Our First House

It is Done!!

2009-08-11T22:40:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is our inspection and final walkthrough so we are planning to take a bunch of pictures and update the blog. We anticipate closing on Friday, so this weekend will be full of activity including installing blinds, curtains and a fridge. We can't have the neighbors watching us bathe!

Here are some pictures we took about a week ago after the hardwoods went in. We are so happy with them.

It is coming along!

2009-07-13T20:10:00.000-07:00

The house has been moving along very quickly. It seems like every day we go over there it looks completely different. Only a little over a month until it is supposed to be done. Here are some pictures of the progress...

Here is our vanity. They still need to install the mirror and the lighting fixtures.

Here is the skylight in the master bathroom.

And the tile in the master shower and tub.

They installed the wood work for the columns in the living room!

The slate tile and mantle was installed around the fireplace

Here is the view of the living room from the kitchen. You can also see the cabinet and wine rack on the far left. We can't wait to start putting wine in that thing!

Here is the kitchen with the cabinets and tile done. They still need to put in the appliances and put the granite slab on the island. We love the little granite tiles on the back splash that will match the slab on the island.

Here is the dining room. The crown moulding and chair rails look great!

Here is the entry way. This is going to look totally different when the hardwood and the railings for the staircase are installed.

The outside of the house is painted but they still need to paint out the trim, install the shutters and install the rockery around the base of the house. They did install the driveway and path to the front door!!

Floors!

2009-06-25T17:20:00.000-07:00

After months of discussion and indecision we finally picked the wood for the floors. I can't tell you what a struggle this has been. Our builder doesn't have a showroom where you can just go and point at what you want, so we spent countless hours trying to find the right wood. Not too dark, not too light, not too much variation but some variation nonetheless. Soooo... we finally picked Acacia wood.

Turns out after a little research that this wood has some good symbolism. It is supposed to represent purity and endurance of the soul and symbolizes resurrection and immortality. There is also some references to the wood in the Old Testament. We can't wait to see it go in! Here are some examples!

Dry Wall

2009-06-21T18:41:00.001-07:00

This week they finished up the dry wall. It is really starting to look like a real house. It was really interesting to see how they did the rounded corners on the arched doorways. It looked like a whole lot of work. Below is looking into the dining room from the entry way.
Here is the fireplace in the family room. Matt is getting excited to hang a TV in that nook over the fire place.

This is the view from the kitchen into the family room.

Marshmallow house!

2009-06-21T18:37:00.000-07:00

The insulation went in and the whole house looked like it had marshmallow walls. Below is the bonus room and our master bedroom.

American Lighting

2009-06-21T18:27:00.001-07:00

We went to American lighting last weekend to pick out all of our lighting fixtures. We estimated a one hour meeting and ended up being there for well over two hours! There was so much to look at and think about. Here is a little sample of the fixtures we picked.

These are the bathroom fixtures.

This is the light that will go on either side of the garage.

This goes in the entry.

And the matching one goes in the dining room.

Now that all of the electrical is done it is just a matter of time until these go in. We are amazed at how quickly everything is moving along!

Inside of the house with 90 days to go!

2009-06-04T22:59:00.000-07:00

Here are some pics of the inside of the house in progress. So far the plumbing is done and the electrical and low voltage wiring is almost all finished. The superintendent is saying that they may be able to close up the walls in two weeks! First is the entry way (not the final door!). The next one is the living room with a guest appearance from Steve. (3) The fireplace in the living room is in and so is the wiring for the flat screen over the mantle (when we can afford the flat screen). (4) is the living room taken from the kitchen. Once we build the fence we won't look at the side of our neighbor's house. The last one is the dining room. We love the arched entry. It is coming along!!!!

Interior choices at CR Floors

2009-06-04T22:47:00.000-07:00

We made so many decisions last weekend! We had our meeting at CR floors to pick our granite, carpet, indoor paint colors and cabinet colors. It was a lot of decision making in a small amount of time. Here is a sample of some of the stuff we chose! Below is the mosaic tile for the downstairs and upstairs spare bathrooms.

This is the tile for the master bath and kitchen, and carpet color. We chose not to do the tile with the swirls in it and are replacing it with the mosaic tiles above.
This is the slate color for the fireplace, granite slab for the kitchen and the cabinet color for the whole house.
We are so excited to see it all go into the house. Since we picked all of the colors and such we feel like it will feel like home right away.

Our House Color

2009-06-04T22:41:00.000-07:00

We searched high and low for a house color we like. These are the colors we went with except that our trim will be whiter. We both have been big fans of dark houses so this fit perfectly! It will still be a while before our house is painted but we can't wait.

2009-06-04T22:09:00.000-07:00

Last weekend Matt was itching to get over to the house and work on the yard, but since the house isn't done yet he couldn't. So he did the next best thing. We noticed that the next door neighbors, who just moved in, were starting to put up their fence, so Matt went over and helped Dusty and Kristen with their yard!

They managed to put in most of the fence posts on a very hot day. Of course I had to stop by to take pictures of Matt doing manly work in the backyard!
How cute is he!

Our first house!

2009-05-19T22:09:00.001-07:00

Hi everyone! A few weeks ago, after a stressful week of negotiations, our offer was accepted and we began the process of buying our first home. We are starting this blog to update everyone on the status of our new house, which is under construction and should be finished in a few months. We are incredibly excited to see our house get finished and to move in (after the wedding). When we bought the house, it was framed out with the siding on, but there are still so many decisions still to make.

Last week, we met with the cabinet company to talk about the design of the kitchen and other cabinets in the house. Jamie thought it was very important to have adequate wine storage, so we replaced the built-in desk with a lower cabinet and upper wine rack.

This morning we met with the electrician. We walked through the house with him and decided to upgrade a few things: under cabinet lighting and a ceiling fan in the master bedroom. Matt also added wiring in the theater (bonus) for a projector so we can watch movies on the big screen (someday). We wish we could afford air conditioning but that is not in the budget right now!

Next up: meetings with low voltage and interior design. Stay tuned...

Here are some pictures of what the house will look like and the layout. Our model is flipped from what the diagram and pictures show.