From Here to Rome

Friday, April 4, 2014

Major Changes

We have made some major changes these last few months. The play set was added back in October. My mother-in-law moved in with us, and the basement went from our military/travels display - movie room, to her bedroom. So we took our tax refund and added an official bedroom in the basement. We had a few options, but the most cost efficient was to put the bedroom in the finished space below the morning room. We had wanted to finish, the unfinished storage area but since we already had a patio off of the transom window, we could not make it a bedroom - only a multipurpose room. And it would cost just as much. So I guess the good news is our home is now a 5 bedroom 3 1/2 bath home. We had the full bath put in originally so now she sort of has a suite. Oh I almost forgot - my favorite - Rob made me beautiful pantry shelves!!! Now my canned goods don't make the shelves look like they are going to fall, and my cereal containers can stand tall!

Pictures!

Standard Home Option

Rob's Special - Custom Stained 'cognac' like our cabinets.

Now I have 2 additional shelves!

The somewhat new playset!

The side view of the egress window.

The back view.(our dog Rudder)

Our new wall - and doorway to Judy's room.

The kids on the outside - looking in.

Mr. Excitement - modelling the egress window.

Saturday, October 19, 2013

IT HAS BEEN A WHILE BUT THINGS ARE MOVING ALONG

The morning room almost complete

Our Mantel - With my favorite Roy Tabora that fit PERFECTLY!

Rob working our BBQ gas line - on our new concrete patio.

The length of our yard - you can see our new patio steps, fence and shed

According to our counter it has been over 50 days since closing. We have installed the fence from Triple K which looks great. We had the patio with steps and a handrail off our back door. This was the greatest feat - no more putting the dog on a leash in the front yard every day! Now we open the door and he enjoys his new yard. (I really think he does too especially when the sun is out shining on the grass). We went simple with the patio to just get it in and make the backyard usable. There is so many products to add to concrete these days that come the spring we anticipate beautifying it with paver stones around the perimeter and a paver fire pit and seat of some sort. For now it is functional which is what we need. We did request with the build the stubbed out gas line and once that patio was done - getting our BBQ hooked up with Priority 1! We already used it tonight, but I anticipate steaks tomorrow. For now we continue to paint and hang curtains. Some kind of valence is what is missing from the morning room. I have shades in all the bedrooms and 2 of the morning room windows for when the sunbeams in during the dinner hours. At this point I truly have NO complaints. We did our 30 day inspection and we had a list of about 4 things. 3 of which were taken care of that afternoon. The only item that had to wait was the grass in the back yard. We had what I suspected was a grading issue the grass seemed to pool up in one spot. The PM agreed and when the next set of sod arrived at the building area they came and in re-graded that portion and laid new sod too. I was very pleased with the quickness in there fixes.

I must say Rob and I say numerous times a week "I LOVE THIS HOUSE!" and we do. It is simply beautiful. Even my kids know how this house feels like a home. We've moved a lot with the military and they have asked to stay longer here. A statement that chocked me up came from my 5 year old son one Sunday morning; he came downstairs and said "Mommy this morning I woke up and snuggled in my rocket ship blanket and said my life is awesome!" What parent does not want to hear something that warming. With that I will post again, when we have finished decorating something else.

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

3 WEEKS ALREADY

We have been in our new home for 3 weeks now and I am happy to say ALL boxes have been unpacked and put away (well maybe not the storage boxes in the basement - but I don't go in there that is Robs workspace). I wanted to give an update we emailed our HOA with a fence request two weeks ago and then this morning with a patio/steps request. I was worried the approval was taking too long (I'm really anxious to get the fence in). Anyway in discussing the patio request we were told that we were good to go for the fence - the HOA company was not aware that we had closed so they had not issued us the paperwork. Lesson learned there. I would not have even thought to request HOA approval before we closed. The person helping us is really nice about it so I am moving forward with the fence she said I should get an answer back on the patio in a matter of days. We have already signed an agreement for the patio to be put in the first week of October (that is their availability) I told them feel free to hook us up earlier if the chance opens up.

