The Calendar is my enemy

So lately I feel like I am constantly looking at the calendar. I'm wondering when things will start moving along. Our final selections were completed last week and our SR said the next step was sending the info to production so that the supplies could be ordered and that she would be getting in touch with me to arrange the Preconstruction meeting which should now be about 2 weeks out....There are 2 homes that are under construction near me. Lot 25 has really made progress and last time I checked on Saturday the framing was basically done! I have been trying to figure out what model it is and I think it may be a Rome? I need to look a little closer next time to be sure. Lot 31 had the footers poured and so far that's it. I hope ours starts to go up next, but I think there may be one that gets going before ours, but it will be close...I was looking at the floor plans on the RH website and things have drastically changed since we signed our contract. Now the Venice can have a tray ceiling in the Master BR, and the attic can include a bedroom and bathroom. I would have LOVED all of the above, but I can imagine that would cost a pretty penny. I would really consider the tray ceiling for our room depending on the cost and what our SR says. That would be beautiful :) Still no word from NVR. It's been 30 days and I'm hoping for a phone call or letter soon. The hubby says he isn't making any purchases for the house until he gets the approval.

I'm home from work today because one of the twins had a fever last night of 102.3- no other symptoms of being sick though. He woke up this morning and felt fine, but when I checked his temp at noon it was 101.3- so he had another round of Motrin. If it continues throughout the day then we might take a trip to the Dr. tomorrow. It could possibly be the onset of an ear infection since we have been swimming a lot lately, but there haven't been any complaints about pain or anything. I guess I will just pray and wait.

Another reason the Calendar has been haunting me is the fact that my Birthday is this weekend. Time to leave my 20's behind and embrace being 30 and responsible :)

The curb appeal panic

So we met with our SR on Saturday and submitted all of our final changes, but we were waiting to sign the final change order until Monday after she ran all of the info by her supervisor to get a thumbs up. Well, after Saturday I started to get really nervous about our exterior selections because the outside of the home is the first thing that everyone will see. Oh course what matters the most is what we like, but I definitely don’t want people driving by my home thinking that it’s ugly. Curb appeal is a big deal to me. Btw, there is a home near ours that was built recently and they have already put it on the market, but the colors are awful and I don’t know what they were thinking. I can almost guarantee that even though the price is good that most people won’t even schedule a viewing because of the exterior. I could be wrong though, that happens sometimes….Anyways, in the beginning we selected Island Pearl as the siding and Pebble Clay as the accent shake color, blackwatch green shutters, and fiery brown for the door. I started to worry that the siding color would be too light and show dirt easily and my husband isn’t easily motivated to clean so this could be an issue. In the mix of the exterior color conversation with Dustin we both decided to add partial stone and when we were at the model on Saturday he mentioned liking the Kentucky stone a lot. So we changed our exterior colors to Pebble Clay siding, Sandy Tan shakes, Dark Berry shutters, Black fox door, with white trim and garage door- this selection came with the Kentucky stone….After we got home Saturday I started searching blogs to see if I saw houses with similar colors because I was worried that it would be to dark and I contemplated going back to the original colors. No kidding I bet I spent 20+ hours worrying about this. On Monday I emailed our SR to check on the status of the final change order info and admitted that I wanted to come in and revisit our exterior color selections. On the way to the model this morning I drove through the neighborhood and really looked at all the house on our street and there were 2 or 3 that I really, really liked and they had the dark siding that looked similar. There was only one house that was the same model as ours but hopefully I won’t look like a copycat because the plans are reversed.  When I got to the model I went through the process of elimination. There were some colors that I didn’t even consider because I knew that I wouldn’t like it and Dustin wouldn’t either. After holding all the color combos next to the stones I ended back at our 2^nd selection (Pebble clay, sandy tan, dark berry, black fox). I feel such a relief and so much more confident about the selections now. I also decided to change the trim and garage door color to almond. It looked awesome with the other houses that had similar colors, and our SR says the almond looks classy :) I will probably do a drive by and take a pic of one of those houses so I can show Dustin and post it here (did this obviously). He has been really awesome about letting me get the things I liked and his only firm choices were the granite and the exterior stone. He didn’t like my kitchen cabinet choice (maple hazelnut glaze), but I won that battle by promising that I wouldn’t complain if I had to constantly wipe them down after we move in! I’d really hate to hear him say, “I told you so”.

Oh I also found out today and want to mention that the lot on the right of us will be empty because of the retention area beside it. HOORAY!! I am sooooo loving that idea! Not that I would have been upset to have a neighbor there, but that extra privacy is cool. The lot on the left side has been sold and I was told that the owner was very nice, so that’s a plus too. I was worried that we might get awful neighbors and since we’ve been there and done that we know what a miserable situation that can be.

Anyways, when Dustin gets home today we will sign all the final change order stuff and I will scan it and email it to our SR and that will be that! I was excited before, but I am super excited now! From what I have read in the blogs the building process flies by, I hope this is the case!

Thank you God for this blessing! You continue to bless us with your grace and mercy even though we are so undeserving. You are so worthy of our praise and as for me and my house we will serve and worship you Lord!!

