The Lichte's New Farmhouse Week 9

Hi Everyone,

We are another week down...

 I was in the middle of writing this post Sunday afternoon... Then tragedy struck. I got that phone call from my sister... The one where I can tell she has been crying, asking if I have talked to mom and telling me not to worry... You know, the kind that just stop you in your tracks and know that your world is getting ready to come crashing down.

My Poppy had a heart attack and he didn't make it. I have a special post planned that I have been writing in my head at night when I can't sleep - so this one is going to be just about the house. We will get back to my sweet Poppy maybe later in the week...

Back to Week 9....We got out concrete floors in our basement and a lot of great dirt work... To all of our workers, I am that crazy lady always walking around with a camera around her neck..

The finished product.... Concrete Floors.... We are SO excited for these..

And that's our Week by Week photo.. Looking at the front of the house from Week 9.

A little alter in the week we got some steel beams put up. This photo is missing one beam, it was too snug of a fit, so I think that they had to do a little cutting.

In addition to dirt work, we got lots of gravel... This is the back porch. Originally we had a screened in porch for the plan, and although I love screened in porches, I think just an open but yet covered porch will be a great grilling area.

One thing that I have been worried about is a steep driveway... Our concrete pad will technically be the ONLY place that our kids will have to ride their bikes someday (well that and the 2100 sq. ft basement) so it was important to me to not have a slope AT ALL... What I thought was impossible with some great dirt workers-they did it... It turned out so much better than I ever really imagined. That dirt work really made it look like a House..

A lot happened during Week 9, and we are currently on Week 10 so I can promise a lot more progress this week too.

Thanks to everyone for their kind words with my families loss this past week.

Hug your people a little tighter... What I would give for just one more.

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The Lichte's New Farmhouse Week 8

It's been 8 weeks..... and even though I am ready to start seeing some more progress (Wood) it has been so much fun to see everyday things happen. That's one perk to building about 150 from where we are currently living. Well that and the fact that we don't have to move anywhere until our house is finished.

Here is my progress picture... Week by week I stand in the same spot and here is Week 8....

Might not be a lot different than last week, but we have LOTS and LOTS of gravel. The gravel was used to fill in some around the foundation. The rest will be back filled with dirt.

It's really nice to not have my foundation filled with rain water from the past 8 weeks. It was beginning to be a nesting place for mosquito's. 

This is the back of the house - look how great our view is going to be from the front porch (minus the pile of dirt)

About a month ago we made the decision to install a Ground Source Heat Pump. It was a huge decision and we didn't take it lightly. After plenty of research, number crunching, talking with people who had one installed, we decided to go for it. It's a lot more money up front for the unit and installation, but in the end saves money and will pay for itself. Plus there is the perk of not having a noisy unit outside... That's right - there is no AC unit, everything is installed underground. That's all I am going to say about that, because really that's all the farther my knowledge goes on that subject. AC/Heating units are my farmers job, I like to concentrate on other things, like light fixtures.

We had all of our basement plumbing done during Week 8. We are not finishing our basement (we probably won't ever finish it) You know, until we have teenagers and their loud music and eye rolling annoy us.... But for now it's just plumbed for a future kitchen area and bathroom. 

Week 9 (which started today) we are supposed to be getting concrete floors in the basement. That will take a couple of days, and then after that hopefully we will begin framing. I am ready to see the house really start to go up. I feel like I have starring at the same hole in the ground and I am ready to start looking up. 

 

Have a great week everyone. My farmer is in full Harvest mode - we are still eating, breathing, sleeping, thinking...all things corn..

 

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The Lichte's New Farmhouse Week 7

Well it's harvest time on the farm so my farmer has been working around the clock. I have secretly been excited for Harvest to start. Don't get me wrong, I miss eating dinner at a decent hour, having my farmer around more and our social life (or lack thereof) will revolve around the weather for the next several months. BUT - it's a great time for me to get some of my little "projects" done.

On the list this harvest season is redoing my kitchen table and chairs, upholstering my new "used" wing back chairs and cleaning out our detached garage. You can bet I will have posts about my table and chairs and my attempt to reupholster something, but I think I will leave the garage cleaning out to your imagination. No need for a blog post about that one - It will be just me wearing boots and gloves in an attempt to steer clear of any spiders...

Back to the house, last week was week 7.... Here is my week to week point of view. Look at that big blue beautiful sky..

 We finally got all of our concrete walls done. Waiting on mother nature was frustrating at times (we are used to it - we are farmers) but our walls look great... After the concrete was poured and the forms were ripped off the basement walls were coated tar.

We do not have a walkout basement and because of the front porch expanding the whole front of the house these two windows are the only basement windows that we have. 

