We have cabinets!!!!

Cabinets and bathroom countertops are in, first coat of paint is done!

Here are some pictures from our trip yesterday morning:

Foyer

Family room/Recreation room

Kitchen - Maple Espresso cabinets

Our awesome PM added the molding as a wedding gift. A beautiful surprise!!

View into living room

View from living room

Stairs leading to 3rd floor

Love the 2-panel doors! We're the first to have them in our community.

Another view of my favorite room to include the pantry

Guest bath - Maple Spice

And the countertop

Guest bath

Office/3rd bedroom - notice the brick on the floor

2nd bedroom

Master bath double vanity

Dual shower that will be marriage-saving

 And onto some concerns we have:

All the cabinet edges are unfinished. Will they be stained later?

This wall looks like it is crooked (heading left) but I may just be crazy.

This is ugly to me and I hope something will be added to the stairs!

Our bedroom eyesore that I read about on other blogs.

We have 3 of these. The master closet is wedged between both bathrooms and houses 2 of these so why couldn't the 3rd go in there?!?!?

All the edges of the bottom steps have chunks out of them, which I hope won't be noticable once the carpet is installed.

Some genius left their iced-coffee cup upside down on our island cabinet drawer while it was still wet and left a ring! If it leaves a permanent mark I will ask that it be replaced.

I'm not sure if you can see in this picture, but in several areas of the house (most noticably the basement) there is several water marks that look like leaks. However, I'm hoping it is something else that was too watered dow when they were painting? Emailing PM today.

Hardware is crooked. We only added the hardware because we didn't think we could get them all straight and didn't want to put multiple holes in our cabinets. I understand that it would be asking a lot for them all to be perfectly straight. But this particular cabinet bothers me because the doors close toward each other and I notice it from a distance. It's driving me crazy!!!

Tile and granite are going in this week, and I have been gathering estimates to add a deck on the back of the kitchen after settlement (when after settlement - I don't know). I'm highly anticipating the granite, because we chose Santa Cecilia which varies widely in color and I'm afraid it might come in too yellow/gold-ish. The tile we chose may not match if it does come in more gold than off-white/tan. We shall see.

I will post more pictures this week!

Now that the Honeymoon is over...we have one month until closing!!!

I haven't posted in awhile due to the fact that Kevin and I got married 3 weeks ago!!! We jetted off to Disney with my whole family for our honeymoon and then as soon as we got home we got word that my husband was needed in California on business. So I figured now would be a good time to finally upload some pictures since I have some time alone! We are supposed to settle either June 18th or 19th, and a lot has been going on since we've been gone! The brick is up on the front and siding installed on the side and back of the house, as well as the shutters. The first coat of paint is on, all of the trim and cabinets are installed, the bathroom countertops, and the granite has been measured. It is finally looking like our home now that the specific options we chose are coming to life.

Here are some pictures from our last trip to the house:

Master bath with dual showerheads

Before drywall

Future office (smallest bedroom) pre-drywall

Guest bath

Living room pre-drywall

View of kitchen and dining area from living room

Kitchen pre-drywall

Living room

Backyard

Front view from a very close view

Family room door

View from guest bedroom straight thru the guest bath to the master bath

Garage

Looking out our kitchen door

Rear view ;)

Me in my future favorite place - my kitchen

Downstairs family room

Downstairs window

Guest room pre-drywall

And finally...a picture of us on our honeymoon!

Animal Kingdom at Disney World

This upcoming week will bring lots of stone! All of our tile flooring and granite will be installed. Our second coat of paint will also be applied. We will post pictures once he comes back from California and we go take a look at it on Sunday. Now that the wedding and honeymoon are over, we will be posting every time we go to the house or hear anything new!

By the way, does anyone know how to flip a picture when posting it, or do I have to edit it myself first? Any advice would be helpful. Thank you!

Ashley

Address Change?!

Everything is going up so quickly! The framing is complete, we have windows, and the shingles are waiting to be installed on the roof. One issue that arose recently is our address number. All of our paperwork says our address will be 800, while the number they spray painted yesterday says 804 and our neighbor to the right  (which is now completed) says 806. We loved 800, and while it's not a huge deal to us that it's changed, how hard will it be to change the paperwork for our purchase agreement and loan? Has anyone else encountered this?

Will post pictures later this morning!

Framing

It's taken me awhile to find time to start a blog, but our Ryan Home is in the end of the framing stage. Our new home is less than 1.5 miles from our current apartment, so we drive by almost every day!

We decided to build with Ryan after the short sale we were waiting on wasn't looking promising. I researched the new community and saw they were offering free granite, so I decided to check it out while my fiance was at work. I was really impressed with the upgrades we could get for the money considering our monthly payment would be the same as the short sale, but we could pick the finishes we prefer. We signed our contract on Valentine's Day and broke ground on 3/22/12. We're building an end unit townhome called a Mozart. It has very little yard but the inside living space is close to 2000 square feet. The incentives they were offering at the time to use NVR were free granite in the kitchen and a finished basement (not really a basement, as it's the ground level). Some upgrades we chose were:

-Powder room on main level
-Ceramic tile in foyer, powder room, and kitchen
-Santa Cecilia granite
-Maple espresso cabinets
-Kitchen Island
-Stainless steel range, dishwasher and microwave
-Level C carpet and upgraded padding throughout
-French door in basement and kitchen
-Recessed lights in basement
-Dual shower in place of tub in master bedroom (no charge)
-Oil-rubbed bronze light fixtures and hardware (no charge)
-Additional outlets from Guardian
-2 ceiling fan rough-ins

There are other small things, but I think that's most of the major upgrades. I will post pictures of our progress so far once I get them off my camera. However, we are getting married in 10 days so it might have to wait!

Happy building everyone!
Ashley (and Kevin)