time flies!

It's been forever since I posted and that makes me angry.  I said I wouldn't disappear and then poof, there I went.   But I'm back!

Things have been insanely busy.  I haven't had a lot of time to really get this house where I want it but I'm ok with not rushing things.  We have curtains up in all the bedrooms and we will eventually have blinds in most windows but there's that pesky money issue that we have to deal with now.  Oh how I wish money trees were real.

We had our 30 day walkthrough with our PM last week and they came and fixed everything this week.  We didn't have a lot on our list thankfully.  The mirror in the hall bathroom upstairs needed to be replaced because of a scratch, some sod was switched out in the backyard and the front of the house had some tweaks too (light fixture had way too much glue around it, water table was a little wonky at the bottom and was filled in with concrete, bottom of our post on the front stoop was messy).  Those were the biggest things.  Ah, and we are getting a few of our cabinets replaced because of scratches or off center knobs.  Those will be switched out on Monday.  Our PM even had the landscapers come back and add a bunch more mulch to the front which was a nice little perk for being friends with him, we didn't even ask for it.

So all in all it's been a smooth transition into this house.  It immediately felt like home but I still can't believe that this huge house is really ours.  Such a blessing.

I do have some heartbreaking news, though.   Our beloved 13 year old Pug, Yoda, passed away yesterday.  There is a hole in our hearts.  We had him since he was 9 weeks old.  Our first baby.  I'm just glad that we were able to have him in this house for a little bit.  That we had some memories of him in here, even though most of them are a little sad because he was blind and was still figuring out the layout of the house.  So, our hearts are heavy right now as we mourn our little man.  

too.much.stuff

This week has been so busy at work that I come home and crash so there's been zero time to get this house organized.  Lots of stuff is still in boxes but thanks to my working from home husband, the kitchen looks a lot more like a kitchen than box storage!

But just as we get out from under some stuff, this monstrosity arrives!

Because we don't have enough stuff in the house already!

This POD contains all of our extra stuff that was in our house that we put away before we listed our townhouse.  We've lived without all of this (it's packed) since March.   I'm so tempted to toss it all!  But there are some important things in there.  A lot of our daughters toys are in there and she hasn't forgotten that.  When she saw it when we got home yesterday she said "::gasp:: the pod is here!  I love you pod!"  And then she wanted to touch it.  So cute.

Plus, we have furniture in there and other things that would be helpful for our new place.  But I know I'm going to want to purge a LOT.   Now I just need to convince my pack rat of a husband.  That should be fun.

I also wanted to write this post so that those that read it know that I won't be disappearing anytime soon.  I've seen a lot of blogs that go dead after closing but that won't happen with this one.  I may not post as often but I will still be here!  Once we start putting the house together I will share pics.  I am hoping that we will be really productive this weekend so that I can post about some more next week.

I leave you with this.   I am looking for input from other Rome owners on what the heck to do with this cabinet!  So narrow and deep.  I have spices in there for now but looking for a way to really maximize this space.  Ideas welcome!

It's finally ours!

Closing day has come and gone and I am happily writing this blog post from the comfort of my brand new family room.  I've tried to write this post about 4 times but I've been exhausted so I need to play catch up. This post will be all over the place because my brain isn't working from lack of sleep, so apologies in advance.

First thing brought into the house was my jade plant.  She's going to love all of this light!

It's been a whirlwind this week.  Long story very short....we closed on Tuesday (very fast and no issues), had movers come on Wednesday and Thursday my husband left for a trip for a few days.  Um...yeah. Talk about stress.

We decided to spend the night at the house on Tuesday despite not having any furniture.  We thought it would be fun to have a little sleepover!  In our heads we imagined it a lot differently and it turned out to be super stressful to stay there instead of at the old house but we did it!

First dinner at the house the night of closing, homemade pizza!

Air mattress set up in the family room, while our daughter got to spend the night in her own room upstairs.

The pups were a bit confused at their new surroundings, so they found comfort on our blanket, something that
smelled familiar to them.

I will spare you all the details about lack of sleep and trying to juggle a ton of things these past few days. Moving isn't fun and everyone knows that :)

All this and we STILL have to schedule the POD to be delivered.  Why do we have so much stuff?!

Despite the craziness, we are settling nicely into our new home.  I am still amazed that this huge, new house is ours.  It doesn't totally feel real yet!

