We have a door!

I didn't say it was installed ;)

Just imagine it painted black! "I see a [white] door and I want to paint it black!"








Here are some more goodies:

I wonder what the smashed box is?

That's my garden tub!!

Remember in my last post how I mentioned a pipe that I was pretty sure was in the wrong place? I posted an update from my PM who said that everything was ok and that it was in the right place... Well I'm pretty sure he had if moved closer to the wall after all. It's hard to tell. What do you think? Was it moved? Here is a "before" picture and two "after" pictures.

BEFORE

AFTER

AFTER close-up

Framing should start next week! I don't know what they are doing tomorrow or Friday but the PM said framing should be next week. It's supposed to rain this weekend. I hope that it holds off! I don't want my goodies getting rained on and then sitting in mud!

One Problem Solved. Another Problem Discovered.

My husband drove out to our lot today and discovered that not only did they fill in the dirt around the foundation but they also covered up the names of the vandals. I don't know how they did it but I think it looks great! He didn't zoom in on the "After" picture because he didn't even know that this was the area of the problem. I was the one that found it the other day and I wasn't there with him today. Check it out!

Before

After:

Of course I only got to be excited about this for about a minute before he pointed out another problem. We agreed to let our PM put our sewer pipe in the front right corner of our basement. He said it would be very close to the wall and he would cover it up with a 45 degree wall and a small closet-sized door. We stressed to him that this area of our basement is for our pool table and that we were concerned about it taking up too much space. He said that it would be very small and not to worry about it. Check out the picture below:

We were expecting the pipe to be in the shaded area, closer to the wall. It looks much farther out than we agreed for it to be. Now I'm worried that this 45 degree wall will come out much farther and take up a big chunk of our basement. I have e-mailed our PM for clarity. I hope that he can either fix this or that we are looking at it wrong somehow.

Update: Crisis averted! 
I heard back from my PM. He e-mailed me at 7pm on Friday! How awesome is he? I wasn't expecting a response until Monday at the earliest! Now I don't have to stress all weekend. Here's what he said:
"Our plan for the size of your closet is the same. The sewer pipe gets cut down and capped off. I know it looks like it will be in the way now, but it will get cut down. The closet is more for the water meter than anything else."

My husband took this picture from the curb. It  makes our house look really far away from the road. Our property line goes back to the other side of those trees. I'm so glad my father is giving us a riding lawn mower! Best housewarming gift ever!

Vandalism Update

For those of you who thought I overreacted, we got a response back from our Sales Rep today. She said they have never seen anything like this before and they are going to fill out a police report. No joke. She also said that someone is going to "take care of it." I don't know what that means exactly but I guess we will find out. I seriously expected her to tell us that we were being crazy and not to worry about it since it would get covered up. I am pleasantly surprised! They must really want that perfect 10 on their survey! To be continued.....

One more thing, those signs with our lot number on them have a note at the bottom that says: "Only Authorized Personnel Permitted to Enter." Those nosey people who like to "visit" other people's homesites need to learn how to read! End rant.

If you have no idea what I am referring to, read my original post here: Vandalism

First Furniture Purchase!

As you may have read in my previous post about shopping for furniture - you can find it here - my husband and I have been looking at La-Z-Boy. You can pick whatever couch you like best and then choose from over 1100 fabrics to personalize it. You can even personalize the accent pillows. We decided on having two full-size couches facing each other with a coffee table in the middle. There will be a rug under the coffee table. We will have two accent chairs, one on each side of the fireplace. There will be no television in our family room. We wanted this room to still feel "open" and have plenty of seating for guests.

Here is a rough sketch of the furniture layout we chose:

There is no wall on the right side, it flows right into the kitchen.

Here is the couch we chose. It is called the Collins and it is sooo comfy and soft! The best part - it's made in America!

The color is called Brown Sugar

Here's an up-close shot of the fabric with the accent pillow

Here is what our accent chairs will look like, they match the pillows:

This chair is the Charlotte. It's a recliner! Can you believe it? If not, look down!

IT RECLINES! I am excited about this because I look forward to reclining and reading next to the fireplace. I'm so glad that this chair is a recliner but still has a smaller profile.

I also mentioned in my previous post that La-Z-Boy offers free in-home design. We are meeting with their interior decorator later this month. She is going to help us pick out a rug, coffee table, accent tables, decor, and paint colors! I am so glad they offer this service. I would be lost without it! I really want this room to have a complete look. We won't be painting for the first year but at least I will know what color goes best with our furniture choices! We also weren't planning on buying any furniture until after we close on the house. La-Z-Boy was having an awesome sale that we couldn't pass up. It also takes at least two months to get the couches delivered since we personalized them. We only had to make a down payment and won't have to pay the rest until we are ready for them to deliver.

