Colors Appointment Today

     Our colors appointment was today. Boy did we go over a lot of stuff! I'll start with the feedback we received to our non standard requests. 

• We asked for a full stone front: No
• We asked for a double oven and gas cooktop: No
• We asked for a drawer stack in the kitchen instead of one of the cabinets: No
• We asked for the storage room in the basement to be finished as well: Yes - $4,150

      We are still waiting for some information on our stairs and upstairs flooring.

     I learned that putting the cabinets I love in the upstairs hall bath automatically puts them in the basement bath. Hooray! I love that I was able to do oil rubbed bronze cabinet hardware, interior hardware, and plumbing fixtures. The brushed nickel will not be residing in my house! The proposed start date is November 23rd. It can not come soon enough for me. 

     Julie was phenomenal! She's very meticulous which brought me peace of mind. She's a great compliment to Gary. We spent a few hours today making sure everything was exactly the way it should be. While we have a few things to finalize, we're mostly done and I am relieved the decision making part is coming to an end. It's been fun, but also quite stressful.

     Thursday we meet with Guardian and finalize our stuff with Julie. After that we have our pre-construction meeting with our project manager, Ben. We have heard amazing things about Ben. I am glad he will be the one looking over the construction of our house. 

     I'm really praying my stairs come through the way I want. *fingers crossed*

This Just In...

I just noticed that many of the entries on my blogs fall under the category "Weird true story."

That is all.

Monday Update: Colors & More

     Today we went to meet with Gary and make decisions about colors that we can't make on Saturday during our real colors appointment. (It's a long story) We did a bunch of change orders and it took the whole two hours with Gary. Then, at five o'clock the loan officer arrived and we had our meeting with him. It wasn't as bad as a lot of people said it would be.  It lasted a long time, though. By the time we were done we were drained.

     The loan officer told us our close date: February 6th! Somehow hearing that made me twice as happy as I already was. We have only a couple of things left to do then it's the waiting. I'm officially excited. I don't know how I'm going to wait until close. How does everyone do it? Thankfully, the holidays will be here so they will make time pass faster, right?

For Everything (turn, turn, turn).. There Is A Season

Suck: Feeling impatient!

Rock: Something so wonderful is happening in your life you are feeling impatient about it. (They don't call it 'feeling like a kid at Christmas' for nothing.)

All The News That's Fit To Tell

Plenty of storage in the kitchen

   
     Since I was in the neighborhood today I stopped by the model home and talked to Gary. Bless his heart, he puts up with crazy real well. I spent a considerable amount of time doing non-standard requests with him again today. He's coming around to my way of thinking because he even suggested one himself today. Yay Gary!

     
I have answers back on a couple of my non-standard requests:

* I asked them to change the wall of the master closet/laundry room to give me more closet space.            Answer: Yes    Cost: $25

* I asked them to do a different island for me. I didn't like either island offered with the Ravenna model. Answer: Yes   Cost: $2000

Harry Potter's Room

I have a list of other non-standard requests submitted:

* Double oven and gas cooktop - pending

  One storage room in basement finished - pending (this was Gary's idea!)

* Seat in the master shower - pending re: cost

  Extra outlets in the garage and master closet - pending

* Swap one kitchen cabinet for set of drawers - pending

* Take the stone the rest of the way up the garage for a total stone front - pending

* Wood stairs instead of rough with carpet cover - pending prices 

* Laminate floors upstairs instead of carpet - pending prices  

* According to the local sales reps these things have never been requested for this model before

     I'm sort of waiting for someone, anyone, to tell me I'm not being absurd with the non-standard requests. It's just that I really prefer these things.

