I know some of you are itching for details about the house coming, and even moreso for some interior stuff, but I really want to document the basement.

While the trips to Warman to see our house were so fun, it was the ground breaking that made it real for me.  About a month ago they dug our basement and I’ve never been so excited about dirt and cement before.

How many times over the years had I looked out over that field and squinted my eyes to imagine seeing our home there?  And now it had finally begun.

My dear husband literally got greyer hair over the course of that week, though. It had been Saskatchewan’s snowiest winter on record.  (And when Saskatchewan breaks snowfall records, we’re talking A LOT of snow.)  It just kept falling, and falling, and falling, well into the end of April.  And it was cold too.  There were predictions of flooding of epic proportions.  Not exactly what you want to hear when you have a house scheduled to come in mid-June, and need your basement dug stat.

But God knew.  And even though the cold winter chill lingered far longer than any of us thought we could bear, beneath it all the snow slowly and  efficiently melted into the ground meaning that there was, in fact, no flooding where we lived.  The basement could go ahead, but we needed it dug NOW.

Fortunately my father-in-law’s close friend, Roy, owns an excavation company and they were ready to jump in as soon as they could.  And Sean’s friend, Matt, works for a basement and foundation company that was able to get to us in a timely manner.  (In fact, maybe so timely that the RM and the building permits were playing a bit of catch-up.) 

So, like I said, between flood-watch, excavation, building permits, inspections, last-minute revisions of the drawings, mortgage stuff, foundation pouring, utility applications… etc. etc. (all while finishing tax season and beginning seeding) Sean’s hair actually got greyer over the course of a week.  Poor guy.

But it happened.  God took care of the details.  Some key people stepped in and got things done.  My smart, capable husband worked things out.

And we got to celebrate.

We thought the excavation would be on the Saturday, but Sean got a call on Tuesday that they could start that day.  After working in the morning I whipped up a picnic lunch, rushed to the farm, and we waited and watched for the “digger” to break ground.

It was 27 degrees celsius that day.  Super hot for May.  But there were still piles of snow left on the ground.  Oh, Saskatchewan.  A memorable day, indeed.

The excavation was done that day, and when we went out for supper that night with friends, Sean received a call asking if the basement crew could start the next day.  Um… yeah!

The basement guys worked really efficiently, and before we knew it we were looking at footings.

Then walls.

We took a lot of walks to go visit our basement.

We couldn’t wait to put all of the pieces together and see our house there.

Much more to come, but here is the highlight of my day! Our house came!

Our house comes on Wednesday.

(There’s our front door!  Photo courtesy of Warman Homes)

Our. house. comes. on. Wednesday.  

Nope - still doesn’t feel real.  Can’t wrap my brain around it.

We received some more pictures of the house from our builder this week, and you know what got me most excited (other than seeing our sconces up in the kitchen… but I’ll show you those next week)?  The most exciting thing was seeing the drawers all taped up, and the vents covered over, and some of the light fixtures taken down, all in preparation for the big move.  It was like seeing a Christmas present wrapped and under the tree.  AH!

So I’ll definitely take lots of pictures of the set-up next week and share them here as soon as I can.  (But it’s going to be a crazy week, so I make no promises of promptness.)

YAAAAAAAYYY!!! IT’S COMING!!!

P.S. - Just a reminder that we won’t be moving into the house right away.  We will have to wait about a month before the utilities (water, power, natural gas) are trenched in and hooked up.  But I’ll be busy packing and organizing for the move!  So excited!

We’ve gone twice now to visit our house in-process up at Warman Homes.  What a cool, strange experience!  As I opened a door or walked through a hall I tried to convince myself: I will be doing this thousands more times!  This is MY house!  Crazy.  After years of waiting and dreaming it’s pretty surreal.  Little moments of praise to God around every corner.

The first time we went it was just us and the kids.

Little M has pretty much wrapped his brain around the whole idea now (This is our house.  This is my room.  A big truck is going to move it to the farm.  We will live there soon.)  And it was really fun to see him get excited.

We visited on a Saturday and there were tools all over the place (duh.)  But no workers.  M wanted to know: “Where are the workers!  Why are they not working on our house!?” Be very afraid of that kid if he’s ever your boss some day. ;)

Little L was also super excited.  Maybe she sort of understands.  Maybe she was feeding off of our excitement.  But mostly it’s just a super great place for hide-and-go-seek.