The house with similar colors.

 

Some visuals- pictures of our selections

Maple Hazelnut Glaze cabinets in the kitchen

Santa Cecilia Granite- I hope ours is like this and not gold



Mocha Hardwoods- kitchen, morning room, foyer, and powder room 

Level B Collinsville Mocha froth- family room, living room, upstairs.



Stratford Place truffle fields tile in master bath- our BR is different but this shows what the tile looks like

Calypso accent tiles for master bath

 This is the set up for the master bath.





Maple honey cabinets for bathrooms

white cultured marble vanity top for bathrooms

this is the kitchen and morning room in a model home

 

Venice elevation k- our stone will only be on the bottom of the house and wont go up the front like shown.

Final changes

So we made a trip over to the Model to finalize our selections. We have added and removed things since the initial agreement day. I am going to list our original selections and then the changes. The next post will have pictures, I think.

Original......


Model - Venice, elevation K, with basement and Morning room, 12x14 deck of Morning room and 12x14 patio off basement.
Exterior colors - Island Pearl siding, Pebble Clay shakes, Blackwatch green shutters, Fiery Brown front door, white trim.
Kitchen- Gourmet island, Level 2 Giallo Napoleano granite, Wyoming Cherry Bordeaux cabinets, stainless appliances with a gas stove.
Flooring -  kitchen, morning room, powder room, and foyer will be hardwood. Carpet in the family room, living room, basement, stairs and bedrooms. Laundry room is vinyl. Bathrooms are tile. 
Basement - The basement will be finished except for the additional space created from adding the Morning room, that area will be separated by a wall and will be unfinished. We also opted for a 3 piece rough in for the bathroom basement. Window added into the basement as well.
Secondary bath - Level A tile for floor and surround; base cabinets and vanity- Fairfield maple spice and white cultured marble.
Master bath - Optional layout for the shower which includes the seat and the glass enclosure, Level C tile for the floor and surround, maple hazelnut cabinet, tan brown granite vanity.


Changes...

Exterior colors - Pebble clay siding, Sandy Tan Shakes, dark berry shutters, black fox front door, also added Kentucky stone accent, white trim.
Kitchen - Level 1 St. Cecilia granite, Maple Hazelnut cabinets, electric stove.
Secondary bath - Maple honey cabinet ( This is the new base, it was maple spice, but I like the honey better so I am changing this if they ok it on Monday)
Master bath - Maple honey cabinet, white cultured marble vanity.
Flooring - Upgraded to Level B hardwood and carpet.


I would have loved to keep all the upgrades that I originally listed, but we had to cut a few things so we could add things that we really wanted. Still happy :)

This is starting to feel real....Guardian and Rite Rug appointment

So I have to admit that it's been a little unreal to me when I think about owning our own home and even more unbelievable that we will be building a new home! We have been renting for so long and it has really kept me from putting personal touches into existence. However I can honestly say that this  is all starting to feel real and I couldn't be happier. The thought of my family being in our new home makes me so full of joy! The twins and Shel love going to the model home and they have been talking about what they want in their rooms. As a mom this makes me feel so good to know that they are as happy and excited as I am. I really want the best for our family and I know this is it! I hope I hear good news from NVR this week, but either way I'm going to trust God no matter what :)

Ok, so we had our apt with Guardian and Rite Rug yesterday. I would say that both appts went well, except that we added things that we didn't intend on adding originally. No worries though because all in all they were good investments.

First was Guardian and Brian was the rep who laid it all out for us. I was floored at how much home security has advanced. I had no clue that a security system could tell if someone was breaking a window in your house! Call me nerd, but I think that is rad! So we decided to have Guardian security installed and included the glass break monitoring. I feel good about it and can't complain one bit about spending the additional money because keeping my family safe is priceless. We also decided to have TV mounted in the family room, this is a guy thing, but glad because it will eliminate those awful cords. Cable in the family room, basement, and master bedroom. Data lines in the living room (office) and family room. Phone line in the kitchen. This experience was pleasant and painless, and Brian was super.

Next on the list was our appt with Debra at Rite Rug and she was great, she really knows her stuff and she is also fun. We ended up bring along Shel and the twins- Ummmmm, this was a test to make sure my anxiety meds were working lol...They weren't bad, but they were into everything! Debra was fine about it and even went straight Mommy on them at one point which was great because they listened immediately...Anyways I thought I had my mind made up before getting to the appointment, well that's what I get for thinking. Again everything we upgraded made sense and will be a good investment.  We upgraded the Hardwood to the 3 1/4" Mocha, which is a warm dark brown and it's beyond beautiful! Can't wait to see this on the floor. We also upgraded the carpet and padding in the living room and family room to a Level B, the color is also Mocha something, and it's a brown. I would have liked a light carpet to contrast with the hardwood, but that's just not realistic with our kiddos. The upgraded carpet will also be on the stairs and upstairs...This upgrade is definitely worth it because it will be stain resistant and also have a 10 yr warranty. Next is the secondary bath and we chose to have the floor and the bath surrounded with Level A tile in almond. I think it will look nice with the white grout,white tub, toilet and vanity. The laundry room is vinyl, not sure of the name, but it's a reddish brownish color. The master bath will also have tiled floors and surround. We had already planned on a Level C upgrade for this. We picked the Truffle tile with the Antigua calypso accent listello. The twins were right up in the mix at this time and I was a little frustrated because I wasn't able to really focus, but I like my choices. The truffle is a darker brown tile and the accent is beautiful, it's a mixture of tans and golds and has an iridescent sheen to it. Really looking forward to seeing this all together. The final selection was the basement carpet and we stuck to the base carpet in a color similar to the Mocha in the rest of the house. All in all I can say that I'm happy with the choices, just shocked that everything we selected was brown, I hope it all looks ok in the end and not an overload of brown.

