The Homestretch

We're a little more than a week out from our final walk-through.  This means that things are really starting to kick into gear as we near the finish line.

August 26: We've got (or can get) mail!

On Saturday (per our new routine), we drove down to the house to check out all the progress that had been made since last week. 

Both the front door and garage were locked for the first time in our house build process, so we had to sneak in through our walk-up french doors in order to get in. I'm guessing next time we visit we may not get so lucky as I hear they tend to lock everything down once the appliances go in.

When we approached the house, we noticed immediately that the crew had been hard at work on the exterior of the house.  We now have a driveway and a paved walkway that leads up to the porch and front door.  Things are bit dirty as it's still a construction zone, but I'm looking forward to seeing it all come together with the landscaping.

August 26: Freshly paved driveway. Grass still pending.

August 26: New brick paved walkway to the porch.

August 26: French doors outside basement walk-up stairs.

When we walked in, we were greeted with freshly painted walls and flooring. Everything was covered up in plastic for the most part, but I was still able to lift it up to take a peak of the hardwood, carpet and vinyl underneath. 

August 26: Hardwood flooring.

August 26: Wooden stairs and balusters.

August 26: Carpet is laid down in the bedrooms and basement.

August 26: Vinyl in the laundry room.

In addition to flooring, other final touches are being installed. In the kitchen, the backsplash tile is done, the island is coming along, and we now have a faucet and sink. We also have a near complete powder room on the main floor.

August 26: Kitchen backsplash is complete. Very happy with how this turned out.

August 26: The kitchen island now has legs. Granite to come.

August 26: Oil-rubbed bronze kitchen faucet.

August 26: Fireplace

August 26: Powder room on main level.

Upstairs and downstairs, the non-flooring progress mostly took place in the bathrooms.  All of the bathrooms now have faucets, lights, shower heads and more. The master bathroom also now has a shower surround, though it looks like it is still being installed as it wasn't steady when I took the photo.

August 26: Master bathroom double sink vanity.

August 26: Master bathroom shower with glass surround.

That's it for this round. Hopefully, next time I post we'll have some photos of a finished island, appliances and grass to share.

August 26: Exterior of the house

Happy building!

I Think I Spy Tiling and Granite...

After nudging my husband incessantly about the need for more photos, he finally caved and drove us out to the house on Saturday.

All of our previous visits were a shock, but this visit was especially exciting since some of the "fun" stuff is starting to get installed. Plumbing and dry-wall are great and all, don't get me wrong, but it's hard to compare seeing pipes and plain white walls, with seeing items like tiling and granite go in. 

Both changes are dramatic, but it's an extra level of excitement when you see the finishes you picked start to come to life in your new home. If you are a worry wart like me, it also alleviates any concerns you had about all those decisions you had to make in rapid fire succession back at the 14 and 30 day marks.

Now let's talk progress on the exterior of the house. We finally have railing on our front porch! Woohoo! Isn't it pretty? I'm a huge fan, and the porch is actually a really nice size with plenty of space for furniture, decorations, and more. 

Our carriage lights and automatic garage door opener were also installed since our last visit, and it looks like the final grading in our backyard was done.  As I understand it, that process basically smooths everything out so that water flows properly away from the house and also allows the grass and landscaping they put in later to sit nicely.

August 19: Our lovely new porch railings and street address numbers are up.

August 19: Carriage garage lights are installed.

August 19: Automatic garage door opener is in.

August 19: Freshly graded backyard. 

On the inside, it looks like our PM and crew have been quickly ticking through their list of to-dos. I actually snapped a picture of their notes and instructions as I found it weirdly interesting.

August 19: Making a list, checking it twice.

Walking through the first floor of house, we noticed new light fixtures, towel racks and toilet paper holders, partial granite in the kitchen, the start of our kitchen backsplash tiling, fireplace, alarm system panels, pantry shelves, and more. Our kitchen island remains a work in progress, but I'm beginning to suspect that might not be finished until the flooring goes in.

August 18: Our marble subway tile backsplash is a work in progress, but the under cabinet lighting is done.

August 19: Check out all that beautiful kitchen storage.

August 19: Pantry shelving. 

August 19: Remote controlled fireplace. This is going to be so nice in the winter.

August 19: Let there be (recessed) light!

August 19: Guardian alarm system panel.

