Next time we go out to the house we'll have keys!!

The last time I was out to the house was Wednesday morning.  Our PM had said our inspection would be Friday or Monday so we figured going out there on Saturday (our last time until closing) it would be pretty much done.  Well, not quite.  It looks like they maybe stopped working Wednesday because not much has changed. It was a little disappointing...ok a lot disappointing...but it will make closing day all that more exciting since things should be a lot different!

When we went out Saturday we were locked out as usual but this time we were REALLY locked out because the sales-rep wasn't in the model home to give us keys.  I think he's late pretty frequently so I'm pretty glad we won't need to go there anymore.  They are supposed to open at 11am and we got there about 11:15 and ended up driving around until 11:45 or so before he came in.  Since we had time to waste we stopped out at the subdivision/golf course's pool to show the kids.  It'll be really  nice to be able to take the kids down here when they get bored during the moving/painting stage.  They are going to start building the club-house in September so I'm looking forward to seeing that too! 

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Here are the pictures of the changes since the last time I was at the house...looks like they are going to have a busy week to get it done before our closing/walkthrough on Friday!

Garden tub faucet was installed (it's super wiggly so I think it still needs caulked or tightened)

Showing we still don't have carpet in the family room...

We also have a cabinet door removed so maybe that was damaged.

Front door was painted but the pillars still need done.

Front of the house-the cable box was moved over but we still need the final grading, landscaping, and touch ups.

There are a good amount of things that still need done before closing.  Some chips in cabinets and window molding, the morning room roof still has a slight dip, squeeks in the floor, lights and doorknobs need installed upstairs, kitchen faucet needs installed (it was stolen so the PM had to buy a new one!!!), stove needs installed, broken window needs replaced, carpet needs finished, touch ups and cleaning to be done and I'm hoping they'll be putting in the lazy susan and microwave rack because both are missing.  Fingers crossed that all these things will be finished!!!

We've also been spending some more time shopping.  Wow is there a lot to buy and do when you build new!  We decided on the cabinet knobs/pulls for the bathrooms.  I really suggest getting your own cabinet/pulls.  Ryan charges $200 and installs just basic pulls (you only can choose the finish).  We were able to get a lot nicer pulls/knobs and still came out around $175.  We also bought the ceiling fans, mudroom bench, and window seat for the living room/office and decided most of the paint colors.


  This week we'll be trying to refinish the dining room table and china-cabinet (hopefully!).  Our closing is Friday morning, Final walk-through is right afterward, and then we get our keys.  Saturday-Friday we will spend painting, installing light fixtures/fans, and cabinet knob/pulls and taking boxes over each day.  Saturday the 18th will be the big move in day!!!  We can't wait!!!

Almost our last visit!

I stopped out at the house today.  We have just over a week until we get the keys!  We'll hopefully stop out at the house one more time and after that it's ours!  Here's pictures of the changes I saw today...

 Carpet is in except for the family room

Armstrong Sedona Cherry next to Shaw Initiator (both very dirty!)

The toilet and pedestal sink our now in the downstairs powder room, still waiting on the mirror

 Door handles are in downstairs, upstairs they are in boxes by each door ready to be installed

The family room has carpet pad down.

 I'm looking forward to seeing this carpet because it's the only room we upgraded padding/carpet.

The dishwasher is in.

The carpet is installed upstairs as well.

The playroom now with carpet.  They still haven't installed lights in here or the kids bedrooms.

The master-bathroom glass shower-encloser and garden tub are now installed.

Love it!  So glad we decided to do this upgrade!

My only concern is we don't have an access panel.  In the model it was on the front of the tub, since ours was tiled I assumed it would be in the master-closet like some other blogs have had but it's not there either....not sure how we will access the plumbing if needed.

Running water (kind of, it was probably just turned on because it was sputtering!)

The door stoppers were all out in the kitchen so they probably will be installed soon.

Looking from the kitchen to the front door-can't wait until the flooring is all uncovered!

Looking from the front door to the back of the house, stairs are to the left.

Last on the list-finish the carpet and door handles, install stove and kitchen faucet, install the powder room mirror, paint the front door and pillars, fixing up mistakes and the broken windows, and final grading and landscaping.  Our PM said our final inspection will be this Friday or next Monday.  We get our keys next Friday!

Less than 2 weeks until closing! Progress pics and shopping trips!

We had a great productive 3 days this weekend!  Saturday, Dan's parents took the kids for a few hours so we could do some appliance shopping.  If you've ever been appliance shopping you know it was a looong few hours! 

