We are in ! Some pics as Promised!!

Well, we finally moved in the week-end after we closed and it's been three weeks already, how time flies!!

The move wasn't too bad as we had hired help. It took us 2 whole days to get everything to their right places  and by the following Tuesday we were fully settled in.

We've done a little bit of decoration but contrary to my wish we haven't painted, except for the kid's bedrooms. I know I wanted to paint so bad but it just didn't work out. We hired a painter from Craig's list who claimed he had painted for 41 years . This guy boasted so much of his experience that it was hard not to hire him. First day he painted the kids rooms and was supposed to come back the following morning to paint the living, dining and family rooms. He asked to be paid at the end of each day which we did at the end of day 1.Since I got to the house from work early in the evening  when it was already getting dark,  it was hard to evaluate the work. The next morning when I came back to look at the work(this was before we moved in ) it was a mess! He was supposed to come in at 8am that morning to complete the work and there we were waiting to tell him he was fired but it looks like he knew he was going to be fired so he didn't show up nor call. As I write we haven't heard from him again. I tell you some people are dubious. All the paint he made us buy is now in our storage. In a way it worked out well as I was able to hold off painting until the 10 month inspection, who would have thought?

Decorating has been fun though stressful in a way. I've been in and out of all the stores in town, buyng and returning stuff. For now, we are done. It might not be the ultimate decor but eventually we'll get there.

Here are some pictures as promised.

Living Room

Living room from Dining

Dining Room from living Room

Dining Room

Study

Powder room

Powder room

Staircase

My daughter's room

My Daughter's room from another angle

My son's room

Guest Room 2

Hallway View

Master Bedroom

Master Bedroom from another angle

Staircase view from above

Foyer from family room

Foyer to family room

Family room

Family Room full view

Guest Room

Guest Room from another angle

Basement

Basement Game room

Closed! We got the Keys!!

Yes, it’s true, we got the keys!! Really happy about it. The settlement process was really painless, we were in and out in less than an hour. We drove to the house later on and we were about to park by the roadside where we usually park when my husband was like

now we can actually pull up on the driveway. It was so funny because we got so used to parking by the road that even when we had the keys we were still trying to act like visitors. The big move in on Saturday and I am so dreading and looking forward to  it!

Special thanks to all those who have made this possible in one way or the other, particularly to our very awesome PM Joe and dynamic and very knowledgeable SR Kayla for making sure our dream home is a real dream home. They did a fantastic job! Honestly we are beyond thrilled with the way everything turned out, you guys rock!!!!

I also want to thank my blogging community particularly Elise Abromson, Ella May, Amy Noppenberger, RickandNadase, S&P,Chateaunadine and all those who posted comments on my blog. Your comments and compliments made the whole process very enjoyable and made the wait much less stressful than it would have been. Through this process, I’ve come to be so close to you guys like I actually know you in real life. Whoever had  this build n blog idea was a real genius, I enjoyed it big time!

I am not leaving out my very own sisters Spora and Ebob who journeyed with us the whole nine yard, showing as much enthusiasm in the build as we did.

Congratulations to all those who have recently closed, and to all those still in the process, all I can say is hang in there, it shall be totally worth it.

I’ll be posting a few more pictures when we paint and when we first move in, until then,

Remain blessed my blogging family!

We are closing tomorrow !!!!

We too can finally say this! Don’t we deserve it? We’ve been waiting for this day since I don’t know how long, alas it is here! We will be closing tomorrow at 4.pm, walkthrough is in the morning, hopefully we don’t find any major fixes. Oh well, I’ll keep you posted on how it goes. “Thank you,” I can  hear you all wishing us well. Until  then, remain blessed.

Landscaping Complete!!

Yesterday was supposed to be landscaping day at the house. I stopped by after work to see the results and was very pleased. The front and back of the house were all green! It looks really nice to have the complete package. I took some pictures of course and even took some more inside. It is like each time I go there I should just be taking pictures.

Once I was about to leave I gave one more look at the house and then it dawned on me that a little over three months ago, there was nothing but a wide open field on this spot. It has taken them just three months to transform this piece of land into a beautiful place we will call home for a very long time!! God is good!!

Just an FYI before I post the pictures, you all know I’ve not been pleased with the interest rate lock  4.75%, up from 3.625% when I got my original estimate. All attempts to get a better rate form NVR failed and I was really stressed with what it did to the monthly payments. Well, I now have a company, Atlantic Financial Inc. that will be willing to refinance for me, paying the closing costs for a much lower rate. If I had to do it now, they would give me 4.25% but since I have to wait for at least four months to be able to refinance, fingers crossed so the rates don’t go back up or better still that they drop even more. So if you had my kind of problem and are not happy with your rate, you may want to give them a call at 301-710-5580 after all they will pay the closing cost so you have nothing to lose.

Front View

I like!

Back yard

Looking at the walkout from the basement from the kitchen

From another angle

Interior almost done!

I 've been gone gone gone again, so much for my bogging skills right? Well, it's been one stressful period for me with all kinds of things going the wrong way. Well, God is good and I'm still standing.

The interior of the house is done I can say but our PM says a few touch ups need to be made on the paint here and there and other little repairs. The following have been completed since my last post:

• Fireplace has been installed

• Kitchen appliances are in

• Hardwood flooring and carpet are in

• Lighting  fixtures are all in including all the chandeliers

• Doors are all installed and painted

• Mailbox and house number are done

• Garage door system installed.

• Cascading stairs have been stained

• All trim is now complete.

• Water is now running through all the faucets.

• Electricity, cable and phone have been installed

The exterior is another story. For the last two weeks everything had been done in preparation for grading and concrete being poured but as we speak or rather as I write, the outside is still a hot mess. I had one of those utility boxes in the middle of the front of the house which had to be moved but the utility company did not do that on time which caused a big delay in the house having electricity and the landscape being graded. That led to the work extending to this week which has seen nothing but rain. It has been raining cats and dogs for the last three days so no work can be done outside. To cut a long story short our closing has been delayed by 11 days. We were supposed to close in less than a week but we will now be closing on Oct.29th, two days before my rate lock expires. Well, guess what? I'm not upset, that means more money in our pockets as we would only pay a prorated mortgage of 2 days at closing instead of the original 13 days.

On another note, I finally got approved by NVR for the mortgage. It took them almost 5 months to give me the approval What a process!! Needless to say my interest rate is nothing to write home about. I am so tired of the whole process and am so ready to be home and not worry about anybody asking for any pay stubs or bank statements and all that crab. This building thing has been fun but boy there have  been some challenging moments! 

I've got a bunch of pictures of what the inside of the house looks like now, I'll post the exterior when it looks more presentable.  I apologize for the pictures being all over the place, for some reason blogspot is not cooperating with me this evening. Until next post remain blessed.

 

View of family room from foyer

Cascading waterfall stairs

Bottom of stairs

Foyer view from Family room

Hallway view from Bonus room

Bonus room entrance

Hallway landing and loft from my daughter's room

MBR Soaking tub

Soaking tub from another angle

MBR shower

MBR double sinks

MBR with tray ceiling

Kitchen and family room from dining.

Family room at close range, showing fireplace with granite surround.

Kithen

Stove and microwave

Island with new Caledona granite

Kitchen view from Family

Going down the basement stairs

Basement

Basement full flight of stairs

Dining room

Basement outlet

Entrance to bonus room

Hallway landing

Bathtub and double windows