Shopping!!

So yesterday we made a trip to our local Costco. Though we have no room in our apartment for any stuff, I couldn't help myself from picking some knick-knacks :). We picked up two little stainless steel trash cans for the bathrooms, which were all a teeny bit discounted.  We also picked up some shelf liners for the kitchen cabinets and Pantry. 

Then we ordered some random stuff from Amazon for our DIY projects that we are really excited about. Amazon was running a promotion where it was $10 off 50 on Black and Decker tools. So we ended up ordering this Jig Saw and some blades. :) 

 

Exciting isn't it!! and then the purchase of the day:

Bedding set that I really liked from Macy's was at a good deal. Too good to pass ;) Its Bamboo flower collection from Calvin Klein. So while Ryan Homes is taking its own sweet time to start digging our home, we can keep busy adding some stuff to our tiny apartment and make it into a warehouse.

I am making a list.. and adding more to it

So this is one of the most exciting and excruciating part of building a new house. you get a blank canvas and you can fill it up. But then who knew these colors are sooo expensive. There are some necessities and some not so necessary things, which are necessary to me and some are necessary to husband. but at the end it all is necessary.. Lets get on to the real stuff now. Please leave suggestions/ comments..

Refrigerator - I have my eyes on this baby. GE Profile 27.7 Cu feet

Washer Dryer - Clean laundry comes with a price.. Sigh!! We are going to look for a good deal with good reviews. not too picky on this one.

The big TV and surround sound - Panasonic 65 inch 4K 

Couch and Love seat- whats the fun of a TV if u don't have a comfy couch to watch it on. La-Z-Boy Reese Sofa and Loveseat.

Now the Console and side tables and Coffee table



Office furniture for hubby - ???

And whats that beautiful morning room without a nice dining table - I came across this store at Etsy. how does it look?? Is this a safe bet or should I look at some place else??

And not to forget the bunk bed my kid wants so bad. and the mattresses to accompany.

Wow.. its overwhelming!! And not to forget blinds/ fans/ pendant lights/ lamps/ ladder/ Garage door openers/ organizing stuff n all.. where r u my money tree??

Pre Construction meeting

We had our pre construction meeting on March 19. It went well overall with a couple things not as we expected. at the end we are very positive and waiting for the build to start ASAP. Our PM started by giving us an overview of how our house will sit on the plot. Then we discussed all the options we selected. 

They are planning to break the ground this week. We asked him to give us a heads-up a couple days before the scheduled dig date so that we could be there. He didn't give us a definite timeframe but said once they break ground, generally the house is ready in 90 days. So we will see how it goes. We wont have any snow delays but rain could cause delays until the roof is on.

We were told we will not get any egress window in the basement because we are getting walkout basement with sliding glass door. This was a surprise to me. another thing was that if we do not get any bath rough-ins in the basement, we wont have any unfinished storage in the basement. its mostly OK with us since we will have plenty of storage in the garage with a 4 feet extension. besides it will make our basement more open.

1. Timeline - the sooner the better. Cant wait already - sometime in July
2. Ceiling - Rough or smooth (most probably its gonna be what they call knock down stipple ceiling) - Knock down stipple ceiling. They will do a rough ceiling first and then sand it down to a smoother finish. It wasn't too bad from what we saw in the model home.
3.  Morning room door - Sliding glass or patio style. Double patio door.. Yippie!!!
4.  Fan rough in in morning room - how will the outlet be placed on a sloped ceiling. they will install a flat box on the ceiling.  
5. Extra support for wall mount TV in family room and basement. Didn't ask about it. 
6. Will second floor laundry have any additional insulation. NOPE
7. Rough ins for garage door openers. we will have our own garage door openers installed after closing. There will be power outlets in the ceiling for putting our own garage door opener.
8. Windows in Garage?? The garage door is carriage style with windows on it.
9. Outlets on gourmet island?? on one side
10. Deadbolts/ locks on doors?? deadbolts on main door and patio door in the morning room. locks elsewhere. sliding glass door in the basement will have a lock as well.
11. House paint color. Will they leave some for us to touch up? Antique white. they will leave atleast a gallon each of wall paint and trim paint for us to touch up.
12. will our basement storage have a separate door from the area where furnace and stuff is? No basement storage. I have mixed feelings about this one. one one side we wont have any enclosed storage area, on the other side, it will make the basement more open. I guess more space in basement is better. we can make our craft area in that section. 
13. Kitchen backsplash - don't see it anywhere in the MSS and it was there in the model.  could it be standard. I know they will say NO but doesnt harm to ask. We can choose not to have the granite lip installed and can put our own backsplash later. But the question here is, should they leave that granite for us to use later, since we already paid for it.
14. Will they let us pick the Granite slab. I have seen in some blogs people were allowed when they chose Santa Cecilia. They will let us pick. the PM said he will inform us a couple days before the granite has to come. we can go to the granite place and ask them to let us choose. Win!!
15. Location of hose bibs.  (don't want IN the garage) - One in the back and one in front of the house. 
16. Can we change how the shelves are placed in the pantry. we would like ours to have a little more space in between to put our big containers. will discuss at the pre drywall meeting
17. Will the lawn be seeded or sodded. Seeded. They also have a contract with trugreen, who will come and fertilize the yard four times in the first year. 
18. How much backyard space will we have. difficult to visualize at this point. but enough to put a swing set maybe.
19. Attic access and can we change that. I saw one in kids' bedroom in the model and dint like it. Can be moved to Laundry.
20. Will the garage be sheet rocked? Sheet rocked.
21. What does the upgraded landscaping include. same as other houses in the community.
22. How many steps to the entrance of the house. We will have some because of the layout of our model. Not many. But he will know more once the build starts. 

