The waiting game....(insert jeoporady theme song here)

I feel like I shouldn't be getting too into the building process yet and getting excited, we haven't been approved yet for the mortgage and I'm just so worried that I will get my hopes up and something bad will happen during the loan process and we won't get our home :(  I'm only worried because of our situation with my husband owning his own businesses (yes plural) and it's so difficult to get all the information, mainly because we need to prove 2012's income and we haven't filed our taxes yet and neither has either of his businesses :)  Fun times!  I am greatful, however, that my husband's credit is squeaky clean (unlike mine, stupid college years.... grrr!!!) and that we have no debt what so ever (car paid off as of Decemeber woo hoo!!!), it makes for one less headache in the process but I just feel like I shouldn't be planning out rooms in my head or going furniture shopping until we get that first approval from NVR.  Hopefully I will have some good news soon!  We are on the calendar for our pre-construction meeting February 18th, so I hope we hear something before then!  I know it can take about 30 days from application, and in our situation maybe even longer.  Keeping my fingers crossed!  Wish us luck!

And so it begins... NVR tips and advice, please!

I knew it wasn't going to be a cake walk and I have been dreading the first email requesting extra "stuff" they need for the loan.  It's also a unique situation because I'm not on the mortgage, and my husband owns his one business and also a small part of another business.  He doesn't get pay stubs, and we have to use this years income, and his W-2 is months away!  The list so far isn't too bad, most of it I don't understand because I don't know anything about the inner workings of running a business, but because he has partners, a lot of the information he just doesn't know, and we have to get it from the partners, so it's going to be a mess I'm sure.  Other than writing some letters and providing source of funds (which should be fun b/c no checks are ever cut, it's all ACH deposits w/ no pay stubs!) I think we should be OK.  This is the only part of the process that makes me nervous, the building part is enjoyable for me, but all this paperwork and forms and requests may prove to be tiresome for us, especially since my husband works 12 hour days, he doesn't have time to get this information when they need it.  We have until tomorrow, and I'm hoping that we can meet that deadline, I just know how much of procrastinator my husband is (with anything other than his business of course) and I just need to stay on top of things and keep us on track.  I feel like the conductor of an orchestra only no one knows how to play the song!  But so far, things have been pleasant with out NVR experience, and I hope it continues!

If anyone can give me ANY tips or advice going forward please feel free to comment or message me! I need all the advice that I can get!!

Rusmur Floors round 2!

I'm such a happy camper today even though I'm running on 3 hours of sleep, though through fault of my own device from staying out late dancing and celebrating my good friends birthday! The meeting this morning was quick and easy we were able to get the floors outside of the program and it was absolutely no problem and the same exact price!!! I'm so thrilled the the look of everything together. We changed the tile and carpet too, everything is much warmer now but we can still incorporate the modern greys and taupes we want to.

Hardwoods on main level except mudroom: Kraus Velocity Oscuro Oak

Carpet upstairs: Baseline in Warm Stone

Tile for master bath: Stratford place Willow Branch and the Listello accent tile

We also switched the counters back to the butter rum granite which looks much better with the flooring and cabinets than the jamocha. I'm now excited to see it all come together! We have our meeting this afternoon to finalize everything!

I'm FLOORED!

So I must have looked like a crazy lady last night at Rusmur floors, I was by myself in the "Ryan Room" and pulling carpets, hardwood, tiles, and just standing over it all taking pictures and just becoming m ore and more overwhelmed!  The lighting in there STINKS!  It makes everything look so weird in pictures and so much lighter too, it's deceiving   So I grabbed one of the girls that's familiar with the program but doesn't actually do the pricing or the appointments and got her opinions and then I asked her if there was a wood floor option darker in the level 2 or 3 that I was just missing and the she told me the words I wanted to hear this whole time "You know, you aren't locked in to these selections in the program".... That made me so happy!!!  Obviously I know that most of the good stuff at Rusmur is going to be more $$$$ but, she did show me some HW options that would be at the level 2/3 pricing, and she found me a beautiful chocolate HW that is just stunning!  Again, the lighting in there is AWFUL but here are the pics, I posted one from the company's site too to show it all laid out, the sample looks more brown but it does have some warmth to it, it compliments the cabinets sooo much better!

I also switched the carpet to warm stone, it's still the base level carpet, I'm not super thrilled but I really don't want to upgrade since I know I can get a nicer carpet in a few years, this will do for now, most of the action happens on the main level anyways, I won't be throwing parties upstairs!  I also don't want to have to finance carpet for 30 years, I also said that about the HW but it's going to be too much of a pain to do them afterwards and it will probably cost as much or MORE with all the tear down labor involved.

And I changed the bathroom tiles, I forgot to take pictures though but I will need to schedule a formal meeting there again to finalize all the selections so I will get a big group picture of everything again! :)  Who knows, I will probably end up making more changes!  I said I wasn't going to be one of those people that do that but hey, this is a LOT of money and I want to be happy with everything.  Karen at Rusmur told me last night that I shouldn't have to settle, and that I should be happy with all of my selections, especially if I'm upgrading and paying the extra money to do it!  Thank you Karen for setting me straight!  Ryan Homes is making a profit from me, I'm doing them a favor here so I think I'm entitled to LOVE my new home, not just like it or be "OK" with it!

Rusmur Floors Round 2!

