Oh, hello there hole in my french drain.....

We went to see the progress (lack of progress) on the house this Saturday, and we also talked with our neighbor for a bit, he is a great guy and very helpful, he had a backhoe out and was picking up the giant bricks, boulders and rocks and sticks in his years before they put topsoil down and offered to help us too!  

We were walking around the side of the house and looking at the new hole for the egress window (I cringe thinking they cut into our foundation like that, I'm so worried about the structural integrity of the house now!) and we saw there is a big hole in our french drain now, probably from excavating again.  So I email our new PM with a picture, we want to see the repair before they back fill too, because who knows, if we didn't bring it up, it may not have got fixed.  I also asked our Realtor if we can get RH to have a structural engineer out there to inspect the foundation once the new window is in and the old is filled up before they back fill   I think it's a totally legit request since it was there screw up.

I'm not pissed, yet at least, just concerned, so far they have addressed all the issues we've brought up, I hope they continue to do so too.

Yeah, this hole won't fly, I'm also pretty sure there is a ton of dirt now in the drain pipe, that will also need to be removed so it doesn't get clogged up.

Egress Window progress and new PM....

I called my PM this morning since I missed his call yesterday.  Good news is the new egress window is being put in and the old one is being filled.  Bad news.... he is resigning from RH :( Our new PM is actually his mentor so he said we are in good hands.  My husband is kind of concerned since it's midway through the project, we just don't want to have any delays or anything go wrong, especially with the egress window situation.  But, from what I have gathered over the blogs, this isn't that uncommon.  However, our PM has been with the company for many years, and of course with our luck, he leaves midway through our house build... :(  Anyone else have a similar experience??  I'm also wondering if now I have the same PM as dwtimes2 (initials of our new PM are BM)

Anyways... I will have some pics of the egress window progress when I stop out after work today!  I also asked my PM to give NVR our closing date because right now, no one has a clue when it's going to be!

Dry wall complete! Still trying to figure out the rate locking stuff...

Well, the drywall is completed, just needs tape and mud!  The house looks so different now that it's all dry walled up!  Part of me thinks it looks smaller??  Especially the formal dinning area, but then again, I knew it was small when we picked out our floor plan.  Would I have like to have a bigger house?? Sure!  But I didn't want the bigger mortgage that went alonG with it.  This is still more space than we've ever lived in so we will make it work!

Speaking of mortgage, I'm kind of pissed off at NVR, no one has got in contact with me regarding locking and given me much options, I feel like they should be sending me all of my options, like, everyday and watching the rates for me.  I see most people locking in at 60 and 90 days with better interest rates and credits that what I'm being offered at a 30 day lock.  Right now, my LO said it's 3.5% 60 or 30 day lock, the 60 day has a measly .125% credit and she wouldn't even tell me what the 30 day lock credit was, only that it was slightly higher.  I feel like 3.5% doesn't sound competitive to me when I see 3.25% and 3.375% on bankrate.com.  I mean, can I negotiate my rate??  Ask for something more competitive?  I am putting 10% down, is that affecting my rate?  My husband's credit is spotless and over 740 so I don't think that is making a difference.  Any advice on this rate locking process would be MUCH appreciated!

Rate lockin', check it and see...

No, I don't have a fever of 103, but I am hot and bothered over all this rate locking stuff.  I just requested the rates today for locking and my options.  I'm 32 days out of the date my PM told me, so I planned on locking in on Monday, but my LO says she doesn't have the date yet, so, not sure really when I'm going to get it but I certainly don't want to lock in at a 60 day rate of 3.5% with a measly credit of .125 back at close (it's about 300 bucks) I would rather see the rate be COMPETITIVE at 3.375 on a 60 days since that's what is trending on bankrate.com (with no fees mind you) and the 30 day locks are 3.25% with no fees!  I have a feeling they are just jacking that rate up and giving you the credit to make it seem like they are competitive, but I think I will try my luck with a 30 day lock.

Are we alone out there?

You know, I'm probably not the first person to wonder this but... are we all out there alone?  I mean, we as in the RH blogging community.  Before deciding to build with RH we looked at all the other local builders and custom builders, and I don't see one single blog out there for Maronda and Heartland.  I'm just curious to see how our building experience compares to the other major builders (at least those in my area).  I googled until I couldn't google anymore and nothing came up!  Just a random thought.... anyone seen a blog from Maronda or Heartland???

Garage goodies and pre-drywall meeting complete!

Our pre-drywall meeting is complete and they will be working on the drywall today!  It was a very informal meeting, not too much detail, I did see screws in our sub floor so I was happy about that :)  I we also discussed the egress window situation.  We will have a totally different type of window now since the normal one they use is a drop in, they will actually have to frame out the new hole with 2x4's and put a different window in, our PM said it will actually be more efficient and look better, but then I got the impression he didn't want to move the window (probably because it's expensive for them to do and cuts into their bottom line) but hey, it was their mistake and I want it fixed.  I was more nervous about the structural integrity of the foundation being compromised if they moved the window but our PM assured us there is nothing to worry about.  I think my husband is still worried though... anyone with some contracting knowledge have any insight on this??  The last think we want is to build a new house with foundation issues!  That is the reason we are building new and not buying "used"

At least we got a nice surprise to take our minds off of the window situation, when we checked out the garage we found goodies!  The cabinets are here, our door, sink and counters (I'm not a fan but we want to upgrade them ourselves down the line, I wasn't a big fan of the granite choices RH offered, and it was just out of our budget).

