We did it! We made it through the process of building our first home. After living in Florida, Michigan, Colorado, and Arizona we are happy to say that we are finally back in Louisiana to stay! I have received soooo many questions are products we used, paint colors, tiles, how we decided on house plans etc. I will try to touch on a lot of that. It will have to be in multiple posts because there is just so much information. I can say that we learned a lot. I also did a ton of research before making any decisions. I believe that paid off. Now, we are so happy with our selections and its so functional for a family of 5.

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First step was getting an outline of what we wanted in the home. I went on Pinterest and came up with multiple boards of what I liked. Next we found our lot. Views were very important to our family. We spend a lot of time outside and we wanted our home views to embrace nature. So thankful to find our lot. It has a very homelike feeling and I just can’t get enough of the views. Once this was all established we hired an architect. Find someone who has put out that is similar to your style. Go tour some of their homes if you can.

Here are a few common questions I get from those who are interested in building. What are some of the things I knew I must have? Windows! Going back to the view thing…I knew I wanted most rooms to have views. Plus my kids play outside a lot and I love to keep an eye on them. What was the first thing you selected for the home? Front door. To me this is a very special area of the home. Its the first thing my guests see and its a great spot to take family pics on holidays. We designed the home so you can see from the front door to the back door so you don’t miss the water view. What is your favorite part of the home? This actually changes day to day at this point. I must say though…I love my kitchen. Its the center of the home and I love spending time with family and friends there. My husbands favorite aspect is the back porch. We put kind of a fun twist out there and its a good place to get some relaxation. My oldest says his favorite part is his office space. This is a fun and simple little space but lots of work and reading gets done there. If you have kids…this is a must! Finally, my 5 year old says his favorite part is his dad’s office. He loves the neat features there. More on that to come later. Stay tuned!

One other major aspect of designing this home. We stay very busy and have three. boys. Having said this…I did not want to have to constantly be cleaning. So when designing the home we tried to make sure most spaces had a purpose and a solution to keep things clutter free. So far so good! I would absolutely encourage this. I am finding that I am enjoying more time with my family and picking up less. How did I select what to improve? I looked at ways that I was wasting time as far as picking up and cleaning. Then I designed the home so that it was more convenient. For example, the play room is upstairs…this way I don’t freak out if its not tidy all the time. I need to be able to hear and see my kids in that room so I added a balcony to keep it open. What is the mack daddy of time savors for our home? LAUNDRY SHOOT! My kids love to use it and I would say about 95% of the time I have all their dirty clothes in the laundry room without asking! I will be touching on more ways to improve functionality in another post. So stay tuned.

Thanks for reading and flowing along. Make sure and follow my Instagram, TikTok and follow in the Liketoknow.it app under Paige Crawford. Have a blessed day!