I hate how some stores are like car-dealerships.  The sales-people pounce on you as soon as you walk in and they never leave you alone!  Then the negotiating begins..."let me talk to the manager", "ok, let's check online and see what prices you'll get elsewhere",  "well, how much do you think this is worth?", "this is our best price.  Oh it's not good enough?  Let me talk to the manager again.".  Seriously?!  Just give me your best price and stop wasting time!  So anyway, we knew what we wanted, checked a few stores, and ended up with a great deal from Best Buy.  I highly suggest going there for appliances.  No high-pressure salesman, no screwing around, just "how much do you want to pay? Ok let me see if we can do that?". Done.  We ended up getting a Samsung 29cubic feet, stainless-steel, french-door with ice in the door.  Love it!  Bigger than we expected to be able to get and under our set-budget because we got $1200 off!!!  Yes, you read that correct.  I'm a good negotiator;) 

Then my Mom came to watch the kids for Sunday and Monday.  We did a ton of shopping.  It was so nice to go just the two of us and really be able to take our time and think without all of the kids.  We got all of the curtain-rods, all of the curtains for down-stairs and the master-bedroom, new bedding, the morning-room light fixture, and a couple lamps for the master bedroom.  The best deal of the weekend was the china-cabinet for the craft room.  I've been looking for one to store craft supplies and homeschooling stuff for Connor.  We wanted to get something second-hand and paint and refinish it.  I found one the perfect size for the wall with great storage space at Seconds City.  It's a second-hand store by us that drops the price 1% for every day the item is there.  Well, since we've been so crazy busy when I looked at the date the china-cabinet got there I was thinking it would be 60% off.  But, when I went to pay the cashier said "$17.80 including tax".  I had to have them repeat themselves and thought they meant "$70.80".  Nope, I just bought a china cabinet for $17!!!!  Apparently, it's July not June (see what I mean I don't even know what month it is!).  It was 90% off not 60%!!!  Super-score! 

Also, on Sunday we took my parents out to the house to see the progress.  We were excited to see the flooring had been started!  It wasn't supposed to start until Monday so this was a nice surprise!  We chose Armstrong Sedona-Cherry for the foyer, hall, mudroom, powder room, kitchen, and morning room. That was all complete! The carpet will probably be put in the beginning of this week.  We also met a new neighbor!  The lot next to us just got sold and they were checking out the stakes when we were there.  It is a retired couple that is building a PISA.  They have four adult children so I'm hoping for visiting grandchildren sometimes!

A HUUUGE thanks to our parents for all of their help! We had a great weekend and are feeling much better about the few things we still need to do.

And lastly, in our current house news...Our house was listed online last Tuesday afternoon.  On Thursday we got a call to do a showing on Friday.  The people that saw the house Friday loved it and filled out the application.  They also asked to move in early (right after we move instead of Sept1) and to sign a 2 or 3 year lease!  We found out on Monday the application/background/credit check was approved!  So now, we are finalizing the lease and if all goes well we should have it signed this week!  What a huge blessing!  One showing and not even a week of being listed!  Moving in early so we get a little extra income and signing a long lease so we don't need to find renters again for a few years!  It couldn't have went better (as long as the lease gets signed!).

Now for pictures!!!

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Armstrong 5.25 in planks (pretty dirty here!)

Armstrong Sedona Cherry shown in morning room

Flooring next to cabinets!  We love it! 

The step is in the garage now.

The kids/guest bath

Wire shelves are now in all the closets (this is the upstairs hallway closet)

Shelves in master closet

We have toilets in all the upstairs bathrooms now (this is the master/water-closet).  The powder-room will probably be completed soon now that the flooring is in down-stairs.

I had to check the size of the garden-tub!  Can you tell my excitement?  Actually that's my normal smile but I am excited to not have jets anymore!  Our current house has a jetted tub and I can't stand cleaning those jets!

Basement has insulation on the walls now.  We'll be using this for the kids to ride bikes and play during the winter until we finish it.

Our a/c is working now but there is a ton of condensation in the basement.  I'm not sure if this is because the house has been so hot and the a/c was just put in or if it's a problem.  We're going to check on this.

A couple other concerns are: a chip in the master bathroom cabinet, a chip in the molding of one of the windows, floor that needs sanded in a bedroom, light fixtures not installed in bedrooms (looks like they confused which lights are complete and which are rough-ins), our kitchen faucet is missing (the PM thinks the plumber has it), and the cable box still hasn't been moved (they said it will be done this week).  All of these will be brought up with the PM and I'm sure they'll be corrected.

Some views from inside....

Little girly's room-you can see the pond and golf-course green here.

