Sheila and Rod's New House: Progress Journal

Progress Journal

We'll try to record the progress on our home here after each time that we visit it. The most recent events will be at the top of the list, working downward to the earliest.

Date

Event

Mar. 15, 2003

Sorry it has been so long since my last update. Haven't been able to take the time to sit down and do this with all the activity, plus going back to work and trying to catch up there. I've added updates below for March 3-9 and March 13.

Mar. 13

Rod finally set up the stereo system in the first guest bedroom. He passes his apologies to Jared and Bort for taking so long to get to this, his priorities were skewed. :) This is where it will probably stay for a year or so, until we're able to get enough money and time together to figure out how to finish the basement (and how to move furniture through that tiny doorway).

Mar. 12

Sod company came and did their part to finish the house.

Mar. 7

Butlers came for a visit. They were very helpful! Thanks to them we were able to get our old place totally emptied out and cleaned up and got all of our damage deposit back.

Mar. 6

Dishwasher and microwave installed.

Mar. 5

The Digital Innovations guy arrived prior to 9am as promised, and was able to track down the problem to the phone jack in the 2nd guest bedroom. Most likely the line was hit with a staple during insulation (it's on an outside wall, so it was Prieb, not us). Since the wiring that they installed is 4-pair wire, he was able to correct the problem by switching the home line on that jack only to another pair of wires, without having to replace anything.

Mar. 4

The SBC guy arrived to connect Rod's work phone. Rod told him about the order number for the home phone too, and saved him (or another tech) a second trip for the same address. There was a problem when hooking up the phone though, due to a 'permanent inside short' we couldn't get a dial tone on the home phone line. Rod's work line is okay. Rod called Digital Innovations (the company that did our cable/telephone wiring) and they are sending someone by 9 tomorrow morning.

Comcast sent two techs at once to do our cable/internet hookup. They were supposed to connect 4 of our 6 jacks (incl. the one for the computer) but the tech went ahead and did all 6 right away so we wouldn't have to decide where to locate the computer. The techs acted genuinely jealous of Rod's Power Mac G4 and were actually familiar with Apple products for a change, which made Rod happy.

Mar. 3

The movers arrived at our duplex at 9:45 -- a little late, but since the "meter" didn't start running till they arrived, that was okay. We had just a few more boxes left to pack from the garage when they came. They seemed to appreciate our labelling system, and things went really smoothly. They weren't able to fit everything onto one truckload, even though they made use of all possible space on their 24' truck. Despite two trips, they were able to complete the job in 5.5. hours, 1.5 hours less than the minimum estimate. We think that our 4 loads in the pickup/Topaz probably helped a lot, plus we were fairly well organized for a change.

We left about half a garage full of do-not-move items, including recyclables, garbage, and 'garage sale' stuff.

Mar. 2

We have our junction box installed, so we shouldn't have any trouble getting connected to phone and cable on Tuesday. We also have our pantry shelves, and the final grade of the lot has been done. However, nothing else that we could see has been done... we're still missing the shower curtain rod in the guest bath and the paint color in the guest bedroom is wrong.

We got our garage door opener installed on Saturday morning. That was the first thing in a while that was done on time and without any difficulty. The same cannot be said for our appliance delivery/installation. We were supposed to get our range, fridge, and over-the-range microwave all delivered and installed Saturday. But the installer for the microwave was a no-show, and hasn't even called us to re-schedule (we have the microwave but it's still in its box). And the morons delivering the range somehow broke part of it getting it off the truck, so now we have to wait 3-4 days for another one to get ordered and come in. Guess that means more restaurant food, the last thing Rod's waistline needs.

We're almost done packing up, there are a few odds and ends in the living room and kitchen (about one box each), some stuff from Rod's desk drawers, the computers and stereo equipment (which we plan to move ourselves), a few pictures on the walls, and the workbench in the garage. We also managed to move a few truckloads of stuff ourselves, mostly Sheila's collectible and decorative stuff that she was worried about, and also any flammable/aerosol/poisonous items from the garage. The movers come tomorrow morning at 9, so we've got to wrap it all up tonight!

Feb. 27

One thing I forgot to mention during all the griping in yesterday's update... we actually got an even lower interest rate on our mortgage than we were expecting, rates dropped again the day before we closed., so we got 5.875%. Also the $700 that we'd paid previously to re-lock twice (we started at 6.25%) was unexpectedly applied to our closing costs, we thought it was just down the tubes, so that was a pleasent surprise.

Rod called Robert at Prieb this morning to see if he can "encourage" Mike to move along on a few items such as our cable/telephone junction box and re-painting the guest bedroom, so that they'll be done by move-in day. Also he asked if someone could come to clean our hardwood floor. He said he thought they could get all the stuff done before Monday -- hopefully he has better luck motivating Mike than we do.

Feb. 26

We finally have our keys and are officially homeowners. It has not been a fun last two days.

We closed at Capitol Federal at 10 a.m. yesterday. It didn't take very long at all, we expected everything after that to go smoothly, but of course it didn't. Somehow the courier who was to take the deed from the bank to the title company delivered it to the wrong office, and it was missing for almost 24 hours before someone located it. There were a lot of increasingly angry phone calls between Rod and our closer (and presumably between her and the title company) in the meantime, which really ruined the experience for us. Carrie from the realty company actually got in the act too, calling someone she knew from the title company to put some additional pressure on. I guess it worked, we finally got the clearance about 2:45 today and were able to pick up our keys at the realty office. Thank goodness we hadn't planned on moving the day after the close!

We thought this would be an exciting day, but with all the stuff still incomplete at the house it has turned out to be depressing. Very few of the walk-through items have been fixed. Most of the window screens are now on (but still missing one in the master bedroom), we have carpet to our basement (and a brand new chip in the drywall at the bottom of the steps to go with it), and steps from the kitchen into the garage. That's about it. The cleaning was not thorough at all, there is mud all over our hardwood floor (and a chip in it that wasn't there before) and the countertops are not clean. The bedroom that is supposed to be blue is still not painted, and we still don't have the junction box for cable and telephone. Rod called Mike about the last two items, explained that we move in next Monday and we would appreciate having them done by then. He also plans to call Robert with the warranty department to see if he can put additional pressure on Mike. If the phone/cable stuff isn't complete by next Tuesday when the utilities come to hook us up, we will really be in a bind -- can't see how we can get them re-scheduled in time for Rod to go to work the following Monday. The pantry shelves are also not installed, although Mike claims he had them done yesterday and just forgot about them.

