Morning Room...A Work in Progress

We have finally put some paint on the walls!  As previously mentioned, we took advantage of the Sherwin Williams' color consultation and 40% off sale.  I started with the morning room as painting it would not disrupt our life too much (the kids mostly eat at the peninsula anyways), and I wanted to see if I liked the paint.  Would it really be worth the extra cost of the paint versus Valspar, Behr, etc.?

We selected the Duration paint in the Matte finish in Spiced Cider.  It took two coats (as planned) and four days (not planned).  I pretty much just painted one wall at a time.  Between all our activities, that's all I had time to do.

Without further ado, here are some pictures:

Before

After

You'll notice that we didn't paint the window returns.  I liked the contrast of the white paint there.  We plan to add white wood blinds.  I originally didn't plan to do blinds, but with the curtains closed, it seems too dark.  I will get tiebacks for the curtains.  I also have another rod and set of curtains to hang on the wall with the french doors.

Finally, we think we've found our new table.  It's from Ashley Furniture.

It has two leaves to extend up to 100" and will seat 10.

I think I prefer these side chairs.  There are also two servers:

It was definitely the most difficult room to paint.  We only have a 6' stepladder, and given the fact that I'm only 5'4", it was quite a challenge painting the wall adjoining the kitchen that is vaulted to 13'!  But, I am so happy to have some color on the walls.  On to the next room...

Color Consultation

I had a color consultation with a designer from Sherwin Williams yesterday to pick colors for the house. I don't know if they offer this service everywhere, but by buying a $75 gift card, I got to spend an hour and a half with the designer. She started with a walk through of the house while I described how we used each room, what furniture was staying, etc. and then we got to the fun part. We started with the main color that would be used for the foyer and all hallways. Then, we moved to the family room and kitchen. Because they are open to each other and share a wall, we needed a color that would work for both areas. After that, we moved to the morning room. We built on each previous color, ensuring that the rooms would flow well. The dining room, office and powder room were next on the agenda.

From the top clockwise: Accessible Beige for the foyer, hallways and stairwell; Balanced Beige for the family room and kitchen; Spiced Cider for the morning room; Svelte Sage for the dining room; Requisite Gray for the powder room; and Grassland for the study, which is my craft room/office.

For the upstairs, we chose Honeydew and Vivacious Pink for DD's room; Great Green and Stream for YDS's room; Cay for the kids' bath; Jersey Cream for the laundry room; and Poolhouse for ODS's room.  We did not pick a color for the master bed and bath as I am planning to get new bedding and haven't settled on a color scheme as of yet.  

Again, I'm not sure if it's everywhere, but our Sherwin Williams is having a 40% off sale April 19-21.  The color consultant said that that is what her employee discount is and that it doesn't get any better than that. I am really looking forward to getting some color on the walls!

Survey Work

As many have advised, I waited until after the 30 day fixes were complete before sending my survey. I put it off until we had been in the home for a few months because I wanted a chance to experience the home for a bit to be able to accurately assess the home. Unfortunately, there were so many issues that I couldn't give out the coveted 10s on the overall home. There were segments of the home that I rated highly, but others that were just carelessly done that couldn't receive high marks. All of the individuals that we worked with were great, so they all received 10s. I went into great detail on the survey as to likes and dislikes, and I was happy to find that the survey allowed comments on individual areas.

Fast forward a few months, and I got a call from our PM. I gave him high praise on the survey because he was excellent to work with. However, I'm sure it didn't go we'll for him when our survey was received. I felt I needed to be honest in the survey, but I didn't want it to reflect badly on him. His schedule was very busy, so he wasn't able to come out until November. We spent a couple hours going through every room in the house. I was able to point out every issue, and he took detailed notes and pictures. I was given the option of having the work done then, or waiting until after the holidays. We opted for after the holidays since it was going to take a full week. The first full week that our PM could be here was this week.

Here's a rundown of items they are fixing and some pics:
Laminate flooring and transitions cut too short
Laminate transition seams not flush
Laminate floor creaking and crackling due to binding up under trim
Water damage to window seal
Many drywall issues including kitchen counter pulling away from the wall
All small walls not being square (drywall repair and new trim)
Window that has been repaired twice being replaced as it is still leaking
Hump in middle of basement bath floor
The planned joints in the basement concrete floor were never filled, so every crack is felt through the carpet. They are pulling up the carpet one half at a time to fill the cracks.
One of the fireplace stones sticks out at the bottom by about an inch and a half and will be replaced.
New mirror for powder room since ours had a flaw right in the middle

PM has set aside a whole week and is planning to be here most of the time so that he can supervise (and I'm sure he doesn't ever want to have to come back!). I have to say that I could totally understand him having an attitude with me, but he has been nothing but helpful. Also, all of the workers have been very respectful (though they all make me feel old by calling me ma'am!).

What a "Pane!"

i know I haven't blogged in awhile.  Life has been crazy with the two older kids starting school and participating in sports, not to mention the never-ending unpacking and decorating.  

In my 30 inspection post, I mentioned that we had window seals that had failed.  According to Ply-Gem, the window company, there was a small slit in the frame where water was getting in that was causing the window sill to swell.  The Ply-Gem reps said that it could be repaired and the sills replaced without having to replace the windows.  This was on June 29.  That seemed simple enough, so I agreed.  Eleven windows in all were repaired.

