"Hole"y Moley! Drywall time already!

We finally got a chance to go this weekend and sneak a look inside the house!  We got there around 4 PM on a Sunday and there were people still there working on it.  So, we ended up coming back around 6 and took the full tour after they left.  It's come SO far since last time we were in.  Plumbing, sprinkles, venting, etc. are all in place.  Today they were doing the Guardian speaker and internet wiring as well as the electrical needs.  Tomorrow is our pre-drywall meeting!  So excited!

We went in the model home to do some measuring of the cabinets and refrigerator.  It was fun because we ended up meeting 2 of our soon-to-be neighbors who are just behind us in building process!  One family had a little girl just a few months older than our baby...maybe her first bff?!  Everyone that we met seemed really nice and we all seem to be in the same stage of our lives.  Hoping for some fun neighborhood parties!

Also, we locked into our mortgage rate on Friday.  3.875%...not bad!  And NVR had a special .125% credit towards closing costs that day...not sure why, but who cares!  haha

I am sure I will have some stuff to report after tomorrow's meeting.  Looks like if all goes well, we will be in in about 6 weeks or so!

Family Room with Fireplace taken from kitchen

Family room, Kitchen & Morning Room

Future DiSanto Lounge

Stairs going up

Brynn's Room

Brynn's/Guest Bath

Big Bedroom

Pete's Office (till basement is finished)

Walk-In Closet in Master

Master Bedroom

Master Bathroom

Laundry Hookups (Washer Left, Dryer Right..good to know!)

Ummmm...wth...the rule was no dogs allowed in the Lounge Area!

Basement

Uh...this doesn't look good

Where they put the new beam (they promise me that it will be fixed and will blend in without notice...umm hmm...)

My artistic picture of the garage door window

Garage Door

Windows and Doors and Pipes, Oh My!

The house is coming along...I am really starting to get excited about it!  I am feeling the major urge to sneak in and do another walk thru...be a rebel and go hardhatless...

Pete noticed that we seem to be missing a window on the right side of the house, but we are hopeful it's just under the Tyvek wrap or something.  Just seems odd that it is the only one not installed, if that is the case.

Yesterday, they put in the windows in (minus the mystery missing window), the french doors off the morning room, then the sliding patio door.  And I just noticed when I enlarged the picture below, that we have a front door!  OMG!

There are also some big, white pipes dangling here and there, and I have to assume they are plumbing pipes.

Where art thou, oh window on the right side?!

Baby Got Back (Doors)

I See Windows!

Yes folks, we have windows.  All of the windows are installed except for a random one on the side of the house facing our next door neighbor.  My mom took some pics but couldn't really see inside to take a look at exactly what they were working on.  She could see them working on both floors, though.  We are hoping that the stairs will be in soon so we can sneak a peak upstairs next time we go.

We spoke with the mortgage company today and we can lock in our rate any time now.  This means we are definitely less than 60 days out from settlement!  Soooo excited!

I have been looking around at a million different things for the house, but haven't made too many purchases quite yet.  I did buy some really awesome art glass work for the "Lounge" area (aka the living room) in the front of the house.  I am going to refer to it as the Lounge from now on because it just sounds cooler...and I feel like we will be "lounging" more than "living" in that space.

For the guest room, I found an awesome pintucked bedspread/shams at TJMaxx last night.  And it was on clearance...bonus!  Now I need to accessorize the rest of room...  I also picked up a few things for Brynn's/Guest bathroom.  I am going with black/white theme with splashes of hot pink so Brynn will hopefully like it (when she actually starts to use it!)

Here are today's pics:

Left side-the windows you see are in the master bedroom

Fun!

A "Hole" Lot of Incompleteness!

Today Pete and I went to meet with Wayne, our Guardian rep, to figure out where the speakers, cable hook-ups, etc. will go.  When we arrived, we saw a very disappointed Wayne who said he was under the impression from the builder that the house was much farther along and he didn't think we would get much accomplished by meeting.  We insisted that we would take our chances of a 2x4 whacking us in the head and go inside to figure the speaker location out.  After much conversation, we figured out the speaker location.  It's hard because  you don't really know how your furniture will fit in and where the tv will end up going permanently.  We (aka Pete) just did the best we could and hope it all works out!

We had a couple concerns that we have voiced to our project manager.  One is that there is a pretty large gap between the morning room plywood and the main part of the house.  Another is that the beam in the basement just seems to not fit correctly.  Our PM will check on the plywood issue tomorrow and said that the beam came in the wrong size and a new one will replace it soon.  Not sure, but removing & replacing a huge steel beam that is essentially holding up the house, seems a little scary to me.  I will make sure I am far away from there when it's being done.

