Final Walkthrough (12-7-10)

Well, we're down to almost 48 hours from close! Yes, we are counting down the hours!

Today was our final walk-through. That means that next time we step foot inside the house, we will have the key in-hand and the place will officially be OURS!

The walk-through went great! Screens are installed on the windows and sliding doors. Our microwave and dishwasher are installed. The oven was delivered but our superintendent noticed a small dent on one side, so he requested that the appliance company send a new one out (speaks highly of Moeder Construction, in our opinion - we would have never noticed the dent, yet they still chose to reject it and request a new one.) Brett and I walked through every single room (which we've done a million times, but this time it was with the superintendent,) and we basically found NOTHING that we want fixed or changed. I did request that they hose off the driveway so it looks cleaner.

We will have a list reviewed at 3 months and 1 year so that, if we DO find things that we missed in our walk-through, we can still have them fixed or corrected going forward.

Its amazing how many things go into home maintenance. We had to take some notes! For example, we're supposed to change the furnace filter every few months, replace the humidifier cartridge yearly, ensure the gas knob is on in order for the fireplace to work, learned where we can find some speciality light bulbs, etc. etc

We have found the mortgage/lender process to be near-painless...thank goodness! They did need quite a bit of banking detail, but its nothing we couldn't get online or with a stop at the bank. My biggest recommendation for anyone thinking about purchasing a home is to not cut it lean...from the beginning, we over-budgeted on all closing costs, expected payments, etc. etc. It has resulted in so much less stress! The spreadsheets on my laptop as well as our big binder are all ready to go for Friday morning!

Microwave...pretty exciting, I know :-)

We got the exact same dishwasher as Brett's parents. In the picture, it has a plastic thing over it. 

Thats all, folks! We do plan on continuing to update this site, so this certainly isn't goodbye :)

Under 1 Week till Closing! (12-4-10)

Well, here we are, less than a week from closing! Just about everything is finished up. The only things we are waiting on are the appliances (which are scheduled to be delivered/installed on Monday), the final grade, and a good cleaning. All of the flooring is in, all wall scuffs have been touched up, the wood floors have been polished, etc. etc.

You've seen almost all the flooring, so here's photos of the carpet installed.

No, the basement is not finished, but a dummy wall and carpeted landing hide the unfinished area from view.

And lastly, here is the linoleum in the laundry room (very dusty).

Well, we're getting to the end of the construction blog now! I'm sure we'll have finished photos from our walk through on Tuesday. We close on Friday and move on Saturday! 

Hardwood Flooring in (update 11-23)

Now that things are moving so fast, we've got lots of updates for you. Brett and I "broke" into the house last night - i.e. got in through a window that we had left slightly ajar. Now that the house has lights, it doesn't matter when we get over to the house (day or night.)

Our wood floors are in! We both really like how they turned out. Star Lumber told us to choose a stain at least 2 shades away from the cabinets, so the floor and kitchen don't compete. This stain is definitely two shades away, yet the dark "streaks" in the wood match the cabinets. Who knows if anyone else will ever notice such things...but we do, and thats what matters!!!

We met with Budget Blinds on Monday evening, as well. A coworker of mine gave me a 40% off coupon. We are going to have them install cream-colored faux wood blinds throughout the house. We can order them anytime so they will hopefully be installed shortly after we close. After the blinds are in, we can start checking out drapery.

Because this Friday is Black Friday, we are planning on a huge amount of shopping. We're finally going to be using our wedding gift cards to Crate & Barrel, and we're headed to Nebraska Furniture Mart to get a master bedroom set and living room set. We'll get a new dining room table sometime next month.

We learned yesterday that the house will be finished on Dec 7, so we can do our walkthrough and get small touch-ups PRIOR to closing on Dec 10. All that's left is carpets, appliance delivery, and clean up.

16 DAYS!!!!

Before we get to the wood floors, here's a picture of the plant shelf lighting that I forgot to attach last time. 

