Building a House: Design Review II

Today we had our last design review to choose the final details for our home. Our decisions included flooring, wall paint colors, lighting/fixtures, and hardware. I spent most of my spare time this week looking at different paint options. Paint is such a hard choice for me because I feel like you never really know what it is going to look like until it is completely on your walls. I looked on the Sherwin Williams website at the 800 trillion (ok maybe just a couple hundred) colors. I knew I wanted to stick with cooler neutrals but that still left me with lots of options and no clue if my computer screen gave an accurate portrayal of the color. Knowing there were too many options I ended up going onto Pinterest and typing in Sherwin Williams. The colors that came up for me were in the color family I had in mind. I picked three colors I thought I would like and took them to our designer and asked for her opinion based on the color scheme we talked about in previous meetings. My three colors were

The Silver Strand ended up being too grey, the sea salt had more green in it than I thought and didn't realize the green until we held it against the blues. The Rain wasn't a subtle enough but I liked the blues the best. Designer Becky ended up finding us the perfect color called Mountain Air. It was the neutral I wanted from the grey but the color from the blues. 

All of the walls in the whole house will be the Mountain Air and the trim and ceilings will be Alabaster which is an off-white.

We had the option to choose one additional color for the walls but we aren't sure where exactly we would want a different color. My cousin told me they painted her laundry room a fun (red jalapeno) color so maybe we will use the extra color choice for that. Let me know if you have some fun suggestions! 

This meeting we also chose the tile flooring for the bathrooms, tile for master bath, and fixtures. I didn't get a picture of the fixtures for the sink and bath tub but they are a brushed nickel. The hexagon tile is the floor tile in the shower. The lighter tile on the right is the shower tile and the larger darker tile on the left is the bathroom floor (this is the bathroom floor for the upstairs bath too). The downstairs bath is a grey tile that looks concrete. I like it the best but it was more expensive so we only did it in one bathroom. The wood is cabinet and granite is the counter top. Side Note: Not sure I am in love with the large tile options but they were the best options without an extra cost. 

Our flooring options. Everything is hardwood except the bathrooms and bedrooms. We did upgrade to the extra padding for the carpet. Lillian took the courtesy of testing out the carpet for us as I took the picture.

The bronze fixture on the left will be lights in the three hall areas

The fan on top will be in all the bedrooms, the living room and the back patio. 

This meeting wasn't as stressful as I thought it would be and we didn't spend too much extra on the upgrades. The main upgrades were the carpet padding and blinds; which aren't really an upgraded blind just the fact that they will buy and install them. 

Designer Becky told us that they usually begin construction shortly after the meeting we had today. Once construction has started the house will be completed within 4-6 months. If the weather cooperates we could be homeowners (again) as early as July!

Building a House: Design Review

We had our second meeting with our designer on Januaray 22nd. First let me say our designer, Becky, is awesome!!! She has great ideas that really helped us narrow down the 80 million decisions we had to make that day. I feel like Kevin and I got to choose what we were envisioning and she helped us see what all details looked best together. Our meeting was 2 hours and the first hour and 15 minutes was the exterior options. We chose brick and mortar colors, trim paint, siding paint, and roof. The fewer the options is sometimes better to me but you can't just pick the brick without deciding on trim and siding color to compliment. Becky did awesome about helping work through our vision and we came to an agreement I am so excited about. The next 30 minutes was spent choosing the cabinets and countertops in the kitchen and bathroom,  and backsplash. I could not believe we made a decision in 30 minutes. I have spent so much time on pinterest and houzz.com looking at different ideas and thought for sure I would be overwhelmed but Becky was awesome and helped us pull it all together beautifully. It probably also helped that we had already spent a good portion of our money during the Plan Review so I told her to limit me to the options that are included in the base price first to keep costs low. For those that saw my post on facebook we did end up going with the off white cabinets in the kitchen! Here is a picture of the cabinet color with backsplash and grout and countertops.

Hard to tell in the picture but the cabinets are off white and backsplash is very light grey

I forgot to take a picture of the brick but here is a picture of the trim, front door, and siding colors. 

The door isn't as green as it looks here but if you really care they are all Sherwin Williams paint colors. Natural Choice= trim Dovetail= Siding Underseas=front door. I'm excited that the front door will pop a little but not be nauseating!

Building a House: Plan Review

We met with our designer and builder on January 13th to discuss the floor plan we had chosen and the changes we were hoping to make. The builder is Signature Homes and the floor plan we chose was the Manchester 4C. We did have a few changes we wanted to make so my handy engineer of a husband worked up, not exactly to scale, new floor plans. Originally it was a 4 bedroom 3 bath and we made it a 5 bedroom 3 bath with a bonus room and 3rd garage. Note that our home is flipped to what is below. So the living room and kitchen side of  the house will actually be on the left instead of the right. This had to be done because of which side of the house the driveway and garage had to be on. 

The exterior elevation

The left is the original main level and the right is Kevin's updated version with our changes. Primary changes are; extending the garage to 3 cars, extending the master closet and laundry room a foot or two, and removing the counter/cabinet area between the pantry and fridge to make the pantry larger. 

The 2nd Level - Original floor plan is on the left, and our modified floor plan is on the right. The notable changes are the added bonus room and the walled in kid's retreat to create the fifth bedroom.

