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Friday, September 28, 2012

DIY Spice Rack


Another small house project has been completed!  At my old house I had a shallow, stud-deep cabinet that I used as a spice rack.  Unfortunately I never took a picture of it, but it was something like this:

It was so nice having all of my spices lined up so I never had to dig in cabinets to search for something.  I used to use the lazy-susan method, but it never failed that the spice I was looking for wound up being at the very center and by the time I got to it I had knocked over six other things in the process.

I wanted something similar to my old built-in rack, but there's not really a good spot in my new kitchen for a built-in cabinet and I didn't want to sacrifice any of my regular cabinet space, so we decided to build little shelves for the side walls of the pantry. 

Pay no attention to my messy pantry.
 


My dad built the shelves in a matter of an hour or two.  All you need are a few pieces of 1 x 4 wood, a saw, some screws and a screwdriver, a bracket or two and some paint if you want them painted.  In all it cost about $20 to make two sets of shelves (one for each side of the pantry).  We did six shelves of varying height on each set.  If you had some scrap wood laying around, you could conceivably do this for free!  

Pre-installation.


Dad hanging my spice shelves!
I can't wait to fill them!  (The paint was not quite dry so I have to wait a little).

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Garage Door Opener - Check!


Dad and Greg installed our garage door opener yesterday!  I'm very excited because I didn't expect this to happen for a few weeks, but they were on sale at Sears and apparently Greg and Dad were feeling ambitious yesterday.  I was at work, so I didn't get to see the whole process and take notes to share with you, but Greg said it took them about 4 hours (including an extra trip to the hardware store).  I came home just in time to be the opener/closer for all of the function tests :).
Testing it out!  I did a great job of pushing the buttons :)
We got the 3/4 HP Craftsman Belt Drive Garage Door Opener System with Die Hard Battery Back-Up.  Here is a list of some of the features/inclusions:
 
-three remotes
-keypad entry
-battery backup in case of power outage
-motion sensing light that automatically turns off after a 5 minutes of inactivity
-quiet motor (apparently the belt openers are much quieter than the chain ones)
-in-garage remote which provides time, temperature, light & lock settings & system diagnostic messages
-Safety reversing sensors that senses any obstruction in the way of the closing door & automatically reverses door before contact is made
 

My other measly contribution was mounting the keypad outside of the garage.
This was an higher end model and it cost $224 from Sears.  RH was charging $550 for a garage door opener with two remotes.  Since we installed it ourselves, we saved $326.  The installation fee would have been $140, which still would have been $186 cheaper than having RH do it.  And again, this is one of the better models.  You can get a basic garage door opener for as low as $130.
 
We didn't save a TON of money with this DIY, but every little bit helps!  Maybe I'll start a tally of the money we save on DIY projects versus RH upgrades... keep in mind that these calculated savings don't even take into account the 30 years of interest we'd be paying on the RH upgrades!

Next up, cabinet pulls...  It's already driving me crazy not having them!

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Post-Settlement Update


Just a quick update...
 
Settlement Friday went well and was free of any surprises.  The move on Saturday was as painless as moving a lifetime's worth of stuff can be (HUGE thanks to my and Greg's parents and siblings, my cousin, my two friends and my dad's neighbor for helping us move.  I can't even express what a giant help they were).  We ended the day with pizza and beer and some cigars for the gentleman.
 
The rest of the weekend we spent unpacking, but we still have a LOT to do.  I am back at work today, but Greg is home re-seeding and fertilizing our lawn since the seeding they did was pretty minimal.  We spent a lot of money at Home Depot yesterday on lawn supplies.  Hopefully it will pay off and we'll have some grass before winter.  Greg is in charge of lawn duty, so I just let him do his thing :).
 
I am already starting to get used to the fact that this house is ours.  It was a little weird the first few days, but I'm starting to feel more and more comfortable.  We will have a ton of extra space for a while, but I'm sure we will fill it all eventually.
 
I plan to take my time with decorating and furniture-buying (I don't really have a choice since we both work full time and we have 5 weddings and 4 baby/wedding showers in the next two months), but there are a few things I hope to do right away: install a garage door opener, add cabinet hardware, and build a deck.  The first two should be fairly easy.  The third will be a learning experience, but I'm looking forward to it!
 
I will keep you all updated on our progress.  Oh and I will post some mid-unpacking house photos shortly.

