building 101 Archives - Forever.Six.Acres

Flooring – Building 101

Flooring is a huge decision when building a home. It’s not something that is easily replaced if you don’t like it. I will take you through our thought process of the who, what, where, when, and why.

What type of flooring

We only have two types of flooring in our home. We have an LVP everywhere in our home except in our bathroom. We decided to go with a light colored patterned tile floor because we wanted stained vanities. I didn’t think wood floors and wood vanities would have a very bright and airy feel to the space! 🙂

Below are links to each of the floorings!

Why LVP Flooring?

LVP flooring was a way we saved money compared to wood floors, or engineered wood. We also thought about being in the country, with land, and boys. It just seemed like a smart choice to go with a flooring that was durable. Our Armstrong flooring is 100% waterproof, stain resistant, scratch resistant, and super easy to keep clean! It is an interlocking system that is easy and quick to install (our floor guys were done in 1 1/2 days!)

Since it is 100% waterproof, you can put it anywhere in the house. We didn’t want a lot of floor transitions, which is another reason we went with LVP, is because it can go everywhere in the home. We haven’t had any scratches (so far) and we have had stains from juices come right up! It’s so easy to keep clean! I use the Bona cleaner if you are wondering!

We also liked that it has a cork backing to help reduce noise, and we didn’t have to put down any type of underlayment. Below are some photos of them putting down floor leveler, and photos of the house right after the floors were installed.

Tile floor

It was love at first sight for me and our bathroom floor tile. I saw it as a kitchen backsplash, and knew I wanted it in my home somewhere! It looks white, but it’s actually a light grey color. I could only find it at two places to find, Home Depot and Tile Bar.

Flooring Transition

Originally Jeremy wanted all LVP everywhere in the house because he doesn’t like the look of transitions. I insisted on having a lighter flooring in our bathroom because our vanities are wood. So I asked our flooring guy about a seamless transition. Now, I’m not sure about what he used, but it is like a gel filler that can expand at little if the flooring moves. It is a very thin line between the LVP flooring and tile. We have two transitions, one from our bedroom to bathroom, and one from our bathroom to closet.

We have lived in our home now for two years, and we haven’t any issues with it! I love that there isn’t this weird wood bar that goes across for a transition.

Next Topic for Building 101

The next topic for building 101 is going to be paint and stain, but I will also be going over drywall and texture. It’s going to be a good topic! Subscribe to my blog to get a notifications on when a new blog post is up!

Categories: Uncategorized

Exterior Details – Building 101

Hey, hey, y’all! It’s time for all the exterior details for Building 101! I’ll be going over our board and batten, wood accents, metal and shingle roofing, roof pitch, gutters, lights, and all the small details in between you might or might not think of! So let’s dive into all the details! If you are interested in the windows, you can check out this Building 101 post over Windows, Doors, and Trim.

Exterior Materials

Our house is completely wrapped in James Hardie siding. It is the cement board panels are textured. We bought the 8 foot panels, but because we have 10 foot ceilings everywhere, we had a horizontal seam around the entire exterior. I could NOT have that, my OCD was taking over! So I asked to have a 2X2 board put over the seam. It helped give the exterior a little more dimension than just vertical lines, and loved the final look! The 2X2 boards are spaced apart 13 inches (from inside to inside).

I wanted also help break up the vertical lines with some horizontal siding on the gables up top! It is also James Hardie siding. This is the only space we have horizontal siding around the house.

Paint

Picking out white paint was a LOT harder than I thought it was going to be. I never knew there were so many to pick from! I found my top two or three favorite exteriors on Instagram and asked them what their white paint was. Most of them said Sherwin Williams Alabaster or Pure White. I went with Alabaster, which, in my opinion, is the perfect warm white!! We also painted the garage door too. The white garage door was too white next to the Alabaster.

Exterior Details- Wood Accents

All of our exterior wood is Cedar wood. It is the best type of wood that holds up in our crazy Texas weather! It I put in cedar trusses in each gable of our home. and there are cedar posts for the front porch, and back porch. We originally stained it with a clear coat, because everything we tested out, came out very dark.

