Project House 2018: Meet the Georgia Blogger of our 6-part build series………

Meet our new Dream Cottage family, and see how a beautiful plot of land in the Georgia countryside has become a blank canvas for their vision.

We love a good coming-of-age story.

Especially when that coming of age is about watching a dream home slowly but surely come together.

For 2018, we’re so excited to be able bring you another journey in home-building, another opportunity to watch one family bring their wish list to life as they plan, construct and decorate a home just perfect for their needs. And this time, the story is a bit different.

Meet Katie and Ryan Busenitz. They are building their dream home from the ground up in Social Circle, Georgia. Katie, the creative mind behind The Rustic Boxwood blog, said that going the custom-home route this time around was all about meeting their needs exactly. “We have a long list of requirements for our home, so building a custom home was a must,” she says.

So what will this year’s journey entail? Here’s a look at the basics from Katie.

• Project splurges: A 20-foot sliding glass door that will lead to the back porch; a three-car garage; walk-in closets in every bedroom; a vaulted ceiling in the open-concept room (kitchen, dining room and family room combined into one); a 14-feet by 5-feet kitchen island; gorgeous chandeliers and beautiful countertops.

• Budget-friendly choices: Using faux-wood beams instead of full-wood beams; shopping Craigslist and thrift stores for accessories and large pieces, such as wood bowls, dressers, mirrors, lamps, etc.; being the general contractor for our build; choosing to go with a steel-framed, rather than stick-framed, farmhouse.

C&B: Tell us about what you’ll be building.

Katie: It’ll be a one-story ranch house. The décor will be modern farmhouse style mixed with touches of rustic architectural salvage. The exterior siding will be white and similar to board and batten. We’ll also have a black metal roof. The vaulted ceiling in our main living area will be about 17 feet high with rustic, faux-wood beams. Most of the flooring throughout our farmhouse will be a raw concrete. We’re going to create four bedrooms with five bathrooms, plus a blog/craft room, laundry room, mud room and walk-in pantry. And all bedrooms will have a walk-in closet!

C&B: And the location? Why did you pick the site you chose?

Katie: Our farmhouse will be in the countryside, in a little community called “Social Circle.”The town square has some cute shops, including a quaint coffee shop that used to be the town’s general store, and there’s only one red light in the whole town! We bought some beautiful land (just over 10 acres) on a quiet road. It’s a big change, considering that we lived on about a halfacre for 14 years in our previous home.

In addition to loving the location of our land, we wanted to live in the country, where the loud noises that you hear aren’t the sounds of blaring horns, but rather the chirping of the crickets and birds. There are no words to describe how serene the setting is! Our home will be centrally located; we’re close to the interstate, as well as being near one of our favorite little cities, Athens, Georgia (home of the Georgia Bulldogs).

Each issue we’ll be revealing a portion of the build, and room by room you’ll get a front-row seat to the process, from planning to decorating. You’ll hear about the challenges and learn from Katie and Ryan’s solutions. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram to see more behind-thescenes details of the project.