Jill's housebuilding ramblings!

[JillMelissa]

Well, now that we've committed to having a new home built, time to move from houseHUNTING ramblings to houseBUILDING ramblings! :lol: The drama leading up to our decision can all be found here: http://www.onceuponalife.com/showthread.php?t=1625

So here's the long story of our weekend...

On Saturday we headed down to the builder's office and the sales rep was just leaving for the day. She told us where there was a home being built with the floorplan we were interested and said we were welcome to go over and poke around and see if we liked it. So we headed over there and saw this house:

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b4dc37b3127cceb8ca4de7f7390000003610

We really liked the layout of the inside - it felt bigger than we'd expected, especially the master bedroom. It's definitely not a huge house, but we felt like we could definitely be very comfortable in there. We liked the outside, too, but we were still deciding on whether or not to add the stone front and front porch (an extra $5400 - ouch!). We drove around the neighborhood to see where the lots we were considering were located. The two lots that didn't have premiums on them were right in front of a T-intersection, so people would be driving straight toward our house, with their headlights coming into our living room, etc. So we decided that it would be worth it to spend the extra $2500 for a lot just next to those.

Then we headed back to the builder's office, which is just down the road in a completed neighborhood, to see if we could find a house just like the one we were interested, but with the porch. We found several and they were all so pretty. As soon as I saw this one:

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b4dc37b3127cceb8ca4d11f7cf0000003610

I knew we had to have the porch and the stone front - it really made it look like an entirely different house!

So we called and left a message at the office, letting them know that we'd be back the next day and telling them which lot we were interested in.

Then Sunday we had to go back down to Williamstown to sign all the contracts to start construction on the house. We left Emily with my MIL and my FIL came with us to see the house that we'd walked through, and to see the lot we'd selected. Then back over to the builder's office, where another couple was signing documents. There was nowhere else for us to sit and sign, so we had to wait til they were done. We decided to go grab a bite to eat and come back, but before we left we got to put our little Monopoly house down on our lot on the master site plan!

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b4dc37b3127cceb8ca4d4876a60000003610

[JillMelissa]

So.... then we came back and signed all the forty million documents. And it turns out that the couple that was there before us, are going to be our next-door neighbors! They are Indian and she doesn't speak much English, but they have a little girl who looked like she was 2 or 3, so that is nice. They are building a totally different style house than ours, and the people on the other side of us are building another different style house, so it will be a nice mix!

I'm really excited, but nervous that it will turn into a whole nightmare of not being done on time and Emily, me, and the three cats having to live with my parents in Maryland while Chuck lives with his parents here in NJ (my IL's are allergic to cats so the cats can't go there!) and Chuck barely getting to see Emily for a month... :sad:

On a happier thought, we have to go back down there on Thursday and choose our siding, shutters, and stone for the exterior of the house. I think I am leaning toward a cream-colored siding (kind of somewhere between white and pale yellow) with hunter green shutters and front door. As for the stone, I have no idea. The stone in the picture above looks just fine to me!

[Leslie]

Congrats Jill! How exciting. I love that house with the stone and porch just as it is. I love the dark roof and shutters. :)

[Marcella]

Congrats Jill! What a beautiful new home! And I agree.. the stone and porch make it look like a completely different house.

[Amy]

Congratulations!! Who's the builder? I love the stone front...you're right, it definitely makes the house. My sister works for a home builder here, and she said a couple recently chose a gorgeous pale pale green siding with dark blue shutters. It sounds weird, but she said the combo is stunning, and very unusual in most new neighborhoods.

[B.Mace]

WOW! Who knew!?! YAY YOU! Ooooooo -- look at the pretty house! It's perfect! I love it! (Which room is mine?) ha ha ha ha I'm so excited for you!

Will this make you closer to or further from Delaware? :scratch:

[olcott]

Congratulations Jill!! I love the new house!!

[earocks]

Hi Jill! :wavey: Long time, no see! Congratulations on the house!

[AahRee]

It's gorgeous, Jill! And, hey... I think I need a housebuilding thread, too! :lol:

[SarahK]

:woo: Yay!!!!

