Saturday, June 27, 2009

Day 55


Our lovely landscaped yard! Close to the front porch there's a red flowering plant, then a pink one. There's also a pink one on the other side of the steps. Close to where the steps meet the front walk, there's some yellow Lantana- a flower that butterflies love. In the middle of the yard there's a green shrub that those giant ants are eating. I called the saleslady so they can get rid of those little guys before they eat all the plants.

I just noticed that our house numbers are up. However, they haven't painted the post that they are mounted on. It's supposed to be forest green.

The water run-off has been laid- that's the strip of river rocks between each house.


Here you can see the fence posts. The fence will be straight from the neighbor's porch to the center post, then angle back from the center post to our front porch. That will add a little more privacy. My husband noticed that we have a doorbell. Funny, because none of the other houses have them. We asked about that in our initial meeting with the saleslady. Perhaps it's a new feature. Or maybe they only do them on the two-story plans.


On this side of the house we have three Red Yuccas. My daughter had really hoped we'd have some. The odd thing about Red Yucca is that the flowers are actually pink and the plant isn't really a member of the yucca family.

They had originally installed the under-stairs storage door where it opened into the archway. You couldn't open the door without smashing into it. They've removed the door frame. You can see the water heater. It's in a silly place. The space under the lower part of the stairs is also open for storage- the water heater interupts the free space. The tubes coming out of it run into the exterior wall. We think it would make more sense for it to be under the landing for the lower half of the stairs, allowing for more sensible storage space. I suppose they had their reasons.

Utility Room

Kitchen

Dining Room
The light fixtures have been installed. My husband hates them. Good thing he works in lighting...

He does have another major compaint. The fixtures and the door knobs are all silver, but the door hinges and the banister hardware is all gold. It doesn't match. The doors especially look bad. We'll have to add that to out list.

This is the phone jack in the kitchen. They either hung it crooked or cut the tile unevenly. It's already on our repair list.

This is the master bathroom sink. I don't care about the saw dust in the sink. The problem here is the big blue chip on the right. This has also been added to our repair list.
Here is the view from the back. We have a large shrub to the left of the driveway, and a tree on the right.
I took another one from further back because the display screen on my camera is acting up. I wanted to be sure I got all of the plant-life. You can also see the street light.

The saleslady let me know we'll have two walk-throughs before we move in. I don't know if we have them before or after closing. On the first walk-through, we'll have a an independent inspector person walk with us and they'll make a list of all the things we want fixed. Then they'll give the list to the builder's team who will correct the issues. Finally, we'll have the second walk-through to be sure everything is perfect before we move in. As of right now, closing is set for July 10 (Day 68.)

Friday, June 26, 2009

Day 54: Lots of Installations

My husband went out to the house today, then back again this evening. He took the pictures with his phone, so the ones in poorly lit parts of the house are kind of blurry. You can still click on them to enlarge.


Utility Room, shelves installed

Powder Room, mirror, toilet and sink installed

Kitchen (tile being installed)
Microwave mounted
Dining, tiled, with upstairs closet doors leaning on wall
Girls' Bathroom, mirror, sink and toilet installed

Master Walk-In Closet, racks installed, but missing shelves


Master Bathroom, counter top, sink and mirror installed

He came back in the evening. They've done our landscaping,
laid out the grass, and put up fence posts.
The day the front steps were laid, they also did the back side walk and poured the driveway.



Sunday, June 21, 2009

Day 49

They laid the front steps,


installed the coat closet rack,
put up the pantry shelves,

hung the rack in the girls' closet,

put in the girls' bathroom counter top,

and installed the cabinet in the master bathroom.
Here's what the paint and trim look like in the master bedroom.

I had thought that the counter tops throughout would look like the ones in the kitchen, but apparently the standard is that cream color.


Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Day 45: Paint

They painted! There's no circulation in the house without A/C, and all the windows are closed. I only got one picture because it was so fumey- we had to run in and out.
This is the living room. I believe those are the upstairs closet doors. They did two tone paint throughout. The walls are off-white, the trim is white. It looks very nice.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Day 44: Cabinets and Doors!


Today my husband stopped by after work and snapped some photos with his phone:

Doors! and base boards. (coat closet, left. storage closet, right.)

I have no idea where this is.

Looking like a kitchen! To the left, through the arch, you can see the door to the under-stairs-storage closet, the staircase, and the front door. In the kitchen, you can see the pantry door. To the left is the hole where the refrigerator goes, and the small counter and cabinet which I refer to as a "mail station." To the right of the pantry is the long wall of the kitchen. The hole in the middle is for the stove. Above the stove will be a mounted microwave. Across from the stove we now have our island sink- well, really just the hole for the sink. I think counters are next. Obviously counters will go on top of the cabinets, but there will also be one along the top of the island half-wall, making a bar top on the living room side.

I can't tell if the cabinets have been stained or not. I thought we chose dark wood, but we picked everything all at once, so my memory is hazy. I do know we'll have a beautiful tile backsplash to match the kitchen floors when those go in.

These were the only pictures I got, but I assume there must also be cabinetry in the bathrooms. We also have a hand rail in the stairs! Woo-Hoo!


Monday, June 15, 2009

Day 43

Today my husband spoke with the house people. We are scheduled to close July 10th (Day 68.)

We won't have a mortgage payment until September. We will, however, have rent on our apartment, as the lease is not up until October- but I can't remember if it ends at the end of September or end of October. We're still trying to figure out the breaking-the-lease rules. So far it sounds like you have to pay rent on all the months remaining in your lease, plus an 85% breaking fee. I spoke with a friend who worked at an apartment complex. She said the smartest thing to do, if we are close to the scheduled end of our lease, would be to pay the rent each month- even if we don't live there. And not mention that we don't live there. As long as the apartment complex receives all the money it was contracted, we shouldn't have to pay the breakage fee.

Friday, June 12, 2009

Day 40: Can't Stay Away

We went out there three days in a row... no major changes to report today!

I like the little stone step at the front door.

I had hoped the ledge on the porch would be flat so we could set a jack-o-lantern there at Halloween, but it looks fantastic anyway. We can put pumpkins all over the porch! or Christmas trees, or bunnies, or flower pots...

(and don't forget, you can click on the photos to enlarge them.)

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Day 39

My husband was at the house today, but I had the camera... so he snapped some pictures with his phone! They completed the stones.

The archways in the daylight.

living/kitchen

stairwell

front room

girls' room

master bedroom

master shower

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Day 38: Casting the First Stone

They started laying the stones!

The entry way arches- my older daughter with the two neighborhood girls she has befriended, standing in the living room arch...

and my husband, in the utility archway.

kitchen and living, and living archway- I was standing in the dining area

upstairs, front room. View of stair well and closet.

master bedroom- everyone's staring into the industrial dumpster in the backyard.

master bathroom

side view

back of house


front of the winkler, with the lovely sun, setting in the background.