Things I donot like about a Florence model house

All you people who bought a Florence model house do you ever feel your bathrooms are a little smaller. Me and my husband always dreamt of a huge master bathroom. So we did go for the most updates in our master bathroom with tiles, glass surround shower and all. But yet it feels so small.

You cannot happily extend your hands while you take your shower if so you keep bumping into the glass surround. Same with the second full bath the bath tub once the shower curtain is drawn looks so congested. This one I compared with my previous apartment bath tub and definitely it is smaller than that for sure.

Hope Ryan homes mentioned the size of the bathroom in the Florence model plan brochure.

This is the one and only disappointing point about the Florence model house the small bathroom sizes.

Things I like about my new house

There are so many things I like about my new house. Where can I begin.

Lots of space when compared to our rented apartment.
Morning room. I so love the view from my morning room it opens onto a huge tree and a road behind.
My Kitchen the place where I spend my quarter day at cooking daily ;)
Lot of counter space in my kitchen. Didn't know how to fill all those empty spaces.
My open kitchen and great room plan
Master bathroom
Huge lawn yet to enjoy it the grass is all dry because of winter.
Loft where me and husband keep working when working from home.

My husband is already saying this home is too big for us with just one kid. But I think after we have our second kid it should be decent enough.

So to all those people who are looking to buy the Florence model home. You will definitely like the plan and Good Luck.

We moved Yipee...

Ah a sigh of relief after we moved into our new home after some busy weeks of packing and then unpacking and organizing stuff. Still have so much to do. Furnishing has yet to begun. But put it on a sideline for couple of months.

On a side note we were so happy to receive a welcome gift from our friendly neighbors after the day we closed 2 cute little coffee mugs and a warm welcome greeting. My son should be the most happiest one as their kids are almost my son age :) . So lots of play dates and playing out in cul-de-sac couple of months from now.

We are planning a house warming party on December Christmas weekend hopefully everyone will be able to make it to the party.

Yay closing soon

Our PM unofficially informed us during our Pre Drywall meeting that our pre construction meeting should be scheduled for Nov 11th. So NVR mortgage guys should call us regarding the closing and rate lock in.

So the process of rate lock in was going back and forth with the Loan officer as we had a couple of questions. But then anyways she told us we will be closing on Nov 14th. Yay I can't wait. I am just counting down the days. Now time for some serious packing and getting an estimate from Movers.

We are planning to move on Nov 24th so we can unpack and organize during thanksgiving.

Lamp Post

I am so happy that the builder agreed to a lamp post and the good news is it is right in front of our house. When we asked our SR and PM they were quite unsure if our cul-de-sac would have one but PM assured us that there would definitely be atleast one lamp post in a cul-de-sac.

I was worried before because when we went to visit our house during construction late in the evening I saw that it was so dark and we just made a round in our car in the neighborhood and saw that there was one lamp post for couple of houses and there were lot of houses which were in dark. Back in India almost for every house they had a habit of leaving their light in front porch on throughout the night I guess this was because we didn't have security system or alarms in our house. So it was a little amusing for me to see that most of the neighborhood in our community was in dark.

Paintings for my new home

I have so many house decorating ideas already in my mind even before we close. So since I couldn't contain my excitement I started my art work. Ah the immense happiness it gives to do something for your own home.

I am a beginner in painting unlike my husband who is a pro. So I started with a simple but yet elegant Piet Mondrian art to go on the wall close to the foyer. So here is the outcome a little messy not so straight lines but alas I am very proud of my work. These are 9x12 frames, acrylic painting.



Google Piet Mondrain art and you will find many ideas. I started with one of their idea but changed the ordering of the blocks and colors. So after this I gained enough confidence to paint flowers now. But yet to start on it.

I already had the brushes and easel at home. I bought the frames and acrylic paints from Michaels.

Construction Progress / Timeline

09/05/2014 - Ground Leveling
09/12/2014 - Official Construction start date
                      Plumbing work and inspection
09/16/2014 - Concrete poured / Slab inspection
09/19/2014 - First level framing done
09/24/2014 - Second level framing done
09/30/2014 - Cement pouring for bathtub/ Electric work and inspection
10/02/2014 -  Siding and brick veneer in the front of the house started. Windows are up.
                       Shingles on roof.
10/06/2014 - Pre DryWall meeting
                     Drywall started same day. PM said it would take 5 business days
10/10/2014 - Drywall done and first coat of painting done.
10/15/2014 - Carpentry work, doors cabinets closets done.
10/16/2014 - Tiles and Vinyl floor work done


Construction Progress Photos:

 

Brick (Barringer--It is more burgundy in color than red)

    

Vinyl Siding & Gutters (White)