The "Made in America"

So much has happened since the last time that I blogged that it is really hard to decide where I should resume.  A lot of people have sent emails asking about how I am feeling since my surgery.  I promise to blog about my health next (I am feeling great by the way) but to be honest blogging about our housing adventures is much more exciting.  This weekend we took another trip to Hampton Roads to look for a home.  I arrived on Thursday to begin the hunt and Leif arrived late Friday to see my selections.  We have always wanted to live in a tight knit community often known as "Front Porch Living".  The idea is that rather than hanging out in your back yard you hang out on your front porch and build relationships with your neighbors.  Our Realtor told us about Culpepper Landing, a great neighborhood in Chesapeake, VA that seemed to be what we were looking for.  On our last trip we fell in love with a southern style home in the same amazing community but it was still under construction so we wanted to wait and see it finished. Once we arrived to see the home we were directed to another home which was being constructed for the Homearama.  What is Homearama?  Homearama is a 16-day single-site display of fully furnished and fully landscaped custom showcase homes 
that demonstrate the latest in home construction, design, furnishings and technological innovations. It is expected to attract 100,000 visitors throughout the event.  This years theme is The All American Homearama.  One of the homes was being built using only American made products.  We thought that was pretty cool but never in a million years did we expect to buy that house.  Well guess what???  We bought the Made in America house!  ( I guess I should say "we are buying", we close in July)  Here she is...

  
As much as I would love to say that the decision was easy, it really wasn't.  I went back and forth between this house and the original house we found back in March.  Leif didn't sweat it like I did.  The truth is, I LOVED both houses.  I knew I would be happy with either one and I think that made my decision even harder.  There was no cut and dry choice for me.  It was truly a unique situation.  How often do you have 4 days to find your perfect house, you find not 1 but 2 houses you love, they are in the same neighborhood, built by the same person, basically the same price and to top it off they are on the same street!!!  Leif left it up to me...how sweet of him...and after about 18 hours of "thinking" at 9:30 on Saturday morning while standing in line at Starbucks Leif said "make a decision right now" and I did!  The biggest deciding factor for me was the pride in owning The Made in America.  Knowing that every single item that constructed your home was Made in America is most likely a once in a lifetime opportunity...this is the only home of it's kind on the East Coast and 1 of only a handful in the whole Country.  The wood, wires, nails, drywall, tiles, harware, light fixtures etc...ALL Made in America!!!  Pretty Cool...Here are some pictures of the house right now.  Homearama is in 3 weeks so the house will be finished before then!  The builder is going to send me a virtual tour before the judging begins so we are very anxious to see the finished product. 

Great room from the stairs

Great room leading into kitchen

Kitchen...

Dining room with wet bar...side porch off dining room

Downstairs master shower

Aiden checking things out...

Downstairs master bath

One of the boxes laying around!

So excited for the future!

If you have nothing but time on your hands, here are a few links to articles and news stories about our house...
http://www.homearama.tv/
http://hamptonroads.com/2012/05/homearama-builder-goes-allamerican-materials
http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/video/housing-ideas-create-jobs-16306281   (2:20 mark)
http://www.culpepperlanding.com/