3D Home Design and Lot Plan

I have been playing with this great APP, Home Design 3D, on my iPad.  Our Model home is a reverse of the floor plan we will be getting, which makes it very  hard for my boyfriend to picture where everything will be.  I was able to use the app to make a visual for him, as well as place our current furniture in, to figure out where it will all fit.  A great tool when deciding where outlets should go.

If you like playing with floor plans I would suggest this app.  I have played around with it long before we ever decided to build a house.  It's a fun tool.

Unfortunately, the furniture selection on the app isn't great, but you can put in your measurements and at least get a good idea.  You can also only do one floor per plan, and the ceiling height can't be changed, as in our great room.  There are color choices for wood flooring, tile, metal, paint, brick, etc.  

Here is the rendering I have been working on.

Home Design 3D app

 

 First floor floorplan

 

View of exterior

View from the foyer

View of Great Room, Kitchen and Nook

View from Nook into Kitchen

Then I started playing with  my lot plan.  After visiting the sight and walking the lot, as well as seeing the model home go up, I became concerned about it all.  Susan gave us a detailed lot plan, so we could get a good idea on just how big it was, and where the easements were.

I used this plan to measure out the lot on my app.  Then I placed the measurements of our home in it. We are lot 9043.  17,725 sq ft. or .41 of an acre.  The land at the back of our lot sloped down into the trees and a ravine separating us from the land beyond.  It's "green space" owned by our development and won't be built on!!  YAY!!

I based the location on what we were told.  Fairborn has an ordinance that requires homes to be 25ft from the curb.  Then, due to our 3rd car garage, we had to have the house pushed back another 9ft to make room for it.  Taking these measurements, I was able to make this rendering.  This makes me feel SO much better about my lot.  Our backyard is going to be huge.  We could probably fit another 2 of our houses in it!!  We will have a really tiny side yard.  Hopefully our neighbors build smaller houses, so they aren't right on top of us.  Luckily being 9ft further back than our neighbors will help with the privacy. 

My Dream Kitchen Design

I think my favorite part of our house will be my new kitchen.  My DREAM kitchen.  Having the chance to put in just what I want has been the most exciting part. 

My Kitchen Inspirations:

 

I love the look of a canopy hood.  White cabinets, dark counters, rich wood flooring. My backsplash will be just a bit darker.

Here is caledonia granite next to white cabinets, and hardware very similar to what I chose

But with this color / style of a backsplash.

Here is the kitchen in the model home of the Darby II.  We have made quite a few changes to it.

For the wall with the range on it, we have changed all the cabinetry to 42", we removed the microwave and put a canopy hood in it's place.  I also changed out the backsplash to a subway tile backsplash, at half the cost I might add.  We also chose a slide in range to really showcase a seamless backsplash at the back. 

 The cabinets are white, the granite is a gray, black and taupe mix.  The doorway in this model will be gone.  The refrigerator will be moved over next to the pantry.  I had to request my pantry door swing the opposite way so they don't interfere with one another.  We also bumped the cabinetry over the fridge to 24" so it's easily accessible.  I will put my microwave on the counter next to the fridge, hidden away in it's own little cove.

The granite backsplash and bar will remain the same as the model, just the color choices will be different.  I hate how the white outlet covers stick out.  After our visit to the granite yard, once we have a sample of our granite, we will start shopping for outlets covers that blend in better.

 

 These are the color choices for our kitchen.  Caledonia granite on the right.  Our dark laminate wood flooring above it.  The grey subway tile in the middle for our backsplash.  The Landen white cabinetry.  To the right of that is the sort of "greige" carpeting in the great room.

My hardware choices.

Lady in Waiting...

  Here she is... our little plot of land.  Patiently waiting for someone to build on her.  (You may have noticed, it's ALWAYS raining when I make a trip to see her)

I found the spot on the curb where I will be taking pictures as the project moves along.  Speaking of the project moving along...

We stopped by to see Susan this weekend, as we intend on pestering her for the next 6 months or so.  Luckily she's great, and we all really enjoy each others company.

While there we signed our last document, accepting the new price with the Guardian package rolled in to it. 

