A yard in progress

It's getting there. I know it's not the final grade, but it's much better than it was. We just need more dirt to flatten it all out a bit. 

The front

The right side of the house

The left side of the house

The backyard

Does anyone else notice how the sky seems to go on forever?  I'm going to love this home. 

The very back portion of the lot behind the tree line.  We own from the rocks over to the next tree line and a little over 30ft down that slope. This is an easement on the edge of our lot. An overflow for the retainment pond at the front of the development. 

We stopped by the model to wrap our brains around what our basement is going to be and where the finished portion is. My boyfriend was worried the sump pump had been placed in the finished portion. We confirmed it is not. 

It was great to catch up with Susan today. The Hammond model is in the process of getting its flooring. April 10th it gets Internet access, so that's her move in date. Hopefully she can get my street sold off once she moves over. 

She is meeting with someone tomorrow for the other large pie shaped lot just a couple of lots down from us. I believe she has already priced them out so hopefully they sign. We need more neighbors. 

Cathy and John are set for an end of April closing. They will be the first tenants of The Bluffs. 

She said the development is running about 5 weeks behind schedule, due to scheduling issues with the utilities company. I'm crossing my fingers for Cathy and John that they have everything they need at closing. 

Partial backfill

Well we must have passed our last inspection as the backfilling has begun. It's starting to look different just by pushing around some dirt.  

They spread more gravel in what will be our driveway. 

They also filled in the porch

They need to finish filling in the garage. 

And the backyard

It doesn't look like the plumbers have visited yet. Hopefully that is done this week. 

And here's Zoe getting familiar with the house. 

We love Susan

We usually head to the Darby model on weekends and see Susan. The past couple weeks we've just had too much going on. It's nice to know she's thinking of us

As far as the Hammond models kitchen, it's absolutely gorgeous. But that backsplash... That's MY backsplash!!  I had to special order that backsplash and there it is in the new model.  AND they have gray paint. I wanted gray paint and it's not even an option.  

This is similar to what our kitchen will look like. We have a longer line of cabinets and a stainless steel canopy hood in place of the middle cabinets.  Our cabinets are white and our granite is black and gray. 

The Hammond model is one of three similar models for Inverness. Sort of like how Ryan Homes have a similar layout, just varying size and number of rooms. 

The Durham is just a smaller version of the Darby. Susan describes it as the Toyota, while the Darby is the Lexus. It has fewer included options and a smaller floor plan. 

The Hammond has a slightly different layout. It doesn't have the multiple levels, but has a similar layout. The square footage is bigger than the Durham but smaller than the Darby. 

The Darby II

Our meeting with JP

He stepped out of his truck, "Why do you two always pick the worst days to have these meetings?"

Our last meeting was on the coldest day of winter, literally. The wind chill temps were dropping well below zero. Today, it was rainy and muddy. 

My first question was about the sealant and why it's only on certain portions. He explained it's used only to keep water out of the basement. 

The second question was about the electrical they are putting in. They have dug a trench on our street on the opposite side of the road. Apparently they are going to bring it under the road to get to our house. The best news is that the big ugly box will be across the street. We will have a small green cap, easily camouflaged by landscaping. Not only is the electrical going in, but the other utilities, such as cable, are going in at the same time. 

I asked where we were in the process and what was next. Today they had an inspection on the sealant. Next comes a partial backfilling, then the plumbers come out and do their thing before the foundation is poured. 

We walked around to the backyard. I was correct in assuming our yard would come flush just over the top of the black sealant. That's going to take a lot of dirt. He merely pointed to the huge mountain of dirt, explaining all of that would be coming behind the house. He is going to flatten out most of the yard behind the house about 15 feet, then let it slope down at the tree line. We were very happy with his plans. John reminded him of his desire to have the big boulder moved to the front yard. 

While scoping out the front yard I mentioned my concern of the gravel. JP reminded me of how our pie shaped lot has a very narrow front yard. He then pointed to our lot stake and sure enough, most of the gravel is on what will be our future neighbors yard. Sucks for them. They do come in and try to clear most of it, but I'm sure there is no way to get it all. 

All in all we were very happy with the meeting. JP knows what he's doing. The model home will be open for business in about two weeks. 

