Week 14: Making it Prettier

Week 14 - August 15 - 21, 2016



Days 92 - 98


Not much to report. It was more prettifying all week in preparation for our pre-settlement walk-through on 8/22.
Hubs snuck in (open front door) on 8/18. Pics!

Day 95 Front door view

Day 95 kids bath

Day 95 living room and dining room

Day 95 Dining Room with corrected hallway ceiling drywall.

Day 95 Kitchen View #1

Day 95 Kitchen View #2

Day 95  Kitchen View #3. How awesome is the custom oven move to the empty wall?
Thank you bloggers who originally made that request!

Day 95 Powder Room

Day 95 Family Room with Study (playroom) door to the right.

Day 95 Family Room View #2

Day 95 View from master bedroom into bath and my WIC.
Note the "accidental-on-purpose" door swing change.

Day 95 Master Vanity

Day 95  Master WC - teeny tiny!!

Day 95 Master tub & shower with seat.

Day 95 (Crappy) Landscaping and hydroseed!

Floor Plans

Forgive me for my tech illiteracy. Here are my lame marked up floor plans.
Highlight = have that feature
X = don't have
Crappy drawn arrows = something we're moving/changing.
Don't laugh at my lack of skills!
If you want to get really fancy, take the virtual tour!

Found a floor plan with the extra bath - but it's reverse plan and elevation A.
Thanks for the pic http://honeyimrome.blogspot.com/!

Structural Selections

I'm struck by the fact that structural options aren't really differentiated in the options list. That would have been helpful up front in the decision-making process. What did help a ton was asking for straight-talk from our sales rep. We asked which options made the most sense to do up front, for the most reasonable prices. That really helped to drive our decisions.
I've included all the prices for anything we considered upgrading from my Master Selection Sheet, whether we selected them or not. Figured that might be helpful for someone else!

"Free" Promotions for signing in December

1. Finished basement with recessed lighting 
2. Morning room 
3. Gourmet kitchen (gourmet island, level 1 granite, stainless appliances)
4. Hardwoods in entry & powder room

Neighborhood "Free" Standards

1. Elevation B
2. Half stone front
3. Cottage style garage door upgrade (with windows)
4. Black shingle roofs
5. White trim
6. Sump pump included 
7. Master bath double vanity
8. White balusters
9. Ceramic tile surround in hall bath
10. Recessed lights in kitchen

NOT offered as standard our neighborhood, but found as standards on other blogs around the U.S.

1. Tankless or up-sized water heater
2. Water softener
3. Dehumidifier or humidifier
4. Paint options
5. Overhead light rough ins (only offered ceiling fan rough-ins/complete installs)
6. Garage door opener
7. Cabinet hardware
8. Double sinks in hall bathroom
9. Sprinklers
10. Outdoor sprinkler systems
11. Neighborhood Centers - gym/movie/pools/playgrounds, etc. (SO jealous!)


Elevation

• Upgraded from "free" Rome (version 6) elevation B to Elevation C (2 foot bump-out in loft, and 2 windows in front living room) Standard floorplan, no porch. ($1995)
• Added custom front stoop overhang
• Elevation C Meltdown 
• Elevation C Meltdown - Resolved

Basement

• Finished basement with morning room bump out (included - $12,995)
• 3 piece plumbing rough-in ($1395)

Garage

• Included cottage style door upgrade (with windows) - standard in neighborhood (no price listed)
• No 2" extension or access door (something had to give in the budget! - $2,495/ $995)
• No side entry (still crying over this one - $7,995)
• No garage door opener ($495)

"Mudroom" Closet

• Added 2 outlets and wiring through Guardian to move TV components (cable box, dvd player, etc.) into this closet

Entry

• Trim package 3

Living Room

• 2nd front window added with elevation upgrade (n/a)
• Not  later selected - optional living room side window ($495) 
• Trim package 3