I loved being there and seeing for myself how light and bright the house was!  (After 10 years of living in apartments or basement suites you can never have too much sunshine!)

On the first visit I was thrilled to see some of the light fixtures installed.  I had picked them from pictures and descriptions online, and had my fingers crossed that the finishes would look right and the scale would work.  I was really happy when I saw them in person. (Obviously that chandelier will be lowered after the house is moved.)

On our second visit a bunch of Sean’s family came with us, which was really fun.  By that time our kitchen cabinetry was installed.  Seeing our kitchen was definitely a moment of complete disbelief.  ”No way is this my kitchen.” I could probably fit all 5 of our first kitchens into that kitchen and pantry area.

That island alone would take up the majority of our condo kitchen.  (Kidding.  Mostly.)

And most of all, what hit me over these visits is how perfect the timing is.  God knew all along.  All that waiting and pining for this - and now is the right time.  Now, after we know much better what we want and need in a house.  Now, when we can share this adventure with our young children.  Now, when we’re at this time in our lives and marriage.  Now, when we’ve seen His faithfulness and been stretched in our trust, and contentment, and maturity, and perspective about what really matters in life.  Now, when we still have so many years of living ahead of us.  Now, when we are so overwhelmingly struck with what a massive blessing this is.  Now’s the time.

I mentioned awhile ago that I’ve been dreaming of the design schemes for the bedrooms in the new house. For the most part I’m trying to reign myself in when it comes to decorating plans. I know that:

A. You should live in a house first. Let it inspire your direction for colours, furniture placement, etc.

B. “Brand new house.” Unfortunately those words don’t leave piles of extra cash lying around for decorating purchases.

C. Shortly after our move-in we will be welcoming Baby #3. I don’t know about you, but having a newborn eliminates me from productivity at anything for roughly 6 months minimum. (Hint: Expect blogging hiatus.)

But it’s also really hard not to get all excited. And a part of me would really like to establish some “done-ness” in the kids’ rooms over the summer so that it really feels like home for them. (And I discovered that this actually matters to my son, who has lamented how much he misses his old room in the condo the entire time we’ve had our temporary stay at The Pink House.)

So with some consultation (and a few veto decisions on my part. Sorry, kiddos), we’ve come up with the colour directions for their rooms.

Girl Room:

I want it to feel like a yellow room without screaming YELLOW! This is hard to do. The trick to success with yellow (and red, in my opinion): no yellow walls, just accents of yellow. Keep the walls neutral. So the yellow polka dot fabric will be the drapes - providing the major sense that the room is yellow. It’s a nice buttery soft yellow, which is hard to find (most yellows I found were a more lemony hue or more golden.) L also asked for “boo and geen” in her room, so the warm aqua blue background on the floral with green, yellow and pink in the flowers is a lovely pairing and provides the vintage feel I want. I’m thinking the floral may end up as a headboard. With two patterns as bold as this being featured in large areas any other fabrics will likely be more neutral - yellow, cream or white solids, or small scale stripes or gingham.

I knew from the start I wanted yellow - it’s sort of my colour for Little L. Her name means “light”, and her disposition is usually so cheerful and humourous that yellow’s always been the colour I associate with her.

Some other gorgeous yellow fabrics I considered (but eliminated, largely due to cost)…

Isn’t this one so incredibly beautiful, yet understated? I’m still tempted to use it somewhere else in the house, but at $30/yard I’m not sure I can do it.

I knew I wanted a floral and that I wanted yellow. So this one also tempted me.

I reeeally love this large scale floral. It has the prettiness of a floral, but a not-too-girly colour scheme. And it pairs well with the polka dot. But it was $10 more than the floral I chose and had a more limited palette to work with.

For the Boy room M and I were in definite agreement that the main colour would be his favourite, “dark blue”. Navy is my go-to colour, and is a colour I’ve always associated with M. (OK. I realize I sound crazy colour coding my children. It’s how my brain works. Anyone else know what I’m talking about?!) But we aren’t exactly in agreement on the accent colour. He also loves orange, but I felt it would turn the room too modern, and good orange fabrics are hard to find. He also offered red for consideration - which I’m still open to - but didn’t want the room to turn too nautical (which I feel red might do). My sister-in-law recently decorated my sweet little nephew’s room with a nautical feel and I LOVE it (I’d love to show you some time), so I don’t want to be too copycat. Plus I’m really liking the way this deep spruce green looks in the mix. And I may or may not have already decided that green is the next baby’s favourite colour. ;)

M loves plaid (I find it so funny that a 3.5 year old has a favourite pattern) and I want a mix of fairly low key (not too graphic) patterns - stripes, plaids, herringbone, etc. Sort of what you’d see with mens’ suits. That navy ticking will likely be the roman shade and I would love to see that navy and white plaid on a headboard. We’ll see.

