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.

Slow progress

Well it's been a few weeks since I've updated and well thats because of the slow progress. The weather here has been extremely cold and we are only 2 weeks out of a monster snow storm that shut down the whole city. The only thing to be done since the last post was yhe pouring of the foundation.

Today is when we did our drive past and it was so cold I only got these pictures. Which is fine considering nothing much has changed

While here I wasn't terribly that everything was looking good. As I have said before that this looks so much smaller than the actual completed house. In fact I was so unconvinced we had to walk through the model again. The SR, Jim, tried his best to convince me it will never look the same size until we move in and begin to decorate. He even went as far as to tell me it may begin to look even smaller once they begin framing and drywalling. 

At this point I am comfortable enough to say I believe we are on schedule, especially since another builder began after us and the owners have already moved in. You could take this a thousand ways, I am choosing to believe they are taking their time to provide us a great quality home. It also couldn't hurt if they are a little late on delivery if it gives us extra time to save more money. 

With that said, someone mentioned to me that we should have written into our contract a rent back clause if they failed to deliver within the time frame. I had never thought of that since we are building in the winter and weather can cause delays. Has anyone heard of or done this before ?

 

 

Foundation Update

Not much to report in the last 2 weeks other than what I assume to be plumbing in our hole. I can't say this enough but finally being able to walk around the hole it still doesn't look big enough. All I keep thing is where is the rest of the house. I also have some concern about the window placement because we have intentions of putting in a deck and judging from where they are marked and the basement door is, looks like the deck will block the 2 small windows.

Here's a look at the pics we took yesterday.

what I assume to be plumbing

 As you can see in the picture below, that door opening in the middle is our single welled exit under the sun room area. And those 2 blue things on the right side are the windows. This means that the door from the actual sun room will opposite the basement door and therefore the deck would block the windows.

looking from family room fireplace

Back of the house to property line

standing right at edge of sunroom

Edge of sun room looking at basement window

Middle of driveway facing house

It's hard to believe that this little hole is supposed to be almost 4,000 sq.ft. Hopefully my next post will be the beginning of framework.

In the mean time take a look at the furniture we put on price hold with Ashley Furniture. Let me apologize for the poor quality picture here. Just a little description of the master furniture. It is black croc embossed with mirror and rhinestone accents.

 

If you remember from the previous post I chose a similar set from Wayfair.com as you can see below. I am still on the fence about the bed itself. I don't know what or why I am drawn to the white upholstery when the rational part of me only sees the pain in cleaning it of the oils that no doubt will get on it from our hair. Yet all I see when looking at the bed above is how dark everything will be, even with the Latte walls and grey carpet. We will also add a bench to separate the sitting area from the sleeping area.As for the sitting Area, we are going for light beige and neutral colors. 

 Look at how huge this sectional is for the basement. There are 4 recliners and a wedge, it's perfect for entertaining.

Basement rec room

Now here is where there is to be some tough decision making. My daughter really likes the white furniture as you will recall from a previous post. However we came across another set that is a little more mature and will carry her well into the teen years without seeming too "princessey" but could it be too mature for her current 6 years.

The mature option and can add a trundle for sleepovers

just like the master with silver embossed croc and rhinestones

We Have Footers

Not the best pictures but we now have something in our hole, lol.And just like everyone else at this stage, I can't believe that it is big enough. We plan to go back when there is more light out but just happened past this weekend while out to eat. We really didn't expect to have anything because it had rained of and on all week and there was the holiday.

Preconstruction Meeting and Breaking Ground

So we just returned from our cruise vacation and were happy to see that while we were away Haverford broke ground. Now a huge shout out to Owen over at Building Our NVHomes Andrew Carnegie. While we were out Owen was nice enough to send us pictures while out walking his dog. I can't wait for us to be neighbors and walk our dogs together, well when we get a dogs. :)

So let's just jump into the preconstruction meeting. We finally met our project manager Clayton who was just amazingly understanding and nice. Clayton himself is very straightforward and upfront. I informed him that I can be a bit OCD on certain things and that I mean no harm and he said to feel free to let him know any of my concerns but also to be sure and give him time to address them. We covered lighting, ceiling fans, flooring and the possible grading of our property. We also received our lot plan. I wasn't sure of any of the questions I may need to ask so if you have any suggestions please feel free to comment below.