We decided to turn underneath of our front porch into a "storm shelter"... We had actual concrete walls poured on both sides and will eventually have a concrete roof as well. It will be great peace of mind with the bad storms that we sometimes get here in the Midwest PLUS with our bigger front porch it also adds about 750 square feet of storage. I plan to have shelves built in there and it will be a great for canned items... 

Those are the two holes for our garage doors... I plan to have the barn style garage doors. 

That's all on our house. This next week might be kinda slow around here. Maybe a little bit of plumbing stuff for the basement and some drainage tile for the exterior of the foundation. But I do have a meeting with the window guy.

From the paper it looks like we have a pretty decent amount of money budgeted for windows, but I have been warned that it will not go far. I love windows, I don't want to have to lose any, but I have several areas of my home that have a grouping of 3 and 4 windows together. To stay in budget we will make those groupings down to 2 and 3 if necessary. Who am I kidding - it's going to be necessary. (I hope my farmer is reading this-he will be proud)

I love transom windows. I think I have known the definition of transom since I was 6 years old (thanks Mom)... I was always that weird kid flipping through my moms Southern Living magazines..

I would love to have this from my living room our unto our back porch. (as my farmer says - just looking at that is making us over budget) But come on - isn't it beautiful... 

Or something like this but instead of three sets of doors (cha ching) I'll settle for a door in the middle and windows on the side. 

We have got a very open living area floor plan - it's one of our favorite things about the house, but it limits actual doorways. We do have a perfect little doorway from the front hall to the kitchen and I plan on having a transom above the doorway there like this picture below from... you guessed it... Southern Living.

Well - that's where we are at for now... I'll be hitting house stuff pretty hard since my farmer is in the field. I hope everyone is having a safe and bountiful harvest. I know with the market prices being really low it makes it a little bit tougher (especially when you are building a new home) but I hope you all wake up and go to bed feeling very blessed - I know my farmer and I do.

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The Lichte's New Farmhouse Week 6

Hi Everyone -

First of all I wanted to thank you all for your input in your experience with appliances and appliance brands. You were all such great help. I have been thinking about appliances for a while now but like most stuff so far when it comes time to actually picking it out and actually pay for it - it's a tad more stressful.

I will get more to the appliances later - for now, take a look at what has happened during Week 6 at our Farmhouse.

Standing in my spot.... taking a picture of the front

This is the back of the house

I go back and forth on the size - but tonight... it looks big (that's always a little scary)

The east end of the house AKA my closet and bathroom... I mean our closet and bathroom!

Next is actually filling the forms with concrete - then we get floors and lots of other stuff (plumbing, etc)

Back to the appliances.

We are still early on picking out appliances, but there were so many great Labor Day Sales we could not pass them up. We purchased a Refrigerator, Gas Range and Dishwasher all from Best Buy and all are Samsung. The best part is that they keep them in there warehouse until we are ready for them and deliver to us at no extra charge.

We are still in the market for a Double Wall Oven (what - I like to cook) and an Under-Counter Ice Maker.  I am sure we will purchase those at Best Buy as well, because when we made our purchase -since we spent so much money they GAVE us a $400.00 Best Buy gift card. I have more ovens picked out and I know my farmer was eyeing a bigger TV. 

 I have done extensive research and went to look at appliances at so many places so we felt confident that we were making the right decision. In addition to the great sale that Best Buy was having they also had 0% financing for 24 months which was the best decision for us. We can get them paid off by the time out house is done (by paying extra) and we have NO interest, luckily we have yet to draw on our construction loan. But since our concrete walls are wrapping up I am sure it won't be that way for long.

Next week I am sure will be about more concrete and soon we will be picking out windows and doors. Hope you all are having a terrific Fall, my farmer starting picking corn today.. Everyone have  safe and happy Harvest..

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The Lichte's New Farmhouse Week 5

Well here we are..... This is what it looks like in Week 5 at the new Farmhouse.....

They got all of the concrete forms unloaded and in place... It's already looking so much more like a house and a little less like a swimming pool... 

Early last week my brother (Linebach Trenching) came out to lay some tile for our basement. That way - if we were to get more rain it would drain better.

Part of the new front yard is now just dirt and mud... All a part of the construction process.. 

(Check out that corn - I bet my farmer will be in the field soon)

That's about all that has been done during Week 5... But soon we will be getting some concrete

My farmer and I are in the middle of researching appliances. Once we have them all picked out I will do a post on what we have decided to purchase. I must say - picking them out has been a tad overwhelming.. I feel like I like a different brand in each appliance. So tell me, what are some of your favorite appliance brands. What do you have that you like or don't like.

Have a great (short) week everyone... See you for Week 6...

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