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

My BFF


Dear Gregory,
 
As we begin the next chapter of our lives, I've been reflecting on the time we've spent together since we first met in 2007 (the summer of love).  Even though we've only been together for 5 years, it seems like we have know each other forever.  We have been through some extremely tough times together (the death of my mom and your aunt) and some exceptionally great times together (our wedding and honeymoon, the birth of our first niece, and now buying our first home together).  We have been there for each other through everything thus far, and I know we will continue to support each other unconditionally for the rest of our lives.
 
I am so excited to finally have a house that is OURS!!  You will have your huge yard, a driveway, garage, attic and a basement man-cave!  I get my giant closet and dressing area, my tub for relaxing and a whole house of blank canvas to decorate!  We will have so much room for Peter to run around and plenty of bedrooms to fill with children (eventually).
 
Before we get to the "un-fun" parts of our new home (settlement and moving), I just wanted to express how grateful I am that you are the one with whom I get to share all of this.  We are truly lucky to be able to afford such a lovely first home together, and we have each worked very hard to get here.  Thanks to our parents for  teaching us about ambition and hard work (and for paying for our college education... our lack of student loans was a huge head-start for our savings plan).  All of those long days at the office are now paying off!
 
Of all the things I love about our new home (even my hardwood stairs!), my favorite part is that it's the place I'll get to spend time with you (and Peter, of course).
 
All my love,
*Colette*

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Three More Days!

Our closing is scheduled for Friday at 12:00 noon!  We were also just told the amount of money we will need to bring to closing.  Yowza!!  It's actually less than our original estimate, so that's good... but it's still a crap-load of money.  I plan to cross check the final HUD they just gave us with our old ones to make sure there are no mistakes.

Here's my plan for Friday:

1. Sleep in (since I already took the whole day off of work and I really enjoy sleeping)
2. Drink coffee and eat breakfast (which I will soon be able to do in my lovely morning room!)
3. Settle (and hope that everything goes smoothly)
4. Celebrate!!!  Yippeee!
5. Go to our new house and do the following:
    -clean
    -seal the tile grout in the master bath and upstairs hall bath
    -seal our granite counter tops
    -install some paper blinds in the bedroom and bathroom
    -celebrate some more!!!

Then Saturday is the big moving day!  We'll have to unpack some coolers because our refrigerator is not coming until Sunday and I'm sure our moving helpers will want some adult refreshments after a longggg day of lugging our stuff.

I cannot wait!

Friday, September 14, 2012

Pre-Settlement Demonstration

Today was our pre-settlement demonstration.  It went very well.  We started at 8:00 am and ended at 11:30.  There were just a few issues, but I was pleased to see that most of the things on my punch-list had already been taken care of.  I really like our new PM.  I'm bummed that we didn't get him for the entire build; I get the sense that he would have done a much better job managing the subcontractors.

The minor issues included fixing the top piece of our hardwood steps which had a major gash in it, touching up some scratches in/around the kitchen cabinets, sanding/re-spackling/trying to straighten the crooked corner in our powder room, fixing a nail pop in the front door, fixing one of the windows in the master bedroom, and moving the towel bars in the upstairs hall bath.  The one thing I asked about that he didn't think he could fix was the defective piece of wood in our powder room floor (see below).  He said because natural products always have variations, they typically won't fix something like that (which I kind of expected).  He said the hardwood people will be in our community next week for another house so he is going to have them take a look at it, but he didn't want to make any promises.  I really hope they can fix it because I know that will bother me forever, but I'm trying to prepare myself for the fact that they most likely won't.



He reviewed every aspect of our house, went over all of the warranty and supplier information, and outlined some recommended maintenance tips.  I'm glad that Ryan provides a binder with basically everything we went over because there is no way we could have remembered it all.  Our PM mentioned that since he is the new PM for three developments in our area, he'd be happy to stop by if we have any questions or need help with anything in the beginning.  I'm sure Greg will be able to handle everything, but it's nice to know that he is available and actually wants to help us.

A few things he recommended we do before we move in, such as sealing the garage (if we want to), sealing the bathroom tile and re-sealing the granite.  I definitely want to seal the tile because with the all white tile, when that grout gets dirty it's really going to show.  Since we are moving in the day after settlement, I am hoping we can do most, if not all of these things the day of settlement.  I also want to lay some contact paper in our kitchen and bathroom cabinets.  I bought some fun contact paper at Aubuchon Hardware.  It was the cheapest place I could find that still had some variety.  Another place I looked was chicshelfpaper.com.  They had a great selection, but were a little too pricey for my taste.