I told myself I wasn't going to be one of those people who stresses about colors and flooring and options, but here I am, calling Rusumur to come in tonight again!  I thought that I picked out everything that I wanted but now seeing the pictures and revisiting the model homes, I'm worried my pallet is too grey and cool, I don't want to be stuck with cool tones, I want something more in the middle so I can go either way, and for re-sale value too, I'm just worried my choices are too specific and I don't even have the slightest clue how I'm going to decorate when we get in!  So tonight I'm going to see if I can warm things up a bit with the carpet and the tile in the master bathroom.  I still love the glass tiles as the accent but I may go with the more warm tones and also switch up the floor and wall tiles to be less grey.  I will post my new selections tonight, the sales person won't be there which actually is a good thing for me, I am pretty savy when it comes to design so I think being on my own will do me good, and the hubby won't be there either, he trusts my taste and doesn't really care much about the colors I pick out, he knows I'm good for it!  I only wish they offered a darker stain on the level 2 hardwoods, I'm really nervous about the cherry floors!  I don't want things looking too red or clashing with the espresso cabinets!  I really wanted the dark hickory but it was so far out of our price range!!

I put up a picture of my style of bedroom (dream bedroom) it's from Resoration Hardware, which I can't afford anyhting in there besides the linens!  I do want to get our bedding from there though, I'm tired of cheap duvets that fall apart and honestly, their prices aren't bad for the quality you get!  This is the bedding set I'm looking at for our king bed, I love the rustic comfy feel of it and I can make it that modern shabby chic look in the master with some rustic furniture paird with some modern lighting and clean lined elements!

 the pic above would be if I had all the money in the world :)  I love the charm and elegance this room gives off but it's still simple and not too feminine, it has the perfect balance and just looks comfy and lived in!

This is the bedding I'm looking at, it's all on sale so that's good for the budget!  I'm going to stop over at Restoration Hardware sometime soon to check out their bedding and get some inspiration!  I don't want to buy it yet but if the price is right I may have to!

Rusmur Selections... round 1??

So we had our meeting with Rusmur floors this past Saturday and I thought that I had selected what I wanted.  It was a lot harder than I thought I honestly thought that a lot of bloggers were just really indecisive but there are just so many choices especially with the tile!  I'm worried now that everything I picked out is too grey!  And I haven't seen a model yet with the Manchester cherry floors that we selected so I'm nervous how it will all look together.  So here is the run down, it's much more than we anticipated spending, as originally we wanted to put in hardwoods after we closed but we decided it was going to be way too much of a headache and probably end up costing way more and we just don't have that kind of cash on hard to do it all.  We do need to have furniture in our new home!!!

Main level:  Manchester Cherry finish Oak Plank hardwoods 3 1/4" plank with a lower gloss finish (I think it will hide the nicks and foot prints better than the high gloss and the wider planks was only 1k more and it looks so much more modern and will add value)

Banister Stain:  Traditional Cherry (I wanted something darker but all the dark stains look purple!!! I'm hoping I can ask the PM to use a stain I pick out, I mean come on, it's just a can of stain!!! it's CHEAP!!!!)

Mudroom, Laundry, and secondary bath:  Initiator 66178 Laminate flooring (I plan to do a herring bone grey/blue slate colored tile floor in the mudroom after a year or so, no need to waste money on hardwood were we will be traipsing through with wet and snowy boots!)

Master Bathroom:  Stratford Place Dorian Grey 12x12 on Floor and 10x14 on Wall and Listello East glass accent tile 247250 (This is where I'm nervous, I don't want to go too grey and I'm worried the tile is going to be too cool and feel dreary but I LOVE the accent tile and I didn't want to go too warm because I like the dove greys but I like to mix warms and cools together with a modern rustic flare so I think I'm going to make a second appointment tomorrow to take a second look)















Carpet Zone 2 (upstairs) Baseline Thornwood w/ standard 6lb padding.  We were advised not to bother to upgrade the padding or the carpet since the level 1 is basically the same and would just be a waste of money, this carpet will do for a few years and we will probably keep it until after we have our first child, we will let her/she ruin it before investing in expensive carpet!  I am worried though that it is tooo grey!  Again I am going to look at the other colors again tomorrow just to make sure, I don't want it looking like a cave!  Advise PLEASE!!!!

So our next meeting is the BIG one, the meeting with NVR to determine if this can even be all ours!!!  That is on Tuesday and that's what I'm most nervous about, our NVR rep gave our SR the green light just after looking at our finances but I'm still worried, we have no debt at all (not even a credit card bill) but my husband owns his own businesses so that may hold things up a bit.  So that is it for now!  Please send me some feedback on these selections!  I could use some unbiased opinions!

Sold!!

Just a quick update and a few pics from our sales agreement signing!  It was half exciting and half terrifying writing that check.  There is no turning back now!  I'm more nervous about our flooring meeting though with Rusmur this Saturday.  I have a feeling we are going to be sticker shocked when we see how much what we want is going to cost.  I already anticipate the hardwood flooring to be way out of our price range, but we may just bite the bullet and get it through them and do carpet in the family room and not upgrade the carpeting but only the padding to save cost to put towards the hardwoods.  I'm nervous about putting in hardwood after we close because of the issues that it will present with the height of the kitchen counters.  I hope I can get some good advice from some flooring professionals in the mean time.  We only have until January 12th to make any changes!