Oy Vey and Oy Yay!

It's been a while. We are busy little bees and things are only getting busier. After a lot of discussion, Bryan and I have realized that getting our current home ready for a Spring 2011 listing is unrealistic. We traveled tons this Summer and lost too many weekends, Fall is jam packed with football season weekends, and the Winter is when Bryan gets disgustingly involved at Alpha... there is just too much going on, and we didn't manage our available time very well. Then here on the home front my dining room has been turned into a Kindercare. :) Right now I'm just not willing to hide these things in order to show a home. We're enrolling Reese in Montessori school starting this coming January, so this decor is sure to slow down.... until Summer at least... when we can use the garage as an option. :)

We have, however, made some progress in looking into what we want. We've looked at hundreds of layouts online and ended up buying a home plan book from Lowe's. We have our list of must haves:

~ at least 2000 finished sq ft. (per covenants, but we're planning on more)

~ an option for an unfinished basement (which does not count in the 2000 sq ft and is something we will finish on our own... family/bar area w/spare bedroom/bath)

~ master bedroom on main floor w/other bedrooms upstairs

~ space for playroom

~ large laundry/mud room

Not too crazy... at least we don't think so. :) This is what we stumbled upon in the book. It's the only house out of the hundreds of homes listed that filled all the requirements, and we love it. A sign perhaps?

Changes... we really like the contemporary craftsman style homes.... particularly the color combinations and pillar options. We'd like to swap out the lighter siding and darker shutters/trim for a darker siding and lighter shutters/trim... like the one below... just maybe not the green.

And the pillars on this home are beautiful! Craftsman style, but not as chunky as on the one above.Here are the floor plans for the main and upper floors... this home does have a basement as an option... and it has additional unfinished living above the garage.(Hopefully you can click on the images to get a better view.)

Now as long as this home isn't going to cost us 30 million dollars we're good to go. Only time will tell. We really need to get the biggest bang for our buck in our current home. We won't be able to even pretend to afford a home like this if we don't take our time, do these projects right the first time, and show how great our home is now. And that my friends is going to take us AT LEAST another year. New goal... listing Spring 2012. :)