[JillMelissa]

Hey guys! Well, I'm starting to get nervous about selling our house, and the drama that will be packing and moving (and possibly having to move twice - to temp housing and then into the house - with Emily and the cats!). Promise me that it will all be OK! :lol:

[SarahK]

Hey, if I can do it at 36 weeks PG (coast to coast, I might add!) you can do it too. :nod:

[Alysia]

Congrats on the house, Jill! That is awesome!

[Carmen]

That looks like a great house! Congrats!!

[JillMelissa]

Hey, if I can do it at 36 weeks PG (coast to coast, I might add!) you can do it too. :nod:
You know, I think it would be easier to sell this house, pack, and move PG than with Miss Emily underfoot (not to mention all her STUFF!!!!). And that's saying something! :lol: It's going to be such a production. I'm trying not to think about it! :faint:

Anyway, today we were approved for our mortgage (no big shock considering that DH works for the mortgage company) and the good news is that even though our loan amount will be going up $75,000 - our payment will be staying almost the same! We're doing an interest-only loan, where for the first 10 years we only pay interest (no principal) which is a huge savings every month. And really, with a 30-year mortgage you're barely paying any principal during the first 20 years anyway, so it's not any big loss. Although, we can make a principal payment anytime we want, and if we do, our loan will automatically reamortize, so our interest payment would go down each month. Which is great, because Chuck earns commission at work so if he had a terrific month, we could throw some cash toward our principal balance and knock our monthly payment down a little bit.

Still stumped on the exterior colors. The picture I posted above has the cream-colored siding with black shutters/door. I like that, but I wonder if it's too boring? Would the hunter green be better, or would I get tired of it? And what about grey siding with either light or dark blue shutters and front door?

[AahRee]

I like the idea of the hunter green, and if you get tired of it, you can always change it when you have to re-paint.

That sounds like a great loan package that you guys are doing! Do you lock in your interest rate for the whole 30 years with that? I'm going to have to ask our loan rep about doing something like that. We'll be making SO much more in 10 years, that adding the principal payments in at that time won't be nearly as painful as having them now.

I picked our exterior colors without Phil's help. We're doing a light grey, with white trim and dark blue accents. Isn't it fun to get to choose? :biggrin:

[JillMelissa]

The light grey and the dark blue is high on my list. I am so stumped! But I kinda just like boring old black - I like how it matches the roof in the picture above, and I like the contrast against the lighter-colored stones. Would that make me totally uncreative? :lol:

Actually, the mortgage program is an ARM (adjustable rate mortgage). So it's a little riskier than a fixed-rate program, but the starting rate is so low (3-point-something) and our goal right now is to keep the payment as low as possible, that we're willing to take the risk that it might adjust upward at some point - Chuck is very financially savvy and follows all the markets (plus he gets a daily market rate commentary via email at work) so if it seems like the prime rate is going to go up too much, we'll see it coming and can just refinance.

[Tina]

Congrats Jill!

We just built our house & closed in Nov! My DH has an interest only loan on one of his duplexes he owns!

Tina

[JillMelissa]

Newest angst... tomorrow we also have to decide if we want a fireplace since that's considered structural. My IL's are giving us money for upgrades - so we can either get the gas fireplace (which we weren't going to do, to save money) or we can skip the fireplace and do something else like upgrade the cabinets, etc. I am so torn!

[~Andrea~]

I'd get the fireplace because you can always upgrade cosmetic things later. It will be much more difficult to add a fireplace. Unless you don't care for FPs. I personally LOVE them. What else would/could you get for the same money? Would it be worth it to you??

[JillMelissa]

Yeah, that was my thinking too. I love fireplaces and it would be nice to have a mantel for Christmas stockings, and to put pictures on, etc. etc. etc.... But I know I would never get around to changing the cabinets down the road. I am so bad at making decisions! :lol: When we registered for wedding gifts, I chose a Pfaltzgraff pattern and then agonized over it for weeks - finally DH went out and bought a set of coasters in our pattern and said, "There, now we have something in the pattern, so you can't change it!" I know I'm going to be the same way about every decision for this house! :)

[~Andrea~]

:rotflmao: I am the same exact way!!! I am HORRIBLE at decision making!! I second guess myslef up until I make the decision (and then even after).

