yes, I'll post a detail post and pics tomorrow. Tons of progress!

Great. Looking forward to it.

Hi, Yes, it's been a crazy year. When we started this project, we deemed it our empty nest project because we thought we would be so bored with all of our kids out of the house, but it has been anything but! Since that decision, 2 kids married, one went off to college and is now more than halfway finished and now we are expecting our first grandchild. Whoa, slow down kids :)

We have been back at the house for a week at a time, July, August and September and amazingly enough each visit was divinely perfect for whatever decisions were needed at the time. In many ways, it has been easier than I thought building from a distance because we have an amazing team that we trust. That doesn't mean perfect, and there have been plenty of uh oh moments where we have all scrambled to find solutions, but in the end, we are extremely happy with the results.

We are about 3/4 of the way done with a finish around January or February. We couldn't get there this month and some really important decisions were needed so we sent our designer to visit the site this past week and help us make some crucial decisions of which I had reached the limit on. I won't be back until the first week in December to decide on floor stain and other small details.

I remember going back and forth on the need for a designer and we finally hired one and then half way through, she took a job in Seattle and we worked halfheartedly from a distance. I finally reached a point where it wasn't working and was ready to tell her to quit, but she was reengaged and she made it out to the site this month and was worth all the money I haven't sent her yet :)

I'll post some photos, but haven't fiqured out how to do more than one from my iphoto library. Refresh my memory, are you building from a distance in Colorado too?

Another angle so you can see the garage below. These photos were taken in September.

last photo for now, this was taken this last week as we are trying to decide the paint color for the b&b. Your thoughts?

Thanks, Harringk! Looking wonderful! Yes, we are building in Steamboat but we are a couple of years behind you. As thrilled as I am with our lot, I still have heaping dose of lot envy when I see yours. Your views and mountains are absolutely spectacular! And I'm following your progress closely because we are building in similar areas and I think our styles are similar as well. I particularly am interested in your living area (especially the area with the couches in your plan), because it looks very similar to what we are thinking about as DH's and my main living area. We are also from neighboring states (we're from Arkansas).

Our story: we've been skiing Steamboat since the mid 80s, had property there for years, first a condo, then when it became obvious that DD's "one year" after college move there was going to be permanent and we bought a house 10 years ago. We've known for a while that we will retire to Steamboat and have been looking for a lot to build a multigenerational retirement home home for us and for DD and her family.

Ironically, the building bust was good to us. If you've seen Steamboat ski area ads, you may have seen one with the Steamboat Barn at the base area, it has become the iconic image for the town and the resort. It is located in the middle of the mountain area part of town.

At the peak of the market (2006) the ranching family that owned the barn and the last acreage beyond it, sold to an out of state developer. The iconic Barn and about 4 acres was donated to the city as a city park, and the remaining 36 acres was developed as a 62 lot neo-urban subdivision. Most lots were in the .14-.20 ac range, with a few larger. There were also 12 creekside duplex lots that were a bit larger and would have been perfect for us, but alas, way out of our reach at 1.1 +. According to news reports, the subdivision sold out with contracts in late 2007, but by the time the subdivision was completed in 2008, buyers were dropping out and only about 11 contracts actually closed (including 3 of the duplex lots) at original pricing. By 2011 pricing was cut and 4 more lots (no duplex lots) sold. This price reduction started putting this subdivision at least on our radar, but still a stretch. But last year, following a developer bankruptcy and foreclosure, the new investor owner re-listed the 47 remaining lots, including 9 duplex lots, at about 35% of the original pre-bust prices. This was within our comfort zone, but we still didn't jump immediately. However, in March of this year, after about 23 of the 47 lots sold, including two of the duplex lots, my stomach started knotting every time I checked listings because by that time we had picked out the specific lot we wanted and I was afraid I would see that it had been sold. So it was truly a gut decision when we took the leap.

