Framing Our Dream Home: Step-by-Step Home Construction (Chapter 1)
Framing our dream home has been one of the most exciting and emotional parts of our custom home building journey. I’ve been dreaming about and designing this space in my mind for over 12 years, making changes along the way to ensure it’s as functional and family-friendly as possible. When the first walls went up, it felt surreal—like watching a long-held vision finally come to life. This stage of the home framing process is more than just wood and nails; it’s the moment our ideas begin to take physical form. It’s the first real look at the spaces where our family will grow, gather, and make lifelong memories. In this post, I’m sharing the emotions, key milestones, and valuable lessons we’ve learned during the framing stage of building our dream home.
From Vision to Blueprint: Designing Our Dream Home
I have touched base on how I found our building in Restoring Our Antique Pressed Ceiling Tiles: Part 1. Since that day, I have been dreaming of the moment that I get to move in this place and call it home. My mom and I have looked through several home design magazines, pinned thousands ( I am sure) of inspiration pictures, and have made a couple of different blue print layouts of the design.
Design Changes for Functionality and A Growing Family
Over the years, our custom home design has evolved several times as we refined what would work best for our lifestyle. Our original plan included two primary suites on opposite sides of the house, each featuring a walk-in shower and a freestanding bathtub for a spa-like feel. Initially, our laundry room layout was fairly compact, but both bedrooms were spacious and designed with built-in wardrobes to maximize storage for clothing and accessories. With nearly 11-foot ceilings, we were able to optimize vertical space and make even the smaller rooms feel open and functional. Since we were working within a fixed square footage, we chose to skip traditional walk-in closets, which we felt took up too much valuable room. Plus, we’ve always loved the clean, modern look of custom built-in wardrobes!
Life Changes Equals Home Changes in the Second Bathroom
A couple of years after my mother passed away—and once I had built up the strength to begin this journey again—our home layout design changed in a meaningful way. My original plan included space for my mother to live with us, and accepting that she would no longer be part of our new home was incredibly hard. But in her absence, God brought the most amazing man and teenage son into my life.
Our son is now almost 17 and will likely be heading off into the world in the next few years (I’m not crying, you’re crying!). Looking ahead, we also hope to adopt a baby girl, and that future vision shaped our updated bathroom design plans.
We decided a walk-in shower with a freestanding tub wasn’t necessary for the kids’ bathroom. Instead, we selected a beautiful built-in soaking tub with a shower-tub combo. While James isn’t much for baths, our future daughter might enjoy them. The tub is deeper than a standard bathtub, offering a touch of everyday luxury for a relaxing soak, should she (or he) want it someday.
The Pantry Edit and Linen Closet Addition
Originally, our pantry was going to be on the south side of the kitchen with a utility room next to it and then the walk in shower on the other side. Because we removed the walk in shower, I had extra room to play with near the kitchen. I decided to expand the walk in pantry and add a linen closet in the hallway. Linens are a love of mine and it would be nice to have extra storage for throw pillows, blankets, towels, and sheets for ourselves and guests. I plan on switching our décor with the seasons so that will be great to have!
The extra room in the pantry will be a plus as well. We have been purchasing a lot of bulk foods from Azure Standard and a larger pantry to house the buckets and jars of our dry goods will be well utilized.
Expanding The Laundry/Mudroom
Along with the expanding the pantry and adding a linen closet, we were also able to expand the laundry room to accommodate our growing family. Now we will have plenty of room for our washer/dryer, cubbies, window bench, sink, and a nice long folding table. One small decision to remove the walk-in shower and scale down the second bedroom really made the space more functional.
Planning the Ultimate Layout
Overall Planning Goals
When planning the footprint of our dream home, I knew I wanted a space that was not only beautiful but also highly functional, with a layout that flowed effortlessly from room to room.
Long-Term Inspiration and Research
I spent years gathering inspiration—from magazines, design shows, and my favorite home blogs—to create a custom home layout that truly reflects how we live. Our two-bedroom flat includes two and a half bathrooms, with each bedroom featuring its own en suite bathroom, plus a convenient half bath for guests located off the hallway. The heart of our home is a spacious eat-in kitchen with a large island, complemented by a walk-in pantry, linen closet, and a combined laundry and mudroom. The open-concept main living area will also include a formal dining space and a cozy home office. By carefully planning every square foot, we were able to maximize storage and create generous room sizes—giving us everything we need in a functional and thoughtfully designed home.
Importance Of Creating A Home The Reflects Our Lifestyle
Now that the walls are up, I can confidently say the flow of our home design feels just right. When planning the blueprints for our Manor, I spent a great deal of time considering important layout details like the ideal hallway widths, walkway spacing, and the dimensions of our hall bathroom.
Average measurements were researched—like how much clearance is needed for appliance door swings, how much walking space is required behind the sofa, and how to comfortably transition from the dining area to the home office. I also factored in proper toilet drain spacing, door swing directions, and even the exact wall placement in relation to the windows, to ensure I could use the trim styles and sizes I had envisioned.
The sight lines were carefully planned too—for example, when you enter the front door, every interior doorway is perfectly aligned to give a clear view all the way to the back door. Every small decision was intentional, and the result is a space tailored perfectly to the way our family lives.