Home sweet home.

I love our backyard!  Still can't walk on the grass because it's so saturated from the sprinklers.

So many boxes in the kitchen!

Our wonderful little street, with plenty of potty space for the pups!

First sunset after moving in.  Not a bad view from our front stoop!

Oh, and one last pic to show how it has been the past few days not knowing where anything is...this is what I had to resort to using at dinner last night because I couldn't find a regular glass, ha!

Pre-Settlement Walkthrough

This morning went very smoothly.  Our PM took us through the house from top to bottom and finished everything within about an hour.   There are only a few minor things that needed to be blue taped.  Our realtor was with us as well and she noted a few things that I didn't even see, like a huge scratch in the hall bathroom mirror.  A lot of things on my list from Sunday were already taken care of before I had a chance to mention them so that was great.  Since we've been to the house so many times and since we've talked with our PM through text a lot through this process he didn't need to spend a ton of time explaining the house today. Which was good because I only had an hour before I needed to leave to race to work to get there on time.

The house looks amazing now that there is grass and landscaping!

The paperwork that we had to sign today.  Funny that you have to sign something that instructs you to WATER, WATER, WATER the sod.

Today was the first time I got to see the backsplash.  So in love!

It's so beautiful!

It was also the first time I saw the floors in the morning room uncovered.  This really is a morning room.
The light at 8am was amazing!

Before today we had heard from our PM that the Ryan Homes inspection went incredibly well.  So well in fact that our house scored a 97.44/100.   To quote a text from our PM: 

"2nd best all year.  Beats the average score by 2 points.  Tight house.  You have the best Rome I've built."

Woo hoo!  We had an independent inspection a day before the Ryan one and he didn't find anything major either.  Just small stuff that has either already been taken care of or will be at our 30 day.  So thrilled that our house is solid.  No complaints at all!

I wish I took more pictures today but it was such a race to get out of the house on time that I forgot the camera.  So, loads of pictures of the house will have to wait.  We are so very happy, though.  This house is incredible and I'm already thinking of something we can buy our PM as a thank you for all of his hard work.  

I cannot wait until the house is ours next week.  Again, not looking forward to packing and moving but at least we know that this is the last time we will have to do it for a very, very long time! Tuesday can't come soon enough :)

One more week to go!

On Sunday we took our dogs to the house for the first time.  We hadn't taken them earlier because of all the debris on the floor.  One of our dogs is blind and the other one eats a lot of random things on the floor if given the chance.  So, it was best to wait until the flooring was completed.

They sniffed around a lot and the blind one (Yoda) made his way around very cautiously.  After about 10 minutes, they seemed to settle a bit.  It's going to be an adjustment for him, but once all the familiar smells are in there he will be just fine.

After the morning visit, I returned with just my daughter in the afternoon.  My husband went to a baseball game (with our PM, actually!) so we had some nice girl time.   Picnic on the floor!

Once again, we didn't want to leave.  But it won't be long until we are in that house for good!  Closing is a week away!!

This last week is filled with a lot of last minute items:

Today - sod should have been put down and backsplash was installed!
Tuesday - Independant Inspector checks out the house
Wednesday - Ryan Homes inspection
Thursday - Final walkthrough!

Oh, and speaking of backsplash.  Of COURSE there's an issue with the tile company AGAIN!  Honestly, I'm never recommending these people to anyone.   When talking to our PM before we settled on the backsplash he told us that we could do the backsplash with or without the granite lip.  We wanted the lip removed so it would be a cleaner look.  No problem.  We heard from our PM today that the tile company wasn't going to remove the lip behind the sink.  Um no.  So, our PM said that he would make sure it was getting done, because in the last house he did that's what they got so we should get the same.  Again, can't say enough good things about our PM.  I'm not sure if that means that Ryan Homes will eat the cost of them doing that or what but all I know is that it will get done the way it should be thanks to him being on top of things today with the foreman from the tile company.  So much drama with tile.  I never want to deal with putting tile in again.

I am sure that I will post numerous times this week with updates and pictures of everything that is getting done before closing.  This last week is exciting!   Now if only I could find the motivation (and time) to pack!

Almost there!

We got into our house today thanks to our amazing PM.  Here are the pics from today's 3 hour visit!

