Okay, so I completed my pre-drywall meeting yesterday—it was
weird, the house seemed smaller than I expected. I expected it to feel bigger
since there aren’t any walls but it didn’t. The rooms looked smaller than I
expected them to be, and I wasn’t mesmerized like I thought I would be. Don’t
get me wrong—the house is coming along beautifully and I can’t wait to live in
it, but I wasn’t in awe when I saw the house.
I was actually very critical of everything instead—which is unlike me.
My PM said that the master bathroom door would open INTO the bathroom—I don’t
know how I feel about that. I’ve seen pictures that other bloggers have posted
and their door opens OUT to the bedroom. If it opens into the bathroom then it
will open against the shower—perhaps I’m just making a big deal out of nothing….
My vents are located
in the ceiling which I DO LIKE because I won’t have to worry about blocking
them when I decorate—but I wonder if the ventilation is the same for vents
located in the ceiling as vents located in the floor? I’m also a little
disappointed because I could have sworn that my PM said my driveway was going
to be curved when we had our pre-construction meeting, but yesterday he said
that it would be straight.
Overall, I am pleased with everything so far---I REALLY WISH I WOULD HAVE GOTTEN THE TRAY
CEILING REQUEST IN ON TIME (sorry, I may have a touch of ADD)--- My closing
date has been set for December 9th (I requested a December closing).
My PM said that we’ll do the pre-closing final walk through on December 6th
so I’m not scheduled to go back up there until then, but I’ll probably take a
trip up there to see the progress sometime in November.
Summary
of the Experience:
I’ve looked at
millions of pictures of the Rome from fellow bloggers and I believe it has dwarfed
my ability to appreciate my own Rome. Because I’ve seen it all before and my
realtor had just sent me pictures of the inside of the house earlier in the
week, I wasn’t surprised or emotionally moved by the experience.
With that in mind, when I see the house again instead of only
looking at the house for the beauty of its details, I will envision my family
in the house and allow myself to be captivated at the thought of the memories
we will create. For a house is nothing more than a building made from wood, but
a home is a place where memories are made, dreams are fulfilled, and even tears
are cried. It is a safe haven. It is a place of escape from the treacherous world
we live in. This blog is not about building a house, it’s about building a home
in a building named Rome….
The Rome is huge with nice sized bedrooms. The house will definitely feel bigger once drywall is up, bigger yet once painted and trimmed. I spent an extra hour after my meeting snapping pictures so I would have a idea of where the studs, wires, cables, ducts, and water lines were if I ever needed to do work after we moved in.
ReplyDeleteYeah, it was very difficult for me to gauge the room sizes. My realtor commented on how big the house was, but I kept thinking that it really wasn't. I even secretly wondered if they made a mistake and built the house too small—I wished that I had brought a tape measurer with me so that I could make sure they hadn’t cheated me out of some square footage...lol.
DeleteI never thought to take pictures for future reference; although, I was constantly examining the house for opportunities where future upgrades could be made. Having seen the house in its skeleton state, I must admit that they did not waste any space. Overall, I am very happy with the house and I can’t wait for it to be finished.
Our master bathroom door opens into the bathroom and I'm very happy with that. We keep the door open most of the time and that keeps it out of the way. If it were open to the bedroom, it would mess up my decor and it would visually break up the room. J and M is right in that the rooms will seem bigger with drywall and paint.
ReplyDeleteThanks Rachel, it's good to know that the bathroom door opening into the bathroom can work too. The model home doesn't have a door hung so its easy to forget about that little detail, but when I look at other bloggers and see their door open OUT but my PM says mine will open IN I started to worry. So thanks for giving me a different perspective...now that's one less thing I have to worry about. :-)
DeleteI'm also happy to hear that it will feel bigger once the walls and paint is done.
Nicole, Nicole Nicole!!! First and Foremost, give thanks for this wonderful opportunity you have created for your families stability. Keep your eye on the prize which you are doing a great job with. I believe you are having one of those moments I have had more times than I want to admit. LOL I believe lots of people have a wish I should have, could have, would have moments during their pre-build and post build. This is such a big project and will last for quite some time which will afford you to personalize your home. Enjoy it as much as you can. The Rome is a very decent size home especially with the basement. It does feel smaller without the drywall up. Honestly, I agree the three bedrooms are average in size and I wish they were bigger; however, the master bedroom is a MONSTER! IT is HUGE! I have looked at some many homes and ready to build again; but nothing has compared to the size of the master bedroom. Be sure to have them swing that door OUT! It will be headache for it to swing inwards, trust me. In our model, it WILL NOT WORK! I am surprised they are even suggesting it. According to the blueprints of the home it swings outward. I had them swing several doors in the opposite direction because I knew how I was going to use the space. They seem to think they know what's best but you KNOW better because you will be living in that home. TRust your GUT! There were a couple of things I wish I had not listened too to my SR, PM and DH tell me throughout the build. Thank goodness I can fix those things. I wanted the 15 lite panel door on the study, the basement door and the small storage room in the basement. These doors hang differently from the average door which means either installing a new frame for each door which will cost more than drilling additional holes to accommodate the relocation of the hinges. My SR told me that the 15 lite door came with the Rome and that she did not have pricing for the other doors. BS!! Lastly, the ROME is like a big BOX it does not have the fancy foyer or the cute curves and turns like some homes. This is one of the things I appreciate about the Rome. You can customize it to your desires. It's amazing what you can do with it without compromising the integrity of your home. You are gonna have lots of fun making your Rome your HOME.
