December 4, 2014

Pre-Drywall Walkthrough

Good evening bloggers! We're moving right along and are getting closer and closer to the finish line. We had our pre-drywall walkthrough today.

Our PM, Ross walked with us throughout the house and showed us the lay of the land. I will admit, just looking at the framework, I wasn't all that impressed and a little bit concerned. You can't really get a good picture of the space without the drywall, so you have to have a pretty good imagination and look "beyond" the framing to really visualize the space.

Ross, showed us where our wiring ran as well as where all our outlets would be placed. With Guardian we opted to have our cable run in the family room and the master bedroom. We have an outlet for our Wi-Fi in the office.

We were able to see the electric work and where the recess lights would be placed as well as the rough-ins for our ceiling fans and future lighting fixtures.

All in all, the walk through went great. Ross told us that on Friday, December 5, they would start hanging the drywall and that the process would take about 7 days to complete.

Here's a few pictures of the framework from our pre-drywall walkthrough to take a gander at.

Family room fireplace. We opted to hang a TV over the fireplace so we will have a company come in to place a bracket on the wall to hang the TV with. On the bottom portion of the window on the right hand side is where our wiring is gathered. I'll have a nice end table to conspicuously house the cable box and blue-ray player.

View of the garage.

View of the family room and portion of the kitchen from the garage door.

View of a portion of the kitchen. Along the left hand portion of the wall is where our refrigerator will be. You can also see the framework and doorway of where one of our pantries will be. Looking at the ceiling, you can see where some of the recessed lights will be as well. They had drywall pretty much laid in every room. You can see the box that will house the light switches along the left hand side of this photo.

View of the formal dining room.            

View of the formal living room.

 

 

December 2, 2014

Future Purchases

Good evening friends/bloggers. As promised, I have a few photos of the furniture that we've selected so far for the home. I've been searching far and wide for options for our family room and formal living room. I have a specific type of furniture in mind and won't stop til I find it!! We've purchased a few lighting fixtures and will have an electrician install them once we've closed on the house. I hope you like the selections we've made. If you have any suggestions feel free to leave comments as I could use all the help I could get. Til, next time!

This is the Casablanca Isotope Ceiling Fan in Brushed Cocoa. This fan will be placed in the morning room bump out that connects to the kitchen. This fan can be found at Lowes however it is currently discontinued at Home Depot. 

This is the ceiling fan that we have selected for our three bedrooms. It's called the Hampton Bay Mercer Brushed Nickel Ceiling Fan. Two of them will go in our children's rooms and the third will go in the guest room. This fan can be found at Home Depot.

This by far is my FAVE lighting fixture in the entire home. This is the E23146 from www.lightingdirect.com. This will go in the formal dining room. I can't get enough of this chandelier. If anyone knows where I can find similar chairs as pictured above please let me know!

This is my second favorite lighting selection. We picked this light to be our foyer/entryway lighting fixture. This is the Kichler Larkin Olde Bronze Foyer Pendant. This can be found on www.lightsonline.com.

This is the fan we selected for our family room. This is the Hampton Bay Valle Paraiso Brushed Nickel Ceiling Fan. This can be found at Home Depot. 

This is the Catalina bedroom from Pottery Barn Kids. This bedroom set will consist of the twin size bed with one bedside table with matching dresser and desk. This will be bought in the espresso finish.

This is the Hampton bedroom from Pottery Barn Teens. This bedroom will consist of the full size bed with at least one bedside table (still debating on if I should purchase a second one) with matching desk and small dresser. This will be bought in the espresso finish. 

You would think that I picked this out but credit goes to the boyfriend for this! He has had a long standing love affair with the front loader washer/dryer and I must say that in our old home I had become quite spoiled by not having to bend over to pick up and load laundry when washing clothes. This is LG's newest model, the LG 5.2 cu ft. 14 cycle mega capacity high efficiency steam front loading washer (try saying that three times fast!). The matching dryer is the LG 9.0 cu ft 14 cycle ultra large capaicty steam gas dryer. The color he has chosen is graphite grey. Of course, the pedestals are sold seperately (why!?!). The plus about this washer/dryer is that we can wash our king sized comforter with no problems!

