custom home budget Archives - Forever.Six.Acres

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

#Building101 – Foundation

Hey y’all! Foundations are a huge step in the building process! It feels like it’s finally happening. Be aware that once the foundation is laid out, it might feel really small! It’s just an illusion! Don’t worry, it gets better once the framing is put up!

Types of Foundations

There are several ways to create stable foundations for whatever type of structure you are building. I don’t know much about any of the other ones, but I have linked a website that goes over details of all the different main types of foundations. There you can get more information about what type of foundation is good to build a solid support structure for your home!

Isolated Column Footing
Basement Foundation
Slab Foundation (what we have)
Wall Footing Foundation
Pile Foundation

You can find more information on the other foundations on this Civicconcepts.com! Finding a foundation that is best for you depends on your location and type of soil you have.

Slab Foundation

We have a concrete slab foundation. Many people are so surprised to hear that we don’t have a basement! Basements in Texas are not common, or recommended. The ground shifts too much and will cause major foundation problems! We also don’t have freezing weather, so our ground does not freeze and thaw our causing cracks in the foundation. Another benefit to having a slab, is that with the warmer weather we have, having a solid concrete slab, helps keep out the bugs! Houses down in Texas are built with a solid concrete slab to help support the house from caving in the basement, help prevent serious cracks, and keep out the bugs!

I’m not a 100% sure, but I would think that a solid concrete foundation would be less expensive, then having a whole other story below ground level. I could be wrong?? Some of you might ask, where we store everything? Well since we don’t have basements here, many people try to create a lot of attic space by building taller roof pitches.

Areas We Have Attic Storage

The spaces we have for attic storage are above our garage, kitchen, and master suite area. We have roughly about 900 square foot of attic space! We would have the entire square footage of our home, but we can’t really get to the other side of the house because of the vaulted ceilings in the dining room and living area. So we don’t have attic space above the dining, living, playroom, or boys rooms. But what we have now, is PLENTY of storage space! It is the most we have ever had!

Things to Know Before a Slab Foundation is Poured

There are a few things that will need to be discussed with your builder before your concrete slab is poured. If you want any type of electrical run to somewhere in your house that is not connected to an outside wall. For example, we had floor outlets added to our living room floors if we ever needed to use them for lamps, or christmas trees. We strategically planned them out to be under our couches. This meant we needed to have our living room furniture placement figured out before the concrete slab was poured. We put in them in areas though, that if we moved our furniture, the rug would be able to cover them.

Double Check and Measure!

Another thing that needs to be done before the slab is poured, is to run the plumbing that will go throughout the house. You will want to double check all measurements for plumbing. We had to move our bathtub drain over 5 inches after the foundation was done and tile was installed, because it was too close to the wall. So to save yourself some setbacks later on, measure things out to double check your plumber, and contractor. Double check and get it right, or you will do it twice! 🙂 I linked some 100 ft tape measures above, so you can measure the long distances from wall to wall, or measure the plumbing and electrical in the middle of the home.

Any Special Flooring?

Another thing to discuss with your builder before you pour, is the type of flooring you want to have, and if you want anything special, like brick floors. We used full sized bricks for our entire front patio, and used full bricks around the outline of our back patio. These need to be noted before the pour, because those area’s need to be recessed in according to the thickness of the brick you chose. You can see on the image above towards the middle right side, that our front patio is recessed several inches compared to the rest of our slab. This allows the brick to sit flush with the rest of the slab once it is laid.

Process of How the Slab is Created

Concrete slabs are created from the outside, in. They first put up wood forms to create the perimeter of the house. Next, they completely level the ground making it compacted and flat as possible. They will use lasers to make sure it’s completely level. They dig trenches for where the plumbing and electrical will be run to areas of the house that are not connected to an outside wall. The trenches also help the slab foundation from moving or tipping as the weather changes the soil throughout the year. They also help support the load bearing walls. These trenches have a big role in the stability of your home!

Next is what you call “tamping” the ground. Which is when the soil that was not trenched is compacted very tight to create solid stable ground area. Then they cover those areas with black tarps to help even more as a moisture barrier. The rebar is installed as a floating reinforcement. It helps support the solid part of the concrete, as well as the footers.

Concrete Pouring

After the rebars are installed, pouring the concrete comes next! This step happens pretty quick! Slab pours are done in one day and take about 1 to 2 days to dry! If you want to do handprints or write your name in the concrete then you should try to get that done a few hours after it was poured so it’s semi-set!

After the concrete is poured, your slab might feel really, really small. It is like an optical illusion. There are several stages in the building process that will make your house feel big, and small, then big again.

Next Up

Next up for your build is framing! This happens fast, so I will probably include HVAC, Plumbing, Electrical, and Insulation as well! I hope you found some informational insight about the type of foundation you need, and learned a couple things about how a slab foundation works.

Thanks for reading, and looking forward to the next building101 topic!

Categories: #building101, Uncategorized

#Building101 – Choosing a Builder

Choosing the right builder can be one of the first big decisions you have to make when starting the building process. If you are building a spec home, normally there is one builder that builds up the houses in that community. Which has it’s advantages and disadvantages. It makes the process of finding a builder easier, but you might not like that particular builder. Choosing a builder for building a custom home is a little more complicated. So I wanted to create a blog post specific to this topic!

