The Inside Begins to Take Shape

We are now at a stage in where the major elements of the house structure are all completed and we begin to see the individual elements take shape.  Each day new items are installed and we move closer to closing. The first items which have been installed into the house are the cabinets, doors and banisters.  In our latest pass through the house we were shocked all these items were already in.

Cabinets

We stuck with the base model cabinets for a couple reasons, first of course is cost, and second the oak wood look of them is something we liked.  It was something that had not happened too often, where the base model was actually the one we would have chosen anyway.

The primary location of the cabinets in the house is the kitchen.  Our selection of the optional gourmet island, which is really more of a peninsula than an island, adds a pair of large cabinets.  The cabinets of the gourmet island comes out on a twenty-five to thirty degree angle from the end of the half wall we have seen in a number of the kitchen pictures from prior posts.

Kitchen Cabinets - Gourmet Island

To the right are the cabinets which will form the base of the sink, separated from the cabinets under the gourmet island by a gap which will ultimately house the dishwasher.  In the corner further to the right of the sink is a cabinet which houses a lazy Susan.  It is at this point where the above counter cabinets begin as well.  

Kitchen Cabinets

Beyond the corner is a run of cabinets both above and below where the counter will reside leading up to the location where the range will go as well as a wall installed microwave.  You will notice that in this cut out area is a set of cabinets reaching all the way to the ceiling.  Cabinet 9 feet above the floor, will be tough to really utilize, but it looks good.  According Jackie our sales rep, this cabinet alignment is a new feature as part of the base setup.  Previously the cabinets would have ended where you see the small cabinets begin about a foot from the ceiling.

Kitchen Cabinets - View from Family Room

A small section of cabinet in the kitchen separated from the rest are those which will be situated around the refrigerator.  There is a set of small cabinets directly above where the refrigerator will ultimately reside. Additionally there is one cabinet above the counter and one below the cabinet to the left of the refrigerator. This location is one of the few areas where there is power hooked up, as you can see below there is an extension cord.  If you remember in the post where we looked at the basement with drywall there was a yellow extension cord powering the sump pump, well this is the source.  It wraps around from the kitchen, down the hall, then the steps and into the unfinished section of the basement.

Kitchen Cabinets - Around the Refrigerator 

The second place the cabinets are are the two full bathrooms.  In the bathrooms Ryan Homes utilize the same cabinets in the base option as used in the kitchen.  The setup is a single cabinet on the right with a few drawers on the left.

Cabinets - Hallway Bathroom

The master bathroom has the same cabinet as seen in the picture above, in the base option it is a single cabinet with a double wide counter, the side closest to the wall does not have any cabinet underneath.  We did not want that setup so we had a second cabinet placed underneath.

Double Cabinet - Master Bathroom

Banisters

We talked about the banisters versus the base option of a capped wall in the drywall installation second floor post, but at the time there was only pictures of the temporary banisters placed in the house for safety.  On our most recent visit the temporary safety setup had been removed giving way to the final banister.  There are tow options for the spindles in the banister, white wood or black metal.  The wood spindles are less expensive than the metal, but still is a bit of a jump from the capped wall.

We had decided from early on that the bottom of the stair portion had to be banisters as we didn't like the idea of the capped wall.  So we originally asked for a custom price to have just the bottom of the stairs be banister and the top a capped wall.  Customized requests are not very affordable, as the price for that option came in just about two thirds the price of the full banister.  This made the decision easy we would just go with the full banister setup, as the price difference didn't make much sense.  As you will see the bottom banister makes up about a fifth or less of the total banister size.

Banister at Bottom of Stairs

The banister on the top wraps around the the staircase on all sides from the loft on the one side and the entire hallway on the other.  I wasn't to sure about the banister in the loft area and thought the capped wall may look better there but that also would have been a custom job which would have most likely been priced out. Now that I am seeing the banisters in place, I am happy I didn't push for the loft side to be a capped wall. The light from the two windows in the loft and landing will radiate through the open banisters and fill the stairway.  The following are a few different angles of the banisters at the top of the stairs.

Banisters - View from the Loft

Banisters - View from the End of Hallway

Banisters - Close View from Top of the Stairs

You may have noticed in all the pictures of the banister that the wood looks natural but dull, this is due to the banisters when installed are not finished.  They are finished onsite as one of the final items done.  They will ultimately match pretty close to the cabinets in the kitchen. 

Doors

The standard doors in the house are double panel look door, larger bottom panel and smaller top panel, which are hung on all interior doorways with exception of the one from the kitchen leading into the laundry room which is a is a slatted door.  The one door which they offered as an upgrade was the one leading to the basement which could have been a glass door.  We choose against that glass door option.  I took a picture in the third bedroom which captured the look of the doors in the house.

Third Bedroom - Doors

Up next will be a look at the tile in the bathrooms and later we will be taking a look at some of the flooring. 

Framing Day Two

Yesterday was the second day of work by the framers, and they had completed almost all of their work the prior day, so I expected them to be able to complete it all.  I received a call from Bob in the morning, we usually talk later in the day, but this was perfect I had some time and was able to ask a few questions.  He first let me know that the framers would complete their work that day, as I had expected would be the case.  I was curious whether or not the framers would start the roof, or if the roofers would come to put the base wood on for the roof.  It was the framers, Bob let me know the roofers do the sheets on top of the wood and the shingles on top of that.  He did let me know that the roofers would most likely be dropping off the supplies before the end of the day.

As you have seen by the pictures the back of the house features a large number of trees, I asked if there would be some more clearing behind the house.  Bob said what is cleared is what will be cleared. This is one thing that is a little puzzling to me as it looks like the house next door was cleared at least an extra 25 feet back from where ours is cleared.  I think this one will require some follow up, other wise the back yard will be all ground brush.  I am not looking for tons of trees to be knocked down, but I think the ground should be cleared some as they are supposed to plant seed in the back yard as part of the contract.  That will not be possible over the top of what looks like dead brush and years of leaves.

Another question I asked was in regards to the waterproofing, as it didn't come all the way up the wall on the garage side and there was sprayed on waterproofing under the front door and in the inside of the garage.  He explained this is common practice, all wall with interior not under the garage have the waterproofing.

I was excited to go see how far the crew made. I knew my wife would be out of work early enough to go over before the sun set so I figured it would be best to get some other stuff done first and we could go over together.   We headed over to the house slightly after my wife had arrived home.  As we pulled up the block there was people working on the house next door.  The van out front had a painting company's information so it seems they are getting really close to being done.  

Front Left View (Pulling up Street to the House)

As you can see above the house was really far along, not only was the framing done, but the windows and front door were in as well.  Pretty crazy how fast its all coming together.  Here is a look from the front.

Front View

One additional view from the right side, in which you can see the finished roof framing over the garage as well as the shingles which were delivered and will probably be up on Monday.

Right Front View

The one additional thing I asked was when I could get inside to take a few pictures, for which Bob had informed me I could next week.  I will setup some time Tuesday morning to go through with Bob or one of the other Ryan Home employees working this site.

Looking over the pictures I came up with some new questions in regards to hose bibs, since there will be two I was hoping one to be closer to the front and one to be closer to the back, but I am not sure if that is possible with the slope being as it is unless it would come out of the foundation and not the wooded portion of the house.  I will let you know what the options are after talking to Bob on Monday.