Showing posts with label Parade of Homes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Parade of Homes. Show all posts

Saturday, August 11, 2012

DONE!!! :) (part two)

We're done!! It's Parade day!

(this is part two of my "we're done!" post.. this one has the photos that Robin took last night... the night before the beginning of the Parade of Homes... we're so excited that we're finally at this point! Now we can mostly focus on packing and getting ready to move next Sunday!)

On to the photos!

If you've never seen or been to a Parade of Homes, this is how it works and what you'd see... (FYI, if you're thinking of attending the Parade, tickets can be purchased at any home in the Parade and all the details of the Parade can be found here:  Parade of Homes site  ...we're house number 15 on the list)

Firstly, the streets are lined with the cars of the attendees, who've all bought a ticket to visit as many of the dozens of homes in each Parade (40 or more often times I think).


When you walk up to the house, in the summer Parade they'll have the garage door open and you'll walk into the garage and get your ticket punched. (next weekend Lyndsey will be punching tickets along with the builder's daughter for a few hours one day)


The chairs are set up so that everyone can sit there and take their shoes off and put little booties over their socks. Shoes (and photography) are not allowed inside the homes in the Parade.
On the right side of the above photo you'll see one of a couple tables containing brochures and photos of all the suppliers in the specific home you're visiting.
Above the table on the wall, Dennis has printed up large-format versions of the floor plans and the construction schedule for our home for people to view.

Once you have your booties on and your ticket punched, you're free to wander the interior of the home at your leisure. You can ask questions of the builder (or their representative) who is always inside the house somewhere, and you can check out most any part of the house you're looking at.

Our house is completely ready for the Parade as of yesterday morning.. it's been cleaned up (several times), decorated, staged, and there's even more photos and brochures inside the house from suppliers. Dennis will also be showing a slide show of his work (this is, after all, a HUGE source of advertising for him, which is why the Parade exists) on our tv and he'll have music playing thru the speaker system in the rooms it's in.

...and here's what you'll see when you walk thru our home during the Parade hours....


the lockers by the back garage door

the half bathroom








Dennis' dad began the tradition of handing one of these out to the owners of the homes he built.. Dennis continues that tradition today.

the front entry as seen from the dining room

the master bedroom

the master bedroom ceiling tray

the master bedroom front window

the reading nook in the master bedroom

the master bathroom


the office




the overlook up in the loft over the living room

the loft

Lyndsey's room

This is Deb the decorator's gift to Lyndsey in her room

Lyndsey's vanity

the girl's bathroom

..and shower

Rachel's vanity

the door to the bonus room (which will be closed and locked for the Parade)

Rachel's room


This is Deb the decorator's gift to Rachel in her room

the loft overlook again




the stairs to the basement



It's been a looooong 4 months but the house is finally finished!

Now we can focus on moving and closing on the sale of our current home. I'll keep updating this all the way thru the move which will begin next Sunday and will be done that following Monday. Robin and I are off of work all that week so we can get the move done and the closing on our current home is Tuesday, so we'll be able to get settled in a bit after that.

Paul

DONE!!! :) (part one)

Oh wow, what a crazy week!!

There was tons going on, tons of little things to be done, and it made for some late nights for Robin, the girls, and myself..... but we've finally arrived at the finish line:  The Parade of Homes starts this morning and our house is finished! (actually, the house was completed with a cushion of a couple of days, which is highly unusual!)

(just a note: I'll be creating two posts on the topic of "Done!". One will be the update since the previous post, and then the second will mostly photos from last night, the evening prior to the Parade beginning)

Just a recap of what's all happened since my last post, and then I'll get right to the photos... :)

The carpenter was in the house a couple of times finishing things up. The painters came back and did their final touch-ups too.
The cleaning crew was in the house three different days (for most of the day each time) cleaning the place from top to bottom.
The decorator spent several days decorating...
Dennis and Joe O'Brien spent alot of time at the house over the last week too.

Those were the scheduled things on the contractors' side....

On *our* side of this effort were:
A last-second run to Lowe's by Robin to replace a crooked light fixture in the half-bath and get a different mirror for that room.
The massive wood chip pile in the back yard has finally been wiped out.
The front "planting area" by the sidewalk is now planted, and mulched.
Mirrors were hung, appliances arrived, and the lawn has sprouted blades of grass.
The shower door arrived too.
(I just know I'm forgetting alot of them.. lol)

Also on Thursday we met with Dennis at the site and signed the "final draw" paperwork. Once processed, this paperwork will allow for final payment to all the supplies from the bank/title company and thus the conclusion of the construction phase of our new house :)

Yeah, yeah... I know.. enough with the text.. get on with the photos! 

Ok, here you go!

The rest of the appliances arrived the day after my last post. Sears is where we got them all. (just a note, if you get a fridge from sears with a water dispenser you'll need to have a water shutoff valve immediately behind the fridge or they will refuse to hook it up for you.... company policy, yet the sales people never mention that fact)






Then, last weekend we hung most of the bathroom mirrors that we could hang (the half-bath being the exception).

Rachel's vanity

Lyndsey's vanity
The front door was removed, painted (after a few minor dents were pounded out), and replaced early in this last week.




As the week went along, alot more began happening.
Debbie (the decorator) was very busy this week, putting up staging decor and window treatments.
We went with wood blinds in most of the rooms, and all the fabric window treatments you see are hand-sewn by Debbie.
Some of the decor in the photos is our stuff, but alot of it is Debbie's. She has a stash at her house that she uses parts of when staging Parade homes.


kitchen window


living room Wall of windows

Wall of windows



master bedroom

master bedroom reading nook

office

Lyndsey's room

Rachel's room

the patio door vertical blinds
The glass shower door arrived and was installed mid-week.



After I planted all the plantings in the front of the house "planting area", Lyndsey and I were there mulching late one night this week.






Now for the next post with last night's photos on it... :)

Paul