Closed and all moved in

Welp, it has been a hectic few weeks. My last post was 2 weeks ago, pre-closing. There had been so much going on in that 2 weeks, I couldn't even bring myself to blog about. But now that it is all behind us I can update you on all the details.

Lets start with Friday, May 13th. Yep it really lived up to the hype of the day from hell. My whole day was beautiful until about 2 pm. I got a call from our SR informing me that the home didn't have power 2 weeks before we were set to close. Apparently there was a miscommunication with the PM and his working which lead to the presumption that the home had power. (this is where I question why the PM didn't know that already) So without an electrical meter, they could not install the carpet. Of course they couldn't install the meter because of all the rain.

However, what boiled my blood was the conversation I had with the SR later that day when I got home. Apparently they knew that there was an issue with the electrical meter at least a week before they called me but didn't inform me hoping that they could get it taken care of. My issue at hand was the fact that I had been at the model home every week since February and communicated to the SR, because the PM wasn't very responsive except through the SR; and very clear that we had a very tight time line. I was clear in the fact that we would already be on a month to month lease with our apartment at the time of closing so we would essentially showing up to close in a moving van. Had I been informed of the issue when it was first discovered I could have made arrangements with the leasing office. As it stood we would have had to move into temp housing and pay for storage, to which when I asked for assistance was told they never have done it and wouldn't now.

I spent the entire following week anxious only to be told that now that the meter was installed that because of the rain they could not do the final grading nor install sod. Boy I just couldn't catch a break. According to PG County code, you can not pass inspection and close without sod, so at this point grass is pushing back settlement. But man oh man is my GOD great. The clouds dried up and gave way to the sun long enough to grand and get sod down. And when I say it was last minute, we literally did final walk through on Friday the 27th morning. The workers were still there fixing cosmetic issues and we proceed to closing as the cleaners were cleaning. So we only got pushed back 1 day but it could have been worse because Thursday night was when we received the final inspection and Monday was the Holiday. We only had to reschedule the painters, however Comcast came out and informed us that the cables were never ran from the box to the house, despite the order having been put in 2 weeks prior. So we haven't had cable or internet since the 29th and wont have it until possibly next week.

So now that the hard stuff is over lets get into the actual move. Everything went perfect, except the fact that I underestimated the size of the truck we needed. All in 1 movers were great, they showed up on time, worked hard and didn't give me too much of a hard time about the fact that they were allergic to cats. Yes they were allergic and the scheduler forgot to mention it, we even offered allergy med but the politely declined as a hazard of the job and never made an excuse, simply asked for wet rags to wipe their face and cold water. Ok so they did give a hard time on the way I packed my boxes, playfully of course, but I coupon and needed that stockpile to come with us.

Ok so this post is getting long so I will come back with how the unpacking and furniture deliveries went. Thanks for stopping by.

We're almost done!!!!

Well we are officially 2 weeks from closing!!!

I have scheduled Movers, Painters and furniture delivery. The best part is we have a long week end to have it all done. Our closing date is May 26th, Memorial Day weekend. My plan is to have the painters come in on the 27th so they would be finished in time for the movers on the 29th and furniture delivery on the 31st. I know it is a tight time line but I have faith that it can be done.

Now for the latest visit to the house last weekend. We still don't have a drive-way or landscaping, however our hardwoods have been installed but not the carpeting and the stair rails need to be stained. A while ago I updated that the appliance package that was to be installed was incorrect but we were going to leave it be. This time the appliances have been installed and they are the correct items I selected. Unfortunately I don't have pic because in all the excitement I forgot to take them.

What was I excited about you ask? We met more neighbors. That's right our neighbors on lot C5 happened to be in the model when we arrived to measure our windows. They informed us that they had been watching our build to pace out their timeline so I invited them over to tour our site. I was even able to share my binder of information with them. (sn: I have to figure out how to share it with you guy. It basically holds all of our documents, estimates, project ideas, floor plans and spreadsheets that cover room price and store breakdown.) We even toured their home, they have the same layout minus the finished basement sunroom and spare rooms.

We also met a couple who toured our home to see it without the bells and whistles. Congrats to Kenyu and her wife who signed on the line for Lot F6. Welcome to the neighborhood.

Welp, since I don't have pictures of the house I may as well share some inspiration for my house. Here goes:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 I love the Navy walls, the bamboo shades and white curtains. This will be my dining room except we have white walls below the chair rail. I will also carry the white curtains through my entire house because they are nice, simple and fresh. Eventually I may change them but I plan to use a lightweight muslin since they won't be completely functional with the shades.

 For the family room I wanted to do this exact thing of a super slim sofa table behind the sofa because as you see below I plan to have 2 sofas across from each other. Unfortunately I don't have the same amount of space as below to float the sofas in the middle of the room.

As I said above this is what I want to do in the family room and I will replicate the navy sofas with the single side table. I want to use an oversized ottoman as the coffee table with a nice serving tray in the center. The sofa table will be used the same way as above, to hold lamps. There will be a side table next to the opposite sofa with a floor lamp on the other end.

Next up we have to figure out our home security and home theater things. I'll keep you posted and if you have suggestions, drop them below.

Another weekend another Trip

I actually started this post a week ago but decided to hold off on this because there seems to be a mistake in the home.