[AahRee]

I'd go with the fireplace, because that will make the more dramatic difference in how your house looks. :nod: It's not as if you won't have cabinets at all, you'll just have a different type of wood. But going from no fireplace to having a fireplace is a much bigger difference. Plus, if you plan to re-sell at any point, it's a much bigger draw than upgraded cabinets. :nod: Plus, I just love the look of a fireplace. But that's just me!

[mcox]

Definitely take the firplace!! I think that a fireplace is so cozy and romantic. ;) It is wonderful at Christmas too. Good luck with your decision.

[AahRee]

Definitely take the firplace!! I think that a fireplace is so ... romantic. ;)
This is a really good point! :nod: You don't read in the bodice-ripper romance novels about romantic evenings in front of the kitchen cabinets... :lol2:

[JillMelissa]

Yeah, you don't read a lot in the bodice-ripper novels about cleaning spit-up strained peas off the carpet, either... :lol: That's how most of my evenings are spent... real romantic.

DH talked to his dad tonight and FIL said, "Get the fireplace, and if you really want the cabinets, we'll talk about that too." How nice is that? And I should mention that my parents are lending us $12,000 toward our initial downpayment of 10% which the builder requires by the end of March - since our funds for the downpayment on the new house are tied up in our current home, or in investments that we don't want to sell (because of tax ramifications). I have the best parents and IL's in the world!!

[AahRee]

That's awesome, Jill! :biggrin:

[JillMelissa]

Hey guys! Well, we ended up going for the fireplace. Chuck knew that I want one, so he said to go for it. But what I really think is that he knows how much Susie and Bailey (two of the cats) love to sleep in front of the fire, and that he got it for them! :lol:

Choosing the exterior options wasn't easy. The builder is just now in the middle of moving their office from a model home in a neighborhood which has just recently been completed, to a model home in our neighborhood. So we drove around the completed neighborhood first (since Emily was asleep in the backseat - we figured we'd let her get a little more sleep) and looked at all the color combinations people had chosen. I really liked the hunter green and the dark blue shutters, with the light-colored siding. So we went over to our neighborhood, where the builder's office is now, and looked at all the choices, held them up with each other, took them outside so we could see them in natural light, and finally decided on a light beige for the siding, hunter green shutters and front door, a black roof, and great big, chunky terra-cotta colored stones for the wall behind the porch. (They also had some stone choices where the stones were small, like the size of bricks, as well as some stone choices where the stones were gray.) So that's that.

Next is the mecca to North Jersey to pick out all our interior selections. They have this massive showroom where you can see everything that's standard - a full set of standard cabinets in each color, etc. - as well as examples of many of the upgrades. Apparently it takes an hour for the designer to show you everything and explain all the choices, then you go home and come back again for a 3-hour appointment where you make your selections. Obviously we can't be hiking up there twice so we're going to do the one-hour appointment, meet up for lunch with friends of ours who live up there, then come back and make all the choices. We have until March 15th to do that, so we have to figure out when my MIL can come up and watch Emily and we'll go get that taken care of!

[Marcella]

I think that color combination sounds gorgeous!! So exciting!

[cmmteaches]

Congratulations. Your home is beautiful!

[JillMelissa]

Hey guys! I guess I haven't updated this in a while. There hasn't been much to say! :lol: We have our appointment at the design center next Wednesday, the 10th. It was a total PITA because they only do the three-hour selection appointments on weekdays. My MIL is a preschool teacher and has school (and they don't exactly have subs lined up at the church preschool! :lol: ) so my mom generously offered to take the day off work and come up from Maryland and stay with Emily. It will be a loooong day - our first appointment, the tour of the place where we see all our choices, is an hour long and is at 11, and then our three-hour appointment where we actually make the selections, is at 2. So we'll have 2 hours in between - I believe there's a mall nearby (I don't know north Jersey at all!) so we can go and grab a bite and talk about what we want to select for everything, between the 2 appointments!