Now we just need to figure out our furniture situation, we keep going back and fourth and I can't decide on a dinning set... I think we will just use the set we have now which was the first set my parents ever bought, I grew up eating at that table so it will be good enough for now.  I really want to see the hardwoods all done before making a purchase like that.  I think we need a new sofa more than anything, ours is just so uncomfortable, so we are going to take most of our budget buying our dream sofa from Restoration Hardware.  So basically, we will have an old dinning set and a sofa and a bed and a broken desk and some old filing cabinets :)  But hey... one thing at a time, everything will come in time... I get so caught up in the excitement and wanting everything right now that I forget to take a step back and appreciate the fact that we are building this beautiful home and we have plenty of time to fill it up with stuff :)

 Our counters for the kitchen, butter rum granite (not real granite lol!) they will do for now, hopefully upgrade them to quartz or granite next summer.

 Cabinets are in all of those boxes!!  So excited to see the maple espresso with the hardwoods!

 Oh morning room... :)  Some insulation popped out from the roof from all the wind we've been having but it's a snap to put it back in.  Look at all that sheet rock!  It's going to look VERY different by the end of the week!

I LOOOOVVEEE our door!!! It's so cute and craftsman like, it will really give dimension to the front of the house!  And below, our future sofa... it's the most comfy sofa I've ever laid on!  I will have no problem falling asleep on it and curling up with Mr. Tickles and my husband watching movies...

Pre dry wall meeting tomorrow bright and early! Any advice

Got a call from my PM and we are having our pre drywall meeting tomorrow morning at 7:30am so I don't have to miss any work! I'm so exited because now the fun stuff starts! Any tips or advice or things I should ask about? I'm going to ask about the subfloor being screwed in and the direction I want the bathroom lights above the mirrors directed downward, anything else I should be discussing with our PM??

Who be spammin' on my blog! WTF!!!

Ok I'm getting super pissed off lately because I'm getting 10 spam blog comment posts a day!!! Any of my fellow bloggers having this issue??? Am I going to have to go back to making y'all do that annoying word verification before you comment??? HELP!!!!!

Sub-floor suggestion and a word about a local moving company

I was on the phone with my Mom last night, talking about life, the house, and all that jazz... and she brought up a good suggestion, she said that her sub floors under her hardwood were nailed in rather than screwed in.  I've seen enough HGTV to know that nailing in sub floors under hardwood is just not a good idea, her floor squeaks so bad as well as all of her neighbors, the nails pop just like they do in the dry wall, causing squeaks!  This isn't the flooring company's responsibility too, and if you have a finished basement, it's going to be EXTREMELY hard to make any fixes to your squeaky floors unless you rip up your ceilings!

I'm going to talk to my PM this week and ask if the sub floors will be screwed in, if he says no, I will request they be screwed in, hell I would pay extra for that!

On another note, I met my neighbor directly beside me, he is a very nice guy, down to earth, built his dream home with his wife.  He asked me what moving company we were using, I said none because we have no furniture! LOL... But he said stay as far away from Two Men and a Truck as you can.  He was so distraught over the situation, and I know for my future neighbor Darla, I said that I saw them moving in and to maybe get a quote from them, but after hearing his story, I wouldn't go near them!  They put holes in his walls, ripped up trim, damaged furniture and floors and they refuse to fix it!!!  My parents used Always Moving Company and were very pleased.  So just a warning in case you are in the Pittsburgh Area and need a mover!  I know everyone's experiences can vary but I wouldn't want to take a chance at getting the same crew and get holes in my brand new walls!

On a positive note, I think we are going to go ahead and make an appointment with Ethan Allen to buy our morning room set.  Pics to follow!  Happy building everyone!

I thought furniture shopping would be fun! What gives!

So this weekend, I was actually able to convince my husband to go furniture shopping with me, because he hasn't given me any direction on what he wants, what we need right away, and how much we can spend on each room.  So we went to every place we could, Levin's, Ethan Allen, Macy's, Potomac, Arhaus, Restoration Hardware, Room Concepts and even made a 2 hour trip to Canton, OH to go to World Market - which I was EXTREMELY disappointed in their quality, the photos online are very deceiving!

What we both realized is that we love everything that is expensive!  LOL no surprise there, but what did surprise me is that my husband is all about shopping at the pricey places because he is more mindful of quality and would rather buy less now and spend more, than buy it all, spend less now and have to buy new stuff in 5 years.

We love the Maxwell sofa at RH and a few dinning sets at Ethan Allen.  I'm still going to go out to Crate & Barrel and Pottery Barn as well.  We also still need to make it out to Sheely's in Ohio, it's not too far and their deliver for only $50 to our place.

