The Details

I am going to be honest here and let you know that Matt and I were extremely spoiled in Texas. The cost of living in Texas is drastically lower compared to the east coast. When we built our townhouse in Texas we did not sweat it....actually let me rephrase that...we did not have to worry as much about our wallets as we do here. We have big dreams for the house we are building now, and dreams are never cheap! We know we will need to make sacrifices along the way, but all in all the specs on the house we chose are right up our alley. The floorplan actually reminds us of Texas where most homes have the master bedroom on the first floor…we knew it was the one from the second we stepped in the model!

OK, so the details. The neighborhood is a new development in North Andover, MA and will consist of 32 (or so) single family homes). Cool fact: The neighborhood sits on what was once an apple orchard! Kind of sad they tore into it, and apparently the town was less than thrilled with the construction, but nonetheless still cool! Our street is called "Empire Drive" after empire apples, and the actual neighborhood is called Orchard Village. I think that is so cute! Anyways, if you know the area, it is right off of 114, past Merrimack and the Stop and Shop, on the right. It is a three bedroom, 2 ½ bath home with a two car garage that was a must since I refuse to park my car outside in the winter. Matt gladly agreed since he would be the one shoveling my car out of the snow. The lots are not huge, which Matt loves since he will not have to spend a lot of time cutting the grass. And we all know I do not cut grass. However, I will try to grow a garden and not kill it…keeping things alive is extremely challenging for me. Anyways, the lot we chose is probably around 0.4 acres and has a mini pond in the back. We are going to fence in the yard for the dogs and keep the pond on the outskirts because Morgie and Feni would be swimming in it every chance they got…and that would be just annoying. We are going to have a side door on the fence that leads out to the back of our lot, which is where I think I am going to try and plant a small garden. This garden sounds so great in theory, but we will see if I pull through on that one. All I can think of growing are tomatoes and cucumbers haha! My mind cannot expand any further. I know if Matt is reading this he is laughing his a$$ off! The outside of the house is made up of siding, stone and shingles, which we will be picking out soon. I am thinking I want a dark gray siding with a lighter gray stone and black roof shingles and white trim. Apparently there are a ton of colors to choose from so that will really help with the decision…NOT. Why can’t they just have like six or seven colors? That would make this so much easier. Instead there are seven shades of gray. I will let you know what we decide on. The inside comes standard with hardwood floors (except for the bedrooms), granite counter tops in the kitchen and baths, several different woods to chose from for the cabinets (oak, cherry, etc.), stone around the fireplace and a ton of other details that I have no clue what they mean. I think we even have to pick out a grout color, which just seems ridiculous. Oh, and we get to pick two paint colors for the entire house which is kind of nice. Any additional colors we have to pay extra for, so we will probably do that ourselves…see…sacrifices people! Matt and I painted a room in our old house and let's just say it was not pleasant for either of us. There is a full, walk out basement, but we will not be finishing that right away. In preparation for  finishing the basement at a later date, we decided now to add a sliding glass door and two windows. That way there is lots of light, and will help make it part of the house when we do finish it. In the meantime I will use it to corral Morgie and Feni on rainy days instead of tracking them through the house. Since the basement is a walk out, that means the backyard slopes down a bit to allow for you to literally "walk out" of the basement. So the sliding door off of the kitchen on our first floor leads to a deck that is elevated. I will have to post pictures when the walls are up so you can understand my horrible explanation. Hopefully the rest of my rambling painted a clearer picture for those that are reading this!