Sunday Update

This afternoon Jon and I rode to the lot on his S1000. When we got there we saw what we thought was a lot of progress. Pictures speak louder than works so take a look!!!

Mid July Update

There has been a lot of status on the lot. The ground and trees have been cleared, the ground has been tamped, the footings were put in and ground was broken! Here are some pictures.....

Clearing trees and bushes from the land to make room for a house!  



Where driveway will be



From the backyard looking forward

Big oak tree, we will plant many others in its place

Oak tree before the stump was cut

Arborist makng the tree look pretty

Next Tamping the ground



Clearing out the Greenery to make way for a house



Getting ready to Tamp

Adding more topsoil and sand

 And last putting in the footers, etc....

Detached garage

Main structure tamped

Rebar & whatnot

So close!

Main Structure Garage

Our rent a garbage for the project!

One last view

Working away

And our temporary fence

Now we will have more and more day by day. This project is going to go fast and there will most likely be a daily post.



Waterworks Installing Pipe

Location of Sewer Tap planned out

First Scoop to install the water meter

On Wednesday the 18th, Mount Pleasant Water Works came out to put a water meter on our land. This is the first activity on our land other than walking on it.

Digging trench

Installing water line

Meter Installed!

SUCCESS!

Sketches in Color!

Our architect surprised us with some color sketches recently. This helps me see the picture ten times clearer!

On this side of the house we will have a modern coy fish pond

I love this house and cannot wait to see it finished. We have not broken ground yet but we are closer to that. The Structural Engineer still has the plans we hope he finishes soon!

Our yard will be beautiful and we are designing it ourselves so far. We will have many different kinds of palm trees along with lots of flowers. We will have a fenced in raised bed garden to grow crops and herbs in. In the middle of our garden we will have a fountain and chairs we can sit and enjoy the garden and weather.

On this side of the house will be the driveway

This is the front of the house from the street

This is the back of the house which will overlook our garden

On the left side of the garden we will have a   chicken coop. We will have 3 or 4 crazy looking chickens to get eggs from throughout the year. The will also be fenced in so the hawks and nasty big birds cannot swoop down and eat them. 

On the back right side of the house above the single garage door is a screened in porch with No-See-Um netting to enjoy the hot summer days without bugs swarming.

I
In the front from the driveway we will have a walkway. When you get on the side of the driveway in front of the house you will walk over a water feature with stepping stones to get to the front door. This will be very clear and clean water with lights to illuminate the pond in the dark.


















There is so much to think about I am sure I have forgotten something and I will add it when I remember. Every day we get closer and closer to breaking ground I get more and more anxious!

FINALLY Design is DONE!

Today we have signed off on the house plans! They now go to the structural engineer to ensure it will work just fine! This was a long process but after a few months of reviewing and adding comments we finally have a plan that shows what we want. This is the most exciting part yet! Here they are......

Ground Floor, We do have a detached garage too. So enough room for 5 vehicles with a lift in the detached garage to ensure there is enough room for working on cars/trucks as well. The detached garage will be plumbed as well and have separate propane/electricity so the person who buys this when we sell it can turn it into a separate studio apartment for income if they want. Yes there is a theater, Jon came up with that idea part way through and we rolled with it.

First Floor is the next one up that the main living area is on. The kitchen will be the best part due to the awesome appliance we are putting in. The porch will overlook a beautiful garden and chickens!

Third floor will not be used much by us. Only by guests and kids, when they come.

Here is the South and West views. Super modern for Mt. Pleasant, For Sure!

And the East and North Views.

With all of that said I am excited and cannot wait to break ground! 

Drawings Have Started

I know its been a while since I have posted....Sorry!
Since then we have met with the builders and the Architect to draw the house. After a few sketches and Jon being very specific, with his own drawing, we have a plan! Now we just need to add the windows, cladding and the roofs to finalize the plans. We meet with the builders again on Tuesday to see how the house looks with windows, cladding and specific roof lines and materials. If it all looks right we can move on! If not then we will make a few changes and meet again soon. As soon as the sketches are final I will get them posted up here so everyone can see them!
On a different note, Charleston is warming up! Weather has been in the 70s and its getting warmer day by day! This weather now is perfect!

The New Year

Its been a few months!  A lot has happened! First of all we went to a New Years Eve party at Dans house, one of the builder brothers, and we had a lot of fun. We met their friends and hung around his house which is a modern house. We did have another meeting with them as well to talk a little more about the house and what we want.
We made an offer on the land we wanted and the sellers came back with wanting about 15,000 more than we offered. we thought we could scrounge that up but it wouldn't be easy. During the Christmas Break we were driving up to Ohio to visit Jon's family and we received a call from the realtor stating that the sellers wanted to wait until spring to sell and put it on the market for quite a bit more than they told us we wanted. We still thought we should get the additional money needed, once it is in our bank account we will make an offer for 2,000 more than they asked for even though they said they didn't want to sell anymore. We signed our offer in the beginning of the year for the price we thought of and waited patiently. The sellers waited the whole 48 hours we gave them and came back with a decision. They had ACCEPTED our offer! I don't think Jon or I expected that so we were in a little bit of shock. I was excited and Jon began to think about what we needed to do to buy the house and all the details began to run through his head.
We closed on January 20th and we are the proud owners of .29 acres in Old Mt Pleasant. Our land is located at 0 Cleary Lane, Mt Pleasant, SC, from this view you drive down Barbara from McCants and take a right onto Cleary. We are the 2nd lot down the dead end. We have a few neighbors around us, an empty lot next to us and another one across from us. The one next to us is going to be built on eventually and the one across from us is owned by the neighbor so I do not think anything will be happening with that anytime soon as they use it for an additional yard.
Shortly before we closed we had a meeting with the builders, Paul and Dan of The Sandbox Group, and the architect, Megan, that would be drawing up the house. We discussed what we must have, what we want and what we absolutely do not want. Megan plans to have something rough draft ready for us to look at by mid-February. Paul and Dan think there is a high possibility that we will be moving in by Thanksgiving which would be really exciting!