Hi everyone!  Sorry the Q & A took me forever!  You all asked a lot of questions!  Plus I tend to ramble so when you put those two things together you get a Q & A post that goes on for miles.  :)  I split the post in two so if you don’t see your question in this post hopefully it will show up in the next one!

My husband and I are thinking about building a house.  We are so nervous!  What advice do you have to finally pull the trigger and just do it?  

Oh boy.  What to say to this one…  I would love to say just go for it!  But I have to be honest.  So my answer is this – take your time to decide if building is the best plan for you.  When I think about our experience building a house, the best way I can explain it is to compare it to being in the newborn stage with a new baby.  It’s amazing and wonderful and the best.  It’s also exhausting and overwhelming and sometimes not the best.  Building a house comes with a lot of work and it’s very time consuming.  You will be taking on as many hours as a part time job (or more depending on the size of your house and how custom you make it) so make sure you are in a position to spend that kind of time on it.  Parts of the process are so fun and exciting, but other parts are exhausting and stressful.  It’s hard on your marriage – and not because you want white cabinets and he doesn’t – that stuff can be worked out.  It’s hard because you reach a point where you are both so exhausted from all of the work building involves that you have nothing left to give.  Kinda like in the newborn stage when you snap at each other not because you are mad, but because you have been up all night listening to a crying baby for weeks and are just plain tired.  Aside from the constant decision making, problems and glitches pop up right and left and you have to solve them (the solution always costs more money).  The never ending finances of it all can wear on you.  You are making a big investment with your hard earned cash and you feel a lot of pressure to get it right and not make mistakes.  Plus you feel rushed.  Time is money when you build and you have to make decisions quickly to keep everything moving.  (I have definitely struggled with the quick part!)  Kenny and I celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary a couple of weeks ago and you know what we gave each other?  A high five for surviving the past year.   We both agree that if we still love each other after this experience, we’re not going anywhere.  :)

Now that I’ve scared you to death, let me also say that I’m so happy we did this.  I have LOVED so many parts of the building process.  I mean how cool to design a house that is totally and uniquely you!?  I’ve met so many wonderful people.  Some who will be life long friends.  I adore my house and I feel truly blessed every time I’m in it.  It’s an amazing process to see something that was just an idea in your head actually come to life.  Each stage is so exciting.  So to me, all of the headaches will absolutely be worth it.  Did I make mistakes?  Yes.  Are there things I wish I would have done differently?  For sure.  Do I want to do it again?  Not any time soon.  :)  But still SO worth it in the end.  My best advice to you is to just understand what the next year or two will be like for you and your family while you are building before you decide to pull the trigger.  Make sure you are in a position to take on the project (from a time and financial stand point) and if so, JUST DO IT!!  :)  I’m so glad we did!

** Side note – there are SO many things I have learned from this process.  Things that we did that made the process smoother and things we wish we would have done differently.  I’m going to write a post including all of my best tips for building a house.  As soon as I recover from building ours.  :)  

Would you please post a sketch or drawing of your floor plan?  I’ve been following along and would really love to know how it all fits together.

I totally understand why so many of you have asked this!  First of all, I think the main layout of my house will make a lot more sense when I share more pics after we’ve moved in.  But as far as sharing a complete floor plan, I’ve chosen not to.  While I’ll share a lot of our rooms/spaces as I decorate them on the blog, I think it’s important to keep some things private.  You all know I’m such an open person and I would love to share everything and then some with all of you!  I truly consider my readers to be friends.  But this is our home.  And I can’t be naive to the fact that I have no control over who is reading my blog.  So some things about our home I’ll share and other things I’ll have to try really hard not to.  :)  I hope you all understand!

What is the square footage of your beautiful home?  Bedrooms/Bathrooms?

Hmmm.. another tough question that keeps popping up.  :)  There is a master bathroom, powder bath, shared office/guest bathroom, Kole’s bathroom, the girls’ share a bathroom, and a small pool bathroom outside. As far as square footage goes – I’ll just tell you that our current house we’ve lived in for the last 11 years is 2300 square feet.  The new house is obviously bigger than that.  :)  It’s big enough to have lots of friends over, to make lots of memories in, and to be a marvelous place for my kids to play hide and seek.  How did I do avoiding that question?  I know that’s exactly what you all wanted to hear.  ;)

I would love to know where you picked your carpet and what you chose for your runner?

