PDI - October 25th 2011

Our Pre Delivery Inspection was held on Octoboer 25th.  This is our first chance to see the house in its completed state.  I will never forget walking in the front door for the first time - it was nothing like stealing a peek in the dusty windows!  The place looked awesome!!  I was very impressed with our colour choices and I finally felt like I was home.  I could see us living here.
So without further delay...here's our house!!

Builder: Tartan Homes
Model: Beckwith Elevation B
Exterior Package: Wright 2

Front Foyer (L) Mud Room (R)

View from the Front Door(L) Family Room Fireplace (R)

Stairs from the dining room (Below L) View from the landing (Below R)

Kitchen:

Master Bedroom and Laundry Room

We switched the laundry room around to make for a larger walk-in closet (click for details)

Expanded Walk-in (now approx 11' 9" x 7' 3")

Master Bath

We changed the layout of the master bath to accomodate double sinks (click for details)

Boys Bathroom

So that's the basics of our new place!  I am slowly working on painting and projects - starting with Liam's room.  I should have it completed by the weekend! 

40 days!!

With only 40 days left, we paid a little visit to the house today.  The siding is all done!  It looks like a real house now.

From the street, we could see in the master bathroom and we could faintly see the tiles in our shower.  From what i could see, it looks really good!!  After seeing that - we took a quick look in the front windows and the tiles in the foyer are in too!  From there I took a quick look in the dining room windows and saw that the kitchen is in!!  So from there I just had to run around to the back patio door so I could take a quick look in the window and saw our KITCHEN!!!  The floor is in, the cupboards are in and the counters are in.  IT LOOKS AMAZING!!!  I can't believe I get to live there!! Ohh man...only 40 more days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Week 13 (13 weeks left!) - The Halfway point!

This Friday will mark our half way point - 13 weeks in and 13 weeks until we move!

We kicked off this week with our framewalk. I contacted the builder a couple of weeks ago begging to have it before (or after) the baby came. We were very fortunate that they could take us this week! The site supervisor, said that if we hadn't had it done this week, it would have been next Wednesday. Do I know my luck or what?!?! Anyway, everything looked great! There were only 3 minor things that were addressed, one of them was the tile in the master bathroom - but more about that later.

Check out our new house!!

The front door:


The powder room:


The mudroom with the upgraded side door:


The office:


The stairs:


The dining room:


The kitchen


The eating area:


The family room with framing above the Fireplace for our TV:


The upstairs hall (we rearranged the laundry room to add extra space to the walk-in. Here is a link to my previous post with the floorplan):


The laundry room (new washer location):


The laundry room (new dryer location):


The master walk in (now about 8 feet long by almost 7 feet wide):


The master bedroom window (that's not our tub):


The master bathroom (new tub and double vanity location. Here is a link to my previous post with the details of what we changed - my drawing is the reverse of what we have):

As i mentioned before, there is a bit of an issue with the tiles - originally i wanted 2 rows of the 8x20 and then 4" of the mosaic. However, because of the position of the window, we had to reduce it to 1 row of the 8x20 and 4" of the mosaic. I am anxious to see what this will look like!

The master bathroom toilet location:


The master bathroom (new shower location):


There are still 3 other bedrooms and the main bath - but my pictures didnt turn out.

So that's our new house! The site super mentioned that they were going to start on the drywall next week and the siding soon after (they need to backfill our neighbours place before they can start that). We are on track to close for the 4th of November and the next time we get to go inside is for our pre-delivery inspection.

This will probably be my last post for a couple of weeks because next week, our new addition arrives! I can't wait to meet the little guy!!

Week 10 (16 weeks and counting!!)

Lots is new today!!

1) We went by the house and there was a pile of bricks out front! It was a pretty small pile, but looking at the elevation, it seems to be about right. We didn't get out to take a peek in the windows because of the rain, but it doesn't look like there was much done on the outside anyway. That said, in my head, i am imagining that the plumbing is done and the electrical too.

Here is a picture from this past Friday (week 10 & 3 days):

2) We got the final numbers on the pricing for the house! Good news! It worked out to be less than my calculations!! YAY! We actually came in under budget for once. One small victory...

3) I talked to the sales office and our frame walk is hopefully going to be booked the first week of August. The construction manager is on holidays until Monday so that's when we will find out for sure. BUT they said they would try to work with us on the date so it doesn't get booked during my hospital stay. I can rest easy...at least until Monday!

4) I had my last ultrasound today and the Dr said Baby G is looking perfect and i am doing well (aside from the usual pregnancy fun stuff). So I don't have to go back to see him for 3 weeks. It kind of hit me when he said that because i go back in 3 weeks and then a week after that, G will be welcomed to the world!

