Week 10-- Interior Touches

So reflecting between the progress of last week, and this week... this week was a super slow week as far as progress for our house goes.

Biggest thing we noticed that has been done: ELECTRICITY!!!!!!
I THINK they have done the "second paint", although seeing all the spots on the inside that need touch ups, I kind of hope they haven't done a second paint yet because there are a helluva lot of touch ups that need to be done {read: entire walls}.

So, all of our light fixtures have been put in, outlets have covers, we have light switches, recessed lighting, thermostat, a working garage door and even a doorbell!

As far as painting goes that's really noticeable, our trim outside has been painted the almond color to match the rest of our house.  This includes porch columns, trim around the garage, and our outside doors in the back (morning room and walk out basement door).

 They also painted our front door, "Raisin".  Now, I was upset when we first had our selections meeting, because I really, really, really, REALLY wanted a red door.  And, Ryan Homes has certain color palettes and such that you must adhere to when you choose your siding, stone, etc.  We ended up picking a "Dark Berry" shutter, so the "Raisin" door made sense.  And you guys, I adore it.  It's pretty.  It looks great with our siding and trim and our stone.  The "Autumn Buckeye Ledgestone" that we chose has some hints of purples in it, and it just goes great all together.  So, I probably won't ever paint our door red.  Especially because our shutters are a shade of purple.  And I can see it being a huge pain to have to paint the shutters just so I can have a red door, haha!!

Other trim has also been done inside the house, and finished up.  Door frames, baseboards... The vanities now have their mirrors above them in the bathrooms {minus the half bath in the family entry. That mirror isn't there yet}.  Toilets have been installed as well.

Little joke to make light of a not-so-great situation:

When we visited the house yesterday, we were turning on all of our lights and checking everything out.  Well.  Let's just say we had a not-so-pleasant surprise in our hall bathroom {the one with the vinyl that we don't like}.  Yeah.  That's right. Someone POOPED in our toilet.  POOPED! The toilets are installed but don't work yet.  POOPED! It smells sooooo gross in there.

How.Freaking.Disgusting.

The joke part:  Hubby really wanted me to title this post "We got free shit".  While it's catchy, I decided against it, haha!

So this may be disgusting, but I took a photo of the yuckiness that was in our toilet.  And I sent it to our PM and SR and asked HOW that was acceptable.  I told them that I understood nothing could be done about it, but how unprofessional, disrespectful and just disgusting.

Well, our PM emailed us back this morning and apologized and is having a new toilet installed in the hall bathroom.

Side note on that:  our PM is on vacation.  We knew this was coming, so I was surprised that he answered our email.  Now, I am a little upset because we have been getting weekly updates with what's been done on the house and what to expect next on the house.  He never gave us the heads up that this was the week he was on vacation.  I really would have liked to have known that.  We had asked during our pre-construction meeting just for our knowledge to see if he was planning on taking any vacation during our build.

So we haven't gotten a weekly update and he never actually told us that he was on vacation.  Until the poop email.  He let us know the contact info for our second PM if we had any issues while he was out.  I also think that he might have stopped giving us updates just because he knows we go out to the house so much. Plus, this past week, he had been in contact a few times to try to resolve this whole vinyl issue.

So we get a new toilet and the poop one will be gone.  I'm a little concerned with HOW a poop-filled toilet gets taken out of one's home.  Sigh.  Trying to not worry about it and just hope that the next time we go out to the house everything is better.

We spent the evening out at the house last night, and our neighborhood had a 4th of July "party".  They shot off about 30 minutes worth of awesome fireworks and the entire neighborhood gathered to watch.  I love seeing how friendly everyone is and can't wait to be part of the "gang".

And now for photos! And no worries-- I deleted the yuck photo that I sent our PM of the surprise we had in the toilet.

Water Closet in the Master Bath.  We double checked all of our toilets. (haha)

Master Bath <3 Faucets and Shower heads have been installed.

Master Bath vanity.  Faucets are in, mirror is up and light fixture is installed.

Another angle of the master bath vanity <3

Standing in the doorway of the master bath into the loft.

Standing in the loft looking towards the laundry and hall bath

Holding my breath as I take this photo.  Hall bathroom.  Vinyl under it's lighting (sigh)

Laundry room!  Vinyl peeking out, pan has been installed for the washer.

Morning room view

Another morning room view

Kitchen view with lights on.  The recessed lighting is a bit frustrating because it takes a few seconds to warm up, but once it does they look great!

Find the floorplans!  They were actually kind of "neat" this time.

Damage to the wall by the family entry.  Trying to keep my eye out for all of these kind of things to MAKE SURE they're fixed by closing.

Standing at the walk out looking up.  Outside light fixtures have been installed too, and you can see our doors have been painted almond here!