Ok, here is where I also need help. This is my first option for a desk. My boyfriend will have full reign of the office but I was thinking of putting a small desk, like this one in the master bedroom along the wall closest to our entry door. There's more than enough room and I always thought it was pretty chic to have a "lady's corner", where I could put a cute chair with a cute desk lamp and some baubles and journal, blog, and peruse the 'net when I have some quiet time to myself. This desk is the Ava Desk with drawers. This can be found at Pottery Barn.

Ok, here is option #2. This is the Ava Metal Desk and this can also be found at Pottery Barn. The only real difference is in the desk portion as the legs are the same. I like how sleek and minimal this looks. 

This is the bed that we have chosen for our "sanctuary" aka master bedroom, lol. This is called the Duncan High Rectangular Bed. I like the overstated headboard and it has the option of having a footboard added (not sure if we want it or not). This can be found at Bassett Furniture. It comes in several different upholsteries as well as in several differnt colors (I really tried to get the pink option, but the boyfriend wasn't having it, lol). I like how it's pictured here with the bench, which is something that I've always liked. The bench in my opinion could serve as the "footboard". Don't know that we'd go with their pictured choice of the nightstands though, may be a bit too dark. The layout of the bedroom in the above picture will be how our bed and nightstands will be. We won't have any pictures to hang because that's where our window will be. 

This dining set was picked out by the boyfriend. He really liked this and it comes in several different wood grains and colors as well (haven't picked out a color yet). This was found at Bassett Furniture. This table will be in our morning room bump out. We ( I ) wanted something a bit more "rustic" in appearance and a bit more informal. The table fits up to about eight people (with the help of a leaf). You can even purchase a second leaf I believe if you need more seating space. We wanted the option to make the table larger for when we have guests and want to entertain. Of course the chairs are sold seperately and can be custom made. I believe that I will be finding another option for seating, lol, as custom can be another word for "pricey". 

Last but most definitely not least, this is the table that I "strong-armed" the boyfriend into agreeing on for the formal dining space. He wasn't a big fan of the table but he has warmed up to it. This is the Banks Extending Dining Table from Pottery Barn. It comes in two sizes, medium and large. We will be purchasing the medium as it sits anywhere from 6-10 people easily. The large I think would be too big for the space. I love everything about this table. I can invision entertaining friends and family around it. While I've looked at other options, everytime I look at this table I just smile. It can be dressed up or down and will last a long time. I do like the chairs that it's pictured with but I don't want to go broke paying for EACH ONE (why don't they come in sets of two at least?!?). 

November 19 - December 1, 2014

Let the Bricking Begin!

Hello fellow Bloggers! I hope that everyone had a blessed Thanksgiving and was able to spend time with their family, friends, and loved ones. I've been on "break" so to speak, shopping for the house but I've been able to take pictures of the progress of the brick laying so far on the home.

GOOD NEWS!! We have our pre-drywall walk-through this coming Thursday, December 4th. Talking with Jacques we found out that tomorrow on December 2, the County Inspector will be out to inspect the progress on the home and give the "thumbs up". What they've done so far on the inside is run the electric and gas lines and placed in the rough-ins for the lighting fixtures. After the inspector ok's the work on the inside or the home, on Wednesday, December 3rd, they will start insulating. Insulation will only take about 4-5 hours so they should be done within the day. Thursday will be our walk-through. Friday, December 5th, they will start dry walling. Jacques said that it typically takes about a week to completely drywall the home (hang the drywall, tape, skim, sand, paint). Ideally, dry walling will be complete on December 12th. Our cabinetry will have arrived by December 16th. I can't wait to take pictures of that! It's hard to believe that it's already almost the end of the year.

Below you will see the bricking progress from start to ALMOST finish. They ran a little short with the shipment of brick so they're waiting for more to be brought in so they can finish up the details. Hope you like what you see so far. I hope to have a follow up blog in the coming days to show you the walk-through and progressive photos of the inside of the home. Til then, happy blogging!

Bare bones.

First portion of bricking completed on front of garage.

Side view of the garage. Notice the truck in the driveway. They installed the garage in about 15 minutes. Pretty neat to watch. They laid the track in place and then took various pieces of the garage doors and screwed them into place. Similar to how you put the pieces together for a jigsaw puzzle.

Started laying the brick at the bottom portion of the front of the house.

