house:

& the Back of the house:

Back to the house plans...now with furniture!

We're inching closer, with some revisions to the floorplan & starting to add in how furniture would fit into the spaces of the main part of the house.

It's starting to feel a bit more "real" at this point - yeah!! :)

& Zoomed-in.....

More meetings with the architect next week to refine things even more, and we should also be seeing new drawings for the exterior & tiki bar soon as well.

Stay tuned!

Options & Alternatives

We got a few more options from the Architect today working toward getting some square footage economy to the floorplan, though with everything we're looking for, it's proving to be a challenge while keeping rooms good-sized.

Here are 3 of the options that we're going to have further discussions about.

Option 1:
This one is the most similar to the original floor plan, but trims a bit of square footage out where we felt we could trim.  But it's still pretty big:

Option 3:
This option trims out a bit more square footage, which also shifts the layout around a bit.  We're not sure we like this layout as well for the 250 sf. it saves.......



Option 4A:
This one is the biggest departure, as it moves the storage area into a basement.  Up North, this would be a no-brainer.  But in Texas, with the water table as it is & the lack of expertise in building basements, it does admittedly have us a bit queasy thinking of the possibly high likelihood of everything in the storage area ending-up drenched - EEK!  Heck - up North many basements leak &, in theory, they know how to build them......let alone in an area where they do not.  This one isn't, yet a "no", but may be after further evaluation.....



So, we've made a bit of progress - have some more questions to ask & discussions to be had before we decide which of these will be directionally where we're headed.

Then we can get back to figuring out the outside design, too!!

Progress & Adjustments

We had an excellent, though delayed, meeting with our architect last night....delayed due to having our first Texas flat tire on the way to the meeting - UGH!

On the house plans, we're making some adjustments in size to downsize some of the rooms a bit, as the initial plan nets out at around 5,000 sf - not including the garage - yikes!!  We definitely were not planning on something so large.  So we provided some guidance on where to trim & we'll see some new drawings next.

We also love the roof style shown here in the first drawings, but urged him to play around a bit more with alternate styles as well.  The challenge is the dominance of the roof of the Tiki Bar & successfully having the roof of the main house work with it, rather than fight it.  We'll see what he comes up with.

Stay tuned.....!

Oh, and here is one of our very favorite stops in Austin....Hey Cupcake!
They make a mean Red Velvet cupcake.

First Drawings!!

We've got our first look at what our house might look like from our Architect!  They did a great job at taking the design ideas we gave them & turning them into a great design.  We are liking very much what we see :)

50's Eichler-esque gabled roof design with floor-to-ceiling glass in the main living area with exposed roof beams & deep overhangs that create nice covered patio areas for shade from the hot Texas sun. 

And, of course, the A-Frame Tiki Bar!

(if you click on the pictures, they should come up bigger on your screen, too)

& here's the Bird's Eye View look........




& the room layout - this is where we start to get into the details & need to think about room sizes and adjacencies.

You'll see a Conversation Pit in the Living Room, an in-wall bar in Rob's room, an outdoor shower and, of course, the Tiki Bar.  Since this will the first time we've lived without a basement, we've included a dedicated storage room in the floor plan.

Note, too, that the cats have their own closet =^..^=

It's looking like we're on our way!!!