Closing and Moving

Sorry for taking so long to update the blog, but I'm sure you can imagine how busy we have been.

We closed at 5pm on December 27th. My parents and I started moving some stuff over on Friday, the 28th. The new fridge was delivered on the 28th and the cable was hooked up as well.

Saturday the 29th was the big move. The movers showed up at 9am and moved until 3pm. I just can't believe how much stuff we have and we don't even have the furniture to fill up the new house. I am currently shopping for two sofas for the family room, a dining room table, a desk, kitchen table chairs, wall sconces for the bedroom, and artwork. These will happen slowly over time.

We spent the night here on the 29th and it was awesome. We made sure to get Ava's bed put together, Reid's crib put together and our bed put together. Jeff put the guest bed together today since his dad arrives on the 1st.

My parents were so helpful. They kept the kids occupied and Ava even spent the night at the hotel with them two nights. They helped run errands, make decisions and basically supported us with whatever we needed. So thankful for them.
Jeff's dad is coming down to help out and be here for Jeff's next surgery on January 2nd. We are excited to get to show him the house as well.

Here are some pictures during the move process. I will send pictures of rooms as they are put together. Right now there are clothes explosions in all the bedrooms and unpacking going on in all other rooms. Not pretty pictures.

New Fridge

New saddle bench stools for kitchen island

Waiting for cable guy. 

More waiting for cable guy

First dinner in new house. 

First Bath in new house

Watching morning cartoons with a fire.

Updated pictures

I went by the house super early this morning to take some measurements for drapes and furniture. Jim and his assistant Marc were already there marking spots for touch ups. They found a ton more than we had during our walk through. I am thankful that they are being meticulous.

Jim already wired and put in a light switch in Jeff's garage. they found the wires to do the garage door opener in his garage too.

Marc figured out a fix for the fireplace and they will fix it soon. Here are some pictures from this morning.

Top panels of garage doors have to be replaced after the first of the year with panels that have windows in them.

living room. Lots of blue tape everywhere!

you can see on the floor the black granite on the left is above the trim and it is below the trim on the right. They say they can fix it though, so good news.

Kitchen with lots of blue tape

Jeff's garage light switch

Painting complete on the outside except for a few touch ups.

Home Orientation Walk Through

We had our New Home Orientation Walk Through with our builder today. Ava was able to play with a friend and we took Reid with us hoping he would nap in the car. His nap lasted only 10 minutes into the walk through. Figures.

The walk through was good overall. There are a million touch ups that need to be done and the builder said he wished it was a bit "tighter" at this point, but it would be taken care of. There were two semi big issues though. The light switch for Jeff's garage was not put in there despite us making sure it would be at our initial builder meeting. The switch is currently located in my garage which makes no sense.

Also, there is a problem with the granite surround for the fireplace. It is above the wood trim on the left and below the wood trim on the right. I will send pictures of it later. Jim, The Builder doesn't know what they can do or why it happened. He will call the flooring company and try and figure it out.

I feel good about the house. The hard woods are a better color than I expected. Some things are not done to the quality standard that I would have liked, but we knew going in what to expect with some of the finishes.

They made some mistakes that we didn't point out because we ended up liking the "mistake" and it benefited us financially. For instance, they put an oil rubbed bronze front door handle on the front door and we only paid for polished nickel. They also put more expensive french doors with glass in them for Jeff's office when we had originally only paid for solid panel doors. I feel like everything evens out in the end and there is nothing in the house that I would want to change immediately.

Closing is set for December 27th. Thank goodness my parents will be here to watch the kids for the final walk through and closing. They will also be helping us for the move on the 29th.

Lots of issues like this to fix

flat panel prewire above fire place

Finding uses for boxes we won't use for the move. Please excuse Reid's bottom and the portable potty.

Got an upgraded door handle by accident. 

Light at the end of the tunnel

I can see light at the end of the tunnel, but not coming from our house! Still waiting for the electricity to be turned on.

The water meter was installed today and that was one of the final speed bumps for the house being done.

They were installing the sod when I drove by this morning. The  yard looks good! They ran out before finishing part of the yard and the space between the road and sidewalk.

Here are some pictures from today.

Stove hood vented to outside

Sod going in

Smooth Sailing? What's that?

Our builder called today and said he is going to move our closing to Dec 28th. This is not surprising and I am actually ok with it all. The movers aren't coming till the 29th, and I will just get Lowes to hold our fridge for delivery on the 29th.

I would rather they get everything right before we close than have a huge list they have to handle after closing. We will definitely still have to have work done on closing but I want to minimize it. They ordered the wrong garage doors so they will install the wrong ones and change them out after closing. The manufacturer can't get the correct doors until after the first of the year.

I went by today and talked to the builder and pointed out a couple of issues to him. I asked about our tv prewire above the fireplace and he looked at me with a blank stare. Glad I brought it up. He had no clue the AV company needed to come out and do that.