Although, we liked it at first, we had to re-stain everything after just one year. It soaked up into the wood and faded extremely fast from Texas heat and sun. So we had it re-stained a little darker. The painters didn’t ask what stained and assumed the stain color. They used Minwax Golden Pecan, which was originally really dark, but once it soaked in, it was really pretty and showed the wood grain perfectly.

**Just a quick note about stain. The type of wood you use matters how the stain color comes out! So yes, Golden Pecan is very light, but Cedar is a very dark wood. This stain would look completely different if it was on pine or knotty alder wood. **

Exterior Details- Roofing

I wanted black roofing, but it wasn’t offered in the brand that my contractor purchased. We looked around and it was all very expensive. So we decided to go with the darkest we could. We GAF roofing in the color Charcoal. Which, next to the white paint, it looks really close to black!

For the metal roofing, I don’t really know what brand it is. I just told my builder I wanted matte black metal roofing. And that’s what I got! 🙂

Roof Pitch

Our roof pitch is a 10/12. Don’t have much else to add to that! 🙂

Gutters

I didn’t have much thought on gutters until I was asked to pick them out. There are times when your builder will ask for something, and you are like “wait, I never thought about that decision…” So since Alabaster is a warm white, I didn’t want to get white gutters because I was scared you would see the differences in whites. I was very nervous about getting black, but I LOVE the contrast and how it kind of frames the house.

Exterior Details- Lighting

We bought almost all of our exterior lighting from Amazon, except for the little sconces by the front doors and back doors. Our flood lights can be also switch to be regular or motion sensor. The up lights our electrician actually bought, so I’m not sure where he purchased those from. Our back porch chandelier isn’t actually an “outdoor” light, but since it is under a covered patio and in an area where the rain doesn’t reach, our electrician said it would be fine. We haven’t had any problems, and I love the vibe it gives when its on! Sharing images below, then all their links!

Below are links to the lights on Amazon. My foyer light is no longer available, but I did find one that looks almost identical!

You can find the outdoor sconces that are by our front and back doors, here.

Next up for Building 101

That about sums it all up for exterior details for this building 101 post. Next post, I will be talking about all things flooring. I’ll share our floor selection, how we decided on the type of flooring, the direction of the flooring, and how it’s been holding up!

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Categories: #building101

Plumbing Fixtures

Hey, hey y’all! Glad that these Building101 topics are starting to get fun and interesting! When building I wanted to jump right in to finding the good stuff like lighting, plumbing, flooring, etc. So let’s get down to business! I will quickly break down plumbing fixtures I’ll be covering in this post.

Bathroom & Kitchen faucets
Bathtub faucet and shower heads
Freestanding tub
Kitchen farmhouse sink
Tankless Hot Water Heater

Plumbing fixtures – Bathroom & Kitchen faucets

I bought a TON of our plumbing fixtures off Amazon for our home. Why? Because it was fast, easy to make returns, and it was the perfect price point for us. I also purchased from Home Depot, Wayfair, and Overstock! You can click the image below to shop any of the items I talk about in this post and more on my Liketoknow.it shop!

plumbing fixtures throughout my home — My plumbing fixtures

Below, are the faucets we bought for our bathroom and the boys bathroom. These faucets were only $88 at the time, and helped us stay in budget for sure! Although, after using them for two years, I’ve started to notice some of the white calcium build up on the boys bathroom, and I’m sure its cause they don’t wipe down their faucet if it’s wet. Jeremy and I don’t really have that problem, and haven’t seen any build white build up. I knew though that these cheap faucets will hold us over for a while, and eventually I could choose a nicer brand later.

These are oil rubbed bronze, and you can click the link above to purchase these faucets, or any other product I talk about in this post!

master bathroom faucet — Master bathroom sink faucet

For our little guest half bath, I decided to change up the look and order a waterfall faucet. I think it’s fun way to upgrade the feel of the bathroom for our guests. It is from Amazon and is matte black. No calcium build up on this faucet!

