3 days!!

We have 3 days left until settlement Friday! Woohoo! I can't do a count down like others have done because we are looking forward to EVERYTHING...having our own space again, not sharing a room with 2 cats & a dog, unpacking our belongings from storage (they've been there for 10 months!), getting back to a routine...oh I could go on and on.

Our PM emailed over the weekend to ask that our walk through be changed to Friday morning. He assured me that if anything needed to be fixed, he'd be able to get it done before the quality inspection 2-4 weeks after closing. I'm sure he'll come through. He's been awesome so far

We bought the last of the appliances yesterday. They'll be delivered Saturday. We bought a KitchenAid side-by-side stainless steel fridge and a Whirlpool mircowave (with the clean release coating on the inside). The KitchenAid fridge was our #1 pick and the Whirlpool Gold was our #2. We've been watching them for weeks but neither has gone on sale & they were only $100 price difference. We saved 15% with the friends & family special at Sears. It was still a little more than we wanted to pay, but we figure we'll have it for a long time and we got amazing deals on everything else...it kinda evened out

We are very unhappy with our "upgraded" oven. It's so ugly. It's mostly black plastic with stainless accents. It looks super cheap. I'm nervous that my husband will break the plastic knobs the first time he uses them. Hopefully sales rep will be able to do something. I'd even be willing to pay the difference for another oven. It's the only thing that we are really unhappy with...

The last time we were at the house was right after Thanksgiving. Everything was still dirty and covered up with paper or protective wrap. We love the landscaping they did and can't wait to see everything clean & beautiful inside!

Our dog, Decklan, really enjoyed the warm weather! He's very excited about his new digs!

Count down!

We have a little over 2 weeks to go until closing. We can't even contain ourselves.
The outside of the house is done. We are still waiting on a driveway and of course grading/sod. We are SO happy with how it turned out. I think we're going to paint the frame around the small window black. It looks like the odd window out!

Our fireplace was put in over this past weekend. It's still wet in this picture. It dried to a light gray in between the rocks. Can't wait to have a fire going on Christmas! 

Our island is now in the right spot and granite is on! It's so pretty.

This week, they are putting in the flooring

Good deals!

We got out settlement date in the mail this past week - Dec 9th!! It'll be here before we know it! The tile was put in the bathrooms and laundry, the whole house was painted, and our granite was installed. We are so happy with the color!
We STILL don't have siding on the house, but it was delivered over the weekend. We are hoping to see it up this week! Once we have siding, I'll update the pictures :)

We took advantage of some MAJOR pre-holiday sales. Ashley furniture was having a half off sale and the couch/love seat we wanted was already half off. We ended up paying 1500 for a couch, loveseat, and 2 end tables, free delivery, plus a 5 yr warranty that covers pet stains and tears (my dog is allowed on the furniture!). Every single seat reclines and it's super cozy.


We also bought a washer/dryer set. It's a platinum Samsung front loader - originally $1599.00 a piece. After sales and discounts, we got them for $693.00 a piece (pretax). WOW!



I can't wait to go black Friday shopping!! We are hoping to get just as good of a deal on our fridge and microwave.

We have doors!

I stopped by the house yesterday after work. We have doors on rooms and closets, trim, window sills, and our cabinets are being put in! It looks beautiful!
The kitchen island is sitting in the morning room. I can't wait to see it all come together!!

My attempt at a picture of the master bath. They put up our mirrors & cabinets before painting. Is this normal??

I was surprised that the railing on the stairs goes all the way up! Love it!

It's beginning to look like a real house!

I stopped by this weekend and all the drywall had been hung. So cool to see all the rooms!! For those unfamiliar with the Venice model - this is from the kitchen looking into the living room. Morning room w/sliders is to the left.

I was so excited I purchased 6 blinds (on sale at JC Penny's). Faux wood blinds will go in master bedroom & window in stairwell. Cordless cellular will go in office & in master bedroom closet

On schedule for this week:

• Half brick (should be done today!)
• Begin inside painting
• Gas & electric should be hooked up by friday
• Stone fireplace work begins friday

Almost forgot - we locked in today!! 4.0!! WOW!

Inspection

Our 3rd party inspector caught windows that were wrapped incorrectly on the back of the house. Our PM agreed that they were done incorrectly and that he'd have them fixed. The inspector said everything else looked good and the quality was much better than he usually sees with new builds. He was pretty impressed! The inspector fields questions on a weekly radio show and seems really knowledgeable. Very reasonable price to pay for our peace of mind.

On another note, Guardian placed the wiring panel incorrectly in the basement and an outlet on the wrong stud in the living room. The guy came out last week and spray painted in green where my hub wanted it all to go, but they still got it wrong. Hopefully they can fix it! We haven't heard back from them yet.

We went out to the house Saturday to look at everything in detail without the distraction of the workers and discovered that we were missing our laundry tub upstairs. They didn't accidentally place it in the basement either. It seems they just forgot it. We sent the PM an email before we left the house Saturday. When my hub went for the inspection yesterday, the plumbers were back doing the pipes for the laundry tub. Yay! So glad we caught that!

Garage door already!

We got a garage door, but aren't locked out. The front door still doesn't have a lock.

We decided to get a 3rd party inspection for the pre-drywall only. The inspector only charged $185 and for my peace of mind, it's worth it. My hub is meeting him & our PM on Monday and will have a list of concerns so he can double check...mainly the huge knots in a few of the wood pieces and the large gaps between the outside panels. We're heading there tomorrow morning to look at everything in detail to see if we need to add anything else to the list.