It all starts the same way for folks getting ready to build a house; you start looking at house plans. The project started out as a small simple seasonal cabin, maybe 1000 square feet. A funny thing happens when you are finally in a position to realize your dream; you don’t want to settle. First of all, the dream was hatched before I met Paul so more space became immediately important. Given this was my dream, not his, he acquiesced on design decisions only asking for office space and a quiet place to read. He loves to cook and entertain so we needed a good sized kitchen. I wanted to make sure we had space for visitors and I needed someplace for crafting projects/gardening. Oh, and a place for a boat along with space for two cars was necessary. Needless to say, over time, the small simple cabin morphed into a three bedroom, two bath, year round house with a three car garage. We wanted to stay around 2000 square feet and after countless hours researching and studying plans, I settled on areas from three separate house plans.
Lucky for me, my sister, Renae, is an architect. She drew up the plans and after many modifications back and forth via email, we settled on a final design. The following summer/fall we interviewed construction contractors at the site, requested bids and selected a contractor: Hicks Construction. It sounds simple and in this case it was. Site work commenced in the early fall and the foundation was poured before the weather turned bad. The rest of the construction project was orchestrated beautifully over the fall/winter/spring during which I never once stepped foot on the site. Dave Hicks and I worked beautifully together. I knew exactly what I wanted or was quick to make decisions. We are both a bit obsessive so we burned the midnight oil sending emails back and forth for eight months. Pics were sent at every step along with way and I finally set eyes on the completed house in May 2015. I was so nervous driving up to the site and there it was, my dream realized! For me, after years of visualizing the house, when it was actualized, it seemed as though it was always real. It was and remains everything I wanted and more; I am 100% happy with the outcome.
I am an HGTV junkie so furnishing the house was a breeze using the many online interior store options available. Contemporary farmhouse industrial is the theme in case anybody is wondering. Dave’s workshop housed my inventory over the winter/spring of construction. I found many things in Arizona that came via a friend driven U-Haul after a moving company debacle late in the game. Amazon Prime is our friend and the UPS and FedEx guys came and went almost every day the first summer we were in the house. Much to my husband’s chagrin, they are already clear we are back for the summer this year. I swear it has tapered off to almost nothing, but, I am slowly discovering the upcycle, repurpose shops in the area so stay tuned for a story here.
Two years later and I still walk around the house murmuring “I am so happy here!” In closing, Yes, Paul’s several requests were met; we created a small reading room off the master bedroom and the third bedroom serves as his office. He is becoming quite possessive of his spaces which I hope is a sign that he is “coming home” too. Somehow, my craft area ended up in the garage…for now anyway! 2017