Construction Process - Week 4 to 7.5 - amazing what can get done in such a short time!

It as been a busy time since my last post! We are all moved into my parents house and slowly figuring out how our daily lives in the west end are going to work...
We have been visiting the house on a weekly basis and there has been so much progress its crazy!! So here is a recap of the last few weeks:

Week 4 (22 more to go!)
Last week was pretty uneventful. There were only a few beams on the foundation (pics to follow) Forgive me construction workers if this is a significant amount of work - to me, it doesn't look like much. It drives me nuts when someone thinks a sewing project doesn't look like much and expects me to get a 4 hour project done in 1!


Week 5 (21 more to go!)
We had a deja-vue moment - we are driving down our street and as we get to the bridge, Hubby says: "Is that our house?" My reply: "No, that's the neigh....holy sh!* that is our house!!!" We realize this conversation is going to starting the same each week from now until there is no visible change on the outside of the house - LOL.

Like the title says, what a difference a week makes! The first and second floors are up!


Week 6 (20 more to go)
This week, the roof is up and it is actually starting to look like a house! We are really excited and have already started to plan out our backyard. A nice big deck, play structure for the kiddies and i am still holding out hope for a swimming pool.

Week 7 (19 more to go)
We are officially moved out to Kanata! We closed on the old house Friday and went to visit the new place that afternoon. Pleasantly surprised to see the roof is now shingled!! It looks awesome! Now that i don't have the move to worry about, i am starting to worry that they might book our pre-drywall walk through on August 10th at 9am (the same day and time as Baby G will be born -). It will be just my luck. I worried about the same thing the first time around with the semi - and sure enough L came late enough that our PDI was on the day after he was born so Hubs went with my dad and brought back pictures for me to see. Wonderful....

Week 7 and 3 days (18 and a half weeks to go!)
Yep, living in Kanata has reduced us to house stalkers. I am not sure why we even went, as one would think nothing would happen over the weekend and what can they do in one day?? Well, lots apparently - all the windows except the master bedroom room window was in AND we had doors - all except the garage doors.

First timer, no more!!

Two weeks ago (has it been that long already?!?!), we got the email from the builder to say that our building permit had been picked up! I will never forget the moment I checked my email and it popped into my inbox – it hit me like a ton of bricks! My first thought was sheer excitement and the internal peace of knowing that we aren’t going to have to spend 2 years waiting for this place. But another wave of emotions came over me too – we are leaving the little brown house and I find that kind of sad. It’s our first house. We brought our first baby home here. We bought our first “grown-up” furniture to fit this place. I agonized over every little detail and now we are leaving.

One thing that does bring a bit of comfort is the people we sold it to. It’s their first home too so I know that they are just as excited as we were to be moving in here. From the moment they walked in the front door the first time, I could tell – they will take care of it and love it as much as we did. So, in actual fact, it’s like we are passing the torch to the next person. Great. Now I just feel old!

Updates!

We got the pricing back on the tiles for the ensuite. I am happy to report that we are going with our desired option - the MOP, glass and marble tile as the accent to the bands in the shower and tub surround. YAY!!

I have still made no headway on figuring out the appliances. We had better get to it as we only have a week left to decide...

On a happy note, while i was completely against it at first, we had some good reasons to find out the gender of the baby....so we did and its a BOY!! We are beyond thrilled!! From what I hear, I think there is a surplus of boys on our new street, which makes hubs happy that he wont have to worry about them all wanting to date a daughter and there will be lots of "guys" around to play street hockey with!!

One step forward, one step back

I am sad to report that we will not be getting a wall oven :( I had the kitchen place make a sketch for me (ok they didnt really make it for me - i am sure they had it on file...) and our kitchen is just not a wall oven type. At least for now. Yep that's right, i am already planning my 5 year 20 year reno plan. I want to delete the wall in the kitchen which is a load bearing wall, put in a new beam and open it up to the family room. I want to then extend the kitchen into the eating area and add a great big island. Ahh dreaming is so much fun!

In the end, its fine that the kitchen is not a wall oven type - i hear they make induction ranges, so i may still be able to get my new pots!

Our ensuite is coming along nicely, interms of colours. We have picked out this week's colour options - which i think are the ones that are going to stick!

