Meet my Editor

Chris has decided he wants to edit my blog.  He is editing it for spelling, grammar, and accuracy of the stories.  I hope this makes you feel better about the information in the blog (insert sarcasm).  I do need to clarify 3 things from my last blog that were inaccurate.  Thanks Editor Chris!  1) The tree I referenced in my last post near the screened in porch was not a pine tree but an oak tree.  My apologies to all the Oak and Pine tree nation.  I hope I did not offend.  2) I referenced the bat insulation that had to be used above the fireplace and two of the tubs.  My Editor noted that it was above the fireplace and behind the tubs.

Last night I had my first solo Craigslist adventure!  Whoa - I know!  I was very nervous.  I know what you are thinking, Amy that is dangerous you should have sent Chris.  Here is why I could not send Chris.  We saw a rug we loved about a week ago.  Chris typically will find something and show it to me and then we decide if we should contact them to make an offer.  Chris typically gets my opinion before he starts to haggle but I really don't get that involved in the price negotiation. Last weekend, Chris must have really offended this lady when he made a weak offer on her rug because she would not email him back.  After a few days of no responses from her with an increased offer, he asked me to contact her on Wednesday.  I did and she stated the rug was still available (proof she was ignoring Chris).  I made a deal on the rug and set up the pick up.  I was nervous that Chris would open his mouth and tell her who he was during the pick up so I did not allow him to come.  I scheduled a pick up time for the rug and was told that her husband would meet me at her house.  He opens the door and I introduce myself.  (this is my first solo pick up so I was relieved to see he looked like a normal man that did not want to kill me)  He did not look so comfortable.  He said, "Oh - I was expecting a man."  I really wasn't sure how I should respond to that statement.  I had only communicated via text so I'm not sure why he assumed I was a woman.  Am I the first woman to do a solo Craigslist pick up?  He invited me in the house to see the rug.  I followed him to the sunroom as he told me his boss was out.  I thought it might be some joke about his wife being his boss but I couldn't tell if he was joking.  Then we get to the sunroom and I saw the rug.  I made a comment that it looks like they never used it. He replied with a statement about him not living there all the time which really confused me.  Was this her husband or her personal assistant?  WTH!  I decide this is getting really awkward and I just need to get out.  I told him that it looks great and I'd like to buy it.  I asked him if I could help him roll it up and he stated he had it.  He gets on his hands and knees and while rolling up the rug starts singing hymns.  I was very perplexed at this point and thought that maybe he was scared of me and thought I might hurt him so he started singing hymns.  I told him that I was going to put my seats down in my car and get my car ready for the rug.  He said, "Ok" and I quickly hurried outside.  The poor guy comes out of the house with this big 8 x 10 rug and can barely carry it but so nicely helped load it into my car.  It is an absolutely beautiful rug and so happy that we got it.  However, it was quite an experience. 

Now  . . . where should we put it?

I tried to get a kitchen aid mixer this week for $65.  (If you don't know, they regularly sell for $330 to $500.)  However, I was too late and she sold it before I saw the ad on Craigslist.  I'm still on the hunt for a Kitchen Aid Mixer.  I'm sure I'll find someone on CL that got one for a wedding gift and never uses it. 

Pre Construction Meeting

Today we had our preconstruction meeting.  YAY!  This is what I said before I got there.  I have to admit that there was a point in the meeting that I got very bored and distracted.  Thank goodness Chris was there and paying attention for me! 

The preconstruction meeting consisted of a review of our structural selections, design upgrades, review of the electrical wiring (Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz), overview of the blueprint (props to all architects out there because that was confusing), and a walk through of the lot.  Chris and I decided after all of this was over that we were going to walk through a couple of the houses that our neighbors will eventually live in to see the progress.  I can't wait to have a block party and talk about the times we all walked through each others houses and what we liked about their selections. 

Kelvin will be our Construction Manager and he is really nice.  He is managing 20 homes that are in our neighborhood and under construction!  Here is the good news and bad news.
BAD NEWS - Our lot is still trees!  Boo!
GOOD NEWS - Our home is the last that will be under construction on the two intersecting streets which means we will not have to hear the banging of hammers, the buzzing of big equipment, and the beeping of large 18 wheelers coming to drop off wood, flooring, appliances etc. 

Here are some pictures!!