It has come to our attention after one of our weekend visits that a mistake had been made on our kitchen. As you can see from the original selections post, we had selected the double oven with the microwave over the cooktop. We had decided that we could install the hood I wanted ourselves.

Well during our visit we discovered that the cut out for the oven looked small. I texted our PM and he sent me a screen shot of the selection sheet and sure enough it looks like we chose the microwave/oven combo. I was also told that the selections have undergone a change and the option we chose was now something else.

Having said that I distinctly remember having had the conversation about the options and even mentioned several times to the PM to make sure the outlet above the cook top was centered because I would be changing out the microwave. He never once said to me that I was incorrect and that a hood would be installed per our package.

With that said as pissed as I was, I was talked of the ledge by my boyfriend who reasoned with me that some of the items, as small as they are, we given to us for free. He also reminded me that I have a electric roaster, a crock pot and you can cook in the microwave (even though it's not convection). Plus this was the package we were thinking about because of the hood. However I made it very clear that I was upset because what I have on the selections sheet is called a Deluxe Kitchen and the selections book simply says Gourmet.

Head over tot he selections tab to see the update.

Now for the here are some pics we took:

Deliveries

As promised in the last post we stopped by the house and found there were deliveries and work being done. A while ago we were informed that the trades didnt work on the weekend so we were surprised.

This is what we amsaw as we pulled up to the house. 

I know we arent supposed to enter the home when they are there but I haven't been here in almost a month. When I walked in they were very nice. I found that they were paintjng on the second floor so I couldn't go up or down because the cord was blocking the basement door. Being limited to the first floor all I could get was pics of the chair rail installed in the dining room and boxes upon boxes of cabinets. 

So here you go

And there were even more boxes filling our morning room.

As part of our normal routine during the visit we drove the neighborhood looking at the patio and deck options. We have been in a bit of a conflict because he'd like to have a deck and me, I prefer just a patio. On our drive i think we found a good compromise. 

As you can see, the deck wraps slightly around the morning room and leads to a patio of of the walkup basement. This is a good compromise but I still hate losing the twp small windows in the rec room area because its the only natural light for the area. 

I almost forgot, we locked in our interest rate. We haven't gotten an official closing date but we were told early to mid May. I need to get this packing in gear and finalize the movers. 

 

Making Progress

So I have been MIA for a few weeks. I just couldn't get my words together. I have tried to post many time but I just didn't like what I was reading, it almost seemed like gibberish to me. We had our pre-drywall meeting on March 22nd. I wasn't able to make it but he was nice enough to facetime me for my own comfort. As you can tell from some of my posts I can be a little OCD so not being able to be there was going to drive me crazy.

I sent DBF to the meeting with my binder, yes I said binder. I told you the way my mind it set up I wouldn't have it any other way. My binder is full of all the options we selected, the standard options included, our HOA docs, Q&A from 1st meeting with the PM and my decor ideas. I have even included the shopping list for my home decor. 

But lets get back to the meeting. Some of my questions from the 1st meeting couldn't be answered until this moment. What I mean by this the movement of outlets and changing the swing of a door. I also plan to discuss my cabinet knobs and getting the PMs thoughts on the wall panel for mounting the tv. The Mr. has his heart set on this 

I, on the other hand would prefer something a little more traditional. The above stand and panel are anchored to the wall. 

Any who when he arrived this was the first thing he saw

We have brick and siding. Its amazing that at one time I thought they were moving too slow and now I just want them to slow down a bit. But as Wendy says "I'm a woman and I'm allowed to change my mind" lol. The BF's job these last few days has been to run me a list of things that still need to be done as a way to make me feel better in addition to reminding me they only have one trades group working in the house at a time and they don't work on ours on the weekends. 

We plan to go over tomorrow to see how far things have come since the last we heard they would be starting drywall. I'll post pics tomorrow.

Thanks for stopping by.

P.S. stop over at the shopping tab, I've made a few changes.

Simply Amazed-we have a roof

Not even 3 posts ago I was thinking things weren't moving fast enough. Well we have a roof and windows. 

Yesterday we had our walk through with CSS to confirm out wiring placement for the surround sound, tvs, phones and theater room. We also moved a tv location in the basementsincr we can now see the placement of the structural beams.  We also changed the location of the wet bar a few weeks ago at the suggestion of the PM. 

No pics of the inside just yet because all we have at this point is plumbing and duct work. But here are pics from outside

Im just so super excited. I've even measures the windows so I can get started on making my window treatments to be put up moving in day so we dont have tonworry about temporary blinds. 
 

I'll certainly be doing a separate post about my window treatments. 

Thanks for stopping by.  

 

Just when I thought I would Explode

Well its been 2 weeks and they are already on to second floor framing. We were also contacted for our pre-wire walk through. That is where we re-confirm the locations for tv and surround sound.

The designer also finally got around to putting up window treatments and I was offered to come on as decorator if they couldnt get on the same page. Mind you this offer is purely based on conversations and sharing pictures of ideas I like. 

Things are looking great so far and my fears of the house being too small have completely vanished. I mean I know those fears were absolutely ridiculous because it was still just a hole in the ground and when looking down everything looks smaller. 

So here is what you've been waiting on, a little late and bad angles due to the sun.

And ofcourse no blog would be complete without a pic of the mess left on site. Not as bad as some I've seen but enough to question how hard is it to put stuff in the garbage.