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!)
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