"No way," were the first two words out of my mouth, thinking of Kathleen Turner and Michael Douglas trapped under a chandelier. "That could only end badly."
But here we are -- three years and one housing meltdown later -- deciding where to put the stairs and meeting with a civil engineer.
We've wanted a larger house for some time, and we've "dabbled" in everything -- from go into escrow on a house in Truckee to prepping our pad for open houses. For one reason or another, everything fell through.
Fortunately, we listened to the good advice of our friend Charles Austin and took out a home equity line of credit a few years ago, when our house was at its greatest value. We questioned his wisdom -- Andy and I aren't big on credit -- and he told us we didn't have to spend the money. "It'll be there, just in case," he said. The money is still there.
So, with our HELOC, a decent savings, and the essential fact that Peter (Andy's brother) was a framing carpenter for a few years, we begin our journey to add 700 square feet onto our house. This winter, we'll be drafting schedules and budgets. In the spring, we'll tear off the roof. May 1 we'll break ground.
We'll try to keep this blog updated with the small trials and triumphs of our home addition, but it'll likely be a lot of photos.
Wish us luck.
Elevations
Floor Plans
Our House (the small brown speck hidden behind the pickup truck): Circa 2007
