Painting Begins

Today the crew began applying primer to the outside of the building--rendering it temporarily blue.





































On the inside, they applied a primer to give the ceiling and walls some texture.

















































I'm thinking that all of the painting should be complete by the end of this week, and we'll see cabinets being installed next week. I am leaving for Los Angeles on Monday, so I will be missing some steps.

In other news, I have been having a good time selling off unwanted furniture on Craigslist, and doing pretty well at it. With some of the money I earned there, I bought a bedroom set through a friend who had a line on some model-home furniture.


















The bed is a mahogany California King sleigh bed. I have to admit, its height will take some getting used to--I have to jump to get up on it. It is by far the biggest bed I have ever had. It came with two identical bedside tables--not the style I was originally looking for, but I like them a lot. It will all look better at the new house than it does in my current bedroom/office.






















I still need to find four ceiling fans with lighting fixtures at a good price.

Lots of Progress!

I was away on vacation for almost two weeks, during which a great deal of work was done on the house. The insulation was completed inside--thanks to Jesse for photographing this step last week:

This is the Great Room, viewed from the door to the balcony:

















And this is the Great Room viewed from the front windows:
















When I arrived at the property today, the workers were finishing the stucco outside the house:






















And this week the interior was completely dry-walled, so the rooms are really beginning to take shape. As you've probably noticed, I'm only posting photos of the Great Room for now, but I have been photographing every room in the house so that I can do step-by-step picture entries for each room when it's done.

Here is the Great Room as viewed from the bathroom doorway:



















And the Great Room as viewed from the kitchen:




















The entire house should be painted inside and out next week!

Getting Ready For Stucco

I am on vacation in Pennsylvania this week, but Jesse Reeder kindly sent a few photos to keep me updated. The outside the house is being made ready for stucco, and the inside is being insulated. Thanks Jesse!

Tar Paper!

Well, I guess tar paper is not all that exciting....but it's the next step! If I understand things correctly, we'll soon see the wire mesh stuff, then stucco, then paint, then trim and shutters and so on.














Today I had my construction meeting with Jesse Reeder, the guy who is building the townhouses. We had a good time and he and Debbie Reynolds from Centex answered all of my questions and we went through the checklist of everything that comes with the house from carpeting and countertops to toilets and lightswitches. The last portion of the meeting was a walk-through of the entire house to make sure I understand where everything goes and so on. My house is almost identical to their model home, where I have been spending so much time that I can pretty much give the tour myself if needed, lol.














I am going to be away for two weeks, and it is likely that I'll return to a completely drywalled house. Can't wait!

On a different note, I am on the lookout for endtables for our living room and the master bedroom. I will need to buy them used, discounted, on Craigslist, from your cousin, etc., so if you have any leads, let me know. I really like the ones in the model home (if Centex opened a used furniture business on the side, I'd be their best customer.) but any mission-style or similar design would do. Here's some photos of what they have in the model---see if you can find some for me:

A Story in Pictures :)

The Community Pool

While I will miss having a private pool outside my bedroom door, I will not miss the cost and time involved with maintaining a pool. It is very important to me that there is a good community pool in my new neighborhood. Tonight I tested it out, just to be sure it passes inspection.












It passed :)












The swim lanes are about three times as long as I'm used to doing in my pool, so it's gonna be awhile before I can claim to do 50 laps again.















In about 36 hours I should have my contract signed and the down-payment paid!

When The House Is Finished....

When the Greenwich house is finished, it will be the left-most unit in a row of six. There are three different designs in the community--the two-bedroom Soho, the two bedroom Chelsea, and the three bedroom Greenwich.

Within the three designs, there are a variety of options designed to make each home unique. Being on the end of the row affords the Greenwich four extra windows on the side of the house. The first floor master bedroom is an open rec room in some designs, and a partially-closed den in others.

When we toured the available houses under construction, Aunt Linda and I each came to the independent conclusion that mine was the best one available---I was very glad that we agreed on one so quickly.

Here are a few photos of what a finished Greenwich looks like. This layout is actually a mirror-image of the one being built for me:

This is the model home, in the same style as mine except on the opposite end of the row.



















This is the Greatroom, standing in the kitchen looking out toward the living room area. This is a professional photo, which is why everything is glowing. The rest of the photos are mine---I did the best I could!





This is the kitchen in the model home. The tile and counter-tops are exactly what mine will have, but my appliances are stainless steel and my cabinets are much darker wood.











This is the exterior view of my house as it looked last night.


















I tried to match these as best I could do the photos above, but of course the effect is slightly spoiled by the fact that the real house is a mirror-image of the model home. This is the Greatroom, standing in the kitchen and looking out toward the living room area. That's my drywall piled up on the floor, and it should be installed next week! I'm glad we got to see the house before the drywall went up.






This is the rest of the kitchen. That window was installed during the time I was in the office handing over my check, just before I took these photos. At this point, all of the electric, ductwork, and plumbing is in place, as least as much as they can do before they close up the walls. I think the house will look drastically different by this time next week!

Floor Plans

Here are the floor plans for each story of the house. The first story is a two car garage and a master bedroom suite. This will be Danielle's room.























The second floor is a GreatRoom combining the kitchen, dining room, and living room. It also has a half bath and a balcony.
























The third floor has a large master suite which will be my room, a middle-sized bedroom with adjacent bathroom for Zach, and a fourth bedroom which will be my office. There is also a laundry room on this level. The addendum at the bottom just shows that my bathroom is extended with a larger shower.

The Greenwich House

I am creating this blog to document the construction of my new townhouse. My brother created a blog when he and his wife built their beautiful new home in Pennsylvania, and it was a great way for his family and friends to keep up with the process--especially for those of us who live far away.

I have had some ups and downs with real estate over the years. The first house I got serious about buying was in Lyons Station, Pennsylvania. It was a six bedroom townhouse in pretty bad shape, but it was only $19,000. I was talked out of buying it by people with good sense. A few years later, it was destroyed in a tornado.

Last year I entered into a lease-purchase agreement for a large home in Oviedo, Florida. During the course of the lease, the housing market took such a downturn that it became obvious I would be better off getting out of the deal. The property manager was amenable to this. It was a big disappointment for me on some levels, but in the time I lived there I realized I do not enjoy lawn work or exterior maintenance at all. Like, not even a little. I work long days and often long nights, and when I'm home I just want to relax.

Thanks to President Obama, working in cooperation with Aunt Linda, I have found a beautiful townhouse I can afford. The current stimulus plan includes an $8000 tax credit for first time home buyers. Aunt Linda encouraged me to start looking at some of the local deals, and together we found a great place being built in the Legacy Park subdivision of Casselberry, Florida. Once we were both in agreement that it was the best deal we had seen so far, Uncle Dave gave the place a thorough investigation and gave the thumbs up.

The style off the townhouse I am buying is called Greenwich because it is designed to be reminiscent of a Greenwich Village brownstone. Usually I find that kind of nomenclature to be hollow and irritating, but having been inside many brownstones in New York, I have to say that they did a great job recreating that kind of space.

I qualified for the mortgage yesterday, and today I placed a hold on the property by paying half of my down-payment. We are signing the contract on Monday and then I'll pay the remainder of the down-payment. The builder is paying my closing costs, so once the down-payment is in, I'll be all set. The building is scheduled to be done on August 30th.



My brother was able to document his home's creation starting with the ground-clearing. Because I'm joining things a little bit later in the game, mine will start with much of the building already up. I think it will still be interesting to watch as it develops. Also it will give me something to do while I wait to move into my brand new home!