Storage Day

We have begun purchasing items for our new home and have found a lot on Craig's List.  Living in the DC metro area, families are always on the move so you can find furniture in great shape for amazing deals.  However in our current townhouse we are all ready have outgrown our space so adding furniture has left us a bit in a heap that must be put into storage.

The U-Haul is here ready to be loaded up.

Here is just a small part of what needs moved.  Our new table for our morning room, wine cabinet, console table, side board cupboard & linger dresser.  We found some wonderful deals!

Ayden is ready to help move. 

(Andrea was at her soccer game and will join us after her game &

Britt has a full schedule today and will not be along for this next step in our adventure.)

A little help moving the heavy items :-)

Ayden & Daddy driving the van to storage.

I had planned on getting more pictures at storage of the full van, the unit empty and full and both Andrea and I however once we were there the focus was just getting everything out of the van and into storage, we were all tired and ready for a relaxing evening.  We have storage only a few miles from where our new home will be built which will make moving in a bit easier.  What a day, now time for rest!

Pre Construction Meeting

Today we met with our Sales Rep - Rob and our Project Manager Sean.  Can I just say that they are both so great to work with.  The really have made this entire process seem seamless up to this point.  At the pre construction meeting we go over every detail and verify all the information that we gave to our sales rep is listed in the information for our project manager.  We covered every room, what options we have selected and added anything that was listed on our change order to the plan to build our house.

I had a list of questions that I brought along however most of those were answered while we were walking through all the details.  It was a great meeting overall.  I happen to be on the website for our neighborhood quite a bit.  For those who know me they will totally get this because I am a planner.  I plan our family vacations down to each day and activity to ensure everyone gets to do most of what they love and it is done in the most efficient manner as possible.  So image me planning out our home being built from scratch.  I must  say both Rob and Sean take me in stride and don't skip a beat.  You can tell they have been working together for a very long time (I told them they were like an old married couple).  I even started a team Rob and team Sean running point system (somewhat like Twilight has).  It really helps keep things lighthearted and fun through what could otherwise be a very high stress trigger.  So far Rob is up by a few because he was the first one to show us that our dreams could become more than that!  Sean will catch up fast I am sure since he will actually make those dreams a reality.  I know in the end they will both hold a special place in our family for the rest of our lives.

So with that being said, last week there I was pulling up the floor plan to continue on my forever planning of furniture - what do we need, what do we have now and where will it go and so on.  Anyway, while on the floor plan I noticed something - It was modified.  Builders update the versions of homes in a similar manner as car manufactures.  And they added my DOUBLE OVER that I wanted from the first day I stepped into a Verona kitchen.  My wonderful SR Rob wrote up a change order for me to see if I can get it approved even though our kitchen is technically a different version.  Keeping my fingers crossed that it will work out in the end!

We are scheduled to break ground on May 8th.  Our settlement date on the final review of plans with Sean shows as August 20, that was the only disappointing news since our original date was July 25 however that will give us another month to pack and stock up on items that I want to have on hand going into our new home.

Finalize Selections, Set Pre Construction Meeting

Today was a fun day.  We met with our Sales Representative and finalized all of our options for our home.  This should be our last set of modifications since our pre construction meeting is scheduled for Friday April 26 at 1:00 PM.  Our settlement date has been pushed to August 15, sad but we will manage through it.

What are your final selections they ask.....

