LOT SIGN!!!

Finally got the lot sign in place.  Tanner and Jack were able to place the "SOLD" sign on it.  We decided to go out and take a picture of the entire family.  And yes, even our little maltese Shelby and Zoey got in on a quick photo opportunity. 

Panic moment # 1

So, my wonderful husband doing what he does best was researching everything for our new home.  During his research he was able to find our new wood flooring selection on line.   Then in typical JJ fashion, he proceeded to show me.  PANIC ATTACK!!!!   The new Hickory flooring I had selected in the showroom was NOT at all what I had picture it to be.   I thought it would make sense to go with a little lighter flooring because most of our furniture in our home is dark espresso.  WRONG!! The picture below is what the flooring originally was "Deep Java", not at all what I was expecting.  I had forgotten the more flooring you get the lighter the flooring is.  UGH!

So I emailed the flooring company, in hopes they had not finalized the paperwork.  After several emails,  Deena our wonderful sales rep said she would squeeze me in.  I walked into their office and within 2 minutes, I found the new color.    Now, this color was not shown to us our first visit.  Had it been, I am confident I would have picked it originally.  This picture does not do the flooring justice... it's much darker than it is showing. 

 The color is "Rich Brown" a dark espresso color with a little color variation.  I had to get a sample (full plank) to make sure it was true to what I was seeing.  So, crisis adverted!  We have have successfully changed the flooring.  THANK GOODNESS!!! 

DESIGN CENTER EXPERIENCE

Good thing I love to decorate and I feel I have a good idea of what looks good together and what doesn't.  The fact that you are picking everything from kitchen cabinets, to listellos in the bathrooms.  I can see where this can be overwhelming and stressful for some.  However, I think this is actually the fun part of designing a home.  You get to make all the decisions.  We made our appointment at the flooring center and the sales lady we met with was amazing.  She made our experience absolutely wonderful.  She started with the nitty gritty which was the flooring.  We have decided to install hard wood through all the common areas.  Making sure I made a decision on the right color was essential.  Tile in bathrooms and morning rooms and carpet in all the bedrooms.   We were very pleased considering this is our first time ever building a home.  

We have been do-it-yourselfers for many years.  We always try to improve our home, which I feel we have always done a great job at.  Several comments when we went to sell is "this home looks like HGTV" or "I love the way this home is staged"  The funny thing is we don't stage our home hardly at all.  We live this way!   

Okay, Okay... back on task.... 

So the design choices begin: 

• Kitchen Cabinets
• Kitchen Counters
• Flooring - Carpet, hardwood, tile?
• Light fixtures - Nickel or bronze?  Do you want to upgrade?
• Tile or Vinyl in your bathrooms and laundry areas?
• What would you like the listello to look like?

The joy of building a home  :)  Below are some of the selections we went with.

ELEVATION

Now it's time to decide what is my house going to look like on the outside?    You are limited to specific elevations.... Here the are:

Option 1

Option 2

Option 3

Option 4

 

Our family went with:

 

OPTION # 1

 

 

Black Shutters, Red Door with a nice portico.

 

PICKING THE HOMESITE LOT

Decisions, decisions, decisions...  Who would have thought where you build your home was so important!  Tree line? No tree line? Are you near a  pond? Are you near the lake?  Does it have another house back up to you?  Are you near the road?  Is there a horrible view of some old home where they have tons of trash in their yard?  Is it on a cul-de-sac,  corner or in the middle of the street?  Is the grade of the ground flat or tapered?  Is there going to be storm drains, electrical boxes or any other utilities running through your property?  That's enough to give you a HEADACHE!

Sometimes you forget when you are buying homes and moving around the country that someone else had to make those same decisions prior to you.  It can all become a little overwhelming. 

Well the good news, my husband is a very detailed planner.  He looks at every scenario and contemplates,  is this what is going to work best for us.  After walking the lots, going back at least two or three times.  Looking at the blueprints, site maps, etc.   We made a decision!!!!  We settled upon a corner lot that is almost a 1/2 of an acre.  Now for those people in the Midwest or West of us that might not seem like a lot but here in the Mid Atlantic, land is GOLD!   You drive through the main cities and most of the houses are stacked on top of each other.  Your lucky to have any type of a yard.  We are very excited about the space.

We settled for a tree line view which I think we will enjoy during the fall season.  It also provides us some nice privacy and just as the sun starts to go down in the evening, it will allow for some additional shade so we can enjoy our back patio area.

THE DECISION

We are a Army family who recently moved to the Mid Atlantic Region for the second time in my husband's military career.  When we arrived back to the area, the initial shock of cost the of living was a  very interesting experience.  Moving from Texas to the Northeastern part of the country was  definitely no comparison.  We found out, that what we are paying for rent is a large mortgage payment for most families across the U.S.  With that in mind my wonderful husband decided it was time to start looking for a home.  After months of tours, visiting existing homes for sale and looking at several model homes, it was conclusive that we needed to build a home in order to get more bang for our buck.

We selected Ryan Homes, www.ryanhomes.com   We felt after looking at their competitors, we would get a better quality home with more features within our price range.   Our model is the Oberlin Terrace floor plan. 

So now here comes the commitment.  Money down, lot picked out, elevation selected, and loan submitted. 

Now the journey begins......