Today our sweet SR Dina sent us an updated picture of our new home and it is amazing how fast and efficient those workers are, I tip my hat to them because it looks awesome.  P.S. Thanks Dina you rock girl...

whole house framed with our roof in place (Elevation E).

It's been awhile

We have been stalled, waiting for our new Ryan home to be built, but we finally have our crawl-space foundation.  Other than that it has been quite and I had some time to think about how we can make our new house feel like a home.

Okay I am back, again this time with more pictures and some insight.  We have a frame and we are still working with NVR mortgage to get approved.  I believe that going through that process is more stressful than being in the Navy before I retired.  The underwriter has sent it back for little things mainly my husbands employer information but I believe that we are on a steady track right now.  Please enjoy the updated pics

front of foundation

side view of where our great-room is

side view of garage

Beginning stages of the framing

right side of house

right side a different angle

Morning room side

back of morning room

Our fireplace cutout and where our 280 sq foot deck will go;)

rear view of the great room and first floor bed/bath

view of first floor bed/bath window

view of garage looking into our mudroom

huge garage yay

front view of house/bonus room/2nd and 3rd bed rooms

can't wait until the roof and the rest of our framing is complete.

Our Decision to build with Ryan Homes

Not a blogger but I love to write, please bear with me.  Since being retired from the Navy only 1 year, we decided to look for a bigger house but not only that our dream house.  We have lived in our current home for 10 years and it has been challenging to say the least because we have a very big family, meaning 4 children and my husbands mother so we started to bust out of our first house very early on. We currently have a rental agreement with a great couple who can't wait to move in.  I have noticed that there is so many negative comments on the quality of a Ryan Home, so much so that I had to start doing research for myself; it was amazing to see some of those blogs that only focused on the bad and not what they liked or loved about their new home.  But I have since found other's who where willing to tell the good the bad and also not so pretty aspect of building.

For me there is nothing better than picking out all your own options and not having to tear down a homes current walls to do so.  I actually found the community I liked on line in Chesapeake called: The Park at Centerville Commons and I looked over the site and fell in love with it, this was also a year ago so we weren't truly ready yet but I would keep track of how many were being sold and such until recently in mid March we said it was time.

So on March the 21st we signed our contract and paid down on our lot which is on a Cul-de-sac, another dream of ours for safety reasons, it was very much worth the lot premium...  As far as our two SR's they are a dream to work with, "shout out to Dina and Chris love you two".  And I have nothing but good things to say about our current situation with NVR another shout out "Beth" you rock home girl".

We chose to use our VA home loan to finance and I am so crossing my fingers that we don't hit a snag.

I am not indecisive so here are my first and final options, everything was picked out within our 14 day window.

Options list

2 car garage front entry with 2' extension/service door

garage door opener with 2 remotes

Double bowl vanity master/double bowl vanity secondary baths

first floor bed/bath

Faucet fix oil rubbed bronze

whole house bronze package

Gas fireplace with blower/remote, slate

Gas hook up kitchen

stainless steel appliances except fridge

ice maker rough-in

Recessed lights kitchen

Trim package 1

kitchen faucet upgrade 2

Rushmore square painted glaze hazelnut cabinets throughout house/crown molding in kit

8 ceiling fan rough-ins

1 light rough-in

outside exhaust kit

Landscaping package enhanced

Owners soaking tub and shower with alt layout/4' ext to master bed/tray ceiling

42" cabinets in kit/gourmet island(incentive)

Elevation E, siding veneer front/Scenic Scape color scheme

crawl foundation/ext trim white

bonus room without closet/carpeted stairs, base-plate/metal balusters

morning room(incentive)

composite deck 14x20 (4800 off deck-incentive)

2  - 110v outlets in garage/dedicated circuit

attic storage

counter tops kitchen/bath upgrade level 2

cabinets upgrade level 2

siding color-Briarwood, Shake-Mediterranean palm, Brick-Grand caramel, 

Front Door-Raisin, Shutters-Dark Berry, Roof/porch- Weathered wood, Deck composite color-Mahogany

Granite in kit-Giollo Ornamental, in bath is burleywood

Flooring

secondary baths/laundry-resilient, station sq. Pinnacle Peak Caviar

Foyer/kit/powder room/morning/mud-Dundee 2 1/4" Saddle Hardwood

Greatroom/office/all of second floor -Gray stone Tucson winds, 8 lb carpet through out house

Master bath level c tile Castilian gray, listello is Random, grout-Oyster gray
secondary baths white ceramic tile surround/listello

Protection by design

we wanted the security system and surround sound wiring and installation

various video and data ports/HDTV/mounts/subs/receivers/3D projector and screen

we basically spent a lot for this but I love this part of the process and I am so into the whole' at home movie theater vibe.  We also got the intercom hook up and front door video monitoring because we have such a big family.

 it goes back beyond the black tarp.

We had our pre- construction meeting on the 27th and it went very well, we met our PM Matthew and he was very informative and down to earth, it helped that he is from Virginia and takes pride in building good quality homes.  Our house should be ready in mid to late July and I can't wait, our ground breaking is soon tentatively the first week of May.  Enjoy your home build.

 Here's a link for the Hampton roads community we chose

http://www.ryanhomes.com/find-your-home/our-communities/virginia/chesapeake/centerville-commons/palermo

Here is a link to the virtual tour enjoy.

http://www.blackstreamcreative.com/builders/tour.aspx?tn=1850

last pic is of our elevation, but with the front load garage.