Brand new from The Knack... My Verona!: Post-Drywall Walkthrough

Our project manager has several projects he's overseeing. Ours is the nicest and the most important, of course, but we understand that he's a busy guy. He had a few days where he could take us on a walkthrough. This Wednesday was one, but because it's sort of a busy week, neither of us were too keen on being late that morning. So, we called Jackie, our sales rep, who was happy to take us through.

Crown Point is a little different from many of the communities Ryan Homes is in because it's always been a mixed community - though Ryan has now left it, some homes there are Ryan and some are Cordelle, so getting to see our Ryan home going up next to and across from some new Cordelle builds gave her a nice reference of how they compare in the process/progress.

I think she also enjoyed seeing our house and how our options were coming together in it just as much as we did. One such option had many people scratching their heads: a pot-filler. We put one into our remodeled Stonecrest kitchen, so how could we not put one in the new house.

That option had everyone, all the way up to Mr. Ryan himself, scratching their heads. What is this contraption? How does it get put in? How can we charge them extra to do it? Those sorts of questions.

Even after it was understood, whoever drafted it apparently still didn't understand exactly what we wanted and what was involved. That wall, you see, is an outside wall. Wow, that sentence is correct, though has different meanings, with or without the commas. Because of that, they can't run plumbing in it. Apparently, in Central New York (and probably other places), plumbing has been run incorrectly for the past 150+ years, and simply can't go in an outside wall because it could freeze. So what's one to do? Well, make an inside wall rest on the outside wall. Voila. The "bump-in" accommodates the plumbing for the pot-filler, and they will now forever know how to do this option, even though it's likely nobody will ever again request one.

Here's where the fridge goes. The fridge is being delivered in 12 days. We'll probably need to change that. The opening to the right is the pantry; to the left is the wall of the mudroom (mud area, in which actual mud will not be allowed).

Here's a look at the morning room. It looks neat from the outside, but even more so from the inside. It's wide open now, but when the counter/cabinets are in, the left half of that opening will be blocked by a peninsula of cabinets and countertop. It was our trade-off for having a little more space around the kitchen (and also the standard option).

Ready?

Aim!

Fireplace!

The archway (which I either didn't know or more likely forgot we had) leads to my office and the bathroom. Kids and wives will be allowed in one of those rooms; the other is all mine. Fortunately, we have other bathrooms in the house.

Turning 90 degrees, one sees stairs and a doorway to the dining room. One could also see the front door if one was looking there, but one was specifically told to look at the stairs and the doorway to the dining room.

The dining room is "near" the kitchen. One of the few things that had me questioning this particular model was that the dining room was not a direct walk from the kitchen. However, for everything this had that was perfect, that was a minor thing to lose.

Speaking of the dining room, here it is. Apparently in new construction, the entire house is held together by caulk. And here is the giant caulk collection.

Here's a look through the master bedroom. You can see Lot 26 being built next door; this will be the Cordelle model home for the community. Perhaps if it's nice, we'll buy one... in about 30 years when we have a penny to our names again.

I have very strict rules about pictures being taken in bathrooms, but I thought we could make an exception in this case. It's unlikely there will be many other such pictures taken. Children included. I don't know why some parents feel the need to save naked tub pictures and think their kids will want to see them some day.

I hope ours don't, because we don't have any. Though I think we have some creatively framed pictures of soapy hair.

In the master bathroom, the giant heating fan. This picture is taken from the walk-in closet in the bedroom. The placement of this closet was the other thing I questioned about this model. Compared to the Milan, for instance, closets in the Verona, while sufficient, are not overly plentiful - especially since there is not one that you don't have to walk through a bathroom to get to.

I did have an idea for another closet in the room, but it seemed silly to cut into another room to do it.

The tub in the upstairs hall bathroom. This room looks long and narrow, but it's just the picture. It's really somewhat short and narrow... but it'll have two sinks.

Marissa's bedroom.

Lucy's bedroom.

Laundry room.

Guest bedroom.

As we got set to head downstairs, I took a picture of the stairway ceiling/light. Alicia yelled up the stairs, "did you just take a picture of my butt?"

As you can see, I hadn't, but then proceeded to.

Twice.

As Bryce explained, the easiest way to get rid of trash when working in the basement is to throw it out the window. I think we should've gotten a discount instead of an upcharge for the egress window because of the convenience it provides for the contractors.

The cabinets have arrived, and they're in the garage, just waiting to go in.
They're 42" cabinets in a light maple color.
Those who were ever in our kitchen on Stonecrest might think that sounds familiar.
If you do, just wait until you see the granite color.