[JillMelissa]

Not much new to report, but here's something nice! I was at home the other day and the doorbell rang and it was a flower delivery for us - a HUGE bouquet of gorgeous lillies from our builder! What a nice surprise that was!

[AahRee]

Wow! :) That is nice! I guarantee our builder isn't going to be sending me flowers. :lol: It's such a seller's market here right now, they don't have to be nice to us. :lol: I'm excited to hear about your appointment on Wednesday. Do you have to make your final decisions at that 3-hour appointment, or can you go home and think about it? I've annoyed the heck out of the designer I'm working with, because I went to the 3-hour appointment, and then went home and changed my mind about almost everything. :lol: But at least it is going to look the way I want it to, now. Before, I got so caught up in the elegance and beauty of the look of slate, I forgot that it is entirely not my style! :lol: Are you going in with some design ideas? A tip our designer had for our appointment was to bring in things like fabrics (sofa cushions, etc.l) and pictures of designs you like, so you can stay focused. There are so many great choices, it is easy to get overwhelmed. Anyway, I can't wait to hear how it goes, and see what you pick! :biggrin: Have fun!

[JillMelissa]

Actually, we have to decide at the three-hour appointment and they have a NO CHANGES policy. Which is actually a good thing because then I can't second-guess myself! :) I think people usually go for the tour of everything, then come back another day to make all the decisions - but it's over an hour drive and we need to have someone to watch Emily, etc. etc. etc. so we're doing it all in one day. We will have 2 hours in between the two appointments to talk it over and decide what we want. But - we have a VERY limited budget for options so that will help - we couldn't do slate even if I wanted it! :lol:

In other good news, we may have a buyer for our home - and it's not even on the market yet! A woman Chuck knows from work is interested. It would work out really well for her. She's a young single mother and is pregnant with #2 right now (she is divorced, and has a 6-year-old from that marriage, and I am not sure if she is going to be getting married to the father of this baby but that's not really my business!) and she lives in an apartment just down the road from us right now. She doesn't want her daughter to have to change elementary schools, so that narrows down the neighborhoods she can consider, and she wants a 3-bedroom townhouse in our exact development. How perfect is that! :) And even better, she doesn't want to move until September anyway - which is when our house is scheduled to be completed. So she's going to come take a look at our house and see what she thinks. I would be so excited if I didn't have to go through the whole production of showing our house and Emily needing a nap and her toys everywhere and so on...!!!

[AahRee]

Oh, I hope that works out. That sounds like an ideal situation with that buyer! :crossfing

[CarrieC]

Sounds like building a house is EXITING but very PAINSTAKING in the decision making process. Sounds like a long day of choices ahead. I hope you have fun!

[JillMelissa]

Hey guys! Well, we survived the loooooong day. The design studio is amazing and huge, and they had like 12 different kitchens and 8 different fireplaces and 10 different bathrooms and just so many different things to look at. It was a little overwhelming at first but the girl who gave us our tour was really helpful and explained what was standard and what was an upgrade and how to read the pricing sheets and everything.

Our tour was finished by 11:30 and our design appointment wasn't until 2, so we spent about 45 minutes just wandering around and looking at everything and talking about what we liked. Then we went out and had some lunch, and came back and really got down to business. We had our flooring, kitchen cabinets, kitchen counters, bathroom selections, pretty much everything all picked out before we even met with the design consultant! She was a big help when it came to where to put our cable and phone hookups, which dishwasher to get, etc.

