The Carlson House

Five months of the "lived in" look

2009-02-28T17:44:00.019-06:00

A view from the foyer into the dining room

Mom's dog "Sophie"

Mom's bathroom

Mom's bedroom

Mom's bedroom

Mom's dining area and kitchen

Mom's living room

Our kitchen, dining area and living room

A view from our living room

Guest bathroom

Loft/Office

Master bedroom

Master bedroom

Master bathroom

The finished product!

2008-10-04T16:10:00.002-05:00

The final walkthrough!

2008-09-25T19:48:00.016-05:00

The upstairs

Our kitchen

A view of Mom's dining area and living room

Mom's kitchen

Another angle of Mom's living room and dining area

Entrance into Mom's place

We have a driveway, carpeting, etc.

2008-09-20T17:54:00.009-05:00

We have a driveway!!

Master bathroom, now featuring a shower door and towel rack

A laundry room just wouldn't be complete without a washer and dryer

The upstairs now has its carpeting

Looking down on the main entry way

The view as we enter the front door.

Mom's bathroom

The stairs and entry door into Mom's dwelling

T-minus seventeen days!!!

2008-09-13T14:10:00.018-05:00

Master bathroom

Whirlpool tub in the master bath

His and Her sinks

One of the guest bedrooms

Guest bathroom

The loft

Kitchen and living room areas

That's my Mom on the left checking out the kitchen

The new chandelier in the foyer!

Mom's living room and dining areas

The bay window in Mom's living room

Mom's kitchen

A closer look at Mom's kitchen counter top

Kitchen cabinets, interior doors, siding, etc.

2008-09-06T16:32:00.017-05:00

The exterior siding has begun!

Floor tiles for the master bathroom!!

~~Our~~ Jennifer's kitchen, which includes her pride and joy: A center island with Cambria topping!!

Looking towards the front entry from the dining room

The deck

Our recently installed oak spindle railing

A side view of the foyer

The entry doors into Mom's residence

Mom's kitchen

Mom's living room

The view of Mom's dining area and living room from her kitchen

East end of the house

Stone facade, the deck, etc.

2008-08-30T17:54:00.014-05:00

Front of the house featuring the stone facade!

The back side of the house with our new deck!

A view of the deck from the dining area.

The view as we enter the front door.

Viewing the foyer from a different angle.

Master bedroom.

Upstairs laundry room.

Master bathroom.

Guest bathroom.

Type of woodwork used on interior doors.

One side of the French doors which will be used to enter Mom's dwelling.

The sheetrocking begins!!

2008-08-21T22:02:00.010-05:00

The view as we enter the front door

A shot of Mom's outside entry and windows

Master bedroom

Master bathroom

Mom's kitchen

Mom's living room

Mom's bedroom

Mom's kitchen

2008-08-21T22:01:00.000-05:00

Mom's kitchen before the appliances

An architectural drawing of Mom's kitchen with appliances

Doors & Windows!

2008-08-17T16:45:00.011-05:00

A view of our spacious garage (insert Tim "Tool Man" Taylor grunt here)!

Mom's bathroom

The guest bathroom upstairs

The gal tests the feel of ~~our~~ her whirpool tub!

Looking out to the eventual site of our deck!

Walk out basement

A view of approximately half of our basement

The roof has shingles!

2008-08-11T19:52:00.006-05:00

The roof has shingles!

The view as we enter the front door.

Looking down on the foyer.

The whirlpool tub in the master bathroom!!

Comin' Together!!

2008-08-07T21:48:00.009-05:00

Front of the House, with upstairs now added!

Back of the House

Master bedroom

Master bathroom

Mom's garage

Mom's bedroom

Mom's bathroom

The framing begins!

2008-08-01T22:03:00.008-05:00

Front of the house

Back of the house

Mom's living quarters

Site of our future garage

Living room

Here I am in the kitchen

A view of the bay window on the east side of the house

The Foundation!!

2008-07-24T23:37:00.004-05:00

The hole has been dug!!!

2008-07-18T22:32:00.005-05:00

Breaking ground!!

2008-07-06T13:37:00.004-05:00

The gal & I brought her sister, brother-in law and nephew up to see the property.

While there, we decided to officially break ground!

The stakes are in the ground!

2008-06-29T19:40:00.004-05:00

Looking at the where the front of the house will be.

Standing on the east side of the house.

A view from the back yard.

Decisions, Decisions.

2008-06-22T13:22:00.001-05:00

Ok, so this post is a little late, but things have been busy and this is the first chance I have had to update our progress on the house.

