House Update

So we went to the house at our regularly scheduled time and noticed that we had some new things. At this point, we are really coming down to the wire.

• Exterior
• We now have a mailbox
• All of our shutters are up...aren't they lovely!
• The driveway is completely done now
• Interior
• WE HAVE APPLIANCES!!! 
• Refrigerator
• Dishwasher
• Range
• Microwave & range hood were not up yet
• Some of our light fixtures are up...some weren't (the 2nd bathroom & basement)
• All of the commodes, faucet fixtures (kitchen and bathroom), etc. are in
• Our bathrooms are tiled!! Because we didn't upgrade the tiles, I just knew that I wouldn't like it but I was pleasantly surprised!!
• All of our shelving is up
• Guardian came through and did there thing! My hubs is too excited :)

Shout out to our neighbor Kendra...she scared the mess out of us! So while we were perusing our soon-to-be home, we were interrupted by the doorbell. Hmm, who could that be we wondered?...We ruled out the PM and the workers because they would have just walked right on in so as my husband gingerly walked over to the door (did I mention it was dark out already so we could not see anything with the lights on), he slowly peeked out and it was HER!! Of course, we were relieved...to tell you the truth, I'm not really sure why we were nervous...I guess it was just so unexpected lol Oh well...we showed our neighbor around a bit and talked to her for about an hour or so about the house, her house, other people's houses lol as well as the community and everything in between. This is not the first time we met her or talked with her but we definitely feel welcomed into the neighborhood already!!! :))))

***Some Pics Are Below For Your Viewing Pleasure***

Dishwasher is pretty dusty - the other pair of shoes is my mini me!!! The child won't let me wander alone!

Shine Bright Like A Diamond - I love these recessed lights!!!

Powder Room

Partial View of Owner's Closet

Owner's Bath w/ Faucets

OB w/ light fixture

OB Roman Shower

Bench

2nd Bath - commode, fixtures

2nd bath - tile, recessed light

Hubby's territory

All That Glitters...Isn't Gold....Q & A Part One

Haha, Sorry for the dramatic title but we noticed that we did not include any issues or concerns that we've had throughout the whole process so far.

So, we decided to give a run down of the different items that caused us concern or were questionable, and how they were remedied. Hopefully this may help someone!

***SN: Some of these questions or concerns may be trivial but as first-time home buyers any question is better than no question (which could ultimately leave you with a home that you are dissatisfied with!)***

1) Will there be heating/AC ducts and vents in the unfinished parts of our home (exercise room and media room)? The main heating trunk line will run in there but in order for the ducts to register to rooms, they would need to be run when you finished those areas later.

2) The model numbers for our appliances were no longer being manufactured. Would we be getting these older models or will newer models be ordered from the same category? Newer models would be ordered from the same category. Model #'s change constantly.

3) During the framing phase, we noticed that we had a couple of windows missing as well as the framing for our media room door was only framed for a single door (we got the double door option). We were told that the windows would be added in and that since the double doors was a non-standard, it would be adjusted by the framer. **This was at the time we realized that Ryan Homes put all of their framing together at a factory. No wonder they're so efficient!!

4) When we were getting insurance quotes, we needed a couple of questions answered: will our sump pump have a battery backup? Do we have a full or partial sprinkler system? The sump pump is not battery backed up (but it's recommended we get one!) and we have a full sprinkler system.

5) One day we arrived at the house to this....

Yup, the hubs was officially freaking out lol...but of course, we emailed our PM (Did I mention how awesome he is?!?!) They were tying up the sewer and water connections...we didn't know that this happened after the framing was up, well it kinda don't; however, we have a lot of construction going on in our community and time didn't permit the guys to do it beforehand.

Last Saturday

The new things that we noticed on Saturday were:

• the island was in it's proper place,
• WE HAD ELECTRICITY,
• which also meant, we had heat (our thermostat was on and kicking - even though for some reason, there was no heat blowing through the vents on the first floor)
• our son's bathroom was finally complete - it had the full vanity and mirror!
• 2nd coat of paint 
• Gutters were added to the outside

*Some pics are below*

***SN: Our PM said that the final trades (appliances, carpet, light fixtures, everything bathroom, etc.) were to begin on Monday, which was yesterday. Can't wait for the goodies that will await us tomorrow!!***

*Island*

*Side View of Island*

*Close up of the Island*

*2nd Bath Full Vanity -  don't know about that hole in the wall*

*Our Electric Meter*

*Thermostat on the wall...yes I'm excited...the Hubs has some cold nights ahead of him, he calls me the "human heater"*

*Left view - gutters

*Front view - gutter*

*Sooo...like if you look to the bottom left of the pic, you will notice a port-o-potty has fell on its side. Can you say YUCK!!!  AND ITS IN OUR YARD! Good thing it wasn't in a different position  -_- 

*You see our gutters...can't wait til the hubs climb up that good ol' ladder*

*AC Unit*

IT'S OFFICIAL!!!!

We received our letter in the mail yesterday...our official pre-settlement walk-through is March 6th and our closing date is March 13th!!!!

Super Excited!!

We Have New Stuff!!!!

February 6th - Woo hoo...I'm back after a short hiatus, had to let the hubs do his thing!

We arrived at the home to this...Boo-yow..

*We have STONE!! And a Column!!!*

*Can you find Waldo??!?!? Do ya see him? I'm assuming a worker was waiting there to make sure no one stepped on the FRESHLY, PAVED SIDEWALK and he was being kind enough to hide behind the column while we snapped some pics!! I thought that was a really nice gesture :) *

So what other goodies awaited us when we went inside the house...

*We have railing...not stained yet but glad they're there nonetheless*

  

*Our cabinets!!! Yup, I was disappointed not to see my island :( but then again...*

*It was set up for me in the LIVING ROOM!! No problem, I've always wanted to cook in front of a live studio audience :) *

*A sneak peek of our counters (in other words, I didn't take a close up) and a side view of the kitchen from the morning room*

*We have kitchen floors!!*

*We have trim around the doors, windows and baseboards throughout the whole house...this is a view of the office and office door*

*Views of the basement...it was actually warm down there and we had some light...Do you notice that we have a nice COAT OF PAINT?! That is also something new throughout the house!*

*Our bathrooms actually look like bathrooms now...1st two are 2nd bath...last three are owner's bath...check out that half vanity (cabinet & counter, mirror) in the 2nd bathroom...mmm...someone has some explaining to do, was not expecting that!*

*More new floors...I so love these floors...this is a view of the laundry room but this flooring is also in the bathrooms (it was too dark to take good pics)*

Felt Like Christmas!!!!

On Saturday, February 2nd we arrived to a garage full of goodies.  Felt like Christmas morning. My wife's expression on her face when she saw this was priceless!!!!!  We had our cabinets, inside doors, window screens, trimming, stair railings, counter tops, and so much more.  The way the boxes were stacked we couldn't get to most of them.  Oh, if we were in our younger days (speak for yourself!!-sorry, I hacked you honey!!),  I think we would have climbed on those boxes in order to see all of the goodies.  Also, we saw that our drywall was muddied, taped, and sanded waiting to be primed. LET'S GOOOOOO!!!!!!!  Pic below.