Feb. 22

Our broken master bedroom window has finally been replaced. Good going, Mike, it only took you four months.

Paint was also removed from the cabinet doors, and they actually removed the carpet at the bottom of the stairs in order to attack the squeaky floor. They did a great job, used a bunch of screws and knocked it out.

Feb. 20

Today we had our walk-through orientation with Robert. We also met Brian, the maintenance man. Brian was the nicest guy we've dealt with from Prieb so far, not to mention the hardest worker. The guy was virtually a blur as he zoomed around the house spackling, re-nailing, and adjusting things. There were several items we came in with on our list that were fixed even before Robert could write them down. :)

Robert was pretty friendly too, and had a good sense of humor. We spent almost 3 solid hours with him going over every room in the house and pointing out every little thing that was wrong. Several of the major things that we were dissatisfied with were unfortunately not really dealt with. He talked around the water heater leak (seems to be mostly fixed now anyway), the tape over the basement door (standard practice, they'll mud it then paint), the outlet in the guest bath mirror (can't guarantee positions of outlets will exactly match the model), and the chipped foundation (too thin of a chip for patching, would just crumble away). However he does think he can get us a new egress window well, and promised to at least cover up the issues on our front siding by adding more decorative trim boards, which will also help dress up the house a little compared to the neighbors, so we like that.

He was very good about marking every little paint chip or hole, so we're fairly confident that those will be addressed. Brian had already caught all the door lock/latching issues and fixed them. Mike Waters was even there and working, which has got to be a first. He was using something called "Goof Off" to clean our counter tops, Robert said that fit him, so we all had a laugh at Mike's expense.

Our only concern after all this is that the items on our repairs list are supposedly up to Mike to fix. So we know that we'll have to stay after him to get them all done.

Feb. 18

In two days we have our orientation walk-through with Robert from the Prieb Homes warranty department. We went out there tonight with notebook in hand to mark down everything, big and small, that we could find that still isn't right. It's a depressingly long list; we split it up by one page per room, but even combined it would probably be 3 pages long. Won't bore everybody with all the picky little new additions to the list, but let's just say if these don't get fixed almost immediately after our inspection we won't have many nice things to say about Prieb when this is all done. As it is, everyone there we've dealt with so far has been a disgrace.

As far as things completed: the handrails are back on the stairs at long last, but they're quite a bit worse for wear for their time spent in the garage so they'll need to be sanded and re-finished, or else replaced. The cable and phone outlets and plates are installed. They've built a landing and stairs out to the patio. They did some touch-up paint around the master bedroom window. They've installed the doorknobs and locks on all the interior doors plus the back door, but 4 of the doors don't shut correctly. Some of the closets have dowels, but not all. Our house numbers are dropped off on the kitchen counter but aren't up yet.

Feb. 15-16

Went out to the model home on Saturday, talked with Carrie (one of the realtors) about some of our issues with the builder. Apparently complaints about Mike are running rampant, we're far from the only ones with issues.

We took a few pictures of items in the model that differ from our house, including the bizarre outlet in the mirror in the guest bathroom. It definitely is not that way in the model, it's in the wall alongside the mirror, so we will be insisting on a fix.

We couldn't go into our house Saturday, the floor company had just completed the final finish coat on the hardwood floor, and there was a sign on the door advising to not walk on it until Monday. Took a peek at it through the window, what we could see of it looks very good.

Sheila finally won a long-running argument about Rod's ugly computer desks on Saturday. We decided to buy a new one from a store, big enough for both his home computer and his work computers. This will mean less for the movers to do, since we plan to assemble them at the house in advance of the move. Anyone want to buy a home made desk that was 4 years in the making? :)

Spent a lot of time packing on Sunday, but still have a long way to go. We'll probably spend most evenings this week getting anything we can live without packed up.

Feb. 13

Today our front door was painted, it's a beautiful, obnoxious purple and we both love it. :) Hopefully our neighbors don't think we're K State fans. Went to the house before sunset so we could take some exterior shots, hopefully they turn out. Took lots of pictures today, should have some to post by Saturday morning at the latest.

Got our tile backsplash in the kitchen, it looks great. They finished the vinyl floor in the guest bathroom. They've installed our air conditioner and our permanent thermostat. Also they've finished not only our driveway, but the sidewalk in front of the house and the patio in back.

We think we may need a different water heater already - ours is leaking onto the basement floor. :( I don't trust Mike to tell him about this, he'd probably just patch it somehow and then the water heater would end up rusting through down the road anyway. We're going to wait and tell the warranty guy (Robert) about this next Thursday.

Feb. 12

The exterior was painted today! We saw it after dark, but from what we could see by the outside lights and flashlight it looks good. Sheila wants to make a trip out there in daylight tomorrow to really get a look at it.

We also got carpet today. The only carpet not yet laid is on the basement steps, but they've done preliminary work and hopefully it will be down tomorrow.

Mirrors are installed in all three bathrooms, and we also got a shower door. The only thing we're not happy about is there is an electrical outlet in the guest bath mirror. It looks really weird, neither of us remember seeing anything like it in the model so we will have to ask about it. If it wasn't in the model that way Sheila thinks we should insist on getting it fixed... but of course moving an electrical outlet is a lot of work.

Feb. 10

Things are happening quickly now. Today we got countertop in the kitchen, kitchen sink and faucet, garbage disposal, and kitchen cabinet hardware (including the lazy Suzan and the spice rack shelving). Rod talked to Mike (in person at the house) and made sure they didn't install the range hood that was dropped off. We also got a plug-in for the range, without having to pay extra for it, so that was a relief. (One of Sheila's co-workers, who sold us our appliances, had warned us that some builders hard-wire the range instead of giving you an outlet.)

They also installed all of our electrical outlets and switches, our doorbell, and all of our light fixtures except for the can light for the bottom of the stairs. Only one mistake, the shades on the fan light in the master bedroom are not the style Sheila picked, so we'll need to have those exchanged. We're very happy with the way all of our other lights look, especially the outside ones. It's nice to be able to go to the house after dark and actually see what you're doing and take pictures.

In the main floor bath the toilet is installed now that the preliminary finish coat on the floor is done. They've actually removed the upstairs toilets temporarily to install the vinyl flooring. The vinyl is actually in place in the master bath, and also in the laundry room. The guest bath still has to be done.

