Here we are!
Just as a reminder, we closed on February 14, and got the keys on the 15th. That weekend then became a whirlwind of trying to get some stuff in boxes and over to the new house, while also calling to switch over cable, electrical, and gas. Of course, we couldn't switch over the cable right away, so there was about a week of heading back to the old house to do work-related projects that required internet access. That was fun. Plus, I missed a bunch of shows! It was rather painful to read Facebook updates about The Walking Dead when I hadn't even watched it yet!
I'll get to pics in a second, but first I want to bring up some of the things I mentioned in my last post a month ago. I mentioned that our PMs have been pretty good overall, save for an occasional lack of communication. This came to the forefront the day we closed. Apparently, there had been an issue with the dishwasher that we were completely unaware of. At some point in the cycle, the dishwasher would leak a small amount of water from the bottom righthand corner. Now, at the pre-settlement walkthrough we were not told any of this. No one mentioned anything to us about it. According to what our PMs told us later, they had assumed that it was fixed since they had GE show up before the pre-settlement date to repair it (that was repair attempt #1). After our pre-settlement meeting that day, one of the PMs decided to try to run another cycle to see if it was fixed. It wasn't. There was still a small amount of water that leaked from the bottom right corner. After we closed on Thursday, I called our main PM to let him know that we were able to sign the paperwork (and left a message, since it was after hours). He called back shortly afterward and told me THEN about the dishwasher problems. AFTER we had already signed off and closed. Wonderful. He was lucky I answered the phone and not the husband. The husband was pretty upset about it, and rightfully so. No mention was made of this to us. We had no clue that ANYTHING was wrong with ANY of our appliances. It made me wonder, "What if something else was wrong with something else, and we had no idea before we closed?" In addition to all that, now the house is ours and there will be someone trying to get in to repair this dishwasher - and of course they'll likely want one of us there to supervise. Well, great, but neither of us were able to take any real time off work after closing because of our work schedules and conflicting colleagues' vacations. So, uh, wouldn't it be better if this had been fixed BEFORE we closed, instead of now one of us having to leave work randomly to try to be there for a repairman??
And then the repairman! The PMs made an appointment that following Monday (I think) to have GE come out and try to fix it again (repair attempt #2 - apparently they try three times before calling it a lemon and replacing the appliance). Okay, we told the PMs we want someone there to watch the guy, as we started moving stuff in over the weekend (including our two cats). The PMs said one of us had to be there too. Great. Now the husband has to leave work (as we were short staffed at my job and I couldn't get away) so he can be there with the repairman. Luckily, both our PMs were also there. The repairman comes in and starts working on the dishwasher - this is where it gets good. First he breaks a couple parts off while trying to figure out what's wrong, including the bottom trim and the plastic top part where the buttons are. The husband and PMs kept looking at each other like, "What is this guy doing?" He then proceeds to throw down one of the broken pieces on the counter, and exclaims "I don't know how to fix this. I can't do this. I'll have to call another service guy." And he leaves. Just leaves, with our dishwasher now broken. Husband and PMs look at each other, husband says "You guys are gonna replace this now," PMs say "Yes, this will be replaced." A little while later, one PM calls the GE service department to find out whether a new repairman will be coming out or not, and GE tells him that the first guy never even checked in! Never called, nothing! They have no idea where he is. By 6 pm or so that evening, they still didn't know where the original repairman was. Apparently, our dishwasher broke the guy. I think he left the country.
Another thing I mentioned was the cleaners. I know some people on the blogs have complained about the cleaning being less than ideal before closing. I'll have to second that. We are rather lucky that our paint color for the walls matches the tile colors closely - otherwise it would be really really obvious that there are paint drips and messes ALL OVER the tile. They did a good job with the obvious trim paint overspray that we had on the hardwoods, but the tile was terrible. I know that because of the fact that our paint and tile colors were so similar led to them not being able to see how much paint was on there, but seriously. I could tell when I was sealing grout - I know the cleaning staff was on their hands and knees cleaning the tile as well (we walked through the house one evening while they were there, so I saw them). Our PM even told us that he had them come back through to clean right before we closed, but I find it hard to believe. Obviously some of the stuff can't be helped - lord knows there's a ton of drywall dust still settling today - but paint on the tile? Come on. It was pretty obvious to me. Of course, I wouldn't be blaming the cleaning crew if the painters had been more careful, but whatever. Expecting people to do things right the first time seems to be a pipe dream.
Finally, on to the pics. Overall, we're rather pleased with how it all turned out. I still thank the husband daily (out loud or in my head) for changing the paint color to Pavilion Beige - I can't imagine how the other paint choice would have turned out, but this is perfect for us.
First, the first floor...
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| The Stairs - I really love how these turned out |
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The Living Room
(There is now furniture in here! I'll post pics later today) |
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| View from Living Room into Dining Room |
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Fireplace
(update to come on this one - they're replacing our hearth stones as one of them has a very sharp edge) |
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| Morning Room (and awesome view) |
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| Kitchen |
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Kitchen from Morning Room
(Another update - GE is replacing our freezer door since it's dented near the handle...perhaps someday I will discuss this more, right now it's a bit touchy) |
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| Dining Room |
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| Another view of the Dining Room |
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| Overall view of Family Room (a little out of order) |
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| Mudroom/Laundry Room |
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| First floor Powder Room - rather hard to photograph |
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| First floor Office - also hard to photograph |
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| Windows in the first floor Office |
And now the second floor...
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Master Bedroom Sitting Room
(Closet door to the left) |
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Master Bedroom - lots of these rooms are hard to photograph
(might have to use panorama next time, when there's real furniture in here) |
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| Master Bathroom sinks |
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| Master shower |
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| Jetted tub (yay!) |
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| One spare Bedroom (next door to the Master) |
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| Foyer chandelier |
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| Stairs looking down (you can see our shoes!) |
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| Hall Bathroom |
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| Hall Bathroom sinks |
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| Smallest Bedroom and my future Craft Room |
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| Another spare Bedroom |
Finally, the basement...
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| Basement (to the right of the stairs as you face them) |
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| Basement (continuing to the right of the stairs as you face them) |
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| Basement stairs |
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| Basement (to the left of the stairs as you face them) |
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| Basement Powder Room |
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Unfinished Area
(Only unfinished storage in the whole house) |
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Unfinished Area
(and some leftover carpet and hardwoods) |
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| Another shot of the Basement - the back of the stairs are at the far right of the picture |
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Future Hearth Room
(planning on putting a fireplace in on that open blank wall) |
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The Future Bar Area
(finished space under the Morning Room - doors to outside are in this area) |
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| Doors to the Media Room |
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| Media Room (back) |
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| Media Room (front, where the TV will go) |
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View from the walkout doors - inside the tiled Future Bar Area
(Lots of mud right now, but hopefully a patio in the future) |
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| The Front of the House! |
There are more things to come in the near future (like other complaints, how things went at the 30 day inspection, etc.), but I think that's all for now. I'll try to get pics up soon of some of the rooms with furniture.