I'm so in love with this kitchen!  Can't wait to see it when it's not filled with dust and dirt :)

It's a little sad how excited I am about this.  It's going to be so much easier to clean than our old burners.  And I love that most of the knobs are out of reach from our 2 year old.

Our beautiful upgraded, gigantic sink and faucet!

The fireplace was finally finished.

Despite all of the issues with this bathroom, I am loving it again.   Moving on from all of the trouble!

We started making a list today of things we are noticing in the house so we are ready for our final walkthrough this coming
Thursday.  This was the biggest.  The entryway into the dining room is so off.  Instead of the drywall being straight, it is
off by 4 degrees!

The front is finally completed!  Shutter was installed :)

I didn't want to leave today.  We can't believe that we spent 3 hours there today, it didn't seem that long at all.  We looked over everything, made notes, measured for curtains, talked about furniture placement, played in the basement and just had a great time as a family.  It's definitely our home already.

Tomorrow we are going out one more time so that our dogs can walk through the house before we move in.  Tomorrow will also be the last time we visit the house until our final walkthrough with our PM and realtor on Thursday.  I can't believe it's so close!

It was bound to happen...

We planned on going out to the house today after work because we know the granite is in and we can't wait to see it.  We got a bit of a late start and didn't realize how late it was.  On our way there my husband texted our SR to see if we could get the key from her before she left at 6pm.  Turns out she left a bit early that day so we were out of luck.  Honestly, I don't think we would have even made it to her by 6 anyway.  So we crossed our fingers that one of the doors would still be unlocked and proceeded to the house.

Garage: Locked
Front door: Locked
Basement door: Locked

We even tried to move the screen around on the window in the front of the house to see if we could open it and climb in.  Nope :)

But the driveway is paved!  The front door is painted!  Still no shutters on that darn window.  Ha!

I was so upset because it took a half hour to get out there and we know there are awesome things inside that we wanted to check out.  So there I was, poor little sad face looking through the window of our beautiful house not being able to get in.

I saw that the hardwood and carpets no longer had plastic and other materials covering them, they were out in the open and gorgeous.

I saw a tiny sliver of granite in the kitchen waaaaay in the background.  And I know (thanks to our neighbor) that our appliances are in too!  I love that we are already so friendly with our new neighbors that they text us when something is going on with our house.

What a terrible photo.  This is all we could see through the front window.

So now we have to wait until Saturday to go back.  Whomp whomp.  At least it's only 2 days away!  Plus, we get to bring our two dogs for the first time.  Saturday should definitely be a fun day.  I'm pretty sure I'm not going to want to leave.

There is also an exciting update to the tile debacle!  Since we compromised on the bullnose in the master bathroom, and because our PM saw some quality mistakes with the VP(!) of the tile company they agreed to give us something in return for our troubles.  A kitchen backsplash!   They emailed us a few options that we could get for free.  After looking at the 3 options we thought we'd ask if we could see what the upgraded ones were like and pay the difference.  They were more than happy to accommodate us.  So, here is what we came up with.  I couldn't be happier.  This is an awesome resolution to this issue.  And icing on the cake, it will be completed before settlement!

Love it!

This is how it will look when finished (just the lighter color).
Excuse the quality.  I was facetiming with my husband and took a screen grab.

We were also told by our PM that if the shower pan height in the master bath still bugs us at 30 days they will fix that then.  He would rather do it that way because if he tried to fix it now it would push closing back.  We said that was perfectly fine!

So, things are nearing the end!  I can't believe it's so close.   But that also means that we have to pack up again.  We have been in denial about this.  While we are living amongst so many boxes, we still have our every day stuff to pack up.   I'm not looking forward to moving yet again but at least we know that this time it's going to be much more permanent!

More to come this weekend, when we can finally get in the house again!

Oh, one last thing.  I finally updated the animated gif of the progress of the house.  So much fun to see it all come together!

Sigh

So, the master bathroom woes are continuing.  We visited the house yesterday and talked with our neighbors again. We told them all the issues we were having with that tile and they invited us to see theirs.  Now I'm even more upset.   An issue I didn't mention in previous posts is that the shower door is low, so low that we have to duck down a bit to get inside. I know it's not supposed to be like that because I would remember seeing such a low height in the model.  It was confirmed when we saw our neighbors.   Theirs looks just fine and it's because of one specific thing, the shower pan.  Ours is about half the height of our neighbors, which means that not only is our shower door height too low, but so is our seat.  Our neighbors seat is actually wider, too.  I'm not sure what's going on but I'm not happy.

