Selections and Excitment

Well our little one year olds birthday celebration was so much fun. I am so glad that we were able to have her party in our first home. We haven't even moved and I am already feeling nostalgic. The day after the party I started pulling down pictures and packing up our first floor. My husband thought I was crazy since my Mom hadn't even sold her house yet, but just one week later she had an offer! After a bit of back and forth a contract was made and signed. The very next day we were sitting in our SA's office changing our contract from contigent to non-contigent!! I can't even believe it! Her house was on the market for less than a month and a half. So now we wait for permits and should be getting started soon. In the meantime I thought I would list out all our selections since we had to finialize them all when changing the contract. I will try to be organized about it all as I go along.

Exterior:
*Elevation N - We fell in love with the front porch, metal roof and the multiple siding colors/styles. This was one of our biggest expenses, but we felt it was totally worth it.
*Roof - black
 Main siding - Irish Thistle
 Shingle style siding - Sandy Tan
 Shutters - Brown
 Front door - Fiery Brown
 Brick - Red (can't remember the exact color name since there are three versions of red)
*Garage door upgrade, sod, landscaping, sprinkler system were all incentives included in our hood.
*All lighting/hardware/plumbing fixtures throughout house are oil rubbed bronze

First Floor:
*Family Room/Study carpet - we upgraded to level 2 since it was stain resistant. I can't find our flooing paperwork with names of colors, but it is a version of tan. You will see pics below.
*All other flooring is the level 1 natural colored oak wood.
* Fireplace on side wall of family room with flat screen tv mount above.
*Five speaker in ceiling surround sound with all components for tv wired in the hall coat closet. Hooray for no wires or buttons for little hands to play with!
*Kitchen - Espresso cabinets, molding above cabinets, venetian gold granite, stainless steel appliances, gas range, recessed lights.
*Morning room add on was another incentive.
*Deck - I think its 10x20. It goes to the edge of the house. We also added stairs since we have a dog.

2nd Floor:
*All carpet is level 1. I tried to match it to the family room carpet as close as possible.
*Master bath - Ceramic tile floor and shower/tub surround was an incentive. Again no color names. We did upgrade to level 2 I think. We chose the set up with the shower seat and glass surround.
*Double sinks in both bathrooms in white marble.
*All bathroom cabinetry is also espresso color.
*Laminate flooring in hall bath and laundry.
*Pull down attic access.

Lower Level (My Mom does not approve of it being called the basement):
*All carpet is level 1 in the creamy color.
*Full bath with laminate flooring, espresso cabinet, white ceramic tub surround.
*One wall will have a rough in for plumbing/microwave plug/ect. After closing we are installing an ikea kitchen.
*Larger storage room will also be finished with bi-fold doors leading to the laundry/utility room. No closet will be added, my Mom will just be getting an ikea wardrobe.
*After closing we will finish off the second storage room ourselves.
*Recessed lighting throughout.

I think the only thing I left off is celing fan rough ins in every room except the living room and 4th bedroom.

This is our downstairs flooring. The granite is Tropical Brown which I decided against. Samples in two different model homes varied greatly and I was worried that the kitchen would end up being a black hole.

Here is the master bath tile. We decided to do the listello in the varied lengths instead of all small squares so that you will be able to see the materials and colors better.

And here is a rendering of Elevation N from the Ryan Homes website. The shingles that are scalloped in this pic will just be square on our house and of course the colors will be different too.

Once everything gets rolling I will be back with more updates!

Begin At the Beginning

Well lately I am in an Alice In Wonderland kind of mood. Our daughter is turning 1 on Wednesday and her party on Saturday is a "Clara in Onederland" theme. She is the main reason we wandered over to a Ryan Homes model.

We've been in our current home for 9yrs. We built it and have been quite happy here until our used to feel large enough living room exploded with toys. Even bringing in a steamer trunk I refinished to corral all the mess didn't make much difference. Our first idea was to turn our rarely used dining room into a playroom. The only problem is I couldn't fathom selling my beautiful pottery barn dining room table. Who cares that it's only been used 6 times and if I put both leaves in I couldn't squeeze a toothpick between it and the walls? Right? Some close friends were looking to build and we found out about a neighborhood directly behind ours and decided to check it out. Just for kicks.

The first models we were looking into were the Milan and even the Palermo though it would have been a special request for the neighborhood. Then my hubby had the crazy idea to ask his parents if they would be interested in selling their house and living in our basement. They spend half the year in Florida so it wasn't too scary of an idea. They turned it down right away and we kept discussing our options. One day my Mom randomly asked if we would consider letting her live in the basement. She lives alone in a small house that I grew up in and it has a huge yard with trees and the yard litter they create. After much discussion we decided to go for it. She raised me and my sister on her own. This would allow her to retire when she wants and then spend more time in England with my sister and her three kids. It would also be a big help for us having Grandma so close since we plan on adding more to our brood.

Now our "just for kicks" fun has turned into the real deal. My Moms house is on the market. We have a great realtor so it will hopefully sell ASAP and we can get started on our Rome! After taking my Mom to visit the model home, which is a Rome, we decided that was the best option to give her the space she would need in the basement. So somehow I am now looking forward to having so much space and I don't have to sacrifice my table! I will even be able to use it with both leaves! Eek!

This is my first time blogging so please excuse any snafus. I have been loving reading about everyone else's journeys. This is such an amazing tool for us all to have the best experience possible.

Next up will be a post about our selections. Hopefully I can figure out how to add pics. ;)