13 years in the making... Update 9/20/10, Final walk through.

[BurnItDwn]

There's nothing wrong with Formica countertops. They may not be the fanciest thing in the world, but they are pretty easy to work with and usually last a long time. It's looking good, though I hope you have a cabinet with just drawers somewhere....

 

[SunnyD]

Um, I think you have the same countertops that we have

They had one that looked like old parchment... I really loved that one, but my wife didn't much. Also, the cabinets in the bathroom are darker, "sarsaparilla" and the counter tops are different, they have more gold/yellow in them.

Looks good SunnyD! Nothing more fun or exciting than house stuff getting done (whether it be a new build, remodel, addition etc). I like your floor plan quite a bit. Though I'd miss a basement. Where do you through all the crap!!?!?

What I don't get though is why everyone just puts shades of brown in everywhere nowadays... where's the color and character?

When we had our kitchen re-done (about 8 years ago) we wanted to make it lively and sunny and bright. We went with light colors and some shocking blues/greens:

http://picasaweb.google.com/potrzebowski/House#5060361660348569538

To each their own though, and I understand that "neutral colors are better for resale value"... but to me they are just too drab and un-fun

Our initial palette is neutral, but my wife will be painting soon enough. As far as browns, earthy tones go well with various blues, yellows and reds. It's not too hard to make up a palette that looks visually appealing around browns.

There's nothing wrong with Formica countertops. They may not be the fanciest thing in the world, but they are pretty easy to work with and usually last a long time. It's looking good, though I hope you have a cabinet with just drawers somewhere....

Every one except the two under the sink has a drawer. I believe all together my wife counted 21 cabinets (upper and lower, we have an additional optional group on the back wall of the kitchen included in that count). That means there's going to be 12 or so rather large drawers.

 

[Homerboy]

They had one that looked like old parchment... I really loved that one, but my wife didn't much. Also, the cabinets in the bathroom are darker, "sarsaparilla" and the counter tops are different, they have more gold/yellow in them.



Our initial palette is neutral, but my wife will be painting soon enough. As far as browns, earthy tones go well with various blues, yellows and reds. It's not too hard to make up a palette that looks visually appealing around browns.



Every one except the two under the sink has a drawer.

Oh I'mnot saying it's hard to slap colored paint on the wall to "spruce things up"... I'm more commenting on that everyone seems to get earth-tone counter tops. Even when they installed ours, the guys were like "this is the first non-brown we've seen in years"

GREAT move on the drawers. I dont think I could live without ours (in fact I wish we had more... though I wish we just had more cabinets in general. Our stupid kitchen has 3 doorways, and 2 windows in a 12x12 area).

 

[SunnyD]

Oh I'mnot saying it's hard to slap colored paint on the wall to "spruce things up"... I'm more commenting on that everyone seems to get earth-tone counter tops. Even when they installed ours, the guys were like "this is the first non-brown we've seen in years"

GREAT move on the drawers. I dont think I could live without ours (in fact I wish we had more... though I wish we just had more cabinets in general. Our stupid kitchen has 3 doorways, and 2 windows in a 12x12 area).

Ah. Well, the reason for most is because most counter tops are "natural" in color, especially if you go with stone. Earthy tones also serve to "hide" stains and scratches. The place we're renting has cream colored counters, and let's just say they look disgusting.

 

[BlahBlahYouToo]

8/27/2010 - Counter tops.

The wife stopped by and took some pictures yesterday too. Counter tops are installed. We just went with the craptastic Formica counter tops because the in-house granite was too expensive for our tastes and we didn't like the way the Corian looks. When we remodel, we'll either do stone or go with this local company that makes counter tops out of recycled glass.

nice progress.
why not just go with the local company now right off the bat?

 

[SunnyD]

nice progress.
why not just go with the local company now right off the bat?

Can't. It's not a custom home by a private builder, it's a cookie cutter home by a housing construction company. Plus, our goal was to get into a house at a price point we can afford, and then upgrade as we see fit down the line.

Don't get me wrong, we're happy for the most part with the selections we made. There are some "It would be nice if..." items on the list, but all in all our main goal was to get into an affordable house now, rather than break the bank and be like the other several million people foreclosing on their homes currently.

 

[SunnyD]

9/20/2010 - The pre-final final walk through.

Just got back from our little vacation and today we had our first of two final walk throughs. Sounds weird... but we get one walk through (today's) to catch any defects/items we want fixed that the construction guys may have missed, and then in a couple days we get another to catch any other last minute items as well as to verify everything that we tagged today got fixed appropriately. Next stop... closing!

Continuing with the "kitchen shot" series...

My back yard. Ironically, they put down sod in the back yard. We were supposed to just get seed/straw in the back yard, but for whatever reason they put down sod instead. I ain't complaining (except if they try to put it on the final price of the house). I feel bad for our neighbor, who basically has a mud pit for a back yard covered with straw.

