Hahaha talk about some suspense! Ekk!  It took me a little over three weeks but here I am, ready to announce and let y'all in on our little secret...

WE'RE ADDING A SECOND STORY TO OUR HOUSE!!

So it probably surprises no one that our "little" family is actually rather gigantic (both Chris and I being over 6ft tall and our children off the chart for height and weight) and thats not even mentioning the fact that there are now 4 of us.  Chris and I would both love to have a big family, so who knows what the future will bring there, but for right now, the 1450sq ft of space we have right now just is barely cutting it.

If you would like to see our current layout of our house, as drawn by a 5 year old, here ya go.

actually I traced this over some actual plans... yes, my drawing skills have not changed since kindergarden... (leave me alone! Drawing is hard!!!)

Right now, we have Chris, myself, and Collins in room #1, Brooks in room #2, and Collins' changing table/overflow in room #3.

During our downstairs remodel, hopefully it will look something like this:
The walls in our living room that separate the bedroom #1? Gone.  Half wall separating the dining? Gone.  We're raising the floor and expanding the kitchen into the laundry room and busting into room #3 for more kitchen space, an island (whoo hoo!), and stairs for upper access.  You will now enter the house from the front center, and the living room will also flow into the sunroom (we'll have to raise the floors) and that's how you'll access the backyard.  Not much is happening to bedroom #2 and the bathroom but we're planning on using that space for kids play area and a murphy bed for guests.

Here's the brand-spanking new upstairs:
Laundry obviously moved upstairs, kids bedrooms #2 and #3 will share a jack and jill bathroom.  Notice the left side of the house? yea, thats all master, baby! Chris and I, will get a master bedroom, a bathroom of my Pinteresting dreams, and a walk-in closet that will hold more than 7 shirts.

One of my best friends back in AZ's dad is an architect for the uber wealthy in Scottsdale (Blochberger Designs, check him out!) and he was kind enough to sit with us and draw up a lay out for our little house.  Basically we are building an entire house, square foot for square foot, directly above what we have now.  We are still tweaking minor little things, but this is basically it... and Im obsessed.

For those of you who dont know, the Dallas real-estate market is hot right now.  As in we-could-double-our-money-if-we-moved-right-now HOT!  Chris and I thought about it and even looked at a couple places, but with the housing market causing ALL houses to go up in price, it actually makes more sense for us to stay here in our low mortgage, add on, and enjoy our location here in the "M-Streets" and being across the street from a school (which we LOVE!).

From last fall but really, look at all this great playground equipment!  Plus a whole field to run and run and run!

This is NOT going to be a small project but I plan on posting everything about it (even the nitty gritty ups and downs and the cost) here on the blog to give everyone a real world idea about what it takes to completely remodel your house and add on a second story.
I would LOVE to answer any and all questions you have about the upcoming project!  Feel free to leave a comment or e-mail me directly and I'll do my best to write up a new post next week.

AHHHH Im so excited! This is really happening!