Patio phase 1 complete..

Well the patio itself is done and we have started to mulch and plant grass around it so hopefully the mud will soon be gone!!

The angled area of the patio is going to be the future home to a brick fireplace hopefully soon so I didn't want to waste my time or energy on planting grass there!  Then off of the fireplace we are going to have "wing" seating walls.. So basically everywhere that is still just rock and dirt will be fireplace and walls!

Patio!!

We finally pulled the plug and decided to move forward on our patio.. We decided on a stamped concrete with a fireplace. The patio portion will be complete the beginning part of next week and hopefully the fireplace won't be long after. Here are some progress pics for the patio project...

Works in progress...

Here are some of the things we have done so far ... Décor is lacking, I have had a hard time finding the perfect items to complete my "vision"

pendants and blinds installed

still haven't found the perfect light for the morning room ...

furniture and rug added ... but ultimately want to get a different rug for in here ... and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on the TV :)

Still need a riser built for these seats and then will add another row of 4

the big screen ... still need to find the perfect component console ...

bar ... Let's Go Pens!!

closed door is the play room and still UNDER CONSTRUCTION!! lol

Want to get new furniture eventually ... not crazy about how the cherry furniture looks with the floors

master sitting room

mirrors added

Ryan Homes failing to meet contract date.... Quick Update

Well my husband spoke with our project manager yesterday and he informed us that our 30 day items will be addressed around mid July and our winter items will definitely not be gotten to and completed by the contract date of June 30..  Fantastic, I have a garage door opener that does not work properly and the door going into the garage doesn't shut properly at all anymore, and my best case of them being fixed it another 2 weeks??!!  And the reason they can't get to our winter items by the contract date they provided, because they have other homes closing that need to come first.  Yup, they have our money already so who cares what issues we have or what promises we were made and not followed through on, right?

Again, ADVICE for anyone thinking of building a Ryan Home, DO NOT CLOSE in the winter or early spring... you will be forgotten about when it comes time for your concrete, ground grading, landscaping, lawn seeding, and exterior trim finishes..

The "Struggles"

Spring has sprung, so it's time for concrete to be poured, landscaping, and grass to be planted ... right??  Most would think so, however, apparently not our project manager.... or according to him the contractors they use.  After being told "at the end of this week", "beginning of next" and so on and so on for SEVERAL weeks, we left for Phoenix to visit my family for 2 weeks.  We left on a Saturday and were told the concrete would be poured that Monday.  And guess what, it wasn't.  It didn't get poured till the following week.  Ok, so at least it was going to be done by the time we got back home and the lawn would be seeded, right??  Again, WRONG!!  We returned home to hear we are next on the list ... and then some how houses that closed while we were in Phoenix moved ahead of ours!  We were livid and that was the last straw of asking politely so my husband had to call a district manager, which finally provided results!!  Within 1 business day of getting higher ups involved we had our lawn seeded and landscaping planted ... amazing how that works, right??  My suggestion with this would be to not plan to close on your home till late enough in spring that it has to be done prior to closing!!

Current struggle, our "30 day" list ... that's right, we've been in the house for about 90 days now but I would say half the delay was ours so no biggie there except he's had our list for at least a month and we are yet to hear a game plan ... and then there is the fact that our winter items are suppose to be completed by June 30, per the contract, and we are being told that may not happen ...  ugh ... the frustrations of building!

On a brighter note, I love my house ... our grass is starting to come in ... and the weather has been decent enough to meet some neighbors!

If anyone has any suggestions on what we can do to move things along faster, please let me know!!

Home Sweet Home!

Well we are all moved into our new home ... and delayed, but as promised, here are the "before" pictures from move in day!!  Moving with 2 very active toddlers and zero help has been exhausting and slow moving to say the least.  While I have most of the main living area unpacked along with my kiddos rooms, I have a TON of organizing to do before I start taking some "after" pictures ... I will post those though as projects are completed...

Enjoy and please don't hesitate to ask if you have any questions on the process or on any of the options you see in our home.

Just a quick update .....

Well it's almost time ... we are only a few days away from closing!  Closing is scheduled for Wednesday morning as of right now so hopefully nothing will change to delay that.  Since we are using an outside mortgage & title company we're hoping we get the keys Wednesday.  If we do we will use that evening to paint the kiddos rooms and the playroom and then we have Thursday set as MOVING DAY!!  Boxes are packed ... well most at least, movers are scheduled, bedroom lighting is purchased, & appliances are ordered!  We went over to the house this weekend and everything is looking good ... no pictures to post though, not really anything new to show and the house hadn't been cleaned yet so I figured I'd old off on those till closing day and take some "Before" pics to post.  I guess that is about all for now ... I will try to post the "Before" pics by the weekend...

Paint has started ... again ...

Well after painting a majority of the house in the standard Ryan Homes yellowish cream in error, the painters have started the painting again, in the correct color!  I love how the paint color makes the white molding and trim "pop".  The remainder of the carpet was also finally installed......

Playroom - can't really tell but the carpet is a blueish gray

Media Room - lighting rough ins on wall are for sconces

The coffers finished!!! -- and my munchkins loving the house and getting into things .....

Close Up!!

And our paint color.....

master bath painted & with the correct granite installed :)

Oh the frustration...

