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Saturday, December 22, 2012

Construction saga: Let the fun begin!

I've been talking about a construction project in the planning stages for a while, but now it's really happening.

I have a large freestanding workshop/storage building/carport behind my house which will soon be turned into a beautiful apartment...for me. My daughter, SIL and the grandsons will be living in the house. For a long time, we've been joking that when I get old, I would live in an apartment in their back yard. We never expected it to be quite this soon, but when they decided to move from Dallas back to Fort Worth, things fell into place, and we realized that this would be a good move for us now.

I envision its being my own little oasis of modernist goodness...with about half the square footage to keep clean, which was the deciding factor for me. I realized that you don't have to be old to be tired of cleaning rooms you don't use. The apartment will be the perfect size for me, and I'll get to build in some amenities that I don't have in my house at the moment.

I've spent hours looking at sinks and toilets and flooring and paint, and I've made almost all of my final choices. Here's just a hint of some of the materials I'll be using.




And, no, I can't justify a $1000 ceiling fan...but it was nice daydreaming about buying one.

The exterior color scheme will be the same as the main house...grayish green with orange trim. I'll have French doors instead of a solid wood front door, so the orange will be used on a 3" strip of metal beneath the flat roof. I'm still debating whether the interior walls will be bright white or will have a very faint gray-green cast. 

This saga will continue for at least a couple of months, assuming the weather cooperates and the work goes as scheduled, so I'll keep you posted as things progress. 



14 comments:

  1. I'm super excited for you Dana! A chance to design and build is the stuff of dreams! But there is a condition for your family, they must keep the orange door! Also you'd love the glass splash back I have in my kitchen, it's burnt orange and my black franke sink!
    Merry Christmas lovely lady, see you in 2013!

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    1. I'm really excited too. This is the first house I've built from the ground up since the mid-80s, so it will be fun. My daughter and SIL and I collaborated on choosing the colors for the main house, so they're crazy about the orange door. It's a keeper!

      I'd love to see pictures of your kitchen. It sounds like something I'd adore. I've been looking at black Franke sinks, but I may go with a one-piece design made of the material I pick for the countertop. That's one of the decisions I still need to make.

      Merry Christmas to you too, Pippa. I hope you and your family have a wonderful holiday.

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  2. Exciting and lovely Dana - it will be nice to have your own purposely designed space with your family close by. I think it's great your kids still want to live 'with' their Mum. I'm sure my girls would never consider it. Crikey, I think they'd want to be as far away from me as they could be! (teenagers) although Anth and have thought of turning our lovely old brick shed into a little flat for our eldest in the future - the price of real estate being what it is here. Just don't ask me to build it for you. I have just tried to 'build' a Modernist gingerbread house! What a disaster! I know I like a bit of wonk, but this takes the cake. Not sure if I'm brave enough to post it on the blog. Anth just walked past and burst out laughing!
    Gee Pippa's kitchen sounds lovely...

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    1. Oh, trust me, there was a time when the last thing my daughter wanted to do was live with me...or even in proximity. We've always been really close, but she's also very independent. When they were shopping for their first house, there was a great place two blocks down the street from me, but she thought it would be totally geeky to live on the same street as her mother...LOL Two kids later, it seems pretty nice (and handy) to have the whole family in one location, especially since I babysit Grandson #2, and Grandson #1 is in pre-school about 5 minutes away.

      We did the gingerbread house thing last weekend. That is, THEY did it, and I watched, laughed and made sarcastic comments and took pictures. I don't think they kept the roof on for more than about 30 seconds before it slid off and the kids started to eat it. The whole thing ended up in a food fight, with the parents as instigators. There's never a dull moment around this place! :)

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  3. Sounds exciting, hope there are no zoning problems. Does the floor slab slope? If so you could pour a new slab on top or install a wood floor on pressure treated sleepers. Know it will be great!

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    1. We don't anticipate any zoning issues, since many of the homes in my area (mostly build from the 30s through the 50s) have the original guest houses or maid's quarters in the back. We'll be pouring new concrete on the carport side to bring it up to the height of the slab under the workshop and storage room.

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  4. hi dana...what a pleasure it must be to design your own space from scratch.Looks like you have found the ideal solution. I moved back close to my mum and dad after first bub. they live only a few streets away (after always living at least a days travel away). I love watching the relationships grow between the kids and the grands. excited to see what your hours and hours of "study" produces.
    we are gingerbread housing today, by the look of the supplies i bought we are building a whole estate....last years ended up a teepee/carport thing....engineers we are not!
    merry christmas
    allison x

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    1. My SIL's mother, who lives in the same general area, and I have shared the responsibility of babysitting both boys since they were born. It has been wonderful for building relationships with them, and I'm sure it's given my daughter and her husband tremendous peace of mind to know that the grandmothers were caring for them at home. Grandson #1 is attending an early learning center now,and it was really hard to get used to his going off to "school," maybe even harder than it was for his parents, since they were accustomed to being away from him during the daytime.

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  5. Congrats! That sounds perfect. Can't wait to see the after pictures. I know you'll decorate it beautifully!

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    1. Oh, believe me, you'll see the after pictures...and all kinds of pictures in between! I'm having so much fun planning this. It will be even more fun documenting it.

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  6. Wow, Dana- this is sooo exciting!! I can't wait to follow the process. Knowing your great taste I'm sure your new home will be amazing!
    I wish you and your family a wonderful Christmas, and look forward to lots of great conversations in2013!

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    1. I'll try not to bore you with all the minutiae of the project, but I'm sure you'll hear plenty about it. Merry Christmas to you and yours as well!

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  7. What an excellent project! I can't wait to see it happen. A little modernist nest! xx

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    1. That's exactly what it will be...my little nest of modernism. :) I hope you and your family have a wonderful holiday season.

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