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Friday, January 9, 2015

Video of our Ravenna Elevation M Model Home & a Few Model House Pictures

Thank you to another fellow blogger for providing the video of the Ravenna model home we walked through. 

http://youtu.be/DXGYPBklOHA

Here, also, are a few images from the model house we toured of the Ravenna. 

Kitchen: We are staying with this same cabinetry choice for our house. It's an upgrade but we love the antique white finish it offers in person. It's called Rushmore Maple Glaze Hazlenut. We also are getting the complimenting cabinet hardware. In addition, we also did upgrade to the gourmet island. We are deciding whether to choose between their appliance package or do it on our own. I just feel that for the price, we can find a package that will also include the refrigerator! You can't see the other side of the kitchen from this picture angle but lots more storage, a double-oven, and a pantry. Behind the kitchen is a small hallway that leads to the powder room (LOVE that it's not off the kitchen or family room. Gross!!) and the study, which we plan to convert to our 2-yr old twins playroom (so I can keep an eye on them!) and use one of the upstairs bedrooms or part of he finished basement as a study). 

*UPDATE: Since this post we made a few custom requests for the kitchen. We requested 2 pendant lights over the gourmet kitchen island and we requested extra granite overhang over the gourmet island so we can sit 3 chair stools rather than 2. We got approval for both so we are very pleased that RH was able to accomodate our requests. 


Here is an image of 'part' of the model master suite bedroom. I don't think we really call it a "suite" per say. It doesn't have a separate sitting room like many new homes these days do have but this style is exactly what we were looking for! We despised bedrooms with that extra space...it was too much for us. We are simple. We only use the bedroom to sleep. We don't even have or watch TV in the bedroom. Once we are up for the day, we are up... NO temptations to lounge in bed. So we are happy we found new construction that offered this 'minimalist' style. 




19 comments:

  1. Hey I found you :). Yea!
    Glad to see you are moving along. As far as upgrades, ya you have to hit it at the right time. We did also, their other slow time in mid summer. We did it in July so got some similar deals. Yes you did very very well.!!
    Looking forward to watching your progress.

    I will be adding you to the list of blogs I follow. Mine is

    dwtimes2.blogspot.com

    although I have been built for 2 years now, mine may not be as fun as others building the same time as you.

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  2. Thanks for your message dwtimes2. We go to flooring on Monday. I'm SO worried what that will inflate our sale price to!! I'm new to blogging. How can I add you so I can read through your blog & look for tips?

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    1. Dont mean to scare you but I cried and was IRATE when we did our flooring. We were told we could do our entire house with hardwood and upgraded carpet for like $5000 so thats what we budgeted for. OMG we sat down we picked a middle of the road hardflooring for the first floor, kitchen, foyer, morning room hallway, and dining room with living room and study with carpet. OMG just the hardwood was $9000 and we didnt even get to the rest of the house!! I was literally crying!! We made some major adjustments. so yes be prepared. Whatever you do upgrade your padding and upgrade your carpet one level the lower level carpet offered at no extra charge is soooooooooooooooooooooooo aweful, we have it all in our upstairs, you can hear the cat walk across it, its like straw and shows all the seams!! hate it.

      OK now your blog, trying to manuever through it is tough and takes some time getting used to.

      in the top right corner of your main blog click on DESIGN.

      next on your right hand side click on LAYOUT.

      next click ADD GADGETS

      scroll down to BLOG LIST and hit the + button to add this to your blog.

      once you do that hit the SAVE ARRANGEMENT at the top of page.

      now exit your blog and go back in again. this time we are going to add me as a blog you follow.

      Go through the steps again to get to your LAYOUT PAGE.

      You should now see this new BLOG list you created.

      click on EDIT button real small in that gadget box.

      scroll down to bottom as you will see ADD TO LIST click on it

      it will ask URL , just copy and paste dwtimes2.blogpsot.com

      then click ADD

      then click SAVE near bottom

      now click SAVE ARRAngement at the top of your layout page.

      make sure you always do the SAVE ARRANGEMENT.

      now when you go back into your VIEW BLOG you should see

      BLOGS YOU FOLLOW (OR LIKE)

      and you should see my link under that.

      Did this work??


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    2. Im sorry, your LAYOUT BUTTON is on your left hand side.

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    3. Thanks so much for the instruction. I added you & a few others so far.

      Yeah... When we went it was the last day of the month. We didn't even get out until 11:30pm!!! For flooring our SR put in hardwood A and didn't even upgrade carpet or include the padding. I think we were ALL tired by then & she was just getting things into the system before midnight so we could grab all the incentive deals. Now, looking at the master listing and knowing we want darker hardwood & hearing from there to upgrade the carpet & padding I'm seriously worried this will add an additional 10-15K to the price! Ouch!! Keep you posted.

