28 Days to Close...

...and it's looking a lot like a house.

We visited the site known thus far as Crown Point Lot 25, and saw some nice progress.  By the way, for anyone who hasn't been following along, we're Phil and Alicia, and we're building a Ryan Homes Verona.

We chose this plan because it has rooms... lots and lots of rooms.  In 2014, does one need a "formal" living room?  No.  Does a family with 2 small kids need a place for them to play?  Yes.

Could said family just have gone with a plan, such as the Milan?

Sure... and we almost did.

The living room can optionally be done as a very nice office... but we love entertaining and either the dining room or the family room (a.k.a. living space) becomes the playroom - the Verona solves that. 

Here's our floor plan... let's start downstairs.

Living room (downstairs playroom), dining room, and office.  All full size (I won't paste another floor plan we considered, but in one, the office was a 7' wide nook carved out of the garage).

We'll go upstairs in a moment.  First, here's a look at the kitchen progress.

Sensing a touch of Stonecrest color theme?  Wait until the granite goes in.  Sorry, didn't mean to spoil any surprises...
But, we're nothing if not predictable.

Oh, speaking of surprises, we did a custom order of a stack of drawers in place of a cabinet.  Imagine our surprise when, while looking at the stack of drawers in place, that this was not the one we ordered, but rather comes standard.
Which really makes it somewhat surprising that our request to have some drawers put in the kitchen was answered with "wait, you want what?  I'll see if we can order something like that" instead of "oh yeah, those come standard"
So, now we have to decide if we want to have way too many drawers or cancel the special order.

#bathroomselfie

The bathroom is through an archway (not pictured).  Straight ahead is the bathroom; to the left is the office.

 

Living room and dining room... we didn't do a lot of "standard" lighting, but we liked the chandelier in the dining room; it's simple.  And as Kat (our realtor) noted during the walk-through today, it's our style.

Yes, we invited her to join us.

No, we're not inviting anyone else.

Upstairs we go!

I noted once before that we selected the "bonus" room over the garage.  I don't think I realized, until today, that doing a 2' garage extension also extends this little nook area by 2'.

When walking toward the window, it felt like the floor wasn't quite level, but our project manager is going to check it out. 

I can't find any pictures of the light fixture in our blue bathroom from Stonecrest, but the resemblance is uncanny.

 That special-order light/fan/heater we got.  Nice.

Won't you be my neighbor?  Maybe in a few months...  nice windows on the back room.

We did stumble across one teensie, tiny problem...  or at least, it seemed like it to Bryce.  To people whose basement flooded a week after moving into their former house, this:

is a problem

This is what's left about a week and half after a heavy rain storm left standing water in the basement.

The explanation is sump-pump failure, and we're assured the faulty one has been replaced.  But a sump-pump can only pump out water that comes in; it does not draw water in.  So, we will await the next rain storm.

Hopefully the heavy-duty dehumidifier will dry out what's there and it's just a case of water rushing in through an open window.  We shall see...

On to more positive things... nice view from the back of the house. 

 Lights!

No, I'm not going there.

Or there. 

While talking with Bryce to gauge the remaining timeline, he informed us that the driveway is next. Since we want a little more than the standard width, one of us will be there tomorrow, camera in hand to discuss with the driveway people. Until then...