I didn't take too many pictures today because I was too busy listening, but it was so nice to see our house all clean finally!  Here are a few:

Master bedroom and sitting room to the left

Looking downstairs.  Study door to the right.

Looking into study.  Our first look at the french doors uncovered!

Formal living room and dining room.

Looking back toward the family room/kitchen

Kitchen and morning room.

Kitchen

Me on my favorite part of the house!!
This will be a great area for Christmas card shots, future prom pictures, etc :)

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Pre-Settlement Demonstration Scheduled

Our pre-settlement demonstration is scheduled for this Friday morning and settlement is next Friday!!!

I mentioned before that our PM quit last week and we had some trouble getting information about our new PM.  Well, I finally got to talk with our new PM yesterday and based on our conversation, I actually like him better than the old one.  I felt like he was genuinely concerned with answering my questions instead of brushing me off and making me feel like I was annoying him.  So it may be a blessing in disguise that our PM quit and  we have the new guy for the home stretch.

We have our Uhaul scheduled for next weekend and several amazing friends/family members lined up to help us move.  I'm getting so excited!!!

8 more days!

Monday, September 10, 2012

Morning Room Decor


I said I was not going to buy any furniture until after we moved in.  That didn't happen.  I held off until less than two weeks before settlement, so I don't think that's too bad.  :)
Our plan is to use our small table and chairs in our dinette area for now and make the morning room into more of a sitting/relaxing area.  I figure we don't need a big table in the morning room for just the two of us.  I decided to buy patio furniture for the morning room, so that when we convert that room to a dining area in the future, we can move the furniture right on outside to our deck or patio. 
Here's what we got:


It was on sale at Target for $449.50 (originally $899).  This decision was made after looking at Macy's, Sears, Pier1 and a few other stores and finding nothing we liked for less than $1,000.  It says we can return it within 90 days so if we hate it when we receive it, I will just send it right back!
Here an olioboard representation of my general plan for our kitchen/morning room (with my actual furniture set to the backdrop of my actual space... so cool!).  I feel like the proportions are a little off because it's hard to portray depth in 2D, but you get the general idea. 
I'll have to take some better backdrop pictures once they clean the house!

What do you think of the chrome bar stools for the island?  I love the retro look (and I found a set of 2 on craigslist for $40!), but I'm not sure if they work in such a traditional kitchen. 

Sunday, September 9, 2012

Our House is Finished!

We took a ride over to the house and everything is complete!  Our shower has been replaced and re-tiled, all of our appliances are in, and our landscaping has been "done". 

Our PM told me on Thursday that the landscaping was complete, but we are supposed to be getting about 7 trees along the front of our property (according to the plans) and they are not in.  When I asked about it, they said the "developer" (who is separate from Ryan homes, of course) is responsible for installing the trees.  In other words, they told us when we signed the papers that we would get them, and now chances are we will never see these trees.  I'm pretty peeved about this.  I went back through our sales agreement and it says nothing about it.  It does say that the developer is responsible for maintaining all common areas, but according to the plans the trees are in an easement (to the Township) which is on our lot (hence, not a common area).  I'm not exactly sure what we can do about it, but I am definitely going to fight this.  Part of the reason we chose that lot is because it had a few more trees on the property frontage than the other lots we were looking at.  However, since we don't have a PM to contact right now, I have to wait until the new PM contacts us.  (Side note, Greg emailed our SR asking her to give us our new PM's number and her response was that she would pass along our phone numbers to him and he should contact us shortly.  How nice.)

Enough talking.... here are the pictures of our completed (not yet cleaned) house:

First time in our driveway!

Mailbox is in!  I'll definitely want to replace this in the future but it will do for now.  And it certainly beats having to drop off our mail at a public mailbox!

Landscaping in the front.

More landscaping and our door is painted!  I want to change our knob to be silver since you can hardly see the bronze against the black.

Someone left their shorts in our bushes!

Greg checking out the back yard.  I forgot to check if our survey pins were in yet.  We paid extra to have our property corners permanently staked with iron pins.

All of the splash guards are backwards.  What idiots.

