A Tour of the Model

Entrance (Click any photos to enlarge)View from front door. Office on immediate left, dining room on left past hall closet, family room straight ahead.First half of Office.

Second half of Office.

Dining Room view from Hallway.

View of Dining Room from stairs.
View from the Family Room to the Front Door.
View of Family Room from Kitchen (we will not have a fireplace).

The tape measure shows the section of carpet we want to remove and replace with the hardwood. Right now our flooring breaks would be exactly like in the pictures, but we're hoping to have the hardwood angled where the measuring tape is and extended to the windows. If we do this then when you walk from the front door to the kitchen you will always be on wood (instead of taking 2-3 steps across the carpet). The wood would also continue to the back wall/window so that the stools at the breakfast bar would sit on the hard wood.

View of the Family Room from the Kitchen.

View from the Family Room to the stairs.View of Family Room from stairs.
View from the Family Room into the Kitchen. We're not building a morning room, so the sliding glass doors to the back patio will be where the upper cabinets end.Kitchen
Another Kitchen angle (pantry beside refrigerator).
View from Kitchen into the Mudroom, 1/2 Bath on Left, Garage straight ahead, Basement stairs on right.
Basement. Stairs on right, we will not have a walk-out basement, so the sliding doors won't be there.
Basement. Storage area behind door on left, 1/2 bath behind door on right.
Basement. Storage area behind door.
View downstairs from Laundry Room. The solid wall on the left will be completely open for the "Loft."
Laundry Room on second floor.
Full Bath on second floor with double bowl vanity.
Bedroom 1
Bedroom 2Master Bedroom and entrance to Master Bath.
Master Bedroom and entrance to closet 1 of 2.
Master Bath. Shower & linen closet on left, double bowl vanity on right and closet 2 of 2 straight ahead.
Closet 2 of 2. Both closets are "U-Shaped" so this picture shows about half of it.

Introducing the Milan...

I never thought I'd start a blog, but I definitely wanted to document the home building process and be able to share our progress with family and friends. I wanted to avoid posting constant home updates on Facebook, so I figured a blog would be the easiest way.

We signed the sales agreement a week ago and have already selected most of our options, met with Guardian for the technology wiring and selected flooring at Rusmur (thanks Cathy!). Here's where we're at so far...

After 2 months of trying to work with Maronda, we ended up starting to look at all of our options again. We met with Ryan and within one week, we chose a location...
And a home...
Initially we thought we wanted to be on the cul-de-sac, but after walking down the unpaved, dirt road and seeing the lots we chose the one with the most "usable" yard and what we thought would work best for us.

The house pictured above is the Milan, Elevation "C." This is a model home, so the 2 white doors on the right will actually be the 2-car garage door. We selected a stone accent (Kentucky) with Sandy Tan siding, Almond garage door and trim, and black shutters and front door.

Selecting the exterior colors seemed like a never ending process, but I think we're both happy with where we ended up.

Here's the floor plan (click to enlarge):

We decided to go with the 3 bedrooms and a loft instead of 4 bedrooms. We changed the formal living room to a home office with french doors and we're finishing the basement and adding a half bath.

The entire first floor will have hardwood floors, Gunstock stain except for the family room which will have frieze carpet in Branch. This same carpet will also be on the stairs and entire second floor and in the basement.

Here are some of the other options we chose for the kitchen:

• Butterscotch Glaze, Painted Maple, 42" Cabinets
• Upgraded Laminate Countertops in Red Montana
• Stainless Steel Appliances

Here's another shot of the cabinets, flooring and counter (it's the sample on the left).

Here's a picture from the manufacturer's website. The cabinets might be my favorite thing in the entire house!

The basement bath will have espresso cabinets, a dark black/gray granite vanity and a dark gray ceramic floor. Haven't finalized the second floor bathrooms yet, but they will be much more neutral.