December 23, 2014

A Walkway to Remember

 

 

Evening Bloggers! As usual, I found myself "in the neighborhood" and I noticed they laid the walkway from the garage to our front door. There won't be any work on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day obviously so I suspect that any real work will pick back up again after the New Year.

 

So, I'll leave you all with a few pictures of the walkway (covered due to rain). Here's wishing you and yours a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and a Happy New Year!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wrapping gifts for the kids and not even halfway done yet. LOL, Merry Christmas everyone, have a wonderful holiday. I look forward to blogging with you next year.



December 19, 2014

Progress on the House

 

Evening Bloggers! Went by the house to check on the progress and I was happy to see that they had installed our cabinetry, railings, and columns. They were painting as well. Our siding was also installed.

 

Also, the County Inspector dropped by to inspect our front stoop. All systems go, he gave the thumbs up and Ross our PM said that they would most likely lay the concrete for the walkway leading up to the stoop today.

 

The flooring company was in the house and they were in the beginning stages of lining our bathtub and shower and would mostly likely begin tiling our bathrooms as well. Ross said that this typically takes about 3 days to complete so they would most likely be working through the weekend to get this done.

 

Ross said that since we're nearing the holidays they would finish up the tiling and what else needed to be completed this week and that our hardwood flooring and carpet would be installed sometime early January.

 

The good news is that Ross has us in his book doing our final walkthrough on February 5th so I'm assuming that closing will take place shortly after that, though we haven't been given a concrete date yet.  

 

We're nearing the finish line and I must say I'm quite happy with the progress of the house and our experience thus far with RH. I'm excited at how everything is turning out and I honestly can't wait to start shopping for furniture and accessories.

 

Here are some pictures to tide you over. I can't wait to take pictures of the final product. Until next time Bloggers!

 

 

Updated progress on the exterior of the house. All the brick has been installed and they even installed the shutters. Can't wait until they finish our stoop and add our "crow's nest".

Another angle of the house where you can see the siding that has been installed.

I can't get enough of this house. Please don't mind the dirt. I'm sure we'll have grass and few trees soon.

Another side view of the house with the siding installed.

 

Our mantle. They're painting hence the covering on the windows. The boyfriend is stoked about this mantle because it's long enough to support the television of his dreams and a Sonos sound bar. This is going to be interesting.

Another view of our family room from the hallway of our entryway. I'm going to have a lot of fun furnishing this place!

Shot of the railing and balusters that lead down into our rec room. I cannot wait until they stain those. It's going to turn out great!

Boyfriend's master bathroom vanity installed with granite. I'm happy that RH has started installing hardware on the cabinetry. I was reading on other blogs that people had to purchase their own and that the cabinets were hard to open without them. I happened upon a blog that mentioned this place called "Mirror Mate". I googled them online and it's a company who can outfit mirrors with all sorts of great looking borders. It gives the basic builder grade mirror a "makeover". So happy that I found the website because the prices are extremely reasonable and the end results are great.

 

Our trey ceiling in our master bathroom. I like the way this turned out.

Upstairs laundry room with cabinetry installed. Let me just tell you that I'm sooooo glad that this home already had the laundry room upstairs because I'm outnumbered by men and boys in this house 3 to 1. Though the exercise would be great, I CANNOT lug clothes up and down the stairs every other day, LOL!

Worker from the tiling company installing a shield in the boys' bathroom before installing the tile in the shower and on the floor.

 

Closer view of the boys' double vanity. No fighting over counter space here! They can both wake up and get ready for school and various other activities in peace (at least I hope so!).

 

Photo of the columns leading into the formal living room. I love these columns. I've got some really good ideas for this room.

View of the formal dining room. We have crown molding and chair railing. We didn't opt to put the wainscoting with RH but we'll get someone to install that soon after settlement.

 

Another view of the formal dining room from the entryway hallway.

Stair railings and balusters installed that lead to the upstairs bedrooms.

Door to the boyfriend's office. We would've liked French double doors installed but weren't able to get that.

Photo of the kitchen. Granite should be installed sometime next week or early January. Love the columns of our bar. Going to put two/three bar stools there (still searching for the right ones). If you look to the left of this photo you can see that they installed my double ovens. This was a must have since I am going to be entertaining a lot once we've settled in.

More cabinetry. This is where our refrigerator will be. Still debating on swapping out the refrigerator (side by side) for a different one (French doors w/ bottom freezer).

 

 

View from the doorway leading into my master bedroom closet. You can't really get the full effect of its size from this angle but I'll post better pictures once I get the shelving installed.

Master bedroom and sitting room.

 

 



December 12, 2014

Christmas Came Early!

Good evening Bloggers! We met up with our PM Ross today to do a walk through of the house after they finished dry walling everything. When we came in they were sanding down the "mud" along the walls.

Ross told us that next week they would start installing the cabinetry, doors, railings, and ceramic tile.

Now for the best part, the "gifts"! Santa dropped off some presents a little early this month. Even Ross was surprised with the timing of the delivery of some of the items. Take a look at some of the pictures. I'll be making an appointment to meet up with Ross next Friday to see what's been done so I can have more progressive photos to show you all.

'Til next time Bloggers!!

Staircases with iron balusters

Crown molding and base boards

Doors

Cabinets, bathroom vanities, and sinks, oh my!