I’d love to share places I shopped with anyone in the San Diego area!  Just send me an e-mail for details. As far as the carpet runner, I let all of you choose and went with the trellis pattern from this post.  

Carpet is being installed today!  You will all be in big trouble if it doesn’t look good.  Seriously.  I will hunt you down.  ;)  I will post pics of the stairs when they are done!

I would love to hear more about your paint and lighting selections.

Lots of questions about paint and lights!  Once we’ve moved in the house and are settled I plan to do a post sharing all of the paint colors I chose (so glad to have paint behind me – that was a time consuming stage!).  I’ll answer the most common paint questions I keep getting here and you can e-mail if you are wondering about another color.  If you’re not in a hurry, I’ll share them all in a month or so.  Same with the lighting.  At some point when I have time I will share all of the lights I chose (lighting was one of my favorite parts of this process – I love fun fixtures!).  E-mail me if you want a light source ASAP and I will do my best to get back to you.  I have some fun lights left to show you!  :)

What color/brand did you end up painting the exterior of the house?

The exterior color of our house is a custom color.  We took the color “Capricorn” by Frazee and made it just a tad darker.

Some of you have asked about Frazee paint.  It’s a paint that is made in California specifically for climate conditions in the southwestern US.  There are Frazee paint stores all over California, Arizona and Nevada so that may explain why some of you have never heard of Frazee paint.  Frazee is a sister company to Kwal so if you can’t get Frazee you can try getting the same color through Kwal Paint.

I love the wall color in the foyer.  What color is it?

Entry paint is the main color I used throughout the body of my house.  It’s “Seattle” by Frazee and I adore it!  It’s a great grey.  Not too blue.  Not too green.  Not too purple.  Not too light.  Not too dark. :)  If you are thinking of painting something in your house grey I would recommend painting a big swatch on the wall and then checking it out at different times of the day and in different lighting.  Greys are tricky!  There were so many shades of grey that I loved on-line but when I put them up in my house they just didn’t look right.  Then certain greys I picked looked great in some spaces in my house and not great in others depending on the lighting.  So take the time to really test your grey paint and you will be much happier with the end result!

Sure!  Kole’s room paint is “Himalayan Trek” by Benjamin Moore.  We also painted Kenny’s office and a bathroom that color.  It’s definitely a brown grey.

I love the color of your scrapbook room!  Could you let me know what color/brand it is?

Thanks!  Rather fond of that color myself.  :)  It’s “Tinted Ice” by Dunn Edwards.

What are the dimensions of your pool?

Our pool is 42 x 22.

What is a shamu shelf?

A shamu shelf is a shallow “shelf” or spot in a pool.  (I think there are other names for them.)  They are used to lounge in and are great for babies/small kids to splash and play on.  Some of you were asking about our pool layout.  I love curvy pools, but we decided on a rectangle shaped pool and put the hot tub inside of the pool for one reason – safety.  We wanted to be able to cover the whole thing when we aren’t using the pool and keep it totally safe for little ones running around.  We made the pool extra wide so we could fit the hot tub, a shamu shelf and still have a lane for swimming laps.  

They just installed the cover last week!  (It’s not quite finished – the coping – large blocks – still need to be installed over the ledge so you don’t see the mechanics of the cover.)

So now we can go from this…

 To this…

with the flip of a switch.  These covers aren’t the prettiest or the most cost effective option, but they definitely give you peace of mind when you have a three year old on the loose.  Which was our goal.  :)

Here is a look at how my office/scrapbook/homework/craft room is coming along!  We started putting on the hardware.  Ignore all of the blue tape.  And the rest of the mess.  Definitely still a work in progress!

I put white porcelain knobs with black plates on all of my craftsman style doors.  Throw back to a different era.  I adore them.

They are so fun!  The whole thing spins and then each smaller fan on the side spins (together or separate).  Now the kids get their fans and I still get to have a fun light in their rooms.  Win win.  :)

And a quick peek of our family room fixture.  It’s galvanized and has a cool silvery gold look to it.  The couches I ordered for this room have a linen fabric that is similar in color.

For years I used my Time Management Binder and it worked so well for me.  I still use the sticky note shopping list system!  So easy to grab a sticky note and head to the store.

