**********Newest info at the bottom*********
Before we get started, here's a little timeline:
- December 26th 2017 Miles offered to build us a house. We honestly had never thought about it up until this point always expecting it would be much later in life. Once the idea sunk in we were ecstatic and ready to go.
- April 23rd 2018 after much searching we bought our lot in the perfect neighborhood. here
- September 1st 2018 after MONTHS of planning, searching, drawing, waiting, and patience, we settled on and finalized our house plan.
- September 8th 2018 we met with the bank and settled on the loan we could take out.
- September 22nd 2018 Miles was done with Cody's oldest brother's house (who is a street away from us) and was ready to start on ours.
- September 22nd 2018-April 2019 we had the longest daily rain known to man EVER. It wasn't dry a single day and made Kayla about lose her ever-loving mind. It actually caused a little leftover rain PTSD if that's a thing. I seriously get anxious and panicky every time it rains now. Thank the Lord that's now once a week like normal. It's like do we live in Forks Washington?
- April 23rd 2019 we broke ground. It was literally a year to the day that we bought the lot. God is good!
We broke ground!!!! 4/23/19
Right now we have gotten all of the building permits, surveyor checks, lot cleared of brush, measurements, leveling, markings, footings, more markings, and are now waiting on a good stretch of weather to put up cinder block and water proof it.
****This is going to be a post up on the main toolbar of the blog to be constantly updated so you can check in on the process. It will be the same post but I will constantly add new pictures, details, and updates so check back frequently!***
****This is going to be a post up on the main toolbar of the blog to be constantly updated so you can check in on the process. It will be the same post but I will constantly add new pictures, details, and updates so check back frequently!***
This is the rough sketch of the facade of our house that our architect drew and Cody and I INSTANTLY loved it! We were so impressed! Our architect is extremely talented!
Here it is drawn out almost exactly how we will have it. We won't have quite as much stone on the front though, it will be half brick and stone with siding on the sides and back.
The rear view sketch. We will have some sort of porch/patio too.
For those technically minded people who care, this is the foundation that will be laid!
So towards the middle of February the surveyor finally showed up after about a week and a half of unusual sunshine. We were stoked and ran over to see the lot marked in many places!
This is the far left side of our lot.
This is the far right!
And this is the back of the lot. Go straight back from the post and that is the border.
Cody the ninja!
A few weeks later when there was a break in the weather Cody and I drove by and his dad had started marking and leveling off the lot. After the lot is fully cleared and leveled, the house boundaries are marked. On another note doesn't the picture above look like the perfect scene out of the Walking Dead? I mean, I can just see the zombies coming off of the ridge walking towards us lol.
We drove by yesterday, 2/17, and saw the tree line and brush had been cut more down in the back! Progress!!
It is April 20th and we see some progress. The brush has been cleared some more.....and the grass has grown tall again. Time to mow it once again 😑😑😑😑😑😑😑.
The upper corner of the lot has been completely cleared off and our lot looks so much bigger!
This is the other back corner of the lot. We officially have 3 trees on our lot.
With everything cleared off our lot looks a lot larger standing at the very back. I was worried we wouldn't have a large yard but I think we'll be good! It seems to be 30 feet deep!
And I am THRILLED to say we have officially officially broke ground 4/23/19!!!
PRAISE GOD!
So first Miles leveled the lot off and got rid of the knee high grass. We didn't have to mow (happy dance!!!)!!!
Then the next day miles made the garage pad and dug kind of a barrier around the perimeter of where the house will sit.
Then the surveyor came the next day to officially mark where the house will sit on the lot with orange lines and steaks!
We were so surprised at how fast things moved in one week that the next day the surveyor came again and helped Miles dig the spots for the footings of the foundation.
And last but CERTAINLY not least, in the same day, the cement footings were created to start the foundation. Next are the concrete cinder blocks, waterproofing it, finishing the foundation and then starting on the framework! To say Cody and I are elated is an understatement. We have waited so long for this. I can't wait to see the next steps and keeping the momentum. My goal is for us to be in by October 26th.