Flooring Is Not Boring

     Welcome to today's edition of  "House News." I'll be your host, as usual. Today we met with Jessica the floor girl and we choose all our flooring and tile for the house. It takes a lot longer than I would have thought because there are so many options. I went there knowing what I was going to do, but nearly every decision I had already made was changed before we were finished. The one thing I know you are all wondering about ( I mean, really, how did you get any sleep?) is the cabinet choice. We settled it today. We are definitely taking the Rushmore cabinets with the maple buttercream glaze. It looks amazing with the floors we chose (which we upgraded while we were at the appointment. It looks amazing with the granite we chose, which we also changed during the appointment. Frankly, pretty much nothing stayed the same as we said it would be going in except the plain old linoleum we kept in the basement bathroom and the laundry room. 

     My kitchen is going to be gorgeous! I'm excited about all the choices we made today. We even decided some things today for the colors meeting we will be having soon. We decide hardware, exterior,  paint and counter tops at that meeting, as far as I know. Now that the decisions are almost done I'm feeling more excited and less overwhelmed. Thank goodness for Jessica, she helped us a lot.

     If anyone else built a Ravenna would you share what non-standard items you requested and how the requests were handled. I don't want to miss out on clever ideas just because I didn't think of them myself.

I Went Back To The Model Home!

     I went back tot he model home to take more pictures today. All of the pictures I named disappeared from the folder. I can not find them anywhere. This is the model of the Ravenna. We have made some different choices. 

Here are a few of the things about it I love:

(Super Happy Kitten) Kitchen

We might end up with the cabinets above. Here are the other cabinets I really, really love:

(Super Happy Kitten) Cabinets:Rushmore Maple Butterscotch

     What do you think? Am I being totally spoiled about the cabinets? I know I can live happily without them, but it doesn't stop me from super loving them. 

Super Sexy Master Bath (I am saying 'super' a lot today, right?)

  
I might really love the Rushmore Maple Butterscotch cabinets in here, too. Totally reasonable, right?

Master shower & toilet

I have a big old crush on the Master Bath.

Ravenna Floor Plans and House News

     We have an appointment to choose our floors tomorrow afternoon. Things are moving right along! Our house is called the Ravenna.

 The floor plans for the house are here:

First Floor

Second Floor

Basement

     I talked to my flooring girl yesterday and she said the upstairs is always done in carpet. She doesn't even have the option for hardwood on the stairs or the second floor. It looks like we will be asking for another "non-standard request."  I think Gary is going to start calling us the non-standard request people. 

     Meanwhile, I am still scouring the internet trying to find a blogger who actually took the Rushmore cabinets I want and see what they think about them.

This Is My Happy News!

    

     Oh boy, I have news to share! We are building a house! It's going to look a lot like the one in the photo. We spent the last two days with our sales representative, going over all the options and putting in our special requests. We still have to choose the flooring and colors and do a few other things, but the structural things are all decided. We are going through Ryan Homes and getting the Ravenna model. I'm so excited that I feel numb. I wonder if anyone else experienced this feeling?

    

     I am very seriously considering a different cabinet color called Rushmore Maple Butterscotch Glaze. They are real wood vs. veneers and oh-so-pretty. 

     We got to make so many decisions in the past two days that we can hardly see straight. We realize there are still many more choices to make. I got the bathroom of my dreams with a jetted tub, double sinks, a separate shower with a built in bench and a closed off  area for the toilet which I will refer to as the toilet closet until I think of an acceptable name for it. I am probably the most excited about the master bath and the kitchen. I plan to spend most of my awake time in those two rooms. 

     Here are the basics, for anyone who is interested: 

• 6 bedrooms, 3 full baths, and laundry room upstairs. 
• Living room, dining room, family room, kitchen with dinette, office, mud room/area and powder room downstairs.
• Finished basement with a large unfinished storage area and a full bath.
• Two car garage. 

     I feel like this is perfect for us for now and when the kids are out and start families of their own it will have space for grandchildren to stay.  When those grandchildren get too big to sleep over maybe we'll move to a house with less bedrooms and a giant living/dining area. We'll see. That's a decade or two down the line for us.

     This is my happy news!