So.... we are officially building a house together! :) I figured I would start this blog because I read so many others' blogs when we started looking into building with Ryan Homes. I received ideas, inspiration, and most importantly the dos and do not's of building from scratch.

           Our journey started just a little under a month ago. We had looked at other homes for sale in this area a little bit and were not impressed. What we could not find the most... open floor plans and modern looking kitchens. So after searching on Zillow, I found this community that we will soon be calling home. We visited during a "Special Gold Event" where you could get 5k off your upgrades. Haha, and to think we thought that was a lot when we started! Another incentive was a neighborhood pizza party, we had a current neighbor sign a slip of paper and we received free granite countertops. After both of these incentives and meeting the wonderful sales representive and her assistant, we were in love! We went home, discussed the butterflies we were feeling in our stomachs, and knew we had to jump when soon!

             Just a few days later, we put down a HOLD on our lot. The following week, we signed a contract.

What did we choose?

            There are five floor plans where we are at. The Pissa Torre (3 bedrooms and ranch style), Florence (3 bedrooms but 2 story), Venice (4 bedrooms), Milan (4), and the largest, Rome (5 bedrooms). We decided on the Milan floor plan after touring one nearby. The Milan has a loft upstairs that can be closed to create a 4th bedroom. We decided to keep the loft open but add a third story attic that could serve as a bedroom and have an extra bath. No one else in our community has a 3rd story Milan, excited we are the first!

           Another exciting feature of our house is the Elevation N. This is the image our customer service representative gave us...

I think I actually saw this on an online blog somewhere. My representative said she also found it online. I can give due credit if I find out where it is from! :)

We went to our flooring options today. Whew.... everything totals up quickly! I can't imagine anyone buying a house at the lowest price possible. We held back with many upgrades we wanted.... and still added quite a large sum!

Our kitchen options. Wyoming Espresso cabinets, Venetian Gold granite, and Hickory Level B hardwood flooring. All upgrades. 

Our options for the master bedroom! The same Wynomning Cabinets, the special white granite (I can''t remember its name), and the Sandalo tile and backsplash.

We were worried about the cost of hardwood flooring so we did choose a Level E carpet for the family room downstairs.

All of the standard options that are free we are using in the downstairs powder room, 2nd story guest bathroom, and 3rd story bathroom.

     

Optional shelves for the shower. $125 for a set of two! Yikes. We went without since we have seating in the shower.

We are excited to continue our journey! Ground breaks soon!