So that’s where I’m headed! Whaddya’ think? Anyone else colour-code their children? Man, that makes me sound super type-A and controlling. Really, I’m not. I’m not! At least 57% of the time. ;)

I’ve been posting pictures of our house-building progress… but partly to build suspense (dah dah DAAAAH!!!), and partly to get back to more pretty/less construction-y stuff, today we’re taking a break to share my direction for the dining room design.  It has a long weird side story about giant gold French-ish dining chairs owned by an Iranian mafia family in Saskatoon, which you can choose to read or not.  

Also, I refer a little bit to the kitchen design, which you can read about here.

For many moons I’ve had a pretty clear idea of what I wanted for our dining room.  It went a little something like this:

As I perused my inspiration pictures it became surprisingly formulaic: big, rustic farm table + drippy chandelier + Louis chairs.  Over Christmas we ordered the Norden table from IKEA.  Sean and I both love it, and it fits the simple farmhouse look I wanted.  The chandelier pictured above is, in fact, the chandelier we are having installed in the house.  But the chairs… there’s a story there…

SIDE STORY ABOUT THE CHAIRS:

I adore Louis chairs.  I hunted for some Louis-esque dining chairs for months and months.  I convinced Sean that this was what he wanted too.  Then finally one day I found a dining set with some oval back Louis-ish chairs.  They were a bit more ornate than the chair pictured above, not to mention they had gold-leafed frames and gold damask fabric.  A bit over the top.  But I figured with some neutral upholstery and a fresh lick of paint they’d be tamed.  I convinced Sean that these were THE chairs, and they were even worth a trip to Saskatoon to retrieve.  I emailed the seller and finagled a price that was reasonable (though maybe a bit high considering the work I’d need to put into them.  But I didn’t care.  My plan was coming together.  Mwa Ha Ha…)  So we planned to go pick them up on one of our trips up to Warman to work on a few house details.

We arrived at the address we’d been given by the seller.  It did not appear to be that of a psycho killer or drug dealer. Yesss.  (Though, in retrospect maaaay have been the home of someone connected to a foreign mob.  Like, seriously.)  We went to the front door and were ushered by a somewhat tired-looking 30-ish woman into a house that was, on all accounts, normal.  Except for the furniture.  Every piece of furniture in the front living room and adjacent dining room was the same ornately scroll-y sort-of-French-but-not-really antique style.  And all of it was gold, with the coordinating gold damask upholstery.  It looked like maybe the Palace of Versailles Theatre Company had stored some relics in a mid-80’s split-level in Saskatoon.  Who were these people?  There were all kinds of crazy looking tchotchkes and eery religious pictures on the wall too.  We told her we had come to buy, and pick up the dining chairs.  

Through a thick accent and some broken English she ushered us in to the chairs and I was aware of a rowdy crew of boys wrestling in the basement.  She snapped at them to be quiet.  I sat on the chair.  Hmmm.  It was pretty ornate.  And big.  But I convinced myself I could make it work.  She began to apologize for the crack on the gold dining table.  ”Oh, we’re not buying the table.” I said.  She didn’t like that.  I said, “So we agreed on $_ _ per chair”, and I began to rustle around in my purse for my wallet.  ”No.” She said. “$_ _ _.”  She looked offended and appalled at my stated price.  We tried to discuss this, but there was a language barrier and some piece of information obviously missing.  And what was her accent, anyways?  Russian?  Iranian?  I’m pretty decent with accents, but I could not figure it out.  

