Monday, November 19, 2012

You Can Get With This...



I decided to do this post because I understand the difference it made for me as I began to choose my selections/upgrades/customizations for our home.  This was not an easy task with some options. In order to know every selection for your floor plan you must study the selection sheet which most people do not have the time to do and/or are unaware of the selection sheet.  There are a variety of selections/upgrades to choose from and what about those non standard customizations we know that we want before we start building.  Bottom line, the the challenge when building your first home is knowing what to ask for from a selection sheet that you may not be aware of when you sit down to develop your house on paper.  It is a lot to cover and and a budget that most want to adhere too.  After you sign the purchase agreement, you are in possession of the selection sheet that some people take home and study like a hawk and others don't take another peek (they just want the house built).  We are given typically two weeks to make any changes. Not much time right?  My intention for this post is to share a few things I discovered along the way that can make a big impact on your home.  Some can be changed others you are stuck with.  

There so many to choose from but check out WHETHER OR NOT YOU CAN GET WITH THIS OR YOU CAN GET WITH THAT!  The information below will support you in making up your mind. The choices are always personal to what your family wants, needs and desires are and can never be compared to anyone else.  So continue to make the choice that best fits you.  The choices in this post are coming from many bloggers who knew beforehand or found out afterwards when it was too late.  Again, I can not cover them all because I will be here for the next few days; however, here are a few:

THE BATHROOM
This bathroom is under construction which is why you do not see the soap dish.  Consider whether or not you want your designer ceramic surround installed in your bathrooms with this towel bar directly above your listello.  The towel bar/soap dish do not match the materials of your designer ceramic. I took the picture and discussed this with our Tile Floor Representative to be sure they did not include these in the guest or master bathroom.  

Close Up Views


Another bathroom under construction; however, this homeowner chose to use the traditional 6*6 ceramic tile and kept both towel bar/soap dish which matches perfectly since they are made from the same materials.
  Our basement bathroom has this same tile and I kept the towel bar/soap dish; again, because they are made with the same materials and pleasing to the eye.

I was absolutely clear that I did not want to have the traditional towel bar/soap dish attached to my designer ceramic so I have two of the corner durango marble shelves installed in the showers of both guest and master bathroom. 
Each durango marble shelf in our community cost $100 each.  They also have a ceramic corner shelf that will cost you $50.  I do have a picture of it and the ceramic corner shelf has two lips on the edges that flip upwards.  They will serve the purpose--just be careful that the color matches up with your bathroom tile.

If you want to take your bathrooms to a whole another level try this option:  Seamless Showers (Pretty) and be sure to not disrupt the beauty of the shower with those traditional towel bar/soap dish that you see in this picture (unless of course, if that is your choice).  I love this idea and it looks fabulous.  If you want to read more about a fellow blogger named DWTimes2 check it out herehttp://dwtimes2.blogspot.com/2012/11/single-hung-windows-what-happened-to.htmlbecause she was able to get this non standard request approved.  We plan to install one after settlement because they really give the bathroom a beautiful face lift.

THE STEPS/STAIRWELL



When we first visited to determine our qualification, our SR immediately asked me did I want capped walls or balusters.  I had no clue what she was talking about. lol  I chose the balusters and was grateful that she mentioned such an important detail.  A few months later, when it was time to purchase, we discovered and were blessed to be chosen for the ROME HOME of the MONTH Special and received the balusters along with ALL the other incentives.  WOW!  It was unbelievable!!  Once we signed the official purchase agreement the cost for the balusters were deleted because of the ROME of the MONTH special. YAY!
Uncapped Walls



THE LAUNDRY ROOM
Laundry upstairs
OR

Laundry downstairs in Basement

 I chose the laundry downstairs in the basement because I am ole school when it comes to doing laundry.   The laundry room upstairs was way too small for the dryer steam system that we own. Even though this had nothing to do with my decision--I later found out from Sgt Rich blog that the laundry upstairs rattles the entire house when doing laundry.  Please refer to his blog before you make your decision.  I was so pleased that I made the choice I made because his findings were interesting.  He gives you some advice on how to remedy this problem if you have it or what you can do to prevent it.  Check him out here:  http://myryanhome.blogspot.com/




18 comments:

  1. Ahhhh! I wish I had known about the marble shelf!

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    1. everyone wishes the knew about the shelf....that is why Nadase and I mention it so often........right Nadase? Such a simple solution...

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    2. Absolutely, DW...it is such a simple solution but it's horrifying to see it if you don't catch it. I stumbled upon it in another home and it freaked me out. My tile representative and I went through each bathroom carefully to be sure all of our paper work reflected my request not to install them with the exception of the basement bathroom.

