OMG!! 16 days!!!

I cannot believe how quickly time has passed since we started building!  So far, I am loving all of our choices and the only thing left really to see inside is the carpet, which is being put in as we speak!

This week will be carpeting, toilets, touch-ups and punch-outs.  Apparently, punch-outs refer to the general leveling of doors and other various items to QC.  They will also be tiling the laundry room floor.  Apparently, there was confusion with the laundry room flooring.  We originally factored into the cost that we would get ceramic tile.  But, to save money, we chose the resilient flooring.  Well, somehow, we were still charged for the tile upgrade.  It's too late to change things financially now, so we are going with the tile.

We finally bit the bullet and bought ceiling fans and kitchen pendant lights.  I seriously looked for 20 hours online until I was literally insane from staring at pictures of fans and lights.  Not being able to take it anymore, I did something that I was trying to avoid.  Yep, I hit up the big box stores and bought a fan my hubby loved for the Morning Room and a fan that I loved for the Master Bedroom.  We both really liked these red/orange/ivory pendant lights, so we picked those up, too.  The electrician was kind enough to hang them for us, which was awesome!  Pics are below...

I am hoping to go and see the carpet today, but I am not sure I will because I am still exhausted from the weekend and should do some laundry and pack.  Ugh.  I despise the whole moving process!  However, I LOVE getting ready to move to a new, awesome house!

Putting on the stone!

Close-Up of stone-LOVE IT!

Morning Room Ceiling Fan

Granite counter and tile floors

Island lights (and mom & Brynn running out of the picture!)

Another kitchen pic

Kitchen and Morning Room

Close-Up of Pendant Light

Stone fireplace (still wet)

Fixture above stair landing

Ceiling Fan in Master-Love it!

Lighting in Master Bath (standard)

Pretty tiling in Master Bath

Shower

Another beautiful sunset!

Nailed, Floored, & Stoned

This past week has brought a crazy amount of progress inside!  Since I never posted pics or blogged last week, below are some pictures of the house after the drywall went up and the cabinetry went in.

Yesterday, we went up to see what was going on and were pleased to see that all of the tile was done and the granite was in.  The hardwood floors were also in.  Everything looked great, but we couldn't see too well or take any pictures because it was a bit late and very rainy/gross outside.

The stone fireplace was put up inside and today they are putting up the stone on the front.  I am DYING to go see it in person!

So, everything is really turning out well!  You just never know how it's all going to look together when you are picking everything out from a little snippet of a sample.  My hubby said that he thought the grouting in the kitchen/morning room looked a bit pinkish...I need to see it in the light...I am not into pink grout!  Or maybe he just needs a vision check...haha...

We dropped off 2 ceiling fans and 3 pendant lights by the house last night.  Our super nice electrician is putting them in for us.  We ended up getting the fans pictured below.

Will post pics of the tiling and stone as soon as we get some!

Master Bath-Uba Tuba granite & butterscotch cabinets

View of street

Pete posing with the kitchen cabinets & the morning room

Family pic in front of fireplace pre-stone

Front of house (duh!) 

Back of house

Side of house-land was graded again

Sunset view out the Morning Room

First and last time we see all 0's here!

We have a paved driveway and sidewalk!

Fan for Morning Room with an 18" downrod

Fan for Master Bedroom

Pendant lights in the kitchen (3 in total)

Boxes, Boxes, New Fridge & did I mention, Boxes!

I have been a bit of a blogging slacker this week.  Since there was nothing interesting to report, I figured I would zip it for a bit.

The PM called this morning and told us the 2nd coat of paint was going on today, the power is connected,  the front concrete has been poured and the cabinets are in the kitchen and bathroom.  (Going tonite to check this all out and will have pictures!)

Coming up next week is the stone (yeah!!!!), ceramic flooring, wood flooring, and installation of the lights and toilets by the end of the week.  The granite may also come next week.  We are still on track to settle June 14!

Today I picked up some gently used boxes from the movers we hired.  If you are in the Maryland/DC/Balto area, Moyer and Sons rock!  I know many people that recommend them and today I went and they loaded my entire Jeep up with gently used boxes of all sizes and even showed me what each were for.  All for free, which is a bonus!  They also bring 10 wardrobes the day of your move and put your clothes in them so that is one less thing to pack.  (In our case, a LOT less to pack!  My baby has more clothes than me!)  So, this weekend, my parents are coming over and we are going to pack like crazy!  This is all getting so real!

The one major thing to report this week is we purchased our refrigerator last night!  It's the mack daddy of all fridges and the one we have been lusting after since this whole process began.  We actually went in to buy another more affordable fridge, but they had our dream fridge on an open box special at Best Buy and they took off over $1K because it had a couple tiny dings in it!  SOLD!  Yes, it's the one with the touch screen and apps.  Totally cool.  It even has a feature where you can pick an item from the screen and put the expiration date on it so it will alert you when things are about to go bad.  Also, it has Pandora, Epicurious (with recipes, shopping list, etc), Google Calendar, Twitter, AP News, WeatherBug, Notepad (where you write with your finger), Photo Gallery, etc. etc.  Yes, we realize this is soooo unnecessary, but my cute geeky hubby is super psyched (and I will admit I am, too!)