We drove by on 5-12/5-13 after some good few days of rain and saw some nails with spray paint were marked in a few spots and the next day 8" were marked, who knows what exactly that means.
After Morgan's shower on the weekend, I of course had to show the progress to Mom, Morgan, Gigi, and Granddad.
My mama!
I seriously look like I'm doing an interpretive dance but I LOVED walking Gigi through our floor plans and imaginary (for now) rooms! It's neat to visualize.
I just need Cody in some pictures now!!
Of course since it had rained like cats and dogs Saturday and Sunday, I stepped in quicksand-like mud and sunk getting filthy for the second time in 2 weeks lol! They of course had to capture the moment and thought it was hilarious.:):)
On 5/14 the cinder block was supposed to be delivered but wasn't unfortunately but it was delivered on 5/15 morning.
It was placed on 5/18-5/20.
After a few days of delay, the rest of the cinderblock came up on 5/23.
On 6/3 the framework for the first floor came up while we were away at Morgan's wedding!!!! We had Miles send us a picture!
My sitting room/library/office! I'm going to love this room so much!!
On 6/5 the framework for the second floor began just in time for the rain where we couldn't get it under roof in time. That's how it goes for us doesn't it. You can always count on the rain to mess life up.
On 6/10 the rest of the second floor was framed out once the rain stopped!
So pretty! Rain clouds go away!
Back of the house.
Look at that crystal blue sky!!! The picture on the left is the (future) kids rooms, and the pic on the right is our bedroom, closets, and bathroom.
On 6/13 the roof rafters were added! Celebrate!!!
Comparison of now and what it will look like (minus a lot of stone which is shown on the drawing).
Our living room and framework on the ceiling of the second floor!
Our absolutely BEAUTIFUL living room! I can't wait to make so many memories in this room! Our open ceilings, catwalk above, and open kitchen floor plan!
Mom stopped by to see the progress and take pictures of me with the progress so far!
Closed in back of the house.
Our 11' tall garage!
6/15/19 We drove by today to see more of the roof. Now we are ready to add plywood and the prep for the shingles!
Next week they are finishing the roof, getting the windows installed, cutting out some places/errors, and getting the front door in! That should be within the next 2 weeks. Also the siding, stone, and brick will be added! :) #wearehavingsomuchtroublewithbrick
6/21 The rest of the front is finished!
The ceiling and roof being put up!
Our grand open ceiling/open floor plan living room!
The rest of that week and the next week was spent finishing out the framework of the individual rooms.
My closet and Cody's closet!! :)
Master bathroom side by side images of the shower on the left, toilet on the right and whirlpool tub in the middle! To the back right of these pictures is Cody's sink, to the back left of these pictures is my sink, and directly behind us is the door to the bedroom with my closet on the left and Cody's on the right in the hallway to the bedroom if that makes sense.
Our awesome catwalk!!! I know we are going to love this!
Temporary railings!
Our fireplace will be stone!
This outside door is special to us, our fence will be right outside the door and there will be a doggie door so our dog can go in and out when it needs to when it is at home alone and we are at work. This way it won't be inside bringing the house down and it won't have heat exhaustion outside all day and can camp out in our garage with a fan and water.
Our glorious stairs! Oh we were so glad to see these. We immediately explored in the 'finished' upstairs.
Can you tell I was happy to have stairs?! Also the picture on the left above is important because we are leaving a little place for our doggie to hide out under the stairs when we have guests or it needs a place to be comfy. Right in between the beams will be an opening with a dog bed inside! On the right of this part under the stairs is a coat closet where our air unit will be I believe.
Walk this waaaaay!
The two pictures above are our playroom where we will have movie nights and play station games! The sides of the room will have doors for storage of spare pieces of the house such as tile, etc.
Above is the workout room. I am showing Gigi where everything will go and where the nice open closet is!