I'm just sayin...

So we have appointments with both Guardian and Rite Rug on Friday. I already know that we are going to need additional cable jacks installed – i.e. the garage…We also want more info regarding their alarm/security. Better safe than sorry, right?? The appt with Rite Rug is another story. I’ve already requested a list of options from Rite Rug so I would have an idea about what to expect, but really it just made me more anxious about the appointment!

I talked to our SR about making our final selections also. She told me to make sure I get the costs from both appointments so I can make my final selections and get the construction ball rolling. Once the final selections are made and confirmed they can start the ordering process for our house. Within the following 30 days is when they will start grading the lot and lumber should be delivered about the 3^rd week… Holla!!

I know we haven’t gotten the formal approval from NVR, but from what I’ve read via blogs is that they normally start the construction anyways which is fine with me because the sooner the better!

Appointment with NVR- May 24th

May 24,2013-

Our appointment with the LO at NVR was on Friday May 24^th. I not only had copies of everything on the checklist, but I had put it into a binder and used dividers to separate the sections. Yes, I know that it sounds like too much and I sound like a KA, but I wanted to make sure that everything was kept together so that it would make our Loan Officers life a little easier. I know how much I appreciate when someone takes the extra initiative at work, and I figured that if I make it easier for her then it will result as being somewhat easier for myself. I followed up with a phone call to the LO on 6/7 just to ensure that she didn’t need any additional information. Her response was that she had already submitted our file and that everything was all good -  What does that mean?? Was it submitted to processing or UW? It’s all good as in we should be approved?- These things were going through my head, but I didn’t want to harass her about it. At least I know that NVR doesn’t need anything else right now and that it was submitted to somewhere…Oh, and she also commented on my organization- WIN J

The beginning of our Venice...the entire reason behind my urge to blog.

Let me begin "The beginning of our Venice" by admitting that I have never, not even once, at any time felt the need to create a blog....until we made the decision to build with Ryan Homes.

It all started in May when we finally stopped by the Ryan Homes Model in our area. After that day the addiction of choosing options and understanding the process began. I have read so many blogs about others sharing the details and experiences while building their home, and to be honest I'm hooked! So with that being said, I am inspired to have my own blog to record the process and maybe even help someone else that has the same uncontrollable curiosity as myself. I already write EVERYTHING in my day planner, so this is the same concept, only public :)

May 20, 2013 - The model and the list of options

 

So we've been looking to buy a home for a about 12 weeks at this point. We were searching the net for homes in our area, driving through neighborhoods that we like, stopping at the homes that have the information papers available and then laughing at either the ridiculous pricing or at the ridiculous interior. Seriously what are some people thinking?? Well after a few good laughs and an afternoon with no kids we decided to stop by the Ryan Homes model in a nearby neighborhood. We were greeted with the Sales Rep, Jessica,  opening the door and exclaiming, "Welcome home!". She let us walk around and "oh" and "ah" amongst ourselves. Well it was mainly me making all the noises. Anyways, after checking things out thoroughly we left for home. A few days went by and we ended back at the model home and looked around once more before letting the SR know that we were really interested. This is when we put a hold on the lot we wanted and answered a few questions about options. I asked the SR if there was a list of options that I could have and go over at home over the weekend to get a better idea about what I wanted. This is when the obsession started.

Coming into this I was as cool as a cucumber. I like to see myself as a kinda "go with the flow" type of gal. Others, including my newly obtained husband would beg to differ. He might would say that I'm a full serving of crazy paired with a generous portion of OCD, but who cares what other people think right? Right! Ok, so I was relaxed and nonchalant before starting the "options" project. Once I had that list of options I had to know precisely what these options looked like in other Ryan Homes. I have spent so much time looking at pictures and reading these blogs! I wanted to know what options others had chose and how these looked put together in the finale, and if they loved it or didn't. All of the information helped me decide on my options, which I will list in a separate post because I want to add pictures and ideas - I'm a nerd and can entertain myself for hours!

Anyways, we signed the sales agreement on May 20th. Our SR Jessica is super and I want to be her bff because she is funny and smart, but I know it will never work because we are in different places in our lives. I'm a cat person and have a husband and kids, she is single and likes dogs...just won't work, sad shame...ANYWAYS, we left the model home with a signed sales contract and high hopes about our future home. A home that would be built with our custom options, in a neighborhood that we love! Excited!!! I can hardly wait!


Our home site :)