Building a Home- Getting Started

I figured it would be best to start at the beginning! Tim and I have been so fortunate to build both our homes. Both very different styles and tastes as we built one pre-having children with minimal Pinterest/social media influence. And the second while we had 4 children and Joanna Gaines was blessing the world with her style knowledge. So you can see how they turned out so differently. 

Over the next few paragraphs I hope to give you our best tips for initially getting started with building your home. 

First let’s talk relationally. Building a home is a big undertaking. Whether you are your own general contractor doing all the work, subbing out certain jobs, subbing out the whole house while overseeing it or even hiring out to another general contractor and making key decisions, it is very time and mind consuming. Our best advice for moving forward is that from day 1- be openly communicating with your spouse or building partner about everything. It is important to know each other’s strengths and weaknesses and capitalize on those. For example- Tim is incredible at creating a budget and crunching all the numbers while I excel in frugal shopping, researching and comparing products and finding the best deals. As long as we knew and stayed within our roles, we always made a great team. So know each other’s strengths and weaknesses, write them out if you need to and then allow each other to fully function in that role while not trying to do what you aren’t gifted at. 

Next let’s talk budget. Undertaking a home build is a big project not only in life, but also financially. Be prepared. I repeat- be prepared financially. And when you think you are prepared, go back and add a cushion for yourselves. Tim and I highly recommend a cushion that is equal to or greater than 15% of your overall projected budget. 

Because here’s the deal- inevitably projects always take more time and cost more money than you anticipate. Something might go wrong, a mistake might be made, you may choose to go with a more expensive product or finish in an area of the house or prices of materials may just naturally increase due to circumstances beyond your control. Whatever it is, you don’t want to be stuck with a half done house and crushed dreams. So if it means waiting a little longer so you can save a little more- do it. Practice that patience so you won’t be disappointed in the long run. You will need that financial cushion and it will also save you heartache in your marriage/relationship and help your dreams not to be squashed. In the end, you would rather have waited longer to see a dream fulfilled to its full potential than rush into a project too quickly only to have to cut corners and make choices you regret. I know it might sound harsh but it’s true. Trust us on this one. 

Lastly- let’s chat house styles. There are so many. I repeat- so many!! And so many even within one category. Take Farmhouse for example. You can go modern farmhouse, urban farmhouse, coastal farmhouse, traditional farmhouse, French farmhouse, rustic farmhouse- need I continue? The point is that with so many styles to choose from it’s important to know yours! Want to mix and match a couple styles? No problem. But including too many looks can cause a house to not look cohesive. Pinterest is wonderful but can also be dangerous because there are a million different beautiful pictures to inspire you but they don’t all necessarily go together. 

So here is our best advice: pick your house style (or two) and then find a house that is similar that you love. One house. I did this by googling or Pinteresting a phrase such as “modern farmhouse house tour”. It’s important to include the tour part at the end because this will get you results where you can virtually tour an entire house. Once you find one you love and have seen as a whole- use that as your core home inspiration. Then build from it. Want to add a mid century modern touch? No problem. Extra styles can often be accomplished through great decor, furniture and finishes. But most important  in our opinion, is that you have a solid base home you are inspired from and you build your dream from there. This helps keep your foundational look cohesive. Anything you choose to add afterwards is a reflection of your personal style! 

I hope you enjoyed these home building tips! We love sharing what has and hasn’t worked for us and will continue to share more!

xo, Sarah