No Good Granite

So I kinda made a big stink over the granite.  There were 11 options offered by the builder and not one of them was exactly what I wanted.  If I had it my way, we would have had Giallo Ornamental:

Light, creamy and brownish (still kinda bummed that we couldn't get that one)

So the next best option was Giallo Veneziano:

Darker, but still in the brown-ish family, except this one has a tendency to read a little pink.  And even though pink is my favorite color, I really don't want it in my kitchen.

Anyways, because I kept yammering on about the pink, they let me go preview the slabs before they are cut.  Before I got there, the granite rep. told me that she wasn't happy with them and replacements were already ordered, but I will wanted to check them out.

I thought the color was pretty good, but...

There were a few of these ugly blemishes :(

So the new slabs arrived at the warehouse today and I will go check them out on Monday.  Fingers crossed that the color is good and there are no icky spots.

Tomorrow, we go to pick out our kitchen backsplash and powder room accent wall - YAY!!

xx Heather

45 more days!

We are about 45 days from closing!!  I hadn't been out to see the house in almost 2 weeks because of Thanksgiving, but I stopped by yesterday and I was so pleased with all the progress I saw.

Driving up I could see that all of the siding was up for the whole building.  They were also pouring the cement sidewalks.

 

Since I couldn't get in through the front door I walked around back to try the garage.

So close to looking finished!  And the gravel on the driveway is gone.  The asphalt still needs to be poured, but that gray stuff is solid.

When I opened the garage door I was excited and bummed.

All of the kitchen and bathroom cabinets, doors, and trim are waiting to be installed.  But it also meant that I couldn't get into the house that way either :(  I caught a little peek and it looks like all of the drywall is complete.  I'm hoping I can get into the house on Saturday so I can get some more pics.
 
xx Heather

Let's Talk Paint Pt. 2

We have about two months to go, so that means it is time to start getting down to business!  The inspections are wrapping up this week and hopefully the drywall will be up just after Thanksgiving.  Then comes all the trim and cabinetry, tile, flooring, and everything else that will make it look like a real home!

I ordered all my paint samples and got to work making my big samples on poster board.  

I've changed the paint plan a bit.  Now that I am working, I won't be able to paint myself and since we are going to hire a painter we are going to have the whole house done.
  
The first color choice is for the whole house except the laundry room and two full bathrooms. 




Both colors are Martha Stewart - the left is Heavy Goose and the right is Sharkey Grey.  My initial thought was for the Heavy Goose and while I think it looks great with the hardwood, it looks too blue with the carpet.  Sharkey grey looks great with both and I think it will be a great backdrop for the whole house.  Kind of a greige color :)

The choice for the two full bathrooms was easy!  The lightest color, Weathered Sandstone (Behr)  was way too light and looked so peachy and awful with the tile I'm not even showing it.  The left is Mushroom Bisque (Behr) and the right is Buckwheat Flour (MS).  They are so close, but Buckwheat Flour wins because it is a hair lighter and neither bathroom has any windows.




 The last choice is my turqoiuse for the laundry room.  I didn't have anything to match it to, but the washer and dryer will be white and eventually I'll have white cabinets installed.
Sweet Rhapsody (behr, left) is a little too bright and childish.  Lagoon (MS, right)  feels a bit more sophisticated and I like it better.



Even though I pretty much have my mind made up, I still want to bring the big samples out to the house to see them in the rooms and get a sense of the light out there.  The light my apartment gets and the light the new house gets is pretty different.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!  We are leaving to visit family in two days, so I won't have any updates on the house until after the holiday!

 xx Heather

Come Tour The Model With Me!

The Models at our community are officially open and today I went by to attend the Broker's Luncheon they were hosting.  Already the base price of the home has gone up and it sounds like they have stopped offering some of the incentives.  This area is getting HOT and I am so glad we got in early :)

There are also two new large shopping/town centers going in about 1/4 mile from us and yesterday I made a wish that we get a Michaels and a Home Goods.  Can you believe I found out today that my wish came true and both of those stores are planned to go in?!?!  I hope they are open before christmas next year.

Enough babble, let me show you around!

This is the master bedroom, nice and spacious...

...Her closet...

...His closet...

...and the master bathroom.

This is the laundry room, upstairs with the bedrooms <3 font="font" nbsp="nbsp">

Hall bathroom.

This is the second bedroom, we will be using it as my husband's office.

This is the third bedroom, which will be my office slash guest room.

There is a nice big landing upstairs - this area will be so fun to dress up!

Downstairs, here is the living room with a sliver of the front door.

Dining Area and Kitchen

More Kitchen.

That is all the pictures of the Matisse (I'm realizing now I forgot the powder room and staircase, but don't worry, when I'm living in mine you will get to see every square inch!)

So you may have been wondering why all the exterior pics show three stories, but I only ever talk about two.  That's because there is a one floor home above ours, called the Reuben.

 

Here is the living room. ( I didn't get the dining area because there were customers there) 

Kitchen, pretty similar to the other model but a hair smaller.

Second bedroom.

The master bathroom (kind of a crappy shot, sorry :( )

Hall bathroom.

Master Bedroom.


Hope you enjoyed that.  I wish the pictures were better.  I think I need to add a fancy camera to my ever growing wish list ;)

Of course I had to go check on my house while I was there.  I haven't taken a full building shot in a while, so I got one of those:

And the bay windows got finished off with the siding/trim work

There are a bunch of inspections that need to be done by the county this week before we can move into the drywall phase.  Hopefully they go smoothly and the work starts back up fast!


xx Heather

Halfway There!

So, there has been quite a lot of work done in the past week, but since it is all electrical, plumbing, etc. there aren't many pictures to show.  They did finish the brick work, though!

Today I had my pre-drywall meeting which is the major halfway point milestone, yay :)

Wednesday the fire marshall comes to inspect the sprinkler system and once that passes they will start installing the insulation and then the drywall.  So hopefully, in a few weeks there will be some pretty exciting pictures to share.

xx Heather