Playing the waiting game...

 

 

Today I drove by our lot in hopes that there would be some change, even though I know deep down inside that may not happen. We were told last week they would start marking out our property lines, home dimensions, etc on the land in preparation of next week, but there was absolutely nothing observed. I have also been checking the City's website to see if any permits have been issued to date for our address but that was a no as well. Per the builder's timeline we will be breaking ground by next Tuesday (August 06, 2013), and it is driving me crazy to just wait and see nothing. We still don't have our anticipated closing date, nor have we had our Plot Plan review or Pre-Construction meeting with our Community/Project Manager. Hopefully this Thursday our SR (Sales Representative) will have info on when this will be a "Go" for us.

 

 On an extremely happier note, in 11 days, Mr and I will be celebrating our 1st year of unadulterated marital bliss! 13 days after that we will be celebrating our anniversary by going on a cruise headed to the Bahamas!!! We are beyond ready for this vacation, but of course want to see our home in motion prior to leaving for a week. :-)

 

 Until next time,

-The Alexander's

Finalizing all those decisions

Yesterday evening we had another appointment at the design studio where we finalized by signing off on all of the options we picked out. This appointment was by far, less stressful then the first even thought there was one minor hiccup that we were able to can. Maybe because we came prepared with things we were going to cut to ensure that we came in on budget.

At one point the design specialist told us that we would have to change our home color due to our future HOA not approving the color we picked. My husband must have seen my stress level beginning to pick up, because he immediately asked if their was a way they could double check being that their were other homes of darker colors (including the model home). This was of course something that they would have to respond to at a later date, but they recommended that we pick out a back up color scheme in the event the HOA board denied our request. So we walked around the studio to confirm all of our options, and as we get to the exterior colors we try to decide on a new color scheme, and the 2 others we loved we could not get because our neighbors have already picked them. Ugh- Here comes that anxious headache attempting to rise again. Our awesome lady then excused herself for a moment and apologized to Mr and I because our brick color was recently approved by the HOA however they had not updated the list yet. Thank God!!! This was by far my favorite brick option that they had, Plus- I hated all the other free brick options and really did not want to break our budget for this or entertain the thought of eliminating other options.  

At the end we decided to add a pedestal sink with a framed mirror to the powder room and added some kits to mount our TVs in the master and living room. We were told that next we will have our pre-construction orientation possibly next week and no later than August 6th they should be breaking ground.

I know I already showed some pictures of the flooring and stuff but now I have the names of everything we picked so here they go again!

Seacrest Birch Clove color cabinets throughout home

Santa Cecilia Granite Countertops

 Malibu Sand laminate flooring for Master bath and Bath 2

Piedrafina Cultured marble Master bath counter top in Classico

Odyssey ORO 13x13 back splash at diagonal with  Toasted Almond grout

 Genoa- Luca (Desert Khaki Tile) for all of downstairs with the exception of the den

Nest Egg carpet- Putty in color for stairs and all of upstairs

Just one more picture /collage with some of the most beautiful dirt I've ever seen!

Hopefully we will have our construction meeting next week or even get a report that our permits were in sooner then expected and I can report it to all my wonderful followers.  Until that time comes. 

      XOXO

-The Alexander’s

Decisions Decisions, Ahhhh

So today we had our appointment at the design center to start picking all of the accessories and features. When I say overwhelming, trust me I mean it. There are just some things that I prefer to not think about- for example the type of insulation or the color roof I will have, but they make you think about. At first It was like placing 2 kids in the candy store and telling them to pick out 1 piece of candy to share, because you want absolutely everything. However that feeling quickly turns in to stress as you see that not so expensive $50 eventually turn into $10,000. Thankfully the design consultant was patient and ever so sweet. At the end of the day we were $4,000 over budget, and that is including some of our "maybes". At the moment I realized we over budget all of our maybes became Hell no, but Mr. thinks we should still consider it.  We'll see.

Our gray color shingles Alamo Heights Brick

An example of a home with that brick selection. Looking at this makes me so excited for how "Foxy" (my nieces favorite word for anything she liked growing up) our home will look.

Our Kitchen options- Clove colored cabinets, the back splash tile next to it, Tiles that will be on the 1st floor and My oh so treasured granite counter tops. I cant remember the specific color names for options picked so  will have to add that later. :)

Here's a closer view of the Granite with the cabinets!

 I absolutely love the brushed nickel, however that would probably take us completely out of budget. So being the cost efficient person that I am- I decided on the next best thing- Chrome.

Our Moen Castleby chrome kitchen faucet. I don't know what it is about this faucet, but out all of the options that they had (cheaper or expensive), this one by far stood out to us.

Mr and I knew that we really wanted a deep stainless steel sink, and especially if we got granite counter tops. Guess which cost efficient person was super happy to hear that this would be a free option along with back splash? <This is where I guiltily raise my hand>

Our appliances- minus the fridge. We have our eye on a really nice french door fridge with the bottom freezer, and believe we can get it fairly cheap on our own then through the builder. Luckily in this situation  time is our friend, so we plan to purchase it around one of those holidays that Sears, Home Depot or Lowes has killer sales. I think Labor Day may be the next best appliance sale holiday?

I thinkI mentioned before that we have 2.5 bathrooms. Well these are our ever so Foxy Moen Brandtford chrome faucets for all the bathrooms. The other picture just provides a better angle in comparison to my picture.

Another view of our different flooring options with the vinyl flooring for upstairs bathrooms, and carpet for the stairs, bedrooms, and den. That small white square you see is actually the countertops in the master bathroom. I really wish that I had a better picture of it. It has great sparkly inclusions in it. As I think of it, I actually forgot to get the pictures of the bath tubs and sinks. I guess that will be another blog.

 Chandelier for the dinning room

 Not so great picture of the standard light for every bedroom but the master

Light for Master bath

 The one thing Mr was very adamant about having- this wrought iron stairwell.



 Whats next you ask? well on 07/23/13 we go back to sign off on our selections and make any final changes/ request. That is the day the also request permits from the city no later than 2 weeks we should see progress. I will make my best attempt to take pictures of all the items  we forgot today and add it along with any new info, if any.

 Whew! This came out a lot longer then our initial intentions, but we hope you enjoyed the pictures.

-The Alexander’s

 

How we got here

In May, My husband- whom we will refer to as "Mr", and I decided it was time to look into purchasing a new home. We got married in August of last year and were living in our home that Mr owned prior to us dating. After looking at different homes on the market within our budget we began to flirt with the idea of a new construction home in an area in North Austin that we absolutely love. After several visits to different communities, we realized we were comparing everything back to this home and decided to talk with our realtor about where to start. After much consideration we decided to take the plunge and put a deposit down on the lot and place our home on the market. On May 31st we placed our home on the market, and received an offer within 4 hours with a closing date set for the 19th of June. OMG, Talk about stress. So we decided to move in an apartment on a short term lease and fast forward- here we are.

The floor plan that we have picked is the 2239-C which is an all brick 2 story home with 3 bedrooms 2.5 baths a study and a game room. If all goes as planned we should be having our new home orientation within the next few weeks and attending our planning meeting to pick our options at the studio.


This is one of the model homes, and the same floor plan however we are considering red brick. 

 

First floor of the floor plan. We are for sure going to have the den instead of a 4th bedroom to use as an office, an atrium door at back instead of the sliding glass door, and an extended covered patio.

 

On the 2nd floor, we will utilize the loft as a 2nd living room/ game room, and a garden shower/tub at master bath.

 

So far that is all we have and as things develop we will be sure to update you. Thanks for reading and we hope to have you back.