Love Brings You Home by Rachelle

  My hubby and I were really excited about building our dream home, but we knew that we had to watch costs. We wanted to make sure that our "forever home" was exactly what we wanted, while making sure that we kept our budget in check. We had an arrangement with our builder that allowed us to source our own items. He gave us a budget sheet that laid out the costs of every item. This allowed us to know what our budget was for every category. For instance, the budget for lighting was $2500. The budget for closets was $1000. This gave us a reference to know how much we could spend and still stay within our total budget. We used many of his contractors for framing, siding, concrete, etc., but we were also able to source our own when it came to tile work, electrical, heating and air conditioning, and special carpentry projects. It was important for us to use our small town contractors whenever possible, so we always had them bid. Sourcing our own items was not always easy. T...

In my last post, I mentioned that I couldn't find the perfect floor plan for our family, so I finally created one myself. Each family is different, so it is very difficult for a floor plan created from someone else's imagination to fit every one's needs. In my experience, these are some important things to consider when finding or creating the perfect floor plan for you and your family:  1. Bedrooms Of course, the number one decisions about bedrooms how many you need? For resale purposes, three is always a good number, but what works for your family? Will you use all bedrooms for members of your family or do you also need to use one as an office or a guest room? Do you want a split design or all the bedrooms together? For me, it was very important to have all of our bedrooms together when the boys were small in case they needed us. In case of a fire, it was important that we be able to get to them. If they were sick or scared, I wanted to be able...

I love Christmas decorations. The lights from the tree and the warmth of the decorations are good for my soul. I could sit by the  tree for hours with a cup of hot tea and a book. My favorite time to enjoy the decorations is the week between Christmas and New Years. By then, the hustle and bustle are over. I love this time. I go into hibernation mode. I reflect on the past year and make resolutions for the new. In the meantime, my home normally goes into disaster mode. The decorations are on their last leg, and hosting family at the house has taken its toll. This would normally be a recipes for this mom losing her stuff and going on a cleaning rampage, but not this week. Every year this one week is my time to let it all go and reflect on the new, calmer me. Fast forward to January 2...mom is losing her shit! The house looks like a tornado hit it. "Am I the only one who cleans around here??!!" I can't wait for the Christmas decorations to be down; my house to be ...

  The lot was ready for our dream house. By the time we were driving back to Indiana, things were rolling on the new house. The old house had been torn down, and the lot was ready for our new dream home.  It had not been an easy process. Deciding on the perfect house to build had been much more tedious than we had expected. We had looked through floor plan after floor plan after floor plan, but we just couldn’t find what we wanted. One day, while looking at homes on Pinterest, I found the front of a house that really spoke to me. I absolutely love it! Something felt right about this one; the only problem was that although I loved the picture, the floor plans wouldn’t work for us at all. The look of this house was perfect, but the layout wasn’t. I took out a piece of graph paper that day and began to draw. I knew we wanted a dining room and an open concept great room and kitchen; my hubby needed an office; I wanted a sitting area in the bedroom ...

The summer of 2012 was difficult for our family. We suddenly found ourselves moving from Indiana to Texas due to my husband’s job. It was hard. This move took our boys away from everything and everyone who was familiar to them. It took me away from my family and friends. We found ourselves uprooted and in what seemed to be a far and distant land. My hubby immediately had a purpose and people to talk to every day because he was going to work, but for me and the boys, it wasn’t quite that easy. The boys were able to make some friends through school and sports. I was able to make some great friends through volunteering at my younger son’s school. Eventually, we fell into a routine, and things became easier as we developed our new normal. Before our move, a very wise woman, a mentor of mine, told me that things were difficult right now, but eventually I would look back and understand why it was all happening. I wanted to believe her; I really did, but at the time I just couldn’t see i...