Both our current homes (Mom’s and ours) are still for sale. Mom’s house has been on the market for twenty five days now, and our townhouse is on day eighteen. There have been a few showings on both houses, and the feedback on them has been relatively positive, so all is well so far on the selling front.

On Friday, June 6th Mom, Donna (sister), and I went to the selection center at Woodside Homes office in Fridley. We met with an interior designer to select all of the interior and exterior options that we built into the price of the home. Teri, our designer, was flabbergasted at the absence of my husband. “He doesn’t mind that you are picking everything without him?” she asked with astonishment. Actually, Brad not only trusts me with the choices, but would probably gouge his own eyes out before we finished the work. He is definitely interested in the process, but will tell you he does not have the patience for it. So he was content to go to work and leave the details up to the three gals.

When we got to the selection center, we were greeted by Teri and taken to a room with a large island in the middle and some tall stools to sit on. The room was filled with samples of everything from flooring to paint, with every wood type and finish available to us. I am very grateful for Teri’s assistance because there was so much to choose from it was overwhelming. I can’t imagine what it is like to build a custom home from scratch. Without Teri’s guidance it would not only have been hard to choose, but to stay within our budget as well.

Mom and Donna were essential to the process as well. This is Mom’s house too. She had as much to say about the choices as I, and Donna was great at helping to make choices when we narrowed them down. Donna is the one who picked out the Cambria countertop for my island, and helped with the other color choices too. It was really fun to have her there with us.

We chose oak woodwork and cabinets throughout the house, and the entire first floor has a medium oak finished hardwood floor. This was something I struggled with, as hardwood is a little spendy. I’m glad we went with it. The flow of the house will be much prettier with a continuous look. Also, of all the things that we can change in the future, it’s the carpet that is easiest to rip out, so it made sense to us to put more of our money toward the hardwood. The doors and cabinets are solid and have a Mission style to them. The hardware is antique oil rubbed bronze throughout. When we chose the paint color, we were able to match the carpet and tile for the bathrooms. Mom’s side of the house has her own look and carpet choices. It was annoying to learn that if we wanted different paint colors in the house that it would be $400/room to have it changed. Oh well, we can paint the bedrooms later if we want too.

There are things that I wish for but would put us over budget. I refuse to fuss over that stuff. Overall, the house will undoubtedly be lovely. Mom and I easily agreed on the things that would be common to both sides of the house. Mom will have her own entry, washer/dryer, kitchen and living space. She will have hardwood in her kitchen a living room and she picked out the tile and carpet for her bedroom. She also has a different countertop in her kitchen. We will be close to Donna, Dennis, Nate and Aaron which is a treat. I think the most frustrating thing about the process is that we don’t really know what our house is going to look like, as they have never built this particular floor plan before so there was no model to look at. Oh well. I’m sure we’ll be pleasantly surprised!

God is good. All good things come from Him, and I don’t want to wrap this up without giving credit where it is due. I’m sure our homes will sell, and all the work to prepare them will be worth it in the end. He always gets us through and I can’t wait to see the end result.

Woodside Homes will be obtaining permits and conducting surveys of the land this week. Our next meeting with them will be to look at the lot with the stakes in the ground. Woohoo!

Set in stone!!

2008-06-15T21:33:00.002-05:00

Having made our final selections for the house (i.e hard wood floors, a deck instead of a three-season porch, etc.) we signed an addendum to our original purchase agreement to set the final price. As much as we were determined to stay within our budget, we inevitably went over (but only by about $3,500). Ah, it's all good!! This is a home where we are going to live until they kick dirt in our faces so we better make it count. This week they will place the stakes in the ground and then actually start digging the hole in early July.

It seems more real with each passing landmark!

Mom's kitchen.

2008-06-02T19:03:00.003-05:00

The architectural drawing really doesn't do it justice. Mom will have the highest quality appliances and wood work for her kitchen!!

Purchase agreement signed!!

2008-05-29T20:18:00.002-05:00

There's no turning back now!

The evening started with us sitting down with our home builder to pick out our options. Being a numbers guy, I had an exact dollar figure in mind concerning how much we want to pay for our home. After picking out extras (i.e. higher quality flooring, a three season porch, nice tile in the master bath, etc.), the home builder guy added up all the options.

When it was all said and done, we had $983 to spare!!! Granted things may change after meeting with the interior decorator next week. But I thought we did quite well considering all of the options we desired.

With that, we signed the purchase agreement! Upon signing, we learned that the home design we've chosen is the first one of its kind that Woodside Homes will build.

