Just getting started

Ok, so we are trying to play catch up.  On May 17th we picked out our flooring, cabinets, carpet and all the other good stuff.  We decided to go with the morning room and also are having our basement finished. Also we did go with Venice elevation B with Stone Mountain Clay siding, Bucks County stone, Black Shutters and the front door color being Fine Wine.  The following is what we picked out for our flooring, cabinets and countertops...

1. Kitchen Cabinets: Scottsdale Square Maple Expresso
2. Kitchen Counter Tops: Level 1 Laminate upgrade Antique Mascarello
3. Fireplace Surround: Tropical Brown Granite
4. Hardwood floors: Manchester Oak Strip Saddle
5. Carpet on the first and second floor: Intuitive Pebble
6. Upgraded Stainless Appliance Package
7. Carpet in basement: Coastal Breeze
8: Guardian Home Security System
9: Pre Wires for two flat panel Tv's
10. Kitchen tile tumblestone back splash
11. Owners bath: Castle de Verre Turret Beige tile and wall tile
12. Owners bath: Andover Square White cabinets and standard white cultured marble
13. Secondary Bath: Fairfield Square Maple Spice with standard white cultured marble
14. Banister Stain: Chestnut

This past Thursday we had our Pre Construction meeting, everything went really well we were told they should start digging on Wednesday the 20th, hope all goes well. The PM was very nice. He answered all of our questions and told us that he would be in touch often.

Im really pleased with all of the choices we made.  I origanally had wanted granite countertops but because of the higher price, decided to go with the upgraded Antique Mascarello because I wanted to get the kitchen backsplash and upgrade the bathroom.  We found out that upgrading the bathroom tile in the owners bath also meant that we automatically were upgraded to an 80 gallon water heater from the 50 gallon standard.

several days prior to meeting with PM, We have rock and stakes!

Intuitive Pebble carpet for first and second floor

Manchester Oak Strip Saddle for kitchen, breakfast room, half bath, foyer and hall

Scottsdale Square Maple Espresso cabinets and canvas backsplash.

We did chestnut stain banisters with white spindles

Andover Square White bath cabinests with standard white cultured marble duel sink top

Owner bath upgraded to floor tile and wall tile "Castle de Verre"

Owner shower also "Castle de Verre

We also chose the glass panel door for the the entrance to the basement,

we felt this would really dress up the wall and make it feel more open and spacious

Bucks County Stone for partial brick front of our home

Secondary full bath, Fairfield Square Maple Spice cabinet with standard white cultured

marble bath sink

Tropical Brown granite surround for our fireplace

This is the Antique Mascarello counter with the wood floor and cabinet sample

I was a little nervous about the countertops and how they would look with the Maple Expresso cabinets until our Sales Rep Ashley took us to another Ryan Venice where it had been installed. My husband and I were extremely pleased with the look.  I also had picked out level II Shaw simple touch capri but later went back to where I had first picked out the flooring and changed my carpet to Intuitive Pebble.  I had asked around about the carpet that I had picked out and was told that because Ryan homes only allows you to choose from a certain selection that it would be wise to pick out a carpet that was made of nylon over polyester. I was told that the nylon would hold up better for longer. I went home and immediately looked up the design center where I had picked out the simple touch capri and found out that it was 100% polyester so I changed the carpet to the Intuitive Pebble which was also a level two but was intead made of nylon.  It also had a longer warranty and my husband and both liked it much better then what I had originally chose.