Rod figured out the problem with the vanity doors, the painters must have removed them, then put them back on upside down. He was able to correct it himself in the guest bath in about 3 minutes. Unfortunately in the master the holes for the hardware had already been drilled so he wasn't able to do it. But he did point out the problem to Mike, who thinks they can be adjusted pretty easily.

Rod met with three moving companies to get estimates (1 Friday, 2 today), and we have chosen one. They had the second-lowest bid, but by far the best insurance and came prepared with their credentials, etc.

Feb. 8

Quite a lot of activity at the house since we last saw it. On the outside, they've poured our front step and sidewalk, plus the top 2/3 of our driveway. They've installed the front door posts, and replaced one of the broken trim boards (alongside the master bedroom window that was replaced). The front and side yards have been graded, although they have yet to do the back yard.

Inside, they have sanded the hardwood floor and put the preliminary finish coat on it. It looks great! There was a sign on the front door warning workers not to walk on it until this morning. We made sure to take our shoes off as we walked around.

The kitchen sink has been dropped off, but is still in its box. They also dropped off a range hood, which we didn't want (we're getting an over-range microwave) so Rod marked "do not install" on the box and will call Mike to remind him.

In all the bathrooms, the countertops have been installed; upstairs the faucets have been too. Also we have toilets installed in the upstairs bathrooms. They didn't do this downstairs yet because of the hardwood floor finishing.

We have a water heater installed, but Rod forgot to check the brand for Paul... but he did take a picture so hopefully it shows up. :) The hole for the attic entry (a.k.a. Chris' room) is cut. Also, the shoe shelf that Sheila asked for in the master bedroom has been installed.

The grout is done on the fireplace tile, and we think it looks great! We went over to the model to compare and we think our color selection is superior, so we have no idea what the people from the tile place were talking about.

Rensen delivered the lights on Friday (2/7). The light at the bottom of the stairs is going to be a recessed can light per Mike, so we returned the fixture to Rensen and got our money back. We also dropped off our dimmer switches with instructions for the electrician to install.

Sheila noticed that the cabinet doors on the bathroom vanities don't look quite right, they appear to have been mounted improperly on their hinges. A gap is visible at the top of the doors, we compared to the model and there is no such problem, so we'll have to advise Mike.

Feb. 4

Talked with Mike about the basement door problems. He advised that we can't reverse the swing into the basement due to buiding code (something about opening outward with a step down). But he did fix the hinge problem so that the door closes properly. He also is going to have the drywall guys back out to fix the gap. Since we can't reverse the swing, we can't get a bigger door either... any bigger and it would hit the step.

He said that the wiring for the fixture was actually a mistake, it was supposed to be a recessed can light there, so he is going to have the electrician back out to fix. Rod will have to call Terri at Rensen to make sure we get credited the difference for the one light fixture that we're not actually getting.

Mike also told us that we were getting tiled today,. In fact we got a call from the tile showroom wondering if we were really certain about our grout color choice on the fireplace tile. Guess they don't share our sense of style. We went out to look, they had completed the tile on the fireplace and the master bath tub and shower. But they hadn't actually grouted the fireplace, so we still don't know what the color issue was.

They've also replaced the master bedroom window which was damaged by the drywall, and the replacement sash for the window that's been broken seemingly forever is sitting in the room, waiting to be installed. They've dropped crushed rock for underneath the driveway, and have built the forms for pouring our front steps.

Feb. 2

The painters have completely finished, except for touch-up and correcting the color in the "dolphin room."

Rod finally finished putting screws in the floor. The only room that was left was the "office" bedroom, but it had been waiting since November. He knew that he had to get the insulation done prior to drywall, so he made that his top priority instead. It would have been easier to do the screws earlier too, but there were only so many hours of daylight to work with over the last few months. One nice thing, since we finally have a working electrical outlet in the house, he was able to charge his drill in the middle of the job.

Rod plans to call Mike tomorrow with some complaints about the basement door. Installation was very poorly done, with a gap above the top of the door frame (1 1/2" in one spot) and also the door is crooked and won't close without lifting it up. Finally, the door has to be reversed to swing into the basement, not the stairwell, otherwise it will very likely hit the light fixture that will be installed at the foot of the stairs. This is all in addition to the fact that the door is 2" smaller than what Mike promised to install.

Jan. 30

The painters are nearly done. It looks like two coats have been applied in the entire upstairs, and one coat downstairs. Everything looks good, we're happy with the colors we picked. Sheila really thinks it looks good with the color of the cabinets in the kitchen. One problem though, the "dolphin room" that Sheila had envisioned for our guest bedroom is painted the same khaki color as most of the rest of the rooms, instead of the flaxflower blue that she had picked out. We called Mike, he said he'd get it fixed for us.

Jan. 27

Kitchen cabinets and fireplace trim have been stained. All the wood trim and shelving is sprayed with a very few exceptions here and there. The cabinets in the guest bath are installed, and all three sets of bathroom cabinets are sprayed.

Jan. 26

Rod went to the house today expecting to be able to finally finish putting screws in the floor (we still have his office bedroom left to do), but the painters were there spraying the trim! Also discovered that yesterday the cabinets in the kitchen and main floor bathroom were installed. Only the one in the guest bathroom remains.

Had kind of a misadventure with film developing today, leaning more and more toward thinking we need to buy a digital camera. :( Target screwed up our prints, only could give us the CD and even those pictures all have stripes across the middle.

Jan. 25

Lots of progress at the house this week. Over half of the interior doors have been installed, the main ones still remaining are for the bedrooms. The decorative wood panels surrounding the fireplace have been installed. The trim is up everywhere, and the painters were at the house caulking along the edges in preparation for painting. The permanent treads are installed on both stairwells, as well as the handrail and bannisters. The shelving is up in the closets, and the underlayment for the vinyl floor is laid in the laundry room. The posts that will go outside our front door have been dropped off in the garage.

We both agreed, the most exciting part was that our cabinets have been dropped off. The only ones in place so far are in the master bathroom. But all the kitchen cabinets are there, and all the modifications we asked for are present and accounted for (cookie sheet rack, roll-out shelves, spice rack, and lazy Suzan).

We talked to one of the painters, he was very friendly and told us that they expect to paint in a week! He actually told us their whole plan, including staining the fireplace trim, the cabinets, priming, and painting. When that is all complete it will really seem like we're close.

Believe it or not, the replacements for the broken windows in the master bedroom have finally been dropped off at the site. Maybe in another month or so they'll be installed. We do have one thing to talk to Mike about, in our contract we asked for no shelves in the "office" closet so that we could get shoe shelves for Sheila in the master closet at no charge. But they did not build the shoe shelf and have put shelves in the office closet instead.