Laying the Subfloor
Why In The World Would You Cover Up Old Flooring?!
Before we could put up the walls, we needed to add a new layer of subflooring. I am probably going to get some grief for this but that is okay. We made the best decision for our family. Let me explain the reasons why we decided to cover up the antique hardwood flooring:
There Was ALOT of Damage
Our top floor was built around 1926. This used to house doctors offices (pretty neat huh?!). Not much was left of those offices when I took over the building. There are original pulley and weight windows along the street view with some original trim work, which I plan on reusing, and the beautiful oak floors. Why cover those up you ask? Well, honestly this was a big decision. I did not plan or want to at first. They are gorgeous but needed a lot of work. They had layers of adhesive from previous linoleum flooring that was glued down, several holes, and areas where the boards have buckled due to leaking water from under the windows.
Potential Weight Was a Concern
I have full faith that we could have patched and sanded them down for refinishing. My biggest concern though was the weight we would be placing on these old floors. Between the gas range, fireplaces, tubs, and everything else, I was not confident that they would hold up to all of weight. If something should puncture the floor, you are looking at a 14 foot drop below. That is something that was concerning to me, especially if we plan on adopting a baby in the future.
Practicality For Our Family
Hard wood floors do not do well with pets and young children. Spills and accidents alone can damage the floors, leaving large discolored areas. They would need to be refinished a few times throughout our life and that just did not seem to be very practical for our growing family.
A Solution The Suited Us Best
Because of all of this, we decided to lay a brand new layer of subfloor on top of the original floor and go with a beautiful wood look, luxury vinyl plank flooring. While no substitute for the real thing, it is beautiful, scratch and stain proof, and would hold up to the weight and potential chaos of our future household. I did however manage to keep a nice sizeable square of the original flooring at the landing on top of the stairs. I will refinish this and it will serve as a nice piece of history of the building.
Preparing the Flooring For Subfloor
Before we began laying the subfloor, preparations were in order. We needed to patch the existing large holes in the floor. We did not have enough wood to perfectly patch each hole so we spaced the boards out accordingly to help bridge the gaps. This would just ensure that we had a proper base for the 3/4 tongue and groove subfloor that we were overlaying to be well secured.
We spent a while removing old nails from each salvaged board and using our multitool to cut the floor to ensure a good fit. Once the boards were prepared, we began nailing them in place. Once everything was nailed in place, we gave the whole floor a good sweeping and vacuum to prepare for the underlayment.
Transporting the Subfloor
Okay, I am going to be real with you when I say that this step was simply the WORST. Our house required 65 sheets of OSB subfloor. Our second story is 14 feet from the ground…that is 25 stairs. We essentially took 65 flights of 25 steps up and down carrying heavy plywood sheets. That was probably the hardest workout I have had in a very long time. We cheered when the last sheet arrived and in perfect timing as well because it started to storm!
Underlayment
To help with the potential of loud and creaky floors, we decided to run an underlayment under the subfloor. We opted to use roofing felt for this step. I comes in 72 foot rolls and is very easy to apply.
We recruited the kids for this step. They were such a big help! We started at one corner of the house and worked our way across, stapling the felt in place.
I made a little tribute to my mama in what would have been her bedroom floor.
Laying the Subfloor Sheets
Lessons Learned
Once we installed the first rows of felt paper, it was time to lay a chalk line. Old buildings are rarely square or level due to natural settling over time, making this step even more crucial. A properly laid chalk line helps establish a straight, level starting point so the rest of the subfloor can be squared off. After all, no one wants crooked subfloors!
I’m here to share the good, the bad, and the ugly of this DIY project. Mistakes happen, but they’re part of the learning process—and yes, it can get very frustrating.
Our biggest early mistake was not running the chalk line continuously from corner to corner along the wall. Instead, we marked a middle point, drew the line from one corner to the center, then from the center to the other corner. Overthinking it made us prone to errors. Unfortunately, this caused the plywood to angle slightly between the midpoint and the corner.
When we laid the next row, the mistake became obvious—a small mismeasurement turned into a noticeable gap at the end board. Small errors can lead to big problems, so getting this step right the first time is critical. Luckily, Jason’s brother came up with a clever fix.
We decided to cut one of the boards shorter at the center point and angle it slightly to bridge the gap gradually through to the end board. This solution allowed us to move forward without major gaps—crisis averted and lesson learned!
Teamwork Makes The Dream Work
We worked like a well-oiled machine! The kid’s rolled out and secured the felt paper underlayment, Jason and his brother Jeremy put down the subfloor sheets, and I followed them securing the sheets to the floor. We had some bumps in the road like navigating through this temporary pole to house the current electric box (this will be relocated.)
Little by little, sheet by sheet, we were able to complete the subfloor. It is amazing at how much sturdier everything feels and it feels more like home now. Now that the subfloor was completed, we could start the framing process! Stay tuned for part 2 coming soon!
Here are some more fun pictures of this project!
Thank you for stopping by! I am so glad you are here. If you are new to my blog, make sure to check out these other DIY renovation projects that we have done:
Restoring Our Antique Pressed Ceiling Tiles: Part 1
Restoring Our Antique Pressed Ceiling Tiles: Part 2
Project Exposing an Antique Brick Wall: Chapter 1