Here are a few pics of our new stainless steel baby:

Let the countdown begin...

Exactly 1 month till the walk-thru!  Craziness!  I haven't even started packing...the whole idea of moving all of my belongings really stresses me out.  Ugh.

The new house is looking good!!  The siding is up and the drywall is done.  Here's what's coming up:
Tomorrow or Monday-First coat of paint inside the house
Tuesday-The framing around the doors, floor boards, etc.
Wednesday thru Friday-Something they call a drywall point-up (whatever that is) and a 2nd coat of paint

The following week, around May 21st, the ceramic and hard wood floors will be laid.  Cannot wait to see the tile, especially!

So far, knock on wood, everything is still on schedule and we are scheduled to close June 14.

Here are some pics of the siding and drywall.  I do realize that they are a bit boring, but I like looking at them anyway!  Pete still thinks the siding is supposed to be gray...and thinks they gave us the wrong one...  Men.

Pretty new siding...ugly gray day

Contrast with the white

Sunroom

View of siding from sunroom

Kitchen

Family Room

Kitchen and Sun Room

Hallway

Living Room

Stairs Going Up

Upstairs

Brynn's Room

Brynn's Closet

Guest Room

Pete's Office

Pete's Office again

Walk-In Closet

Master Bedroom

Master Bath

Master Bath

Upstairs Hallway

Going back down

Keep going down

Stone for outside

Drywall & Siding...All Codes Abiding!

We went in our house this week, but nothing much new to show, so I didn't take pictures.  Turns out, the Fypon oval was just nailed there for when the stone mason comes and he will put it in the right place.  I am relieved about that, for sure!  I didn't think that trend would catch on.

When we visited last week, we let one of our dogs loose to tour around the house and I am pretty sure she marked her territory in the hallway outside the master bedroom.  Step off sista...that's our room!

Yesterday, the drywall was all put up...it appears they did the entire house in one day, which is pretty impressive.  When my mom drove by, she said that the siding was delivered, but there was no one there to put it on as of  yet.  I haven't see our siding in person on an actual house, so I am very anxious.  We got Stone Mountain Clay...Pete seems to recall it is gray and I thought it had more of a brownish hue.  Either one should be fine with the stone.

We figured the first things we need to do in the new house are:
1.  Get the utilities all scheduled
2.  Finalize loan paperwork & home insurance
3.  Order the washer/dryer (DONE-we found a great deal on a floor model LG washer/dryer from Sears...they were on clearance plus we got an additional 15% off during the 3 hour friends and family event...and did I mention they are red?!?!  Maybe having a red washer will make it more fun to do laundry?  One can hope...  I included a picture below)
4.  Order refrigerator (We want the fun Samsung one pictured below with french doors and extra mini-drawer, with the touchscreen and apps...but we will see what we can get the best deal on)
5.  Buy Granite sealer
6.  Buy Epoxy and apply to garage floor before moving in
7.  Hire a moving company
8.  Beg my friends/family for help packing!

Just to vent for a bit, I HATE SELLING my current house.  My real estate agent rocks, but the economy doesn't, so I am left paying more to get out of my current house than I am on the down payment of the new house.  Sick, isn't it?

Vent over.  On to the appliance pics:

Well hello there red laundry pair!

Dream refrigerator!

Framing...check! Inspections...check! Excitement...check, check, check!

This week we did our Pre-Drywall meeting with our PM.  It went pretty well.  Noticed a few things here and there...like one of the data wires was put in the wrong room, there were some gaps that you could see sunlight thru in the sunroom, there were some wires that were next to a sharp metal object we were concerned about...just piddly stuff.  The inspectors came thru this week...for the county, energy star, etc., and we got the all clear!  The drywall was delivered today...  We are going up this weekend to take some "behind the walls" pictures so we don't nail into a pipe or something later on.

Coming up this week...
Drywall installation all next week with the framer coming next Tuesday
Siding will be put up on Tuesday (they said it would take a day or 2 tops)

We are still on track with a June 11 final walk-thru and a June 14 settlement.  Whoa...that is next month!

Many people that drove by our house have been concerned about a weird decorative oval vented fypon (aka decoration) that was nailed between the 2 downstairs windows.  It does look pretty ridiculous as you will see in the pictures.  They just put it there until the stone mason arrives and can put it up where it belongs at the peak of the house.  (Thank goodness...)

Also, one of the construction workers must have been tired or dizzy or sloppy, but the decorative trim pieces around our front door look like crapola.  Especially the right side.  See the picture.  This will be fixed...oh yes, it will be fixed.

We will post some more pics this weekend if we get up there to take the "behind the walls" shots.  Part of me wants to take a can of spray paint and start writing various upgrades in paint on the walls to see what happens.

No Smoking People!  Or else!

Weird fypon in the middle of the windows...maybe we will start a trend!

Ugh...not straight