ReplyDeleteHey Nadase, I am very grateful and happy about the house, and I'm usually not the type of person that thinks the grass is greener on the other side of the fence...I'm usually so happy with my own grass that I don't even pay my neighbors grass any attention. Yet, for some reason I was comparing what I had to—I don’t even know what I was comparing it to. I think I was more shocked by how I felt.
DeleteThere seems to be a consensus that the lack of walls makes the space feel smaller (which is crazy because I thought it would have had the opposite effect), so I won’t worry about the size anymore. I am still happy with my selection and I know that I will really love it once it’s finished.
Question: What size bed can bedrooms 1-3 handle? Are the rooms big enough for queen or full size beds? Also, did you paint? If so, how long did it take and do you have any tips?
Hi Nicole, I totally understand! Honestly, this house building process is extremely emotional and highly stressful. Ugghh I could not wait until it was complete even though I am ready to build another house. lol I think I need to get into real estate/property mgt. Let's see how you feel once the walls are up. As I mentioned, the three bedrooms are average size. I have a Queen size bedroom suite that was our master bedroom furniture from our previous home. I took that set and split it between two of the bedrooms because they could not accommodate the entire set. The set is standard (two end tables, one bed, one tall dresser and one mirror/dresser combo). I took the queen bed, one end table and on dresser in bedroom 3 which is the adult guest bedroom. I took the tall dresser and one end table and put them in bedroom 4 for the kids guest bedroom. I plan to put a full over full bunk bed set with trundle in that room so that the kids will have room to play. I would go with a twin/full size bed or day beds for bedrooms 2-4 to give the children space in their rooms. The master bedroom can accommodate any size. We currently have a King Size bed in our master bedroom and so much space that its awesome.
ReplyDeleteWe only painted the inside of the dressing rooms because we had closet systems installed. I am waiting until after the 10 month inspection because I did not want to mess up our paint job. I am glad we chose to wait because the nail pops are highly visible in some rooms. If we had gone with a paint package with RH I would have painted since they carry the same paint. I CAN'T WAIT TO PAINT! I have decided on a charcoal/grayish colors through out the house. I am hiring one of the contractors that I met to do the painting since they are used to painting these homes.
Okay, I really want to paint prior to moving in, but I don't plan on paying anyone---I'm thinking I can do it myself (HOPING). I'm not planning to paint the entire house anyway--just certain rooms and / or accent walls. I plan on leaving the foyer and hallways the color the builder paints it. I really like earth tones so I will do variations of beige, brown, green (Pistachio), and rust. Since the colors I have in mind are all from the same "family" I'm hoping I can get away with not painting every single wall in the house. I've been looking at different model homes to see how they painted and not all of the wall are the same. So I'm hoping my plan will work. I pray that it doesn't look like I started painting but didn't finish. I hope it all blends together well. I haven't decided on the colors for Ashley and Mikey's rooms yet. I've been thinking about doing one of Mikey's walls with the black chalkboard paint, but I'm not sure. I want to make sure whatever I do works for them now, but is also something that will be age appropriate in a couple of years when they become teenagers! So I'm having to think and rethink my design concepts for their rooms.
DeleteAccent walls are a definite plus! I love the warmth that paint brings to the home and want the entire house painted but my husband doesn't like painting and neither do I. I like your color palette, earthy tones are my favorite. I would begin laying out the colors on an huge copy of the floor plan and begin to visualize the colors in each room. It's called a Design Board along with swatches of the furniture. You can get a sense of what it will look like once it is completed. They also have room planners online that you can check out. Your accent wall is usually the focal point of the room. For instance, I am using a darker color on the back of the morning room and fade in a lighter shade for the rest of the room which will merge with the family room.
ReplyDeleteI'm accenting throughout the house because I love two-toned rooms. My hope is that by selecting colors of a similar shade to transition throughout the house, it won't feel like I over accented. This will be my first of several home improvement projects!
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