Finally Putting Our Stamp on the Lot!! :)))

It's official!! Felt like Christmas morning today for us!! 

Our Guardian Meeting

Had our meeting with Guardian tonight. Tried to keep it short & sweet...the guy was trying hard to sell my husband on the security system. Not gonna happen. We currently have one & never use it & if we chose to, we will transfer from our current system. 

Here's what we got in a nut shell. The price, as of tonight, $820. But this will likely change tomorrow as we need to finalize things. We got NO bells or whistles...I was hoping hubby would come home & surprise me with a speaker system but he's MUCH better at knowing our limits than I am. Haha! :-)

* Standard outlet package : 2 cable; 2 phone (but we swapped out 1 phone for an additional cable outlet) 

* 4 Ethernet outlets (one for each bedroom) that way we aren't using as much wireless capacity. I think we may remove 2 of these. 

* Over-the-fireplace cable/Ethernet/HDMI/cat5 (cable is behind the wall installation). 

Our next step (ASAP) is to really find out how much our cable company will charge us to relocate the cable box to another room (ie closet) so we see no wires/box. Guardian wanted to charge $1000 for re-routing the cable to the pantry closet & to have the IR to RF to IR remote control kit. 

Did others use Guardian to do the relo or your cable provider? Any tips? 

Also, has anyone had any luck paying Guardian out of pocket rather than rolling this into your mortgage? How did you get approval? We'd rather pay out of pocket. 

** On a side note, we couldn't get a cable outlet placed outside. We eventually want to have an entertainment outdoor space. Just an FYI to those looking to do this. Guardian will not do this for you. 

Me again... Stone facade question...

Me again Bloggers....

As I was browsing the internet looking for our exterior color pallet and stone choices, I came across RH that had their stone facade wrapped around the side and rear of their homes. But then as I searched more, I also saw some RH that did not have this. 

So...my question for today is, is the facade wrap-around standard for the house or not? And if not, how is this an option for other communities and did any of you have a choice to add it if it was a custom add-on? 

I'm crossing my fingers it's standard to have it wrapped-around because we have a walk-out basement lot and I despise having to look at the awful cement at the base of the house!! 

WRAP-AROUND FACADE (Tell me this isn't gorgeous!):

WITHOUT WRAP-AROUND FACADE (blah......)

Anyone Know of a Tool to Review Exterior Colors?

So I stumbled across a blog from someone who built their Ryan Home back in 2012. It was mentioned in their blog that they used a picture of their elevation & a tool to look at the exterior choices. 

Anyone know where I can find this tool???!! Is it an on-line app? Please help. We are supposed to decide on our exterior choices within the next week. Thank you!

Update on Exterior Siding and Shaker Siding Choices

I'm not too happy to report that our community has VERY little selection and no option for darker exterior colors. Pretty bummed. All the pictures on Google show beautiful blues, greens, and even darker tans. Not available in our community. We get 9 choices of siding and shaker colors (4 of which are in the cream/white hues!!!). I guess they want everyone to look almost the same... Ughhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!! :-(((((((

1.Classic Cream:

2.Dover White

3.Graphite Gray

4.Irish Thistle

5.Island Pearl

6.Natural Almond

7.Sandy Tan

8. Silver Mist

9.Spanish Olive

This was what I was trying to achieve (bottom picture). I can't even get a darker tan than the top picture (that IS the darkest!) Now what!!????

Pictures of our Selections

* The study/playroom is actually a carpet but it's called "Venetian Tile"

(we chose to upgrade from standard in here since Grade B's scotch-guard is better. It's actually on the fibers (not just on the surface like Grade A) so stains are easier to pick up/remove and won't soak through to the pad. 

* Vanity top in Sandstone

* Bathroom floor in Stratford Place - Truffle Field (C) in an upgraded diagonal placement 

* Shower wall tile in Stratford Place - Truffle Field (C) in an upgraded horizontal off-set placement

* Shower rustic stone accent in Stratford Place - Universal Accent (C)

* Kids vanity top with be double bowl and the color is Santa Cecelia Light. We are told the batches coming in are extremely lighter than they have been in the past. So I'm guessing it will be lighter than what the picture shows. 

