It's official!

After three weeks of stress, tears, excitment and confusion - I'm super excited to say that Chad and I are building a new house!!!

The condensed version of a ridiculously long story is that we found a gorgeous house in Sunset Oaks - a beautiful neighborhood in Holly Springs. (Yeah you know it: "I'm going going, back back, to Holly Holly... think Notorious B.I.G) We walked in one particular house and fell instantly in love with it - the design, the layout, the fixtures... you name it, we loved it.

We looked at a few other homes - in that neighborhood and in other neighborhoods - but none held a candle to that one house.

The problem is someone else fell in love with that same house too. And without throwing out phrases like closing contingencies and sales addendum contracts - suffice it to say we thought we'd got the house, then lost it, then got it back, then lost it again, then got another shot, and then lost it again.

During the getting and losing, I cried. A lot. I could not figure out why God would keep putting this house back on the table so many times - making us feel like God was behind this decision - and then taking it away. It's only now in retrospect I can see that maybe instead of God being the one to put the house back on the table - and it being His will for us to have that house - He was the one that kept letting it slip through our fingers.

I was just seeing it backward.

So after the final "We've lost this house... let's remove our offer and start over," we were back on the hunt. We looked at a few other houses that we liked, but didn't love at first, to see if they were worth considering again. All the while, both of us having a hard time letting go of that one house. So our Realtor (who I love and adore and if you're EVER looking to buy in the Triangle please use her) decided to talk to a few builders to see if they could build us that same house in the same neighborhood.

And who would have guessed but that exact same builder -DJF Builders - who built our original "dream" house said that he'd be happy to build another one. In fact, he had seven lots we could choose from in Sunset Oaks! So we went and picked out a wonderful, flat, corner lot that is actually bigger than the original house we fought for. And here's the kicker, we're getting the EXACT same house, all the same upgrades, a bigger lot, and brand new - for even a little LESS than we were offering for the other home.

And since it's a custom home, we get to pick every little part of the home - from start to finish. From the color of the shutters outside to the stain of the beams in the master bedroom. Every hinge and handle - we get to choose. This house will be completely OURS. I'm loving the thought of this now - but have a feeling all the decisions might stress me out in the near future.

For this I have you, my blog friends. Over the next several weeks, I will start a poll to get your input over major housing decisions. Whether it is what style interior door we choose, the type of wainscoating, or the color of granite. I want your input. And Chad and I will film the building process and upload videos to the blog so you can see the progress! The house will take between 4 and 6 months to build... so patience will be key.

And speaking of patience, thanks for being patient with me over the past few weeks, when blogging was scarce. Happy to be back at it!