Footers!

 Stopped by the house tonight right before the rain storm and found footers!

I suspected they would be poured today and I was rewarded with a few good shots. Can't wait for them to dig it all out soon!

Pre-Construction... Technically Early Construction Meeting

We had our meeting with our PM Sandy this afternoon and it went really well. We drove by the lot afterwards and noticed that they put up the black sheet fence around our boundries even though the PM thought it was a little on the tight side (meaning our lot is actually a little deeper). There was also the addition of some tall white pipes near the street in the southern front corner of the lot.

The PM was totally on the ball and the only item not updated on the sheet was the utility tub we had removed before signing the contract. We had originally requested an estimate to put a tub in the basement and it was almost 1K. We said no way and removed it. The update never made it to Sandy and it was already ordered so we get a free tub which is awesome!

I also learned that we get a post-lamp in the front yard and a fully sodded lot. I was expecting seed in the back so sod is really awesome.

Here are the answers to my questions I brought with me:

Can we add crown molding to the kitchen cabinets? - We can order it from Lowe's later which is fine. It's actually made by Kraftmade.

Can we have the dryer vent cut higher into the wall? - She doesn't think we really need it since it will be parallel to the hole in the dryer.

Can we add a towel bar to the back wall of the owner's bathroom shower? - Yes, shouldn't be a problem

Can we have the shelves hung higher in owner's closet?

- Yes

Do our kitchen cabinets have a cushion close? -No

Do we have lighting on rear of house near the back door?

- Yes, a coach light and an outlet What kind of interior doors will be installed? (6 panel vs. 2 panel)

- She thinks 6 panel since we signed back in January but will double check the trim order ** She emailed us already - in under 2 hours... pretty impressive! It's up to us so we chose 2 panel. Where are the outdoor water bibs installed? Front/Side right corner and Back/Side left corner if looking at the reverse plans

Is the unfinished basement bathroom dry walled? - No but they do put a fan in the ceiling

What is the ceiling height in the basement?

- 8'

What kind of landscaping will be installed? - The whole lot will be sodded and they'll put in foundation shrubs and mulch. No trees... but that's OK How large is our propane tank that's buried in the back yard? - 500 gallons... but it only ever gets filled up to 85% max. Are we still allowed to have a microwave installed over the gas range? - Yes, we opted for the shorter cabinets which gives us an extra 6" over the top of the stove. Since we are both tall, I actually prefer this. We also learned that our projected settlement date is early August. Talk about speedy! We are two happy campers right now!

Gonna dig me a hole...gonna put a nerd in it....

Does anyone remember that episode of the Simpsons where the town's folk find an angel skeleton that turns out to be elaborate advertisement for the new mall? The song that Jimbo, Dolph and Kearney sing still pops in my head whenever I see large hole even though I am no longer 10.


Soon enough, the field trip is underway. Jimbo, Dolph and Kearney are pick-axing into the ground, wearing prisoner-style outfits.


[singing as if doing prison-like chores]
Jimbo: Gonna dig me a hole..
Dolph & Kearney: Gonna dig me a hole.
Jimbo: Gonna put a nerd in it..
Dolph & Kearney: Gonna put a nerd in it..

So, it was only natural that I sang that song in my head while admiring our fabulous new hole in lot 21.

We were quite surprised to see fresh dirt when we stopped by after work. Our preconstruction meeting is not until Friday and we wouldn't have even driven by if it wasn't for one of Dan's coworkers telling us that they staked the lot.


I'm a little bummed that I did not get a picture of the stakes but am super excited that they are moving so quickly!

It's Been a While!

It's been forever since I last posted. Luckily we are rolling right on schedule - we received our loan approval today and have our pre-construction meeting on Friday. I am hoping we break ground soon but am not in a hurry as long as we close shortly after September 1.

Dan and I are looking forward to meeting our PM Sandy and have a bunch of questions to ask her:

Can we add crown molding to the kitchen cabinets? We are willing to pay cash.

Can we have the dryer vent cut higher into the wall?

Can we change the tile in the owner's bathroom to white from biscuit?

Can we add a towel bar on the back wall of the owner's bathroom's shower?

Can we have the shelves hung higher in owner's closet?

Do our kitchen cabinets have cushion close?

Do we have lighting on rear of house near the back door?

What kind of interior doors will be installed? (6 panel vs. 2 panel)

Where are the outdoor water bibs installed?

