Almost there

We stopped by the house today and finally found ourselves locked out! They installed our front door & garage door so we couldn't get in. I was sad we couldn't see the inside, but very excited that we are getting so close to being finished.

Shutter are on, lawn is down & landscaping is done, garage door in, lamp post & mailbox installed, sidewalk & driveway poured. I think we're just waiting on the front door to be painted for the exterior to be complete!

Since we were locked out, this was the best I could get of the floors being installed. Can't wait to see them (which probably won't be until the pre-settlement demonstration meeting on the 21st.)

In other good news, we were pleasantly surprised with the work they did on the backyard. It will never be the large, wooded, private lot I wanted but our PM worked hard and got us as much space as he could (approximately 22' from the morning room to where the fence will be, which doesn't sound like much but it is a vast improvement over the 15' we originally measured!) We really hit the jackpot when it comes to PM and sometimes I forget that!

I can definitely make do with this backyard! The line where the sod ends will be where the fence is placed & outside that will be the 6 cypress pine trees to give us some privacy.

Our Weekly PM update

Good week and getting near the end. The back yard was able to go back a little farther than I had planned. The landscaper will be finishing up the plants, fence and yard at the front right next week.
Inside we will start detailing things out next week. The power should be on Monday. The gas company should run their underground and set the gas meter together next week. Our quality inspection is scheduled next Friday

Walk of Fame

I was under the impression the driveway and patio was the last thing that would be completed, so I thought I had time to mention this to our PM, but I really wanted to get our daughter's handprints in the concrete. My husband just so happened to be emailing back & forth with him about something & he mentioned the concrete had been poured earlier that day. I hurry up and grabbed my daughter from the daycare at the YMCA (where I had been working out) & drove to the house.

Unfortunately the driveway had already dried (seriously, what kind of concrete are they using??), but the back patio was still slightly wet. It was tough getting her hands in it & trying to push them down hard enough to make an impression (especially since she's squirmy as hell), but I got the best I could. I'm a little disappointed that I didn't have anything with me to carve her name or the year in the concrete, but it's better than nothing!

And I promise she does have a pinky finger on her right hand!

Backsplash

We originally chose the kitchen backsplash upgrade. When we went to select our flooring & tile, we hated the options available. Even if we upgraded to the highest level we could, we still didn't like what we had to pick from (and the cost was ridiculous, like $1500 IIRC, and I knew we could pay half that for something we really liked). So when we met with our PM, he said he could tell the counter installers to not install the granite "lip" & recommend someone to install our own backsplash after we closed.

Well now that our granite is down, we found two that we liked and went to compare it next to the counter. And of course, my indecisiveness is kicking in (it also didn't help that the majority of the counter was covered & I couldn't get a picture of the counter, tile, and cabinets together)!

Both tiles

Option 1- cream, light tan, seafoam glass with cream stone

Option 1 closer up

Option 2 (and my red shoe)- Light tan & brown glass with cream, light tan, and brown stone

Option 2 closer up

How honest is your SR?

Warning: RANT below

You may remember in the beginning of my posts the issues we had with our lot. If not, I'll give you the cliffnotes: we toured the model, fell in love, met with the SR to start the process and pick a lot. We told him we weren't interested in an interior (IE back up to another house's backyard) lot. He showed us a map, with other lots that weren't yet available but they would be released soon and they were large (twice the size of the interior lots), private and backed up to woods. We were immediately interested, since we knew we would be asking for a delayed delivery anyway, we didn't need a lot that was available to build on right then. Our SR went to the developer, who refused to give us the lot, then told us the developer said he (the developer) had no immediate plans to build on the lots, he wasn't going to be releasing them for probably a year, yada yada yada. We ended up picking an interior lot (since it was our only option if we wanted to move forward) but I (obviously) am still salty about it.

Fast forward, we were visiting the house last week and I drive past the lot we wanted. Not only did it have a Bonterra (the other builder in our section of the development) posted, it had a SOLD sticker on it. Yup, that's right, six weeks after we break ground and the prime, private wooded lots had not only been released, they had already all been sold! To say I was furious was an understatement. My husband immediately emailed our SR to find out what the deal was, since we were told that RH & the developer had a deal that RH got priority to buy the lots. The response we got was that there is a dispute now going on between RH & the developer, each accusing the other of not holding their end of the bargain. The developer is saying RH was in default of their contract because they did not sell as many lots as they agreed, RH is saying the developer breached. Either way, I am angry.

I believe our SR flat out lied from the beginning. I believe he knew that the developer wasn't happy with them about not moving the lots they (RH) already had & as a result, that he knew that the developer was going to give Bonterra those premium lots instead. But of course, he didn't want to tell us that because he didn't want to lose a sale if we decided to go with Bonterra instead. I know in most buying situations sales people stretch the truth and that there are always issues of buyers remorse and questions of "what if," but this is a HUGE (possibly lifelong) purchase and I feel like we were essentially tricked into it.

Yes, I know that I will love my house but will I ever not be angry at how much better it could have been? Or envious of our poor, unsuspecting neighbors building on "my" dream lot?

Three more weeks

Til closing!

We stopped by for our weekly visit & are so excited to see the progress & watch all of the details come together!

Siding was finished, pillars installed, stone complete, trim painted & lights hung this week! (Now we just need our shutters & front door.)

Living room, dining room panoramic (view from the mudroom)

Cabinets & counter tops are in (we plan to have our own backsplash installed, so we asked them to not install the granite "lip").

Panoramic of the kitchen, morning room, & family room

Closeup of our Santa Cecelia

Our master bath is coming together & I can't wait to use that tub! (Not sure what those black cords are?)

Panoramic of the master bath (so hard to get a picture of such a tight space!)

View from the back, and you can see our teeny tiny backyard :(

Another view of the front. I am so in love with the porch, stone & pillars!

Closeup of one of the two coach lights on the garage

Closeup of the stone

Thank you, Sherwin Williams Coastal Cool collection

I don't know why, but choosing paint colors has been completely stressing me out. Like, major anxiety. My problem is that I'm not very coordinated, and while I know what I like, I don't really know what "goes together" when it comes to design. We stopped in our Sherwin Williams store last night and attempted, since we have a very hands-on toddler, to look at swatches. It was a total bust (there are way too many things at toddler eye level to get into), I grabbed as many of the swatches & color idea pamphlets as I could and we came home.

Thankfully one of those that I grabbed was the Coastal Cool collection and I fell in love as soon as I saw it; I am a total sucker for all things turquoise/blue-green/aqua, and having an entire palette of 20 colors to help me coordinate complimentary colors helped us to pick the colors for our entire first floor (don't get me started on the second floor)!

Unfortunately these colors aren't anywhere close to the swatches

Palette in the shade

In the sun

Entry, Mudroom, Staircase (and possibly Living room, Dining Room): Accessible Beige SW 7036

Powder room (possibly): Rapture Blue SW 6773

Kitchen: Sea Salt SW 6204

Morning room (AKA Fi's playroom): Cooled Blue SW 6759. This is probably my favorite color in the group!

Family Room: Watery SW 6478

Office: Scanda SW 6529

(These selections are subject to change, because I am super indecisive & a compulsive over-analyzer.)