Steele Haven

The last time I updated here, it was near the end of a long summer. Our plans were still coming along despite some setbacks that we’d had here in the house and some of the challenges we were experiencing. And our plans are still moving forward, it’s just that as things tend to do around […]

I’m sitting on my front porch this morning typing up a few thoughts. First among them is how much I really love our porch. I am so grateful for this quiet spot in the mornings, looking out on all the trees surrounding our house. It’s a place of respite and connection, sheltered from the sun […]

I should know better, but I keep saying “Oh if I can just finish X project, then I’ll be able to rest a little bit..” Ya, every project completed unlocks 3 more that are available. I’m not complaining by any means, and I actually have rested some. We made a big push to get those […]

We closed on the sale of our old house last week. I can’t even tell you what a load off that is! When we began this project, we needed to use all the equity of the old house in order to make up the difference between the construction loan and the actual cost of construction. […]

This journey for us has had a lot of little things that show us that it’s been more than just our idea. I don’t think that we could have successfully built the house and moved into it, especially before the end of the year, if it has been just us going it alone, and if […]

I’ve had a few people checking in for updates on where we are at lately, and I realize I’ve been neglectful of updates here on the blog. My apologies for going so long in between updates, but I think you’ll see why when I fill you in on what we’ve been up to since we […]

What a week it has been! I’ll give you the tl:dr version up front, because I know some of you just want to know how this week’s inspections went. Well… As of today… We have occupancy!! Back in March of this year we were clearing trees and branches. In April we closed on the construction […]

I’ve been asked more than once if the house has been more or less work than I thought it would be. It’s not an easy answer, because it seems pretty obvious that building an entire house, especially a house this big, is going to be a really big project. But it’s also one thing to […]

It’s been hard to find time to write updates because it feels like so many things are happening and at the same time so many more things still need to happen so that other things can get done. I’m not sure I can cover everything, but I’ll try to hit the big stuff. After we […]

A couple weeks ago when I had my first plumbing inspection, the sticker he left said “Disapproved.” It leaves me with the mental image of the inspector walking around, arms folded, shaking his head disapprovingly at all of my hard work. I wasn’t there when he came to inspect, because apparently scheduling a time for […]