Now for the pictures


from across street

standing at edge of drive way

view of future sunroom and deck

We've been told that the footers should be in this week if the rain stops and we don't get the storms that are being predicted. I'm so excited, it finally seems a little real and the closer we get the realer it will become.

Thanks for stopping by, the next update will be when we have footers.

Finally!!!!

Welcome back, I'm excited to say that after just over 2 weeks from throwing the towel in on anything house related, we finally got an approval. And I'm super excited that we got approved with room to spare so we went back and added the tray ceiling and princess bath.

Initially, we thought we would only be able to add one or the other. It really came down to the princess bath, master spa bath or tray ceiling. We had decided to only add the princess bath for resale purposes because the master bath is already beautiful without the upgrades. I'm just so excited because my daughter is 6 now and we plan to be there for at least 10 years so her having her own bath was a big deal for me because coming from a large family that had to share, I just knew she would owe me one down the line, lol.

This weekend we were asked to come in and sign some more paperwork. Apparently the original design center selections sheet had duplicate choices so they just cleaned it up to remove them. We wouldn't have been charged extra but our SR loves everything to me neat and clean.

We have also been discussing whether we wanted to add 2 pre-wires in the ceiling on either side of where we want to put the bed but I'm convinced that I can do it myself after and tap into the ceiling fan wiring for power. I also looked at not doing that and putting up plug in swing lights with wireless remotes.

Other than that nothing major has happened, haven't even met our PM yet but I asked the SR to give him a warning. I am not Meryl Streep in Devil Wears Prada but I certainly do know what I want and hold people to their word. Heck the SR himself was trying to talk the VP into bringing me on as his assistant because I'm polite but stern and have a discerning eye for detail.

Next up......breaking ground.
Thanks for stopping by.

Low voltage update

And this is why I won't allow myself to get excited about this process. So a little update on the loan app, it's still in underwriting. It's been weeks and now the issue is that we paid for a vacation club program, that is not a timeshare. It was a one time purchase that is paid off in installments and we get points to use for vacation days. All of the paperwork they requested says it is not a timeshare but they are requesting more information. I know this is pretty much the hard part but it really is sucking the fun out of this and has me worried that things wont happen fast enough to break ground before Christmas and winter hits. If that doesn't happen we wont be in by May which will cause us to have to enter into a month-to-month lease at almost $1400.

Now onto our low voltage appointment. We met at the model home on Wednesday with Chesapeake System Services. CSS provides all cable, phone/internet, home audio and security things for the home. I have posted the documents below, sorry if they are too small. the best I could do.

We chose the 2 Room home Audio, Surround Sound pre-wire and added a few extra cable locations. We are also thinking about upgrading to a 4 room audio. The entire process was super easy because I am a super planer, if you can't tell already. I created 2 separate floor plans to decide my furniture layout and the layout for the electrical because I can't wait until I meet the electrician to figure it out. Yes I researched the code requirements for power outlets which helped in my furniture placement. This also allowed me to do locals for the ceiling fans/lights we are adding.

Now the fun part is to also wait for the VP to get back to us about the basement bar. We made adjustments for the entrance to be near a wall as opposed to it being near the stairs. At this point I just want to get an approval. I know understand how other bloggers have felt seeing those who have started the process after them moving further and faster.

The waiting game is really just giving me time to second guess my furniture choices and I don't think the guy could deal with another decor change. Currently floating in my head is just a very simple monochromatic neutral with no colors on the walls just in the tablescape and pillows. I have really fallen in love with the thought of medium wood tones and linen/burlap fabrics.

Ok, Ok, I am making a promise to myself and I expect you guys to hold me to it. I will not "shop", talk or look at anything house related until the loan comes out of underwriting.

Until next time.....thanks for stopping by.

Low Voltage and Under Writting

This past weekend was the grand opening for the new Model home in our community. We arrived a little later than I wanted but was happy to see the amount of traffic that came through. Plus we finally saw it fully furnished, we visited last week while the designer was finishing up. (Ha, left with a great recommendation from the SR to the designer to be her assistant. Apparently her office is quite a distance from the communities Haverford is opening and many buyers want to meet and use her services but she can’t accommodate them.) 

