The "Sold" sign is up

The builder was out of "Sold" signs the day we signed the paperwork, but when I stopped by the office today to sign off on the "landscape package" and electrical, I noticed there was a new addition to our lot!

Color Selection

Yesterday I went to the design center to make my "color selections" for the house.

The main body of the house will be Stonewall - 8783M by Duron (owned by Sherwin Williams)

The trim around the windows and doors will be Silver Chime - 8781W by Duron (owned by SW)

The "rough stucco" (where there's stone on the model home) will be Blackthorn - 8784D by Duron (owned by SW)

The front door will be Temptress - 8516A by Duron.

The house comes "standard" with white paint. While I'll be painting a few rooms right away, I know that it will take me awhile to get the whole house painted, and the white would drive me crazy. We chose to have the inside of the house painted Burma Buff - 8201W, once again by Duron. The trim in the house will be white.

The hardware on the front door will be Kwikset Signatures Shelburne SmartKey Handleset in Satin Nickel (98001-107)

The hardware on the interior doors will be Kwikset Signature Tustin LeverOur cabinets will be maple, with a Cordovan finish. Manufacturer of the cabinets is Quality Cabinets. I don't know what I want to do with the hardware, in terms of shape, but it will be brushed nickel, so that it goes with the stainless appliances.

Granite will be Uba Tuba. The builder was having a special that if we chose this granite for the kitchen the bathrooms would have upgraded countertops at no additional cost.
The kitchen sink will be a double bowl undermount from Sterling.

Our faucet will be the Salora Classic in stainless; the standard was a chrome. The "base" shown in the picture will not be on the faucet, it will be a single hole in the granite.

The dishwasher will be the Whirlpool model GU3600XTVY - I was looking for a steel interior (I've had plastic tubs "go bad" in rentals) and that it be quiet (as the one in our rental now is ridiculously loud).

Our range will be the Whirlpool GFE471LVS - cleaning the coil top stove in our rental makes me appreciate that we will have a flat top again in the near future.

The microwave will be Whirlpool model WMH2205XVS. Looking forward to a over-range microwave - after giving up valuable counter space for the past three years.

Tile will be from Shaw's Summerset collection. The color is Sea Oat Khaki (00201) and we will have varying sizes throughout the house. The backsplash in the kitchen will be 6.5" square on a diagonal. The floor tile in the main area (foyer and kitchen) will be 18" tile on a diagonal. The floor tile in the bathrooms will be 13" - in a straight pattern. The tile in the master shower will be 8"x12" with a border.

Master Bath will have the Moen Brantford collection. The shower will have the Brantford LifeShine Brushed Nickel Posi-Temp Pressure Balancing Shower (model T2152BN)

The faucets will be Brantford LifeShine Brushed Nickel High Arc Spout Lavatory Faucet with Pop-up Drain (model 6610BN).

Sinks in all bathrooms will be Briggs 6504 (Marlowe Oval Undermount). The master will be in a linen finish, to coordinate with the shower tile, all other bathrooms will be in a white finish, to coordinate with the 6"x6" white tiles in the secondary baths.

Showers in the hall and bonus baths will have Moen Chateau Chrome Lever Posi-Temp Pressure Ballancing Tub/Shower (model L2353) And the faucets in the powder bath, hall bath and bonus bath will be the Chateau Chrome Lever Lavatory Faucet with Pop-up Drain (model L4621)

Carpet throughout will be Shaw's Collinsville Nature's Mist (HGG36-103)


Those are the color selections. Next up is to finalize the electrical plans and wait for the building permits. We're looking forward to the builder breaking ground!

Under Contract

This morning we signed the paperwork and are under contract to build our first house. This will be the view from the back of our house; the area on the other side of the pond is conservation land, and cannot be built on. The builder is starting to pull permits and they're targeting January 30, 2011 as our closing date.

The House the Builder Built

The house we're building is a new model for our builder; they've only completed one so far (with another in process) and here it is. We will be doing a slightly different elevation, and our floor plan will be reversed (due to the location of electric lines are buried on our lot).

When you come in the front door, the half bath and laundry room are to the right (well they'll be on the left for us). Here's a picture of the half bath in the unit we went through. We'll be doing a vanity similar to this with a granite counter top.

What a beautiful picture, I know! In some of the other models I've seen, the builder has installed wood cabinets above the washer and dryer. I'd like to do that, although I'm not sure if we'll have the builder install them or if we'll get some stock cabinets from either Home Depot or Lowe's. They will be plumbing for a laundry room sink.

On the side of the hall, opposite the half bath and laundry room, will be our den. We will be putting french doors on the den, and as I work from home this will be my new office. Since it's so open, I'm going to need better places to store all my work papers!

After walking down the entry foyer, you'll walk into the great room. In the back right corner is a pantry. The builder is switching this model around a bit, and the refrigerator will move from the back wall to the wall on the right. The wall on the right will have a little cabinet (with counter and cabinet above it) to the side of the refrigerator.

Where the refrigerator currently is, will be additional cabinets and counter tops.

Instead of having a pass-through to the great-room (pictured back left) the cabinets, and counter tops will run to the wall, expanding cabinets and counter space.

Since those who know me, know I have a thing for light fixtures, we'll have pendants over the island and possibly the bar; under cabinet lighting will be installed.

Opposite the opening to the kitchen will be the dining room; we will be putting hardwood in there. We think that we're not going to want to waste space in the great room with a "kitchen table" so we plan on setting the dining room up for everyday use (no need to build a room we'll never use!)

A view from the living room portion of the great room. As I mentioned, we'll be closing the gap on the left side of the kitchen. The dining room is across the way, and you can kind of see the den to the back right. The half bath and laundry room are behind the pantry wall.

The master suite is on the first floor. We'll have double vanities, with granite. Having to share a sink in our rental, makes me appreciate the double-vanity ! There are two closets in the master bath, one directly behind the mirrors and the other to the left of the mirror. We're looking into raising the height of the counter top, to accommodate my tall husband (and not having to bend over to brush his teeth).

The shower will be tiled (none of that "plasticy" one piece that comes standard). In the master, we may add some kind of pattern to the tile in the shower.

The rest of the bedrooms are upstairs.

Here's a view from the top of the stairs. I didn't take a lot of pictures, because, well, all the rooms kind of look alike :) First door on the left is a closet for the AC, second door from the left is bedroom 3, third door from the left is a full bath, and the door on the right goes to bedroom 2. If you were to round the corner, there's a door to bedroom 4, and another to the bonus room that we'll be adding another full bath to.

And a quick snap-shot of the full bath upstairs. Instead of the plasticy one-piece shower, we'll be putting in tile (although it will be a fairly basic tile).

We're so excited to start thinking about building our first house; the condo was a good starter home, but we're ready to start the next chapter of our lives - in a house that looks a little something like this!