This is very similar to the flooring that we chose for our foyer, kitchen, and powder room (ours is a little more brownish though!) :

http://www.armstrong.com/pdbupimages/6479434150.jpg

We chose a dark maple (almost cherry) for our cabinets and we decided to stick with the laminate countertops - upgrading to Corian was so expensive. This is the laminate that we chose:

http://www.wilsonart.com/laminate/consumer/products/catalog/laminates/zoom/Olive_Legacy_4654.jpg

Our cabinets will have gold knobs (changing them would be $5 a knob and we would need 30 - no thanks!) so I am thinking I will change them myself, to these knobs (only $3.55 each at Lowe's!)

http://images.lowes.com/product/026634/026634108325.jpg?wid=158&cvt=jpeg

or maybe even these ($3.59 each)

http://images.lowes.com/product/781266/781266422484.jpg?wid=158&cvt=jpeg

Ooh (note to self) - they're slightly cheaper at Home Depot. These are $2.89 each

http://www.homedepot.com/cmc_upload/HDUS/EN_US/asset/images/eplus/164412_3.jpg

and these are only $1.89 each!

http://www.homedepot.com/cmc_upload/HDUS/EN_US/asset/images/eplus/164432_3.jpg
We upgraded the vanity in our bathroom to cultured marble, but left Emily's as plain old white laminate. She don't need no fancy bathroom! :lol: I would have loved to do something great with the tile in our bathroom, but it was sooo expensive. So, just plain old white tile.

We upgraded the carpet padding throughout the house but only upgraded the actual carpet in the family room since that's where Emily plays all day and Chuck sits on the floor to watch TV, so we want nice plush carpeting in there. All the carpets are a neutral tan color.

I love the fireplace, it has a white mantel and the inside of the mantel is surrounded by black marble. Here's a picture of the mantel (it will be white!) :

http://www.firesidefurnishings.com/products/images/largeImages/roseville.jpg

Let's see, what else... we went witha side-by-side fridge, which is great for me since I am so short that I can never see what's in the back of my freezer! :lol: All the kitchen appliances are black.

Our stair railing and the railing on the upstairs landing are cherry wood. We decided to get recessed lighting in the family room and the kitchen. Um... and I guess that's it!

Oh, and when we got home tonight there was a package waiting - a tin of gourmet cookies from the builder! :)

[AahRee]

Wow, your builder is spoiling the heck out of you guys! How cool! I love the choices you made... especially that mantle! I'd really like to put a nice mantle on our fireplace. Ours just comes with the tile surround and a little ledge - no real mantle. So, I'm drooling over yours. :) I can't wait to see it all put together. What is your estimated closing date?

[CarrieC]

Great choices. I love the chrome/pewter look. :nod: I can't believe it's so much cheaper to buy the hardware yourself though! :eek:

[Nocona]

Your kitchen is going to look amazing! I would definitely change the pulls yourself :lol: I actually like the $1.89 ones better :lol:

I can't believe your builder sent you cookies now too!

[JillMelissa]

Well, the trip down to Williamstown yesterday to drop off our enormous downpayment check was a disaster! :lol: It took us about 40 minutes to get there and Emily was content to play with her little mobile in the backseat and listen to the music on the radio, so that was good. We pulled up in front of the model, I got her out of the car, and we started walking up to the house and then I saw the sign on the door. The office was closed for the day for a sales meeting! :mad: And the worst part? I totally forgot my camera so I never even got to take a picture of the stupid lot.

Grrrr...

[Nocona]

:jawdrop: what a day!

[AahRee]

:bighug: At least Emily was good!

[Tina]

I love that mantle! We have the same exact one! Who is your builder? We just finished building our house & closed on it right before Thanksgiving!

Tina

[JillMelissa]

Wow, I haven't updated in a while!

The great news is that the woman who was interested in our house is buying it, for $181,000. This is a very good thing. (We bought it for $121,000 3 years ago!)

The other news is that they are not breaking ground on the new house until the beginning of May! :eek: Oh, well, that gives me time to get down there and get a picture of the empty lot, which I still haven't done!

[~Andrea~]

what an awesome profit!! Did you get your house at a good deal or have the prices just really gone up a lot in 3 years??

[earocks]

Congratulations on selling your house relatively hassle free! :)

[JillMelissa]

what an awesome profit!! Did you get your house at a good deal or have the prices just really gone up a lot in 3 years??
The prices have gone way up! We bought the house right before they really started to soar. Our timing couldn't have been better!!