We should have some more pictures to post very soon, we're on picture 24 on our current roll and we'll be sure to take a picture of something to use it up and get it developed, hopefully tomorrow.

Jan. 23

Got a call from Terri Mott at Rensen House of Lights today. It seems that we still have a few lighting selections to make, since our wiring diagram differs a little from the model due to code changes. We've set up an appointment to see her and pick out a fixture for over our master bathtub, and at the top of the basement stairs, and over the kitchen sink.

Also spoke to Quila at Capitol Federal to schedule our closing meeting on Feb. 25th. She gave us a little scare at first when she couldn't find the paperwork for our most recent rate lock, but she did find it eventually.

Jan. 18

Our hardwood floor has been installed in the kitchen, breakfast nook, entry hall, and 1/2 bath. In other words, it's completely done.

Our doors have been dropped off and are inside the garage. Also all our wood trim is there, as well as the bannisters for the stairway railings.

The marking on the door for the master closet has been corrected for the reverse swing that we asked for. The door frame at the bottom of the stairs has been enlarged to 2'8". Rod crossed off the 8 and marked 10, and wrote "per owner." We'll see if they pay any attention to this.

Windows in the master bedroom have not been fixed despite our repeated complaints.

Jan. 14

Taping and mudding of the drywall are completely done. We figured out the sheet at the bottom of the basement stairs, it's not nailed because it was glued directly to the concrete.

They've installed our sump pump, and sprayed our textured ceilings. They still need to do the smooth ceilings in the vaulted areas of the master bedroom and dining room.

The door frames are all marked for installation of doors, with the size of door and where the hinges are to be located. Two screwups, they didn't allow for the reverse swing on the master closet, which was in our contract, and also the door at the bottom of the basement stairs was marked for 2'6" even though Mike promised us a 2'10" door. Rod called and told him about both of them, had to explain what "reverse swing" meant.

Also when the drywall was brought in they (temporarily, we thought) removed one of our master bedroom windows to more easily bring the sheets into the upstairs. However, that's been almost two weeks ago and they still haven't re-installed it, it's been moved back and forth into the bathroom when it was in the way of the drywallers, and now it has drywall mud on it. They've put a board up in our window frame instead to block the wind. Rod complained to Mike about this, especially since we're supposed to get a snowstorm on Wednesday night, and actually getting both windows in the master bedroom fixed once and for all would be a good thing. Mike claimed that the window is actually broken and he has to order a new one, because it "wasn't the right kind of window to do that" (bring the drywall in). Whatever that means. Supposedly he was going to have the window guy out on Wednesday, we'll see. We no longer have any faith in this guy.

Jan. 3

Drywall is up throughout the entire house. The one and only place not completely done is one sheet at the bottom of the basement stairs which is just propped in place and not nailed. I wonder if they ran out of nails? The taping and mudding remain to be done.

Couldn't take a picture of the garage insulation that Rod put up on 1/2... Rod stopped out at the house early Friday morning but the drywallers were already busy at work inside the garage.

Jan. 2

Rod left work early to insulate the garage. They've dropped off drywall at the site, including several sheets leaned against the garage wall, which made things a little tough. But he was able to complete the entire garage in about 4 hours. Good thing we've got that nice bright Porter Cable flashlight that came with the drill, without that there wouldn't have been enough light to work by. Now we are finally DONE insulating. Hopefully we'll have the coziest garage and quietest rooms on the block.

To make it easier to bring drywall into the upstairs, the workers removed one of our master bedroom windows (the single one) and brought it in through the opening. Unfortunately, they somehow managed to break one of the trim boards around the window in the process so now that will have to be replaced.

Jan. 1

We spent about 4.5 hours at the house today, and managed to complete 100% of the insulation of the first floor ceiling. We thought at first we'd only have time to do the great room, but with two working together it went very fast, so we went back to Home Depot and bought more insulation, and finished the breakfast nook and kitchen.

Dec. 31

They have completely insulated all the outside walls and ceilings. Didn't take them nearly as long as it took us!

Dec. 30

Met with Capitol Federal again today, rates have dropped to 6.0%, their 40-year low. Re-locked rate, lock is supposed to be good to March 9.

Signed a contract amendment with Prieb, we now have our definite closing date: Feb. 25. With luck we should be moving in by the first week of March.

Mike has fixed the garage lights (two instead of one), the mixed up wall in the office bedroom closet, and we have an egress window installed. Rod talked with Mike, and he says that he has drywall scheduled to go in on Friday! Also per Mike they were re-inspected today by the city and everything has been approved. He still needs to talk with the electrician about the great room fixture wiring.

Not really part of our house, since it will be shared with other neighbors, but noticed that the small slab where the mailboxes will sit has been poured. Also the road work on Santa Fe is nearly complete, street lights are up.

Dec. 24

Went out to the house today to take some pictures of the insulation... we knew that Paul and Aaron really wanted to see it. This time I double-checked, and I had film in the camera.

They've installed a lock on the front door, hopefully should keep people out who shouldn't be wandering around inside.

Dec. 23

Rod went in to work early, so that he could leave early and get out to the house while there was still daylight to do some work. With the other houses on the block getting insulation and drywall done, he was concerned that our house might be next, and he'd miss his chance to finish up our insulation if he waited until after our Christmas vacation. He completely finished insulating the dining room ceiling, and also put some insulation around the laundry room plumbing where it runs above the living room. Should hopefully help keep those rooms quiet. IF the house isn't drywalled by New Year's day, Rod plans to go out one more time and insulate the living room ceiling.

Also, a worker was at our house today installing the garage door. It only took him about an hour and a half, with just one guy! The house looks a lot different inside with a closed garage door in place.

Dec. 21-22

Rod spent practically every minute of daylight at the house this weekend, foregoing watching the Vikings game, and even work on his George Michael Sports Machine (fantasy football predictions). I'm sure many were disappointed. (:

We are now nearly finished with putting screws in the subfloor, with the only exception being Rod's office room. Rod did the last guest bedroom, the hallway, and the guest bath on Saturday. Also, all the insulation needed in the walls around the guest bath, laundry room, and guest bedrooms is 100% done. Thanks to our friend Larry for the loan of the extension ladder, we were even able to insulate alongside the tub. Since that is against the stairwell wall, it's about 15' off the floor, impossible to get to with our short ladder.

