Some Good News From Our Project Manager!

     I had read a few bloggers talking about how dark the house was the day they moved in since the light rough ins are just that - rough ins. I noticed this happened everywhere in our house we had paid for a light rough-in:

      It's a light fixture! I asked my PM if they leave them for a few days or take them out before we get keys and he says they stay! Yes, it's a very basic fixture, but it holds a working light bulb and takes away the need for us to run right in the house and install light fixtures on day one, with everything else going on that day.

     Just a little thing, but one which will make a big difference during all the craziness.

*Note to self: Ben would like these back when we replace them - they do not go into a landfill or take up "Just in case we need them some day for some thing" storage space in the basement.

Almost!

     There is not much left to do until our house is ready for action. Frankly, I feel like they should just deliver my appliances tomorrow and let me at it. But alas, Ben (our project manager) is a perfectionist and wants to touch up and retouch and light all the candles before he hands over the keys. Here is what we saw today when we went to see the house:

*In no particular order, because between my computer and blogger I don't know which one is more stubborn. It's a real pain to get things in a certain order and I'm just too doggone tired to deal with it.

Boys Bathroom: Granite: Wheat Oil Rubbed Bronze faucet

Front Door Exterior

Front Door Interior - oops! They are changing this

Kitchen Corner - excuse the dirty floors - we're animals!
Floor: Sugar Creek Maple: Cinnamon
Cabinets: Timberlake Maple Butterscotch Glaze
Hardware: Oil Rubbed Bronze/Antique Bronze
Counters: Black Pearl/Brazil Black

Granite's lookin' good!

Kitchen Sink/Window

Front Bedroom

View from living room - great dumpster!

Blurry Back Bedroom

More floor - Living room

Office - Sugar Creek Maple floors. Color: cinnamon

What's wrong with this picture?  Can you see it?
On a scale of 1-10 with 1 being "Who cares?" and 10 being "Oh no they di-in't" rate this problem.

     Do I need to say I am so happy with the selections we made that 'happy' doesn't begin to do justice to the way I feel? They were working on our oak staircase when we were at the house. One of the guys was sanding his heart out. They are going to be glorious! I keep looking at all the pictures of the house. No matter what I'm doing I just have to stop and look at them. I told my husband today that when I move in I'll probably be sitting in the house looking at pictures of the house.

Lights, Plumbing, Stone!

     Okay, there was a lot of work done since Friday. It was really something to get to the house today and see the progress. The biggest deal is the exterior:

Isn't she beautiful!?

Chandelier in dining room

Entry

     I love-love-love (yes, triple-love!) the oil rubbed bronze plumbing fixtures. I'm so thrilled with everything.

Lights and Vents

     Even though we are not moved in yet, there are a few things I already wish I had done.

1. Have recessed lighting everywhere throughout the whole house. If it's in the kitchen and basement and some closets, why did I not get it in the office, bedrooms, living room and family room? I have no good answer for this.

2. Have the dryer vent higher on the wall. It just makes sense.

3. Have the microwave fan vented outside. (I would have done this if it had been an option. I did let them know at sales meetings I didn't like it being circulated back inside - now I know some people did pay the upgrade to have it vented outside.)

4. Insist on one door instead of french doors and have another window on the wall instead.

I really can't think of much. I did spend a lot of time thinking about everything. Plus, it's our first time, so I'm sure there will be things we think of as we live in the house. We'll just have to build another one next year. Kidding... because this was a lot of time and effort. More than I would have ever thought it would be. It's worth it, though. I can't wait to live in it!

Since I Am Not Sleeping...

    I might as well share. I Stopped by the house and almost drove right past it:

 

Went inside and she was all painted:

Then I went upstairs and saw the bathroom without the cardboard:

And took another picture of the shower:

Then I headed to the basement and saw this little Devil: 

The kickplate for this guy is installed under the kitchen sink, too! 

     I was pretty excited. I think the closer it gets to being done the more emotional I get. I nearly cried.

     The roads in our (nearly finished) development were not plowed at all. I found it rather shocking! Anyone else experience this? Isn't it the responsibility of the city?