This is our library/my office/baby nursery (when the time comes). This is my favorite part of the house by far! The huge window, sunlight, and view! We will have pocket doors so we can see the view but have privacy into our bedroom. This room was so important for me to have when I put together the plans
This area was just cut out of the foyer to be open to above. You can see this from the catwalk. Who ordered pizza!!!!! :D
Also inside the front door is the plant shelf. It is so interesting, the coat closet is below this.
We have shingles!!!!
And windows!!! I love Cody looking out of the nursery!
Me and my beautiful mama! Plus, the photographer of a lot of the recent pictures! I love that she comes down to see the house frequently and shares my excitement.
Gigi and Granddad!
Our stunning front door! I'm not too concerned about it being clear glass because the hallway right when you walk in is far enough away from the living room.
The back!
And the awesome front!!
Cody and I are so incredibly excited for every little board that is put up and nail that is hammered in. this has been such a fun experience! Next is plumbing, putting in the electrical work, air ducts/vents, tubs, and of course, the brick, stone, and siding we finally chose!
During the first week of July, our tubs arrived at the house!
During the third week of July, our air vents were installed!
As promised, we met with our electrician last night (7/21/19) and chose where all of our outlets and such will go.
Cody and I also took the opportunity to write some of our favorite and most encouraging bible verses on the wooden framing part of the house in different rooms! This is something we have been wanting to do ever since we decided to start building.
Verses for the hallway.
Verses for the master bedroom and nursery.
Verses for the kids closets and bathrooms.
Our fireplace was added at the end of July!
Our brick was dropped off on 8/10/19!!!!! We love it so much! It will be put up the beginning of next week along with waterproofing the foundation, and leveling out our backyard!! Our siding will be put up on Wednesday of this week (8/19 week) and the stone should be arriving soon!!
The air duct work! Very intricate. Looks like an octopus!!!
Embarrassingly enough, all of us COMPLETELY forgot about the trey ceiling in the master bedroom and had to have it added in late in the game 🙊🙈🙉. I'm glad we decided to still go with it once we realized our mistake because it adds so much to a room!
Can lights over and under the catwalk! We have can lights mainly downstairs and disk lights upstairs!
We passed inspection for electrical and plumbing so insulation was added on 8/16!!
It looks so different!!
Next steps are still waterproofing the foundation, pushing the dirt around the lot again, finalizing the cabinetry/granite, ordering my Shaw flooring 😎, and having the brick, stone, and siding put up!
Things are really starting to come together!! :):)
During the week of 8/19 we have half of the sheetrock put up and the siding on the back, front, and sides of the house complete!!!
Oh my goodness we love the light grey siding so much!!!
9/20/19 -The brick, and it's so beautiful!!!
The doors and trim are in!!
Office Doors and floor trim!
Love the plant shelf!
This is the bathroom tile for the bathroom floors. I love it SO much!
This is the laundry room tile. It's kind of our "accent tile". It matches our hardwood floor really well.
Master shower accent strip and tile that I designed myself!!!
We have official stairs!!!! Wooden steps, banisters, baulisters/spindals, and posts! Cody and I chose the spindals and their patterns! The posts, railings, and stairs will be stained to match our Shaw chocolate brown engineered hardwood!
We have paint on every wall!! So excited to see the beautiful grey shade!!! And we have the correct accordion doors for our nursery/sitting room!
Miles has started our backyard ground work! Excited to see it transform!
11/3/19:
5 months laterrrrrrr WE HAVE STONE!!!!! Unique mix of colors!! Whatcha think?!?
My DREAM fireplace! Exactly what I pictured in my head this entire time! So so perfect!
Stairs are stained!!!!!
Bricked retaining wall and concrete garage pad!
OUR CABINETS!!!! So incredibly pretty!
And my DREAM granite slab!!!! Seriously, the prettiest piece of granite I have ever seen!