Master Selection Sheet

EXTERIOR SELECTIONS

- Elevation M cottage style

- Stone facade to replace brick facade (custom request required)

- Sandy Tan siding

- Pebble Clay shaker siding

- Mountain Fieldstone stone facade

- Black shutters

- Fiery Brown door (dark red)

- White trim 

INTERIOR SELECTIONS

KITCHEN
- Morning Room (incentive)
- Extra Windows in Morning Room
- Double patio door in MR (standard)
- Kitchen cabinet upgrade 2 (Rushmore Hazelnut Glaze)
- Kitchen cabinet crown moulding
- Kitchen granite countertop upgrade 2 (New Venetian Gold) *I was disappointed b/c I was hoping we could downgrade & save $ by going with upgrade1 Santa Cecelia Light instead, but after talking with the flooring rep she mentioned it's coming in batches that are Really light. I wanted a little pop of the granite so not to be "too" matchy with the cabinets. So we stuck with  New Venetian Gold. 
- Kitchen gourmet island with additional granite hang-over to seat 3 instead of 2 (custom request required)
- Kitchen tile backsplash (Upgrade C: EV98 Terrace Beige in Brick Joint)
- 2 gourmet island pendant light rough-ins (custom request required)
- Recessed lights optional in kitchen
- Ceiling rough-in in for chandelier in morning room
- Kitchen cabinet/Bathrooms hardware
- Kitchen faucet upgrade 2 in Delta Leland Bronze
- Cooktop gas hook-up

- Stainless steel appliances with gas cooktop burners 

BASEMENT
- Finished basement (incentive)
- Walk-out basement lot
- Double basement patio door (incentive)
- 3 piece plumbing bathroom rough-in (finish this after move-in)
- 2 row 12x12 ceramic tile flooring at width of double patio entrance

FAMILY ROOM
- Extra windows
- 4 recessed lights
- Gas Fireplace with granite surround (New Venetian Gold) - we will do additional white moulding framing/shadow boxing from mantle to ceiling after move-in.

STUDY/PLAYROOM
- Ceiling rough-in for chandelier

OWNERS SUITE
- Tray ceiling

- Extra windows 
- Ceiling rough-in for chandelier
- Bathroom: Type A with 5ft shower in alternate layout
- Vanity cabinet upgrade 2 (Rushmore Hazelnut Glaze)
- Vanity countertop upgrade 1 (Sandstone)
- 2 corner shower shelves
- Floor tile setting diagonally -upgrade
- Shower tile offset horizontal - upgrade

- Frameless shower (need to contact glass company to request this upgrade)

HALL/KIDS BATHROOM
- Double bowl vanity
- Vanity cabinet upgrade 2 (Timberlake Cherry Spice)
- Vanity countertop upgrade 1 (Santa Cecelia Light. We were told the batches are coming in very light)
- 1 corner shower/bath shelf

MISCELLANEOUS
- Trim package #3
- House bronze finish
- Metal stair balusters

- 1 double floodlight
- A few extra outlets (closet - to hide our tv box, kitchen island for laptop plug-ins, exterior at basement door so we can do an outdoor space with an outdoor TV) 

FLOORING
- Main level hardwood: American Scrape Great Plains 4.8" plank (Grade C)
- Grade C carpet (Simple Touch - Champagne) in the Family Room, Basement, and upstairs Zone 2
- Padding B in Basment
- Padding A in Family Room and Upstairs Zone 2
- Grade B carpet (Graystone - Venetian Tile) in Study/Playroom
- Standard padding in Study/Playroom

- Owners floor tile Grade C (Stratford Place Truffle)

- Owners Shower ceramic tile Grade C (Stratford Place Truffle)
- Owners Bath shower decorative accent: Daltile Stratford Place in Universal
- Hall/Kids Bath ceramic tile Grade B (Brixton Bone) with Almond shower tile & Almond Ivy Listello decorative accent

- Laundry room ceramic tile Grade B (Brixton Bone) to compliment next door hall bathroom  

- 2nd floor hallway in hardwood selection (waiting on quote. $2000 so will wait a few years)