She proceeded to call her husband and have a rather irritated conversation about how much they would sell the chairs for.  I have no doubt the set cost a fortune originally (it was obviously custom).  But it was not worth that to me.  I figured out through their conversation that they had (hired?) someone else to post the ad online.  And she was not happy with that person.  And that person was the one who had agreed to my price.  Not her.  The phone conversation ended and she curtly informed me they would only sell the chairs for her price.  Ohhhh Kaaaay…  So as quickly and politely as I could, I said we would not be buying the chairs and left.  Sean and I got down the street and into the Jeep and laughed.  What had just happened?  That was so weird.  We couldn’t wrap our brains around who these people were, and how they planned to sell that crazy furniture for that price in Saskatoon.  On the way home we figured they really weren’t THE chairs anyways, and they would have taken a lot of work.

But now Sean was really stuck on the idea of a Louis chair too.  He began doggedly deal hunting online.  He’s really good at that.  And he reeeally loves me.  He came across this GREAT chair from Structube:

“Is this kind of what you want?” He asked,

“Ummm, like exactly what I want.”

It was on sale for half price (on an already decent price) putting it near enough to our budget that he was OK with it.  Yesss.  

However the nearest Structube store is in Edmonton.  (Darn you, Saskatchewan, and your limited selection of cool stores.  You’re lucky I love you.)  We looked at every possible way of getting them here - taking a road trip, shipping via a courier - but everything ended up being pretty pricey and not all that practical.  Gah.

So I stewed for a while.  Kept pointlessly checking Kijiji and UsedRegina.

Finally it was time to choose another style of chair.  Goodbye Louis.  The dream was beautiful.  Then I remembered this picture, originally from Elle Decor:

(Image via Remodelista)

Wicker.  Huh.  Did I like it?  

It was tempting.  

If they were outdoor chairs I could take them outside and hose them down.  

Very tempting.  

It had a much more laid back vibe - and I liked that.  I want people to feel at ease in my home, not like it’s fussy.  

Sooo tempting.  

It would probably be more comfortable.

That’s a good point, Justine. 

And, wait - how great would they look with a ticking stripe seat cushion?  

Oooooh.  

Oh wait, there are rattan chairs for $40 at IKEA?  

SOLD.  

My husband gave me a weird look over the suggestion of wicker chairs, but when I showed him a few inspiration pictures and the price he was heartily on board.

Here’s the chair we’re looking at getting:

(AGEN chair, IKEA)

Sean wished for something more greyish, like the Elle Decor shot, and I concur.  I may see what DIY-ing I may have up my sleeve once we’ve had the chairs for a while.  

(Home of Thea Beasley featured on Design Chaser)

But I’m totally digging the casual vibe of a wicker dining chair.

—-END OF CHAIR SIDE STORY—-

The drapery fabric in the inspiration board above is merely a suggestion.  I’ve loved that Bethe fabric from Tonic Living for a long time, and I definitely want pattern in the dining room since the adjacent living room will have solid drapes.  But I’m totally open to other fabrics, and may want some blue to draw in the blue from the nearby kitchen island.  I really like this one:

(From Tonic Living)

I also like the idea of this navy ikat:

(from Tonic Living)

And this one may have the right balance of light and dark.  Plus it has birds. I like the birds.

(From Fabric.com)

I’m feeling even better about the direction of my dining room now.  It’s a little more casual, cool, beachy/farmhouse.  Sometimes it’s nice when buying crazy gold chairs from the wife of a Russian mobster doesn’t work out.

What do you think?  HAve any of you tried the Agen chair as a dining chair?

(Photograph from BHG.com)

I’m holding back quite a bit on the decorating plan for the house.  Though I have some specific ideas of what I want the rooms to look like, I’m working on the foundational layers of the building process first, and won’t make any major decorating moves (or purchases or projects) until after we’ve moved into the house.

But the other day my dear little boy lamented to me once again that he missed our condo.  He has an impeccable memory for a three-year-old, and can be really sweet and sentimental.  But I was surprised that he still felt that way.  I asked him, specifically, what he missed.  ”My room” he said, “I like the way my room was.”  

Since we’ve been in the Pink House (the house owned by our church) I haven’t done a lot with their room.  There’s a big clunky double bed in there, and an old wooden rocking chair. Plus we jammed in the change table/dresser and the crib.  I did hang a few pictures on 3M command hooks, and did hang the drapes from their old room, but it still feels pretty dreary.  And certainly not like home for him. 