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    4. Omg dwtimes2 we are sitting here calculating out our flooring options for Monday and you are Soooooo right!! Our SR made it sound like upgrading to 1 level up would be a few hundred dollars....ummmm yeah right!!!! Maybe per room!! She only calculated the downstairs for us. Nothing for basement and the entire upstairs including bathrooms!! With adding a Level B hardwood and Level B carpet & padding vs a level E carpet in the model we liked we are now looking at $15K-25K just in all flooring for the entire house. So it seems pretty in line with your number with the exception of upgrading carpet that extra $5-9k. I don't know where else to scale back on. I don't want to!! My hubby is second-guessing moving forward. He thinks we can find a re-sale home with a finished basement & a patio already & other extras in our price range. But we have been looking and looking and I don't like anything we walk through. Ugh. I'm sooooo torn now & we have 2 days to make a final decision.

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    5. Sterling, the SR's always make things Sunshine and Roses, I dont know why they do that.

      DONT PANIC YET!! Go to the flooring meeting tomorrow and see what you CAN LIVE WITH.

      Like for example, we wanted really wide plank hardwood, well we had to go for the width in the middle, wide was was too expensive and still happy with the middle length.

      You can skimp on some areas you know are kind of not high traffic areas for you. For example, if you have a spare bedroom, keep basic carpet up there. Also our bathroom that our twins use (oh yup we have twins also, mine are in college, so I also know what you are going through) we got laminate flooring instead of tile which was included in the price, and stuck with the basic shower install in there with no tile there either. Hell I never go in there.

      I have to say I panicked like you guys did, and took out our bay window in our study. Hate myself everyday for that.!! Its structural should have stayed with it.

      Here's my suggestion, let me know if Im overstepping here.

      Get rid of the kitchen hardware, hell we did it ourselves for under $100.

      Update fireplace later if you have friends who will do it for you.

      We just finished our basement ourselves and was able to customize it exactly as we wanted!!! 200% better than Ryan could do cause you lay it out yourselves! That's a huge one there. You'll like customizing it your way, it takes time, but you have a lifetime.

      Do you have a mudroom, keep that basic laminate too. Big cost there.

      Please dont skimp on your master bath, you will LOVE IT! although we upgraded one step with the tile in our bath. And I love it. Its like a spa. Just dont get the most expensive that's all.

      Kids room you can probaly stick with the basic carpet and just upgrade the padding, which was like $150 a room at the time we built. They are just gonna stain it all up at their age anyway and need to replace in a few years. Trust me on that one, the puke and toys and spills and so forth.

      Ok, so sounds like you can really scale back now and this is completely doable. What are your thoughts girl? Let me know.

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    6. Thanks so much for all the tips!!! Trying not to panic but it's hard not to.

      So, to your 1st point about skimping on non-utilized bedrooms...my concern is that the carpet not matching & having transition seams if we went this route. I would prefer to have the upstairs carpet seamless & no transitions.

      Good point about hardware. Probably will end up doing that.

      One incentive we got was the finished basement so that's already included but last night we decided that we will wait for the media room & bathroom down there since our friend can do it. We will opt to get the rough-in though.

      The way you come into our house from the garage it's just a small hall...no real mud room (which is the one downfall I wasn't happy about!).

      We are definitely skimping on the study/kids playroom as you mentioned with basic carpet but upgraded padding. Thanks!

      Would you mind sharing pics of your bathroom? I want to not skimp on our bathroom as well. :))

      I'm. It following your kids bathroom... You have no tile in the bathtub/shower area? Doesn't water hit the wall?

      Thanks for all the advice. Really appreciate it!!

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    7. Carpeting: I can understand not wanting different colors. But as far as "seamless" we dont have any "seamless areas" LOL. You can see all the seams!!! So many homeowners complain. My Study area was so bad they upgraded the carpet to a better carpet so you see less of a seam for free.... the seams where THAT bad, but hey I got free upgraded carpet.

      Kids bathroom, I mean to say we stuck with that white plastic tub surround thingy they offer. No tile walls I mean just that white tub surround and laminate flooring in there. We like to tile so someday we will do that room too, but we have 4 bathrooms and only the boys use that one anyway :)

      here is one post of my sink area in my master.

      http://dwtimes2.blogspot.com/2013/03/de-ryanizing-bathroom-mirror-pics-post.html

      here are pics of shower too

      http://dwtimes2.blogspot.com/2013/03/master-bath-picshallway-pics.htmlhower too in this post.

      If you ever want to really find something on my blog I am sure I have posted a pic. LOL. If you look at the top of my blog I have a long "search engine", type in what you want and it will bring up my previous postings.

      so glad I can help :) anytime, ask away!!