Next up, is our kitchen faucet. Jeremy wanted a pull down sprayer and I wanted a bridge faucet to give the old farmhouse feels to the kitchen sink. Well there aren’t many options out there like that! Many pull down faucets are modern looking, and the bridge faucets normally have a separate sprayer. Amazon had a few cheaper brands, but I didn’t like them once I saw them in person. So I knew I was going to have to spend a little more money to get the quality and look. I didn’t mind this because the kitchen sink is something we use frequently on the daily! Kohler had the PERFECT one! The quality of it is outstanding! There is always water on it, but there isn’t a spec of calcium buildup! I recommend 11 out of 10! 😉

Yes, it has an oil rubbed bronze finish to it, but it blends in perfectly with the black hardware and other finishes we have in our home. Many oil rubbed bronze finishes blend well with black, so don’t be afraid to mix them!

To quickly touch on pot fillers, I personally don’t cook a lot, but I wanted a pot filler for two reasons, 1.) from a design point of view, it helps visually break up the space between the range and the vent hood, without changing up the backsplash and 2.) my sink isn’t right next to the range.

The pot filler was not included in our plans, but our plumber asked if we wanted one. He said that he wouldn’t charge extra, and it was easy to do since the tankless hot water heater is right above the range. Pot filler plumbing fixtures can be really expensive or really inexpensive. All depends on the look you want, the finish, and where you are shopping at! I found mine on Amazon for only $88! Like I said, I don’t use it often, but it has been perfect and is serving the purposes I wanted to do.

Pot filler- Centered between the vent hood and range from where it is mounted on the wall.

Bathtub & shower Plumbing fixtures

Moving on to shower faucets, I kept our shower head and the boys shower heads really simple. I also order these from Amazon, and haven’t had any problems with them, even with calcium build up. We also purchased a shower head extender so the water reaches over further to our bench! You can see in the images below the difference with the shower extender (left) and before it (on right). Also, I knew I wanted a shower wand to make cleaning the large shower easier!

The boys shower faucet, and ours are oil rubbed bronze. Again, we mixed a lot of oil rubbed bronze in with out black finishes because it blends well, it’s cheaper, and it there are more style options. I’m sure by now there are more styles available for black finishes! Sorry, I don’t have a photo of the boys bathtub shower head, but it’s pretty basic!

The bathtub faucet is matte black, and is made by Kingston Brass. It is also from Amazon. I LOVE the old time farmhouse feels it brings it the modern looking tub!

Plumbing Fixtures – Freestanding Tub

I’m more of a shower person, than a bath person, but I knew I wanted a place for a freestanding tub. From a design point of view, I wanted to be able to see our tub through our double doors in our bedroom. Jeremy didn’t want to spend the money on one, because we don’t really take baths. Here was my three arguing points, 1. I’ll take more baths if I have a nice bathtub (which we haven’t ever had) 2. It is good for a selling point later on and 3. I want to have the design look of one. Purchasing one I knew that I would have to find one that was an outstanding price point, and it had the look to it that I was going for. Well, Wayfair came through for me. I found this tub for about $700. Jeremy couldn’t argue with that!

view from master bedroom into bathroom with the tub in the center of the double doors.

bathtub view from the top. looking into the tub filled with pumpkins

Farmhouse Fireclay Sink

I knew from the start I wanted a white apron front sink in the kitchen, but I couldn’t decide if I wanted a single basin, or double basin. We chose a double basin, that was split 60/40. We chose this because we could easily separate dishes t o on one side, if we needed the other side for something. It would also take less water and time to fill up a split sink, then one big sink! This sink size is 33X18 and we purchased it from Overstock. This sink is also double sided, allowing you to pick the smooth size, or panelled side. We obviously chose the smooth side! 🙂

Tankless Hot Water Heater

Now, I know this isn’t really under the plumbing fixtures topic per say, but it is what gets the water flowing to them all! Also, I didn’t know where to fit this in to any other topic! Jeremy kind of picked out our tankless hot water heater, cause I know nothing about them. But I do know that Jeremy will research and find the best products for the best prices! Tankless hot water heaters can go in the attic, which is nice since I don’t have to make a space for it somewhere on the main floor.