 

I was standing in our front yard when I took this picture.  They are about to start pouring concrete on our across the street neighbor's house.  (We have not met them yet.)

 

This is our neighbor to the left (if you are looking out at the street).  We have met them and they are very nice.  Kelvin and his team have gotten so much accomplished on their house in the last 3 weeks.  They are moving in at the end of October!

 

This is Chris and Kelvin on our lot in the backyard talking about what trees we can keep and which ones have to go.  We are sad that there is a big pine tree that will be at the end of our screened in porch that we can't keep.  Kelvin said it is too close and the roots won't make it through all the construction.

 

Chris is very excited about the upgraded insulation called Spider insulation.  Kelvin suggested we go check out a house that just had the insulation sprayed.  This is Chris checking out the insulation is our neighbor's house 3 doors down (across the street).

 

Kelvin explained to us that the only places he can't do the Spider insulation is above the fireplace and above the bathtubs in the master and bonus room.  The insulation that they will do is called Bat Insulation.  This is Chris checking out the insulation.  Chris was so excited about the insulation.  I was bored at this point but I'll be so excited when they get my cabinets in the kitchen!!

 

Our neighbor 3 houses down (on our street) is also building a Barrett.  They are almost done with their home.  They are working on the flooring right now.  We walked through their house and they added beadboard in the laundry room.  I love it!  I didn't think about it before but definitely putting it on my honey do list for Chris. 

 

I'm not a shopper by nature but I do love grocery shopping.  I'm very excited about the Super Bi-Lo that will be my new grocery store when we move in the house. 

 

We got another deal on Craigslist today!  Score!  I'm waiting to hear back from someone else about another Craigslist deal.  That will be in my next blog. 

 

OH - Most important . . . . They are clearing our lot this weekend.  I've got mixed emotions about it.  I'm sad for the trees that have to come down but I will be happy to turn the corner and see something other than trees on our lot.   We are still on track for a January closing but only if mother nature cooperates. 

Craigs List is not just for Killers!

Every relationship no matter if it is work, friendship or romantic allows you to learn new things.  There are things you would have never done prior to meeting that person(s).  One of the things that Chris has enlighten me on is the gems you can find on Craigslist.  BC (before Chris) if I ever needed something I would go to a store to buy it.  Chris and I love to get a good deal on something of good quality.  We've done a lot of Craigslist shopping for the new house.  You get a good deal and you have good stories as well.  Here are a few of our Craigslist finds with their stories. 

The Storage Unit
Chris found an ad with an old trunk for sale.  It was part of a huge sale.  The girl told us to meet her at her storage unit.  We knew this could either be bad news (we were going to get killed) or good news (we were going to find great stuff).  Thank goodness it was that we found great deals!  The couple was selling everything and moving to Puerto Rico and we scored on their move!

The trunk!

Bed for $20!

We got about 25 baskets for $1 and $2 a piece.  Here are some of them. 

$20 for these 3 Vera Bradley bags

We also got a 24 bottle wine cooler with dual temperature.  We got picture frames, pillows, and blankets.  We got everything for under $200. 

The Not So Good Deal
I've been wanting a trestle desk for my new office.  Chris found one and we immediately decided to buy it.  The only thing it needed was some paint because I wanted it black and it was brown.  This is not the actual desk we got but something like it.  The not so good deal happened when we walked in to World Market and saw a similar desk for $50 less.  Oh well . . . we learned a lesson with that one!

The Russian Spy
Since we got the great deal from the couple moving to Puerto Rico, we have been looking closely at moving sales. People will sell good things for cheap prices when they are trying to move quickly.  Chris tells me on a trip to Columbia that we need to swing by Orangeburg to look at furniture.  I was skeptical but trusted him because we hadn't been killed yet.  We pull up to this run down house with this tall Russian with a fancy video security system.  After a little negotiation, we bought these tables for my office.

Finally a Chair
We have been searching for wing back chairs for a few months now.  If we found the right fabric color, the price would be too high.  If we found one that was the right price, the fabric color was hideous and it would have been too expensive to change.  Ugh!  It was very frustrating.  We finally came across this chair. While it is not an antique old wing back chair, the colors will match our living room perfectly.  We bought it for $125 and then walked into Pier One last week and noticed it was "on sale" there for $349.  Yes!  We got us a deal!