Dining Room

• No upgrades 
• Trim package 3

Kitchen

• Standard gourmet kitchen upgrade included in our sales promotion
• level 1 granite counter tops  ($4,495)
• gourmet (version 5) extended island ($3,195)
• stainless steel appliances ($2695 - received credit for stove) 
• Double wall ovens ($3995)
• Gas cook-top hookup ($295)
• Cabinet crown molding ($595)
• Custom request to move double wall ovens + additional surrounding cabinets to empty powder room wall ($1895)

Morning Room

• Morning room included in our sales promotion ($16,995)
• Double patio door (included - $995) 
• Ceiling fan rough-in ($225)
• Side windows ($990)

Family Room

• Gas fireplace with standard slate surround ($3,495)
• Not selected - window(s) family room side ($495)
• Ceiling fan rough-in ($225)
• 4 recessed lights

Study

• No upgrades later added ceiling fan rough-in ($225) 

Hall Bathroom

• No upgrades

Laundry Room

• Requested that doors be hung to open into hall (no cost?) Requesting to leave door off so we can install barn door - will not pass inspection, so we will remove later.
• Gas dryer hookup ($295) Somehow this was missed, but later learned that selecting this would require a swap to a louvered, rather than solid door to meet code. 

Master Bedroom

• No tray ceiling
• Loss of sitting room (gain bigger closet) to make way for extra bathroom in bedroom 
• Flipped bathroom door to open into bedroom

Master Bathroom

• Shower with seat and soaking tub ($4,995)

Bedroom #4

• "Bathroom #2 standard tub" ($5995) -This will likely be our guest "suite", but may become our daughter's room when she's older...

Attic 

• Storage option no longer available ($1,495)

In the Beginning...

Hi! Welcome to yet another Ryan Homes blog! I'm pretty mystified by the blog-thing, but figured I would give it the "old college try" since I've found everyone else's blogs so helpful.

Introductions:
Hubs - The hubs is the manager of a service station/car wash/auto repair joint that's open 24x7x365. He works 7 crazy days a week there, and has been there 20+ years. His commute is 40 miles each way from the new house...so there's that level of nuts.
Munchie - Our daughter just turned 3, and is the light of our lives. Seriously. She's awesome, and hysterical. And obviously smarter than both of us.
Me - I'm sort-of a corporate trainer for an energy company. The long description would leave you snoring, so I'll just leave it at that. My commute is 11 miles, but on a bad day it can take 45+ minutes.

Current situation - we own a 3-story, 1600 sq. ft. townhouse/condo in Philly's western suburbs, and have lived there for 12+ years. It was all well and good until Munchie came along and space was at a premium. We're thinking of adding another baby Fab soon, so it was time.

How/why the Rome?
Good friends of ours who were house-hunting reported back that they had found their dream home locally, and were ready to sign a contract. We we not quite financially ready to pull the trigger on our own house-hunt, but were excited for them and decided to go take a look. The friends came back with further reconnaissance: the December promotion included a finished basement, morning room, AND gourmet kitchen upgrade for free. We were of course, further intrigued. Dammit!

How did this madness begin?
We wandered like happy clueless puppies, into the model home in the development, and (spoiler alert), fell in love. Sonofa...

Signed the contract same day - 12.26.15. Proceeded freaking out about how we would come up with all the benjamins to make this happen. More freaking. More freaking. Then freaking about location choice. We had planned to help both of our commutes out with our move - and this house helps no one. More freaking. Dislike the immediate vicinity of the neighborhood and the view of the local nuclear power plant towers. More freaking. Ultimately decided that we would go for it with these reasons:

1. LOVE the house. Best thing I've seen in my 5+ years of online/in-person Everyhome.com stalking.
2. Love the neighborhood itself. 38 homes in a loop off a quiet road.
3. Good school district
4. We already have friends, stores, daycare, etc. etc. in town
5. We've both done the commute for 12+ years already and survived, so why not keep up the fun?
6. Good price for what we're getting (this is BEFORE the selection appointments, lol).
7. The good friends were also moving in!

I hope my ramblings about our journey to build our Rome is at least mildly entertaining, and marginally helpful to you! Thanks for joining me here.