Tile & Grout Question

     When I started reading all the Ryan Homes bloggers I could find I read about sealing the tile & grout from someone. They might have done a video or shared a video with us. Can anyone tell me what they did to seal the grout? I know it was a miracle how simple it was to do it. Anyone? Ferris? Bueller?

Update:
     I'm so good I'm going to answer my own question. I just found the post I was looking for  on BD's blog. I should have known. I actually searched several posts on the blog and then found it a different way.

In All Fairness

     I am so happy with the progress on our home. I think this is obvious if you read the blog posts. But there are things which sometimes need to be addressed because they were not done well the first time. Here are some pictures I took yesterday:

 

     It makes me wonder if this guy was doing this work for himself or family/friends - would he do this sort of job? I know very well about gaps between the baseboards and walls. But to me this stuff was plain bad workmanship. I know our PM will take care of it, so I'm not worried about it, just surprised anyone would be willing to do this and leave it this way. Maybe some of it is because I know how things are supposed to be done - my parents did a lot of custom trim work. I spent a few odd weekends and summer days installing lock sets and the like. But I think anyone would see the problems in this. What do you think?

    

Yeee Haaawwww Doggies!

We had a lot of new stuff to see today!

 Stairs are going to be beautiful!

 Bathroom has cabinets, granite, and tile! Pretty, pretty, pretty.

 I can  not wait to soak in this tub.

 Kitchen cabinets are perfect!

 View of the back of kitchen.

 Front of kitchen. Isn't she pretty?

 Upstairs hall from back of hall.

 Short part of hall to master & bonus room.

     I know, right? This post hardly needs any words. We are delighted to see our selections in the house. I'm so ready to move in right now!

Drywall and A Hipster Llama

     We had to go to the neighborhood to watch the baby yesterday, and since we were there we stopped by the house. The drywall is hung and the mud & tape has been done.

     Cabinets, stair railing, lock sets, doors galore, granite tops for bathrooms, and baseboards filled the garage. Literally!

Loaded Garage. Pretty Exciting stuff!

The drywall is up everywhere. Also thrilling. I love my giant kitchen/family room area:

 They are keeping my oak staircase well protected. 

The catwalk in the Bonus room/ extra groovy bedroom:

My sighing tub, with natural light!

And just for fun, a hipster llama:

We Have A Garage Door

 

     We stood in this garage the other day and it felt big to me. I can't wait to:

• Have a garage
• Have a dining room
• Have more than one bathroom
• Have a garbage disposal
• Have a dishwasher
• Have modern faucets
• Have a third floor laundry
• Have a jacuzzi tub
• Have that snazzy central vacuum
• Have a fireplace
• Have ample parking
• Have nice floors
• Have plenty of bedrooms
• Have beautiful windows
• Have lots of cabinets
• Have plenty of counters
• Have an office for my work-at-home husband
• Have central air
• Have family across the street
• Move in!

Pre-Drywall Meeting

     We had our walk through with Ben today. He is thorough. I'm not sure I'll remember half of it, but we covered a lot of information about the house today. Everything seems to be coming along really well.

     There were a few exceptions, of course.

•  Our hot water heater is only 50 gallons. I know we were told we were getting a much larger capacity. Luis remembers the same. I'm not sure who made the switch, but our project manager had a list which didn't specify the exact capacity. Ben is going to check up on this for us.

• Our central vac canister was put in a space all by itself, although I had spoken with the sales rep and the supervisor of the installer to be certain it would be in the same corner as the furnace, hot water heater, electric, and low voltage panels. Instead? They put is smack in the center of the one open area.  They also did not move the cable/cat5 panels in the two large bedrooms upstairs. I had a call from our sales guy saying it was done, but they were both still in the same place. Ben is going to talk to them about these issues
•   We went to Lowes after meeting with Ben and bought some soundproofing insulation. We raced back, trying to beat the darkness, and put it between the studs along the one wall in our bedroom which needed it to keep us isolated from the noise of the house. (Two walls are exterior, and one is next to our bathroom.) We installed it in the dark. I was glad to get it done so the drywall crew can do their stuff tomorrow morning. Ben says the drywall process should take a total of about ten days. I hope it goes faster, like everything else has so far. 

