Building Our Dream Home: the boys

Sunday, July 10, 2016

Week 11- Don't Take These Things for Granite!

This week has been a ton of fun! So many "little" things were put in and they just look absolutely amazing. I can't believe we close in just a couple of weeks!!! Time has flown!

There are definitely little things that I want addressed with the house to make sure that things are fixed and perfect for when we get in. We will probably go out to the house on Tuesday or Thursday and I'll make a list to get to our PM just to make sure things are to our liking. Our PM was on vacation all this week, so we didn't have updates as to WHAT would be done with the house, but we also didn't want to bug him for things that can be addressed this upcoming week.

So let's see what's been done this week:

Our "second paint" was done this week. I THOUGHT it was done last week {as that's what the timeline says on the Ryan Homes site}, but it hadn't been. We were actually IN the house with the painters there and saw them painting the walls.

Our driveway and sidewalks have been poured. This also includes our porch steps.

The biggest and best update this week: GRANITE! It's been installed and I adore it! The granite was one of those things that I was really worried about liking or not liking. I loved it when we chose it, but I finally started having those moments that we had picked the "wrong" thing. We chose Luna Pearl granite. When my wheels started turning, I would Google image and Pinterest and try to find images of Luna Pearl with dark cabinets to see what we had picked. ONE blog post I read said that it was a "dated" granite. It was a new selection at our Ryan Homes selections meeting when we picked it. And of course, I only keep the one comment about it being dated in my head and not taking note of any of the other photos I have seen where it looks great.

So, the anticipation of our granite being installed has been driving me bonkers. Every time we walked into the house I was hoping that we would have our granite. And when it was FINALLY there, I was thrilled.
It's a lighter granite with darker flecks in it, and it sparkles.
My worry was that it was going to be too light. But, it's perfect! If we had gone with one of those darker grey granites I think it would have been too dark with the rest of our color scheme {and the stuff that we plan to do in the house when we paint and such}.

And then finally, our appliances were installed! Stove, microwave and dishwasher. They look fabulous! Our dishwasher doesn't seem like it's secured down. It just wobbles when you touch it. Gotta have that addressed. We upgraded our appliances to be stainless steel. Let me tell you! It sure pops with our granite and counter tops! It all looks so good! All of the appliances that were put in the house are GE appliances.

And for everyone's favorite part! Pictures! Trying to keep them in order, haha! There's a lot of them and lots of new details to show off!

This first set is from our trip out on Saturday. We had to take our puppy to the vet for his last round of puppy shots and thought that while we were in the area, we should take him in to the house to see what will be his brand new home in a few weeks. Doing this made the house seem gigantic. And, it is. But it just made it seem like it when you put our little 13.9 pound sheltie in the house and let him run around. He is going to have SO much room to run and play with his big brother dog. I can't wait.

Crosley at the top of the stairs. He did the stairs like a champ and didn't seem phased that there was no carpet.

Crosley following Jason up the stairs

Garage door opener! It's installed and it works!!

Your first look at our kitchen with the granite and appliances. It looks amazing!

Closer view of the stove and microwave

The future home of our gorgeous refrigerator

view of the kitchen with the granite from the morning room

Sink! I love this thing so much {which becomes apparent with how many photos I took of it}

Close up of our Luna Pearl granite on the kitchen island

Stove and microwave, and me in the reflections!

Granite and cabinets <3

I found A LOT of irony in this little sign that was left in the kitchen after our little poop fiasco last week.

The beginnings of a deck! This is looking down from our master bedroom window

They started the deck on Friday, July 8th

Startings of the deck. It will go the entire length of the back of the house {from the morning room}

A hole for deck posts. I had my tape measure with me, as I was measuring some stuff for potential purchases and measured this hole. It was 3 feet deep.

Electrical stuffs.

Walkway to our front porch! The second step is small. I am not quite sure the logistics of that one.

......where the sidewalk ends.

our home with her newly paved driveway!