Other than these questions, 

• The subfloors will be nailed/glued and screwed. the dry wall will be nailed and screwed.
• our awesome SR was able to remind us to check the placement of garage lights. we saw on a couple houses, those were placed on the top of garage doors. however we wanted the lights on the sides. so that was fixed for us. we were happy :)
• The island will have cabinets on one side only. i guess it depends on the community.

will add as i remember more.. Just waiting start and have our own house in a few months..

Things we are excited about!!!

So this is my 6 year old's idea of writing in my blog. She came to me and asked me mom lets write the things we are excited about..

So I am most excited about...

• My morning cup of coffee in my morning room.
• Kitchen cabinet space. Fill up with all the stuff overflowing from my apartment cabinets and still have soo much space.
• The kitchen island and granite. that thing really is so pretty.
• Setting up my family room. Looking forward to movie nights after the kids are asleep..
• having my own washer and dryer. Tired of waiting for our assigned hours to do laundry and having to do 5-6 loads together at times. and not to forget 20 bucks a week we almost spend on it.. and sharing the apartment laundry. and recently someone stole my new Tide from apartment laundry room. boy I was so mad. 

My 6 year old's favorite things

• Gardening in the backyard
• Baking on the island (prep)
• Getting my new bunk bed and sitting on the top bed and crafting/ coloring and reading on it.
• hide in the basement when papa comes home from office and BOOOO him and playing with my friends in the basement.
• having my birthday in the new home and having a piñata 

Husband is excited about:

• well.. in his words " I am just excited that we are getting a nice and big house to live and we are building our own house". Men can be oh!! so not expressive..

and my 3 year old.. well he is always excited. he gets more space to make bigger messes :D

To do or not to do??? Home security

So we decided we are not going with a wired system through Guardian. But we definitely would have a security system. So after doing some ( a lot of) research online I have a few companies that I think we can look at for the security system.

• Simplisafe - you buy the hardware and the monitoring starts at 14.99. has anyone tried it? the reviews online are mixed.
• Frontpoint - high setup cost and then $42.99 a month. but they got great reviews and rankings
• Protect America - good reviews and no upfront costs. plans start at $19.99

If anyone has experience with any of these or any other company, please share your thoughts with us.

Questions for Pre-construction meeting

So our pre-construction meeting is scheduled for March 19th and we are supposed to break ground on March 25. Hopefully it didn't get delayed due to this nasty cold in the last couple weeks. So I have read so many blogs for questions to ask on pre-con and trying to come up with my own list. please let me know if I am missing something. 

1. Timeline - the sooner the better. Cant wait already
2. Ceiling - Rough or smooth (most probably its gonna be what they call knock down stipple ceiling)
3.  Morning room door - Sliding glass or patio style
4.  Fan rough in in morning room - how will the outlet be placed on a sloped ceiling
5. Extra support for wall mount TV in family room and basement.
6. Will second floor laundry have any additional insulation
7. Rough ins for garage door openers. we will have our own garage door openers installed after closing.
8. Windows in Garage??
9. Outlets on gourmet island??
10. Deadbolts/ locks on doors??
11. House paint color. Will they leave some for us to touch up?
12. will our basement storage have a separate door from the area where furnace and stuff is?
13. Kitchen backsplash - don't see it anywhere in the MSS and it was there in the model.  could it be standard. I know they will say NO but doesnt harm to ask.
14. Will they let us pick the Granite slab. I have seen in some blogs people were allowed when they chose Santa Cecilia.
15. Location of hose bibs.  (don't want IN the garage)
16. Can we change how the shelves are placed in the pantry. we would like ours to have a little more space in between to put our big containers.
17. Will the lawn be seeded or sodded. 
18. How much backyard space will we have.
19. Attic access and can we change that. I saw one in kids' bedroom in the model and dint like it
20. Will the garage be sheet rocked?
21. What does the upgraded landscaping include.
22. How many steps to the entrance of the house. We will have some because of the layout of our model. 

Thats all I can think of right now.