About two hours after our meeting I went back to scope out the Bentwood in drywall phase now. Then the Pinehurst across the street, in the process of getting all of its plumbing and electrical done. I haven't found anything glaringly wrong or poor workmanship, which makes me very happy. 

The surprise is what was accomplished in two hours at our place. Especially considering no one was on site during our meeting, or when I came by later. 

Our ever growing collection

The new stools for our peninsula came in today. 

I'll keep them here with my ever growing collection of things for the new house. 

Are any of you growing a collection too? Or just waiting until you close?

My house stinks!

I went by on my way home from work and found this

Boy does this stuff stink when it's fresh. I'm assuming they are backfilling and grading so all of this nasty black stuff is underground. My boyfriend emailed "JP", Jeff Peyton the construction supervisor. He asked if Jeff could meet us at the house to walk the lot and talk about the yard. 

What I found interesting is every inch of wall surrounding the actual house is sealed. Even inside the garage that meets up with the house. But the rest of the garage, inside and out, are not sealed. I certainly don't want water damage to my garage. 

They also sealed inside the front porch that meets up to the house, but not the front of it. Will that mean I will have issues with my front porch in years to come?  All good questions for JP. 

As a side note, I am really liking the exterior choice of our neighbors. Their siding is making its way onto the house. They chose a red brick with a sort of bluish tinge to is. Blue-red if that makes sense. The siding is Cape Cod Gray. It's the darkest gray you can choose and its a cool blue-gray. The trim looks ivory. 

We chose platinum gray, a light warm gray color. The brick is brownish with gray grout, it's called savannah gray.  Our trim is glacier white, the brightest white. The shutters will be black. 

The outline of a house

I made my way over to the house today and just as I got out of the Jeep, my boyfriend pulled in behind me. He was a bit braver than I, but ultimately convinced me to climb over walls and go inside our house for the first time. 

I have no idea what the rebar "hoops" are on my front porch.  Anyone have an idea?

Scoping out his precious 3-car garage

The front of the garage 

AJ approves

From the lower level, or what will be our office, looking down into the basement. It will be finished off as a playroom for the kids on the backside, and a workout room toward the front of the house. 

The view from the basement window over to what will be our office. (You might notice Cathy & John are getting their siding.)

The workout area below. Looking over to the front porch. 

The back of the house. I'm not sure how much backfill and grading will cover up all that cement. We are exploring options for masking some of it. On the plus side, my siding is a similar gray to our neighbors and should blend in well if we can't. Lol

This is Spring?

Alright Miss Mother Nature, it's springtime now. No more weather delays!!!

I've earned my explorer badge

On my last visit I was able to get a picture of the back of our house. There seems to be a really small space between the house and the trees, maybe 15 ft at the closest point. When we originally walked the lot, the lot stakes hadn't been placed at the back yet so we only had an idea of the width. I imagined the trees were at the very back of the lot. I learned yesterday that they sit in the middle of our lot. Of course, something new to fret about. What kind of backyard are we really going to have?

Spring has arrived and the weather has been perfect. Several dry days made it really easy to navigate the woods. So I decided to go exploring. I was very pleased to find iron stakes hammered into the ground at our lot corners in back. I'm not sure when they placed them. 

This is the current phase of our home. 

And this is our lot plan. I have labeled all of the corners to coincide with all my pictures. It may be hard to visualize. The green are the trees. The blue is this cute little creek I found down behind our lot. The kids are going to be so excited. 

The little hands point to the stakes and general direction of the next corner. 

From the curb line

Luckily this stake is right next to a large tree. Easy to locate. 

From point C toward the road

The view from point C to the house. It really slopes down on this side of the house. 

From point C to D. Most of this is small brush-like trees that we will clear out. There is actually grass growing in the underbrush. 

Halfway to point D. You can see the clearing beyond and our two back stakes. 

This is the point I heard the sound of water and was delighted to see a small creek. 

From point D facing back to point C. I estimated the direction as best I could through the trees. 

From point D to point E. This slope in the clearing will be perfect for sledding in the snow. The rest of the clearing beyond our lot is green space for the development and won't be built on. 

From point E toward the road. 

It's a huge backyard, all in all. I'm just not sure how landscaping is going to go. We will certainly be putting a lot of work into making it usable.