And So It Begins

We decided to start this blog weeks after we started the process of building our new house.  Here's a little catch up.  About two months ago Kristin and I started getting the new house bug so we started looking around the Centreville area for houses that met our criteria.  We really liked our current house but wanted something that would give us more of a yard, along with a more "community" feel.  Unfortunately we weren't seeing anything we really loved and started to expand our search out west towards South Riding and then even a little farther west in Aldie.  The more we looked at Aldie the more we liked it.  It is a newer community compared to South Riding and also has larger sized lots.  Unfortunately there are always negatives no matter how hard you try to find the perfect home.  These negatives were that we would be farther away from friends and our commutes we be a bit longer.

After looking at several resale homes we decided to take a look at new homes.  The first new homes community in Aldie we looked at was in Kirkpatrick Farms.  These homes consisted of Ryan Homes and NVHomes.  We really liked one of the lots the Ryan Homes had.  It was quite large and backed to trees, but we weren't thrilled about the available models and options that Ryan Homes provided.  We then went across the street to a new community called Stratshire Crossing with  Winchester Homes.  After looking at a couple of models we felt this could be the community we wanted to live in.  One of the biggest things that intrigued us about Winchester Homes was their "Your Home Your Way" policy, which means you can pretty much design your house however you want it.

We started working with the Winchester design consultant, Wendy Anderson.  She was truly amazing.  After choosing the specific model (Abbey) to start working with we told her the things we liked and didn't like while walking through a few different models and she came up with ideas for changing the floor plan to meet our needs.  After many iterations over a few weeks we ended up changing almost the entire 2nd floor, as well as expanding various parts of the first floor such as the garage and family room.  (I'll post actual floor plans when we get the official version from Winchester in the next few weeks).  Below is an image of the Abbey, but the brick, shutters and door colors are different then what we selected.

Over the past couple of weeks we have solidified the floor plans along with picking all the different options, such as cabinets, counters, exterior brick, siding, shutters, front door etc., etc., etc. and etc.  It was fun but exhaustive.  Next week we have to finalize all options that deal with any sort of structure and then we have another four weeks to finalize all the rest of the options.  After that four weeks they will begin to break ground shortly there after.  

We picked our lot (#50) which is roughly 0.35 acres and is shaped somewhat like a triangle due to the fact that its at the end of a pipe stem (hence the name of this blog).  It backs to trees and should feel somewhat private while sitting in the backyard because the neighboring houses will be blocked out due to the angle of the house.  It should also be quiet, which is one thing our current house does not have due to the shopping center behind it.

We are very excited to be in this whole process ... and nervous!  Our new address will end up being 41546 Radlett Lane, Aldie, Va 20105.  But this won't happen for at least 4 months.  The house isn't supposed to be ready until November or December 2010.