The tankless hot water heater is very Eco friendly because it saves us money by not using the hot water. The hot water heater will only turn on when you turn on the hot water, thus saving you money. We only turn the hot water knobs on when we really need hot water. This is also a big reason why we bought widespread faucets, so we could only turn on the hot water when needed. So its a positive that it saves money, but it does take about 15 seconds for the water to get hot when you turn on the water, which is something I’m willing to sacrifice for saving money! I don’t have a photo of it, cause it’s not very pretty! Haha! It is linked in the image at the beginning of the post to my LTK.

Next up

Thanks so much for reading about plumbing fixtures and I hope you found at least one thing that helped you in some way! Reading and supporting Forever.Six.Acres blog means the world to me, and I hope you will subscribe to get future, more in depth details about our home and projects we do. I am always more detailed in my blog post’s than on my other social platforms, so be sure to sign up for emails. Anyways, our next #Building101 topic is exterior details!

Categories: #building101

Building 101 – Windows, Doors, and Trim

Lets talk about all things windows, doors and trim this week for building 101!! I will share with you my experience about deciding on our selections, and a few ways we saved money!

Building 101 – Windows

Windows aren’t something you first think about when you first start to build. There are other things that came to my mind before windows. When I asked my builder, what was the first things I needed to have picked out for him to order, he told me doors, and windows. I was like uhhhhhh I don’t have any idea about either of those. HA! I was hoping he would say something like, lighting, or flooring, because I already had ideas for those!

Let me just mentioned, we saved quite a bit shopping around for windows. The window company the builder suggested was extremely expensive for the style of windows we wanted. I wanted black on the outside, and white on the inside.

How We Saved Money on Our Windows

Jeremy did lots of research on windows, and he decided to go with a newer company called Elevate windows. They actually offered an oil rubbed bronze exterior, and white interior option. The oil rubbed bronze looked just like the black, but they were THOUSANDS cheaper! So we went with the oil rubbed bronze, with white interior. You literally can’t tell the difference, they look black!

All our bedroom windows and the windows in the playroom are 7X3. The boys room have double windows. A money saving tip that I hope can help you save money during your build, too!

The windows that open have a single line going down the center, and the windows in the back don’t have any panels. I didn’t want any lines going through the large windows in the living room, and the large window above the kitchen sink.

Building 101 – Doors

Our builder sent us to a local door company that he uses. There we picked out our interior doors and exterior doors. All of our interior doors are Masonite hollow doors in the style Logan. The Logan style is very similar to the shaker style doors, but the wood around the panels slants down. This helps out with the dust, because it falls off the slant instead of sitting on top of the door ledge of the panel.

Types of Doors and Sizes

The outside exterior doors to and from the garage are in the same style. We also have Bi-panel double doors leading to our master bathroom. The bi-panel doors are the same size as our other regular doors, just split in half!

All our doors are 8X3. We wanted the taller doors since we have 10 ft ceilings everywhere. We also have 9 pocket doors. Builders don’t like pocket doors because they are a pain to install, but honestly, they are huge space savers! The only time I shut our master closet door is when I take photos. Other than that, it stays open. Other places we have pocket doors- master toilet area, 1/2 bath, 3 in the boys bathroom, 2 french sliding doors for the playroom.

Front Doors

I’m going to dedicate a whole section to my front and back doors. My top two most asked questions on my Instagram are about my brick, and my front doors. Our front doors are custom made from the door company we purchased our other doors from. They are made of knotty alder wood, and stained with Minwax Golden Oak. Our front doors open in, and our back doors open out.

I know that having wood exterior doors means we will probably have to replace them later on just because of natural wear and tear. We will have to probably re stain the front doors next summer due to the Texas summer heat. That is why they are really dark at first, but you can see they are lighter now, which are the three images with the white peony wreaths below. The first photo is not stained, second is only one door stained.