View from the play-room-this window has a view of the golf course/pond/street and the other window is of the cul-de-sac

Cul-de-sac from the side master-bedroom window (love the Cross the window made in this pic!  God is sure watching over us!)

The other two master-bedroom windows are of the yard/golf-cart path/wooded area

Front of the house with garage door down and dumpster taken away (still needs pillars and door

painted)

Some things coming next:carpet, powder room (toilet/sink installed), master-bath (glass enclosure installed for shower/ garden tub installed),  kitchen (appliances and faucet installed), exterior (door/pillars painted,  final grading and landscaping)

Some Shopping Trip Items....

Samsung 29 cubic feet fridge- $1200 off!

Master bedding- but we got burgundy/reddish sheets instead of the teal shown

Bedding next to curtains

Morning room light fixture-Portfolio 6-light dark bronze chandelier

$17 china cabinet for the craft room!  We will be painting and distressing it, knocking out some glass, and changing the knobs/pulls.  We'll be storing the little things (crayons, paint, markers) in baskets on the shelving, paper, books, etc will be in the drawers/cabinets. 

Less than 2 weeks until closing!!!!!

A bear named "B" and starting to feel like home!!

It was a crazy week here.  Dan's been gone on a business trip since Saturday morning and it seems like one thing has went wrong after another.  It started with getting the kids bikes and having to assemble them myself with no clue how, then one of our lights fell off the ceiling and hung by wires, the kids weren't sleeping, the car broke down...basically it was just one of those weeks!  So needless to say even though I've had a lot of help from my mother-in-law and my Dad, I've been more tired then usual.  Which may explain my too emotional state right now... 

I had my first pathetic cry like a baby yesterday.  All because our current house is now listed online.  As I was saying in the last post, everything's been feeling a little bittersweet leaving this house.  But it all became real seeing the listing and it's all because of a bear named "B"!  If you look at the link you can see B laying on the floor by the front door in the video...
http://columbusrealestatepros.appfolio.com/listings/listings/f4858543-c126-47b0-bcff-f08b32a821db

Connor has had this bear since birth.  He's slept with him every night and cuddled him since probably 4 or 5 months old.  He named him "B" at around 7 months old and the name stuck.  He still, at almost 5, loves his B and sleeps with him each night.  Well, the video shows B laying on the floor by the front door (even though I had told Connor to bring B with us outside).  I didn't notice he didn't.  And that simple little thing reminded me that we are leaving a lot of "babyhood" behind here.  Every child was brought home to this house.  We had many sleepless nights in this house.  Heard first words and saw first steps being taken.  I know that we will have new memories in the new house and we are definately bringing B along with us.  But seeing B, by the open front door, just symbolized so much for me.  We are closing the door to this part of our lives.

So after being so sad about leaving our house yesterday, I decided I better take a drive out to the new house to make me excited again!  And it sure did the trick! I am in love with our new house. It is starting to look more and more like a home everyday.  We have a driveway, front step, exterior lights, and completed siding and trim.  We now have working interior lights and light fixtures in most rooms.  The simple act of being able to turn on a light really makes it feel more real.  Our microwave has been installed and a lot of the faucets are in as well.  The tile has been completed in the master bath.  We also saw lots of kids playing and walking down the street.  So many exciting things to remind me that even though we are closing one door, the door we will open soon, will be a doorway full of blessings.

 

Our home.  The driveway, walkway, and exterior lights/lamp post are now in.

The front step and walkway

Lights!

Foyer Light

 Dining Room (our craft room).  This chandelier was a nice surprise.  We were supposed to be getting a smaller, simple, 5 light chandelier.  I was excited to see how much nicer this one is!

Some of the recessed lights in the kitchen

Yay! We have a microwave and it vents the stove to the outside of the house!  Our current house doesn't have a vent at all for the stove!  This will be so nice!

Family room-another nice surprise is a lot of our rough-in's actually have fixtures on!  I'm hoping they don't realize this and change it!  This gave us an extra few light fixtures so we won't need to rush to pick out or own or could just keep these!

Guest/Kids bath with lights, cabinets, and faucets (don't mind the crazy person in the mirror!)

Our shower has been tiled.  I love the clean look of the white tiles!  Now if I can keep them white!

The bath has been tiled too and I was excited to see the access panel is not in the front!

Sink faucets are in and granite looks nice with the lights on!

Close up of granite.  It's definately more yellow than the model and I actually like it a lot more!  The model had a lot of pink undertone and I was worried it would look to pink.  This looks pretty nice!

We'll be back out to the house on Saturday.  I can't wait to see what they do next.  It would be so awesome if flooring is in when we come back!!!