Back splash

Just finished the biggest piece of our backsplash today. It was pretty straightforward for my 1st home improvement project. Other than the standard tools, I used a Dremel with a diamond blade to cut the tiles to fit around the outlets. The tiles were 12x13 and left a 6.5" gap to the bottom of the cabinets that was much easier with the Dremel because each tile is small and ceramic. A tile saw would ruin the entire square. 

Homestretch!!!

We are within a week of the house being complete and then closing next week.  So far the process has been smooth with no issues.  We go check out the house about once a week to see what was added and how things are coming along.  A couple things to note:

1. There will most likely be dings and scratches on things, but they will get fixed.  I'm not being over optimistic as we would have thought moving appliances in the house and routine touchups would not cause any damage. But it happens and its not worth getting worked up over, unless its a major hole or issue.

2. The sod could have been laid down better, so we went around and fixed the seams that were overlapped or just not put down tight.  We did take pictures of some of the larger gaps and spots where it looks like left over pieces were used to fill gaps.  We discussed this and will monitor it to see how the sod takes before closing.

Front of house.  Loving the earthy/lodge look and feel to the home!

Kitchen from the living room.

Our huge fridge!  The doors do no bang against the drywall so that is good!

A couple problem areas in the lawn to watch over time

Living room from the kitchen

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.