Family room.

Another shot of the family room.

Stove is in.

Kitchen and morning room.

Another view of the kitchen.

I wonder if this has something to do with the chlorine smell I mentioned the other day.

Study.

View out the study window of our new landscaping.

Living room and dining room.

Our new shower.

Master bedroom.

Linen closet at the end of the hall.

Greg's future man cave!

 12 days until closing!

Thursday, September 6, 2012

PM-less


I just got a call from our PM to inform me that he is leaving the company and his last day is tomorrow.  He couldn't/wouldn't give me any information on our new PM so basically we are two weeks from settlement with no contact at Ryan Homes if we have questions or issues about our house.  It's nice that he gives us the heads up the day before he is leaving. 
 
I asked him about the settlement date mix-up and his response was "So-and-so at Ryan is responsible for coordinating that."  Ok.... well clearly she did not coordinate, so perhaps you could make a call to straighten things out.  It's kind of important that the mortgage company is in the loop on our settlement information don't you think?
 
Things are going downhill fast!

On a happier note, apparently our landscaping was done today.  Pictures to come.

Venting


As I posted before we were all cleared to close... and then needed to send a few more documents, which we did.  Then yesterday I find out that NVR and Ryan Homes have two different settlement dates listed for us.  We received the official letter from Ryan Homes last week saying that our settlement is scheduled for September 21st and this is a "firm date".  Our loan processor previously told us they would need to check our credit again right before closing, and yesterday I asked her exactly when that would happen.  She responded that she already did it on Tuesday since that is 10 days before our settlement date, and as long as our settlement doesn't get pushed back from the 14th, she won't need to check it again.
 
Excuse me?
 
Me: Our settlement date is the 21st, not the 14th.

L.P.:  What? When did your settlement date change?

Me: We never heard anything about it being the 14th, so I don't think it did change.  Our official letter from Ryan stated it was the 21st and our PM confirmed this as well.

L.P.: It's on our schedule as the 14th and no one from Ryan ever informed us of that change.  This means I will have to pull you credit again 10 days before the 21st.

Me: Won't all of these credit checks negatively affect our credit score?

L.P.: Since it's the same company doing all of the checks, it should not drastically affect your score.  Don't worry, this is not your fault.

Me (in my head..I was much calmer with my actual response): I know it's not our fault {obviously!!!}, yet we (and our credit scores) are going to suffer because Ryan Homes and NVR don't know how to communicate despite the fact that they are the SAME COMPANY!  I don't care if it's not "drastic"; it's their mistake that will negatively affect us and they could care less.  Not even so much as an apology.
 

I emailed our SR and copied our loan processor yesterday morning asking them to please straighten out amongst themselves when our actual settlement is.... no response.  Sweet.  It's not like people have to plan ahead for a big move.  Not to mention the fact that now we're probably going to have MORE paperwork to do with NVR.
 
Perhaps it's because I try so hard at my own job that I have such little patience for people who don't do theirs. 
 
(I'm really not as angry as this email seems.  It is just frustrating, and this is my media for venting... takes some of the pressure off of Greg :)).

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Week #11 Update

Our sink (it's nice and big!) and dishwasher are in...




Our free upgraded faucet is in.  The water REALLY smelled like chlorine.  I hope it gets better before we move in.  Apparently the well has already passed all of it's tests so I'm not sure why it's like that...

Foyer chandelier... yayyyy!!

Nice view from upstairs...

Safety gate outside of the slider is in.  Now Greg can't climb in there when they lock all of the windows and doors on us :) ...

Now some illustrations of some of the issues on my punch list:

It's hard to see here, but the towel bar is really far (definitely not arms-distance) from the shower.  And the toilet paper holder is also very far from the toilet.... especially for someone as short as me.  Why is it not attached to the cabinet right next to the toilet?  Who chooses these locations?  It seems like they just throw them up there willy nilly. 

This is the room that doesn't have any vents in it.  There was a loose vent cover sitting on the floor so hopefully that tipped someone off that something was missing.

Stain splotches on my beloved steps.  There is also still stain all over the spindles and risers so I'm keeping my eye on them.

Oops... not sure what happened here.

Our poor brand new shower had to get ripped out :(  I hope they have enough tile to re-tile it.

Another shot of the shower.
...And the countdown begins... 16 days until closing... woohoo!!