Building 101- Trim Window and Door Casings

I included trim work with this topic, because it goes hand in hand with windows and doors! I won’t be covering all trim work, like small trim work details, the closet/pantry shelving, or any shiplap. This section will just cover window casings and door casings!

I never would have thought about window and door casings, If my two of my friends wouldn’t have just built before me. One of them didn’t think to ask for them, she didn’t realize it was an option. The other had it on her list from the start! So my plan ( to save money) was to case all the doors, and only windows that would been seen by guests. Which was the main great room. Well turns out to have to have window casings on shiplap walls in order for the shiplap to be “finished” off properly.

So we have window casings everywhere but the boy’s rooms. Which isn’t bad! Once we put up curtains, you can’t really tell. There is still a window seal, just not down the sides or on top. See pics below! The first image is of Blaine’s window in his room, and the second image is of the playroom window which is completely cased.

Research on window casings

I started to figure out what I liked for trim casings on doors and windows by researching. As always, I start with Google, and then go to Pinterest for inspiration. I found lots of good information on window casings on Pinterest. And ultimately I decide on the basic craftsman style trim casings. The image below shows several different styles of window and door casings. I chose number 4, but added a 1X2 between the horizontal and the vertical trim.

We have 1×4 vertically, then a 1×2, 1×6, and another 1×2. The baseboards are 1×8’s. See images below.

Pantry door casing, Top 1X6 had to be extended to accommodate for the barn door hardware.

Next Topic

I hope you were able to find some helpful information in this post! It was a lot to talk about! Next up for building 101 is lighting fixtures! Such a fun topic, but also a stressful one since there are so many choices to choose from, places to buy, and finding all the best prices to stay in budget. So you can expect to see some helpful tips to get you through those tough decisions!

I know it’s been a while since I posted, but I am hoping that since I have a new computer I can finally get back in the game. Mine last MacBook was so old it wouldn’t even update!! Have a great week y’all!

Categories: #building101

Building 101 – Framing

Framing 101

Framing is pretty straight forward in the building processes. It goes up quickly, so that’s why I plan to also include other topics in this post as well. I’ll be touching on some of the other things that happen within the walls of your home before the sheetrock goes up, such as water lines, electrical lines, and insulation.

It is always so exciting to drive up to your home and see the framing. It starts to make things feel so real! You no longer have that feeling or illusion of your concrete slab feeling too small! It starts to help you really visualize the dimensions of each space of your home.

A couple things to mention about the framing part of building! It goes by fast and always double check and measure things! I feel like I keep saying that in each building 101 post, but it’s important! I’d rather catch a mistake early on, then later when it’s harder to fix! Also, now is the time to adjust or change things if you don’t like the way something is. For example, we didn’t like the size of the kitchen window above the sink, so we made it larger!

Once the frame base is built, they will wrap the exterior with plywood, and a moisture barrier. Then the exterior will start to go up, but we will talk about that on another post! 😉 So lets move on to the interior things that need to get done before sheetrock!

Electrical during framing

I’m not 100% sure if electrical or plumbing happens first, or maybe they happened together at the same time? Regardless, they both have to happened before insulation! Before the electrical is run, you should do a walk through with your builder, and electrician. You want to make sure that all light switches, outlets and such are exactly where you want them. Go through each room and describe the lighting you plan to put in that room, and were you want the switch to be.

Deciding on where to put switches and outlets

Before insulation, electrical will be run to all outlet boxes, and all lighting. The most important thing to think about during this step is about how you do daily routines. This helps determine were the best place for outlets to go. In our great room, I didn’t want a switch that would turn on the living room light in the kitchen.

When you do your walk through, pretend you are waking up in the morning and you come out of your room. Where do you want the switch to be when you walk into the next room. Does the switch make sense right there when you are closing up the house for the night? Do you want the can light switch first, then light fixture, then fan? Think about if you want any hidden outlets in drawers or cabinets, so they aren’t above the vanities, or countertops. Do you want outlets in your pantry, laundry room, or broom closet? How about outlets outside? Do you want them on either side of your doors for christmas lights?