We'll keep you updated on our Craigslist finds because we are still searching for lots of good deals! 

Design Center Day

Two weeks ago we went to the Design Center for a full day.  Our Ryland Realtor warned us that it was going to be exhausting.  What I didn't expect was how nervous I would be!  Chris was more excited than nervous.  We had been lucky enough to go to a Design Center Preview event where we were able to see all of our options.  We also were that crazy couple that went to the model home 15 times in 6 weeks before our Design Center day. 

Chris is wonderful and had created a spreadsheet with all of our options and how much it was going to cost us.  We went into the meeting thinking we knew exactly what we wanted but walked away with a lot of changes from our original spreadsheet. 

We decided all of the structural lay out of the home during the contract signing (bathroom set ups, screened porch, windows/doors, fireplace, tray ceilings, and bonus room).  Our biggest regret is that we didn't realize during this initial contract signing we should have made our decision on the hot water heater.  We had hoped to do a tank less but missed the deadline and are going with a standard.  Oh well!  If that is the biggest mistep in this process, we are doing pretty good.

In case you are reading this and about to build a house, let me tell you what we thought going into the design center meeting. 
FLOORING - I had finally convinced Chris that laminate flooring was the best way to go (since we have two big dogs that would and have in the past ruined hard wood floors).  We knew that we wanted the laminate in all the open areas (living, dining, breakfast, kitchen, office, and hallways) and carpet in the bedrooms.  We had determined that since Chris is pretty handy we (ok who are we kidding - HE) could do the tile in the bathrooms to save some money.
APPLIANCES - We had determined that we were going to go with the bottom of the line appliances and upgrade our appliances after we moved it.  This made us nervous thinking about buying a full kitchen of appliances right after closing!
CABINETS - I knew I wanted stacked cabinets in the kitchen but we couldn't decide between black cabinets or white cabinets.  Remember that house I told you about that we stumbled in while house hunting.  That house had white cabinets and dark laminate flooring and I'll be honest that the look took my breath away.  However, the model had dark cabinets and I loved that look as well.  Everywhere you look now you see white cabinets and I'm sure it is a fad just like shag carpet and pea green appliances were in the 70s.  We really didn't know what we were going to do about the cabinet colors.  I want cabinets in the laundry room but we determined this was also something Chris could easily put in for me at a later date.
WIRING - I have to give it to Chris on this because he knew exactly how many outlets we needed and where each should go on the wall.  He had all the prewiring figured out for lights/fans and surround sound.  If it would have been up to me, we might have gotten one cable outlet and one ceiling fan prewire.  We had the biggest struggle in this area with can lighting.  Every model you walk into has can lighting in every room but then everyone tells you they never use it if they have other lighting in the room with the can lighting.  BTW -  Each canned light was $100. Those suckers add up quick!
ACCESSORIES - Prior to our design center meeting, we spent a lot of time in Lowe's.  We priced everything from towel bars to shower heads to overhead lighting.  We determined very quickly that the price that Ryland was asking for accessories was very reasonable.  However, you are limited on your selection of lighting and bathroom accessories compared to the wall at Lowe's.
BATHROOM - We had already done a structural upgrade to a master bath with double sinks and  separate shower and tub. We also added the additional bath up in the bonus room and added an additional bowl in the guest bath downstairs. We knew that took a lot of our budget.  However, we were really hoping we could afford the jetted garden tub in the bathroom.  I've had two different homes with the same separate shower/separate tub set up.  One had the jetted tub and one did not.  I can tell you I took a bath 10 times more when I had a jetted tub than I ever took a bath in the regular tub.  I knew that I wanted it but also knew it was something we could cut if we couldn't make our budget number.
OUTSIDE - Chris and I want to build an outdoor kitchen so getting all of the wiring outside was important to us.  We also knew that we wanted gutters and an irrigation system but also determined this was something we could do pretty easily after closing on our own.
CROWN MOLDING - We knew we wanted crown molding in the dining room and foyer but thought this might be a weekend project for Chris.  Someone also recommended to us that the subcontracters from Ryland do side work.  This is also an option!
BLINDS - Who knew blinds would be so difficult!?! We talked about doing them on our own.  Then we talked about Ryland doing them.  We talked about doing them on our own again.