• Verona with elevation C; porch and partial stone front
• Garage Door with opener & remotes
• Walk out basement (unfinished) exit w/ sliding glass door 
• we found out from the zoning that we have a walk out, which saves us $ woohoo!
• Morning Room addition
• French style patio doors
• Side windows added
• Gourmet Kitchen with peninsula & Island
• Rushmore Maple Glazed Butterscotch Timberlake Cabinets
• Santa Cecilia Granite 
• We were able to modify this from tan brown, so happy about this!
• Sink option 70/30 split
• Upgraded stainless steel appliances
• GAS RANGE - SO EXCITED ABOUT THIS ONE!!
• Under cabinet lighting
• Recessed lighting 
• Rough in for pendent lighting above island
• Hard Wood Flooring - Level 2 - 5" Rural Living distressed hardwood floors in Burnt Cinnamon
• Morning Room, Kitchen, mudroom, foyer, dining room & powder room
• Bronze hardware throughout entire house, including all lights, door handles & hinges
• Family Room
• Stone Fireplace in same stone as front of house
• Recessed lighting to accent fireplace
• Carpet & padding upgrade Collinsville Barn Owl
• Upgrade stairs to oak hardwood - stained cherry
• Added Bonus Room with closet 
• doubles as 5th bedroom, will be used as a game room
• Master Bath upgrade to soaking tub & stand alone shower with seat
• Owners bath level C
• Wisteria Tortoise Marble accent tile along shower & a bath wall
• Truffle Field tile in shower, around bath. socking tub and on the floor
• Double sink set on espresso vanity
• Main Bath upgrade to double sinks
• upgrade level B
• Almond tile with Ivy accent
• Tile flooring Mushroom
• Laundry Room
• Added Laundry Tub
• 4 bedrooms - standard, no changes
• Living room - standard, no changes
• Study - Added side window

YES RYAN HOME'S THAT IS MY FINAL ANSWER!!

Flooring, tile and more, the fun part :)

Today was the day I have been so excited for since we began this amazing adventure.  We selected our flooring and bath options today.  It was a wonderful experience and our rep Lori made things go smoothly and really helped us feel great about our choices.  She did not pressure us however when we were trying to decide what was more worth the upgrades, she was very knowledgeable which helped us in deciding which route to take.

First choice was hard wood for our kitchen, mud room, morning room, foyer.  Hard wood is an area that we learned does not increase the value of your home as much as other upgrades however it is more about preference.  We had a level 1 hardwood upgrade included in our amazing birthday month deal that was running when we bought.  Initially we were planning on leaving the level 1 as is and upgrading carpet in our entire house that changed once we saw the difference between our level 1 and the numerous level 2 options. We loved the wider plank and the matte finish of the level 2 option so we decided to upgrade.

The one on the right was included and the one on the left was our upgrade choice.  That is our cabinet and granite option with the floors.

Next decided on the family room which is directly connected to the kitchen.  I knew I wanted to upgrade this carpet since it is where we will be spending most of our time.  We upgraded to a level B carpet with upgraded padding only in the family room.  With kids and pets I knew going in I wanted a dark carpet.  We decided in the remaining rooms to go with the standard carpet and padding and in doing this chose to upgrade to hardwood in the dining room and powder room as well.

Here is our family room carpet choice.  It is called Barn Owl.

The carpet for the formal living room, study & upstairs will be the same.  The color is Cobble Hill (upper left)

You can also see the color we selected for our stair case and railing - Cherry

Next was the master bath which we upgraded to a level C.  We liked 3 different accent tiles, it was hard to decide however Phill made the final choice.  We went with Wisteria/Tortoise marble random with Truffle Field tile on walls and floor.  Our cabinets are a dark Espresso Scottsdale Maple.

We finished up with the main bathroom, which we upgraded to a level B which gave them an accent vine tile and tile flooring.  Their cabinets are a Fairfield Maple with a Mushroom tile on the floor and an almond tile in the shower.

The laundry room we left with a vinyl flooring with dark brown hues.  Below is a picture of our overall choices with the laundry room on the right hand side.  We are happy with our choices and are excited to meet with our sales rep Rob on Sunday to finalize all of our options and schedule our meeting with the Project Manager :)

Guardian Meeting, wiring is planned out

The meeting with guardian went well.  Phill was in charge of most of that planning since that is his area of expertise.  He decided on the router for our internet to be located in the study and direct lines to be in several other rooms, as well as cable lines and satellite connectors outside for ease of the dish being connected.  We are having the back speakers for our surround sound hard wired and we will mount our own speakers after we are moved in.  2 bonus items we opted into were the security system, with heat, smoke & CO2 detectors with direct link to the security line and the 2 room stereo system installed in both the morning room (vaulted ceilings will allow for great acoustics) and the second room for the music will be the bonus room upstairs.  All and all the appointment went well and we are happy with our selections.