In February, Mrs. D, Little EV (our 5 year old daughter) and I moved in to our new house. When Mrs. D and I married about 13 years ago, we set a goal to live in the mountains some day. We're all quite delighted that we realized our goal this year. Our previous home in Tucson was rather lovely as desert homes go, but we feel a bit more at home here where we are nestled in a nice mountain valley between the Wasatch front to the west and the Uintas to the east.
I'm working on a book to describe our experience building this new house and our previous house in Tucson. In both cases we designed the house and hired a contractor to build it according to our plans. In light of the fact that we hope to live in our current home for the rest of our lives, I'm very glad that we had the experience of building twice. You tend to make mistakes the first time around. The second time is much closer to our dream.
Location is obviously a big part of building your dream home and we were very fortunate to land here. Here is a photograph of our new house from the highest point on our lot. The mountain peaks behind the house are about 8000 feet elevation. According to our well report, our house is situated at 6000 feet.
Here is another shot from the road below our house--obviously autumn has its effect a little earlier here than at lower elevations.
We also wanted to ensure that the view from the main living area in our home took advantage of the magnificent view. Here is the view from our family room:
I'll post updates on the progress of the book as things move along. While I'm certainly not an expert, I am looking forward to conveying my experience and perhaps helping others interested in building their dream home to avoid some of the mistakes we made in our first attempt.
It's just like Little House on the Prairie, except that it's not-so-little house in the mountains. Otherwise, it's just like that!
Posted by: lucy | October 23, 2006 at 05:39 PM
Wow. I can't wait to read your book. Even though Mr. P and I have absolutely no plans to build a house anytime in the near future. It could still be interesting.
Posted by: Sijbrich | October 23, 2006 at 08:30 PM
LOL--yes--it's just like that except not, but aside from that you're absolutely right. And thanks for reading my blog! :-D
Posted by: Dean | October 23, 2006 at 08:52 PM
Hey dude. Remember me? hehe
I could use a copy of this book as Hubby and I are currently building a home in N. Los Angeles County that I will probably die in because he is difficult to move...
Anyway... Hope all is well and good with you all.
Take care.
Posted by: Katrina | February 04, 2007 at 05:09 PM