Fast forward to our Ryland Design Center day.  We walked out of there with much more than I thought we were going to get and that was thanks to Chris' spreadsheet.  He had calculated everything and we were surprised to find out that a lot of what he calculated in the price was standard so we saved money we thought we were going to spend. 

Here is most of what we ended up "upgrading"
- We added a tile surround (with accent) in our shower in the master.  This was something we decided on Design day and we are both so happy about it.  We also got the jetted tub!!  Our bathroom is going to be an oasis!  Eeeek!
- We went ahead and upgraded our sink, tub, and shower hardware but did not opt to get the accessories.  We wanted the oil rubbed bronze look and not the shiny silver look.  The accessories (towel bar, toilet roll holder) Ryland offered were not what we wanted so we will buy those on our own and Chris will install. 
- This is the funny one.  We upgraded to the elongated commode because this was one area Chris was passionate about.  I didn't know until a few months ago there were two different types of commodes.  LOL!
- We upgraded to have gas lines throughout the house so we can have a gas dryer, gas stove and a gas line to our grill outside. 
- Chris got his exterior hose, receptacle, flood lighting and 220 receptacle for his outdoor kitchen/oasis he is building.
- Chris was very excited about the fireplace that we chose during the structural review.  He opted for an upgraded mantle during our design day.  I really didn't have much passion around the fireplace but glad he is happy!
- We got all the cable outlets, media prewire, and ceiling fan prewires a person could dream of but as Chris told me we have to do it now or it isn't that easy. We also opted to add lighting under the cabinets in the kitchen.  We entertain a lot and the kitchen is typically the focal point of any party so we wanted to make sure we had plenty of lighting in it. 
- We ended up adding 4 additional can lights.  We had 6 standard in the kitchen and we added 4 in the living room.  Chris promises to put them on a dimmer. 
- The standard lighting in the foyer, hall, breakfast area, and dining room was pitiful! We upgraded for $200 (which was not bad if you price out lighting at Lowe's) for 4 different lights.
- I was so happy to hear that we could upgrade the master closet for only $200.  I immediately said, "SOLD!"
- I've included some pictures of our cabinet choices, granite choices, and flooring choices for the main areas.  The tile in the bathrooms was only a few hundred dollars more to upgrade so we went ahead (one less thing to do after closing) because we had some money left to spend.  Who knew!?!  Our Design Consultant said that it rarely occurs when someone adds to the list after they are done and not takes away from the list.

 - We were surprised when we heard about the appliance package that Ryland was offering which ended up being less than if we bought them from Lowe's or another appliance retailer.  While it didn't include the fridge we wanted, it did include a microwave/convection oven which I can't wait to use.  We decided to go with their appliance package and upgrade to the fridge we want after we move into the house. 

There you have it!  Our selections from the Design Center.  We have a list of things to do post closing (blinds, garage door opener, crown molding, cabinets in the laundry room, fence in the yard, gutters, irrigation system, and other things I'm sure!)

SOLD!

Ryland was selling so many lots in Charleston Oaks that we had to wait a few weeks before our SOLD sign got up.  Here is the day we turned down the street and saw the sign.  We were so excited!

Look at our dirt and trees. LOL!

Why Build?

Why did we build?  We couldn't find everything that we wanted in the current inventory on the market. We were driving through Charleston Oaks one day and there was a house open that had just been built that they were finishing painting.  We walked in and it was over from there.  It wasn't our floorplan but a similar floorplan.  It took about 2 weeks before we really seriously considered building our own home but we finally did it.  We could not stop thinking about that house that we walked through! 

July 31st was the day!  The day we signed our contract with Ryland Homes to build the Barrett II on lot 155 in Charleston Oaks.  OMG - How exciting! First I fell in love with the floor plan and then I fell in love with the kitchen when I walked into the model home.  Chris loved the open floor plan and one story concept but knew we needed to add a bonus room. 

Here is the what the outside will look like.  We selected Sage as our color with a black door and black shutters.  We can't wait to add a few black rocking chairs to the front porch. 

Here is the floor plan.  We love the open concept and the lay out of the bedrooms.  The bonus room is the only room upstairs.  We chose to add the bathroom to make it an extra bedroom.

Here is our lot. Corner lot that backs up to woods. 

Here is a picture from the model home's kitchen.  I can't wait to cook and entertain in this kitchen.