The Journey of Our Dreams

I’ve been wanting to start this blog back up for a while, but I just needed to sit down and take the time to do it.  So much has happened since August 24, 2011 when we started this blog, but, before I start writing about that, I thought it would be best to tell you why we started writing to begin with.

It was Savva’s idea to begin a blog.  I thought I really wouldn’t have time to do much with it, but Savva insisted that it was a great way to document this exciting chapter in our lives.  As it turns out, he was right!  I wish we had taken more time on it throughout the process, but it is really neat to look back on the pictures and remember our journey.

The only part I’ve really had in it was coming up with the name “Nail by Nail, Board by Board.”  This came from a Miranda Lambert song called “The House That Built Me.”  It came out right around the time we were starting to build, and, although the rest of the song doesn’t really apply to what we were doing, a few lines from the second verse do:

“Mama cut out pictures of houses for years.

From 'Better Homes and Garden' magazines.

Plans were drawn, concrete poured,

and nail by nail and board by board

Daddy gave life to mama's dream.”

I know Savva and I aren’t “Mama and Daddy” yet, but I hope that one day our children are able to look back and say these exact words about the house that Savva built for us.  It really has been a journey for our relationship.  We have grown so much closer throughout the process, and it truly is a product of our dreams.  We built with our future in mind, we built it together, and, yes, I did cut out pictures of houses for a long time!

So why did a 23 year old and 20 year old get the crazy idea that they could actually build a house to begin with???

This entire house has been Savva’s incredible dream coming to life.  It all started when I was frustrated with a new living situation in college and, before I knew it, I told Savva, “I just want to buy a house - I don’t want to rent anymore!”  We got on my computer and Googled “Boone Real Estate”. The first result that appeared on the search engine was a piece of land.  In my frustration, I said, “I don’t need a piece of land - I’m looking for a house!”  Savva responded by saying, “What if I built you a house?”

This was the piece of land we were looking at:

I dismissed his crazy idea and quickly forgot about it until a few days later Savva showed me some drawings...of our house!  He had been by to check out the land - the first result on our Google search - and had even called on the price.  From that point on, we began spending hours talking, brainstorming, drawing, and planning what would become our house.  The dreams became reality when we were sitting at a table in Golden Corral with my dad and a family friend who is a lawyer.  We used a napkin to crunch numbers and find a way to make this work.  Knowing we had taken the first step in creating something special that day, I kept that napkin.  Below you can see some of the very first drawings of our house (which changed blue prints several times before construction)

And here is our final product (blue print of the main floor):

Savva learned how to use AutoDesk Revit while he was in college, and he can create anything you want on here!  We had fun playing with it (except when I accidentally made all the floors in the blue print disappear!)  I love watching my husband when he is caught up in something he is so passionate about - the possibilities are endless for him!

Savva’s dad, George, owns a construction business, Kostis Builders, so we sat down one night to show him our plans and ask for his help.  If you have ever seen George’s work, it’s absolutely incredible.  Savva has learned a lot from him growing up in the construction world, and together they can do some unbelievably amazing things.  The two of them worked together on finalizing plans (while I interjected my opinions!), and I worked with the bank to finalize a construction loan and to make everything official.  This was a trying time for us and there were several times we worried that it might all fall apart, but we have a wonderful army of love and support from our families that helped us every step of the way.

Breaking ground was a family task - Savva, George, and Demetre (Savva’s brother) began clearing the land, and I think Tina (Savva’s mother) and I dragged limbs for days!  My parents and brothers would come up from Durham as often as they could to see the progress and help in whatever ways they could.  From the first day we broke ground, Savva and George spent countless hours working on every detail from the footers to the framing right down the the finest details of the house.  They even threw some surprises in there along the way for me too!

I have always been so proud of Savva for everything he accomplished throughout the building process.  While we were building, he was in his senior year of college and his final year of wrestling at Appalachian.  During that busy year, Savva earned a place on the Dean’s List as well as becoming an All-American on the wrestling mat.  He was ranked in the top 25 in the NCAA for part of the season and finished the regular season of his career ranked #21 in the country for his 149lb weight class.  As a team, ASU also won the Socon Championship!  All those things are extremely hard to do even when you’re not building a house!!  He never ceases to amaze me in the things he can accomplish, but more on that in a later post.

So, if you’ve stayed with me on this ridiculously long blog post this long - thank you!  The next few blog posts will be filled with pictures and a few words about what has been happening in our lives since we began this blog.  Happy reading!