30 Day ALREADY?!

I know... we have been MIA since moving in. No one told me that at 30 days my basement would still be filled with boxes! With 2 little kids unpacking, organizing, and decorating has proven to be a slow process! But, we are making strides.

We have ceiling fans/ lights installed in the morning room and 3 bedrooms upstairs (we got the rough ins). The master bedroom one is laying on the floor waiting on my lovely hubby :-) We need to seriously organize and unpack the basement area, mostly kids stuff and office stuff. We have some stray boxes in the garage and dining room we need to go through, and of course picture hanging. We got cellular blinds installed in the morning room and family room and faux wood in the master and guest bedroom. The kids are sticking with the room darkening temp shades for now because we would rather they destroy those than expensive ones :-)

We chose not to get the extended laundry room, opting to keep the "nook" area in the garage for strollers and other big things. I wondered if I would regret not having the laundry room and mudroom but... along comes the hubby and problem solved! He moved our W/D to the far end of the laundry room, which gave us plenty of space for a mudroom bench with storage cubbies and coat hanger! Great compromise! I will take a pic of it. So for those of you on the fence, depending on your needs, this works just as well!

We are also very happy with our carpet selection, another thing I was worried about. We did the lower level carpet for the basement and top floor. It is GREAT! You would never know is is level 1! We did do the upgraded pad, which I think makes a difference. When the dog decided to have numerous accidents in the basement, I was very happy we didn't pay more :-) That being said, I also LOVE the upgraded carpet we have in the family room. Perfect placement to spend a little extra money on the space where we are the most right now (until the kids' play area is done in the basement!).

I LOVE our lot, yard, and the fact that we are on a shared driveway pushed back. I LOVE our neighbors and a few of us are already planning a ladies' night. There is also an annual block party June 1st! The final house going up near us looks like it is about to break ground and the other 2 are nearing completion (within the next month or two). So our area will be virtually construction free soon!

Energy Star... WORKS! Our old house was set on 71 when it was colder and we were STILL cold. At 69 degrees it is toasty and it stays warm consistently in each room (except the basement, which is COLD). Haven't really used the A/C yet, but I will keep you posted. I love the 2 zone heating and cooling.

Only pain: watering the sod and seed! We do it A LOT so our yard will come in nicely but I think our water bill is going to be HIGH!

Our 30 day check is next Wednesday, time sure does fly! I have to say, our issues have been very minimal, thank goodness!! Our PM has been amazing and the A/C company we were working with has also been incredible. Everyone has been responding promptly and things that needed to be done have been done.

We had an issue with our upper level A/C and it was making noise. Fixed next day! The door to my youngest son's room wasn't closing and our PM had someone come quickly to saw it down and fix it. It will be painted and touched up at the 30 day. We also had an issue with the pilot light on the fireplace being fairly large, which was causing the glass to always be heated on the fireplace. PM made some calls and came out, turned off the pilot light and fixed!

Issues needing to be addressed:
- Biggest one: standing water in the yard (of course right where the new swing set is!). We have a muddy mess and puddles that never go away. Our PM is taking a look at it but feels it should be an easy fix (I hope so).
- Had a creak in the master bedroom which seems to have resolved itself
- Some chips in the hardwood
- A sharp piece on the border of the master shower
- Some dead sod we want to find out about and find out about and if the seeding in the back will sprout better
- Basement is cold. Not sure if that is something that is fixable though!

We are going to walk around the house in the next few days and see if there is anything else.

I have to say we are truly pleased with our home and there is not one second that goes by that we are upset or disappointed. Our kids love the house and the neighborhood and so do our dog and cat! We feel so grateful to have had this opportunity and we are pleased with Ryan Homes and our PM.

I will get some pictures up this week of the more finished rooms. No decor in the kids' rooms yet. We want to wait until any settling happens and we want a break from painting! We settle on our old town home Friday, so we will truly be able to move forward.

It is so worth it to those experiencing the stress of building and any issues. The house has become a home and we are LOVING it!

Happy building and living!

Spoke too soon!

We had our first hiccup. Since out A/C was installed on the winter it was not tested or charged up. As a result, the upper level unit didn't cool when we turned it on. Our PM warned us that could happen and the A/C repair people are coming this afternoon. At least it got cooler at night! Slight bump but nothing too major which is good! More of a pain than anything since it got so hot so suddenly!

Checking In

This is my first time blogging since moving into the new home.  It has exceeded our expectations.  No major catastrophes like leaking faucets, showers, ruined dry wall, structural errors etc.  We have one squeaky nail coming out of our bedroom that we'll have fixed at the 30-day and a pilot light in the fireplace that was a bit too high, so we turned it off.  Everything else has been great.

We are still settling in.  I don't even have all of my clothes in yet, but things are starting to settle down.  We're watering our grass like crazy hoping for green life to pop up soon.  The weather could not be more perfectly timed for growing.

Our kids love the new house and neighborhood.  So many of us moved in last week.  We all came out with the nice weather to meet one another and all the kids are raising heck in the yards.  It is a joy to watch as a parent even if there is an occasional broken solar light or invisible fence flag pulled out of the ground.

We even got a chance to take a stroll on one of the trails in our neighborhood last week that runs along the main lake.  Beautiful!

We could not be more pleased.  Our experience with Ryan Homes has been excellent so far.

Did I mention I LOVE our new house?!

Yes, we love it. It has EXCEEDED our expectations! It is SOO much bigger than we thought and we have more cabinet and storage space than we know what to do with, though I am SURE we will fill it. It is just beautiful. My oldest son (3 years old) LOVES to be able to walk outside and go up and down the shared driveway. We scootered in the street, just had to watch out for the construction going on! There are 3 houses, I know at least 2 are Victoria Falls going up on our side and another 2 across the street. It is so fun to watch the houses get built! We are so happy with all our choices and that they all came out well. We had a couple new home owner questions for our PM and he was out at our house early this morning to check (and reassure) and fix. Awesome.

To those building it is SOO worth the wait. I wake up grateful every morning as I look out onto the woods from the morning room. I have never lived in a single family home, never had a garage, or a nice backyard. When I was 10 my Mom drove me through a new development in Pittsburgh where they were building houses and I was struck. I said to her "One day I will do that, I promise." She said, "One day, I hope you can and WILL." 23 years later here I am. It is truly a dream come true.

Thanks to everyone for your help and support! Here are pics from closing day! Once the house looks decent I will take pics with the furniture in it. Fun! I didn't get pics of everything, but got most of the biggies :-)

Here we go!!

Beautiful, beautiful morning room

Master

Master Bath

Hank is happy :-)

Hallway

Guest Bath (AKA boys' bathroom!)

Guest bedroom (funny angle)

Part of my oldest son's room (4 windows with the best views in the house!)

Youngest son's room again with awesome views!

Beautiful staircase

LOVE the kitchen soo much!

Laundry room

Family room, MUCH bigger than expected!

Living room into dining room

Dining room into living room

This pantry is HUGE!!

Foyer

The powder room is HUGE! One day we will put a sink with cabinet storage in