Basement view.  Recessed lighting is on :-)

Half bath in the family entry.  Sink is installed, but mirror hasn't been yet.

Different focus photo so you can see what the light fixtures look like.

Looking down the foyer!  Look at all the lights <3

Light fixture in the dining room

view of the dining room standing near the front door.

DOORBELL!!!! 

It was close to twilight when we were out at the house, but here's the front door.  Can't wait to get a sunshine picture of this!

thermostat!

Front porch beers before fireworks!  It was our first beer on our front porch <3

watching some random fireworks from our porch

history for our home

our view from the spot in our neighborhood where they shot off the fireworks!

progress view.  You can see all the almond trim now, and it looks great!

I have NO idea what's up next for the house.  I really really hope it's granite.

We have started packing up lots of our stuff to try and get it ready, and making game plans for getting ready to move.  We even got our movers hired for the day after we close!!

I also think we've decided on a fridge!  It's a bit different than what we were originally thinking, but I am excited!  I'll probably post about this later in the week. haha!

Hope everyone had a great Fourth of July!

Bad on you, Rite Rug and Ryan Homes.

So, this whole deal with our vinyl flooring has left a terrible taste in my mouth.

I can't tell you how many tears have been shed and how much frustration has started over the damn vinyl in our laundry room and hall bathroom.

Wanna know the full details?  Check out this blog post:   The Great Flooring Debacle of 2016.

I am sure you can catch up with what's going on with this post here.

First off, I don't think our PM gets it.  It's a lighting issue he says.  He doesn't realize that I feel the COLORS of the two vinyls are way different and what was installed is more BROWN when I feel like the sample from our selections meeting was more GREY.  He swears up and down that the flooring that has been installed is most definitely the correct flooring.  He had the 2 flooring samples in question at the model for us to look at.  He said that it even looks like the vinyl sample matches our photo we took back in December as it has the same pattern.

On paper, he's right.  We signed off that the sample of vinyl, "Station Square 2080" is the vinyl we wanted.  And yes, it does have the same pattern. BUT! I am not convinced or confident that we chose this vinyl.  And who is to say that the vinyl sample hasn't been changed because Rite Rug realized there was an issue with it?  It has been six months since our Rite Rug appointment.  And, unfortunately, according to our PM, the sales rep we had at Rite Rug is not longer there and so he can't confirm if samples were changed.  That part makes not sense to me.  Any sales rep should be able to tell you that.


Our PM left the 2 samples in question at the model home, and we were able to go up and take a look at them over the last weekend.
I had a FIT.  A damn FIT. As soon as I saw the two samples next to each other, I knew that I would have never in my dreams picked the 2080 vinyl that is in our house.  It's so brown and drab and just NOT what I wanted.  I definitely would have picked that 2082 that I THOUGHT should have been put in.  It's more grey and has a lighter tone to it.

That fit made our SR tell me I need to calm down {in a joking way that she knew wouldn't offend me, btw... and it didn't offend me}. She told me she'd have a talk with our PM and see what we could do about it.  She tried talking me into the brown vinyl that's already installed, as she likes it better.  But, this isn't her home.  This is OUR home.  She even mentioned that the grey one that I think we should have in our home has more green tones in it along with the grey.  Once she pointed that out, I also noted that in our original selection photo, that's what it looks like to me too.  Grey with some green tones.

Here are a series of pictures, the captions will explain each one.

Let's just say, before you look at the photos of both vinyl, that THIS is what I feel like:

Do y'all remember this darn dress?
Is it blue or is it gold?  I seriously feel like after I look at these photos of these two vinyls so much, that I can hardly tell the difference in the two.  You would THINK that would be a good thing, right?  But no. I am so frustrated over the fact that I feel like what we picked isn't what's in the house.

So photo time.

To start off, here is OUR photo from our selections meeting.  According to our documents from Rite Rug, the vinyl we chose is "Station Square 2080". I do agree that it's definitely what we signed off on getting.
But to me, Station Square 2080 is brown.  I feel like the vinyl in this photo is more GREY. It even has undertones of green in it like our SR mentioned of the samples that were brought to the model home for us to look at.

The photo is a bit washed out looking from the lighting, but this to me isn't brown, and it's NOT what we would have picked for our home.

Sorry this photo is a bit blurry, it must have been from my frustrations.  But, this is the 2 samples (the brown on the left, the grey on the right) in natural light at the model home.

This is the Station Square 2080 (brown) up against the cabinets that we installed in the hall bath.  The lighting is natural light from outside.  This photo drives me bonkers because it DOES look grey here. Blue Dress/Gold Dress feelings are happening for me with this photo.

The Station Square 2082 sample (grey) up against our cabinets.  Our SR pointed out the more green undertones.  Here's the thing... I plan on staining our cabinets to be the darker maple espresso color eventually.  To me, this vinyl would look WAY better than the brown one.  And not only that, as SOON as I saw this vinyl in the model, I KNEW this is what I would have chosen for our home.  

