A Modern Minimalist New Build

This project is a custom home that we wrapped up last year. Custom homes are my favorite, because each client has a different style and vision, and I never know exactly what everything is going to look like until it’s all put together.

This is also the first project where we have used GE Cafe appliances, and I have to admit they are stunning. Check out the kitchen photos below to see for yourself!

Is this a staged home from a magazine? No, this is a real house right here in eastern Iowa. Can you find the fridge in that last photo? It blends right in!

The natural light in this home brings such a bright and fresh feel to every space!

The peacefulness of this primary bedroom and bathroom is something we all dream of! Private wooded views and bright sunlight make this ideal for some rest and recharge time!

A huge thank you to our clients for having the vision, and choosing us to bring it to life!

Until next time,

Rachael

OUR New Home Design & Farm Update

Good morning from a rather warm day for February in Iowa! This time of year, just about anything is possible with the weather. Will it be a -60 degree ‘polar vortex’ day? Or a 50 degree day, prompting some of the life-long Iowans to bring out their shorts? We just never know.

Looking ahead to future projects helps get me through these cold winter months, and today I am sharing the plans for our personal home that we plan to get started on toward the end of this year, and where we will be living in the interim!

As you probably know, we have been living in a college apartment since we sold our home in April, and while it’s a functional space it’s also teaching us a lot about how to live minimally (and that we have to pick up everything every night or risk tripping over it in the morning!) Our farm has an enormous machine shed (originally for farm equipment) that we will be taking a portion of and converting into a guest cottage, and we will also live in this space while we build our home.

We already had planned to put in a large canning kitchen and extra bathroom as well as an office in the machine shed, so we are just tweaking those plans a bit and doing that project first. This way we can live on our property, have all of our stuff in one place, and work on our home as we have time. When our house is done, this guest cottage will work great for extra storage, visitors, large cooking operations, etc. We recently got to work on the guest cottage, as you can see below….hello there in-floor heat!

In-floor heat install day

Framing begins!

Next up after the guest cottage is the new & improved ‘Critter Cottage’ as I am calling it. It’s a small, 12x20ish building that will have our dogs on one side and our chickens & guinea fowl on the other side. Obviously we will have to separate the bird hunting dogs from the birds to ensure there are no mishaps, so each side will have their own entrance/exits. The dogs are currently in a similar sized building on the property (with their own fenced area attached) but that building needs to come down as it’s not insulated well and doesn’t have electricity, and in general is less than ideal.

Original ‘critter cottage’. New building will be directly in front of this one.

Stage #3 of building at the farm includes our house and gardens, which are obviously the most expensive and time consuming projects. For these reasons we have been extensively planning, creating drawings, consulting, etc and I think we finally have settled on what we want. It’s been a long road, but here are some of the preliminary images.

The entirety of our plans for the farm are more of a 5 year process, and the order in which items get accomplished will probably vary a bit due to a variety of reasons. But regardless, each hour of work we accomplish is moving us toward our goal, and I cannot wait to see what has transpired even one year from now!

It feels good to have a plan, even if it’s a really long and complicated one! :)

We’ll chat again soon, for now try and hold out the rest of this winter…Spring is ALMOST here!

Cheers,

Rachael

New Construction Homes - The 'Willow' Plan

As you might already know, last year we collaborated with our architect and had several custom home designs created for our clients to use, either as-is or simply as a starting point. Quite often, figuring out the exact floor-plan of a home is overwhelming, and we wanted to have some options available to help alleviate that stress.

One of these designs (The Willow Plan) was built last year for the first time, and I am excited to share the final photos. It’s been an entire year in the making, but as you will see shortly, it was well worth it!

The details: 5 bedroom, 3 bathroom, 2900 sq ft ranch features 9ft ceilings throughout both levels, open living area with large windows for maximum natural light, a walk-in pantry, lower level wet bar, and over-sized rec room. This plan can be modified to include vaulted ceilings, walk-out basement, etc.

My favorite feature in this home design, is the hidden walk-in pantry. The outside looks like just another kitchen cabinet, but inside it’s every pantry-lovers dream! Here are a few pictures…

Just imagine all the kitchen appliances and coffee makers that could be hidden in here, or the rounds of hide-and-seek that could be won, the possibilities are endless!

For more photos of this home design, check out the full video by clicking here.

Well that is all I have for you today, as always we really appreciate your support in our little corner of the internet! Thanks for taking the time out of your day to catch up on what we have been up to.

Stay safe and warm out there!

-Rachael

Major Life Update!

It is with extreme excitement that I inform y’all that Adam has closed the chapter on his full time job at a nearby city, and is now able to do what he loves full time - build homes.

We had planned on this happening in the next few years, but everything came together in the last 12-18 months that showed us now was the time. I am a firm believer that opportunities will present themselves when the time is right, and that’s exactly what happened here.

Last year all taught us a number of life lessons, and for our family we realized that the time is now to act on our dreams. Looking back, we should have made this move years ago, but were always worried about one thing or another - and we ended up putting it off until ‘next year’.

Well, there’s no time like the present, and we are all in.

Thank you for your continued support over all these years, we obviously couldn’t be where we are today without such amazing clients, friends, and family.

Stay tuned for A LOT of projects this summer…we have our work cut out for us, and we couldn’t be more excited!

We’ll chat soon,

-Rachael