Pictures ... at last!

I must start this off by saying ... this one's for you, Bob. 

Goodness.  I hope that I don't begin procrastinating on other things in my life like I have with getting these pictures posted.  And the worst part is I don't have ones of the basement or playroom taken (or the third bedroom, as it is for the new baby and isn't complete yet).  I'll take those tonight (I can hear you saying "Suuuuure...") and add them to a follow up post.

I can obviously tell that I am not used to the time it takes to clean a larger house.  And our drive home is a little longer now each evening, so that cuts into a lot of the extra time I used to have.  The majority of the posts on this blog were written when we were living with my in-laws, which meant when I came home from work, there was no housework to be done, my daughter had already been fed dinner, and my dog was living with my parents for the summer.  What else was a girl to do but blog?

Okay, okay.  Enough of the excuses.  Here are the pictures already!

Master Bedroom.  Behind me is the master bath.  Door to the right of the bed is the closet.

Morning Room.  Slider off to the side that leads out to the deck and patio.

Kitchen / Breakfast Bar

Living Room

Dining Room

Daughter's Room

Upstairs loft

Alternate view of upstairs loft.

Kid's Bathroom

A yard!  Our yard came in VERY fast and VERY well.

View of deck and patio (taken during move-in weekend, so no yard here!)

Closing Day!

Happy Closing Day to us!!  This morning our paper chain officially has one link remaining - and that one will disappear tomorrow when we receive our keys and officially own our new home!

This morning we had our Pre-Settlement meeting with our project manager.  This meeting took exactly two hours and we were given a LOT of information during that time.  Information such as specifics about appliances, the AC and heating, hot water tank, fireplace, warranties, who to call when, what specific cleaners to use on what, etc.  As we walked room-to-room, we noticed a few more things that needed to be touched up and our project manager was happy to say he'd get right on them and they'd be fixed by tomorrow.  They were all minor things, such as:

- A little paint on the carpet of the master closet
- A chip in the door trim on the inside of the master bathroom
- A smude of paint on the handrail on the stairs
- Etc.

A couple things that I learned we need to do that I didn't realize, for whatever reason:
- Concrete sealant.  We have to apply a concrete sealant to our driveway, garage floor, walkway to front door and front stoop.  This is to keep away the absorption of water.  It is very important we do this before freezing season begins.  I have no idea what this will cost, but do know that you simply roll it onto the concrete with a paint roller. 

- Grout sealer.  I had just assumed this would be done by Ryan homes, but it isn't.  It isn't a huge deal and I plan to head to the house tomorrow night and do this myself while my husband is handling larger jobs.  We need to seal the kitchen, morning room, laundry room, and master bathroom.  Not a huge deal.

All in all we are absolutely, 100% thrilled and content up to this point.  I cannot believe that this is OUR home.  Even today I kept trying to convince myself of that, but kept falling back into the feeling that I was simply walking through a model or someone else's home.  I cannot wait to start getting our things moved in and settling down - just one more day until that begins to happen!

This afternoon we will drive out to the mortgage office and sign our papers.  Tomorrow, early afternoon, we should receive the call that our keys are ready to be picked up!  At that point we'll head directly to the house (with both cars already loaded) and start getting some little things unloaded and the painter will meet us there as well to get his work started.  On Wednesday we have several deliveries lined up as well as Dish Network coming out to install a new dish and set up our cable. 

It is really taking all of my will power not to try and convince my hubby to go to Home Depot and rent their $19.95 truck so that we can grab our mattresses from storage and just camp out in the new house prior to our formal move-in of this Friday!! 

I took a lot of pictures today - some of which will probably look like repeats - so please bear with me.

Morning room.

Kitchen

Living room

Living room, into dining room

Looking down the upstairs hallway.

Upstairs full bath.

Master bedroom.

Master bathroom.

Basement, looking into playroom.(In the Florence model this is typically unfinished storage, but Ryan Homes allowed us to do some minor customization by finishing the area and adding the French doors.  We still have a LOT of storage space left!

Basement, looking into playroom.

Basement.

Basement full bath.

Basement, looking back at full bath and under-stair storage.

Playroom, looking into additional storage.

Playroom!  (I am DYING to get my hands on the setup and decorating of this room!)

Playroom, looking out into living room.

This pretty much sums up how we ALL feel - so excited that we want to do somersaults!

Last Weekend Without a House of Our Own!

Wow.  Technically, after today our house will be FINISHED!  Granted, we assume there will still be a few things for them to finish on Monday morning ... and our yard will be rock-hounded and the lawn hydroseed sprayed early next week.  However, the house-house will be DONE! 

We stopped out yesterday to see how things were going, as there were still a couple 'big' things to be completed.  One of the kitchen cabinet doors above the fridge arrived broken, so we had been waiting for the replacement.  We were awaiting the placement of the appliances.  We were also waiting for our shower glass to be installed in the master bath as well as the french doors in the basement that lead into the playroom, which is the customization we added down there.

The french doors open off of the main basement area into an additional area we had finished; this will be a playroom.  (Doors have paper over the glass right now for installation)

Kitchen with appliances installed!  I think it looks super sharp!

View of kitchen from the morning room.

Master bathroom tub and shower.

Master bath shower.  Not so sure about the space at the top of the glass door - about 1/2".  We'll have to ask our PM about this during the pre-settlement meeting on Monday.

Two Weeks to Go ...

