Almost there...

We've got Counter-tops and Appliances!

On our visit today we found that Ryan Homes had installed our granite counter-tops (santa cecilia) and our appliances.  Our impromptu visit consisted of a lot of discussion with Andrew, our PM, about the possibility of having shelving installed in the laundry room, which he agreed to do.  THANKS ANDREW.  They've also begun to lay carpet as of this post, and are stair railing is also stained now.  Didn't get any photos of this, but it looks great.  I'll try to get photos of it in the next post.  For the most part, trim is done and there is only one more coat of paint to go.  Because of time constraints, I was only able to get a shot of the kitchen today (see below).

The one issue we found out is that the counter-top installers cracked the piece of granite that is supposed to connect the breakfast bar to the counter-top... basically a granite back-splash that goes behind the sink.  Was told they had to order a new piece and it would be installed soon.

We're a week and a half from closing!

Here's what's left:

• Finish trim
• One coat of paint
• Finish carpet
• Faucets
• Cabinet knobs

Here's the ONE picture from today:

"santa cecilia" granite counter-tops and GE appliances installed

Exterior Work Continued

Siding, Stone, and Shutters

Over the past week, I've been able to get about one photo a day of Ryan Homes finishing up the exterior of the house.  It has really come a long way and, as of the this post, they seem to be pretty much wrapped up.  The only thing left to do is for them to paint our front door (it will be black).  It all looks great - my only concern is some of the trim (purely decorative) pieces on the final photo look a bit "off" from where they should be.  Also, it seems like a long piece of white trim is missing on the porch between the siding and the stone.  The white piece coming down just above the porch looks like it should continue all the way through the porch. Every photo I've seen of the Milan version 6 has this trim piece that seems to be "missing" on ours.  I'll be following up with my PM about these things and will post any updates.

siding done - they're finishing trim and stone here

another angle

stone and trim complete, shutters on the left side of the house - the color we chose for those is "dark berry"

another angle in the morning light

afternoon light - they also had the partial stone pillar on the porch done

another angle

and, finally, the right side shutters are on, and our front door (still unpainted) is on, and they the porch pillar is fully complete.  looks great!

Post Drywall Work

Cabinets, Wet-zone Flooring, and Fireplace

This past week, they've been working hard and we now have cabinets, wet-zone flooring (hardwood and vinyl) installed in the house.  The fireplace granite surround and mantle were also put in.  I must say, I am really happy about the work and even more happier about finally seeing our flooring/cabinet/color selections coming together.  They look even better than I had imagined!  It took them about a week to get all this done.  We now have toilets in the house too but I didn't get any pictures of those or the bathrooms.  The upstairs secondary bath is all but done (sans the sink), and the master bath still needs a sink and a glass shower door.

The interior doors have also arrived and are sitting in the garage awaiting installation - they look great!

One thing I'll say after seeing the bathrooms come together is I wish we would've upgraded the master bath to tile and a fully-glass shower.  We originally had this selected but cut it out at the last minute trying to save costs, but hindsight is always 20/20 - if we had known then what we know now, we would've kept the upgrades.  I guess this will just have to be one of the many projects on my ever-growing list of things to do after closing.  Speaking of closing.... we're only two and a half weeks away!  Yay!

Here's some pictures we were able to get...

kitchen cabinets installed - color is wyoming cherry bordeaux

kitchen from family room... the hardwood is covered (thankfully) but you can see how it will mesh with the cabinets in the this photo

Fireplace granite surround and mantle - got the "tropical brown" granic

cabinets close-up

the kitchen island

full shot of kitchen

interior doors in the garage

beautiful!

family room

close-up of the hardwood and cabinets

another close-up to see how the colors mesh

love it!

Drywall Complete

Drywall is Done, but We had an Issue...

Ryan Homes has completed the drywall on our Milan.  It took about a week for them to get it all hung, mudded, and taped.  I think they did a pretty good job!  Once again, I was impressed with the good craftsmanship put into this job.

While drywall was being done, we had a small problem with a water leak from the basement.  The leak originated from our furnace and happened because the furnace drain pipe did not extend far enough to reach the nearby floor drain, so all the furnace condensation leaked onto the floor for a couple days and created a sizable puddle.  This did cause me some concern as they had already drywalled down there and it looked like some of it was getting wet.  Other concerning thing is this apparently was an issue for at least a couple days without any of the workers reporting and/or fixing it.  HOWEVER... my PM got the mess cleaned up quickly and promptly aired everything out and has been running an industrial dehumidifier down there since.  He handled the issue to my satisfaction and I'm happy to say the basement is now dry as a bone and seems okay, but we'll make sure our home inspector checks the area just to be safe.

Next up will be wet-zone flooring, cabinetry, and painting.

In the meantime, they have also begun work on the exterior of the house and are moving pretty quick! More on this in my next post.  For now.... DRYWALL PHOTOS!!!

family room fireplace wall

family room east wall

close up of fireplace

kitchen and morning room

morning room and breakfast bar

kitchen from morning room - left door is pantry, right is mud room

powder room off of mud room

powder room - they still have not moved this stupid bathroom fan - it should be centered!

stairs to basement

second floor staircase

front entry hall

dining room on left

entry to study

front door

study

study still has a broken window

study

front entry hall coat closet

dining room

stairs going up to second floor

future thermostat location

laundry room

laundry room washer dryer connections

secondary bath

bedroom 3

loft

looking at stars from loft

linen closet

loft windows

bedroom 2

master bedroom east wall

master bedroom southeast corner

master bedroom east wall windows

master bedroom west wall and walk-in closet

master bath vanity

master bath shower

master bath soaking tub

master bath throne room

basement rec room - see the water mess?

basement rec room south wall

basement bath - love it - big thanks to our PM for making this exactly what I wanted

basement bath ceiling

double doors to media room

basement rec room north wall

basement stairs to first floor

basement rec room ceiling

basement going into mud room

mud room ceiling

powder room toilet

garage - not mudded/taped here but is now

garage south wall

garage bay door

garage ceiling