During the Plan review we just made sure layout was how we were envisioning and we picked where we wanted extra lighting (we added lots of recessed cans) which ways the doors swing, specified certain outlets (which are otherwise just placed to code) and any other upgrades. i.e. insulated garage and tankless water heater. The plan review has been the most stressful for me because most of our money was spent in this meeting with the multiple changes we made. They were all legit changes and Kevin is very smart and we worked very well at making the changes that were a must and best for the future without going overboard and wastefully dumping money into this house. But I am frugal so hearing the price increase gave me mild heart attacks :)

Building a House: How it all began

Way back in March of 2014 we placed our home in Loganville, Ga on the market. We were renting it to family so we weren't too eager to sell but knew once we did sell we would be able to purchase a home in Alabama. We began looking on Zillow and ValleyMLS for homes around our area. This was so fun to me. I love looking at the pictures. We decided on a particular area to help narrow our search and would spend the next few months figuring out what exactly we were looking for in a home. In May 2014 we went to look at some new constructions in the area we were wanting and once we walked into the model home we were hooked.  It was beautiful inside but what was more appealing to us was the use of space. There was no wasted space. The builder utilizes every square foot. The neighborhood is small with only about 60 other homes and two streets and very close to a growing area of town. Which will help with resale waaaay later down the road. :) It was within our price range so we went ahead and signed a contingent contract to reserve a lot knowing we had to sell our home in Georgia first. We actually still kept looking at other homes to make sure this was the right one and prayed about it ALOT. It took longer than we expected to sell our home but it finally happened in December. After the holidays we contacted the original agent we spoke with to get the ball rolling on building our new home.

This is a street view of our Lot. the house being built in this picture is our neighbor's to the left of us.

This is an aerial view of the area. We are surrounded by a greenway (a strip of undeveloped land near an urban area, set aside for recreational use or environmental protection.)

and across the street from a ball park. The street to the far left is the major road to get to the interstate and we timed Kevin's commute and it was only 15 minutes. We could barely get out of our neighborhood to a major road in that time in Atlanta. 

If you care I'll be posting more on the whole process as it happens. If you don't care poo on you j.k. I'm doing it mainly for family to see progress and for us to look back and remember.

A New Year Christmas

Since we live so close to both my and Kevin's family we usually do Christmas at both houses. One around Christmas day and the other around New Years. It wasn't an easy time to celebrate as my Pawpaw was in the hospital not doing well but I was glad we were able to be there as it allowed me to see him before he past away.

All of my siblings live somewhere around Nashville so we planned to have our family Christmas the morning of New Years Day. We had our traditional monkey bread and sausage balls for breakfast and after Christmas celebrations we had our traditional New Years pizza while we watched the football games.

We took tons of pictures but I know you don't care about what we each got so here are just a few. Lillian enjoyed helping everyone open their gifts and then was over it all after about 5 gifts.

This face says "wait a minute how did I end up in Uncle Nick's lap? oh that's right he bribed me with cookies!"

My Dad loves Sanuk sandals. He literally wears them all day everyday. (except Sunday morning church). Plus this was a great picture of him.

Another big gift for my dad was a barrel thing. I don't remember if he is going to use it for his tools or for a rain barrel but he was excited.

Probably the most special gift of the day was my sister bought a keyboard and learned how to play the piano part of the song "Layla" by Eric Clapton. My dad has always wanted to learn how to play that as it's his favorite part. 

Santa also came to visit for some pictures. Lillian finally sat next to Santa once we convinced her it was just Papa and we had to sing "if you are happy and you know it" and "building up the temple" to get her to smile.

Santa and his elves! (my brothers looks just a like in this picture)

Mr. and Mrs. Claus

Also I want everyone to know how much we enjoy looking at your Christmas cards. They are still on our refrigerator because Lillian loves to point to all the babies and doggies. We didn't send one out this year because I planned on it being a picture of her with Santa but she was not about Santa at all so please know we love getting yours and will make sure we send each one of you one next year! 

Christmas Festivites: Week Four

Day 22: Bake Cookies

We actually baked cookies Sunday night but it was our Monday festivity. We wanted Daddy to help and he had to work Monday. I found 6 cookie cutters at Dollar General for only a $1. They are plastic and pretty cheap but were great for at least one time use. We made sugar cookies and frosted a few of those then made peanut butter cookies with Reese Pieces in them. Daddy had the idea to make HUGE cookies and they were awesome!

Day 23: Our little family Christmas

We always try to celebrate our little family's Christmas before we travel. We don't mind not being home on actual Christmas as long as we are celebrating it with family somewhere. This year we were heading to Georgia for Christmas so we woke up Tuesday and did our own family Christmas before Kevin went to work. We don't get a lot of gifts for each other and Kevin and I actually said no gifts since we are saving up for the house but of course he still was able to get me a gift without spending any money we were budgeting for. He is always so great at working small side jobs for some extra money. And before you feel bad that he didn't get anything and I did don't worry he actually got his quad-copter back in September and it was part of his Christmas. Lillian's got a few small things but her main gift was a shopping cart and play food. We don't really want to do a play kitchen until we are in a new house so this was a good way for her to still "cook" and she loves pushing the cart around the house.

Day 24: Christmas Eve

We were in Georgia at Nena and Poppa's house for Christmas eve so the whole day was a festive day but after baths and before heading to bed each kid got to open their special pajamas to wear for Christmas morning.

Twinsies

And we set out cookies and milk for Santa.

Day 25: Christmas Day!!

Of course kids (even the babies) woke up early ready to see what Santa brought them. We enjoyed some yummy breakfast then opened gifts together. 

Twins again!

Nena made these super adorbale vest/shaw things. Can you get any cuter than these two

All of the sister in laws showing off our origami owl necklaces. They are even more special because the proceeds from the party went to a friend who is raising money to adopt a sweet baby.

New ornament from Nena and Poppa for her tree

Lillian was more interested in helping everyone else open their gifts

being silly

Day 26: Gingerbread houses

I was only going to go through Christmas Day but decorating Gingerbread houses got bumped back to after Christmas so I had to include this fun tradition. It was not easy and we made a huge mess but what some awesome memories made.