Anyway we were finally contacted by the low voltage company, Chesapeake System Services, to set up our appointment. Let’s just say I was really shocked with what they shared. However they were very communicative and answered all questions.  Our community only includes 2 Single Cat 5e Phone Locations & 3 Single RG6 Coax Locations and we will not be able to sub a phone line for a cable line (keep in mind I don’t understand any of this and simply asked because I had read about it on other blogs). In the original email we were told that we would have to put down 100% deposit on any additions we made. This is where the shock came in because up until now I was under the impression that all new builds had the ability to add any upgrades into the purchase price, so when confirming our appointment time for next month we asked about it. The response was that the original offerings set forth by Haverford only allowed what was included but that we could finance in up to $2500 into our mortgage. So for right now I think we have decided to only add the home audio until we sit for the meeting. As for the phone and cable I am comfortable with what’s offered as we can put cable in the master bedroom, rec. room and family room with phones in the rec. room and master. We are looking at getting those cordless phone packages that only require 1 phone plugged in but the other phones just require power. We are still trying to figure out the wiring and things for the theater room outside of the surround sound.

This is what I have in mind for the phones. The main base would be in the Master and the other phones will be in each bedroom and additional headsets for the Kitchen and Basement. The Office will have it's own phone line and phone as well.

Panasonic KXTGE275S

Now for the T.V's and cable. We plan to get Cable in the Family Room, Master and Basement, then have the cable run and split off to the Kid and Guest rooms.


Finally because it's been over a week since the last update our application has gone to underwriting and surprisingly they only has 1 or 2 questions which just required submission of documents that took all of 5 minutes to gather. We are looking forward to hearing from the underwriter and getting the final number. Plus now that we don't have to worry about the low voltage stuff with the purchase the guy wants to go ahead and add the spa bath or tray ceiling.

Lastly back to the grand opening. They served sparkling juices, black caviar, smoked salmon and vairious chocolates and fruits.We were able to provide some incite to our SR regarding a couple we overheard discussing serious interest in the home. Apparently they had just signed  a new lease at the beginning of the month but current delivery times are April/May. We even met a few of the Neighbors that have Ryan homes surrounding our lot. As a cute little sign of appreciation we received a Jar of caviar and requests to come by and speak to potential buyers and after we close to provide a testimonial for their website. And yes they are very much following my blog, but like me and sit silently in the corner observing everything. Hey!!!!

I'll update everything once we come out of underwriting, hopefully sometime this week. Thanks for stopping by.

slow rolling....

Once more nothing really exciting to report. We submitted the loan app last week and even had to submit more paperwork due to some overtime and health and welfare payouts. Seems like the bulk of questioning came from the fact that earlier this year there was a switch from hourly to salary and once you become salaried you no longer get the allowance for health care. Also the overtime is pretty much a guarantee but they were having a hard time with it, guess they don't want to rely on it as income.

In other news, just browsing the builder site we noticed that the homes have gone up another $5K. This is good for us because it's almost like gaining equity before we even move in. The model for the community is getting in the furniture and final prep for the grand opening in a few weeks. We do plan on going to talk to potential buyers about our experience so far and meet some of the owners from the testimonials on their site. Our goal is a bit self serving in that we are hoping to sway those that are on the fence into purchasing because it will add to the "Equity" on our home.

Now for the fun stuff. As per usual for me I love shopping and that really where my excitement for the entire process lies until we get the closing date and keys in our hands.  We went into Bob's Discount Furniture, you know the commercial with the funny little cartoon and the woman doing her version of Vanna White? lol Up until this past weekend I had been online window shopping and you know how that could be, I fell in love with a bedroom set and when I saw it in person...lets just say they should have went back to the drawing board. Plus I finally settled on a color Scheme, I have chosen colors by Sherwin Williams. Here's my inspiration courtesy of Pintrest

 

So this is how the layout will be....

Sun Room...We wanted it to be bright but not overwhelming yet coordinate with all the other rooms since we have more of an open plan.

Coral Reef

Dining Room...I love the idea of a dark formal dining room. It will have chair rail molding which will be white. I also plan to put a large mirror on the longest wall to bring in more light since the other wall has windows.

Dark Night

 All Other Walls...I don't want all the walls to be white so this color works perfect and coordinates. All the trim will be white.

Kilim Beige

Family Room...This room will be directly across from the kitchen and next to both the dining room and sun room. I plan to have Navy sofas as well.

Requisite Gray

Master Bedroom....I love that this is warm but not so dark since we will have a black and mirror bedroom set and the headboard is tufted ivory fabric.

Latte

Wow we really got off track here. We were supposed to be talking about the furniture. Guess I have to make another post just for the furniture, so tell me what you think.

Thanks for stopping by.