House Progression: Paint and Floors

Things over at our house are looking really good. It's amazing to think that in one month we will be living there! It is going to be so amazing to have so much space of our own. We are starting to feel a little crowded in our apartment with all of the baby things, all 10,000 Red Ladder envelopes, and now all of the boxes stacked everywhere. The space is going to be nice, but really we are just excited to be able to get into a house with such a good interest rate where our money will start going to equity instead of our landlords pocket. Each time we visit the build site it makes us more and more excited! 

Before I get into all the fun things that are going on over there right now, I want to write down some things that have happened with our builder over the past month. We stopped by one evening to check out their progress and discovered that they had put the wrong texture up on the walls. At the design center you could choose between 3 different texture styles: orange peel, old world, or smooth. We liked the smooth the best, but it was quite a bit of money to upgrade, so we went with the orange peel as the next best thing. Neither of us particularly liked the old world. It's not that we hate it, but we think that it is very trendy and will go out of style fairly quickly. (Along the lines of the glittery popcorn/asbestos ceilings.) When we walked in and discovered that our walls had incorrectly been textured with the Old World style, we were a little bugged. Okay... a lot bugged. 

A close up of the Old World texture. 

There have been a couple of other things like this that have happened, like them putting one of the vents in the wrong place, twice! The first time it was directly in front of the opening of the glass door, and the second time was after we asked them to put it in a very specific place (even having the head guy draw it out on the floor). Also, they put the wrong size door on the laundry room and it wasn't until I made them check twice that they realized it was too small for a washer and dryer to fit through. (Thank goodness I was persistant, can you imagine showing up with your washer and dryer and not being able to get it in?) So we have a history of them doing little goofs. But this wasn't just a small, easy to fix goof - this texture was on every wall in every room and every closet. 

We sent a couple of emails about it, but they didn't get back to us right away so we called in our awesome real estate agent, TJ Buckley (we highly recommend him!). He called the builder and battled for us to get them to change the texture. In the meanwhile, they primed the whole house - making it even more difficult for them to change it. Now, it's important to understand - we really don't prefer the old world texture, which is why we chose our other option. It's kind of frustrating to have a mistake on such a large scale, even if it's not really that different, because we will never be able to change the texture. It's not even like we don't like the paint color and can repaint on our own down the line. So we are grateful to TJ for fighting for us. At first the builder said no, they wouldn't fix it. (Because apparently, they haven't done the orange peel texture for 3 years - even though it's still an option at the design center.) But TJ went to the head of the company, Dave McArthur, and fought until he said yes. However, he said that it would take another 3 weeks for them to finish the house. At this point, we had already given our landlord our 30 days notice and have to be out by the end of January (and are just going to crash our parents house until we get the okay to move in somewhere between the 8th and 15th of February because our landlords wont prorate the rent). So 3 weeks is a pretty big deal. We don't love the old world texture but it's not worth waiting another month to get into our house, however we did feel a little bugged that they didn't do it right and think they should do something to make it up to us. We told TJ that and told him that we were thinking that we were going to finish the garage on our own after we moved in - so maybe they could do that for us instead. 

TJ called me back just ten minutes later and told me that not only had he gotten them to finish the garage for us (mud, texture, paint) but he had also gotten them to finish the stairs leading to the basement! (This wasn't included with the house, because our basement is unfinished, the stairway to the basement is also unfinished.) Then later he called back and said that not only are they going to mud and paint the stairs, but they are going to include our upgraded handrail, carpet, pad, baseboard, and lighting fixtures! This is a huge deal and we are so grateful for a good agent who worked so hard for us. I think that once we move in we will get used to the texture and it will be SO SO SO nice to have the garage and stairways completely finished. Yay! 

Wow, that took a little longer to explain than I had originally intended, but I wanted to make sure it got recorded and if I didn't do it now, it might not have gotten done. Now onto the fun part. We went over to check out the progress the other day and we found paint and floors! The paint is called Grecian Ivory. It looks really pretty in person, very light and creamy. It is light enough to make the room feel very open and airy, but it contrasts with the bright white trim making it not feels SO white. We figured that was the best paint to paint every room (and ceiling) with- and then down the line we cant paint each room a different color if we want. 

Also finished were all of the hard floorings: the kitchen, entry, bathrooms, and laundry room. I'm absolutely in love with the kitchen floor. It couldn't be more perfect. I love love love it. 

 I just love the grey and brown all mixed together. It's a little hard to see the pattern of the tiles, but it is very pretty as well.

Downstairs half-bath, same flooring as kitchen. 

Entry way flooring - dark hardwood. It's so gorgeous (right now it's covered in a piece of the kitchen flooring to keep it protected.) 

Another picture of the kitchen floor, you can see the pattern a little better in this one. you can also see the vent that is still in the wrong place. (I asked them to put it out further so it wouldn't just blow air up the curtains, but after already moving it once- they weren't going to move it again.) 

Master Bathroom.

View from the Master Closet. 

Isn't he handsome? We can hardly believe that this is going to be our house. And soon!

Laundry room (with a window!)

Laundry room. 

Lydia is such a good sport. We always drag her over and walk around the house and she is just happy to tag along. I'm sure she wonders why we are always coming over to this strange house. I wonder if she will recognize/understand when we move in that this is the place that we have been coming for so long. Or if she is too young and wont even notice. 

Upstairs bathroom. 

Stairway with our beautiful banister. We upgraded to that dark wood and we think it's beautiful. 

We really are just so excited about the progress (especially that they are going to finish our garage and stairs, that is awesome, awesome, awesome). I can hardly believe that in one month we will be moved/moving in and that the keys will be ours!