And here is a better picture of our sink

Wood floors! We opted for a protectant on these for $200. We also have a humidifier in the basement so that the humidity changes in summer vs. winter don't hurt the floors. The wood floors run from the dining room to the pantry.

That's all for now!

A few small details (update 11-20)

Brett and I had the chance to run to the house this morning and see some of the new additions in daylight. Brett brought his SLR so he was also able to take some good pictures. We actually interrupted the work of some guys laying the wood flooring in the dining/kitchen, but it worked out perfectly because we were able to choose our stain color without making a separate trip out there. They said they'll be doing stain tomorrow!

Our house is really starting to feel like OUR home with these small details...the tilework in particular looks so fun and personal. I have to admit, there is one thing that I'm not wild about in the house - the bathroom countertops. I feel like the countertops clash with the bathroom tile (love the tile though!) Brett thinks I'm crazy and he thinks it looks great, so I'm going to live with it (literally.) Once we get towels and decor into the bathrooms, maybe it won't bug me as much.

The kitchen countertops, however, are PERFECT! We had always said that we may swap them out for granite in 3-5 years, but now, I'm not so sure - I love them!

Bathroom counters and tile work

They fixed the accent tiles in the master bath. We just love our builder and superintendent. I left them a message at 7pm, they called me the next morning at 7am, and it was fixed just hours later. 

The tile around the fireplace matches the tile in the front entry. Funny story: when we went to Star Lumber for the first time and were asked to sort through 50 tile samples for the entryway, Brett and I went our separate ways. When we came back together, we each had one tile in hand. The exact same tile (there were two in the group.) Easy decision!

Absolutely one of my top three favorite things about the house: the tile backsplash. So simple, such an inexpensive option, and such a dramatic effect.

We got a black swanstone sink that is nice and deep. It almost feels like concrete and its very sharp-looking. We also made a last-minute decision to upgrade to a bronze faucet. The spray cord pulls out of the end of the faucet. 

As for packing, well, we're getting there. We don't own that much anyway, since we've never lived in anything but an apartment. We've trashed a lot of "junk" and will continue to get rid of things that we don't want to bring to the house. Brett's parents are bringing down a U-Haul on move day with some guest room furniture for us, and we've got a good crew of friends to help us move. We're hoping for dry weather. 

20 days!

Lights Installed (update 11-18)

Update today: lights installed! All tilework: in progress! And best of all: everything looking better than expected!

Front of house with Brett's well-chosen outdoor can lights

I might as well mention now that I was not even PRESENT when Brett chose lights. I mean, he's an electrical engineer! And he has great taste. I love his selections. 

We were pretty far under our lighting budget on the house...so we added under-cabinet lighting. 

BE-YOO-TI-FUL.

The iphone camera makes this light look pretty bright and harsh. Its actually not as blue as it seems. That said, we'll swap bulbs out for something warm and energy-efficient.

Love them pendant lights!

 

Art nook! 

Ceiling fan in living room 

Entry way light

Tilework around fireplace. None of the tile work has grout yet, so it doesn't yet have the nice, clean look. Tomorrow!

Light fixture in guest bath

Light fixtures in master bath. There will of course be a mirror under the lights.

Tilework around master bath. The little lone dark accent tile...not sure whats going on with this but we called the builder tonight to have him use that type of tile on the other accent tiles. Again, there's no grout yet, so they will just swap it out.

The dining room table light is pinned up high. We'll let it down when we get a table in there. 

December 10 cannot come soon enough! 

The deck will be amazing in summer...ceiling fan going and a beer in hand...!

We'll leave you with this one!

Update 11/13 - Interior Paint (first coat) and Stain

Hey everyone! A quick update today: interior rooms now have their first coat of paint. Nearly all wood trim throughout the house is stained, as well. Also, sprinklers and well are installed.

