Before retiring, we made a big decision to purchase a piece of land and engage in one final build…our forever home. We found a plot in El Dorado County, on a sloped hillside with an amazing view of the Sacramento Valley, and just knew it was the place for us to spend our retirement years. Upon retiring in April 2022, we sold our house, sold our cars, put all of our earthly belongings into storage, and set off on multiple and extensive periods of travel for the next six months. The design process unraveled (rather slowly!) during the period of time we were traveling.
In November, we decided to settle “temporarily” into a lovely apartment in downtown Sacramento and live an urban life until the build is completed. December 2022 through September of 2023 has been filled with finalizing design, picking out finishes, going deep into specifications, financing, and all of the review and approvals needed to begin to break ground in October. We anticipate the completion of our home to move in during fall of 2024 and can’t wait to welcome family and friends to our new oasis!
Follow along as we archive our journey, from selecting our lot through completing our home!
The Exterior Build
With the foundation finished, a very exciting and transformative step occurs where the actual structure of the house takes shape. This post of the building process will document the framing, installation of windows, exterior doors, roofing, and exterior finishes including board & batten, stucco and stone. The framing of a house establishes its bones, the…
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The Groundwork
The work on the ground of our lot included importing fill soil, grading the site, soil compaction to achieve a stable building pad, installing rockery and concrete masonry unit (CMU) retaining walls along the rear of the property, then the final step of laying the house’s foundation. Building a home on a hillside is far,…
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The Design
We started with a blank slate for the house design and grounded it in Jillian King’s take on a “modern French country” style. Our initial intent was to have a single-level home, that was downsized from the last family home we sold. However, the combination of a homeowner association requirement that homes built in the development…
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The Place
Our search for view property began by getting connected with Jamie Lang, real estate agent extraordinare, who was a referral from good friends. After giving Jamie our desired characteristics for a lot, she identified over 45 properties in the communities of Folsom, El Dorado Hills, and Auburn, to consider. We pared down that list and embarked…
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A home is much more than a structure, it’s a family’s base where they gather, are secure, share life, and build memories. Here we capture what we envisioned, our priorities, the process, and the outcomes in building our new forever home.
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Gary and Jillian's New Adventures 