And a big section in the middle where you can write the weeks’ dinner menu.  LOVE this.  I am really trying to plan our dinners a week at a time because I don’t have time to run to the grocery store as often as I used to.  Even if our meal for the evening is chicken nuggets and corn on the cob – writing it down and making sure I have everything ready a week at a time has been a big time saver for me lately.

This is my planner right now.  I recognize it looks ridiculous with everything blocked out so you can’t read it.  I had no choice since I work for the CIA and my daily assignments (a.k.a missions) are top secret.  You can see how I am using the left side for appointments/activities and the right side for meal planning and notes.  I divide my notes into two sections (CIA agents do that) – a section for miscellaneous to-do’s and one for house stuff that needs to be taken care of ASAP.  Anything house related that needs to be done but not right at this second goes into my notebook.  Which I appropriately refer to as “the motherload.”

End of story is that I’m really loving my new planner!  It’s a great solution for busy moms (and anyone else trying to save the world).  Plus you can get it for a great price.  You can check out the details (and other fun planners) at Day Timer.

Not much time to post tonight.  After a typical afternoon/evening of new house issues, helping the girls with homework, Kole’s therapy, cooking dinner, dinner clean-up, and the bedtime routine I was feeling a bit depleted.  Today was definitely a Monday!  (Anyone else feeling it?)  I knew I had a good hour before bed and I could either plop down in front of the TV and blog OR take a nice hot bath.  Hmmm… what to do with my precious hour of free time….??  Then Kenny came home with the new Star Trek movie and just like that – decision made.  Time for a bath.  :)  Even though I’m short on blog time I wanted to pop in to answer a quick question and share something fun I found on Pinterest.  I’m working on a Q & A but thought I’d share the answer to this question I received on Facebook last week since it’s similar to other e-mails I’ve received.

“I miss Fashion Fridays!  Maybe instead of clothing fashion you could do a post on home fashion with ideas of how you plan to decorate your new home???  Pretty Please!!!”

First of all – thank you so much.  Such a kind question.  :)  Let me tell you – building has been a big time commitment (way bigger than I ever imagined!) and while I’ve loved a lot of the process, I’ve definitely had to let a lot of things go.  My house is a mess every day.  Seriously.  Drawers may be organized, but the floor and counters are covered.  Boxes are strewn about everywhere – some half packed.  The laundry?  Done twice a week if we’re lucky (I used to be so good about doing a load a day) and a home cooked dinner is hit and miss.  Of course my blogging time has been limited as well.  I take a lot of pics of the house and then don’t have time to post them.  Plus it has been hard to share a lot of new house pics throughout the process because so much of the house is constantly covered up and a dusty mess.  I promise that once the house is finished and we’ve moved in, I will share a lot more house pictures.  I’ll have more time to share decisions I’ve made along the way once I’m done making all of the decisions.  :)  I’ll also share a lot of fun decor pics along the way while I begin decorating.  And of course, I’ll share lots of the organizing going on as well!  (So excited for that!)  I’m hoping that when this process is behind us I’ll have more time to blog in general and I’ll be able to bring back post topics like Fashion Fridays, gift ideas, etc. now and again.  SO the answer to this question is YES!  FOR SURE!  Just give me another month or so to finish building and to move.  Then I will bore you all to death with home decor pics.  :)

As far as fashion is concerned, currently I’m running around most days in jeans and flip flops with paint all over them.  Nothing too fashionable about that.  :)  So here is something I found on Pinterest to give us all a little fashion fix!

A guy came to give me a quote on putting Epoxy on our garage floors and he had the coolest little office set up inside his car!  He works on the go and said that this set up has worked like a charm.  I thought it was so smart – functional and organized.  He was kind enough to let me snap a few pics with my iphone for the blog.  He made the little desk with dividers and then just put a rug pad on top of it to hold things in place.

 Kenny loves to take the whole fam to baseball games in the summer.  The girls and I aren’t all that into the game.  I bring magazines and the girls bring coloring books and we keep ourselves entertained waiting patiently for the real reason we go – nachos and the end of the game fireworks.

 This was Kole’s first game and he loved every minute of it.  I thought he would want to be up and running around the stadium the whole time but he never left our laps!

