Rome-ing In Richmond: August 2012

Sunday, August 26, 2012

And now we wait.

We just sent over the last change order to our SR...all decisions have been finalized and there will be no more changes made. I inquired about the timeline, and if the permits come back in the usual amount of time (our county is apparently very good about that) we should be breaking ground by the end of September. Surprisingly, our SR seems to think we could still make a November delivery date! I had thought there was no way we'd close before mid-December at the earliest. Optimism aside, I just want to be in the new house before Christmas...while we asked the families to avoid lots of gifts this year (we requested assistance with a play structure for our boys instead of toys), I really don't want to have to move extra stuff!

Monday, August 20, 2012

Selections are written in stone

I've been working on this post for a long time, but I wanted to have all the details nailed down before listing things. As it is there's still one thing we're waiting on but I got tired of holding on to this post...it was pretty much finished on Saturday.

We're building a Rome, Elevation E, with side entry garage, per plan (not reversed). As far as I can discover this exact format hasn't been blogged about yet, so here is the brochure drawing:

We are doing all siding in Irish Thistle, with Island Pearl as the accent shake siding in the upper middle. Shutters and Doors will be Black; trim, garage door, and gutters will be white. We have brick to grade in our community and we picked Grand Caramel, but I don't have a picture of that. Apparently our roof color is Weathered Wood, whatever that means. Here is my artistic rendering of what our house will look like:

Obviously that's not going to be EXACT, but it's roughly what it'll look like on the outside. Only more three-dimensional.

Inside is pretty standard for the Rome...elevation E does have extra square footage in the loft (2 foot bump) and bedroom four (1 foot bump). We upgraded the master bath to the shower stall with a bench and put jets in the tub, and did the double-bowl vanity in both bathrooms.

Top floor:

Non-standards: raised the dryer vent three feet above plan (no charge), centered the laundry room door on the wall (on the version we first saw it was centered, but the version when we signed had it all the way on the end - $200)

We got the gourmet island, 42" cabinets, morning room, extra windows in morning room and family room, recessed lights in the kitchen (plus a couple extra for pendants down the road), double-patio door on morning room (instead of slider), 12x14 wood deck (not pictured because I'm not sure what it'll look like).
Main floor:

Non-standards: put a single oven in the island (more on this in another post - $2250), removed mudroom closet ($200), put the laundry tub in the garage (apparently we can no longer get it in the laundry room for some reason, so no charge beyond the cost of the tub itself), extra coach light outside garage (standard is we only get one on one side, $300). We're getting the gas range, so we also have the alternate microwave location, which is fine with me because I don't really want it above the range anyways. Here's the alternate location for the Rome (this is a home we walked through when deciding our floor plan...I think that might be our cabinet choice, too):

We got a finished basement as part of our incentive package (along with $7500 towards upgrades), and put in a powder room and recessed lights. Since we have a walkout, we don't have to have a sump pump, apparently. Basement:

Non-standard: moved walkout door from the side of the morning room to the back (no charge).

Inside finishes:
Manchester Gunstock hardwood flooring (base level hardwood)
2nd level carpet (beige pictured, but I might be changing the upstairs to a light gray)
6lb carpet pad
base level vinyl
upgraded master bath tile (not sure what level...2 or 3, I think)
black appliances
Blue Storm laminate countertops
Wyoming Cherry Bordeaux cabinets (bathrooms will have the basic maple spice)
oil-rubbed bronze everything (the only metal thing not ORB should be the kitchen sink)

We're getting ethernet ports put in 4 rooms, wiring for surround sound in the basement (this is what we're waiting on...they didn't include it in our original quote, so we're having to jump through hoops to get pricing), and a central vacuum. The low-voltage appointment (we don't have Guardian here) was actually the easiest out of all the appointments we've had yet, but the follow-up has been disappointing. Flooring wasn't all that hard either since we pretty much stuck to what we'd budgeted for, but it did take a while to nail down colors and such.

I THINK that's everything...let me know if I left something out. :)

Sunday, August 12, 2012

I've had some time on my hands lately.

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Hardwood vs Laminate

I see that quite a few bloggers have chosen laminate over hardwood. While I imagine that at least in some cases it's a question of cost, I'd really like to hear from people on why they chose one over the other. Three of our friends have told us NOT to get Pergo, because if water sits on it for any amount of time you're SOL. As any of you with kids or pets know, liquid on the floor is pretty much a given! And considering that my boys are clumsy and I have a cat who takes perverse pleasure out of knocking over any drinking vessel he can get to, this is definitely a concern.

Here are the pros and cons of each as far as I've been able to discover:

Hardwood
Pros:
Adds to value of the home
Can be refinished
"Softer" underfoot
More character from wood variations

Cons:
Expensive
Fades
Scratches easily
Susceptible to moisture problems

Laminate
Pros:
Cheaper
Doesn't fade
Scratch-resistant

Cons:
Not as realistic-looking
Susceptible to moisture problems
Can be loud
Not as "soft" underfoot

***edited to add: I should have mentioned, our plan was to do one flooring throughout the downstairs except the family room...I'm worried about this decision mostly for the kitchen, which is obviously a high risk area for moisture damage.

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Conundrum solved!

I want to thank you all SO much for your help with the cabinet conundrum! The comments and links to pictures were a huge help, and gave me the bright idea to check online for some pictures of local Ryan models. After all my searching I think the combination that makes me most happy is the lighter cabinet with the cherry-like floor, similar to the kitchen in *collette* 's old house. I borrowed her picture to show here:

Now this is not a Ryan Home, so obviously I can't expect to match it perfectly, but using the handy website that Rachel mentioned it would seem that there should be cherry-like flooring options we can choose. We made our appointment with the flooring company for next Friday, which will leave us three days to change our minds on the cabinets before our 14 days are up. (Which reminds me...did some of you get to change cabinets penalty-free after 14 days? That's what it sounded like in several of the comments. Our SR was very specific that cabinets are 14 day items.) So right now, the plan is the Andover Maple Spice cabinets (one step up, with the extra detail, but the same color as the base cabinet) with a blackish laminate counter and the cherry floors. I'll have to go back and make sure my counter choice will work with the cherry, though it's not like it'll be near the floor! We picked Blue Storm, but the Corbeau Montana looks pretty nice too...so now I'm second guessing myself again! AAHHHHHH!!!! :)

My husband and I went over the numbers, budgeted out what we'll be able to afford on flooring and our non-standards, and tomorrow we'll be doing the "final" pricing thing. Both of us have to sign that one. There will be at least one more change order going in, but I don't know whether to do it now or wait until after our flooring meeting...I'd hate to have a ton when we could just wait and have everything on one piece of paper. In any case, the sooner we finalize the sooner they can draw the blueprints, the sooner they can apply for permits, the sooner we can break ground! Let's get this ball rolling!

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