So after we took our little Crosley out there, I knew we had to make another trip. I wanted to take Cody out there. I wanted him to see everything. He HAD been out to the site of the home before it was ever even built, the day after we lost his brother. It was a bittersweet day that day and I have a photo that I will be cherishing forever of Cody running around on our lot. And today? Today made me feel the same way. I miss our little Chase so much and can't believe that he won't be here to enjoy this gorgeous new home. But, the memories we are going to make with these two boys are going to be amazing.

This photo is from the day after we lost Chase. Cody is running on our lot before it was even a hole. I'm going to have this photo framed in the new house, I love it so much. And, it means the world to me.

Anyways. We went back out to the house today {Sunday} and were surprised to see new things! They had finished our deck! AND! When we went into the house, they had uncovered the hardwood floors so we could see them in all their glory. And our boys had a ton of fun! Cody stayed next to me most of the time, but still explored the entire house. Both him and Crosley were all smiles!

Kitchen views with our hardwood

Hardwood, Luna Pearl granite, Maple Espresso cabinets and stainless steel appliances

Stove

Microwave

Dishwasher {and hardwood floors}

Kitchen sink and faucet

morning room hardwood floors <3

Hardwood floors and our entire kitchen. It's GORGEOUS

Foyer looking to the front door with the hardwood revealed

Foyer hardwood with the stairway, and Jason and Crosley

dining room

finished deck! It's amazing!

Finished Deck

Deck stairs

Jason telling Cody to come down the stairs

another deck view

The deck covers the length of the back of the house to the morning room, and then the stairs go down in front of the morning room.

Crosley checking out his back yard

Crosley standing at the walk out, under the deck!

at the walkout, under the deck

All smiles from our Cody. I think he's really going to love it here.

We were wrapping things up to leave, and Crosley wanted to go back upstairs. I don't think any of us really wanted to leave.

Cody sitting on the front porch

Our boys <3 This photo gave me all the feels. I love these two so much.

Look at this gorgeous house. OUR house. It won't be long now and we will permanently be here <3

Visiting the house today, with the boys, it really felt like home. I feel like with each thing that gets done, it feels more and more like a house, and more and more like ours as we see everything come together. But today, with our two sweet boys in the house with us? It felt like home. And I can't wait for the memories we are going to make here.

And, if you've made it through all of the photos and blog today, you get a video!

I shot about 8 minutes worth of video going through the entire house showing off everything that's been done. The dogs were in the house while I did the video.

Enjoy it :-) And let's hope this countdown for the next two weeks goes by fast!!!

Sunday, June 12, 2016

Week 7 Progress-- Drywall, Drywall, Drywall!

This week seemed like a slower week out of some of the past weeks we have had with the house building.

But, with that being said... they still got a LOT done. Our drywall is up, hung, nailed, taped and mudded (is that the right word?? LOL). The ceilings have been textured. Outlets are all cut out, recessed lights are all cut out, rough ins for fans and such are all cut out. To my untrained eye, it all looks good.

We GoPro'd our trip on Thursday while we were out there so y'all can see the progress. That post is right here in case you missed it :-)

A couple of exciting things have happened this week! We heard from NVR about scheduling our closing! So now we OFFICIALLY have a countdown on the blog (and our phones, computers, haha) for our closing date! As of right now, it's scheduled for 7/26. Our pre-settlement date is up in the air and we should hear from our PM in the next couple of days to figure that one out. NVR gave us one date, and then our PM emailed and had two different dates. So we just have to figure that out.

For our progress email from our PM, he told us that drywall would finish up next week. Painters should be priming on Friday. AND! Siding should be started on either Monday or Tuesday.

And now for our photos. We went out today (Sunday) to visit our SR, Shelli, just because we hadn't seen her in a few weeks. Then we headed over to the house to see if there had been any more progress. While it's not really much visible progress from what it was on Thursday, it looks amazing and again, I find myself falling more and more in love with it every day.

Our siding! It's been here for about a week + now, but it's at least been uncovered and will *hopefully* be installed this week!!!

Goodies in the garage! Shake siding, shutters and other almond-colored accessories

Bedroom # 2

Loft. I love that with our elevation we get the additional little bump out with the window. Will make a cute little reading nook or something one day!