PRO TIP: Pretend you are waking up in the morning and you come out of your room. Where do you want the switch to be when you walk into the next room. Does the switch make sense right there when you are closing up the house for the night?

Places we put outlets and switches

We put a few outlets in our home that we had the electrician add on to the plan. We had them installed on either side of our front and back doors, and we also put outlets with timers on them in our soffits for the christmas lights on the roof! A few places we hid some outlets are under my vanity, and in one of Jeremy’s drawers under his vanity. We also have an outlet with two USB plugs on our island (makes it easy for kids to plug in electronics). I also included an outlet in our pantry since we have a countertop in the pantry. This has made it easy to plug in small appliances and keep them hidden, like the toaster, air fryer, or crockpots!

Plumbing during framing

Just like the electrical, the plumbing will be run within the walls during framing, and then the electrician will come back later to install switches, lighting and such. Plumbing pipes should be run from under the concrete slab, and through the walls to wherever you plan to have water run to, washer dryer, sinks, fridges, pot-fillers, dishwashers, showers, tubs, and any other things. Which, I know that seems silly to even mention, but sometimes when you are stressed and worried about building and all things life, it’s easy to overlook something!! We chose last minute while the plumber was there to have him run water for a pot filler.

Hot Water Heater

We also have our hot water heater in our attic. This is because we don’t have to create small closet for it in our floor plans, which allowed us to use that square footage for something else. I have a few things from Amazon that I linked. Including our Rianni Tankless Hot Water Heater. The benefit of the tankless hot water heater, is that it saves you energy by only using the hot water when you turn on the hot water. Which this also saves your money, but the only downfall is that it takes about 18 seconds to get hot water. Verses a regular hot water heater tank constantly heats your water weather you are using it or not. Which yes, you have instant hot water, but it costs you more money in the long run!

Also, before I wrap up this section, I’ve got another tip for you! Be sure to take photos of your electrical and plumbing before the insulation and sheetrock are put up. This will come in handy later when you need to know where wires and pipes are in the walls. We have looked back at these photos a few times now!

Pro tip: Take photos of your electrical and plumbing before the insulation and sheetrock are put up. This will come in handy later when you need to know where wires and pipes are in the walls. We have looked back at these photos a few times now!

Insulation

So there are a several different types of insulation options to choose from. Check out Energy.gov, it goes over all the different types of insulation. I know that it is easy to go with the cheaper choice in the beginning to save money, but the more efficient spray foam insulation will save you money in the long run, and keep you cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter!

We chose spray foam insulation because it is the most energy efficient for us, especially when it gets so hot in the Texas summer heat! You can see Liam really enjoyed the fact we chose spray foam! He had so much fun throwing it up in the air like he was in a snowball! 🙂

We had all exterior walls sprayed, and parts of the attic so we could keep part of it temperature controlled. At the last minute, we decided insulate the garage as well. Just to help the heat stay out in the summer time! We eventually plan to build a large shop, with game room up top, which we will also insulate that as well! It really helps keep the electric bill down!

What’s next for Building101?

Next on the list to cover is windows, doors, and trim work! The topics are starting to cover the fun things! So many different options and ways to save coming up soon! Thanks for reading and if you are new here, sign up for emails, so you won’t miss a building101 post! I promise the only emails you get from me, are when there is a new blog post!

Categories: #building101

Building 101 – Staying Organized

Building can be stressful in so many ways, but one way that helped our process smoother was staying organized throughout the process! I’ve been working on creating a list of ways to help keep you organized throughout your build! I’ll be going over tips on staying organized with your builder, ways to use Pinterest and Instagram, creating a building binder, and using the financial template I created!

Staying Organized with Your Builder

Double Checking

First, I want to mention the fact that your builder is going to do a lot of work, but you should still double check his work! Staying on top of everything that is going on at the house that day. Try to visit the house everyday to check things, or have someone you trust go out to the house. We are all people, and mistakes happen! So it’s best to find the mistakes early on, so it’s not a big stress later down the road.

