We are Building!!!

I’ve been keeping a big secret! If you know us or follow me on Instagram and watch my stories you may have figured it out by now. This something that has been a lifelong dream of mine and something that we’ve talked about throughout our over 20 years of marriage! A few years ago I wrote this post about our dream. At the time our home was on the market and we were planning on building a slightly smaller home, then once that was done possibly building a second home at our favorite location in the mountains. Fast forward a few years a lot happened, and a lot of things didn’t happen. We decided to stay in our home for a while, we just didn’t feel like it was the right time for us to move. We thought by this point we might be down to two kids at home, I’m happy to report we are still a family of six (and two dogs) at home. Our oldest son works for my husband and attends the local University, double majoring in Math and Engineering. Our daughter went away for one semester of school and hated it so she’s back home. Now in her second year of college she’s working at the Hospital as an Endoscopy tech in the GI lab while studying to enter the nursing program. I am grateful we can provide a home for our kids for as long as they need it (also for our two nieces who took turns living here, giving me a chance to play second Mom as they left their parents home in TX to settle here in UT ). I know it was Gods plan for us to stay right where we are! With that being said, what is our plan now??? Well, last year we drove up to our happy place and looked at land for the millionth time and we finally picked a lot! We are building a second home at Bear Lake in Idaho!

I am so excited to share this journey with you all! Our lot is 1/2 acre on the mountain side overlooking the lake and our home will be a cozy little retreat that is just the right size for our family. This isn’t a project that has an unlimited budget but that doesn’t mean it will be low on charm or style. I will be sharing all of the places I plan to save money and the very few things I may splurge on.

I met with our architect last winter, we have worked with her on almost all of our homes so it was a pretty smooth process. I had been saving plans for years so we had a pretty good idea of what we wanted. Ashley would send drafts to us based on what we had discussed, then my husband and I would look over them, make notes of things we wanted to change send them back, and so on and so forth until we were finished. The process was pretty quick and we broke ground last spring.

Our views from the rear of the home are of the lake so we wanted to make sure there were plenty of large windows. I think the lake views are what had me the most excited! Although now that we are in the framing stage I have fallen in love with our views from the front porch! One thing I can not stress enough is that we NEVER start our plans until we have the land. It is so important to know where you are going to build and where your views will be before you start the process of designing your plans. We were able to put large windows wherever we wanted to take advantage of views.

I drove up last week (it’s located about two hours north of us) to check the progress and I wanted to make sure I didn’t miss the fall foliage. I was so excited to see we had walls and some of the windows were framed! I felt like I died and went to heaven when I looked out the kitchen window! Look at that view 😱! The kitchen is tiny, it’s 10′ x 10′, but what it lacks in space it makes up for with the scenery. The next photo was taken from the kitchen looking into the dining area.

You can see the lake in the distance, we have plenty of windows to take in the views.

The family room is small but the oversized windows make it feel much more grand. We will be able to take advantage of the lake views from the upper windows while standing in the second story loft.

View of the family room looking towards the dining area.

The view from below, it’s so fun to see it taking shape! Things move at their own pace up there, it feels like we started ages ago. We hope to have it dried in soon (windows in, and roofing done) the winters are harsh and long so we’ll see what happens when the snow starts to fall. We hope to be able to work on the interior this winter but we aren’t sure how accessible it will be. We hope to have it finished late spring/early summer in 2020! I have so many ideas to share, from built in bunks to ideas on designing small spaces there are many more posts to come! Make sure you are signed up for my weekly newsletter so you can follow along, you can also follow me on Facebook and Instagram for even more updates! Thank you so much for letting me share my dreams with you!

XO

Jen