I’ve Been Keeping A Secret: The BIG Announcement
Hello friends! Today’s post has been one that I’ve been dying to share with you for an entire year! Can you believe that?? ONE WHOLE YEAR!! I’ve been keeping a secret and hinting around on the blog for the past few months that we have been working on something pretty exciting. Drumroll please….THE BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!!
Over the next 10 or so months, we will be working on ONE.BIG.PROJECT. We will be building our dream home in the forest! A year ago in March we bought this beautiful piece of property.
Covered in snow, we saw the vision of the next season of our life right here. In this beautiful, magical forest that smells like the mountains. Where life seems to pause and nothing but the sound of squirrels scattering up trees. Peaceful. Serene.
We kept this “secret” to ourselves until recently. Not even our family or friends knew. We had our land, but didn’t know when the house would be built. The snow slowly started to melt in April and I slowly began designing our new home.
Going into this, I really had no clear idea of how I wanted this home to look. Over time, I let the serenity of this place give birth to the ideas in my mind of designing this home. It’s been a long journey and I’ll take your there soon.
Do you remember when I did this glam forest photo shoot?
Photo by Jennifer Wyeth Photography
That was on our property. No one knew it was ours at the time. I even went as far as telling those who asked that “the land owners let us borrow the property” for the photoshoot. Small fib maybe? Not really. We gave ourselves permission to use our property…lol. See how I justify?
You may wonder why we never mentioned this to anyone and how in the world we kept it under wraps for a year. I wanted to be able to invite everyone into this exciting new journey when the ball was rolling and the home was ready to start. We have had a long year already of planning and preparation with a lot of setbacks. We’ve overcome a few hurdles just to make this happen. The timing was never right to share our excitement…until now.
I already have so much to share with you about the process of designing a new home. Like how I came up with our floorplan and how it evolved in my notebook. Where my design inspiration and ideas come from. This blog will be bursting at the seams with weekly updates.
So here we go, the beginning of The Forest Modern. I named her already. The stakes are in place. Welcome to our driveway.
As you can see we have a lot of trees and unfortunately we will need to cut some down where the house will go. They’ll be recycled and put to good use elsewhere. I took this photo this past Saturday as one last look of our untouched piece of land. The trees are flagged and they are getting cut down this week.
Excavation soon follows and we plan to pour the foundation of the home by the end of this month. Lord willing, I always say, because you never know with our March and April snow storms in Colorado. We are keeping our fingers crossed.
I can’t tell you how excited we are to take you through this entire journey of building our new forest home. This has been and will continue to be my baby for the next year. I’m going to walk you through every little detail of this process. We’re going to watch this baby develop together and be born into a beautiful home. Oh I can’t wait!
Be sure to follow along with me on Instagram where I will be showing short clip videos of the process on my instastories. Every week I plan on posting updates here on the blog. We are going to have so much fun through this journey of building a custom home. It’s new territory for me and I’m learning as I go. I hope you’ll join me in this exciting venture!
I am so excited for you and can not wait to go on this journey with you!!! I know it’s going to be so so gorgeous and can’t wait to see every single choice you make! ????????
Thank you so much sweet friend! Your home has been a big inspiration for mine and I’ve been so appreciative for the resources you’ve shared.
xoxo
How exciting! We did almost the same thing (although not in a remote location) over 10 years ago and although there were challenges along the way, it was a great learning process and building your house custom is just the best. We sold it this summer and moved to a 100-year-old house in a hip and walkable area of town, so it’s a totally new experience. I’m glad we’ve had the opportunity to experience both. Best of luck to you as you navigate the waters of custom building!
Thank you so much Hollie for your sweet comment. I hope you are enjoying your new home! Sounds like it’s fabulous!
Oh Shauna! This is so exciting! I look forward to following your journey…I’m sure your new home will be gorgeous! Congratulations, Lisa
Thank you so much Lisa!
How incredibly exciting! I can’t wait to follow along!
Thank you so much Holly!
Well you already know how excited I am about this Shauna! ???? I just can’t wait to see it all unfold! And always remember I’m just a phone call away. ???? Can’t wait! It’s going to be amazing! ❤ (Now get here already! I’m dying to catch up with you!) xo
Erin, I’m so grateful to have you by my side to ask questions about this process. You’re the pro after building your gorgeous home. CANNOT wait to see it AND YOU this weekend!! EEKKKKKK!
xoxo
Oh what a fun adventure. I’ve build 3 custom homes from the ground up and it is indeed the most amazing and exciting journey. Can’t wait to watch yours unfold.
Thank you so much Marty!
Yay, I love reading about home and design and the best part we get to follow along from the beginning.
I am very excited for you. Congratulations!!!!!!!
Thank you so much Susie!
Shauna you know how excited I am for you and I absolutely cannot wait to see this unfold over the next several months!! I’ve done it 3 times and it’s tough but I know it will be so beautiful and all well worth it once it is complete and you and your sweet family get to reside here❤❤❤. Best of luck and I will be looking forward to your weekly updates:))
Thank you Bree and I’m so grateful I have such a talented friend to bounce ideas off of! See you soon!!
xoxo
How exciting for you and your family! Colorado is such a beautiful state. Can’t wait to read your blog and follow your journey. Best wishes to you!
Paula, thank you so much!
Shauna, I’m over-the-moon happy for you!!????????????????????✨✨✨ You’re rolling two of my all-time favs into one adventure!! I have a huge love of trees, and forests, and densely wooded lots, and quiet nature…and I might be the weird one out…but I LOVE building!!❤️ I love every step of watching a thought, unfold into fruition!! Your land is FABULOUS and I have no doubt your home will be also!! And, I’m sooo excited that you’re going to be sharing the process with us!! I’m giddy with excitement FOR YOU!!! Congrats, my friend…it’s going to be an amazing adventure!! ????????????????❤️xoxo
Debi, thank you so much! It’s been a long road but we are so excited to see it all unfold! Thanks for stopping by the blog and leaving me such a sweet comment friend.
Xoxo
Wow, how exciting for you guys! Although I am very sad we won’t be neighbors anymore!! 🙁
We are definitely sad to leave our neighborhood Laura! So many wonderful friends and neighbors! We won’t be too far though 😉
xo
Yahoo!!! Can’t wait to see your dream unfold. So excited for you friend! Make sure my new room is ready for me next year. xo
Exciting news indeed! Looking forward to watching your process.
Thank you Valerie!
Wow! So excited for you! That property looks like a little slice of heaven. Can’t wait to see your dream come true.
Thank you Donna!
Shauna, I love it so much!!! I’m excited for you and your family and can’t wait to see your designs come to life!
Thank you Jen! Was so good hanging out with you this weekend! Miss you already!
xoxo
This must be so exciting for you and your family. I can’t wait to follow along as you begin this wonderful journey. Such a beautiful piece of property. It’s always been a dream of mine to build a house. Not sure it will happen, but I know I will enjoy seeing your house and dream come to life. Congratulations!!!????
Thank you Darlene! You are so sweet to drop me a note here!