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    3. I emailed my SR to find out if adding a shelf to our roman shower is even a possibility in my community. I already new about the soap dish and towel bar which we had removed from our master bath because it wasn't going to match but I guess I never realized we would need somewhere to put our shampoo!! I hope its not too late!

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    4. Cami, I would call the tile representative and ask her to add it to your existing order. It would make such a big difference. I did not want to use the traditional shower stands because they tend to rust and the one hanging over the shower head tends to be in the way.

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    5. I was one of the bloggers that wished they knew about the shelves. Luckily I found out about them in time to have them added!

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    6. I am glad it worked out for you, M! Since we were in underwriting for so long I was able to do plenty of research on our options/selections to add them before our deadline.

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  2. Girlie, thanks for the mention and the shout out on the seamless shower:)...Where did you find that pic........its perfect, I couldn't find that anywhere....(minus the soap dish........LOL.......oh the dreaded soap dish...LOL)

    I stole the pic and gonna insert it on my blog...

    I hope future bloggers see this information and run with it..

    We are still getting the possible approval for the concrete driveway request approved.....maybe today I will know...it may be late in the process, but I have an agrument for that, it was all a misunderstanding on both parts....I'm being very political as you can see...so I really dont think its a late request at all, it just became clear with more debate and another home popping up with one out of the blue....

    We close in like 37 days........NOOO way....the havent even started electrical of HVAC at all...............it this possible??



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    1. I really hope the driveway works out for you!! I found the picture on the internet and also have a picture of the flipped lip ceramic shelves for $50 buck but I was rushing to put the post up and of course, the more places people can find the pictures the better.

      BTW-did you confirm with your PM your dates for closing? He must submit them to the main office.

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    2. He says we are on schedule, our schedule on our papers say December 28th...he is a man of little words and gets to the point....plus he let us lock....we will see... :)

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  3. Ohh also, you agree with me on the laundry in the basement.....everyone thought I was crazy........( I can't agrue that...)...I like the hang up some delicate items and there just isn't any room in a laundry room to do that.......I mean I can have jeans, shirts, bras baseball uniforms all hanging up the dry at once, and yes I have the mamma jamma washer and dryer that should fold the damn laundry for me.........but I still believe in hanging some things up to dry to keep the integrity.......We are ol' school chicks aren't we??

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    1. DW, I wouldn't have it any other way! I love to keep my clothes in tip top shape and some things are not trusted with the cleaners. I have a dryer with a steamer at the top and it steams our clothes (for less money) and the ones that are very precious I send to the cleaners. AND right, I need my space to hang my clothes and the upstairs laundry is cute to look at but it doesn't give me the space I need. YES, ole school chicks in the house! I plan to build a custom laundry system once we close. Can't wait, DW!!!

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  4. Interesting entry. I was one of those that wished our laundry was on the first floor, but in reading this, I'm grateful that it's in the basement. By the way, we love our Samsung front loaders...I will post a pic of my appliances on my blog later. I'm still hanging pics and getting accesories, so when I'm done, I will post more pics. I can not wait to see your house, Nadase!

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    1. OMG, Danielle, so nice to see you here!! I can't wait to move in yesterday! lol Samsung is an excellent product line. I have read nothing but great reviews about them. Can't wait to see them in your laundry room! YAY! We are getting closer and closer--it's amazing!! BTW-I can't wait until reveal day! I did decide to stay away from the home a couple of weeks before the walk through like you did. I never thought I would say those words but I want to be surprised since I am there every day.

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    2. Nadase you are staying away from your home? Really? I'm surprised, can you do it?? What if something goes wrong or installed wrong?

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    3. DW, I meant I will be staying away from our home the last two weeks when they will not allow you to get the keys to go inside. Our PM will allow you to visit up to a certain point and wants to leave an element of surprise for the REVEAL DAY! We close on January 15 so I will stop visiting inside the home the last week of December! Wish me luck! But I do want the surprise REVEAL DAY! Anything we find on our final walk through will be handled since he is GREAT at what he does plus he will have a couple of days to make the adjustments. We are out there everyday and giving him our punch list as we move along so it should not be a problem except with me staying away at the end of December. I will use those last two weeks to finalize details to move, complete any packing if necessary and schedule lots of appointments for delivery and lastly cleaning up the apartment.

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  5. This is a great post. I wish I had known about the seamless show.

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    1. I wish I had known to Maria!!! They are so pretty!

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