   
     While we were in the dark house putting the last of the insulation in the wall a Guardian guy came upstairs to move a cable box. He was smoking a cigarette! He just walked up and started talking to us. I thought he reeked, but once I got done with my work I looked at him and the thing was glowing. That's annoying, since they aren't even supposed to have food in the house. I guess if it's too dark to see the signs he thought he could go ahead and smoke in the house. I put a call in to Ben to let him know about it. If I had to choose one element of the process to give the lowest score right now, it would certainly be Guardian. We've been hung out to dry by them more than once. They are the ones causing me stress right now.
    
     Ben took care of a few other things for us. If I could only give 10s to one person in the process, it would be Ben. I am also glad that if there is going to be one person who is the most careful, it is our project manager.

     The basement bedroom is as bright and cheery as any of the other rooms since it has a big egress window.

     Because of the extra wall space in our kitchen (we did not want the morning room) we got extra cabinets. Nice surprise, since I was hoping to buy upper cabinets to put there later.

     We also discovered an extra recessed light at the foot of the stair. Another happy surprise, since I was wondering if I should have added a bit more lighting to the family room. I put recessed lights in every room without lights except that room. I even put them in closets and in the catwalk. How did I miss the family room? How? I have no idea!

     I took a lot of pictures, but they aren't even exciting to me. I just needed them so later I would know where stuff was behind the walls.

      By the end of the tour I was about a hundred times more excited than before. I didn't know if I was going to break my face smiling or start to cry. We will be in our new home, soon!

Anyone Know What Happened to MZ?

     Her blog was "Our Future With a Ravenna." I went to see it tonight and *POOF* - gone. :(

Oodles of Progress

     We went to see our house today. It's such a good thing we did! We walked in to find electrical work being done. (a day early) and Guardian wiring being done. Guardian was also a day early. Unfortunately for us, our Guardian rep never got back to us about the changes we were making, so all the wiring was done except in one room in the basement. I was not a happy camper. I didn't know if I wanted to kick dirt or cry. The installer agreed to help me by changing some of the things which were 'no problem'. The main things were now the two cable outlets in the two large bedrooms. The Master and the Bonus room had the cable placements wrong. I didn't have the heart to ask the guy to change those, since he was pretty much done.


     Fast forward a couple of hours and I was getting calls from the Guardian rep and my PM about the issue. I was going to just be bothered by it and leave it at that. I was going to run tacky cable around my baseboards and door frames. Nope! They're going to make it right. I believe what my Project Manager said about making these homes as if they were for his family. Because he does care about what we want and how we want it.

     Tomorrow they are installing our central vacuum stuff. I am invited to meet them in the morning.
     We have our pre-drywall walkthrough next Thursday.

  

    

Click!

     We just locked in our rate and we are pretty happy about it. Of course yesterday had the all-time best offer, but because the offer did not arrive until after 2:00 and had to be acted upon by 4:15 we missed the window. Today was still a fantastic lock! I'm glad this last variable has been taken off the table.

I Wish You A Merry Christmas

     I'm working myself into the right frame of mind to go get my Christmas shopping finished today. I can't help but think about next Christmas in our new house. As a matter of fact I keep thinking about it so much that I am not letting myself get excited about this Christmas. I'm usually as excited as anyone about Christmas. This year has me looking to the future more than any other time in my life. Next Christmas will be so different. But not just next Christmas. Future Christmases. With a house full of family. Five kids from sixteen to twenty-six. Boyfriends, girlfriends, spouses. Grandchildren. I can't wait to watch life unfold!

  Here's a picture of some babies from a long time ago, in their Christmas duds:

     Merry Christmas to you, whoever you may be. I hope this Christmas is lovely, and your future Christmases are filled with the promise of great love.

Uppity-Up-Up-Update!

Catwalk

Daughters' room

Fireplace

House Rules

Kids bath up

Master Bedroom

Master 2

Master Shower

Master Jetted Tub

Mikes' room

Crazy picture of view and the back of my phone. (hooray!)

Today we went in and walked all throughout the first and second floors of our house! It's just amazing how fast they do things. They had poured the footers in the basement and garage today. They'll pour those on Monday. We're just rolling right along and it's so wonderful. I'm glad the whole decisions and changes part is over. Now we just get to watch the fun stuff happen.

*Obligatory apology here for the quality of photos taken with my phone.