Is the future basement bathroom dry walled?

What is the ceiling height in the basement?

How high are the showerheads hung?

How many outlets are in the laundry room?

What kind of landscaping will be installed? It's been awesome to watch so many of the bloggers I first started following closing! A sincere congratulations to you all even though I am insanely jealous. :)

Now Starts the Holding Pattern

All of the fresh excitement for the process is over for us for a little while. Since we are doing a delayed delivery for sometime in August, we won't have a lot of news to report until we break ground sometime around May.

Here are some thing we are excited about:
1. No neighbors above us and no pets to contaminate the living space! Dan has wicked allergies and the dander from our neighbors going up and down the stairs collects around our door. >:(
2. Space to start a family. The best part about the Venice in our opinion is the upstairs bedrooms. They are good sized rooms and it will be great to have a guest room and 2 kids rooms without anyone being stuck with the "little room" that a lot of 4 bedroom houses have.
3. The ability to change things to our liking which you can't do in an apartment. It will be nice to be able to upgrade things to look and function a certain way. Cannot wait for my deep kitchen sinks and loopy faucet.
4. Color! I can't wait to paint rooms!
5. Being able to have a guest bedroom. No more hotel rooms for my parents when they visit or other out of town guests.
6. My future standalone kitchen island. See below.
7. A garage! We live in a pretty pricey apartment complex but it's close to a high school and some low rent areas and there has been lots of problems with "newer" looking cars. My car has been keyed and my husbands has be run into from the side. Also - reprieve from the frosts! Score!
8. New appliances! Although our apartment is pricey - the appliances are ancient! It didn't really make me super annoyed until we started pricing out houses - I feel totally taken now.
9. Basement aka Fun Room! We are going to use the finished basement as Dan's office space and a TV area/future playroom for the kiddos. We will still need to finish the bathroom down there though.
10. Grilling - we don't have one now and I can't wait to be able to walk onto a future deck and flip the steaks.
MOST IMPORTANT - Coming home everyday to something that we can be proud of and knowing that all that hard work has paid off.


Since I was not in love with the naked look of the back of the standard island we decided to forgo Ryan's option and find a stand alone one that would serve its purpose and look kind of a like a piece of furniture. Finding one I like for less than 1K has been a bit tricky until I stumbled across Ana White's blog. I am totally going to build this during the summer and it will be awesome. I am still trying to decide on paint and stain colors. I also plan to build nightstands, a coffee table, and some farmhouse headboards. That site is amazing...  it looks finished and professional and way cheaper than buying some Sauder imitations and in some cases unstained Amish built stuff.

with credit to ana white and the poster with the modified version - http://ana-white.com/2012/02/modified-michaelas-kitchen-island

Flooring Take Two

So we need to have all of the flooring choices finalized by Tuesday... and only now definitively decided to do hardwood in the living room, foyer and powder room:

Bruce - Manchester Cherry

And standard vinyl in the dinette and kitchen. It will be shortly covered with this laminate:

Shaw Laminate - Majestic Grandeur Ocean Floor

Does anyone remember if the first upgrade to hardwood offered a dark cherry color for the Bruce line?
**Update - they do offer a cherry in the first upgrade!

The only problem now is that our local showroom is by appointment only and the company usually does not have anyone in down in our area. I hope we can get in on Monday... otherwise we'll have to make the 2 hour trek up to the main facility in order to get the change order done for Ryan on Tuesday.

The hardwood stairs are a no-go.  Dan nixed the idea, having remembered how hard they were when he was little. It's not a huge deal to me and actually makes things a little easier since now we don't have to convince our SR that Ryan can do it. Hopefully I will be able to persuade him after our future kiddos are done crawling... :)

In furniture news - I found the perfect couch! It's by Klaussner and the color is a dark grey with fabric that looks woven - like a grey suit. It is beyond perfect... except that it is not in the current line. I really hope we can still get it this summer...

More flooring thoughts

We have until the 15th to make all changes to the flooring. Here's what we are now considering -

Hardwood in living room, foyer, powder room. I have requested a ballpark figure to do up the stairs.

Vinyl in the dinette and kitchen - to be replaced with the stone laminate I want once we take possession.

It would look so awesome to have hardwood steps - I hope the estimate is close to the number in my mind.

Has anyone seen wood steps in a Venice? My rep says they can't do it in this model.