All builders are different, some are perfect, some get the job done, and others are not so great. More information on how to select the right builder for you will be on my next post! A few ways to make sure everything was communicated and we didn’t misunderstand any conversations was by making lists, taking notes when we met, and recording possible tough conversations.

When we had meetings with out builder, we would create a list of things to talk about with him. We started the list several days before we would meet with him, and add to the list as we thought of things. This would ensure that we didn’t forget anything, and we also wrote down notes or answers he had for those questions. I also dated the list that way if there was ever an issue with that topic, we can refer back to the notes to check what the answer was for that question. This could be something you never reference back to, but there might be a time where you wish you would have done this!

Many of you know that Jeremy travels out of town, so some of the meetings were with just me and the builder. To make sure I didn’t forget to tell Jeremy, I would record the conversations on my phone. Basically just another form of note taking, but without all the writing!

Color Coding House Plans

This is probably the teacher in me, but our house plans were color coded with Flair pens! This helped me so I could easily see a visual of things. I used pink for the walls I wanted brick, orange for where we wanted shiplap on the walls. To quickly find things, I outlined the windows in green, and pocket doors in blue. Something that isn’t super necessary, but it was helpful for me!

I also made a key at the bottom, so Jeremy or our contractor knew what each color meant, if I wasn’t there to explain! Our builder actually really loved this idea, and took a picture of the color coding so it was easier for him to remember where I wanted everything.

Staying Organized with Pinterest and Instagram

Pinterest is a search engine like Google. You can search and save your favorite photos, or links into boards you have created. It’s good to create boards based on room, rather then a general “home” board. This will help you find inspirational images to show your builder quickly!

Instagram is really good at staying up to date with other social media platforms. There are images, links, IGTV videos, short reel videos, stories, highlights, saved folders, and the recent new feature, Guides. The saved folders is what you can really use here to help you keep organized with your home inspiration. This is JUST like a Pinterest boards. I created folders by master bedroom, living room, dining room, bathroom, kitchen, pantry, laundry/mudroom, boys rooms, playroom/office, front/back porch, exterior, and even a seasonal decor folder!

If you aren’t sure how to save a post on Instagram, there is a little pendant flag below the photo on the right. Click that flag and then you can save it to a specific folder. Then you can easily find it again!

Building Binder

Our building binder is what really kept our heads straight. If you only take one thing away from this post, let it be the binder! Remember all those teachers that helped you set up your binder at the beginning of the year so you can keep all your subjects separated and all your work had it’s own place to go. Well, here is a teacher, giving you tips on how to organize your building binder! Haha!

Staying Organized with a Building Binder- Shopping list

Let’s start with the shopping list of things to get your building binder set up! I have linked very similar things to what I used for my binder. The binder should be at least 2 inches. It fills up fast, and you want it to last you the through the entire build. Nothing worse than having to transfer everything over to a bigger binder!

Next on the list are binder dividers! These dividers I have linked are sheet protector dividers. Any type of divider with labels will work, but I linked these specially because I have a little surprise for you at the end of this post! 🙂

Below you will also find a binder pencil pouch, so you always have a pen or pencil on hand. Linked my favorite Flair pens, and my favorite brand of pencils, too!

You might have noticed that I have sheet protectors, and I have a 3 hole punch. Really only one or the other is needed. I personally just used the three hole punch because I already had one at home, and I didn’t have to mess with a ton of sheet protectors. I also included some binder pockets. Again, these are necessary, but helpful if you are in a hurry, and need to just slip it in here! The binder I linked, and most binders you pick up from a store will have front and back pockets though!

Organizing It!

You can stay organized by putting your dividers in an order that works best for you. For me, I put the most used divider tabs in the front of the binder, and least used towards the back. I’ll go through the order of my dividers and what worked for me. Then I’m going to break down what I kept in each section.