This is my inspiration picture:














Here is what we went with:

Cupboards: Ebony in the flat pannel door (its about $400 to do the upgrade, but i love the rich colour of this stain)
Floor: is a marble looking tile
Shower: We are having a few options costed out for us. They all revolve around an 8x20 rectangle tile in "white". The first is to have 3 bands of an accent tile (its mini rectangles in mother of pearl, glass and marble). The second is to have 3 bands of an all glass mosaic tile in shades of grey. The third, my budget choice is to have the 8x20 rectangle done in a brick pattern. As usual, we will wait to see how the pricing goes...
Tub deck and wall: we chose a white tile with a bit of a shiney streak running through it and for the wall, it will be the 8x20 rectangle with hopefully a band of the accent tile running through it.

Here is a picture of our selections:

Top to Bottom:
1) L: Mother of Pearl, Glass and Marble
R: Bliss Glass Mosaic (Midnight)
2)L: 8 x20 white shower wall tile
R: Counter Top Rock of Ages
3) L: Tub Deck and Skirt
R: Cupboard Birch in Ebony
4) Floor Tile

Architectural Upgrades

Here is a list of the other upgrades we are going with…

1)Fully insulating the garage
2)Moving the basement window from the back of the house to the left side
3)Adding a side door to the mudroom
4)Moved the dishwasher to beside the sink
5)Sound proofing the laundry room
6)Switched up the laundry room and added extra space to the walk-in closet

Here is what its going to look like:



The only one thing I am now thinking about it that there is a lot of doors in that one section of the hall as our master has double doors that will be to the right of the laundry. Hubs and I figure if it is too doory we can always switch up the master after the fact – closing in the sides and making one wider door. I guess we will see in 8 months!

Master Bath Part II

I think I have kept anyone who is interested in suspense long enough. We got the pricing back for the master bathroom! Here is a break down….

1)Making the tub smaller and moving it to its new location $200
2)Shower with the Kalia base, custom glass on two walls and ceramic on 2 walls, moved to new location $4900
3)The Camil Tomlin Flow shower, moved to new location $2800
4)Standard shower with Klera doors, moved to new location $400
5)Double Vanity with bank of drawers $1200

We decided on….drum roll please….options 1, 2 and 5!!! YES I am getting the custom shower!!! I think the new bathroom is going to rock!! There is no way we could have redone the bathroom for $6300 after the fact so thank you builder for pricing it right!!

We are still working out the colour choices. I am not sure what route we want to go. I found a really nice white tile with a fine grey strip running through it – I was thinking that on the floor with a white tile on the tub surround, a brown/black or black coloured vanity with a white counter and then a dark charcoal colour on the walls of the shower. It sounds like a mish-mash though…

I think I should just go with this....



…hubby might object though!

I’ll keep you posted on the colour choices. If anyone has any advice, or pictures they want to share, let me know, i would love to see them for inspiration!!

The Master Bath

I am not a fan of the master bath as it designed in our new house.



My 2 main reasons:
1) too much of the floor space is taken up by a massive corner tub. Neither me nor my husband are bath people. The massive tub we have right now has only been used once, by my son when I got the bright idea he should have a bath in there. It took about 20 mins for it to fill his usual amount of water (about 3”) and of course it was cold by the time he got in it. As well, the side of the tub is too high for me to reach over. It was not a pleasant experience for either of us.
2) We cant get a double vanity in there without upgrading the shower. We had sort of already planned on upgrading the shower but I don’t want the vanity to butt up against the expensive glass wall, it kind of defeats the purpose.

I have talked to a few people on the tub situation, because I feel like if I could solve that, it would make things easier. One main question was raised like: do you really need a tub? My rebuttle: Is it going to affect resale? Which got me thinking, do you really need a tub in an ensuite if you have a tub in another bathroom? Some said yes, some said no. We kicked around the idea of having one massive luxury shower with a couple of shower heads, and body sprays. We also thought about having a stand alone tub. Unfortunately I think a stand alone tub needs to be seen – it’s a thing of beauty after all. In the end there was no place in the bathroom we could logically put it for it to be seen.

In the end I went to our builder’s supplier and talked to one of the associates there. She was helpful in coming up with a plan maximize the space in the bathroom. I was also able to pick out a couple of options for the shower.

1) a Kalia base (which is a solid surface base that looks way nicer than its acrylic counter part) 2 custom glass walls and 2 tiled walls
2) the Camel/Tomlin Flow shower


The re-design is more of a reconfigure. We went with a smaller tub and switched the shower and vanity. Check it out:



We will now wait until we get pricing to make our decision. Although I am sure that we have already exceeded our budget for this room just in these changes alone. For fun, here is my order of preference*:

1) Bathroom reconfiguration with all standard options.
2) Double vanity
3) Awesome shower
4) Upgrade the tile
5) Upgrade the vanity colour

*Note: these are today’s preferences….LOL

Keep your fingers crossed for us!