So, today they are shingling the roof.  4 guys were up there working hard, so I am sure it will be done in no time.  We are just glad the rain let up!  Once the shingles are on, they can pretty much do anything they need inside the house regardless of the weather.

We are keeping a close eye on the interest rates, as we can lock in either later this week or next week.  Cross your fingers that it continues to hold steady (or even better, to go down!)

Here are some pictures of today's field trip inside the house.

Rear of Morning Room

Family Room (taken from Kitchen)

Steps to left, Powder room to right, Living/Sitting room in front of house (taken from Family Room)

Kitchen and Part of Morning Room (taken from Family Room)

Sunroom (taken from Family Room)

Looking upstairs into one of the front bedrooms

Our view from the Sunroom

View after walking in front door (Pete is on the edge of the foyer & Family Room)

Garage

Concern #1-Gap in plywood between Sunroom and main construction

Concern #2-Steel Beam weirdness

Shingles Baby!

Workin' on the Weekend

Looks like the framers worked pretty hard on Saturday.  The house is now wrapped in plastic and we have like 4 windows installed.  A few things that are strange...the sunroom roof is not put on, the plywood that connects the sunroom to the house is like 4 inches from the house itself, and my dad noticed something strange about a beam in the basement.  We have our first walk-thru tomorrow morning with Guardian, the wiring company, to choose where we want our prewires, internet/phone connections, etc.  I am hoping the project manager is there so we can chat about the items above.

If you are in the area, you know that it has been nasty weather since Saturday night, so the inside of our house may resemble a swimming pool.  The shingles should come today *cross fingers" and be put on tomorrow, weather-willing.

We have been agonizing over appliances.  Ryan Homes doesn't include a refrigerator, washer or dryer.  We really like the Samsung with the french doors and the pull out multi-purpose drawer.  We also are looking at Samsung or LG washers and dryers.  If anyone has any recommendations, we would love to know!

Here is a picture from Saturday night...

Friday afternoon pics

Looks like a house!

A "Hole" Lotta Progress!

What a difference a day makes!  As of this morning, we now have a second floor and they are starting to put the roof on.  The weather is looking pretty iffy over the next 4 days, so we are worried it will stop the rapid progress.  If all goes as planned, they will continue the framing and be finished either tomorrow or Monday.  Shingles come Monday and will be put on Tuesday.  Then the electricians, plumbers, HVAC, etc. will come and do their thing.  We are running 2-3 days behind what they said last week, but said that they will make up the time and we are still slated for June 11-15.  So, please pray for NO rain...at least until the roof is all shingled!

Here are some pics from last night and this morning.  Cannot wait to go up there tonight and see the progress in person!

Thursday Afternoon-Back of House

Thursday Afternoon-Front of House

Friday Morning

Friday Morning

Week 4-A "Hole" Lotta Drama!

Originally, the framing of our house was to begin last Thursday.  The crew was working another project and it was pushed to Monday.  Monday came and we were so excited...but alas, nothing was done.  Our project manager, who is brutally honest, said the crew was actually missing in action.  No one could find them.  We joked around that they were at a bar somewhere, but we then found out that something happened with OSHA and they weren't able to go back to work yet.  I don't even want to know why OSHA was involved!  Tuesday came.  No crew.  Ugh!  Finally, Tuesday night around 6 PM, a crew shows up and begins.  Obviously, they didn't get a ton done since it was the end of the day.  That brings us to Wednesday.  A nice, rainy Wednesday.  Finally, a little progress was made.  Not a whole lot, but it looked like they sorted out the lumber and made a plan of where everything was to go.  Soooo...here we are Thursday.  My sister sent me pictures around 9 AM and boy are they motivated today!  I cannot wait to see what it looks like by the end of the day!  Here are some pics...

Tuesday-One lonely worker in the rain

Tuesday, Back of House (not much to see)

End of day Wednesday

Thursday Morning-Back of House

Thursday Morning-OMG Walls!

Week 3-Slabs, Backfill & Lumber

Got Wood?  We do!  And a LOT of it!  And we also have garage and basement slabs this week.  They also pushed the dirt back up against the house and slightly graded the hills on the side of the house.  I didn't realize they would be quite so steep...could be good for sledding, though!

They were supposed to start framing on Thursday, but the framer was delayed, so it will start Monday now.  Should be framed by Thursday.  The HVAC company will come on Friday.  The following week will be Plumber on Monday, Electrician on Tuesday, Security/Wiring company on Wednesday, then the Pre-Drywall Meeting!  Pray for good weather!

Here are some pics:



Garage Slab



Basement Slab (makes basement look so small!)



Right side of house



Left side of house



Lots O'Wood



Other side of wood



Our "hole" from the road