Dec. 14-15

Spent both afternoons out at the house, putting more screws in the subfloor. The master closet, master bath, and one of the guest bedrooms are done. The second guest bedroom is started, but we ran out of light.

Dec. 10

Interest rates dropped 1/8 of a point today, so Rod went and re-locked at 6.125%. That's just 1/8 of a point higher than the 40-year low since CapFed has been around, so we feel pretty good about that. It was just bad timing that we missed 6.125 the first time around. Even though we had to pay a little to re-lock, we calculated that the fee will pay for itself in smaller house payments after only 25 months.

Dec. 8

The mystery regarding the shower floor is solved. Apparently there was supposed to be a little gap between the shower wall and the guest bedroom wall, that the framers forgot to put in. So the plumbers attached the shower floor, fixture, and cut the drain hole in the wrong place by about a foot. They've since come back and replaced everything, after the framers built the missing wall section.

Dec 4

Met with Eric at Capitol Federal today, and applied for our mortgage. After leaving the bank Sheila started talking about what part time job she'll need to get to make the payments. Fine time to think of that! ;) We locked in at 6.25%; it was 6.125 a couple of weeks ago-- d'oh! If it drops again before close we can re-lock again for a small fee though.

Rod stopped out at the house to check on things afterward. Something strange is going on, the shower floor has been removed and the beginnings of the shower fixture that were installed is gone too. Not sure if there was something broken, or if they installed the wrong one, or what.

The pipe that had been broken in the ground floor bathroom has been replaced.

Nov. 30-Dec.1

Rod went out to the house on Saturday afternoon, and was quite surprised at all the work done. Apparently some of the workers were making up for the lost time on Thanksgiving by working Saturday morning. Wish he'd gone out there a little sooner, could have possibly corrected something they did wrong* before they left. Oh well.

Many things done: the front and back doors are finally installed! The broken board at the top of our stairs on the second floor has been replaced. The half-wall in front of the master bath tub has been framed. We have additional water lines going to where the water heater will eventually be installed, and an actual water shutoff valve and copper pipe where it comes into the house. The beginning of a door frame at the bottom of the basement stairs is in, and they've cut off the main cleanout flush with the basement floor. They've also framed in our vaulted ceilings in the dining room and master bedroom. Also, something done that we didn't notice the night before (due to the darkness) is that our gas line is connected to the furnace and fireplace.

*They also attempted to fix the out-of-place wall in the office walk-in closet. They removed the portion of it that was a complete waste; but they still left about a 2' length right where it was, for an unknown reason. Maybe they were at quitting time, or maybe they were not willing to rebuild the replacement wall that would have to go behind it.

In the process of adding the supports for the dining room vaulted ceiling, they accidentally broke a PVC pipe in the bathroom wall. Rod called Mike on Dec. 2 to let him know about both issues.

Spent all afternoon at the house both Saturday and Sunday, finished off putting the screws in the subfloor in the entire master bedroom and half of the hallway. We've now used up two 5# boxes of screws!

Nov. 29

We got back home after Thanksgiving with only a few minutes to spare until sunset, but couldn't resist going out to the house. It was hard to tell in the dark but there wasn't much sign of new stuff; our doors are still in the garage. But oddly enough they've been moved. The only visible changes are, some more plumbing work is done in the ground floor bath, and the security wiring from DI (see below) has been removed. Guess they caught their mistake.

Nov. 25

Digital Innovations installed all of our phone and cable wiring. We were kind of angry at them, they seemed to go out of their way to destroy some of the insulation that we'd put up in the bedrooms, even when it wasn't really in their way. We had thought we were allowing for them by cutting holes in the insulation where the outlets would be in advance (thinking they were going to drill up through the floor); little did we know, all the cables went up through a central point and into the attic first, then down to the bedrooms. So the holes we cut were pretty much useless.

Oddly enough, they wired our front and back entrances for security too. Since nearly every experience with DI so far has proved them to be complete idiots, we weren't very surprised.

Nov. 23-24

Spent many hours at the house this weekend. Got a start on putting screws in the subfloor on the second floor, starting with the laundry room. Most of the time was spent insulating though. We finished off the whole master suite, between the two guest bedrooms, and the laundry room. We still plan to do the guest bath, and a few odds and ends.

Our friends the Drakes suggest that we should also insulate underneath the entire second floor (above the first floor ceiling), and insulate the outside garage walls. These are both fine ideas, but we need to find cheaper insulation or win some money at the casino. Just the ceiling alone will take 10 more packages of insulation, over $200 at the price we paid for the first six packages.

Nov. 18

Since the electicians were still working at the house today, decided to call Mike and request a change order for one additional electrical outlet. It's going to be in the walk-in closet in the office bedroom. Rod has this crazy plan that this can be his "break room" and maybe have a mini fridge and a coffee warmer in there. They did it the same day, which was nice.

Rod told Mike about the out-of-place wall in the office closet, he promised to look into it.

Nov. 17

Went back out to the house and put some more screws in the subfloor. Finished off the ground floor by getting the dining room done. Sheila started putting in some insulation (for sound, not heat) in the interior walls. We started with the ground floor bathroom.

While we were there the plumbers showed up to put in the valve for the master tub, so we got to pick where we wanted the handles. They also finished connecting the tub drain.

We finally figured out why our office bedroom walk-in closet looks so odd: it's too small! By measuring it and comparing it with both the model home and every other "Yorkshire" on our street, we discovered that they built a wall 18" out of place: potentially robbing us of 60 cu. ft. of storage. For those that have seen it, this is why there was a "void" space between the closet and the upstairs bathroom, it turns out that shouldn't have been there at all.

Nov. 16

Rod went out to the house to put more screws in the subfloor on Saturday, but the electricians were working out there so decided to postpone. Was lucky to catch them, Mike had failed to tell them of our request for a triple switch in the great room (we added a light fixture to the ceiling fan) and they had already put in a box for just a double. Rod pointed it out to them and they fixed it even before he left. They said that they should be finished after another half-day on Monday.

Nov 12

Had our meeting with Mike today. He acted sincere and nodded his head and made a lot of notes, but at this point we'll believe him when we see some action. Among our concerns:

house training of the help

pace of the construction, only 54 work days left until close and a lot to still be done ("it's still within the realm of possibility... it's still our goal")

fixing the master bedroom broken window

installing the front and back doors (dropped off 4 weeks ago)

holes in the floor in breakfast nook, dining room, living room, bedroom

loose, cracked, bowed stud in guest bedroom

crumbly corner of the garage foundation, and the egress window pulled away from the wall (the foundation guy was supposed to have fixed that already)

holes, cracks, dents in the siding around the bay window

We'll need to keep following up with this guy. We'll keep updating our progress here to let you know.