Why do I feel like these two weeks are going to just creep by painfully and slowly?  It is as though we're so close that it hurts.  On the very last day in our old house, I made a chain of paper links - the type we all made back in grade school to count down to a special holiday - to count down to when we should be in the house.  When I created that chain it had seventy-three links on it. Now just fourteen links remain.

Kevin and I both agree that we're most likely going to stop by the house every single day from here on out.  Tonight when we stopped, workers were still hard at work, installing siding and painting the exterior door frames and column on the front porch.  When we were in the house a few days ago, we made notes of all of the 'imperfections' that we saw - a ding in the wall, a smudge of paint on the ceiling, etc.  Today when we walked through, all of those areas (and more) had already been fixed.  This is what Ryan Homes calls their 'Punchout week'.  Technically it begins next week, but it is when the Project Manager goes through the house, scouring it for marks, dings, and anything that keeps it from being perfect for the homeowner to move into. 

Oh - and that kitchen hardware?  I actually love it.  I spoke too quickly last time, without seeing it with the stainless steel appliances.  It compliments them and the sink beautifully and I am glad we didn't mention anything to the project manager afterall.

I have new pictures to share and I can't stop looking at them tonight.  It still feels as though I am looking at someone else's home, or just walking through a model.  I still cannot fully comprehend and wrap my mind around the fact that this is going to be "our" home.  Our dream home.  My dream family.

Paint Colors and Master Bath

We stopped out at the house this morning to walk my in-law's through it, as they hadn't been there since the first few days of framing.  We walked upstairs and were so excited to see the tile surrounding the bathtub and for the shower walls had been installed!

Additionally, ALL of the tile that had just been installed yesterday is now grouted and complete.  Ah-maz-ing.

Picking things out for the house - the upgrades, appliances, furniture, flooring - has been such an easy process for Kevin and I.  We have really agreed very easily on everything so far.  I wasn't sure that picking paint colors would go as smoothly, but I was pleasantly surprised!  This morning we finally decided on our final colors and we are thrilled about them!

Here we go:

From left to right (shown on our carpet sample):

Morning Room and Half Bath color - Rustic Adobe

Main floor (minus morning room and half bath), all of upstairs (minus bedrooms) and basement - Croissant

Master Bathroom - Travertine

Master Bedroom- Beach House

Of course, the picture doesn't show the true, true color, but you can get a feel for the neutral look we're going for.  All trim throughout the house is white, which is why I've laid the white paint sample across the bottom, to show the accent.

Three Weeks to Go ...

We met our new Project Manager on Friday.  Just as everyone else we've dealt with from Ryan Homes through this experience, he is super friendly and very professional.  We met him just around lunch time, so it was a busy time of day in the house.  The flooring people were there and we were amazed at what had been accomplished just since that morning.  Our tile in the kitchen / dinette / morning room / laundry room had already been laid (minus grout), hardwood in the dining room / half bath / foyer was about three-fourths complete, and the vinyl for the other two bathrooms was being cut.  We didn't walk upstairs to the master bathroom, so we weren't sure what had been accomplished in there as far as flooring goes.

We listened in awe as our PM told us what will be accomplished next week:

• Cabinets will all go in (we got to take a peek at them, as they are all sitting in the garage)
• Appliances will go in
• All lighting fixtures will be installed
• Driveway and sidewalks will be poured
• Fireplace stone will be installed
• Second coat of primer

Next week is huge.  He said it is one of the most exciting weeks at the house because it really all comes together.  We are going to head back out next Thursday again to take a peek at it all.  I can't wait!

The following week (week of July 26th), the following will be done:

• Siding
• Carpeting

The week after that (week of August 2nd), the following will be done:

• "Punch outs", where the PM goes around the house and puts pieces of blue tape on all blemishes, dings, and any imperfections he can find.
• Cleaning crew comes in and cleans top to bottom.

And the week after that?  Well then, we become true owners of our new house!!  We are still scheduled to close on Monday, August 9th and receive keys on August 10th!

Now it is all happening very, very fast!

Lots of Updates!

I have really been slacking on the updates.  May I blame the stomach flu that I had this past weekend?

As of right now, all drywalling is completed, taped and mudded!

This week will be spent priming the entire house.  Next week, flooring is installed!  That just seems like such a huge step to me.  Carpet will not be installed yet, though ... so flooring just includes the hardwood and tile. 

Our PM called last week to share the news that he is being transferred, so we've been assigned a new PM.  He left us a voicemail yesterday and we returned his voicemail today.  I hope that we can set up a time to meet with him in this next week or so.

Last night we went to the house to meet with the contractor that we used for SO much stuff at the old house.  We are wanting to get things all set up for he and his team to come and build our deck and patio.  We'd like this to be done starting the day after we close so that within days of actually moving in, everything is 'done'. 

Here is the decking we've decided on, as well as the railing.  Also shown is a picture that we found of how we'd like the flagstone patio to look:

I am also contacting painters to get quotes on painting the house.  This is a amazingly generous housewarming gift from my parents and we're SO appreciative, as this will save us (by 'us' I mean Kevin ... ha!) so much time and energy.  I hope to have someone lined up by the end of the week.  The only thing is that Ryan Homes will not allow ANYONE (not even a professional painter) into the house to do any work of any sort until we've closed on the house. 

Lastly, Kevin and I have started our last minute shopping for things for the house such as ceiling fans, bathroom shower curtains, etc.  We've been putting it off, but now realizing we have exactly four weeks (FOUR weeks from today!!), we need to get a move on with things.