And so, with my heart strings pulled, the kids’ room made it to the top of my priority list for decorating.  How wonderful it would be for that room to feel finished and homey right away when we settle in!  So I’ve been pinning away and looking for the inspiration I need for their room.  They’ll share a room again (though some of the adorable girls’ rooms I’ve come across have me rethinking that slightly…) and I definitely want matching twin beds.  I’d love old brass beds, or painted wooden beds, but my second-hand hunting has not been fruitful as of yet, so we may end up with cheap IKEA beds and DIY upholstered headboards.

You can see some themes running through my pictures: pale neutral walls, with lots of room for displaying the colourful things kids love (books, toys, momentos).  A definite vintage vibe.  A sort of raw, natural feel.  Eclectic art.

Speaking of eclectic art, I just found this cool vintage paint-by-numbers painting on Kijiji… I may just have to pick that one up!

A new frame and this could be a great jumping-off point for the room.  

I’m getting excited - kids’ rooms are my favourite to decorate!  Let the dreaming begin…

When building a house there’s a whole lotta’ energy going into planning the kitchen. It’s is the design/function/centre-of-the-home-universe.

I’ve been toiling (quite happily, of course) over our kitchen plan. I think our salesperson might be thinking I’m a bit crazy (rightly so) because I keep asking for the supplier websites, rather than settling for the previously-selected show room options like most homebuyers. But I warned you, I’m going to be a snob about the design, and a penny pincher on the cost.

Luckily for me though, Sean made one beautiful concession: when there was no stain colour that really fit the bill (he’d previously swayed me to do dark wood cabinetry), he said “I’m thinking maybe we could do painted cabinets? I think I’ve started to like the look, and all your inspiration pictures seem to have white cabinets.” Oh, you wonderful man, I love you so. Even though my inspiration pictures clearly have very different shades of white, cream, ecru, an grey… ;)

After that, this lovely plan came together:

I’m constrained by the parameters of the builder’s options and our budget - which while reasonable, won’t necessarily facilitate everything I dreamed of. The countertops and floors are, in fact, laminate (which I make no apologies for), and while I would love to get on board the brass train with the hardware, these pulls have the nicest shape I found (and are nicely similar to that used by Kelly Deck in the inspiration picture.) The tile may not happen until later, depending on cost. But overall, I’m SUPER excited. Super duper. Hello, pretty kitchen, I can’t wait to meet you…

Merry Christmas to us!  We ordered our house last week!

(You can read my most recent house dreaming update - about the land survey in the summer - right here.  It also includes links to other pertinent posts.)

I don’t think I’ve written about this before, but our house dreaming took a twist in November.  For about a year and a half Sean and I had settled on a house that we planned to build. (Over the 6-7 years of house dreaming we changed our minds a few times depending on costs, logistics, needs, etc.)  We were quite settled on this house plan - a great country farm house.  Sean had especially loved it and after a bit of convincing (and some floor plan adjustment sessions of my own) I loved it.  We’d even visited the builder last fall to view a show home version of it.  We were super confident in the builder (Nelson Homes in Alberta, if you care to know.  I glowingly recommend them - super profesh, and experienced, and nice.) (<- Yes, that is “profesh” - my abbreviation of “professional”.  I’m a dork, and I’m not changing it).  But this past fall there was a bit of a price increase on the house (which is totally normal) and Sean began to get antsy about the price and thought we should maybe check out some closer builders.

*sigh.*  I was not so into changing plans at this point.  And the builders he wanted to see had nothing online that particularly appealed to me.  But whatevs.  That meant a road trip, and Fuddruckers for lunch, so… OK.  (Who can argue with the pump cheese?)

One builder we visited particularly impressed us - Warman Homes.  (Which, by the way, is the same builder that built my in-law’s home nearly 20 years ago.)  We walked through at least a dozen homes being built on their site (on a freezing Sasky winter day with two toddlers… not ideal) and came back with a handful of serious contenders.  One in particular swept me off my feet, and I was delighted to discover it was in our price range.  After a bunch of (super profesh, helpful and friendly) correspondence with our salesperson, Courtenay, and an one more visit sans kiddos, we were fully 100% smitten and changed our plans.  The house was a customization of another house plan, and after some customization on our part I was thrilled.  The house is full of things that I never thought we could have in our home.  (Two words, people: transom windows.)  (OK, two more: walk-in pantry.)

And so, a couple days after Christmas we drove back and paid our down payment and submitted our order.  I don’t know if this will ever feel real until we move in.