Nov 11

Called our personal builder today to arrange a meeting. We're going to be getting together with him at the house early tomorrow morning to discuss "several things that we're concerned about" at the house.

Went over to the house during the day to take some pictures to document some of our concerns. Apparently Mike got Sheila's message because the pile is cleaned up in the basement.

There was a utility company at the house today digging a trench alongside where the driveway will go. Monday night we had a gas hookup at the corner of the garage.

Monday night we also swept up all the junk off the second floor to see if we'd find anything else to be concerned about. Found a hole in the "office" bedroom floor, you could poke your finger all the way into the garage.

Nov 9

Did some more work at the house today. Not much has been happening lately, the only noticable change is that they dug up the front yard to install our water meter and ran the water line into the house.

We were quite disgusted to find that sometime during the week someone decided that our basement floor was a toilet. Sheila called our personal builder and let him have it on his answering machine. We'll be arranging a meeting with him early next week.

Nov 2-3

We spent a lot of time at the house this weekend, cleaning up the mess the workers left on the first floor. We swept together in the new house for the first time.

In several parts of the subfloor throughout the house the workers have been a little bit careless about actually hitting the joists, for instance in the breakfast nook almost every nail was a miss. So at the recommendation of our friend Larry we plan to go through the whole house adding screws, so that the floor won't squeak as much.

Oct 30

Rod met with the guy from Digital Innovations at the house today. They're the company that will be installing our telephone and cable wires and jacks. We're buying their "six and six" package, so we'll have cable and phone connections in all the bedrooms, plus the great room and the breakfast nook. They also sell security alarms and whole house sound systems, but some of that stuff is pretty expensive.

Our fireplace has been installed. It looks really small right now because the decorative wood framing isn't in place yet like in the model home. They've also installed the bathtubs and the floor of what will be the shower in the master bedroom.

It's been a long time since we posted pictures, but we should have some soon. I think we're down to the last one or two shots on our current roll. We'll probably use them up this weekend.

Oct 26

Some of the plumbing work has begun. There are many holes cut in the floor and PVC pipe everywhere (including a huge pile of elbows in the breakfast nook). I don't know if I mentioned it before, but our front and back doors have been dropped off at the garage, but haven't been installed.

Oct 19

Shingling is now complete. Some of the heating ducts are in place (mostly the upstairs). The second floor "mini-attic" (behind the walk in closet in what will be Rod's office) access has been increased in size at Rod's request, now 46" tall (was only 28" tall). Since this area is also floored we're hoping to use it for storage of things like seasonal decorations.

Oct 15

Still not entirely shingled. They have started cutting some holes for the heating vents, and a lot of galvanized steel has been dropped off inside for the ducts.

Oct 10

The roof is nearly complete. We visited the site at about 5:30 p.m., and they were still working on it when we left at 6:00 -- apparently trying to get the most out of the daylight hours that they have. The only parts of the roof that were not yet shingled were the south (back) side of the part over the bedroom that will be Rod's office, and the west side of the overhang on the front door. Now that the roof is up they were able to remove the temporary support braces from downstairs, so you can walk around the first floor much more freely.

They have also built our basement stairs, so we finally were able to walk down there for a look around.

Oct 7

Our roof beams are now up, and they have completed all of the upstairs wall framing.

Oct 5

All of the outside walls of the upstairs are complete. They have started framing several of the interior walls as well.

Sep 30

We have an upstairs! There are no walls yet, but they've built a floor and the stairwell up (temporary treads of course) are laid out. The layout of the rooms is visible thanks to carbon lines on the subfloor.

Sep 27

All of the outside walls of the lower level are complete, including windows. No insulation or drywall yet. The interior walls are framed.

Sep 26

Got a call from the builder today with a last minute question on garage/kitchen entry, told him we wanted a straight wall (like the model) and not the "notched" wall that was on the new plan. He said that framing would begin that morning!

We went out in the evening to find the west wall of the garage and kitchen is done. We also have a south wall of our breakfast nook, including the windows. Several other walls, the south wall of the kitchen and the east wall (dining and great room) are assembled but not yet upright.

Sep 25

Sheila stopped by the house but couldn't see any difference from yesterday.

Sep 24

Talked to the builder today and straightened out the mixup on the change order - we're actually getting something (double-wide, top and bottom pullout shelves on one cabinet) for $200 that he had earlier said would cost $360, so that's a good thing. We signed it and wrote a check for the increased price that wasn't covered in our original contract.

Our lumber and windows have been dropped off at the job site.

Sep 23

Our basement floor and garage floor were poured today. The "change order" that we had to sign for our finished basement stairwell and upgraded kitchen cabinets was finally completed today. Our builder called Rod at work and asked him to come out and sign it right away. Unfortunately one item was incorrect so we couldn't sign it yet.

Sep 17

Had a face-to-face meeting with our builder (first time in a while) to discuss the changes that we had asked for in the kitchen and basement stairs. He finally had the quote for us, but surprised us a little by inserting something (42" cabinets) that we hadn't asked for, a pretty big ticket. Oh well, we caught it before signing anything. That's been removed and Sheila has decided she can live without the appliance garage.

We also signed off on our "rock clause," we supposedly saved $890 on rock removal, but we're not really buying into this scam.

At the house the sewer lines (Paul, is that the right term) have been laid so that they can pour the floor. See the photos section for details.

Sep 14

Picked out all of our light fixtures for every room at Rensen House of Lights. Worked with Terri Mott, she was very friendly (and as cost-conscious as we were) and we would recommend her. Managed to keep within $95 of our budget, our biggest change was adding an overhead light to the great room (was just a fan).

Sep 7

We were supposed to meet with Digital Innovations today to select our telephone/cable outlet numbers and positions, but Rod screwed up the time of the appointment and we were a half hour late. Called them to apologize but they didn't really seem to care that much. They suggested that we call them back when the house has a roof on it, then we can locate the outlets in the actual home instead of on a plan.

At the house they have backfilled all around the foundation.

Aug 27

The forms have been removed from the foundation, some waterproofing compound applied, and the window-well has been added to our egress window. It's probably been there for a while, but we can see the tiling for the sump pump around the foundation also.