Vandalism

I AM SO PISSED! Ok, so I need some perspective from my fellow bloggers. Let me know if I am being totally irrational. I drove by our lot today because I just so happen to be in the neighborhood. I didn't expect to see much action because they just poured our basement walls on Friday. It turns out they put the waterproof wrap around the foundation. No one was there so I decided to take a closer look and take some pictures. As I was walking around the  house, I saw this:

It says: "David's Arm" and there's an arm print

I don't know who the hell "David M" and "Emily C" are but I know they are totally disrespectful! This is MY house! What gives them the right to permanently inscribe their names on the the foundation of MY HOUSE?!?!? I understand that I won't be able to see this once they put the walls up but I'm still annoyed. I wasn't even that mad at first until I called my husband to tell him. He never gets mad about anything. This pissed him off. I think his anger fueled my rage and now I'm really pissed. My husband decided to e-mail our sales rep and tell her that he wants it filled in. Just knowing it's there gets under his skin. Are we being totally ridiculous? What if these assholes come back and write their names in our driveway or our sidewalk?!?

Not to take away from our progress... here are some pics of the foundation with the waterproof wrapping.

I like how the inside of the walls have the brick shape too

Close-up shot

PROGRESS!!!!

So we broke ground yesterday and they were supposed to pour our footers today. My husband and I drove out to the lot today so that I could get a picture of our hole. I couldn't get close enough yesterday because they were still digging when I stopped by. It turns out that they poured our footers yesterday and poured our basement walls today!!!!!! Does this mean they will start framing next week?!?! I AM SO EXCITED!!!

We also got to meet one of our neighbors. He was out doing yard work and walked over and asked if we were going to be his new neighbors. His name is Ryan and he is super nice! I didn't get to meet his wife. They also have a dog so maybe they can play sometime!

Here are some photos of our progress!

From in front of the garage, looking left. I think? Garage not pictured.

Standing on the ride side of the house.

Our shadows are waving hello! We are facing the morning room. Oh, and my car is in the background!

My Hubby

Yes, I met my neighbor while wearing a shirt that says: "Talk Nerdy to Me"

WE BROKE GROUND!!!

I drove by our lot today to check on the ground breaking! Since it is 35 minutes away from where we are currently living, I texted our PM to make sure we were on schedule. He responded in less than a minute! 10 points to the awesome PM! Building our dream home is super emotional for me. I didn't think that seeing some construction equipment digging a whole would affect me that much but I must admit, I totally got teary eyed driving towards it! Ok, fine. I definitely cried a little! I didn't take too many pictures because I couldn't get close enough. You will just have to look at pictures of my big dirt pile for now! They are pouring the footers today so I might go back tomorrow after-hours to get some close-up shots! Might? Who am I kidding?! I WILL be going back tomorrow.

I also took a picture of our neighbor's house. Those little flags around their property are markers for an invisible fence. I'm totally jealous of their 3-car garage!

Here's our other neighbor. They have a Dyanni Home. There were only a couple of those built before Ryan Homes took over the development. They are also the only ranch-style houses in the neighborhood. The garages you see past that house belong to another house that is at the dead-end of our street. Somehow it's not part of our development. I swear they have more garage space than house!

Update on Switches!

I just heard back from our SR about our switches. We will be able to control the front door and garage coach lights from inside the garage and from a switch by the front door!! All at no additional cost! I'm not going to push the issue of moving the switch for the inside garage light to be in the house instead of in the garage. Sometimes you just have to pick your battles! It wasn't that important anyway, just would have been a little more convenient!

Pre-Construction Meeting

We had our pre-construction meeting today. I learned a lot! We went over pretty much every inch of the house - inside and out. Our PM thought we would get bored but I loved every minute of it! We discussed all of the upgrades and selections we made. We discussed things that I have no clue about - such as water drainage from the house and easements. He told us where our air conditioner and our electric meter are located.

Our PM was telling us where our sump pump was going to be, and it was right in the middle of where the powder room goes in the basement. I don't know if he got confused about the fact that we were getting the powder room or about where it is located. Good thing we got that cleared up! He said they don't like to put the sump pump in the same place that it is in the blue prints because it's towards the center of the house, in the closet with the water heater and furnace. Something about running the pipes farther? I don't know. This is where we wanted it because it would be the most out of the way. He pretty much let us choose where it was going to go since his original space didn't work out. This was super important to my hubby since he is planning on finishing the media room later. We were worried that the sump pump would end up in the middle of our future media room. We are happy that it's also not going to be in the morning room extension part of the basement either. This space is going to be unfinished but it's nice to know that we have the option to finish it later without the sump pump being in the way. We will also have more room for storage in there. The only thing that will be in our morning room extension will be our electrical box. He also let us move the location of one of the doors to our unfinished area. Again, this is important for our future media room.

As I have read in many other blogs, I requested to have the switch to the garage coach lights be moved next to the front door. This way I can control all of my outside lights from one area. He said that could possibly be an option but that I should also leave a switch in the garage as well. That way if I'm going outside through the garage and I need to turn them on, I wouldn't have to walk to the front door. He made a really good point. There are two lights flanking our front door and a lampost. We might not even need to turn on our garage coach lights whenever we want our outside lights on. Our SR is getting a quote for us to see how much it would be to add this switch to the front door. If it's not too much, we will move forward with it. I will be leaving the switch for it in the garage as well.

