PLEASE READ- if you are building a ROME with 42 inch cabinets

For all my fellow Rome bloggers or those contemplating building a Ryan Homes Rome model- beware of the bulkhead if you have chosen to upgrade your kitchen cabinets to 42 inches!  With 42 inch cabinets it may leave you very little space- 14 inches to be exact- between countertop/top of the stove to the bottom of the cabinets.  Its not a close up picture but you can see how close the microwave is to the stove...standing in front of the stove/microwave Hubby couldn't even see the knobs to the stove and my crab boiling pot would certainly not fit in the small space!!! With our closing just a few short weeks away, we were frustrated that this wasn't noticed by our PM prior to the cabinets being installed or even when the bulkhead was being finished.  When we visited the ROME model we noticed that the bulkhead was jogged up to accommodate for the 42 inch cabinets but that in our home this was not done.  PM assured us that it would get corrected and earlier this week I visited the house to find someone working on jogging the bulkhead up the 4 inches that we would need to have adequate clearance for the appliances (Timberlake manuals, appliance manuals and many of the county codes require there to be 18 inches between countertop and bottom of cabinets).  So when looking to upgrade your cabinets in the Rome model make sure you keep an eye on the bulkead above where the cabinets will sit so that they don't have to cut into the drywall to fix something that could have been avoided.

Not a close up but you can see how close the microwave is to the stove.

The guy showing me how far up he was going bring the bulkhead.

The now jogged bulkhead...everything should fit now!  Such a relief as the refrigerator is non returnable and I just love by big coffee pot too much to downsize! 

15 Panel Door, Tile and a nice surprise!!!

I met with PM yesterday to walk through the house but this was quickly nixed as they were spray painting the entire inside of the house. But we were able to have a nice little chat about the progress with the house and what the progression of events would look like over the next few weeks. Now that the house has been painted he said that I would see tile in the upstairs bathrooms and laundry room. Granite may be going in by the end of the week!

Since I wasn't able to go into the house yesterday you know that I stopped by today not expecting much but finding that there had been A LOT happening. Our non standard request of having a 15 panel door in the study was delivered and oil rubbed bronze handles were installed on doors throughout the house. But the most exciting part of my visit today came when I went upstairs and found that all my tile had been installed! When I saw the master bathroom I had to do a little happy dance as the tile went above the shower head. Bonus points for my PM on that one! We had read a couple of blogs where adding tile above the shower head was either an upgrade or a non standard request. But as you can imagine, we figured out that we REALLY wanted this after the change request deadline had expired. In one of our many conversations with PM we mentioned this. He never made any promises but said that of we could get the extra tile from the flooring company that he would have it put in. Well, we were never able to get that so I thought that this was an option that would be just a woulda shoulda coulda kind of thing. As I write this I am still thrilled to my toes! Thanks PM!

Beatiful Suprise!!! YAY for my PM!



Guest bathroom...not to great of light since it was already starting to get dark when I went...it still needs to be grouted

Laundry Room...still needs grout

Door handle...oil rubbed bronze...an upgrade but one that is in most models

Our non standard request...for the study

It's all in the details!!!!

Now that we are at the 1 month mark to moving into our new Rome Home the progress takes on a completely different look. When everything started it seemed like everything moved at a pretty fast pace (I mean it seemed like the framing went up in less than a day!) So for anyone who is building or contemplating building a new home- that fast pace will seem to slow down after the pre drywall meeting with your PM but if you look closely there are still a lot of things going on in your new home. After reading so many other blogs I decided to forego my daily visits to my beloved homesite and instead go only every other day =) After staying away for a couple of days I found that there had been a lot of little things happening at my Rome. The porch columns and kitchen cabinets were being installed, the entire house had a new coat of paint, the base boards were in, most of the doors were installed, the banisters were up, bathroom vanities installed, attic access installed and...wait I think that's it. Whew! When I write it out it seems like a lot more than what it appeared in person. Here are the pics:

Yay for the kitchen cabinets!! The one above the refrigerator is too big for the LG model that we purchased but PM assures me that he is ordering a special custom cabinet to ensure that it fits (I sent him an email with the specs prior to install so I was suprised that the wrong size cabinet was installed...I  really hope he comes through- the fridge is non-returnable!!!)

Kids ( and guest bathroom)

Master Vanity

Ballister railing- in many areas this is an upgrade and NOT standard...though of course it is featured in many of the models!

Attic Access- still needs paint!