Digging Out

While we continue to wait for permits, we wanted to save as many plants as possible that would be affected by the addition.  We are adding a two story addition onto the back of the house that will include a kitchen - great room combo and a master bedroom and bath upstairs.  (Can't tell you how excited I am to finally have a master bath!)

The addition will basically take the place of the deck but go the width of the entire house.  It will be quite grand.

Russ in the soon to be kitchen

So we spent last weekend digging up peonies, roses, and a few other perennials that we love and transplanting them to another part of the yard.  We still haven't figured out if or how we will save the large lilac bush (on the left corner) or the apple trees (on the right).  They are all currently in the path of destruction.  I really want to save that lilac bush.  It is so big and pretty and smells wonderful when in bloom.

learned that Bee Balm has really vivid purple roots

transplanting our plant friends

Next up, I will have to post some images of the floor plan so you can really get a feel for what we currently have and what we will be adding.

Little Home

This is our house.  It is a charming little 3 bedroom house built in 1950.  We like our little house but the biggest issue is that it has become just a bit too small for our family.  With two adults, a three year old, two cats, and two dogs, sometimes this place feels really tiny.

We considered moving and even attempted to sell our house but given the current market we decided it was best to just stay put.  Besides, there are things we really like, such as our friends who live next door and across the street, our local library is amazing, and our backyard is humongous (by local standards).  So if we weren't moving then we decided we had to do something, anything, to give us a more workable living space.  The solution: build!

So we hired architects, came up with a plan, applied for a government construction loan (which could be an entire blog in itself - what a nightmare process), and hired a contractor.  Now we are waiting on building permits and a closing date so we can start construction.

My hope is that this will be a place to post updates along the way from the construction phase to the design phase and everything in between, the good and the bad.