Another lesson was the fence. We fretted over vinyl or wood - really wanting vinyl until we saw the price tag. We decided to stick with wood at half the cost. When I submitted to the HOA the quote said Vinyl but had a price for wood as well. The HOA came back and told us vinyl was not authorized option in the neighborhood. - oh well all the fretting for nothing. However if I was content at the price tag I might have been more upset. With the cost savings of going to wood we are able to pay for the patio. Nothing fancy but it will hold our BBQ and the steps off the back will allow us to enjoy our beautiful back yard!

We are painting this weekend - I will work on taking some pictures when we are done!

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

WE HAVE A HOME!

It took all of 31 minutes to sign for our new home. The kids playing in the room may have helped speed the process along. But we are officially New Home Owners of a BEAUTIFUL ROME!!

1..2..3 - UNLOCK

WE'RE HOME!

Thank you for all your prayers and support along the way - We will keep praying for our neighbors in lot 3 in hopes to see them moving in quickly!

To all the other home buyers of new constructions out there...enjoy the process as much as you can - going into your new home and dancing about to Disney fairy tale songs is so worth any heartaches or bumps along the way!

CLEARED TO CLOSE

Well it went to the bitter end of the day yesterday - and the underwriter gave the clear to close at about 4:00pm. So they are working us in to close TODAY! Of course it is 8am, and we do not know what time or location we are going to...That is irritating for the household of "planners" that we are. But either way by the end of the day we will have the keys to our new and beautiful home!

Monday, August 26, 2013

WE ARE BEHIND - NOT JUST IN BLOGGING (Part II: THE DELAY!)

So some of you may have noticed our "count down" has become a "Count Up" for how long it has been since our Closing was delayed!!! We finished Thursday excited and hopeful that Friday Close may happen - even though the underwriter had not completed his job - since the previous THURSDAY! I have written an AAR (after actions report) to submit when they request our comments. I not so jokingly suggested that this would NOT happen in a military environment and since I have managed trouble tickets and customer service I have a few "ideas" for them. (The underwriters process that is).

So even though my direct contacts pushed up to their supervisors requesting immediate action, there was a small chance of a Friday close. If the underwriter finished his job in the morning - or even mid day to give my contacts the 2 or so hours they needed to process and close us. We would have to trek to Fredricksburg - a good 45-50 miles for me from work, and 75 or so for my husband from our temp lodging. Knowing that we could not make that miles without significant traffic delays we pushed Friday in the positive manner that we would be good to go. - We reached our destination about 15 minutes after our scheduled appointment. But since the underwriter had not finished - it was a waiting game for 2 1/2 more hours - Then finally - NO WAY! The Underwriter had not finished our paperwork - and weather he was even given the guidance to put ours on the priority list is questionable. Because end of day Friday we got told his supervisor has talked to him, and he said he would do it Monday. (which translates to he never intended to do it Friday!)

When Monday we ask??? No answer. He could make it his last order of business today. Which puts us in a pinch. We had scheduled our HHGs to be delivered on Tuesday. We have been debating all morning at what time do we cancel the movers? How long will it take for us to reschedule that move? Will we even know when we could schedule it - we don't know how much longer the underwriter will take! I'm on vacation days - being wasted at this point - and the school year starts on the 2nd of September - that is a whole different ballgame of "what if"!

I am trying to have faith that the person will do their job in a timely manner - but if I go off the previous week - it is a great challenge! I will muster the strength and believe he can start this week fresh. I will blog tomorrow if it became a no go! If we close - I may not have internet to share my excitement with everyone.

WE ARE BEHIND - NOT JUST IN BLOGGING (Part I: PRE-SETTLEMENT WALK-THRU)

We had our Pre-settlement walk-thru with Phil and Collin our PMs - it was wonderful. We arrived early and started early 9:45am - and it was done @ 1:00pm! That's right 3 hours and 15 minutes worth of walking - talking - discussing - demonstrating. It was OUTSTANDING! - Special Thanks to Rob the "Model" in the following photos....