This is a photo of the grey (Station Square 2082) up against maple espresso cabinets in the kitchen.  So here you have INSIDE lighting, along with my thoughts on cabinetry {eventually}.  This is what I envisioned.  HANDS DOWN, no question in my mind, this is what we picked for our home.

This is a screen shot of the photo our PM sent to us when he got both samples in.  He says that the pattern in this one matches the pattern in our sample photo from our selections meeting.  He didn't bother to send over a photo of the other sample, as he's certain this is what we chose.

And this is our vinyl installed IN our home.  We got electricity this week, so this is what the vinyl is going to look like in our home if it stays there.  

Okay.  All caught up?  Here's the thing... I don't HATE the vinyl that is currently in there as much as I thought I did.  I have a huge issue because it doesn't photograph well at all.  While at the house, I have a feeling of relief come over me because it isn't that bad.  Do I like it?  No.  Do I think it is what we chose for our house?  No.  Do I feel like it should be replaced?  Yes.  But, I have to deal with it.  That's been made pretty stinkin clear.

I have an issue too that we tried telling our PM that it appears like the neighbors across the street from us have the incorrect vinyl installed as well.  His answer to that was "I don't care if they have an issue". {modified to not say neighbor's names, but the words I don't care were used}

And then, the final verdict came on Monday.  I had to text our SR, as I hadn't heard from her or our PM, and she told me that she'd talk to him...

Her answer to me asking if she had talked to our PM:

"...he did call the office to check if there were any options...but unfortunately since everything was signed off on, we cannot make any changes at this stage of construction.  So sorry, Russ & I really tried"

Here are my issues with this:

1. They can't make any changes at this stage of construction?!?!  It's VINYL. Our PM was very willing to change it if it was incorrect when this issue was first brought up.  So what's the issue now if we want it changed?  They all of the sudden can't rip it out?  We are more than willing to pay for a different vinyl if we have to.  But the fact that we as the customer think it's a mistake, I feel something should be done.
2. Y'all wanna know how much the upgraded vinyl cost for us as the homebuyers???  $125.  Yes, a whole whopping $125.  And that is in BOTH the hall bath AND the laundry room.  To me and you, that's a decent bit of money to not be getting what we want.  But, how much is that really to Ryan Homes?  Or even to Rite Rug?  How much does that vinyl actually cost THEM?!?  My guess is not that much.  So why is this so difficult to just have changed so you make us happy, even if what was on paper APPEARS to be the right thing?
3. Our PM called hubby on Thursday and made a comment that he wants us to be happy with what's been installed.  Ummmm.... but you can't fricken change it, so why does it matter if we are happy with it or not?!?!!?  Hubby told him that he felt we were stuck with it, and if we have to change it ourselves, that's just what we will have to do {and then be pissed that we have paid for an upgrade that we feel isn't correct, and now have to pay to have something we LIKE put in}.

At the end of all this, it's just vinyl.  I do hope that six months from now it doesn't even matter to me.  I've completely dropped the subject at this point and have just conceded that we are stuck with the vinyl that's been installed and will deal with it when we have the means to deal with it ourselves.

And then there was the "issue" with our rail stain.  We felt that even the stain on the rails isn't correct (which would be a Rite Rug issue again).  I let our PM know, and he offered to have the rail sample brought out.  We have since nixed this because of two things. One, we like the rail stain the way it looks, and two, after being out to the house yesterday and seeing it under lighting, it looks like it may in fact be the right thing.

But I have an issue with that.  Let me show you pictures first and then tell you why.

Selections meeting photo of our rail stain.  We chose something that closely matched our hard wood flooring.

Here's our installed hardwood flooring.

Here's our upstairs rails stained {no polyurethane though}.  Natural light is coming in through the loft windows.

And here is our railing in the basement.  Photo taken Thursday. This is under DIRECT light in the basement.

So looking at this, it definitely looks like the rail stain is correct.  For some reason, when it's not under DIRECT light (not natural light, but actual lighting from inside the house), it looks differently.  And I kind of feel like the flooring issue is the SAME way.

So, the rails stay this color.  And we are okay with that. 

And, why do I say "bad on you" for this post title?  Because I am upset.  I'm paying a LOT of money for this dream home of ours.  And I have one simple request.  Something that probably costs these companies PENNIES and would make me happy if they'd fix it.  All I want is for the vinyl to be fixed to what we THOUGHT we chose in our selections meeting.  And "bad on you" because I feel like these samples from our selections meeting are not accurate representations of what everything is going to look like once it's in.  Let's just hope when they install the carpet in the rest of the house that it looks right.......