So the missing shelves in the shower ... apparently our rep from Rite Rug is saying we declined getting them.  Which I know to be inaccurate because the main gripe I have about my current shower is lack of shelving for all our "products" ... so there is NO WAY I would ever say "forget it, don't even give me the shelf that is suppose to be standard!" especially when at one point we were debating between buying an extra 2 but then decided 3 shelves in that size shower may be overkill... and just decided to buy 1 extra, giving us 2 shelves.  So now we have 0!  And guess what, I'm sure we weren't given any kind of credit for the "included" shelf we didn't receive.  Ugh, I'm so irritated about this because now we will have to find someone to come and install some shelves for us after we close..
The moral to my venting is ... when you are asking for "non standards" make sure you keep a list of everything you are asking for, even the little stuff like shower shelves, and prior to signing anything double check your list.  Since you get answers about each item at different times, from different people, it gets hard to keep track of everything you asked for.  I will say though, our rep with Ryan Homes did excellent in keeping track of our requests and following up with our MANY requests!  Ok, I am done venting.

On another note, the remainder of our carpet is suppose to be installed, back splash fixed, and painting done this Thursday!  Which means Thursday night we will head over to check things out so hopefully I will have more pictures to post....

Complete Stone ✔, Backsplash ???

All the stonework is complete!!  It turned out great!  

And the backsplash updated pics ..... from afar it looks good ... up close that's another story.  When you start looking closely you can tell the installers were definitely not meticulous about their work.  There is some unevenness, some chipped tiles (from when they cut them) that were still installed, and it wasn't taken all he way to the cabinets because they apparently didn't want to take the time to cut more tile.  The husband is going to talk to our PM about this so hopefully it will be fixed quickly.   

you can see the pencil line where it should have been taken to......

Kitchen Backsplash

Just got back from our weekend trip to the house and the backsplash isn't complete yet but here is a look at what is up so far. Not much else to report other then the carpet was put down on the main level and upstairs so the basement is all that is left for that!  Looks like this coming week and beginning of next a lot of the odds and ends will be completed...

Nearing the finish line ...

We went over to the house last night and they have all the wood flooring down!  It's covered so I won't be able to take a picture to post, though, till after it's done I guess.  The back splash on the bar/kitchenette and kitchen have been started, we're hoping they will finish with it today so when we go over this weekend we can take some pics!  I am so in love with our choices, the kitchen looks fabulous!  In my opinion at least, lol.

So let's see, what is left ...

• put carpeting down in bedrooms, theater room, playroom, & offices
• put fixtures in powder room
• paint
• finish back splash tile work
• replace some interior doors and door hardware
• stain stairway and railings
• replace foyer window
• complete stonework on the exterior
• install utility sink
• complete coffered ceiling
• change out master granite
• clean

I think that is about it.  They were suppose to be complete next Friday (Feb 28) but it kinds seems to me it won't be till maybe the beginning part of the following week ... which is fine since it looks like we won't be closing till mid March, hopefully the 14th or 17th!

Here are a few more pics my husband took over the past week or so when he has gone over ... like I said he is OBSESSED!!  lol

Master bath progress pics....

Shower wall that will have shower head

of course there will be more of the white tile above the mosaic band

more of the mosaic band

the granite is incorrect, that will be changed this week

And, we have stone & electricity!!!!!

We went over to the house last night since we knew the lights and heat had been turned on in the house.  It was so nice finally getting to see it under normal lighting and not having to deal with the propane heater smell!  Looks like they should be finishing up the stone either today or tomorrow, it is coming along so nice.... I love how it is coming together!!  

As for the inside, our granite was installed!!  It looks so nice and I am so happy with the color choices and the sink looks awesome.  I plan to swap out the faucet ... I want a higher one which wasn't an option through Ryan and I figure we already pushed our limits with the "non-standard" requests and this is something that is easily changed out .... I hope.  I can't wait for our pendants to go up and complete the look in the kitchen... unfortunately I'll have to though since that is an "after we close" project.  The tile work in our bathroom is about halfway done although I figure I'll wait to post the pic of that till it's closer to being done so it can all be seen together... but I am very happy with our tile choices!!!

I Knew I wouldn't like the faucet but I plan to upgrade that after we close - BUT I LOVE the sink & Granite!!

My husband is obsessed!!!

My husband couldn't wait for our weekend drive over to the house, I actually think he goes over every other day, so he went over yesterday morning and then "twisted my arm" to go over last evening to take a peak.  While over there our NEW project manager stopped by to talk to us ... we were definitely caught off guard as we had NO clue our other project manager was leaving..  Since the ground breaking I think we had talked to our old project manager a total of maybe 3 times TOPS, and one of those being via e-mail and the other being the pre-construction meeting and not sure when then 3rd would have been so maybe just 2??!!  Notice, I didn't even add the pre-drywall meeting in there, yeah, that's because he couldn't make it that day (the day he pushed to schedule it for, I might add), instead we had his assistant.  So needless to say, we aren't that torn up about getting a new guy who would like to schedule weekly IN PERSON meetings with us at the house just to make sure everything is being done correctly and to our specifications!  He seemed very nice and involved in his projects so hopefully it will be a smooth transition and the completion date will remain the same.  He did mention though needing to change the way our coffers are laid out in the family room.  He discussed it briefly with us but as it was getting dark and we had our 2 little ones with us we still left with a few questions so he is going to touch base with the Mr. today to discuss it.

The basement wet bar cabinets were slated to be put in this am and as long as that happened, Troy Granite was slated to go out this afternoon to template for the granite.  I dropped my kitchen sink off to them yesterday, hopefully the color we picked will go well with the granite..  I guess we soon shall see...

We also noticed our stone has been delivered to the house so hopefully that will go on next week.  I wanted to open a box to take a peak but it was too darn cold out (0 and below temps here in western pa lately!brrrr!).  I can't wait to see how it comes together with the brick.  

UPDATE:  the 2 leaks we had seen before the drywall was hung were addressed and the "old" PM was aware of them and correcting the issue prior to me bringing them up to him so that was at least good.  

Our HUGE angle free island!!

kitchen view from the family room

dining room shadow boxing