Well, the high of making the decision and signing the contract has worn off, and now we're starting to second-guess ourselves. I wouldn't be surprised to hear that everyone goes through that, but strangely that doesn't help me any! The most recent downer for me is realizing that I can't get the wall ovens in the Rome, and that was something I really wanted my forever home to have. We have GOT to get over to the model and walk around in it...not having been inside a finished Rome is hurting my ability to make good decisions. The virtual tour makes it look like I could put cabinets against the wall of the powder room, but I can tell that those pictures are distorted and I might be getting the wrong impression of the space. So now I'm wondering if I picked the right model. Does the Verona come with the "gourmet kitchen" upgrade? That's the only other model offered in our neighborhood that has the space we need. My husband is exasperated with me for being wishy-washy, but I've read about others having difficulty getting add-on cabinets that match if it wasn't done through Ryan.
On a related note, has anyone gotten Ryan to install cabinets in their laundry room? What about wooden shelves instead of wire? I hate those wire contraptions. Especially in the pantry. And do we get to customize the kitchen cabinets in any way (drawers instead of doors here, stand-mixer lift there, that sort of thing)? That hasn't come up with the SR and so far I haven't seen anyone talk about it on the blogs.
Oh, and my husband got freaked out by some of the horror stories you can find online. How did you get past those?
Hi Amanda! I just started following your blog. You can see mine at milanmemories.blogspot.com
ReplyDeleteI can't really answer your initial questions because we didn't make too many alterations or have very many requests. This is our first home, so I hope to "customize" as we grow into our home. I know there will be a million things that will come up that we didn't ask for initially, but I have to be okay with that.
As far as the horror stories, I chalked many of them up to the timeframe- late '90s and many also seemed to be pushed by a few individual people. Personally, a co-worker of mine built with Ryan two years ago and they had a wonderful experience. I also found 40+ blogs where people were going through the process and that helped to calm my nerves.
Good luck!!
Thanks for the encouragement! I've started following your blog too. :)
DeleteHi Amanda!! I can answer and support you with the information you need, so let's talk offline. Send me a email and you are going to be absolutely stunned at what I share with you.
ReplyDeletesend me an email to proctorhousehold@gmail.com
DeleteYou can get cabinets for your laundry room. We had the wire shelving in there "deleted" because we plan on adding our own cabinets later. We didn't know cabinets in the laundry room were even an option until it was too late. The price was kind of high anyway.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't settle on a model unless you are completely in love with it. Take some time and really think about it! We got the double wall ovens but I'm pretty sure we will only use them around the holidays. You might be able to add them later but they are pretty expensive.
We got to see the model today, and I do love it! The only other floorplan that comes close is the Verona, and my husband doesn't love that one, so I'm more than content with the Rome. I've put in the request for our SR to look into it for me, so hopefully he'll be able to make it happen. I'm also going to be sure to find out about those laundry cabinets!
DeleteWe plan on putting cabinets in the laundry room ourselves later. My feeling is that 90% of the upgrades are probably more expensive to do through RH so if you don't NEED it right away it will probably be cheaper to do it yourself later on.
ReplyDelete