She informed us that we have moved to the "1st Page", as they call it.  Basically, we are lined up on their construction runway, of sorts.  We have a tentative start date for the first week of January.  That is, IF they can get the city of Fairborn to get anything accomplished over this holiday season.  She said to expect a delay of a week or two, just for that fact. 

Ever given much thought to a mailbox?

While driving through Inverness developments we've seen some beautiful brick mailboxes.  We even started pricing them out.  

It turns out they had to make a deal with the city of Fairborn over the mailboxes, and they are giving everyone the same one.  We don't get to change it.  Bummer deal.

Our Meeting with Guardian

After reading many Ryan Homes blogs, I was a bit apprehensive about our meeting with Guardian.  Though, from those blogs we had given ourselves a $5000 budget to get what we wanted for our home.

We met with Ron, who was personable and well educated in his field.  He was able to explain everything very clearly which made our decisions a lot easier.

Our home comes with 6 lines.  We added a package of 6 more.  He used the floorplan of our house to map out where they would go.  Something we will go over, once again, when the framing is up.

We added on a security system.  Inverness has a contract with Guardian that makes the installation free of charge, and we signed up for a $40 a month / 5 yr. contract that includes their mobile APP to control the system.  It came with contacts on all of our doors as well as one motion detector.  Due to the fact that our home has 5 levels, we added an additional motion detector.

We added on the fire and carbon monoxide detection.

Finally we added on an intercom system.  It came with the door panel, and 4 additional panels within the house.  One for the kitchen, office, master and loft.  We added an additional panel for the basement.  

As I said, we budgeted $5k for this meeting and we were able to sneak away at $4k.  It was a productive meeting.  Ron will pass on our paperwork to Susan and she'll get it rolled in to our Mortgage.

Then we stopped over at the model, to really visualize where our cable lines and intercom panels will go.  Luckily, Susan had just received an email about some pages we missed signing.  We "finalized" our paperwork, but due to the fact that we missed a couple of things, we had to resubmit.  My boyfriend took advantage of this and added on a 10' * 10' concrete pad behind his 3rd car garage.  ($800)  Adding on after finalizing is a no-no, but Susan thinks we can sneak it in on the re-submission of our paperwork.  Lets hope so.

We are told it will be 2-3wks to get our blue prints and lot plan done.  Then we stake out the lot!!  It is the holidays so I'm hoping they decide to rush it along before Christmas, rather than wait until after. 

The Shopping has Begun!

So, while we were wandering the stores of FarmVille Indiana, I started to get a really good idea of what I wanted to do with the house.  We agreed that we would make purchases in May or June... BUT, I just can't help myself.  

From Bed Bath and Beyond

And the items from ETSY... oh my, I do love ETSY

This one in black with ivory lettering, with my own sayings on it.  Special ordered.

Final Selections at Design Center

We met with Maura at the design center to finalize our selections. She was very organized and thorough. 

Standard Bath fixtures

Deluxe shower door

Insulated garage panel

Standard light fixtures 

Standard exterior lights

Kingsley fixture for owners bath

Upgraded deadbolt

Upgraded lever handles 

Cabinet hardware

Upgraded Kitchen faucet 

Under mount sink

Wrought iron balusters

Interior paints. White trim. City loft walls

Gray subway tile backsplash with white grout

Fireplace marble next to kitchen / carpeting 

White fireplace marble

Master bath choices 

Hall bath, powder room and basement bath

Kitchen choices

Exterior choices

Whirlwind Vacation

Ok, so it wasn't exactly a vacation.  We went to "FarmVille" Indiana to get my boyfriends supercharger worked on. 

We spent 3 days going to places like Lowes, Home Depot and Menards. 

The following decisions were made. 

1. Glass paneled doors are much cheaper than $1000. So we will be switching those out ourselves. 

2.  We want a real closet system and not wires. 

3. We found a pantry door we love. I'll be painting it black. 

4. The hotel had a curved shower curtain. So now it's a must for the hall bath. 

5.  After sitting in a 60" tub, it was determined we needed to put in an SR for a longer tub in the basement. 

6.  We want to put up our own shelving in the pantry and closets. We want adjustable and sturdier. 

7. We chose paints from Sherwin Williams for the bedrooms, etc. 

8. We went to IKEA and picked out mirrors, decor and furniture pieces. All purchases will be made later.