I requested to have the switch for the light inside the garage to be located inside the house, instead of inside the garage. I didn't want to have to reach into a dark garage to flip the light on. This request got shot down. Our PM said that it was building code to have it in the garage. I guess I could have requested a second switch but it's really not that important.

Other great news: I asked for our PM to clarify our trim package. I wasn't completely sure what all it got us. I thought it was chair rail and crown molding in formal dining room, cased doorways, and crown molding in the foyer. Apparently it also includes crown molding in the study and crown molding in the upstairs hallway! That's so exciting! Especially with how much the trim package cost us....

Our PM is super nice and I feel like he will definitely keeps us in the loop throughout this process. He said we could call, e-mail, or text anytime and he will communicate with us through our preferred method. He even said he would send me pictures if I asked him to! We break ground on Thursday (instead of Wednesday) and our footers should be poured on Friday. Now I know when to make the long trip out to take pictures!

Now for the slightly bad news - Our SR has been telling us all along that our closing date will be July 20th. Even when our breaking ground date got pushed back, she told us that our "delivery date" would be the same. Our PM had a different story. Our new projected closing date is August 5th. That is 16 days later than we were told. We aren't in any kind of hurry but I must say it is a little disappointing that I will have to wait that much longer to move into my new home! He said this date is an estimate, it could be 10 days earlier or it could be 10 days later - lets hope for earlier or on time!

Finally Some Action!

 I drove out to our lot earlier today, secretly hoping that I would find a huge hole in the ground that they neglected to tell me about. Of course, this was not the case but I did find that they staked out our house!!! There was even gravel for the driveway. I don't know what the pile of rocks and dirt on the left side are, anyone else have a clue? (Third Picture down)

I had to stand across the street to fit them all in the picture, the Yorkshire is a very wide house.

Gravel for the temporary driveway!

I don't know what this pile of stuff is for on the left? It wasn't on our lot before.

I took this picture of our backyard standing where the back door will be. Still looks huge!

I did linger a little bit, taking a few (dozens) pictures. I was hoping  that maybe one of my neighbors would see me and come over and introduce themselves. Then I realized that normal people are at work in the middle of the day! Oh well, maybe I will bump into one of them on a weekend sometime. The two lots across the street from us have sold as well. Those two and ours were the last three on the street. There is only one lot left in the entire development. That means we won't be dealing with any major construction after we move in! Always a bonus!

Our pre-construction meeting is on Monday and they break ground on Wednesday! If I got this excited about a bunch of sticks in the ground, I can only imagine how excited I will be about a huge hole in the ground!

Furniture Shopping & A Suggestion

I have been to so many furniture stores in the past week and I have been having a hard time finding couches that I like for my great room. I found some couches with patterns that I like but then I didn't like the feel of the couch and vice versa. I went to La-Z-Boy last night and found out that you can pick any couch that you want and then you have 1100 fabrics to choose from for the couch and for the accent pillows! You can even purchase extra fabric to make your curtains match the accent pillows! They also have these really cute accent chairs that recline! Only they don't look like recliners because they are much smaller! Just when I thought I was already in heaven...the sales guy tells me that they have an in-home design consultant!! She comes out to your house -- or in our case she's just going to have to look at the floor plans since our house doesn't exist yet -- and she makes sure the couches you have selected are a good size for the room. She also helps you coordinate accent pieces, rugs, and decorations! It gets better, they are in partnership with Sherwin Williams so she even helps select paint colors that compliment your room and the furniture you pick out! Oh, and did I mention that this is all FREE!!

So if you are having a hard time choosing furniture, I HIGHLY recommend La-Z-Boy. They even have a 3-D room planner on their website. The sales rep also told me that you can purchase a protection plan on the furniture that protects you from stains associated with food and beverage spills and bodily fluids for 10 years. If you get a stain, they will have it professionally cleaned for you and if that doesn't work, they will replace it! This is perfect for those of you with children or for those of you who are worried about stains in general!

We made some preliminary choices last night but we went in to the store too close to closing time. We will be going back this weekend to finalize our selections and then I will post some pictures on here of course!

I have already fallen in love with a dining room table and chairs for our morning room. I found these at Ashley Furniture -- I LOVE LOVE LOVE Ashley. Most of our current furniture is from there.

The table comes with a leaf in it (not pictured). It can sit up to 8 people. Our morning room is 19'3'' long so I want a long table to go in there.

I love the design on the back of this chair. It's super comfy too! I wanted to get matching barstools for the island in the kitchen, but my husband wants something with a smaller profile. We'll see.

I don't think I would get the top piece of this. I might put a picture or a mirror above it instead. The hutch looks SO much better in person. This picture does not do it justice.

The table and hutch together

As for the formal dining room, my husband picked out a set that he really likes. I think it's a little too expensive but he had a good point, you only really get one set of formal dining room furniture in your life. I'm also not a huge fan of the two end chairs but I love the hutch. The table is 9.5' long but it has two leaves you can take out of it, which brings it down to about 6.5' I think. We aren't 100% set on this set but I thought I would share some pictures anyway!

I'm not a huge fan of the design on the back of this chair. We might get just the ones above.

This shows only one leaf, but there are two.