We're back in bizness

Let's see, where did I leave off? Oh yes, the deal was falling through.

Well, to make a very VERY long story short, we're back on again. It took a few candid conversations with our builder, some long conversations with our attorney, and a threat to walk away, but I think we're good again. The architects are fast-tracking our drawings in order to move things along. In fact, we've gotten two new drafts of the floor plans just in the past couple of days, so things are finally coming together. We think we're 97% happy with the current drawings so they are now converting them into full-on, buildable blueprints. They're hoping to apply for permits in the next 10 days, after which we should be able to build within 3-4 weeks. So our new ETA for breaking ground is Christmas.

All we want for Christmas is a hole in the ground and some poured concrete. Do you think Santa can manage that? Please God I hope so. :)

Here are the latest drawings - the biggest changes are to the living room (we added a bay window), the master bedroom (we added a tiny balcony - no big deal), and we added in some architectural details (coffered ceilings, hard wood flooring, etc.) I've included two of the exterior elevations too so you can see how the balcony will look from the outside - it's pretty neato (if I do say so myself). :)

NOTE: All of this is subject to change once we get the budget and promptly pass out.

In other news, our builder commissioned a full-color rendition of our house to use in some marketing materials for his company. We haven't seen the results yet but our builder insists that it will knock our socks off. Word on the street is that the artist made the house a brownish/red instead of pale yellow. (!) We're having a hard time picturing that, but we're trying to keep an open mind. Who knows, if we like it enough we might change our mind about the color. I'm hoping to get a copy of it this coming weekend - I will be a good blogger and update the site once I have it.

So, stay tuned...