More cabinets

Columns

 

 

Siding

December 8, 2014

LOCKED and Loaded!



We locked in on an interest rate today. Our loan officer with NVR, Greg (love him) met with us today to go over paper work to have us switched over to a conventional loan as well as get us locked in on an interest rate.

When we first started the process, we qualified for FHA with a 3.5% down payment. Though this was great, we wanted to eventually switch over to a conventional loan which would give us a lower mortgage payment BUT we would have to come to the table with a 10% + down payment, which would be a difference of 6.5%. Well, let me just tell you, God is good, because we were able to work and scrape and scrounge and save up to provide NVR with the funds needed for conventional and were switched over with no problem.

During the initial process, Greg wanted to make sure that he went over debt v. income with us. He talked about how important it is to have as little debt (if any) as possible and the importance of paying your lines of credit down to virtually nothing so you can have the highest credit score possible before settlement.

Just a brief story on the approval process. Let me just say, they asked for everything except for my first born son!! I couldn't believe the things they required in order to start the loan approval process. Pay stubs for this. Where did this lump sum of money come from? Do you have a paper trail for this? Why do you have this bank account? What's this line of credit for? I mean, REALLY?!? LOL, I also have to give a shout out to our loan process Thyonne with NVR. Every time I saw her number come across my phone I just KNEW she was calling to tell us that we were approved but it was just to ask for another piece of paperwork. At times, the process was a bit frustrating but we were finally approved. OH HAPPY DAY! When Thyonne calls, it's almost as like we're two girlfriends catching up with each other. You get to know your loan process and loan officer pretty well during this process because they see you through from beginning to end. You did good with these two Ryan Homes!

We're locked in with a 4.25% interest rate. We're right where we want to be and the finish line is in sight! Now, all we need is a solid closing date. Til next time bloggers!

December 5, 2014

DRYWALL!!

I would just like to start off by saying that Ryan Homes wastes no time! Our PM, Ross, wasn't kidding when he said that they would start dry walling today. The transformation of the framework to looking at the actual dry wall hung up is like night and day. It's true what they say, reading other blogs, people have said that looking at their home with drywall, the spaces appeared to be much bigger. It's almost like an optical illusion.

They dry walled the majority of the house within a day's time. Very impressed. They still have to finish dry walling our master bedroom and my closet. I'm sure that's done as of me blogging this post. From there, after they mud it and the mud dries, they'll skim (sand) everything down to make sure it's even and smooth and then put on that first coat of paint.

Here's a few pictures of the home with most of the drywall hung.

View of the master bedroom/sitting room. I'm in love with the trey ceiling!

Full view of the sitting room.

Another view of the sitting room. One of the things I like about Ryan Homes is that they don't skimp on the outlets. We have about four in our sitting room.  

 

Did I mention how much I love the trey ceiling? Lol, I think it's so romantic. Trying to get the boyfriend to see my point of view in adding a chic chandelier versus a ceiling fan. Thoughts?

 

The boyfriend's closet.

View of my closet. This picture was taken from the inside looking out into the bedroom. I've got tow lighting fixtures in here, so if I don't get my way for the chandelier in the bedroom, I'm going to hang two gorgeous ones in here. I have soooo many plans for this closet. Thanks Pinterest!

 

Our master bath with soaking tub. We originally wanted a Jacuzzi tub but changed our minds after looking into it and researching on upkeep and maintenance. Stand up shower will be in the left hand corner of this photo.

Water closet. 

 

One of the many things I'm looking forward to once we move in. Looking outside and seeing the nature and wildlife. If you look closely or maximize this picture you'll see a deer grazing about 15-20 feet from the rear of our home. There were about six of them there but this was the best photo I could take without disturbing them.

 

Of course the boyfriend bought the tape measurer for ONE purpose. To see what size TV he can finagle above the fireplace. LOL, I just left him to his own devices. Men, what can you do??

I mean, really, how big is this TV going to be?!? LOL!

Propane tank was affixed outside on the front law with a line running down here. They use this to heat and dry the house once the mud has been applied to the drywall. You can see a doorway where the unfinished portion of the basement will be. The boyfriend has plans for a theater and gym back there eventually. He's working on the layout and we'll have some companies come by for consultations and estimates once we have gone to settlement.

View from the guest room.

Not sure what he's pointing at but this is a photo of one of the boy's bedroom's.

The other bedroom. The boys really made out because I must say, their bedrooms are large. I'm so glad because not only will they have their own space but they'll have more than enough room to relax and study.

Best. View. EVER! Second story photo the entry way.

Laundry room on the second floor with the bedrooms. THANK GOODNESS!

 

Photo of the boyfriend's office.

Another photo of the finished rec room. It's quite large.

Entryway

Formal living room.

Formal dining room. 

 

Morning room. I'm going to spend a lot of time here drinking coffee/tea, and looking outside the window. The rear of our home backs up to a lake. We have beaver back there as well as deer, turkey, and groundhogs.

Photo of kitchen. Here you can see the bar area and the two pantries. Also, in the left hand portion of the photo you can see where the refrigerator will be.

View of the family room from the garage door.

Photo of a portion of the garage.

Garage doors (duh). They haven't put in our garage door openers yet.

Another photo of the garage.