Now that we've picked the house....

This should be the last "catching up" blog. After this, I will post as the house is being built....which was supposed to start yesterday. More on that in a minute. This is a pic of our lot before it is cleared for digging. Unfortunately, the trees have to go because they are right where the house will be.
When building with Ryan Homes, they will not start building until all financing is lined up, all exterior colors are picked, all interior choices are made, and all upgrades are decided on (including color of faucets, carpet, etc.)....SO, we had a stressful two weeks trying to make all these decisions at one time. It is really hard to decide all that when you haven't even seen a wall put up. The good part of this is that EVERYTHING is decided now and all we do is sit back and wait for our beautiful home to get built.
The first decision: exterior colors. Because we chose the cottage elevation, we have partial stone and partial shake with the standard siding along sides and back. But, we cannot choose the same color siding as our neighbors on either side and across the street. Because we are on one of the last lots on this street, we had to instantly eliminate 4 of their siding choices. We could have picked from two grey colors (I like grey) but I didn't love the ones they had; besides, the only other one story on the street is grey. Since we are next to an enormous brick house, I thought a lighter color would help make our house seem bigger so we chose the color Silver Mist for our siding. Again, Ryan homes has strict color scheme choices so once we picked that, we were limited to the stone and shake colors that we could pick. I drove through about 3 different neighborhoods, REPEATEDLY, that have Ryan homes so I could see how these combos would look. I'm sure people thought I was a creepy stalker but I don't care. I can't change the choices once they are made so I wanted to be sure. After all that, we chose Aspen stone and canyon shake to go with the silver mist siding. I couldn't find a house with all three together but I think they will look nice together...I hope!
Interior: Now this really stressed me out!!! Because, of course, all the "standard" choices are very limited and not the highest quality. We decided on an upgrade budget and I really wanted to stay within that range....I almost made it:).  After a few sleepless nights and lots of talking we decided on hardwood through the entry way, hallways, and office. Dan really wanted carpet in the great room for a more cozy feel (I'm hoping we don't regret it) so we picked a nice neutral color. The kitchen was the hardest decision. Do we pick hardwood or tile? We went back and forth because I love how hardwood looks but with our little doggie, and chairs scraping, I was worried they would get scratched too much. Besides, I didn't like any of the wood with the cabinets that we picked. I found a beautiful tile that looked great with the cabinets so that made that decision easier. Below are some pics of our choices. Remember, these are in the showroom, taken with my phone, and are small sample so they are kind of hard to see.
Now for the actual building....They were supposed to start digging yesterday and pouring the basement today BUT, what do you know, the foundation team quit yesterday so our builder has to hire a new team or bring a team from another subdivision to pour our basement. Because the remnants of Hurricane Isaac are expected to hit this weekend, the project manager didn't want to dig our basement hole without having the concrete team ready. That would leave us with a big mud hole and that wouldn't be good. So, they likely won't start until next week (sad face). That means our move in date will fall on Thanksgiving weekend or the Monday after (bigger sad face). Let's pray for no more delays!

Exterior colors: Aspen stone, Canyon shake, and Silver Mist siding. Oh, and black bean door and shutters.

They started clearing the trees. Wish they could stay but the roots could interfere with foundation and plumbing.

Kitchen cabinets are Tahoe cherry with this big beautiful tile floor!The hardwood is called Manchester plank and the granite counters are Grey Pearl.  I wish the pic was better.

The master bathroom colors. Cabinets are Espresso and the tile will surround the shower and soaker tub with this accent strip in the middle.