 

[vi edit]

Holy crap. It hasn't even been 60 days. I signed my contract almost a year ago...and still not in

I'm a bit envious. Congrats man! Stick the builder to anything you can. Get it fixed now or they'll fight you forever about it once you are in. Check all windows, outlets, grout/caulking lines, ect. Check the AC/Furnace. Make sure all of your electrical outlets work and the switches control the right lights.

 

[vi edit]

Oh, and if you haven't had sod before....you water, water, water and water it some more. Rule of thumb is that you are only overwatering it if it's floating away.

 

[Gillbot]

Buy one of these and check the outlets.

 

[child of wonder]

Make sure to check how sturdy the door frames are mounted.

Make sure there is no air sneaking in around any of the doors or windows, especially near the frame work.

Check to see if the frame work is flush and neat.

Make sure none of your power outlets wiggle or are tilted.

Check the garage door to make sure when it closes it is flush with the garage floor so you're not getting snow or leaves blowing in under it.

 

[SunnyD]

Make sure to check how sturdy the door frames are mounted.

Make sure there is no air sneaking in around any of the doors or windows, especially near the frame work.

Check to see if the frame work is flush and neat.

Make sure none of your power outlets wiggle or are tilted.

Check the garage door to make sure when it closes it is flush with the garage floor so you're not getting snow or leaves blowing in under it.

They're supposedly energystar certified houses, so they have to do a pressurized leak test on the house. But the outlet thing did cross my mind.

 

[child of wonder]

They're supposedly energystar certified houses, so they have to do a pressurized leak test on the house. But the outlet thing did cross my mind.

Those are some of the little stupid things my wife and I failed to catch when we had our first house built.

 

[vi edit]

They're supposedly energystar certified houses, so they have to do a pressurized leak test on the house. But the outlet thing did cross my mind.

I'm surprised that a house going up that fast would have a builder that takes the time to do that. Did they tape all of the sheathing seams up and foam all seams, jams, window frames, and headers? What about doing spray insulation on all floor joists? Being on a slab certainly helps as you have limited heat loss out of a basement to contend with. Plus you don't have the winters we do up there.

 

[Anubis]

Holy crap. It hasn't even been 60 days. I signed my contract almost a year ago...and still not in

while 60 days is kinda fast, a year seems like an excessively long time. WTF is taking so long

 

[vi edit]

while 60 days is kinda fast, a year seems like an excessively long time. WTF is taking so long

My thread documents it well.

Took 6-8 weeks to pull a permit (Thank you government). Then winter hit. And stayed around for three full months. (Thank you mother nature). Then in March they started digging and the next day the road commish shut me down for a month (thank you government). Then they got up and running and had one of the wettest springs/early summers in history (thank you mother nature) and then lost another 3 weeks from the building inspector being a moronic prick and pulling ticky tacky stuff on us (thank you government).

I lost over three months in thumbtwiddling time from the county being shitheads. Mother nature accounted for another 3 months where they couldn't start digging.

Plus it's just a very large, custom house.

 

[SunnyD]

I'm surprised that a house going up that fast would have a builder that takes the time to do that. Did they tape all of the sheathing seams up and foam all seams, jams, window frames, and headers? What about doing spray insulation on all floor joists? Being on a slab certainly helps as you have limited heat loss out of a basement to contend with. Plus you don't have the winters we do up there.

Yes, yes, yes, yes. Yes. Yes. And thank god.

 

[SunnyD]

10/25/2010 - Closing in two days.

... !!!

That's all.

 

[phoenix79]

10/25/2010 - Closing in two days.

... !!!

That's all.

House-warming party in 3?

 

[SunnyD]

10/27/2010 - Exactly two years to the day... Final update.

My wife pointed out it has been exactly 2 years to the day since we moved down here to Alabama and I started my job here. Interesting coincidence. Anyway, last update...

 

[JTsyo]

Sunny, you moved down south from NY?
Is the house at the end of the sub-division? Don't see anything to the right.

 

[SunnyD]

Sunny, you moved down south from NY?
Is the house at the end of the sub-division? Don't see anything to the right.

Yes, no. We have neighbors on both sides of us.

If you're really keeping track... I moved from upstate NY to even further into NY (aka: frozen hell), to Florida, back to central NY, then to Alabama. I obviously have no intentions of moving again.

 

[TurtleCrusher]

10/27/2010 - Exactly two years to the day... Final update.

My wife pointed out it has been exactly 2 years to the day since we moved down here to Alabama and I started my job here. Interesting coincidence. Anyway, last update...

Thanks for posting. I'll be taking this picture to my locksmith in no time.

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Who am I kidding?.. My locksmith is dead.

 

[highland145]

Who am I kidding?.. My locksmith is dead.

Paul was your locksmith?

 

[TurtleCrusher]

Paul was your locksmith?

His name might have been Paul, but I cant be so sure. I couldn't really hear him throughout my constant name calling and homophobic slurs I yelled at him while he was performing work for me.