Our timing turned out to be good because we made our offer right before the primary selling season. Within a month of our April closing, the investor owner actually started to step the prices up because of increased interest in the subdivision and sold 3 more of the duplex lots at the increased prices (about 15% more), and another duplex lot is pending and they bumped the prices again for the remaining two. Until this summer only two houses and the amenities building had been built, but there are now about 10 in various stages of construction, including one duplex.

From the purchases so far, I estimate that about 1/2 of the lots sold so far are to people like us who intend to build their own homes and the rest sold to investors or local builders for spec homes. Ultimately, I would guess that the mix will be about 60-40 second homes to primary residences. No nightly rentals allowed, so it will be relatively quiet most of the time, but a short walk to neighborhood restaurants, grocery stores, etc., a great trail system out our back door and a 5 min. ride to the slopes. The kids are already enjoying the amenity building!

We had our first meeting with the architect in late August and believe we've found a great fit. Hoping to see some preliminary designs when we are back in December. Please stay on board after you finish, because I know I will have lots of questions for you!

What a great location! I haven't been in Steamboat Springs since high school, more than a few years ago, but I loved it then and I'm sure it's even better now. We would have considered it, but it was just a bit farther from Houston than we liked.

I do like our views, that is what kept us going every time we had a conversation about how it was going to cost more, yet again. However, I love the fact that you can get to a grocery store and other in town amenities with just a 5 min walk. We will be 15 min from a speciality grocery store and 30 min from town, and that is driving.

Do you have a builder yet? I know a lot of people like to bid out plans to builders after they are finished, but I am glad we found a builder to work with us and the architect from the get go. Since I am a visual person and my architect was more old school, no 3d plans, just on paper and model, I wish we would have had our designer from the get go too, She was an architect major that specializes in interior design so I think that would have made it much easier and cheaper in the long run. Reason, we had no idea what we wanted and we actually had more conceptual designs going around then we originally planned for. I think the designer could have helped us visualize it and cut down on excessive changes from the architect.

I posted some construction photos of our SIPS and ICF on a posting by lethargo called SIPS. You can see a few postings on our home as it was going up.

I wish you the best of luck. It's so exciting to be building something that you and your family will enjoy for years to come. I'll continue to post when I get the time. If you have any questions, just pop up and ask again. Unfortunately, I'm more of a reader than poster. But I try to pay it forward for all the info I've gained from this site.

Here is a old photo, before dry wall of the living room looking towards the dining room. It's not a huge area, but I think it will work perfect for us.

Here is another one. Our living area, fireplace area and dining area is one long space that is 17 wide by 34 long. This photo is taken from the middle of the living area looking towards the kitchen, dining area. This windows are in the dining and the area on the other side of the beams is the kitchen. Between where I'm standing and the dining room is the fireplace on a wall opposite the beams.

Here is a more recent photo of the dining room area, which is one of our uh ohs. We were to originally have a cantilevered dining area of about 3 more feet to towards the window. We found out that by eliminating that we would save $25k in structual steel. No problem, we can lose that, but we gained a few more problems we weren't aware of at the time. Like the beam is no longer at the end of the dining room but more in the middle. We are now going to drop and drywall in the ceiling to the door opening. Just an example of how we like to say we are a "design on the go" couple.:)

Thanks for the pics. Your house going to be beautiful and a warm, inviting place your family will enjoy for years. One of the things I really like about your living area is that it is not too big, not too small, but just right. I want a living space that is cosy enough for just the two of us, but big enough that 4-5 can watch a game on tv or 6-8 people can have a nice conversation.

As I recall, you are in the Durango area. We've been there in the summer and it is wonderful!

No, we haven't talked to builders yet. We have several in mind, but because we have a relaxed timetable, we will probably wait until we have preliminary plans. But will definitely heed your advice and not go any further than that without talking to builders. We are also keeping an eye on who is building what in our subdivision. Lots of activity started this summer.

I think you made a great decision on the go for your dining room. Can't wait to see the finished product!

Kathy -- if you are still around, would love an update. Are you in the house yet? We received our preliminary plans from our architect last month and we're really pleased that he nailed our vision. We are working on tweaks now.