Upstairs, we also noticed a ton of work had been done. Both the guest bathroom and master bathroom had tiling and flooring go in, as well as light fixtures.

August 19: Subway tile in master bathroom shower is almost done.

August 19: Close up of the seat addition.

August 19: Master bathroom flooring. Much prettier in person.

August 19: Guest bathroom

August 19: Close-up of guest bathroom tile on second floor.

August 19: Bathroom lighting. Will likely switch this out for something more modern later.

August 19: Oil rubbed bronze towel rack and toilet paper holder.

August 19: Light fixture above stairway.

There are officially two weeks to go before our final walk-through.  Hopefully we get some flooring and a finished kitchen island installed this week.

Till next time!

Cabinets, Counter Tops, and Crown Molding...Oh My!

On Saturday, we swung by the house to check on the progress that had been made since our last visit.

We were fortunate enough to have Adam's dad join us on this day, which made the experience all the more special since he had not been by the lot since the day we signed our paperwork.  Needless to say, he was pretty shocked at how quickly everything has moved.

August 12: View from the garage area out to our front street. 

Actually getting into the house this day was a little bit of an adventure. It was raining cats and dogs the night before so the entire front yard had basically turned into one big muddy quick sand box. 

Once we made it in, were blown away to see crown molding, cabinets and more up.  Even the staircase railing was in the beginning stages of being stained and painted.

For the first time, we really started to get a glimpse into how our selections for the house were shaping up. I knew I would love the white cabinets, but was admittedly still a little unsure about the stone counter top selections in the bathrooms. Luckily, they turned out great so no concerns on that end.

I'm hoping that on our next visit, we'll see some tiling, a finished gourmet island and our granite counter tops in.

August 12: Kitchen cabinets and molding are officially in. Gourmet island is still a work in progress.

August 12: It was a nice surprise to see that the kitchen cabinets have pull-out shelves built-into them.

August 12: Future pantry space. Shelves will be added in over the next couple of weeks.

August 12: Wiring behind the drywall is in.

August 12: Staircase railing and balusters are being painted and stained.

August 12: Master bedroom tray ceiling has crown molding in.

August 12: Master bathroom dual sink vanity with meteorite stone vanity top installed.

The After: A Drywall and Siding Makeover

Our drywall is up! Woohoo!

We swung by the house on Monday, and were shocked to see the house with full siding on the outside and full drywall on the inside. This made such a huge difference in the way things looked. It's almost a house now.

In related news, grading on our backyard is apparently set to begin as well.  There is a slight delay happening on this front because apparently the crew is going to need to remove our a/c unit to get the construction equipment in the yard since our neighbors recently put up a fence and there isn't enough space to drive it over.

While creating some temporary issues for the builder, the fence is good news for us and our neighbors. It's good for us since we should be able to work out a deal with them to build off their existing fence (thus saving us the expense of one whole side of labor/material costs).  It's even better for them since they don't have to worry about construction crews wrecking havoc on their lovely grass. Win, win.

We also learned this week that our final settlement walkthrough is set for Wednesday, September 6, 2017. Since this is less than four weeks away, we really need to get going on finding an independent inspector to give everything an extra eye. I'm sure they won't find anything major as Ryan Homes has a really solid reputation in the Potomac Shores community, but the money we spend will be well worth it for peace of mind.

Our official closing date will be three weeks after the settlement walkthrough. We're a little unique as most folks tend to close and settle on the same day since that's when you get your keys.  We opted to push our closing back so as to limit the amount of overlap between when our lease ends and our mortgage payments begin. No regrets on the decision to do so since that will give us a bigger budget for furniture, a fence and patio, washer/dryer, etc.

Our lease runs through the end of October, which is perfect since we have lots of home improvement projects, like painting and molding installation, that we want to do before we officially move all of our stuff over to the new house.

Photos of our home post drywall makeover below.

August 7: The siding and shutters are up.

August 7: A view of our dining room with a fresh coat of drywall.

August 7: A look at the kitchen from the living room.

August 7: The living room and fireplace with cut-outs for our tv mount.

August 7: The staircase up to the second floor.

August 7: Master bedroom with tray ceiling.

August 7: Master closet

August 7: Master bathroom

August 7: Guest bedroom two

August 7: Guest bedroom three. Forgot to take shot of  the fourth.

August 7: French doors leading out to the yard from the basement

August 7: Basement family room

August 7: Stack of doors that will be installed in the next few days