So the girls and I took a little drive to check out the house tonight. Of course, they wanted a milk shake on our way there like Daddy got them before he left. After getting them a chocolate malt to share, they were ready to take on the world.
The garage door was down today, so we could really see how it will look on the front of the house. We both really like the look of the door with the window and hardware details. And look, there's stone! On Monday, it looked prepped for stone, but the PMs didn't mention stone work this week. What a pleasant surprise! I also saw some forms and rebar on the porch just waiting for the concrete to be poured.
There's a coat of stain on the interior railings now. It isn't finished as you can see stain on the balusters, but I like what I see so far. I can't wait to see the flooring and compare the stain to the floor finish.
Tile has been added in all of the bathrooms. We opted to do a larger master bath and forego the tub. We opted to have some stainless steel soap dishes installed in the corner now as we couldn't easily do that later. After settlement, we will be removing 1-2 rows of tile and adding a feature using mosaic style tile instead. I was impressed with how high they tiled each of the showers in relation to the ceiling. Considering how tall Luke is, this is a definite bonus for us! I can't wait to see what gets completed next. - Ashleigh
Things are really starting to take shape within the house. I was surprised to see the kitchen cabinets installed when we came in today. I checked, and the drawers are dove tailed and have the soft close feature. This was important to us because it was a "new feature" that wasn't going to be offered until Spring contracts. But, we convinced them to honor it for our contract since we would be settling in the Spring.
Imagine how these cabinets will pop once we put some color on the walls! Color suggestions anyone?!
The doors have been installed on the interior. If you look closely, you may see little eyeballs peering through the door handle hole. The girls couldn't help but play hide and seek all throughout the house!
If you look closely, you will see that gutters have been installed. The crew was working on these when we got there. They were incredibly efficient and had already moved on to another house before we were finished checking on the interior.
One coat of paint is on the walls. We still wish Ryan Homes would offer a selection of paint choices. We think it would be very reasonable to have 3-5 shades of paint on hand. From those shades, the client should be able to choose one for the interior of the house. This would go a long way in helping the home feel a bit more personalized and would really allow the finishes to pop. As it stands now, we will have to paint almost every room ourselves. We knew this going in, so we are not complaining, but it is definitely an area where Ryan could improve.
Master Bathroom vanity with cultured marble top. We opted for upgraded vanities due to water resistance, real wood as opposed to particle board, etc. Vanities have been installed in all of the bathrooms. We did not pay a fee to upgrade the basement full bath cabinets. But, for whatever reason, we were able to select the matching vanity to the kids' upgraded bathroom vanity upstairs. I'm curious about how quickly things will continue to take shape. But, this was a ton of progress in less than a week's time! - Ashleigh
There's a coat of stain on the interior railings now. It isn't finished as you can see stain on the balusters, but I like what I see so far. I can't wait to see the flooring and compare the stain to the floor finish. 