Also, the back corner of the tile where the tub is has me fuming.  It looks so ridiculously unprofessional.

I'm even more upset today though because we saw how good our neighbors looks.   Their tile contractors actually adjusted things so that the corner wouldn't be a tiny sliver like ours is.  So I'm mad.

It's not a good sign that I'm already of trying to figure out what to put there to hide this.  I shouldn't have to do that in a house that's being built from scratch.  I will be talking to our PM about this but I'm sure his answer will be that there's nothing that can be done now.  I'm preparing for that so I don't lose my mind.

The shower pan is probably what has me most upset though.  I don't want to have to duck into my shower every time I use it.  If I was 7 feet tall I would expect to have to do that but at 5'9" I shouldn't have issues hitting my head.  I want to find out if it's possible to get a shower pan with a normal height.  The one in our neighbors house (and the house we are currently renting) has a shower pan twice the height of the one that's installed in our house.  That extra 2 inches will be exactly what we need for that shower to look normal.  Again, when we brought this up to our PM last week he said that the shower door height is a standard size.  But that's before we realized that it's actually the shower pan that's messing up the height.  Fingers crossed this can be changed.

I'm so angry that this one room is what's giving me stress.  This is the room that is supposed to be calming.   Calming, relaxing showers and baths but that won't be the case if we can't get some of this resolved.  I don't want to walk into that room every day and hate it.

Moving on to the good things we saw yesterday, because there was a lot!  I don't want to make it sound like everything is wrong in the house, because it's really only two things and they are in the same room.  There are a lot of exciting things happening now!

Siding has been completed on the front.  I guess they are still waiting for those last two shutters to arrive.

Best part of the visit...carpet and hardwood have been installed.  So gorgeous!

They also put the vinyl flooring down in the laundry room.

Oh and look, we have a kitchen island, finally!

The backyard has been graded also.  It's nice to see how flat it will be, for the most part.  Lots of useable space!

Thought this was a fun find.   Some of the workmen signed their names to the railing in the garage.

So overall the house is looking amazing.  I just wish that the bathroom could be fixed to how we expected it to turn out.  Fingers crossed our PM can work some magic next week.

Bullnose and faucets and toilets oh my!

First off, thank you all for your comments on my last post, felt good to know I wasn't being a crazy person.

So the tile issues seem to be sorted out now.  Thursday, our PM got back to us about yet another option for the bullnose.  Have I mentioned how awesome our PM is?  He really cares about giving us exactly what we want while still keeping everything on schedule.  Anyway, he told us that there was another bullnose that would work:

This way they wouldn't have to stain and it's rounded nicely already without them having to do the sanding on their own after they install it.  So we were fine with this option.  Again, still not what we should have gotten but I'm past that now.

We took a trip out to the house yesterday to check it out in person since we knew it would be completed.  We were shocked when we entered the house (on a day where the heat index reached nearly 100 degrees) and it was cold inside!   The A/C works!  And it was set to 53 degrees. Um, what?  We were also greeted by this...

Surprise!  There's a toilet in your Dining Room!

Moving on...we headed upstairs.

Lookin good!  If I wanted to get nit picky I would but this is a fabulous compromise.

And another surprise, beautiful faucets!  And the water is turned on as well.

The shower fixtures were installed as well as the door.

But this is bent...boo.

All in all I can't complain about the bathroom.  It was a sh*tty situation but it has been resolved and that's all that matters.

Our PM also mentioned that our kitchen cabinets for the island came damaged so they had to order new ones, which pushes our granite installation back.  I've soooo been looking forward to that!  Anyway, we had noticed in a previous visit that some cabinet doors that are already installed are busted too.  A note will be going out to our PM tomorrow (along with a picture of that bathroom thing that's bent).

Moving on to other good things we saw today...

Hall bath is nearly complete!

Oh, and speaking of toilets.  Our little one was the first to christen our plumbing.  Everything was hooked up and she had to go so she did! We have a photo too but I'm thinking it's a little inappropriate to post on a public blog :)

Ah, those beautiful (albiet flimsy) pantry shelves.  I am still in awe of how much
space there is in there!

Address is on the house and pillar is installed!

So things are coming together.  I'm so happy that the tile headache is over.  I can't wait to see what happens next with the house!