Within the next week or two we will be posting pictures of the official ground breaking ceremony!

Devil Room....Defeated!

2008-05-26T10:24:00.001-05:00

My Mom and Dad’s home in River Falls, WI has a root cellar. When they bought the house in 1992 the basement was unfinished, driveway was gravel, and the house needed a new roof and siding. Since then Mom and Dad improved on all of those things and more, except the root cellar which I named “The Devil Room” because it gives me the creeps.

I have never liked spending time in basements. The darkness depresses me and I don’t like the cold. So you can imagine why I didn’t care for the root cellar. Needless to say, it was useless space unless used for storing canned food and such so it went unattended for years. We just closed the door and ignored it. Big mistake. Huge.

As the years went by my fear of the Devil Room increased. Dad asked me on many occasions to help him clean it out, but I was so freaked out by it I refused. It was damp, getting musty, and bugs were starting to reside. It was an irrational fear, I know. However, I just built up in my mind awful things growing and dripping in that stupid little room. Well, as Rev. Wright says “The chickens are coming home to roost”. With the death of my father in February, my family decided to move forward with plans to build a home so Mom can come live with us. Yep, you guessed it, we need to sell the River Falls house. The Devil Room and I have a date with destiny. I can hear my Dad laughing at me from heaven.

In this housing market, every little thing counts. The Devil Room has to be dealt with if we want to sell Mom’s house in a reasonable amount of time. Left alone it would be an issue for any buyer. So I decided to make it my project. I consulted several people on what to do and tackled the project with vigor and courage. Brad and I cleaned it out, my brother-in-law helped us scrape and smooth the cinder block, we washed it with bleach, soaked it, rinsed it, and used a shop vacuum to get the moisture out. When it was reasonably dry I used hydraulic cement to fill any cracks and holes, and we painted it with masonry paint. It’s getting a new door and frame this week along with some flooring material. The Devil Room has been defeated!

I know my Dad would be proud and pleased. He never liked that stupid, creepy crawly room either. I also know what a complete ninny I have been. Had I just tackled the project when Mom and Dad moved in, I would not have had to deal with it now and would have rid myself of any worry and fear. Lesson learned.

Land pictures.

2008-05-18T14:35:00.008-05:00

A view of our land from across the street

Future site of our home!!!

The back yard

A view from approximately where our front door will be

I'm listening intently for any kind of noise. Thankfully, I don't hear much!!

Soaking it in!!

Picked out a lot!

2008-05-17T19:41:00.002-05:00

With Mom along with us, the gal and I picked out probably the nicest lot in the development! Since there aren't many lots reserved in what is still a sagging market, we pretty much could choose the best one available. After reserving the land, we had a nice celebratory dinner at Olive Garden!!

As we were getting ready to put Mom's house on the market, we thought we might throw in Dad's riding mower as an extra enticement to a potential buyer since Mom and Dad had a sizable chunk of land. However, we're definitely bringing the mower to the new place, given the size yard we're going to have.

Scheduled meeting with the builder.

2008-05-16T12:14:00.000-05:00

Now that we are officially approved for a mortgage, we have a meeting set up with our home builder tomorrow afternoon to officially select our lot!

I think it will really hit home when we start selecting interior options for the house as well. When speaking about some possible upgrades (i.e. Cambria counter tops, higher quality kitchen cabinets, etc.), the gal starts rubbing her hands together and giggling like a mad scientist.

I really don't know what I'm in for, do I?

The first step in our journey.

2008-05-14T22:25:00.001-05:00

Welcome to The Carlson House blog!!

As some of you may know we had initially planned to build our house in Andover, which is about eight miles northeast of where we currently live. However, those plans fell through so we decided to wait it out to determine if there were any suitable alternatives.

Three days had passed after we balked at the Andover plan when our builder called to inform us of a very quiet and scenic area in Ramsey, which is about 10 miles northwest of us. The gal & I took one look at the area and were instantly sold! The best part is this particular area would allow us to have that same home design we initially chose, but for approximately $50,000 less!

Despite the fact that we thought the Andover plan was the proverbial cat’s meow, we didn’t try to force the issue and make it work. When it didn’t feel right, we let it go and then trusted that God would fulfill the desire on our hearts. And I’m not talking about the material possession that would be our new home. No, I’m specifically referring to fulfilling the promise Jennifer made to her Dad. She assured her Dad that we would take in Mom to live with us after he passed.

Feel free to check in to this site periodically as we will be providing many updates of this exciting journey in our lives!