Front view of the home with brick laying in progress.

More than halfway done with the brick laying.

Up to date photo of the brick so far. Diamond vents are in place. Just small detailing left to do. They have to finish up the left hand corner as well as finish the lip of all the windows at the bottom of the house.

Worker taking a portion of the scaffolding down since they're done laying brick at the top portion of the house.

Front view of the finished product so far.

November 18, 2014

Careful, Utility Work Ahead

 

 

Hello bloggers! This week, we stopped by the house and were met by a big orange sign that said, "Careful, utility work ahead". Low and behold, the utility work was on our lot. Workers were there actively digging to install a gas line that would lead to the house. I can only assume that once that was installed they would then install the electric line either that same day or soon thereafter.

 

I'm super excited that more work is going on because things are really starting to take form.

 

I talked with my SR, Brandon who calls to check in and see how things are progressing with the house. He said that they're right on schedule with everything. He also told me to not be surprised if at some point it appears as though work has stopped on the outside of the home. If it appears that way, it most likely means that they have begun further work on the inside of the residence.

 

I must say that our experience thus far with Ryan Homes has been great. From our SR's to our PM, and even the NRV Inc. team, when we have asked a question we've always gotten a quick response from them.

 

Next step should be our pre-drywall meeting/walk-thru. I'm super excited for that because we'll get an up close and personal tour of the progression of the home so far and get a chance to see where each room will be.

 

I'll be posting in the next day or so what furniture and lighting pieces/accessories we've chosen thus far. In my mind I believe that I'm a pretty good interior decorator and have great ideas for our home.

 

Til next time friends!!



 

Utility workers

Side view of our home. Roof is completely installed with windows.

Utility worker digging hole where gas line is to be installed.

Another view of a utility worker.

Utility workers digging for the gas line.

I seriously cannot WAIT until they install the brick veneer.



November 15, 2014

Roofers!!

 

 

Evening friends! The boyfriend and I went by our home site to check on the progress of the roof. We found two roofers shingling and tacking down the roof. It appears that they started from opposite ends of the home and started to work their way to the middle. The job appeared a bit daunting to me but I guess when this is what you're certified in doing it's "the norm" for you. They had a pretty good rhythm and though we didn't stay long, we predicted that at the rate they were going they would get most of it if not all of the roof completed by the end of the day.

 

Also, notice that they installed the windows! Our home is starting to take shape. I'm so excited.

 

Hopefully, the  next phase will be plumbing and electric and with the delivery of bricks, maybe they'll be doing that at the same time. I'll keep you posted. Til next time bloggers!

 

 

 

Sideview of the roof and shingles.

Roofer #1

Roofer #2

I'm not sure that I could do what they do. They made it look easy though.

 

Front view with our delivery of bricks and mortar.

 

You can see the bags of shingles they have on the roof. There's a lot of bags.

 

 

 

 



November 11, 2014

Roofing Progress

 

 

 Evening ya'll. Once again, I found myself "in the neighborhood" and saw that there was more progress on the home site. The roof is about 85% done. They have to lay some more wood and then start the shingling process. I'm going to make a conscious effort to NOT go back to the home site until this Saturday. Fingers crossed that I can accomplish this though I'm not making any promises. Until next time Bloggers!

 

 

 

The roof. You can see where they're finishing up the roofing portion of the closet that will be above the garage.

Gotta love the random street light that will be at the corner of your property. Lol, in all seriousness, I actually like the street light. It's just in the way when I take photos.

 

Another view from the left hand side of the house (from the street).

Pleasantly surprised to see some of the brick and the mortar for the house. At the rate they're going and with this great weather, they may be able to get some of those bricks up there. I'm extremely happy with the progress so far. 

Front view of the house. I can't wait to take a picture when the house is completely built.

Another view from the left side of the house.

Right side picture of the house and view of one of the upstairs bedrooms.

Love this home, but building it is clearly a messy undertaking. There's all sorts of wood trash strewn about.

Another view of the home with the shipment of bricks.

Up in the sky, it's a bird, it's a plane, nah, it's just a worker on the roof.

Rear view of the house. You can see a portion of the roof from this angle. Also, the aluminum like material that's wrapped around the house is material that will be used in conjunction with the insulation.

 

Another view of the rear of the home.