And the prettiest DREAM vessel sink I have ever seen! I love it so so so so so so so much! Wait until you see the final product faucet included! And this is our bathroom granite!
Cody's vanity to be exact
Next is correcting errors on the cabinets around the house, finishing connecting heat and air, laying the flooring, putting up the back splash and finishing the tile (grout in shower), plumbing, and getting the porch built.
Garage doors!!!
And master bathroom!
12/3/19
We have faucets!!!
Cody's dad built this awesome vanity shelving!
Mom made me feel like a model!
Miles gave me one of the greatest gifts! A cute little doggie hideout!! Don't worry, that won't be the door, it will have a way to breathe ha!
My Shaw engineered hardwood!!! So pumped!! It looks AHHHMAZING!
Fireplace logs
We have a gorgeous porch!!!!! Yay!!!!1
Our driveway!!!! We even have a spot on the side for an extra car to park (or for me to ride my unicycle!!!):)
Next stop carpet, shelving, finish the electrical, hang mirrors and such, get our sprinkler system, sod, clean the house out, get our appliances, finish final coatings of paint, doggie hideout door, blinds, fencing, and other odds and ends!!
12/21/19
The electrician came and finished up the lighting! Doesn't the outside look spectacular now?!
The door handles!
Island lighting, door bell, final coats of paint!
Carpet instillation! We love our grey Shaw waterproof carpet so so so much!
Shower glass door for the bathroom downstairs!
Shelving is in!!
Sprinkler system, check!
We have sod!!!
And yes, if you have realized, it is past the week before Christmas and we have most certainly not moved in. I am extremely unhappy about that and despite what looks like great progress, we have a long way to go before we move in. It will most likely be some time around the end of February realistically. December 26th 2017-February 19th 2019. Over two years of this process.....
Next is last minute button ups, getting our fence, having the cabinet guy actually finish his job after over 9 months, installing blinds, fixing sheetrock bumps and dents, finishing painting of many rooms of the house, last minute clean ups, air units fixed, etc.
We expect to move in the week before Christmas week one day 😤😤.
(We moved in under a rental lease on 12/26/19 and 12/31/19). Our rental lease ended the day we signed on the house and we were finished 2 months later.
Raborn House
Est. 3/7/2020!
HOME
We are in love with our kitchen!
The gorgeous fireplace!!
Our fence!!
Back of the house minus the tall crawl space you can't see on the right of the deck.
After you walk through the front door there is a coat closet!
Our plant shelf and decorations!
Overlooking the plant shelf standing in front of our bedroom door and overlooking the living room to the right.
Storage closet in the foyer area. To the right is where we will keep the Christmas tree fully decorated!
Cody's office to the left when you walk in the front door!
The back wall is 100% whiteboard so you he can project football plays (from the projector above) onto the wall and 'draw' on them! So neat!
The catwalk above!
Sorry it's a picture of a picture but this is the master bedroom!
The views when we wake up are astonishing.
My office/future nursery with a closet to the right behind that wall.
His and hers closet.
Master bathroom tub and toilet to the right and shower to the left.
Laundry room off of the top of the stairs!
Guest room #1 the beach room!
Guest room #2 the horse room! With the UT bathroom between them!
Playroom/movie room over the garage! (Storage to the left and right of the walls and this room also has a large walk-in closet for games and linens!
Weight room and only 'bedroom' downstairs, right under the beach room next to the teal bathroom (shown below).
Kitchen appliances!! We LOVE them!
Garage!
Our second refrigerator!!
The garage door leading to outside (inside where the fence is).
<3
We are so so so incredibly bless and absolutely can't believe after all of the hard work, our house is complete. We can finally breathe! We love everything so much, it is our dream home and forever home. God has blessed our lives so much and we are forever grateful for Miles in building us a perfect house!
With so much love,
Kayla and Cody Raborn
3/7/20
I hope you enjoyed the updates on our journey! Cody and I were so excited to take you along!
12/26/17-3/7/20
It was all worth it.
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