Aug 22

After much deliberation, Sheila has picked out all of our interior (crisp khaki, white umber trim, Himalaya for Rod's office) and exterior (magnet, grey cliff trim, purple spectacle door) paint colors, our kitchen countertops, vinyl flooring, and our carpet (pebble). The color she wanted for Rod's computer room turned out to be an extra price, so we went one shade lighter to save the money. We couldn't agree on colors for the rest of the house (dining room, master bedroom) so we'll do those someday down the road. Found out only afterwards that the countertop we selected matches the model home like ours at Amber Hills -- good news, we know it will go with the tile backsplash we picked.

Aug 21

We have a foundation, see the photos section for details.

Aug 20

Footings were poured today (presumably, we didn't actually go out.)

Aug 19

Ground was broken today! Sheila took her friend Sue out to show her where our lot was, and lo and behold there were piles of dirt all over and a hole in the ground in the shape of our basement. Sheila called Rod on the cell phone, and after approximately 1 minute Rod could even understand what she was screaming about. :)

Aug 16-19

Rod's parents were down, we took them out to show them the model and experienced the infamous "chicken room" incident -- don't get Rod started on this one again! Met one of our future neighbors from across the street who is building the same model as us. Had lots of fun with Val discussing paint colors we like, but unfortunately "pistachio" wasn't one of them. (:

Aug 15

Had our initial meeting with Diane at Weber Carpet today. Like most normal professionals, she didn't quite get Rod's sense of humor. Sheila picked out the countertop she wanted almost immediately, and didn't take well to the other options Rod picked out. The carpet we narrowed down to two colors right away, a dark gray or a "pebble" tan. The vinyl choices weren't all that thrilling. The paint is going to be challenging, there are so many to pick from. We've been advised to pick one on a house that we like, then ask the realtor what color that is, rather than trusting the sample book for the true exterior color.

Aug 10

Paid the remaining balance of our earnest money.

Got to meet our "personal builder" Mike Waters today. We discussed exactly all the changes we want to make to the kitchen cabinets and got some ballpark prices from him. We told him where we wanted the extra lights in our kitchen (Carrie with Regency Realty was nice enough to meet us at the model home one night the previous week, and and we felt the kitchen was too dark). We also told him (and Dean) about our idea for the open wall along the basement stairwell (like the Amber Hills model). Dean thought it could be done, maybe slightly differently to allow structural strength, but possible and gave us a ballpark price we could live with.

Aug 2-5

The Butlers were down for a visit. We had a lot of fun with them. They were pretty excited for us about the house, we enjoyed showing them the model.

July 15

Met with the tile company to pick out our kitchen backsplash, fireplace, and upstairs bathroom tile and grout colors (we had no idea there was colored grout!). Managed to stay within our contracted budget.

June 29

Signed our contract! Built in some allowance for upgrades to the kitchen cabinets and other "unforeseen upgrades." Paid the first of two installments of earnest money.

June 15

Made our initial deposit to reserve our lot. Dennis (realtor) put the "sold" button on our lot on the property map, pretty exciting, and just in time for our wedding anniversary.