Our final building permit failed today because the master shower door wasn't up when the inspector came by. It was up 30 minutes later. ugh. Timing. The inspection is called back in for Monday. We are still waiting on the electric inspection and the water meter to be installed.

There is a lot of touch up painting left, cabinet work in both guest baths, cabinet light rail to hide the under cabinet lights, window blinds, tv wiring, some hinges need to be swapped out, and the front porch needs more painting.

We are hoping to have our walk through at the end of this week and close on the 28th. Fingers crossed.

Bonus room painted Tony Taupe

Powder room

Stained stair rail

Ava and Reid's bath

Master shower door on now.

Master Bath mirrors and lights in.

Pantry shelves. Definitely want them to go up higher for storage. Project for Jeff.

I can't stop standing in my kitchen. I love the stove and the built in oven/micro combo. I want to switch out the hood though as it looks too skinny for the space and I feel like you can see the underside. 

Light it up! and other stuff

Of course we went by the house today. Twice.

They were still working on the lighting. Kitchen pendants, under cabinet lighting, closet lighting, bath lighting, outdoor floodlighting... lots and lots of lighting. Like several days of lighting.

They were also putting on the the stairs out the back of the house and in the garage to the back door. Carpet went in today, but we weren't able to go upstairs and check it out.

Here are some shots from today.

I love the can lights and the chandelier for over the kitchen table. the dining room light is so so, but they all came in a package and none of the packages had all good lights so oh well.

fescue seed and straw in back yard. I have zero hope for this to grow and fully expect to have to get sod in the future. I think we will likely have a mud pit in the backyard till spring. Woohoo for the laundry I have in store.

back stairs out the french doors off the kitchen. Future deck/patio location

bump in the road...

Well, I ran into the builder at the house today. He thinks we may not make the Friday finish date. I am not surprised at all. disappointed, but not surprised. There is still so much to do.

They were putting in the landscaping and grading the backyard today, washing the windows, and finishing the lighting.

The builder admitted that he has no idea where the missing garage door is!! How do you lose a garage door? That's a new one.

He hasn't heard back from the cabinet company about the cabinet height mistake in the hall baths. So no clue when those will be replaced.

Here are some pictures from today. Reid loved watching the "tractor" grade the backyard.

Less than a week???

They say the house will be done and ready for the walk through in less than a week. I am skeptical. There seems to be so much left to do and we found an error yesterday and now additional work has to be done to both guest baths.... we will see if they can make it happen.

We went by yesterday so Jeff could see what is happening with the house lately. I also measured to see if our fridge fits and unfortunately the door swings to wide and will hit the island. looks like we will have to get a new fridge with french doors which I really don't want, or find a much shallower fridge to fit in the space....blah. I love my fridge and wanted to bring it with us.

They have put the gutters on and jeff's garage doors, but not mine. Some of the lighting is done, but not all. I am especially eager to see the under cabinet lighting in the kitchen.

They have tiled the master bath and shower, but still need to do the grout work.

Here are some updated pictures...

Butler pantry

Pull out pots and pans shelves.

Pull out trash and recycle!

Watching the driveway go in. Future basketball court.

Tile in, waiting on grout.

Master Shower

Man These Guys Can Move

Oh my. I was very skeptical that the house would be done by the 14th and ready to close on the 20th. They need a week for it to be done before closing to do the final walk through, final inspections, final appraisal and fix any things we put on a punch list at the walk through.

When the kids and I went by today, they were starting to pour the driveway, sidewalk, front walk, and back stoops. They have finished painting and have tiled the bathrooms, laundry room, and kitchen backsplash. There is still some trim that needs to be installed though. They were putting in the hard wood floors this afternoon.

Here is what I can think that they still have to do: faucets, light fixtures, garage doors, steps in garage to back door, and steps to french doors in back, carpet, mirrors, final hvac install, appliances, landscaping, and shelving in the closets. Amazing that it will all get done in a week.

Here are some pictures from the last couple visits. I couldn't get in this afternoon as they were doing the floors, but popped in quickly this morning. I was wrangling the kids though, so the pictures are few.

Getting ready to start pouring cement.

Ava and Reid's bath. The hazy stuff is stuff in the air that the flash illuminated but I couldn't see. Gross.

Laundry room

Master Bath

Shutters on, in process of painting porch railing

Painting, Painting, Painting

It feels like they have been painting the inside and outside of our house forever and they still aren't done!!

I was making conversation with the painting supervisor as he sees me visiting the house all the time and even ran into me at the sherwin williams store. Pedro told me they would be painting on Sunday and Monday doing trim and finishing the outside of the house. 

We went by the house this morning to show Grampa Ted what's going on. Ava had a good time showing him her room. 

Yesterday I was able to meet up with one of my future backyard neighbors and walk around the neighborhood. I even got to meet our future next door neighbors the Shaw's. They move in on Dec. 14th.

We got an email telling us our new home orientation meeting is Dec. 14th and closing is tentatively scheduled for Dec. 20th. We won't move in until after Christmas. 

Here are the latest pics.