I LOVE LOVE LOVE my granite! and other updates...

We found out last week that our PM, Matt, was no longer going to be with us due to the heavy volume of houses under construction in our neighborhood. Matt himself was responsible to a whopping 17 houses!  So, anyway, Scott became our new PM and we ventured up to meet him yesterday. He put our minds at ease over some of the issues that we had last week as far as what appeared to be shoddy work.  He also agreed to fix our light rough-ins (which we were told by our SR could hold the weight of ceiling fans, but she was incorrect). We were also surprised to see that our kitchen granite and bathroom tiles had been installed...

We're getting close!

We made it up to our new house this weekend and this is what greeted us, majestically sitting atop its little hill at the end of the cul-de-sac:

 I was reluctant about the siding choice (Stone Mountain Clay with black shutters and a green door), but once I saw it in vivo, I was very pleased - EXCEPT for one major issue - our next door neighbors to the right, who are about a week or two behind us in construction, have the exact same siding. I was under the impression that this was not allowed. When I confronted our SR, the response was, "I made a mistake. Are you guys mad?" If they had built a Venice, I would be furious. Fortunately, they are building a Victoria Falls with partial stone and brown shutters, so the houses will look different enough. On the other hand, our future neighbors to the left one lot over are building a Venice and have chosen the exact same trim. I almost fainted when I heard that.

On another note, our cabinets are in:

 Wyoming Cherry Spice in kitchen

 Wyoming Cherry Spice in kids bath

Wyoming Cherry Bordeaux in Master Bath

So far, we are mostly pleased, but, like many bloggers, we are seeing how Ryan cuts corners. To be continued...

Is this for real?

On February 1st, at 9:58 am, I gave birth to my beautiful new baby boy - Oliver.  Needless to say, we totally forgot about all the excitement of building our new house.  The last thing we saw was that our foundation had just been poured - and that was last Sunday.  Imagine my surprise when I received an email from my PM on Friday when I was still at the hospital.  This is what we saw:

From some other bloggers, I realized that framing happens rather quickly, but my goodness, this happened between Wednesday and Friday!  Unbelievable!

We have a foundation!

We were so surprised to pull into our future cul-de-sac yesterday and see the foundation rising above our lot at the end of the street!  Our PM told us that, weather permitting, they would pour it Thursday and Friday, but I just figured that it was going to be too cold for the cement to cure. It really feels like this is moving so fast - much faster than I ever imagined!

Ground-Breaking News

We had two exciting things happen yesterday...

First, we met with the flooring and design company.  It was so much fun picking out and finalizing our selections.  We ended up going with:

     Santa Cecilia Granite in the kitchen

     Wheat granite in both upstairs bathrooms

     Wide-Plank hardwood in Saddle throughout the main level

     Shaw frieze in Sand Swept (thanks to Casey's blog) on the second floor and stairs

     Vinyl tiles in the upstairs laundry room

Next, we spoke with our PM and he informed us that they plan on breaking ground next Tuesday, installing the footers on Wednesday, and pouring the foundation on Thursday!  That is great news, except that it is supposed to rain on Tuesday.  Figures. Well, hopefully, that will only push progress back a day or two. I hope they get the foundation in before it gets really cold here in the mid-Atlantic!

We're all staked out!

So, the family and I drove up to our new neighborhood last Sunday to find that our house had been staked.  I have absolutely no idea what this exactly means (is it the outline of our future house?), but we were ecstatic to find that work has begun!

The kids and I piled in the car again today for the 1-hour trek up to PA to see if anything else had been done. I know, I know, I seem antsy and impatient but I don't want to miss a thing!  We are getting ready for baby #3 and I don't know when my impromptu trips will have to come to an end for a little while.
We found that the perimeter of the lot has been fenced off with stakes and black tarp. Hopefully, the next step is a giant hole in the ground!

Start date tomorrow!

Yay - I just got a call from our wonderful PM, Matt, who has informed us that they will begin staking out our lot tomorrow!  Fortunately, we are having really mild weather here in the mid-east (it's like 60 degrees here right now) so they should be able to get a lot (no pun intended, lol) done by next week.  Matt said that by the end of the week, we should have a giant hole in the ground!!!!!!  The timing couldn't be better because I am getting ready to have baby #3 in a week or two and want to see as much progress as possible before I am out of commission for a little while.

Pre-construction meeting with Matt

We finally met with our PM yesterday for our pre-construction meeting. It was so exciting to go over all of our selections again and to walk the lot.  It really made things seem real, because until now, it has all seemed like a dream. Here is a list of some of our selections:

Wide plank hw in "saddle" throughout the first level

Wyoming Cheery Spice kitchen cabinets

Santa Cecilia granite counter tops

Gourmet Island

 Fireplace with slate surround in FR

Morning Room

Wyoming Cherry Bordeaux double vanity in Master Bath, along with level "B" ceramic tile in bone

Wyoming Cherry Spice vanity in kids bath, with same ceramic tile floor

both upstairs baths will have granite counter tops in wheat

siding color is Stone Mountain Clay with black shutters and Underwater World door (which is a medium green color)


We were told that our PM would call us on Friday to let us know when ground breaking would take place.  I am so excited to find out and can't wait to get the ball rolling!

Our Lot (292)

This is our lot.  We are absolutely ecstatic about it - 0.63 acres at the end of a cul-de-sac!  I can't imagine anything more perfect for my two babies (and one on the way).  We are currently living in Baltimore City, so the idea of allowing my kids to run freely around our beautiful yard and ride their bikes safely on our street seems like a dream to me.

Let the games begin!

Hello to all fellow Ryan builders!  My family and I are getting ready to build our Venice in PA.  We have our Pre-Construction Meeting tomorrow and are soooooo excited!  Reading all of your posts has been so incredibly helpful to me, preparing me for what exciting (and sometimes frustrating) things lie ahead.  I look forward to sharing our journey!