Nov 12	Had our meeting with Mike today. He acted sincere and nodded his head and made a lot of notes, but at this point we'll believe him when we see some action. Among our concerns: house training of the help pace of the construction, only 54 work days left until close and a lot to still be done ("it's still within the realm of possibility... it's still our goal") fixing the master bedroom broken window installing the front and back doors (dropped off 4 weeks ago) holes in the floor in breakfast nook, dining room, living room, bedroom loose, cracked, bowed stud in guest bedroom crumbly corner of the garage foundation, and the egress window pulled away from the wall (the foundation guy was supposed to have fixed that already) holes, cracks, dents in the siding around the bay window We'll need to keep following up with this guy. We'll keep updating our progress here to let you know.
Nov 11	Called our personal builder today to arrange a meeting. We're going to be getting together with him at the house early tomorrow morning to discuss "several things that we're concerned about" at the house. Went over to the house during the day to take some pictures to document some of our concerns. Apparently Mike got Sheila's message because the pile is cleaned up in the basement. There was a utility company at the house today digging a trench alongside where the driveway will go. Monday night we had a gas hookup at the corner of the garage. Monday night we also swept up all the junk off the second floor to see if we'd find anything else to be concerned about. Found a hole in the "office" bedroom floor, you could poke your finger all the way into the garage.
Nov 9	Did some more work at the house today. Not much has been happening lately, the only noticable change is that they dug up the front yard to install our water meter and ran the water line into the house. We were quite disgusted to find that sometime during the week someone decided that our basement floor was a toilet. Sheila called our personal builder and let him have it on his answering machine. We'll be arranging a meeting with him early next week.
Nov 2-3	We spent a lot of time at the house this weekend, cleaning up the mess the workers left on the first floor. We swept together in the new house for the first time. In several parts of the subfloor throughout the house the workers have been a little bit careless about actually hitting the joists, for instance in the breakfast nook almost every nail was a miss. So at the recommendation of our friend Larry we plan to go through the whole house adding screws, so that the floor won't squeak as much.
Oct 30	Rod met with the guy from Digital Innovations at the house today. They're the company that will be installing our telephone and cable wires and jacks. We're buying their "six and six" package, so we'll have cable and phone connections in all the bedrooms, plus the great room and the breakfast nook. They also sell security alarms and whole house sound systems, but some of that stuff is pretty expensive. Our fireplace has been installed. It looks really small right now because the decorative wood framing isn't in place yet like in the model home. They've also installed the bathtubs and the floor of what will be the shower in the master bedroom. It's been a long time since we posted pictures, but we should have some soon. I think we're down to the last one or two shots on our current roll. We'll probably use them up this weekend.
Oct 26	Some of the plumbing work has begun. There are many holes cut in the floor and PVC pipe everywhere (including a huge pile of elbows in the breakfast nook). I don't know if I mentioned it before, but our front and back doors have been dropped off at the garage, but haven't been installed.
Oct 19	Shingling is now complete. Some of the heating ducts are in place (mostly the upstairs). The second floor "mini-attic" (behind the walk in closet in what will be Rod's office) access has been increased in size at Rod's request, now 46" tall (was only 28" tall). Since this area is also floored we're hoping to use it for storage of things like seasonal decorations.
Oct 15	Still not entirely shingled. They have started cutting some holes for the heating vents, and a lot of galvanized steel has been dropped off inside for the ducts.
Oct 10	The roof is nearly complete. We visited the site at about 5:30 p.m., and they were still working on it when we left at 6:00 -- apparently trying to get the most out of the daylight hours that they have. The only parts of the roof that were not yet shingled were the south (back) side of the part over the bedroom that will be Rod's office, and the west side of the overhang on the front door. Now that the roof is up they were able to remove the temporary support braces from downstairs, so you can walk around the first floor much more freely. They have also built our basement stairs, so we finally were able to walk down there for a look around.
Oct 7	Our roof beams are now up, and they have completed all of the upstairs wall framing.
Oct 5	All of the outside walls of the upstairs are complete. They have started framing several of the interior walls as well.
Sep 30	We have an upstairs! There are no walls yet, but they've built a floor and the stairwell up (temporary treads of course) are laid out. The layout of the rooms is visible thanks to carbon lines on the subfloor.
Sep 27	All of the outside walls of the lower level are complete, including windows. No insulation or drywall yet. The interior walls are framed.
Sep 26	Got a call from the builder today with a last minute question on garage/kitchen entry, told him we wanted a straight wall (like the model) and not the "notched" wall that was on the new plan. He said that framing would begin that morning! We went out in the evening to find the west wall of the garage and kitchen is done. We also have a south wall of our breakfast nook, including the windows. Several other walls, the south wall of the kitchen and the east wall (dining and great room) are assembled but not yet upright.
Sep 25	Sheila stopped by the house but couldn't see any difference from yesterday.
Sep 24	Talked to the builder today and straightened out the mixup on the change order - we're actually getting something (double-wide, top and bottom pullout shelves on one cabinet) for $200 that he had earlier said would cost $360, so that's a good thing. We signed it and wrote a check for the increased price that wasn't covered in our original contract. Our lumber and windows have been dropped off at the job site.
Sep 23	Our basement floor and garage floor were poured today. The "change order" that we had to sign for our finished basement stairwell and upgraded kitchen cabinets was finally completed today. Our builder called Rod at work and asked him to come out and sign it right away. Unfortunately one item was incorrect so we couldn't sign it yet.
Sep 17	Had a face-to-face meeting with our builder (first time in a while) to discuss the changes that we had asked for in the kitchen and basement stairs. He finally had the quote for us, but surprised us a little by inserting something (42" cabinets) that we hadn't asked for, a pretty big ticket. Oh well, we caught it before signing anything. That's been removed and Sheila has decided she can live without the appliance garage. We also signed off on our "rock clause," we supposedly saved $890 on rock removal, but we're not really buying into this scam. At the house the sewer lines (Paul, is that the right term) have been laid so that they can pour the floor. See the photos section for details.
Sep 14	Picked out all of our light fixtures for every room at Rensen House of Lights. Worked with Terri Mott, she was very friendly (and as cost-conscious as we were) and we would recommend her. Managed to keep within $95 of our budget, our biggest change was adding an overhead light to the great room (was just a fan).
Sep 7	We were supposed to meet with Digital Innovations today to select our telephone/cable outlet numbers and positions, but Rod screwed up the time of the appointment and we were a half hour late. Called them to apologize but they didn't really seem to care that much. They suggested that we call them back when the house has a roof on it, then we can locate the outlets in the actual home instead of on a plan. At the house they have backfilled all around the foundation.
Aug 27	The forms have been removed from the foundation, some waterproofing compound applied, and the window-well has been added to our egress window. It's probably been there for a while, but we can see the tiling for the sump pump around the foundation also.
Aug 22	After much deliberation, Sheila has picked out all of our interior (crisp khaki, white umber trim, Himalaya for Rod's office) and exterior (magnet, grey cliff trim, purple spectacle door) paint colors, our kitchen countertops, vinyl flooring, and our carpet (pebble). The color she wanted for Rod's computer room turned out to be an extra price, so we went one shade lighter to save the money. We couldn't agree on colors for the rest of the house (dining room, master bedroom) so we'll do those someday down the road. Found out only afterwards that the countertop we selected matches the model home like ours at Amber Hills -- good news, we know it will go with the tile backsplash we picked.
Aug 21	We have a foundation, see the photos section for details.
Aug 20	Footings were poured today (presumably, we didn't actually go out.)
Aug 19	Ground was broken today! Sheila took her friend Sue out to show her where our lot was, and lo and behold there were piles of dirt all over and a hole in the ground in the shape of our basement. Sheila called Rod on the cell phone, and after approximately 1 minute Rod could even understand what she was screaming about. :)
Aug 16-19	Rod's parents were down, we took them out to show them the model and experienced the infamous "chicken room" incident -- don't get Rod started on this one again! Met one of our future neighbors from across the street who is building the same model as us. Had lots of fun with Val discussing paint colors we like, but unfortunately "pistachio" wasn't one of them. (:
Aug 15	Had our initial meeting with Diane at Weber Carpet today. Like most normal professionals, she didn't quite get Rod's sense of humor. Sheila picked out the countertop she wanted almost immediately, and didn't take well to the other options Rod picked out. The carpet we narrowed down to two colors right away, a dark gray or a "pebble" tan. The vinyl choices weren't all that thrilling. The paint is going to be challenging, there are so many to pick from. We've been advised to pick one on a house that we like, then ask the realtor what color that is, rather than trusting the sample book for the true exterior color.
Aug 10	Paid the remaining balance of our earnest money. Got to meet our "personal builder" Mike Waters today. We discussed exactly all the changes we want to make to the kitchen cabinets and got some ballpark prices from him. We told him where we wanted the extra lights in our kitchen (Carrie with Regency Realty was nice enough to meet us at the model home one night the previous week, and and we felt the kitchen was too dark). We also told him (and Dean) about our idea for the open wall along the basement stairwell (like the Amber Hills model). Dean thought it could be done, maybe slightly differently to allow structural strength, but possible and gave us a ballpark price we could live with.
Aug 2-5	The Butlers were down for a visit. We had a lot of fun with them. They were pretty excited for us about the house, we enjoyed showing them the model.
July 15	Met with the tile company to pick out our kitchen backsplash, fireplace, and upstairs bathroom tile and grout colors (we had no idea there was colored grout!). Managed to stay within our contracted budget.
June 29	Signed our contract! Built in some allowance for upgrades to the kitchen cabinets and other "unforeseen upgrades." Paid the first of two installments of earnest money.
June 15	Made our initial deposit to reserve our lot. Dennis (realtor) put the "sold" button on our lot on the property map, pretty exciting, and just in time for our wedding anniversary.