for those who are wondering.

Original Post: http://www.reddit.com/r/DIY/comments/zeh8q/with_no_experience_we_used_the_internet_to_learn/

More Photos!!!! http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1110194445755.17020.1553672555&type=1&l=c96348cf7d

It took us 4.5 years from start to finish. My dad worked with me fulltime for 3 years and I worked fulltime for the entire project.

I am 23, and I have been homeschooled which I am sure helps with getting knowledge on things that I am not familiar with.

More outdated (up to 8 years old) info about my self and family can be found at www.roadschool.com

I have gone to school in woodworking, after starting this project. So I do have some experience in that section, although all of the kitchen cabinets and half of the wood furniture, was before school, so it can be done....

The price we paid on materials, I would estimate to be around 350k. That is all the concrete from the foundation that we dug, up to the roof, stucco, and furniture.

WE HIRED AN ARCHITECT and ENGINEER. mostly... The reason for this was we are not engineers and did not know what type of weights and stresses. However we designed the house.

We took foam board, and built a scale model of what we wanted the house to look like, gave that to the architect who drew up the plans and got them through the city.

Picture of the model that we gave to him: http://imgur.com/a/8ABvs

We hired the Sheetrock and the Stucco, and this waterproof decking material on the roof. The reason was that we could hire it and have it installed by professionals for the same price that we could just purchase the sheetrock and materials for.

Almost all of the furniture was made or modified by me. Most was purchased on Craigslist. for example the light above the kitchen sink which would normally cost up to $1200, cost us $20. We found a flower vase at a second hand store and drilled a hole in it. then added the expensive light parts ($18 ish)

http://imgur.com/a/K1SEF Here are some pictures of the TV Swivel that we designed for the flatpanel tv above the refrigerator. It is welded metal with rollerblade wheels. Lots of things like this in the house.

Here is a better shot of the text from the magazines http://imgur.com/a/5txBL#0