January 3, 2015



And then there was Light...and granite...and a shower frame!
 

Good evening Bloggers and Happy New Year! I hope that everyone's Christmas was wonderful and that you all got to spend it with your children, friends, and family.

Sorry it's taken me so long to update the blog. With Christmas and the new year I'm just now finding the time to sit down and catch you all up on the great things that have been going on at the "OB" (Oberlin Terrace).

We once again found ourselves "in the neighborhood" and were happy to see that we had outside lights! Our garage and front door lights were not only installed, they were on (mental note, to come by at night and take pictures of the house with the lights on).

Once we stepped inside we noticed that they also had installed the granite. Let me just say that I'm extremely happy with our choice (Azul Platino).

The boyfriend put together an outline of a 75 in television that he plans to hang up above the fireplace mantle. He is happy to report that once centered and bracketed into place properly he believes that it would look perfect and make a great centerpiece for our family room. Let me just say that I will concede to him on this front as I have full interior decorating control on every other portion of our home except for his study. So, a gargantuan television in the grand scheme of things is something that I can live with. Did I mention that he's looking into a wireless sound system to accompany it!? (HELP).

Speaking of decorating, we were able to go backsplash shopping as well and found two subway tile colors that we are looking at to be laid as backsplash in the kitchen. Subway tile and I have a long history and needless to say I'm OBSESSED with it and so happy that I get to use it in our home. We found a tile and granite store in Columbia, MD. They had a huge variety of different type of tiles in all sorts of color schemes. We were happy that we were able to hold on to our two choices so we could see how either of them played against the granite (can't wait to take those pictures).

Anywho, on to the real reason why you're looking at my blog....PICTURES! Til next time bloggers!

They also painted our door and finished the molding around the top middle window above the "crow's nest".

Garage lights installed and working properly as well.

  

My kitchen with granite. LOVE LOVE LOVE!

 Another view of the kitchen from the middle of the family room.

 My favorite vantage point of the kitchen. You get the full effect from this angle and it's great!
 

A closer view of the granite.

 

The granite countertops where our refrigerator will be placed.

 

This is where the gas cooktop will be.

 

Granite along the bar area and sink area. The sinks are huge.

 

They installed the shower frame as well. I like it but the next picture is the type of shower frame I hope to replace it with after closing.  

 

THIS is the type of shower frame I would really like. I love how it's "frameless" and how tall it is. I feel like it makes the shower look larger and is a better fit for our master bathroom.

The lights in our boys bathroom. The lighting is similar in our master bathroom as well. I'm thinking about replacing the lights in both bathrooms as well and framing out the bathroom mirrors to give everything a more modern and updated look. It's very inexpensive and there's lots of varieties as well.

Recessed light in the rear of the family room.

One of the recessed lights in the family room.

 

Dining room lighting. It's nice but that'll be getting swapped out for a more elegant chandelier fixture within a month of us moving in. Going to have an independent contractor come out as well and install wainscoting as well for a more formal look.

 The boyfriend's rendering of a 75 in television. It's not centered at all in this picture but I think it will work out. I have big plans for those gorgeous windows too.

Another picture of the house. It's really coming together. I can't wait until they're able to lay down the grass and cement the driveway.

 



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!