But, I have moved on from the vinyl issue.  I know it doesn't seem that way reading this post, but I had to write this post as a follow-up to the original post.  

It's just flooring.  It can be changed later down the road.  I want to focus on what's amazing about our home, including the fact that WE CLOSE THIS MONTH!!!!!!!!!

Weekly update coming later this week. We have had some fun additions to the house this week!

The Great Flooring Debacle of 2016....

Okay, I wouldn't call it great.
It's not great.
Like, I've cried over stupid flooring.  That part seems so silly to me, but I'll admit it. I've cried over this stupid flooring.
And it's silly because I guess technically, we picked it out.  And I hate hate hate it.

I'll let y'all take a look and be the judge:

Let's start back with my post from Tuesday.

This is the photo I posted with my rant...

The photo on the left is from our flooring selection meeting with Rite Rug on 12/30/15.
The photo on the right is from our visit to the house this past Tuesday.

Now- I'll say it again.. I know lighting plays into this, but to me, that flooring looks WAAAAAAAAAAAY darker, and WAAAAAAY more brown.

So, I sent an email with this photo to our PM.  He thought it could be the lighting, and potentially the wrong vinyl installed.

I posted my woes on Facebook.  Lighting was mentioned again, as was wrong vinyl.
One of our neighbors chimed in as it made them notice that they chose the same flooring for their bathroom and it definitely looks more dark and more brown.  They showed us a photo of their flooring as well as a photo from their selection meeting:

Again, I know there's no lighting in their bathroom photo, but look how dark and how brown that looks.

Now, check out our selection meeting photos side by side:

To me, they're way more grey than brown, right? {And I know my photo seems a bit washed out}

Let me back that up with evidence....
Another fellow blogger (hi Ashley!!) commented on my Facebook post and directed me to the Armstrong website with all of the different Station Square options.  Because, you see... unknown to me..... there are different COLORS of station square vinyl!

Here's the website going directly to the Station Square section if you wanna check it out for yourself.

So now I'm getting a bit hopeful!  Maybe there was some kind of labeling issue at Rite Rug and we thought we were getting something more grey but they had it labeled wrong...

Here's a comparison of two Station Square vinyls.

Station Square 2080 is what we "chose" at our selection meeting.  It's the brown option.  It's most definitely what was written down at our meeting, as it's what's on our order form.

Station Square 2082 is the more grey version of this vinyl.  And what I feel we should have gotten in our home, and what I have a photo of from our selections meeting.

Station Square 2080

Station Square 2082

                      

Clearly a difference.  To some of y'all it might not be a huge one but it is to me.

And now more comparison photos.  These are from our selections meeting and paired with it is either the 2080 vinyl or the 2082 vinyl.  On the left sides of these photos are the selections from our meeting (top) and the bottom is our neighbor's selection.  Then, the photo on the right is the 2080 or 2082 samples pulled from the Armstrong website.

2080 (the more brown option)

2082 (the more grey option)

Huge difference to me.  Even if I've stared at these for hours on end at this point.

So now the follow up from our PM:

He went to Rite Rug and got the sample from them and compared it to what's been installed.

Take a look:

Looks like a pretty solid match, doesn't it?

When he sent me this, it completely deflated any hopes that I would get different vinyl put in the house.  I hate what they've installed.  It is most definitely NOT what I envisioned.

I envisioned a MUCH lighter, grey tones look.  Not this dark and dreary looking tile.

Granted, it's ONLY in the hall bathroom and the laundry room.

Our PM offered to keep the sample there so we could come take a look and verify that it is indeed what we chose at our meeting.  So, we might be going out there today to check it out.

I just don't know what I should do at this point.  I am afraid that even if we DO put that grey colored vinyl in there, it's still gonna show up way dark {because even looking at samples online, the brown option shows way darker once installed than it does on the website-- and yeah yeah, lighting factors in to this too. I know.}  And that's not what I envisioned for our bathroom.

I THINK our next course of action is to go to Rite Rug. Grab the sample that I feel we actually picked and see what it looks like and try and sort it out from there.

Our PM is trying to get in touch with them to see if anything has changed since December when we made our selections {which, btw... it really irks me that it's six stinkin' months before we even get to see our floors put in}.

If in fact we should have had the more grey option and something was just mislabeled on Rite Rug's end and that's why we ended up with this more brown colored vinyl, do we change it? I mean, it is what I thought we were getting.

And if it is in fact correct with what's been put in the house, and the sample we chose, then I feel like that's a TERRIBLE TERRIBLE TERRIBLE mis-representation of what that vinyl looks like and I still want something else in there.

I just don't know what to do and can't believe I am so upset over stinkin' vinyl flooring. But, when it's all said and done, we DID pay for an upgraded vinyl and I should be getting what I want, right?

Sigh.

Rock, meet hard place.