Next Decision

After we sold our house in Washington, it became apparent that we actually need to get serious about finding a house to live in or decide to rent forever. Renting forever was not something we wanted to do (that will be in a separate blog about a horrendous neighbor and cat terrorism!) so we started to think about building the home we wanted instead of hoping for it.

Our realtor contacted the owners of the modern house at 349 Nassau in downtown Charleston. Turns out the owners are also the builders. They had been working on another house in Old Mt Pleasant, and they invited us to come by and see it. The house wasn't for sale because one of them was going to live in it, but they wanted us to see more of their work. They explained it was also a modern-style home in Charleston (okay, so there are at least *2* affordable homes here now!!) Who are we to argue? We met them at the "other" Charleston modern home with our realtor and they showed us around. The property wasn't finished at that time, but it had the same modern lines, sensible details and the kind of look we are hoping to have some day. This home would be at home in Seattle!
The builders, named Paul and Dan Swedloff, have developed properties from ground up and then sold them, until we came along. They haven't worked directly with clients like us before. However, magically, they are interested starting that kind of work. Good for us, good for them!

We went back a few weeks alter for a second meeting with Paul and Dan. This time they introduced us to Dan's girlfriend Megan who is conveniently their architect too. We discussed details of how designing and contracting a home with them would work. They were new to it, we were new to it but we all seemed to understand each other and really get along. Jon and I had conversations that we would actually hang out with Paul and Dan and have a beer with them. They seemed like good people!

We gave Paul, Dan, and Megan a CD of images we have been collecting of modern homes, interiors, and design features we like. Jon has been collecting stuff for years. Jon had even sketched a few pages of the kind of home we're dreaming about.

Building our own home is not our first choice nor the simple path. We know it will be stressful. As I've mentioned before, in the past year Jon and I have managed to get married, get new jobs, live in different states (separately for long periods of time), and move everything we own to another state. But maybe what the hell...let's round out the list of "stressful things two people can do together" with a custom-built home too.