Fast forward to September 25.  Ply-Gem was called out again because the windows were leaking again.  The rep that came was with the original group, so he was familiar with our issue.  He said that when the first repair was done, they only fixed the one side and that the other side needed to be done.  The Ryan service rep gave me the option of allowing the repair or pushing for replacement of the windows.  Of course, one of the windows is within the stone, so the stone would have to be removed and then replaced.  I opted to go with the repair as I didn't want the hassle of dealing with replacing the windows.  

The quality of the picture is poor, but if you click on it,
you will notice the bubbling paint.  This was our only indication
that there was a problem.  

Fast forward again to the present.  The amount of rain we received from Sandy showed that the repairs were not sufficient to prevent the windows from leaking.  At this point, we will have to have the windows replaced.  I am waiting to hear back from our service rep.  I know that others have more pressing issues because of the storm, so we'll see how and when this will be handled.

I have many other updates about our other 30 day fixes and decorating, but I wanted to get this out there so that others could check their windows.  So often, blinds and other window treatments go up and these issues may not be discovered until significant damage is done.  

For Amanda

Here are some shots of the ogee edge on our Formica 180FX Antique Mascarello. I am stuck using Blogger from my iPod since DH is using the laptop for watching his beloved Bills, so I can't do much formatting.

The pictures are of the breakfast bar , peninsula and an end where there would typically be a side splash and our PM was able to do without them as I did not care for the look of them.

House Tour, Part 2

Here are a few more rooms that, while not finished, are at least presentable.

Morning room chandelier

This is my biggest steal so far for the house.  It was originally $189.  I saw it on clearance for $89, but still wasn't sure what I wanted for that room.  One day while wandering through Lowe's, I saw it sitting, fully assembled, on a shelf in a completely unrelated aisle.  It was marked down to $47.  I made sure it could be returned if it didn't work.  We only needed to add a $3 part to make it work and there it is!

Another view of the lovely chandelier

I opted not to take a picture of DH hanging the light.  That vaulted ceiling is pretty high.  He ended up putting his 6 foot step ladder on top of our table in order to reach.  Don't try this at home, kids!

Our family room furniture finally arrived.  It took almost 10 weeks!

You can't tell in this picture, but the feet of the two sofas are two different colors of wood.
 I'm trying to decide how much it bugs me.

I love our fireplace!  

This sofa sleeper was supposed to go in the finished basement area under the morning room.  However, I failed to take into account the small hallway that contains the basement door. There was no way for the movers to swing a 92" couch through the hall and doorway.  So, there it sits in our living room.  It will probably end up in our bonus room as it is not what I envisioned in my living room.  But, it works for now.

That computer armoire houses the kids' computer so that it is out in the open.  

Powder room

Those two pictures are held by the first two nails to be put into the house by us.
I like to wait until I am absolutely sure where I want something before putting holes in the wall.
So, we still have lots of plain walls!

Just a little corner stand to try to draw attention away from the large vent cover.

Tomorrow begins some major deconstruction and reconstruction on the house.  They will be removing the columns to replace the stoop, repairing windows, removing the bathtub to determine why it's creaking (which involves removing tile) and fix the squeak in the kitchen floor.  I'm trying to remain calm :)

30 Day Follow-Up

Our 30 follow-up service was today.  There were a few minor touch-ups to be done along with more major issues to correct.  Our PM came out to the house last week to inspect the more serious issues to have a plan of attack ready.

1.  The master bathtub would creak whenever anyone stepped in it.  The plumber filled the tub with water to weigh it down and then sprayed foam insulation through the access panel under the tub.  We have to leave the water in for 24 hours and then we'll find out if the foam was successful in supporting the tub.

2.  The glass for the master shower enclosure is severely scratched.  PM will call the manufacturer and order a new piece of glass.

3.  Squeaks in laminate flooring were fixed and creaking the vinyl flooring was fixed.  There is still a squeak under the vinyl that will be fixed later as it was just found yesterday and the flooring guy didn't have the proper tools to fix it today.

4.  We had creaking all along the main traffic pattern through the family room.  We never noticed it until we closed on the house.  PM and the handyman determined that the sound was wood related, so they had to open the drywall in the finished basement soffit and screwed the 2x4s and joists which eliminated the sound.

5.  We have some window issues.  On about half of our windows, the seal on the bottom of the one side has failed.  This has caused damage to the window sills.  PM said that he knows of another house where 15 windows had to be replaced.  He will be submitting a claim to the window company and they will have to replace the windows and the sills.

6.  When our stoop was poured, it was still getting cold at night.  To protect the concrete, the contractor covered the stoop.  The cover apparently moved because it looks like something was dragged through the wet cement.  PM had his concrete guys come out and look at it.  There is nothing they can do short of removing the stoop.  They were going to do that this week, but we were having furniture delivered finally (another post on that will be coming) so it will be done after the 4th.

7.  Our shutters on the stone front are not attached so that they lay flat.  PM will contact the stone mason.

8.  Flashing over the garage door needs to be nailed down and there is a dent a trim piece on the gable over the garage.  The siders will be back to fix.

9.  Various paint touch-ups were done and the paint on the sides of the fireplace was removed.

10.  The edges of many of the interior doors were rough.  PM said this has been a complaint from other PMs.  Doors were sanded down and the paint touched up.

Our handyman is on crutches due to a broken heel, so our PM actually did some of the work too.  I was greatly impressed with how accommodating our PM was with everything that I asked.  His answer to everything was "We'll take care of it."  Definitely happy with how things are being handled.  As much as I wish issues didn't arise, I am please with how they are being resolved.