[SarahK]

Congratulations!!

[JillMelissa]

Well I guess it's been a while since I updated this thread, since... the house is done now! :lol: We're closing next week and moving in next weekend. Here is how it turned out!

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b4d703b3127cceb74c05194a420000001610 (http://javascript<b></b>:openSlideWin(1,%20'67b0de21b3c47b27e461',%2029);)

Chuck in the family room:

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b4d703b3127cceb74c079e4ac40000001610 (http://javascript<b></b>:openSlideWin(1,%20'67b0de21b3c47b27e461',%2030);)

Fireplace:

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b4d703b3127cceb74c1a060aca0000001610 (http://javascript<b></b>:openSlideWin(1,%20'67b0de21b3c47b27e461',%2031);)

Closeup of the flooring in the kitchen, foyer, and downstairs hall:

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b4d703b3127cceb74c1ba04af40000001610 (http://javascript<b></b>:openSlideWin(1,%20'67b0de21b3c47b27e461',%2032);)

Emily in the entrance to the dining room:

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b4d703b3127cceb74c04d88b2b0000001610 (http://javascript<b></b>:openSlideWin(1,%20'67b0de21b3c47b27e461',%2033);)

Kitchen - there is a breakfast nook as well, I'm standing in it to take the pictures:

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b4d703b3127cceb74c182c8bd10000001610 (http://javascript<b></b>:openSlideWin(1,%20'67b0de21b3c47b27e461',%2034);)

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b4d703b3127cceb74c1e3f8bc10000001610 (http://javascript<b></b>:openSlideWin(1,%20'67b0de21b3c47b27e461',%2035);)

Chuck and Emily checking out the cabinets:

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b4d703b3127cceb74c1f05cb630000001610 (http://javascript<b></b>:openSlideWin(1,%20'67b0de21b3c47b27e461',%2036);)

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b4d703b3127cceb74c1c4f0a800000001610 (http://javascript<b></b>:openSlideWin(1,%20'67b0de21b3c47b27e461',%2037);)

Em in the living room:

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b4d703b3127cceb74c1c0e8bf10000001610 (http://javascript<b></b>:openSlideWin(1,%20'67b0de21b3c47b27e461',%2038);)

Emily (and her cell phone!) in the dining room:

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b4d703b3127cceb74c07904aca0000001610 (http://javascript<b></b>:openSlideWin(1,%20'67b0de21b3c47b27e461',%2039);)

Emily in the entrance to the master bathroom:

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b4d703b3127cceb74c1ca30a6c0000001610 (http://javascript<b></b>:openSlideWin(1,%20'67b0de21b3c47b27e461',%2040);)

[JillMelissa]

The sinks in the master bathroom:

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b4d703b3127cceb74c1d14cb730000001610 (http://javascript<b></b>:openSlideWin(1,%20'67b0de21b3c47b27e461',%2041);)

The master bedroom sitting room:

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b4d703b3127cceb74c12160ade0000001610 (http://javascript<b></b>:openSlideWin(1,%20'67b0de21b3c47b27e461',%2042);)

Master bathroom tub:

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b4d703b3127cceb74c12c18b390000001610 (http://javascript<b></b>:openSlideWin(1,%20'67b0de21b3c47b27e461',%2043);)

View of the upstairs landing from the foyer:

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b4d703b3127cceb74c1379cb190000001610 (http://javascript<b></b>:openSlideWin(1,%20'67b0de21b3c47b27e461',%2044);)

[Alysia]

The house looks great Jill! HOW EXCITING!!! Good luck with the move!

[Ana975]

The house turned out great! Good luck!

[BeckyEsq]

Jill, it looks great! I can't wait to see how you decorate it. :)

[aphi1872]

Nice crib! I am loving that soaker tub!

[Nadine]

It is AMAZING! May you know only happy times in this house!

[jenr812]

:scratch: I KNOW I posted in here before!?!?! This is too weird. Anyway, everything's gorgeous :aok: Congrats!