Paint colors - - - 

Main living areas (including 2nd/3rd BRs): SW Latte 6108

Master bedroom: SW Svelte Sage 6164

Bathrooms and master bedroom closet: SW Universal Khaki 6150

Also, we have an official CLOSE DATE!!! 10:00 am on Friday, December 10. Brett and I are both taking Dec 10 off work, and I will be taking Monday the 13th as well. We've got plenty of friends and family who will be helping us move on Saturday/Sunday. It should be an easy move; we are using the garage at our apartment as a "staging area" to store all boxes, so we can just back a truck up to it, fill it, and be on our way. Yesterday, I finally got some packing done!!! We also took care of homeowners insurance this past week. Its 1,000% real to us now that we're moving in less than 4 weeks. This is a dream come true.

The green in the master turned out P.E.R.F.E.C.T. We originally chose the Svelte Sage, then second guessed ourselves and went looking for something new. Eventually, we came back to it. I've been sort of worried it would be too green, or an ugly green. In our personal opinion, it turned out beautiful! Calming, natural, clean.

Here's a sample of the khaki in the bathrooms. Sherwin Williams recommended we go "light" in the bathrooms, since it tends to make a small space feel more open. We wanted something that would be a natural flow from one room to the next - and I'm really pleased with this paint color, as moving from bathroom to main living areas is a nice color transition. Not too drastic but still a noticeable change.

Finally, here is the latte in main living areas. Latte is one of SW's #1 selling paints so we felt pretty comfortable with it. Its a rich color that will go with almost anything.

These next two pictures are pretty terrible quality, so sorry in advance. But, they show the stain on the pantry and fireplace. Its a nice deep brown that matches our cabinets.

Up next? Second coat of paint, electrical fixtures, and I would expect Star Lumber to start kitchen tile-work. After that, its flooring: carpet, wood, tile. 

As always, thanks for spending some time following this fun journey with us!

Update 11-6 (trimwork done)

Well, in return for being horrible about uploading photos in previous weeks...here are nearly 30 for your viewing pleasure!!! 

Brett and I stopped by the house today. Things are looking great! Not only is the trim work done, but the place was swept up without tools/scrap pieces laying around. As mentioned in the last post, next up is trim stain, and paint.

Looking down into the basement. We've got real stairs and railing.

Fireplace. On the floor below the fireplace, and around the fireplace, will be tile (as opposed to a raised brick hearth.) We actually got this idea from an existing home we put an offer on last spring (that obviously didn't work out.) It's a very clean, modern look.

Need I say more?

East wall of kitchen. Fridge will obviously go in on left. Outlets above top cabinets are for speakers that Brett would like to eventually put in.

North and west sides of kitchen. Here will be the range and microwave. 

Kitchen peninsula. We'd like to get a couple barstools in here.

Washer/dryer room. We actually bought our washer and dryers today! We went with Bosch, which we've heard awesome things about. Normally this line would be out of our price range, but there was an awesome sale today that brought these within the price range of LG or Whirlpool. 

We weren't expecting this, but the trim guy put in some shelving in the laundry room, as well!

Pantry!!!

More pantry....

Art nook leading to master. There will actually be doors over these shelves, like a cabinet. We've also ordered the canvas wedding photo that will go into this nook.

Master bedroom window seat: installed!

Master bath cabinets

This will be stained to match cabinets

Master closet - my side :)

Master closet shoe rack, and Brett's little rack :)

Master closet off-season racks.

Guest bathroom

Linen closet! Again, these will have doors. I have no idea how I will fill so much cabinet/shelving space throughout the house. We currently own, like, 4 towels.

The closets in both 2nd and 3rd bedroom look like this:

Entryway coat closet (with a hidden Christmas light switch so we can easily flip on lights outdoors when its cold!)

Guess what?! We have a neighbor who just started building! Apparently they are early 30s with kids. We hear they are doing a true custom home and worked with Moeder for months on a design. I think thats awesome, and would love to know what kind of premium they ended up paying!

Did I mention how much I adore this deck?

In the kitchen...I have a lazy Susan!! Its the small things in life...

Our pretty little bronze cabinet pulls on all cabinets throughout the house. Might I mention, they were free from the cabinet company when they realized their drawers were too hard to open!

Steps in garage

Garage and attic door.

Last one for now!