Emily's Modern Home Build Update

If you follow us on instagram, you know that Joe and I are in the process of taking over a major modern home build project. I haven’t put anything formally on the blog about it yet, because to be entirely honest, the project wasn’t actually “ours” until this week. Technically it isn’t “ours” until we close on the house in September, but that’s semantics. As of this week, all the right contracts are in place… and as far as everyone involved is concerned – the house is ours.

It was a complicated situation. Anyone who actually knows me knows that I was happy as a clam in my old home. We bought our old home (the home you see on instagram) in March of 2013, and we totally made it our own. We gutted the kitchen and the living room, we added the beams, we painted every wall… every window…. every everything. After the initial gut – in 2015 we redid William’s room. We added in a custom closet, wallpaper, and wainscoating. Then on top of that… from 2016-2017… we did a total master bath/closet remodel. 6 years in… I was SO happy to finally have the home we had dreamed of. It was a very long process – but it was worth every minute and every penny.

I am a total homebody. If it were up to me I would never leave my house. It is my HAVEN… and we have made it that way. It is super cozy… it is a happy place… my heart just sings when I’m there. Our kids love it… we love having friends and family over… it is just the best.

But when you’re married to a realtor… your home is always for sale. When I was at fashion week, Joe got a call from a fellow realtor, that she had a client who needed someone to take over his home build. He was moving overseas for a new job opportunity, and he would no longer be able to complete the home build project. Joe went to look at it and fell in love. The whole time I was in New York, Joe was sending me photos of the job site, the renderings, and all the reasons why he thought we should do it. To be honest, I kind of agreed. If we wanted to have another child, our home was going to be too small. Also, in the house we were in… I didn’t have a formal office, the kids didn’t have a real playroom, and as much as I LOVED the closet we put in — it was definitely cramped.

More than that, my husband is just really, really good at his job. I trust him with ALL our real estate decisions, 100% and all of our family and friends feel the same way. He knows our market inside and out. Essentially, if he thought it was the right decision, I thought it was the right decision.

That being said… I told him I agreed. The new, modern home build looked amazing, and I was totally up for the challenge. As soon as I gave him the go ahead, our current house was sold. He literally sold our home while I was still in New York. The people that bought our home are a little older than us, they only have one older child… it really is the perfect situation for them and for us. So why are we still living in the old home? We are renting it back from them for the time being until the new, modern home is completed.

Questions I have been getting about our Modern Home Build:

What is the estimated completion date of the modern home build ? We would like to be moved in by September. I feel like it is bad juju to even write that – or to say it out-loud – but that is what we are hoping. It was supposed to be July… then it was August… now we’re thinking September… you know how it goes.

Who is your builder? We are using the same builder that had been assigned to the project originally with the old owner – and we absolutely love him – John at JCS Construction.

What does it cost to build something like that? Without getting into too many financial details, the cost to build a completely custom home in our area ranges between $350/sqft to over $500/sqft depending on building materials and finishes.

Are you working with a design firm? I am using a friend from college to help with interiors. She has her own design firm based out of Denver. More on her to come!!!

What is the inspo for the modern home build? The inspo for the new home is SUPER minimalist with lots of architectural elements. We love our old home. It is very comfortable and the style is what I like to describe as Santa Barbara Casual… but the new home will be very different. Still comfortable… but lots of cooler tones and lots of mixed metals. I know you’re wondering… YES… still all white walls. I can’t part with that! 🙂

Since you and your husband can both work from anywhere… why do you choose to live in Reno? I get this question a lot. I know… to the outsider, Reno seems like a very random place for us to live. But it’s not. I promise you, Reno is just SO much more than what meets the eye. To be entirely honest – we both just absolutely love Reno. I went to high school here, my husband went to college here and we just love the area and the people. When I moved from Connecticut to Reno (back in the day) I couldn’t believe how kind everyone was here. I still feel that way. We also love to watch how quickly Reno is expanding. We love seeing all the amazing people moving to the area- and it makes us so happy to see how many people are finally seeing what we have known was here all along. We also LOVE how close we are to Lake Tahoe. From our front door, it is just 30 minutes to the lake. It is SO amazing. Last but not least – Nevada is a super tax friendly state. We don’t have a state income tax here in Nevada, or a franchise tax – and for us – that is a huge reason to live here.

Is the modern home build your forever home? This is a hard one. Just like everyone else, we have to see what happens with the market. In my humble opinion, you should never buy a home – for your primary residence – that you wouldn’t be comfortable living in forever. :/ But… and this is a big but… I really want to build another home one day – start to finish. I am from Connecticut and I really miss the back east architecture. We don’t have many homes like that in Nevada. That being said, my goal is to love our time in this house. But to hopefully to look for a very large lot – I’d really love some land – and to build a more traditional home in the next 5-10 years. I’d like to have a pool for the kids once they are all water safe. I’d love to have lots of land for them to run on. And – call it a pipe dream – but I’d love to have horses. I grew up horseback riding nearly every day and it is something I really miss. So we’ll see. But since we try to keep it open here… there you have it! 🙂 For now, we feel incredibly lucky and blessed to have the opportunity to take on this amazing project… and we cannot wait to see it finished.

As always – we love your opinions! If you have any ideas, photos, or information that may be helpful to us in this process… we are all ears! Please send us an email, a DM, or a comment on this post!