Shopping Around when Choosing a Builder

When you start shopping around for a builder, there are many things to consider. Two of the major choices to consider are if that builder is within your budget, and if they are someone you can work with for the next 9 months or so.

Let’s start with how to go about looking for builders around your area. Personally, I think the best way to find a good builder is to ask others that have recently built with that builder. Word of mouth is a great way to really get good feedback about builders. Of course, if they have any type of website, or social media is another good way. But authentic and informative feedback comes best from personal experience. Most websites or social media accounts for builders want positive feedback to display.

When talking to someone who just built with that builder will be able to give you insight on what it was really like to build with that person. It is a good way to get an idea on what you will be working with throughout your building process. You might get some negative feedback, which is also valuable to you, because then you know what to avoid!

Questions to Ask

Listing some good questions you might want to consider asking your builders!

Do they work with a specific architect, or are they open using anyone?
Have they built a home similar to the style and design of home you want?
What is your price per sq. ft. and how do you determine that price to make it as accurate as possible?
How long does it take for you to create your estimated bid?
How long does it take to build a home like we want?
If we have a sub contractor we want to use that is different from yours, would you be okay with that?
Do you have a one year fix and touch ups warranty?
Will it be only you we are working with, or is there an assistant we will be working with too?
What is the best way to keep everyone involved and communicating? We don’t want any miscommunications.
Will there be regular meetings scheduled, or will they only be done upon request?
How do you determine the builders fee? Is it a fixed fee, or is it a cost plus fee?

Comparing Builders to Builders

Now, it’s important to compare a few different builders. Try not to go for the first one you meet! They might be a good fit, but it is always a good idea to check out other builders to see if there might be a better fit! When comparing builders to builders you want to keep in mind that you are going to get what you pay for. You can chose the best builder in the city, but you are most likely going to pay some of the top prices.

You will want to meet with each builder face to face, or at least zoom, so you can get a good first impression of each builder you meet with. This will help you get a feel for them as a builder, information about the subcontractors they work with, building processes, estimated time frame, and if you feel like they would be a good communicator. Communication is KEY when you are building! Not only between you and your builder, but also you and your spouse!

It is also nice to actually see your builders work! Ask if you can see a current project they are working on and a recent completed home they built. This is almost like a “portfolio” if you think about it. It gives you an true visual of their work!

How do you Know if a Builder is Within your Budget?

Builders usually give estimates of their price per square foot. The price per square foot varies depending on your location. Our home is probably worth twice as much, or more if we built it in California. It’s good to get quotes from different builders to see the price range of several builders.

Calculating your budget is simple. Take your square footage on your house plans, and then you multiply it by the price per square foot. This gives you a good estimate of what it would cost to build a house.

To make sure your builder can give you an accurate price per sq. ft. then it’s a good idea to have a general outline of your house plan, that includes the square footage. Also try to give him some of the big design or features you want to include in your home.

We let our builder know that we wanted to have about 2,300- 2,400 sq. footage to give him a good estimate of what we plan to build. We also told him the major things that make cost differences, like we originally wanted brick on the lower part of the house (we decided to just do board and batten), and board and batten everywhere else. I let him know I wanted vaulted ceilings in the living & dining area, and that I wanted wood beams. There would be lots of brick accents, and shiplap throughout the house. We also told him we wanted LVP flooring and solid wood double doors. All these details helped him give us a better sq. ft. price.

Farmhouse interior with vaulted ceilings and wood beams — Wooden beams, shiplap shiplap accent walls, brick fireplace, and LVP floors.

I could tell you what it cost to build our house, or I what the builder told us the price per square foot was estimated to be, but in all honesty, that won’t help you! The economy is completely different now, then it was when we were building. Lumber prices have almost gone up 80% since we built! Not only that, but builders prices vary all around the united states. They can even vary with in local areas. The prices around my small town varied from $115- $145. Now I’m sure the prices vary from $130-$175 per sq. ft.

Builders Gotta get Paid, too!

There are different ways that builders determine how they get paid to build. Our builder had a set, or fixed, fee of what he was going to get paid. It was about $25,000. My parents recently built and they used a different builder. His fee was based on a percentage of the overall cost to build the home, and I think their builders fee was about $50,000-$60,000. Of course their house cost more to build than ours, but if we would have used the same builder as them, our builders fee would have been more that that set fee we paid. So keep in mind that builders get paid differently and you want to see if they will work with you on that!

Choosing a Builder that is Not too Hot, Not too Cold, but Just Right!

Yes, I just compared choosing the right builder to Goldie Locks and the Three Bears but it’s kind of true though! You will find builders that are too over the top, and only want to do things their way. You will find builders that don’t get involved much, and scoot by each house barely meeting the needs of their clients. Eventually, you will find a builder that is just right for you!

Hoping this covers questions you might have about deciding on how to chose the right builder! After you chose your builder, you are just one step closer to creating your dream home! As always, leave a comment below if you have any questions! Also, don’t forget to subscribe to the blog emails, so you don’t miss out on any upcoming posts! I also talked a little about this on my Instagram #building 101 series. I talked about this a while ago, but you can find it saved on my highlights!