New Tile Choice

Last night we drove up to Rite Rug to see our other tile choices.  I was less than impressed that Ryan still only allows us to chose from a small portion of tile that Rite Rug offers.  Even so far as to limit us on size, for example, one board had 4 different versions of the same tile.  A one inch square, a 5/8" square and two rectangle sizes.  However, we were only allowed to chose from two of those four sizes on that particular tile.  WTH?  We have to be extra careful with our choices because the main tile is already in, the cabinet is in and the granite counter top is installed.  This means that the tile that we pick has to match all three.  This right away removed some of our choices.  We were able to pick a tile that matched and that we are happy with, but boy, it sure would have been nice to know our first pick was unavailable before now.  

I made a quick stop back at the house before going to Rite Rug.  They have already stained the banister.  They have also installed the plumbing hardware. The tubs were filled with water to check for leaks.  And the correct brick has arrived.  

This week's progress

We went back to the house Saturday evening and they had already began to tear the brick down.  They only brick that was remaining was by the garage; I think they stopped there because the dumpster was full.  Sunday I went to get preliminary window measurements.  Afterwards I stopped by the sales office to talk to the SR.  After talking to her about what happened, she mentioned that gal who does the ordering is pregnant and has 'pregnancy brain'.  She thinks she probably just input the wrong code since we didn't make any deviations from the recommended color groupings.  I feel bad for the gal...I hope she doesn't get in too much trouble, but man, what a costly mistake.  

Now I am beginning the process of window coverings.  Holy cow, that is overwhelming.  When we bought our current house the previous owners left all the window coverings.  We've only had to replace a few and we've generally selected inexpensive options. I'm now trying to balance getting quality blinds that will last a long time vs. inexpensive blinds that I can get up quick.  I feel like I want to get the bedroom window coverings up pretty quick, but I want to make sure I either don't spend a lot in case I don't like them or make sure I get something that will go with however I choose to decorate down the line. We have 22 windows and sliding door to cover.  I am also overwhelmed by the potential cost of this. I think we are going to go with a cellular shade option for the bedrooms for now and get the rest of the windows as well as curtains later.  I stopped in JCPenney, they have a designer that will come out and help you with the process.  Of course, I can't get the designer out until we close on the house and then it takes a minimum of two weeks for the blinds to come in after they are ordered.  

I emailed the PM today to find out what our schedule is like for the week. They are hoping to begin to put the correct brick up this week as well as pour the garage slab if they weather is nice enough.  They will also be priming the walls and ceilings and putting the vinyl and ceramic flooring in.  Next week the trim and cabinets should go in.  

Major Disappointment

We understand that in construction projects mistakes get made. We were prepared and expected that they would come up at some point. 

Coming into the neighborhood we saw the back of the house first.  I thought "Wow!  They've got siding on the back!"  Then we drove to the house and saw that brick is nearly completely.  Unfortunately, it's bricked in the completely wrong color.  When we originally went through the color selections, we very quickly ruled out dark brick colors. The color that we chose is Sugar Creek.  It's a buff shade of brick.  

So, basically, they put our least favorite color of brick on the house.  When I spoke to the PM the other day, I had no idea they were starting to brick.  Had I known, I would have made a point to go check it out.  I probably would have been able to stop it before it got too far, but he only told me they were finishing up dry wall.  

We texted the PM, of course he first assumes that maybe it's a different shade of the correct brick.  I get that; I'm sure that happens a lot.  The brick color can change a bit because of materials, fire processes, whatever.  This brick is actually called Allendale.  To make matters worse, the houses on either side of us are red brick houses.  We believe there is something in the HOA that says you can't have similar brick side by side and this one might actually match the house to the West of us.  

In less than an hour, the PM advised that the brick was shipped wrong from the supplier, something that's never happened as long as he's worked with this supplier.  The right brick will be shipped and it will be corrected.  I'm happy about this; we really did not want the red brick.  That would have been a MAJOR problem.  I feel bad that the brick is so far complete and they are just going to tear it down.  It feels so wasteful.  I hope it doesn't slow them down at all.  I imagine it will a bit.  :(

In good news, the drywall is mostly complete.  They were out mudding the joints while we were there.  Again, I was surprised they were working on a Saturday.  

I didn't take a lot of pictures of the drywall.  The top picture is the kitchen pantry and the bottom is the dining room.  Cool stuff.  Glad this is coming along nicely.  

Outside Colors and More Choices

Sometimes I am amazed by how similarly my husband and I think.  Generally speaking, we usually have the same ideas in mind.  With all the choices we made this weekend, things could get ugly quick.  There were no big arguments and neither of us felt the need to dig in our heels about anything. The outside brick choices is a great example of this.  Going into the meeting we both immediately agreed we didn't want any dark brick colors.  Ryan homes had 3-4 reddish brick color palettes and 2 lighter choices, so our choices were narrowed down pretty quick.  The brick color we chose is called Sugar Creek, we liked it because it had a bit more variation in the colors of the brick throughout.  

Once we had the brick color picked out, we then had several different color schemes to pick from for our siding, shutters and doors.  The siding will be mainly on the back of the house and also on the second story of the sides of the house.  We decided to pick shutter colors first.  We narrowed it down pretty quick to a bright red, dark green or... jeez.  I can't remember the third color.  Anyway, the red shutters are paired with a light siding and a black door.  The green shutters were paired with a green door and a darker siding. I love the black door.  We both preferred the red shutters.  Neither of us were crazy about the light siding.  So, we drove around the neighborhood again to be able to see some examples of the siding choices.  After that, we decided that the light siding choice was ok so we went with that color palette.  

While there to make our final color choices we had some other final choices to make.  There were a few things that we've been waivering on. One is the side load garage.  Long story made short, we decided to stick with the side load. We also added a wet bar rough in for the basement, a gas line to the back yard, water softener rough in and decided the final placement of our ceiling fan rough ins.  One thing we didn't realize we would be doing this soon was the placement of the extra outlets.  We had priced in three extra outlets.  After reading through blogs and suggestions of people who had built I wanted to make sure we had some in a few of the closets as well as the master powder room.  I really wanted to to put one in the pantry.  Bob thought I was nuts.  So, I let this one go.  I did have one put in the master closet, the laundry room (I really can't believe there wasn't one in there!) and the powder room.  This was the one area that we disagreed on and I stood my ground.  

The master powder room has a door, it is on the same wall as the vanity, which is where we would normally put a night light.  I'm afraid that the night light won't shine into the powder room. I don't like peeing in the dark and I don't like flipping a bright light on in the middle of the night.  (Really I'm not sure men should be peeing in the dark either.  Darkness can't help aim, am I right??)  An extra outlet in the bathroom is, in my mind, necessary.  We also realized there was only one outlet in the garage.  Not good.  Originally I thought my dad could add these, but after talking through it, the walls in the garage will be insulated and dry walled, we we don't wan to have to mess with that later.  A total of 6 outlets were added.  This is a relatively small cost in the scheme of things and I think we'll be very happy we did them. Moreso, I'm afraid we'd regret not doing them.