House Plans
Draws
Receipts
Interior Details
Exterior Details
Contracts

House Plans

The first divider was house plans, and that was for a reason! It is something we referenced all the time throughout the build. We kept a printed copy of our house plans, so we could quickly reference it. I also kept all my grid drawing papers in there. I had grid drawings of my kitchen, fireplace and built ins, master bath, pantry, closet, and mudroom drop zone. This is also were I kept either printed photos of inspiration, or pictures I ripped out of magazines. My photo inspiration consisted of my brick, beams, mudroom, and fireplace.

built in shelves for Living room — Build in shelves drawing

Draws

This one speaks for itself. Here is were we kept all our draws! A draw is what the builder gives you, like an invoice, of everything he is going to purchase, or already has. Then you know how much to write a check for him from your loan account.

Each latest draw was always in the front of this section! Even though we input the draws on our building financial template, we still had the hard copies in our binder. I also wrote draw numbers on each one, so If they ever got out of order, they could easily be put back in order without having to search for dates.

Receipts

This one also speaks for itself. Here we put receipts for everything we paid for out of pocket like our major appliances, tub, lighting, furniture, door hardware, and cabinet hardware. You don’t have to pay for anything out of pocket, but we did to help keep our monthly mortgage payment down. More on this later when I post the #Building101 Finances!

Interior Details & Exterior Details

This is were I kept samples, or photos of things we purchased for our home. I just had two sections to help find interior and exterior details. Think of it as a mini mood board but in binder form! I only put things in this section that we had finalized and purchased. I kept small paint swatches, printed photos of purchases, and things like that. Again, these were all final choices, but any inspirational photos were under the House Plans section.

Contracts

The contract section is in the back because it is not one you will reference often, but it’s always good to have on hand. We kept the land survey there, our land deed restrictions, builder contracts, and any warranty paperwork.

Building Financial Template

My parents built their forever home about a year before we did. It was helpful to learn from their build and find out what works, and what didn’t. My dad actually created this building budget financial template for their build,so I can’t take all the credit for this! Thanks Dad! 🙂 He shared it with me, and I made it my own, and added some extra sheets that were helpful during our build.

This building financial template is easily accessible from your phone, tablet, or desktop! It’s created in Google Sheets (which is just like Microsoft Excel), so it is a live document so that you and your partner can both work on the document at the same time from different devices! It also automatically saves your work, so you don’t have to worry about loosing any information!

The first sheet of this template has a formula on it to double check your numbers. It compares the break down of each draw with your allowance from your builder. Once the numbers are pulled in, it will automatically start calculation if you are over or under budget according to the bid from your builder! This also helps you find any mistakes on billing. You don’t want to charged double for something accidentally. This sheet will help you catch those mishaps!

Click the link below to get more details on what this template has to offer you! Trust me, it’s worth the $15.00! You could make something like this yourself (if you’re tech savvy!), but building is stressful! Save yourself the hassle and get it in a few clicks below!

Building Financial Template

$15.00

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Benefits of Staying Organized from the Beginning

There are many benefits to staying organized throughout your build. One you can always find whatever you need quickly. If you want your build to move fast, you don’t want people to have to wait on you. You should always be waiting on them. The having your inspiration organized, helps keep you prepared, in the know, and helps keep a plan in place. Might even keep you sane! 🙂

It might seem like a lot of work, but it’s worth it. It’s better than digging through a million manilla folders, or having to go home to look through paperwork. Keep your binder up to date, and keep it in your car so it’s always easily accessible! I still reference my binder for materials we used, and where we purchased them from!

So to help you get started, stay organized, and a way to say thanks from me to you, I have created a FREE download of binder insert to organized your building binder! Add Binder inserts to cart, and your check out will be free! Don’t forget to create an account so you can get emails, and updates on other helpful building information!

Free Binder Inserts

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Other Staying Organized tips

I hope these tips on staying organized throughout your build has helped relieve stress and given you ideas to start implementing! Do you have any tips to share with others on staying organized while building? I’d love to hear! Comment below!

Don’t forget to like, and share this post on other platforms to help spread ways on staying organized throughout your build! Thanks for reading and if you’re new here, subscribed to my emails to get the #building101 sent straight to your email!