Friday, January 21, 2011

I'm in love!

Maybe it wasn't the best choice since I did it in the middle of a snow storm last night, but I went to see my new kitchen.  To say I love it is an understatement.  I am so happy with our choices for this room.  I was totally by myself - no husband, no Ryan employee, just me and my "baby" (I know I'm a dork).  The pictures aren't great because it was getting dark and it was pretty dusty, but you'll get the idea.



I was afraid the laminate counter tops would look cheap, but I REALLY like them.  They are "butter rum" - I know that some other Ryan bloggers chose them, too.  They're covered in dust right now, but they do look good in my opinion.


Cabinets above the fridge are a new feature.  In the model they were so far back in the cubby that you couldn't really reach them for them to be usable.  Our  awesome PM had them built out so that they come almost to the edge.  Thanks, Jeremy!


Looking into the Morning Room.

The kitchen was by far the most exciting part of my visit, but here are a few other shots.

Family Room (mantel and fireplace frame are in the middle of the floor).

Dining Room


I'm so glad we changed the stain color.  I'm really happy with it.  Thanks again, Tasha!



Vanity in Upstairs Bathroom

I took lots of pictures of the bedrooms, but other than the painted trim there wasn't much change since the last post - so I spared you.  Except for the master.  This was the door painting room I guess.  20 doors!  Who knew?

So ll in all I am totally thrilled with how things are looking and I love so many parts of the house.  There are two things I would do differently if I had the chance - one's an easy fix, the other not so much.

Up first is opting to get a single bowl sink in the master bath resulting in a long counter but no vanity underneath.  We're going to take Thrifty Amy and Kristine's advice and order another cabinet on our own.  I wish we would have just paid the extra $750 for the double sink.




The other thing I would change is a biggie.  This is something we won't be able to change for years and years.  The siding.  I think it is way too light for the brick :(  We were limited because of what our close neighbors chose.  The samples are so small and its hard to envision.  I wish it would have been a few shades darker.  Although it's such a huge part of the house, I have to work on not focusing on how much I dislike it.  Hopefully it will grow on me.


Lots of things to be happy about - that's what I have to focus on. 

Oh and GO STEELERS!  AFC championship, here we come!

15 comments:

  1. Another Butter Rum fan here. Thanks for posting the pic, I'll show Daniel when he gets home. He initailly wanted Madras Indian Slate, which I agreed with at first. But when I went back with my mom to show her our selections I put the Madras against our cabinets with a black glove, since we're getting black appliances, and I was not a fan at all. We did both agree to Butter Rum though and I couldn't be happier.

    What stain did you get for your staircase?

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  2. Oh and I forgot...GO STEELERS!

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  3. I am so happy with the butter rum! I think it's a pretty good substitute for granite. We also got black appliances, and I think they will go nicely with the counter top. Good choice!

    The stain color is cherry. Our sales reps were nice enought to let us borrow a few wooden stain samples from the model so we could take them to Lowes. They let us take a cabinet door too so we could match them both up with hardwood floors since we're going to put our own in. I really like how the banister turned out!

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  4. Yay, we picked the cherry stain too.

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  5. km i love it doll!!!! thanks for the butter rum shots...thats what we chose...

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  6. I'm so jealous of your large morning room and cherry cabinets! It is going to look beautiful when it's all finished! As far as your siding, I think that once you have landscape in and the snow off the roof you will find it doesn't bother you. There is a red brick colonial down the street from us with white/off white siding and I think it looks very classic. Anyway, I hope you come to like it! I just posted on 2011's blog about shopping for sinks and faucets on ebay. Check it out and keep posting pictures!

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  7. Your kitchen looks fantastic!! Our cabinets are very similar in color and I love the butter rum counter tops!

    Your railings look nice also, I have to double check on what stain we chose.

    And I agree with everyone - you will like the siding better once everything is finished. I actually wanted a darker siding, but got overruled on that one by my hubby!

    I can't believe you drove to your house Thursday night - the weather was awful! We actually postponed our pre-construction meeting so our sales rep and PM could get home before it got too bad!

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  8. Love the cabinets !!!!!!! good choice with the butter rum, everything looks great

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  9. I forgot I love the idea of building the cabinets out wish I would have thought of it :(

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  10. Thanks everyone!
    Natalie, thanks for the e-bay tip - I wouldn't have thought of that.
    Tasha, I wish the cabinet extension was my idea - our PM did that on his own!

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  11. Wow it looks great! We also chose butter rum so I am very excited to see more pictures from you to see how it looks!

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  12. Thanks for posting about the cabinets over the fridge. I asked our PM about this on Monday and he is going to set ours away from the wall too.

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  13. Oh, good Megan. That's what all this blogging is about. Giving tips to other people who are building!

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  14. I also went with the dark red Madrid with white siding! Hoping iy looks good! Nervous after your post....lol

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  15. momoftwins, I love the Madrid with white siding. That's what I wanted. My husband was opposed, so we go this instead. I think there's a yellow tone to our siding that I don't like. Yours will look great!

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