We have prioritized the Morning Room as the #1 furniture purchase we need to make before we move in, since we don't currently have a dinning set (we eat on the couch!).  We have a living room set that I hate but it's functional.  I am also going to see about getting the chair-and-a-half we have reupholstered, it's very comfy and big and I like the lines but hate the fabric and it's just embedded with car fur!  I want to do it in a canvas or something with a tighter weave so the fut comes off easier.  We will buy the family room set down the road maybe 3 months when we have a better feel for how we want the room to be laid out.  I am also having a problem with the morning room set because we both love this table from RH but it seems too fancy to me, and I don't like any of RH's chairs for the morning room, they are all too fancy or just ugly for me and I am afraid to buy the table and not be able to find chairs for it!

My brain is fried over this but here are some pics of what we liked!  Also, any suggestions for where to buy quality solid wood tables for the morning room would be much appreciated!

 The Lancaster sofa from Restoration Hardware, this is the classic rolled arm, I like the Maxwell (below) better because I like the 2 over 2 rather than the 3 over 3 seat style, they are both so comfy though and beautiful!  The leather is worn and rough, which I love, because it will only get better with age!  And it's totally pet/kid friendly!

 The table below is from RH as well, I love this set with the chair, but they are too fancy for a morning room I think, what do you guys think of upholstered chairs for casual dinning??

 Below is a simply table, the chair though are too much (both in price AND style) I love them but not for the morning room.  Ethan Allen is so awesome though because everything is custom and I can get chairs in the same stain so I can go with simple wooden ones, and their quality is outstanding!

 Another table from EA, I love these trestle tables!  Again, the chairs pictured are too fancy, but maybe do 2 of them, one at eat head and just plain wooden ones for the middle??

How often to you meet with your PM?

Random question, but, how often do all my fellow bloggers meet/speak with their PM?  Ours gives us weekly updates via phone, but he calls my husband and he NEVER answers because he is a workaholic, lol.... but I just realized that I haven't met my PM at the site since our pre-construction meeting.  Tomorrow, my parents are coming to check out the house and go to dinner with us (and because my Mom wants to go to Home Goods and there isn't one around her, lol, which is the REAL reason she wants to come visit... JK!!! Love my Mom...)

I am just wondering if I'm being too.... lackadaisical (there's your 50 cent word for the day, don't think I ever actually typed that one before)??  I just don't have the time to really meet him unless I take off work, or wake up super early which I hate. 

On another note, we have our roof all shingled!  Anyone know the time frame for completion?  My dad said their house was done 30 days after their roof was done, but that would be WAY earlier than our original date of May 28th, we are also 2 days behind because of the egress window that needs moved... which BTW still is a work in progress, I really want to meet with our PM about it because it just seems like a crazy big deal to cut into and re-fill in our poured concrete foundation walls like that.

Oh, and for my new neighbor Darla, Your house is getting siding!  It's looking wonderful!  I also realized that I'm a dumby and I told you my siding was the same color, but it's actually Sandy Tan with Pebble shakes, but it's similar to the stone mountain clay you have.  Things are moving along!

Garage doors and a beautiful view!

I stopped by the homestead on Saturday to find our garage door in place, and they excavated the back of the house to move the misplaced egress window.  Still not sure how all that will play out, I'm going to stop by tonight too just to make sure everything is going smoothly with it, I noticed a tear in the water proofing membrane so I'm hoping that gets fixed properly, I wouldn't want a wet basement after the first heavy rain!

I also went to Restoration Hardware and bought a duvet and shams, I'm debating on it though already, not sure how I feel about it, I choose a different duvet than I thought because I love the linen fabric and think it will look nicer if it gets a little wrinkled (which all duvet do).  I think I will return the shams though only because they are so damn expensive!!! I didn't realize until I saw my receipt, I will just do coordinating shams I find at TJ Maxx/Homegood/Marshalls.  I like mixing and matching anyways, it gives it a more custom and collected look. 

So here are the pictures of the home progress and some nice views from the top of our lot, which is a nice semi-flat area that only me and my neighbor have, it's one of the reasons I picked this lot, I plan to have a garden up top and a fire pit with benches, and eventually, build a set of steps going up the hill :)

 I love these doors!  They really give character and charm to the front of the house!

 This land is our land... lol, but really, it's so nice to have this extra chunk of land to call ours :)

 Looking down from the top of our hill!

 View looking out to the right, it will be so pretty once the leaves come in on the trees!

 Look Darla!  I can see your house from the top of our hill!  There were workers there on Saturday!  It's coming along nicely!

Looking back at the top of our hill, a nice view of the woods!  Very private, I love having this place to escape to :)

And here are the spoils of my trip to RH, it is the Italian Vintage Trellis Print, I love the rustic elegance of the print, the color is called Dune, I plan to paint the walls to coordinate, something in between the light color of the duvet and the darker mushroom/taupe of the print.  And top it off with a crystal chandelier over the bed for a touch of elegance

A few examples of the lighting I want for over the bed in the master....

Both are from overstock.com, the top is about 250 and the bottom is only 120!  I think that's a bargain for how beautiful they look!