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    8. Thanks DWT2. :)) I love the mirror you swapped out in your bathroom. I already knew I wanted to replace their mirror or find a frame for it. Love Home Goods too. Good deal!!

      Hmmm. You make a good valid point with the tub insert to save money. I'm gonna price out the difference when looking at the options. Also with their flooring.

      And I've seen the seamless shower posts on your blog & another. I'm definitely pricing that out too. I really want that & a shower panel (we will put in later I'm thinking though because those are expensive).

      Thanks so much for all the support and suggestions to minimize costs. Appreciate it!

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  3. Great bog and congrats on the new house! We are in the midst of building a Dunkirk and we chose the same cabinets - I think they look great.

    The flooring appointment is pretty long but well worth the time. We are just a few weeks further along in the process so let me know if you have any questions. Best of luck!
    http://ryanhomesdunkirk.blogspot.com



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    1. Thanks Matthew. I just added you. I will take a peek at your blog. Congrats to you!! Exciting times!! :-))

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  4. Howdy neighbor! Literally ;) Knowing the pricing in our community you did well. If you had MT as your sales rep, she typically gives you the price upfront for hardwood flooring so that part isn't much of a shock. We signed when they had 44% off of all upgrades no limits (excluded Guardian). That gave us some wiggle room with tiles and granite and cabinets oh my!

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  5. BTW there is a video tour of the Ravenna and its the model in our community.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXGYPBklOHA

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    1. Awesome!! Thanks for sending this! We can show our families.

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  6. Thanks for your comment Matthew. I will look at your blog. I'm pretty new to this blog thing & not savvy yet on adding people.

    LChapman, I thought when I read your one post on lot 41 we may be in the same neighborhood. Ha! Do you know any tid bits on this lot since it was your original choice? We actually wanted lot 37 at first because it had better woods across the back view as a view but MT mentioned it was not a "full walk out basement" lot. That was very important to us and so we only had 2 lots to choose between that were left on that side of the street. You got a great lot I think bc of the trail access & the open space across from you. I do wish, with the HOA fee they offered a playground for the kids. We haven't checked that park yet. Just drove past it. Also, MT gave us the pricing for level A hardwood. We look the dark wood like in the model so I'm expecting not to find the darker version in a level A. I calculated the other levels & it's def gonna be a price tag increase. We may need to not have that extra media room in the basement finished right away depending on what flooring we go with. I just wish we had the flooring appt BEFORE the 7-day commitment date so we know truly what we are walking away with. Our 7-day is Monday but it's likely we are moving forward at this point after seeing other communities. Good luck with the progress! I'm sure you are well ahead of us. I will look at your blog & see how things are progressing. I'm going there tomorrow to just review the finishes in the model home if you are stopping by. :-)

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    1. No tidbits- we looked at it because it was a walkout and we didn't have to share a backyard. My husband is still wondering why our current lot isn't a walkout. We are up high enough :) Yes we are a lot further than you- we are the wrapped home on the corner. We also got the same cabinets and chose cherry. I wouldn't worry too much about choosing flooring. If you get Bob, he is very in tune with the type of style a person leans towards. He is GREAT at presenting choices in your budget that you will love. Level A choices are broader than what you think.
      We did not finish the media room. We will do that later as that will be the man cave.
      Read the contract, I think you have a few more days then you think- don't let MT rush you. She has a tendency to do that though she doesn't mean too.
      As far as other communities- the only other thing going in that area is one new construction build on School House Lane and Toll Brothers which is about $100K more than what you are about to pay at RH. We actually have a Toll Brothers worker living in our community so that should tell you something ;)
      I may stop by in the afternoon- but Sundays is typically my day to go snooping around my house.

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  7. DW is right about hitting at the right time. I don't care what you budget for, you won't like the selection at your budget LOL. they always have something nicer. i thought it'd be ok to add my upgrades later, and I'm finding in my neck of the woods (Bowie, MD) it's almost the same as paying the building. so unless your really hand and love DIY, really consider having the builder do it (can't believe i'm saying that). Floors...probably..composite deck....not so much. Happy building!

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    1. Thanks Asia. Going into flooring on Monday I think we are gonna have to wait on a few things. I seriously think and am prepared for flooring to be much more than what our SR noted. With that in mind, we may just get the rough-in for basement bathroom & wait to finish the extra space they call a media room. We have a friend who does drywall. Also, we have a friend in the masonry business so I think we are going with the basic fireplace for now & have him come in later to do a rustic stone fireplace for us and maybe do stone on the one side of the gourmet island (where there isn't cabinets). I am still at home with our twins. They were very premature & have different therapy sessions. Once I go back to work I think we can splurge on other target items. ;-)

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