2 weeks away!!!

So we are a little more than 2 weeks  away from the house being complete.  We visited the house last week and it did not have cabinets or flooring. Well.....today we have cabinets, counters, flooring and sod!!!

Holy smokes the house coming together quick now.

So far there has not been any real issues with the build. Sure their have been dings and stuff along the way but it has all been fixed. We were given the chance to see a home in our neighborhood that was finished already and it does help put things in perspective when you are worried about little things.

The best thing I can think to describe a house in construction is like waking up to your wife with no make up on. Just give her sometime and she will be beautiful!

Final CTI Choices

We made it through out CTI decisions this morning in about 1.5 hours. We've read where this sometimes takes 3 hours to get through everything.  I can't stress enough about being able to get these items picked out early in the process so that you can know where you want to spend the money.

I wish this was the first thing we had to decide on as the cost is a bit unknown and you can easily go over budget if you are not careful.  Overall, I think we got what we wanted and it was all less than $8,000.  (Prices may vary per region and home model.  This is based on a home the Washington D.C. area)

If you want to know a rough price for certain upgrades, let me know as I have a list of what they will cost.

This is the shelf that can be added in the master shower for $75.  You can add two of them, but we went with just one as we have the seat in the shower as well.  This looks a lot better than having a "stripper pole" in the corner of the shower

These will be our cabinets and granite in the kitchen.  The hard woods will be in the kitchen, foyer, powder room, morning room and family room.

The carpet for the room with the fireplace is not as gray as it looks.  It is actually more beige tan and has a higher pile.  We chose level C in this room, as it will have more use out of it.

We chose the middle color carpet for Zone B and the basement.  Its a lighter tan color, but dark enough to where it should not show much traffic patterns or stains.  The last image is of the Zone B and basement (left) and Family Room (Right)

Our master bathroom tiles and accent piece.  We did confirm we were able to mix and match the accent piece with our tiles.  We like the glass tile in the accent piece, but not the shiny or iridescent ones.  Thankfully they had something that was more contemporary but still ties into the natural look we wanted.  The granite in all the bathrooms is the St. Cecilia light with the same cabinets as the kitchen. 

We like the look of this color scheme for the kitchen, but wanted a little darker floors.

CTI Preview

Our Realtor had a preview appointment yesterday so that we could get an idea on cost and colors.  We were able to do this because we live on the opposite coast and will not be able to get to the design center to see and make the decisions ourselves.

There was no issue with us doing this and our SR helped us get this lined up, knowing we were buying the house, sight unseen.

Here are some of the images our Realtor sent us of the cabinets and granite, which we already knew what we wanted.  The hard part was visualizing everything together to pick up a good hardwood.

We like the tiles below but not the accent piece.  From what we were told, you can mix and match the tiles and accent pieces

One thing that we were told different from the SR is the option of a 10lb carpet pad.  The standard is a 5lb pad with an upgrade option to an 8lb pad.  We decided to add the 8lb pad in the entire house.

Here is a breakdown of what we are doing:

Hardwoods - Kitchen, Foyer and living Room, Powder Room and Morning Room.  It was only about $200 more to upgrade to lvl B hardwoods.  Lvl A has good stuff, it just depends on what you are looking for.  It was an additional cost of $1995(Living Room) and $1495(Morning Room) to have the hardwoods installed.  I am trying to get a discount or rebate for that as they would have put carpet and vinyl flooring, respectively, in the rooms anyways.  SR said there was no rebate because the cost is minimal to them, but I will push for it anyways.

Carpet - Basement, Zone 2 (upstairs and bedrooms) and Family room (Room with fire place).  We are going with level B carpet in entire house because it has stain protection and 10 year warranty and level C in the Family room.  We like the top grey color and pile.  There are soo many options for carpet, it gets a bit overwhelming.  I would suggest going to your local home improvement store to get an idea on what you like/want before going to the CTI appointment so you can filter out most of the options you dont like.

Master Suite - Upgrade to lvl C.  It was only about $900 to upgrade over the standard white or almond tiles and it gives the house a more custom look.  We also will add a shelf for soap and stuff for $75, which is better than a cheap soap dish stuck to the wall.

Overall, our Realtor did a great job for us in getting most of the items pre-selected, but we sent her tons of texts and emails every time we found something we liked, which she encouraged.  I would recommend to do your homework on the brands and models to find out what you like.  Both of us have spent hours going through colors and styles online to find ideas we like.  This has allowed us to be specific in what we want and made it easier overall in making our final selections.  Also, our Realtor has a couple clients that are building Ryan Homes in various stages and has been through the process a few times  before us, which has made the process easier for us and her as she knows what we can and cannot do.