CORRECTIONVILLE, Iowa | It’s surreal almost, to sit on my comfy couch in our living room by the warm fireplace, sipping a cup of hot cocoa, the Christmas lights twinkling, and looking out the windows at the light snow falling on the rolling hills beyond our acreage. It really is cliché, but this is what we’ve made our dream home.
And yet here we are, a year after moving into our new construction home southeast of Correctionville, Iowa. My husband, Jason, and I had a vision of building our dream home almost from the beginning of our marriage. For 10 years, we saved here and there for what would become our 5,900-square-foot home on the farm – with a corn field surrounding us and a view of the cattle yards (not everyone’s dream location I’m sure!) A year later, I’m still at times amazed, but always grateful, for being here – home with my husband and our 7-year-old daughter, Gabby.
Building a home is absolutely stressful. Slate gray or powder gray for the siding color? Tile or wood floor in the kitchen? Granite or laminate countertops? Outlet here or light switch there? I remember our contractor asking us how we wanted the fascia to look on the exterior. I looked at him like he had three heads and said, “The what?”
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But making those decisions became much easier with the help our general contractor. It occurred to us that we had to put a lot of trust in our contractor, and we had a wonderful building experience with H&H Construction in Kingsley, Iowa. Lance Howe, co-owner and contractor of their residential projects, made our job easier with his knowledge, patience and let’s-do-it attitude. And we were thrilled with every sub-contractor we had here, most recommended by Lance.
Friends often ask if we would we change anything about the house. The answer is no, not really anything big. We spent almost two years planning, designing and tweaking the architect’s drawings and plans. Putting in a lot of work on the front end of the project saved us a lot of headaches during the building process.
We didn’t get everything we wanted – I had the vision of a second story so we could have this grand curved staircase. The first bid came back for that design and my husband, very budget-conscious, said back to the drawing board. We did a quick redesign and were satisfied with a ranch house, with walk-out basement, open-concept main floor, four bedrooms and four-and-a-half baths.
The one room I was willing to sacrifice anything for was a music room. I’ve played piano for 21 years and Jason is a former marching band student, so I dreamed of an elegant room for my grand piano and his various instruments.
Jason’s dream was a theater room. We weren’t going to finish the theater room during the original build to save some money. But once the room was framed and dry-walled, we decided it wasn’t that much more to paint and carpet, and do it while the contractors were still on site.
Another must-have in the design was a large office and mudroom area, since we live on the farm. A lot of time is spent in the office doing the bookkeeping for the farming operation. And the dirty clothes and muddy boots stay in the mudroom. It’s a beautiful home, but it still gets dirty and we’ve already put a small hole in a wall. But like I say, this isn’t a museum – we live here. I have one guilty pleasure in the house – a gift-wrapping station in the office. I blame Pinterest for that idea. Jason’s guilty pleasure is the steam shower and heated towel rack in the master bath.
Although some of our dream features became a reality, we still had to watch the budget. We installed granite countertops in the kitchen and the bathrooms, but used laminate countertops in the office, laundry room and basement bar. I even found a remnant piece of granite to do four of the five bathrooms. The mud bathroom has an onyx countertop.
We waited until Lowe’s ran a special on carpet installation and saved a bundle there. I gave up the beautiful built-in china hutch planned for the kitchen to save some money on cabinetry. Hopefully down the road we can acquire the hutch. And landscaping will be a gradual project for the next few years.
Decorating a home of takes time. I didn’t pressure myself to have photos and artwork on the walls, new furniture in every room or curtains hung immediately. I like decorating – combing through magazines and Pinterest for ideas, finding unique items at little boutiques and bargain hunting. We purchased some new furniture when we moved in, and a few more pieces during the past year. But with the idea of saving money, we’ll eventually add more.
Choosing a color scheme and wood finishes was made easier with photo ideas from Houzz.com (check it out – it’s like Pinterest for house design). It was also helpful to show pictures to our various contractors so they could envision what we wanted. The wall paint throughout is coordinating shades of gray, something I chose as an alternative to earth tones. We particularly like detailed woodwork and features, like the coffered ceiling in the great room, the tray ceiling in the master bedroom and crown molding in the kitchen.
When we moved in September 2014, I immediately put out autumn decorations. But by mid-November I was anxious to decorate for my favorite holiday – Christmas! Fortunately, I was raised by a mother who has a knack for decorating and a Christmas tree in every room. Much to my husband’s chagrin, I inherited the “tree-in-every-room” philosophy.
Three years ago, when we knew we were going to build and we knew the great room would have 14-foot ceilings, I went on the hunt for a 12-foot-high Christmas tree. At a gardening store in Omaha on the day after Christmas, I found that tree, deeply discounted at 80 percent off. I continued to buy trees and other holiday décor on sale and clearance, able to pack it away at our storage unit until I needed it.
The great room tree is done in turquoise blue and apple green with white accents. I saw a similar tree at a floral and home décor store in Omaha. The music room, with its warm mahogany wainscoting and coffered ceiling, has a 9-foot tree done in bronze, copper and gold with touches of red and green. Although the tree was new, those decorations were what I had on our tree at our former house.
I shop at numerous places for Christmas décor – Hobby Lobby, Michael’s, Target, floral stores, department stores and even Lowe’s. The guest room tree is a winter wonderland theme, with knitted sweater, owl and penguin ornaments in light blue, red and white – all found at Lowe’s. This year, I hope to add an Iowa State-themed tree in the theater room, and a cowgirl-themed tree in Gabby’s bedroom.
Our second Christmas in our home is just around the corner. We look forward to hosting get-togethers with friends and family, and taking time to bask in the glow of the fire in the fireplace and the Christmas lights.
