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)

 

















   

Florence Options -- Rite Rug options included

There was a monthly incentive by ryan homes when we were purchasing and it included Morning room for free. That's the first reason we tended towards Ryan Homes as my husband so liked to have a Morning room in our future house. No Basement.

So here's the list

--Morning Room for free

--Kitchen Cabinet Upgrade Level 1. Our choice Scottsdale Maple Cognac. Somewhere around $1500 extra I guess.

Default was one option Andover maple but I didn't like it.

--Hardware-Knobs Kitchen cabinets and bathroom $200

We thought we could do away with Crown Moulding and Kitchen Backsplash. They are our future projects after we close

--Level 1 Vinyl Upgrade in Kitchen and Morning Room. $500 extra

I so wanted to have a hardwood floor in Kitchen and Morning Room. But they were charging close to 3500 extra for it so we didn't. But the Vinyl we choose was awesome. It looked like a Hardwood imprint and you wouldn't realize unless you are up close. And with lot of Indian cooking I thought it's best to go with Vinyl flooring. So atleast we got one matching close to hardwood in look wise.

Laminate was not an option as they discontinued it. I am not sure if it's only with our community or everywhere else.

--We opted for Upgraded carpet Level 1 down floor which covers Great Room, Living Room. $600

As I am so sure with a 2 year old there are going to be a lot of accidents and spills more in the first floor than upstairs in bedrooms.

Default carpet in second floor and default 5 lb padding everywhere. We went with White Fox option for default carpet and Level 1 upgrade was Wool Skin I guess. I informed my husband before we went to the Rite Rug meeting that there is no way I am going to look for anything other than a white carpet or closer match to it. I don't like a brown shade it makes me feel like a Apartment carpet. But that's my opinion altogether.

--White Railings with balusters stairs $1695

This gave a nice elegant look when compared to the Half wall. We asked our Sales representative to show us a already built home with half wall and then we finally decided with railings.

--Bathroom had the biggest upgrades

They were giving a Oversized shower as a standard option minus Bath Tub but with Linen closet

We went with Alternate Layout with glass surround shower and garden tub which was $4995

Fiber glass shower and garden tub was a $1000 less.

And $4995 they said includes tile flooring and shower surround tub surround. What was shocking was there were only 4 colored tiles to choose from and everything was plain. Level 1 upgrade was $495 but nothing fancy here just some extra colors. Level 2 had some nicer looking tiles with accent tiles. This is what we went with. So it cost us an extra $995 for level 2 upgrade.

The above picture I copied from someone else's blog but this is how my house is going to look.

Exterior Front: Barringer brick
Shutters: Red
Main Door: Black
Gutters and siding: White

And again going with a brick cost us an extra $3495 I guess. If it's stone it's and extra $1000 again.

Hardwood is free in Foyer so that's the one you see in the above picture Gunstock. But to the right you can see the vinyl 1 upgrade which we choose that looks like hardwood.

Below is my Kitchen Granite selection Tan brown. And you can also see the Bathroom Tile selection with the Accent tile.

Decision to build a Ryan Homes Florence Model

Finally after an year of house hunt and contemplating whether to buy a new house or old house we decided to go with Ryan Homes Florence model.

We liked the place in Simsponville and the community Manor at Twin Creeks. We decided we are not both tending towards a pre-constructed home. And we really liked how we can customize our options and build our home according to our choice at Ryan Homes.

Florence was our first choice and we liked the layout. We are a small family with one kid who is 2 years old and this model with 3 bedrooms and a loft was the best choice for us.

This is going to be our first house and I am super excited. I have researched a lot too and found number of other blogs by Ryan Homes clients. But I just wanted to jot down my experiences during the construction process.