Hardwoods, Carpet, & Mistakes

I already broke my challenge of not visiting until the final walk-through. I only lasted two days! My mom really wanted to see the house because she hasn't been there since only the first floor was framed. Who am I to deny her a visit? :) Part of me wishes I wouldn't have gone. There were a few mistakes that I noticed that just pissed me off a little bit. I'm sure they will be fixed but I'm still annoyed. It's a Saturday so I can't call anyone about it. Also, our PM is on vacation all next week. Great timing. All of the gashes and nicks in the walls are also starting to get to me. I know these will be taken care of but they are caused by people not being careful in the first place.

I'll start with the positives. The hardwoods were installed yesterday. From what I can see, which isn't much, they look beautiful! The floor in the powder room wasn't covered up so I got to see a big section of it in there. Ever since the selection stage of this process, I've been worried about how our hardwoods would look with our cabinets. Well, the verdict is in and I'm so happy that I love the combination! That has been my number one stress point since the beginning. Seriously. I think about it almost every day.  Also, the carpet installers were there doing their thing.

Now the negatives. We upgraded the master bath and this upgrade was supposed to include a swinging shower door instead of a sliding one. Well guess what was installed? A freaking sliding door. I hate any type of sliding door so much! We were wavering on whether or not to get the 4' extension in our family room. Our SR told us that if we didn't get the extension, we would have a sliding glass door in our morning room. If we did get the extension, it would be a single 15-light door. That's probably what pushed me into getting the extension. Sure, having 4' more in the basement and family room is nice, but I really did not want that damn sliding door! My hatred runs that deep! No offense to anyone who has one. I'm just not personally a fan. But I digress. This is one mistake that better get fixed. How can they even tear out the door they put in without causing damage? Now I get to stress about this. Here's a picture:

This thing has got to go.

Another negative. We put in a change order a while back to "delete" the shelf in the laundry room. We plan on installing cabinets after closing and we didn't want to deal with having to tear out the shelf, especially since they use drywall anchors to secure it. Guess what got installed? You guessed it! The laundry shelf! Part of my knew this would happen. Our SR even warned that it might. It will get taken care of, but I'm still annoyed. We also requested to not have our toilet paper holders installed. I don't like the ones that come with the house. I want the kind that you can just slide the roll on or off without having to pull the middle part off. This type only has one anchor screwed in the wall where the RH ones have two. We didn't want to have to patch the walls in all four of our bathrooms. Our PM said this would not be a problem. Well, guess what got installed? They only put them in two of the bathrooms so far but I'm sure the other two will get installed before someone catches the mistake. The one in the master bathroom was installed out of reach, which is totally ridiculous. I hope they don't install the one in the basement on the side of the vanity. Then I could never change it and I will be so freakin' pissed!

Laundry shelf that isn't supposed to be there.
Also, I'm not very happy with the lighting in here. This room is dark.

This is in the master "water closet."It looks even farther away in person. I could never reach that.
It wasn't even supposed to be installed in the first place!

Hall bath. Also not supposed to be here. They also jacked up the wall. Was it their first time installing one of these?

This is the kind of TP holder I want.

Van with our carpet and padding in it. I'm glad I saw this because I've read blogs where people didn't get the padding they paid for. It's hard to verify once installed!

Love the hardwoods! The color is Saddle. This is the 1st floor powder room. Only part not covered up.

Crown molding is still missing in the study. This light fixture is just ok but I don't think it's fancy enough to be installed in a tray ceiling. It will be getting replaced.

Vented Microwave was installed! It's HUGE!

A peek of the floors up against the cabinets. I hope that's not paint on the floor!

Yes, my cooktop will sit just below the microwave. Not against code in Ohio!

Double wall ovens on the right, cooktop and dishwasher on the left!

The door leading from the garage to the house is jacked up. It won't close all the way and my husband had to yank hard to get it to open. The wood is also split. 

Food pantry. Looks bigger with the shelves installed.

Chandelier in the foyer!

Linen closet in the upstairs hallway

Carpet about to get installed in the formal dining room.
I really wish the carpet installers didn't wear shoes. Seriously.....

Love the french doors to the study!

This is also one of my annoyances. The light to our basement stairs is installed on the WALL not the ceiling! This wasn't a mistake either. That's where it's supposed to be. It looks ridiculous! It doesn't help that the fixture is fugly. Couldn't they have at least installed a wall sconce?

Air conditioner. 

My husband set up our utilities and trash service two days ago. They are all scheduled for the week we move in. They already delivered our trashcan. That was fast! Trash day isn't even until Monday!

I didn't even notice until looking at this picture that they installed the rest of our outdoor lights! I'll have to remember to a get close-up next time.

