Homestead Update — Drywall + The Well + More!

Two posts in two weeks? Yep, I’m finally getting a bit of breathing room after the whirlwind of activity getting our Portland home ready for sale. And there is SO much that has happened over the past few months, so I will hop, skip, and jump right to it. When I last wrote, the homestead had finished framing and the vision of years of planning and drawings had taken shape into a solid wooden structure right before our eyes. It was a transformative moment. I suddenly realized “okay wow, this is *actually* happening.” And since then, there has been a continued flurry of activity and progress, huzzah! Every weekend visit to the build site has me feeling like a child on Christmas morning—flying out of bed, rushing through breakfast, with a growing well of excitement building over the 40-minute drive (thank god Jeremy is driving so we haven’t racked up any speeding tickets yet!) So without further adieu, let’s dive into some of the things that have happened.

Reader, we have WATER!! And it comes from a WELL! That people came and drilled down into the EARTH for! Have you ever seen a well drilled? I hadn’t until this. And let me tell you, it. is. WILD. It starts with a large truck with a drill attached to the front of it, and the truck has to be perfectly flat. Because of this, they have supports underneath it to keep it flat even if it’s on a slope (like it was on our property), so it looks kind of like one side is almost floating. The cost of a well varies wildly depending on how far down you have to drill to hit water. The deeper they drill, the more expensive it is. The difference between a 100 foot well and a 100o foot well is tens of thousands of dollars, to give you some perspective. So we were crossing all our fingers and toes that they would hit water quickly. And we finally got an extra stroke of luck in the homestead journey when they hit water at only 30 feet. It was a LOT of water, coming out at 100 gallons a minute which according to our builder Philip was pretty insane. They drilled all the way down to 100 feet to be safe and there was water all the way, so it seems like a pretty big reservoir down there.

We also have electricity in the house, too! All the wiring got put in the walls along with the pipes for plumbing, and it was fun getting an inside look at all the utilitarian pieces that go into making a functioning space. It almost felt like looking at an x-ray of your own body, but the house version, if that makes sense. You’re just kind of looking at it thinking “huh, so that’s how everything is connected”. It was great to get a visual on where things will be within the home, too, like getting a feel for where the lighting fixtures will be and the sinks will go and all that fun stuff.

And once all the wiring and pipes were in the walls, the insulation was put in, and then the drywall was able to go up. Each space in the home is an actual room now with sealed walls and everything! It’s made such a difference in getting a real feel for the physicality of each room. I find myself walking through the home thinking about where the furniture, and more importantly, all the houseplants will go, and envisioning all the memories we’ll make there. Christmas trees in the corner of the living room by the staircase, movie nights with friends, holidays gathered around the kitchen island while I finish making dinner and everyone helps themselves to the appetizers.

Altogether, the process up to that point has been incredibly smooth (knock on wood!) We have had some hiccups with the countertops very recently—we had to switch suppliers after the original countertop sponsor bailed on us after firing and replacing their entire marketing team over the past year (🫠), so that has been a stressful scramble the past few months. But I think we’re in the clear with a wonderful new countertop supplier (yay Cosentino!!), all the counterops ordered, and while they’ll be installed abouuuut a month behind schedule, it sounds our builder will be able to move some projects around enough to where it doesn’t delay the whole project too much.

All in all, it’s a minor hiccup in the whole scheme of things. And I’m really grateful for the team of folks we have making it all happen (I’m looking at you, Hainline + Strucksured). And since the drywall went up, it feels like things are flying a million miles an hour. I’m talkin’ cabinets being delieverd, floors being installed, and tile being cemented (or is it grouted?) onto the walls. So basically, I already owe you another update :’D But for the sake of our collective attention span, I’ll wrap this one up here and save all the other news + details for the next one! Wishing you a beautiful July, my friend, and talk soon!!