So the time has come for us to start prepping to build our forever home.  We built our current home in 2014, back when we had 1 small child and dreams of having another or even 2 more.  Fast forward 8 years, and we now have 4 kids, 2 dogs, and lots of new ideas of how we’d like our forever home to look.

While we have loved living here, and are blessed to have a safe, warm place to call home, we have known for quite some time that the house we built in our 20s would not the be the house that would carry us into our 30s, 40s, 50s, and beyond.

We have been plotting our style ideas on Pinterest, House, iPhone Albums, etc. for as long as I can remember. Our style has shifted over time, from more traditional style colonial homes, to the rustic farmhouse, to now even more Nantucket/Cape Cod style.

Some of this has been influenced by our time spent at the beach house and proximity to cedar shakes, some by our desire for a nice, inviting, open living space, but none of our design is more driven than by the desire for light.  From day to night, we’d like wide windows, bright sunshine, and light abound.

Our options are most likely limited to finding a country lot, or finding a current home, demolishing, and then building to suit.  The latter actually sounds like a decent option as that allow out to use the prior footprint without additional storm water management considerations with can runs 10s or  thousand or more for compliance.

Our wish list is high, with proximity to Tom’s office, girls activities, close to a good school, proximity to everyday staples like Target, Starbucks, various eateries, etc., but still have privacy, some acreage, and most impotently, southern exposure for abundant light.

We have been in talks with several builders, along with some auction houses, and also on constant monitoring on sites like Zillow & Realtor.com.  There have been some possibles, but none that have met all our criteria.  

You can check out my recent Instagram story to see our attempt this weekend to see a demo/rebuild land situation which did not make the cut.

As we carry on this journey, we plan to keep updating the progress here with photos and text.  Feel free to ask questions, comment, and we will talk with you soon!

jess & tom