I saw this white mirrored hutch on TV last week and am DYING over it!  Isn’t it so beautiful with that fun circle pattern!?  I feel like it’s my new mission in life to find a duplicate.  Not that I even have a place I need it in our house, but I might need to create one!  I’ve found a few things similar, but not the exact same one.  Nothing that I like as much.

Ad loved her tatoos for the afternoon because they coordinated with her shirt and skirt, but the second her clothes changed she wanted them off.  Too many accessories clutter an outfit.

Kids were so excited about the pool that they HAD to jump in the evening it was filled.  No chemicals in the pool yet – straight hose water.  Freezing cold!  A few neighbors joined them and they had quite the time together.  Teeth chattering away.  Yard isn’t finished.  House isn’t finished.  Pool isn’t finished.  But they swam anyway.  And loved it.  Water!  It’s all kids need to party.  :)

I also picked out these fish for the shamu shelf.  I woke up at 5:00 am Monday morning and drove inland for an hour in crazy morning traffic to buy them.  Then flew back to the coast to be at our house by 8:00 when the plastering was about to start (yeah – cut it a little close with that one!).  When the kids saw them they decided the baby fish is Kole, the middle two are the girls, and the first fish is daddy.  Where’s the mommy fish?  According to Ellie I was eaten by a shark.  (What!?)  Now I’m totally kicking myself that I didn’t buy one more fish!  Clearly I’m paying the price.  :)

I decided to go with this Orb Chandelier from Restoration Hardware.  I have loved this exact one for so long!  But I put off buying it because it was so pricey.  I kept looking for other options and found several fixtures I liked, but nothing was big enough for the space.  Then not long ago this baby went on sale.  The exact size and finish I had been admiring!  I scooped one up so fast and just days later they were sold out.  Seems I’m not the only one who adores the orb!

We are waiting for the extension chain.  My electricians were sweet enough to hang it for me without the chain so we could make sure it looked right and see exactly where to put it.  My electricians were also sweet enough to follow me to my old house to pick up the light because it didn’t fit in my car.  My electricians were then sweet enough to ever so politely tease me about my driving.  Apparently they think I have a bit of a lead foot.  “What!?” I immediately protested.  “I was driving my slowest most careful speed not to lose you guys!”  They were then sweet enough to promise to not mention my lead foot to my husband.  Not that it would be news to him.  And now I’ll be sweet enough to stop rambling and stay on topic.   So the orb!  Do you love them?  Hate them?  My mom is not a fan.  (Sorry mom.  I loved it too much to let it go.  I think I can change your mind when you come to help me move.  Are you packed yet?)  

Have you all seen Shelly’s DIY version of the Orb Chandelier (House of Smiths)?  Oh my word.  She made one!  And it looks amazing.  So impressive.  You have to check it out.  If only I had an ounce of her mad DIY skills.  I want to laugh out loud just picturing me trying to attempt something like that!  Let’s just say that if I tried to make one myself, the orb wouldn’t look so orbish.  :)

Hardwood will be finished tomorrow!  Carpenters are running all of the baseboards.  There is still lots to do and we are thinking of pushing back the move date.  (But you can still pack mom.)  I will share more lights soon!

A fun day at the beach.  Not today.  These pics were from a random summer day.  Today we went couch shopping.  A continued search we started weeks ago.  At store #1 we walked in and sat down on a couch and Kenny said “I’m bored.  Can we be done?”  So you can imagine how much fun it has been dragging him around to find “the ones.”  So much fun that I wanted to forget couch shopping today and remember one of our fun summer mornings at the beach.  I love it when Kenny comes to the beach with us.  The kids love it too.  He plays in the waves with Kole and boogie boards with the girls.  He is fun at the beach.  Not so much fun furniture shopping.  :)

 They also started our side gates.  They are going to have inset panels and be painted white.  We have been holding off on a lot of plants and flowers for the yard until everything inside is finished because workers are still tromping over everything each day.

Our conversation this morning trying to coordinate our schedules for the day…  Can you cover this?  Can you be there for that?  Someone needs to sign for appliances… Don’t forget the meeting tonight… crap! it’s your birthday!  We don’t have time for your birthday!  We’ll fit it in from 6:30 to 7:00.

Of course we are making time.  Girls are decorating the house as we speak.  My kitchen table is covered in markers and glitter and I will have mini football drawings stuck to my walls for a week.