Fall.. In Love with your house.

Figured I'd post a long overdue progress update on this rainy Pittsburgh Sunday.

I Love Fall... Growing up in the Hudson Valley, Apples and Leaves Changing seem to be ingrained in my DNA. So as I look out my back door, I'm at peace with the woods that meet our property.

OUTSIDE HOUSE:

I haven't taken pictures of the outside since the closing, so here they are..

There happened to be some cut Brick ... laying around..

I used it to line the pathway and it came out better than expected.

The Front with some rock outlining the landscaping.

With all this building there are many rocks everywhere..

The small wall of flat rock I built to enclose the mulch

INSIDE HOUSE:

Love the Fireplace.. soo warm on a cold day.

Window Treatments up as well..

Mirror above the Fireplace was a Project..

This is Verona Brick

Mirror was originally Black, 1 hour of sanding and stain later..

Mirror gets the approval of the Interior Designer (Megan)

Love the Natural Light, These are White Levelor Blinds (open)

Pottery Barn Chandelier

A look into the Country Kitchen .. PierOne High Chairs

My Aussie Murphy showing you the comfortable 

Living room Pottery Barn Rug 

Upstairs Foyer

Bedroom Below is the Left Door 

No Artwork yet ..

Queen-Sized Bed about 3 feet on each side

We love the Ferncliff Bedrooms, nice and spacious, one reason why we decided

on  the Ferncliff and instead of the Florence 

Bed Side table I found broken in trash and refinished

FUN

Hope your Autumn is going well whether you are building or after. ~J

More Painting.. (Don't try this at home..) you really might kill yourself..

Seriously.. me and my Brother-in-law are trained lunatics.. be careful when painting 25 feet up...

YOU COULD BE SERIOUSLY INJURED!!

Now that we have an understanding.. enjoy some pics of my continued painting journey.

The Ferncliff Model does pose some interesting painting challenges.

This is really HIGH UP!

My Brotha edging high up on the ladder.. no pressure.

Almost done with that side..

There are steps here.. how did we get a ladder here you ask?

Check this out.. 

Finally, Megan and I are done with all painting downstairs.. thanks to help from the family, especially Megan's Dad for Supervising the two idiots in the picture above!

The fun begins after you build.. One mans trash is another mans treasure

Ok.. before I begin.. Megan and I LOVE LOVE LOVE our house. RH did a great job and although we all have issues from time to time, the quality remains good and our expectations have been met.

For anyone going through the building process, I don't miss the stress and week by week unknowns that occur. Good Luck to those still building their dream and waiting.. endlessly waiting till that awesome, amazing, exciting day when it's all yours.

The Fun Begins AFTER you Build..

Home Ownership is everything I thought it would be, however like we say in my field..

"It's what ya don't know that will get you."

 I hope any information on this blog and other blogs is informative to the perspective RH buyer/builder.

SO.. Do you remember this picture from my last post.. I had huge runoff and water flowing into my yard from an undeveloped lot. and uneven soil placement.

White Water Rafting anyone??!?!

This had me concerned, as I had issues with drainage from Day ONE and I really love my Yard
I have a Huge Yard, I paid a premium for it..and I have dogs that love to run. I need a functional Yard
I don't need a swamp.

Like any issue, I spoke with the PM at the 30 day and we discussed options. Being adamant and polite
is always a great combination. I now have a fixed (hopefully) Yard

Mini Trench spanning my yard

Two Drains to be installed

 Installed.. you can see the Black bags to the right to help keep the water over there

More Dirt to level the basin I had plus new seed. 

The lesson is this: If I didn't ask for this, it wouldn't have gotten done. If something bothers you, it's better to speak your mind and communicate that to be complacent. 

Dumpster Diving - well with all these dumpsters around the neighborhood, I can't help but see what's inside..

 I'm not sure how frowned upon this is so I'll phrase it this way..

Items I noticed in the dumpster..

-30 foot aluminum ladder from dumpster (nothing wrong with it, I checked)

- various pieces of unused 2x4 

- unused bags of cement

- caulking

- various sizes of plywood

- I made this Planter for basil, parsley, rosemary etc

I since finished painting it, I'll place picture here tonight

Happy Diving..

Pain...T .. Projects and Honey Do lists..

Thought I'd post an update! Being a new homeowner is hard.. these past 8 weeks have been filled with a lot of fun but long hours and hard work!! 30 day inspection complete.. Lawn issues..

Important Items to work on..
-LAWN
-PAINT
-Interior decoration
-Furniture
-Fence
-getting married, so everything that entails

I wanted to post the colors Megan picked for the great room. She really has an amazing eye!

 

Before

This wall is called Seascape (Valspar) and is a great accent wall with the Fireplace.

It is surrounded on all sides by Roasted Garlic (Valspar)

 

After

 

This color is Pink Suede (Valspar) 

It really brings out the Golden Mascarello

 Before and After

The Dining Room is Roasted Garlic (light green)

Upstairs Master.. (Valspar SeaSpray)

 with new bed tables

Megan didn't like the old bed tables.. so I had to "fix" them

OLD

NEW!

Bathroom is Riesling (Valspar)

 Side note with lawn..

It rained a lot!! Swimming Anyone??

Everyone says Cheeeeeeze...

Had to do it! Cheeeeeezy pictures of Everyone!
We close Friday and the "Walk-Through" yielded some items to address (They got our house number wrong!), lots to learn.. I need to water everything green for about.. ohh forever.. but we walked into this home and it felt like ours for the first time.
I won't be shuttin the Blog down, I have lots of Projects to show folks (Patio, Deck, Furniture, Paint)
So keep Bloggin and keep up the support for all of us makers of dreams..

Megan and James

 Megan and James with our PM and Sales Rep

Almost There..

On Wednesday, we have the "Walk-Through".. we have a list of items to address but are confident nothing too demanding..

*A note about NVR Mortgage - Our Loan Officer has been great with Communication and other items when contact was needed, she has been patient with my questions and helpful through this whole process, There have been other folks that have tried my patience and make me wonder exactly what they consider good customer service to be? No details here, sorry.. 'nuff said..I'm Closing Friday and have no idea about funds needed to close yet, outside of the last GFE, that makes me slightly nervous..*

OK, so here are some pics of the inside and out..

Stone was finished today, and I'm interested in seeing how they finish grading our small slope here.

 Back of the house.. (You can't see but they addressed my Floodlight.. err rather lack of one prior..)

 They painted the door and put the finishing trim on today.. Lightpost and top of mailbox also..

 Busy at work, but a better shot of the detail.

They took the paper off the floor and although dirty, was really great to see the hardwood.

 A well picked wall color will make this Fireplace stand out!

 Hello Kitchen.. I will cook many things in you.

Pedestal Sink downstairs powder room

OK Here is the Question to all you folks!!! Look at the backsplash and sidesplash on this High Definition Laminate, what do you think? I think the Sidesplash (if ya even call it that) looks ugly and it's not very contoured. I think we want it gone..