Contract signed...check!

Yesterday, my family and I drove to Bailey, CO to sign the contract for the log home shell we are purchasing from TJ's Wood Products.  We paid our deposit (1/3 of the entire cost) on August 2, and that started the process for the plans, construction, etc.  Turns out we are a few people/projects down on the list to get the construction started, but after talking to Mike, with how helpful he was with narrowing down a time of completion as to when the house would be fully erect, and when the next step of this process can commence.

The perfect home for us!

 

 After looking up numerous floor plans and options for various floor plans we finally had it narrowed down to two options.  The Homestead and The Weston.  And once we knew an approximate budget for out entire home, including appliances, kitchen cabinets, flooring, interior walls, insulation, plumbing and lighting fixtures, etc, it was easy to determine what we could spend on the log exterior we would be purchasing from TJ's. Seems backwards, but we did get the quote on each plan before we decided and then we could get the guesstimate of what the cost of total completion would be.

The Homestead

We loved the way this one had the attached garage and the storage area and extra room in that "wing" of the house.  We figured the study could be turned into an extra room and the game room--yeah, totally awesome space to have for raising kids.  

The Weston

We loved this one for it's open loft area, I grew up in a house with a loft so this was especially appealing to me.  We also figured that 4th bedroom would be especially handy for family and guests, plus the kitchen/dining room/great room common area brings a whole new meaning to an "open floor plan"

The model we chose was....

Since we are building on the banks (out of the 100 year flood plane, of course) of the majestic Rio Grande River, the option of a basement was out, a crawlspace is totally possible--a basement, not so much!

So, after finding out the Homestead model has two floors, one is a main floor and the other a...basement we though we could modify the plans and just flip the floors making the main floor the lower and the upper floor would then be the one with the two bedrooms, etc.  Until we found out that flipping the floors would mean the log shell would almost double, thus increasing the price and totally blowing our budget, the Weston became that much more desirable not only for price but the view of the front of the house had us sold!  And the more I thought about the house I could see being our "forever home" this is the one that came to mind immediately. 

Photos courtesy of TJ's Wood Products