What’s up next? 

• In about a month we’ll receive the technical drawings for the house which I will pour over (and over and over) to make sure things are just how we want them.
• I will plan the finishes and look of the house.  My challenge: create the best design aesthetic that suits my family within the builder options for a low, low price.  And let’s just face it, I’m going to be a total snob about it.  Wish me luck. ;)
• We’ll have to (and by “we”, I mean “Sean”) set up the basement dig and build, utility hook-ups, etc. etc.  
• Hopefully I’ll keep up with sharing the progress with you, particularly the design ideas.
• Our house should arrive mid-June!  So. freeeeaking. excited.

I’m sure you’ve seen these Ryan Gosling “Hey Girl” things around the ole’ interwebs:

(If you don’t know, it’s a trend of taking pictures of Ryan Gosling and he says things that no man would ever, in reality, say.  Like, ever.)

And in my brain, I have images of Sean (my husband) saying such things.  Like this:

He’ll totally hold our baby.  But encouraging online purchases of decor items?  Not so much.  Or maybe this one…

Ha.   

But seriously.  With all the house planning beginning (!!!) I’m starting to get so excited about the decorating layers.  And I need to reign it in a bit.  I mean, we need to decide things like where to put electrical outlets.  Or what kind of water heater to install.  Woo hoo.

But what I reeeally want to do is find those just-right pieces.  Here’s what I’m trying to not obsess over:

Lindsay did a lovely post about her new kitchen appliances.  They are fabulously beautiful.  However the only place we know of around here selling this line is way too pricey.  I think the range costs an arm and the fridge costs a leg, roughly estimating.  And this, of course annoys me to no end.  Why do counter-depth fridges cost more?!  And why do so few other people see this as important?  C’mon, people!!

And, if you hadn’t guessed by some of my recent posts, I’m also obsessing over rugs.  Turkish, Persian, Pakistani… whatever.  All of them.  Any of them.  In kitchens, in bedrooms, in living rooms, in entryways…

(Photograph by Per Kristiansen for House & Home.  I would like to post this picture from the home of Emma Reddington every week, if that’s OK with you?  It’s so perfect.)

This kazak beaut’s half price at esale rugs.  

I love the way the rugs bring so much warmth and depth to a room.  But buying a rug for a floor that doesn’t actually exist yet?  Maybe I need to slow down a bit…

And another key piece I’m itching to purchase?  The perfect chandelier.  (For my currently non-existent dining room, that is…)  Not too sparkly, not too pretty.  Curvy.  Good scale.  Old looking.  Warm.  Tall order right?  Well, I found it:

And I’m not even telling you where I found it, because I’m afraid you’ll buy it.  Don’t buy it.  Seriously.  I’m still crossing all fingers and toes that Sean will walk in the house one day and be all, “Hey, Girl, I think we really need a gorgeous chandelier above our dining table, don’t you?”  It could happen… right?!  Right??!

Ah well.  I’ll try to remember #6 on my “House Rules” list: All good things with time.

Our condo sold tonight.  Sold.  Done. »phew.«  Thank you, Lord!

I’ve been a bit of an absentee blogger this summer.  I have many things I hope to blog about soon, but have to wait until the projects are further along.  And this whole trying to sell our condo thing has seriously taken over our summer.  I haven’t been home much (trying to keep the apartment clean and available for showings).  Not to mention I’ve had some serious internal debate over whether or not I want to continue blogging (that introspective post will come later, though.  Boy, aren’t you excited.)

But here’s why I’ve decided to keep blogging - at least a little bit, for a little while: it’s actually happening. This thing - all of this house dreaming - is actually coming to fruition slowly, one step at a time.  And I figure I’ve pined and whined and promised and prayed and planned about it for long enough, I should stick with it and take you on that ride with me to see it to the finish(ish.  Finish-ish.  Is a house ever really totally done?)

Today was one giant step for the Taylor family.

The surveyor came and marked out the land for subdivision.  Step 1 in getting our farmhouse.

(You see him?  He’s the little neon yellow guy beside the white truck.)

On this muggy, sunny August day we walked around in the middle of a grassy field (dodging cow pies) and wondering approximately where our front door would be.  Where the trees would be planted.  What it would all look like when a house was there.  Our house.

(The view from my future veranda)

It was pretty awesome.

(Can you picture it?  I can…)