Driveway, Sidewalks, Mailbox, Electrical, & Guardian Installs

I made an unplanned stop at the house today. I just had to see what was going on! I had to park pretty far away because there were so many work vehicles there. Conveniently, I also ran into my PM and he walked around with me! I got to ask tons of questions! Much easier than trying to remember them all and sending him a text. There were so many people working inside and outside our house that I couldn't keep count. Even a guy from Guardian was there installing their stuff. I wish I could have seen the in-ceiling speakers but he was just about to start those when I was leaving. The house was just too hot for me to stick around! It was 87 degrees in there!

Starting with the outside: Our driveway and sidewalks were poured yesterday! I walked right past the mailbox without even noticing it! The PM had to point that out to me! In my last post, I mentioned that our PM placed a pipe under our driveway so that we can run our invisible fence through it. I have a picture of that below. We even bought some tool thingy that we will attach the wire to and then turn a reel to fish it through the pipe. And by "we" I mean my hubby. I asked my PM when our sod would be put in. I told him that we asked our last PM if we could wait a little bit after closing to have it installed. This would make it easier for us to bury our invisible fence and we wouldn't have to worry about watering it while dealing with the stress of moving. Our original PM said no. Our new PM said yes! I hope my old PM isn't reading this :) The two houses across the street close about a week and a half to two weeks after us and I asked him if it would be easier for him if we just got our sod when they got theirs. He said it would be helpful so that's the plan! We will have to walk our dog a little ways away from the house to an open field for a week or two but at least we won't have to worry about the yard. We are closing on a Monday but we aren't moving until the weekend. It would have been a pain to make the hour round-trip drive out every day to just water the lawn. Also, RH told us our lot is half an acre. My husband did the math and it turns out it is a little larger. It's more like 2/3 of an acre.

The guys on the ladders were painting the trim.

Close-up of the drivway

This is the pipe we will run our invisible fence through under the driveway!
(Left side of driveway)

Pipe sticking out on the right side. I should have measured how far out it was....

Sidewalk leading to front door

This is where our lampost will be.

I LOVE the mailbox! 

Light outside the morning room door.

As for the inside: There were so many people working inside and outside our house that I couldn't keep count. Even a guy from Guardian was there installing their stuff. I wish I could have seen the in-ceiling speakers but he was just about to start those when I was leaving. The house was just too hot for me to stick around! They were installing light fixtures, outlets, switches, plumbing fixtures, toilets, and probably other stuff I couldn't keep track of!

I also made a request to my PM about our kitchen cabinets. The cabinet above the fridge is pushed back and doesn't sit flush with the cabinets to the left. I know this is usually pretty common but I will never be able to reach that, especially since our fridge will stick out even farther. I asked him if it could be pulled forward to be flush. Seems like a simple request. He said he would have to get back with me about it. Here is a picture of what I'm talking about:

The fridge goes on the right and the double ovens on the left.

Master vanity

Love shape of this bathtub fixture!

Toilet in the master water closet. I was worried we would get the off-white toilets that I have seen on some other blogs. I really wanted my toilets to match the white of the sinks, shower, and bathtub. So glad they do!

The big hole is for a ceiling speaker. The white circle is our wireless router. Next to that is a smoke detector.  Small hole will me a carbon monoxide detector. We got our smoke and carbon monoxide detectors wired through our security alarm.

Hall bathroom

Hall toilet

I really wanted brushed nickel but RH over charges for that upgrade. I had planned on switching them out myself later but I kind of like these. The shape just makes it look so much better than I expected.

They can just leave the switches like that.... I kinda like it. Ha ha!

We got a wireless router installed in our ceiling from Guardian. 

This is the siren for our security alarm.

So glad we get a thermostat in the master bedroom!

Chandelier in the formal dining room. I was hoping I could see the huge version of this that goes in the foyer but they hadn't installed it yet!

Ceiling speakers!

Thermostat on the first floor.

Motion detector from Guardian.

I clearly don't take very good pictures. I make everything look crooked!
I wasn't so sure about the eyeball lights when we were making our selections but I'm glad we got them! I like them!

Close-up of my eyeballs!

So glad RH installs energy savers!

This is the light in the laundry room. That will definitely need replaced. It's hideous!

Laundry room hook-ups

Accidentally free laundry sink rough-in!

Handles on the outside of the morning room door are ORB to match the outdoor light fixtures.

Handles on the inside of the morning room door are brushed nickel to match the indoor light fixtures.
It's weird to me that these are different. 

Door bell chime thing on the inside

Guardian security alarm pad. 

Recessed lights in the kitchen! There is an extra one on the left because it follows the curve of the gourmet island.
The hole left over is where one of our in-ceiling speakers will be.

Our hardwoods should be installed tomorrow, carpet on Saturday, initial cleaning is on Sunday, and granite gets installed on Monday. Our PM is on vacation all next week. I'm going to try to challenge myself not visit again until the final walk-through. That's in 11 days. Can I make it?