Finalization

Things are kind of quiet right now - but in our case, silence is a good thing! We had our finalization meeting last week and reviewed all of our flooring options, upgrades, floor plan, etc. The great news is there is only 1 unit left in our building left to be sold, which means we are on track to begin building in August! 

So until then, we are waiting patiently - and heading to Mexico to take some r&r before the building process kicks into gear!

See you in August!

The Model Home

Just for reference, we have included pictures of what the general layout will be in our Strauss Attic.

Exterior (this is what ours will look like! 1/2 brick, 1/2 siding)

 Main living powder room

 Living Room

Open Layout Living Room/Kitchen 

  Laundry

 Master

 Master Bath

 Master/Guest Hallway

 'Attic' Shower

 Rooftop Terrace Room 

 Stairways

 Open Layout Morning Room/Kitchen/Living Room

 Entryway

Patio off the kitchen

 Living Room/Open Kitchen

 Living Room

 Kitchen

Kitchen/Dining Room/Living Room

 (the shelves in the cabinets PULL OUT! What an awesome feature!)

Another gratuitous terrace shot 

Wiring

We had our wiring appointment the other day - following the design appointment. Not a whole lot of fun pictures to show. We did however put TV mounts in the living room, terrace bedroom, and guest bedroom. We figured this makes up for the lack of fun bathroom tile for our guests to enjoy (kidding, kidding!). 

The Guardian rep also goes through other options such as adding in a security system, mounting a BOSE surround sound system, turning your home into a completely wireless command system a la Disney's Smart House (again, kidding!). There were some pretty cool options, but the extent of our splurging stopped at the TV mounts (three cheers for no ugly hanging wires!)

Design Appointment

Flooring

Again, we had decided that we wanted high contrast, and because our unit is internal we did not want to have both espresso cabinets and espresso floors. We thought that would darken our main floor too much, and would limit us in our 'natural' design. 

We started off comparing the darkest hardwood floor option ('Saddle' I think it's called) vs. the lighest option (Natural). 

We narrowed down to Natural Oak (pictured right) for the main living area, and first floor off of the garage.

 Then it was time to narrow down the countertops. You only get two choices - Santa Cecelia Light (a common option) or New Caledonoa. We went with the Santa Ceclia Light (pictured left) so we could brighten up the cabinets, and tie the light flooring into the general concept. 

Altogether, this will be our kitchen! The only difference will be that our Espresso cabinets are flat, so the kitchen as a whole will be very seamless and modern (hopefully). 

Next came the carpet. We considered putting hardwood in the whole house, but the additional $5,000 cost was hard to swallow. Mom tells me carpet will be better in the long run, because my sure-to-be-clumsy progeny will undoubtedly take a tumble down the stairs at some point. We'll take her word for it. 

We knew we didn't want the 'Almond' or tan/beige flooring. Luckily, there were a lot of really beautiful grey options, which will tie in beautifully with the grey elements in the Santa Cecilia, and will allow us to bring in a wider range of colors when it comes to decorating. 

The 'included' carpet selection is limited, but not horrible. We were up-sold simply due to the fact that for an extra $200 you can get 10 year warranted 'spill proof' carpet. We also upgraded the carpet pad to help with allergens and longevity of the carpet. 

We went with Shaw's  'Amazing Greige' carpet. A beautiful mix of both beige and grey (clever, ay?). 

Here is what the Amazing Greige carpet (stairs & bedrooms), Natural Oak hardwood (living), and Santa Cecilia (kitchen/bathrooms) will look like. Luckily, the chair at the design center is the exact color of our furniture at home. We got a great visual on how everything will look tied together, especially when you consider our cabinets will be the same color as this chair. 

Bathrooms

Bathrooms were, arguably, the hardest part. What comes included is......... kind of ugly. Plain. Boring. And upgrading to the next step up is a LOT. So we decided to sacrifice on upgrading all of the guest bathrooms (3), and instead save the money for the Master (sorry, Family/Friends/Future Guests). 

Guest Bath 1

You basically get the option of about 5 different floor tiles, and either white or 'bisque' for the bathtub. The floor we chose is tan, with some beautiful gray marbled throughout. The grey from our 'greige' carpet pulled perfectly on the gray of the floor. We decided to go with the white tile, because 'bisque' just felt like a less-clean version of white. I couldn't imagine that in a bathroom (but, hey, maybe it looks pretty in person). 

We hated the listello band. We felt that it would 'date' the bathroom, which I actually think is the opposite of the intention. I'm pretty sure the head design-options-chooser (official title) actually said "Put this scroll in the middle and it will make these people feel fancy", and none of the lackeys around the office had the guts to say "Actually boss, it may, instead, make them feel 80.". 

But again, to each their own. Maybe it looks pretty in person. For us? Nope. 

Master Bath

The Master Bath was fun, only because we decided to upgrade. You get a wide arrange of tiles to choose from, and you can mix and match your accent band as you please. The cabinets in all of our bathrooms are the flat panel Espresso, so to change things up we went with the Sandstone countertop. It is accented PERFECTLY by the accent band we chose. It doesn't register in the picture, but the band has beautiful crystallized blues and greys. I LOVE our master bathroom! 

Attic Bath + Garage Bath

Both the bathroom in our 'Attic' - which is really an additional bedroom off of the rooftop terrace- and the bathroom on the first floor next to the garage - which is part of the first floor bedroom - will have the same flooring. Both of these bathrooms just have basic vinyl and are stand up showers. We selected the flooring that had the most grey, so we could bring out the carpet (noticing a theme yet?). There are also tans/beiges in this vinyl - so we can retain the 'organic' look. 

Our laundry room will have the same vinyl. 

Well, that's all she wrote for the designing! I think we have some pretty unique choices, as we struggle to find our exact color combos on other blogs - but we are hoping that when it all comes together, we will have something reminiscent of this in the kitchen. 

Now the hard part - waiting to break ground!

Design Inspiration

So, I am starting this blog later than most. We have already been through the process of Purchase Agreements (PA), Wiring Meetings, and Loan Approval (first round). The process has taken about a month to get from signing the PA to finding out we are approved (yay!).

The most daunting part of this process has been designing our home. Luckily, when you build with Ryan, you have pre-determined selections - which help you to narrow your focus, especially if you want to stay on budget.

Hubby & I scoured Pinterest for WEEKS looking up inspirational photos of kitchens, living rooms, bathrooms, etc.


Searches such as: "Light countertops and dark cabinets"; Dark countertops light cabinets"; "Light floors dark cabinets dark countertops"; "Gray tile and chartreuse blinds and cabinets"; "Milked Poppy grout with onyx floors and countertops two shades lighter than mulberry cabinets".

Ok. So they weren't that ridiculous. But they may as well have been.

We started to notice themes amongst our 'pins' (thank goodness, considering my husband is a very visual person. The design appointment could have been the equivalent of a 15th century torture chamber if he had gone in 'blind'.) We decided that, although our current home is very colorful and bright, what we really wanted in our 'forever' home were more neutrals - a feeling of 'organic' connectedness. Lot's of unfinished woods, high contrasts, greys, beiges, and browns.  We want to decorate with organic elements - live plants, wheatgrass, colorful flowers, etc. and have those organic pieces bring the color into the 'blank canvas' that will be our home.

Click on my Pinterest board to check out our design inspiration! (All of the below photos were found on Pinterest. Follow my 'Dream Home' boards here!