A positive post

Okay, so you've already seen a few of my projects , but I thought I would post a few pics of a few other things I have been up to. Im writing this post from my phone, and I cant quite figure out photo captions so hopefully this all makes sense.

So this is a project I am stilI playing around with. I messed up the sizing of the decal here but you get the drift. Note that the design matches the curtain panel I made. Cool right?

Next we have a decal that I created for my neighbor based on an idea she found on Pinterest. Ill post pictures of the finished project once she installs the decal.

Next up is a cool decal I made for our front door.  Someone that lives behind me has something similar amd HOA hasnt dinged her for it, so Im going to take the chance. The good news is, its just a sticker so it can easily be removed.

Then we have our poor guest bath. Not much progress but I did hang full length curtain panels as a shower curtain and got some coordinating towels. The plan is to paint the walls gray with a yellow pop of color on that back wall behind the curtians.

And lastly are a few photos of our trip on the Eagle Train this past weekend in Romney, WV. Such a beautiful ride. And a very rare photo of Mike and I. Ive lost about 40 lbs since June, so I thought it was high time we got some updated photos of us.  Otherwise, Im usually the one taking all the photos.

Well, thats all I got for now. Ive got SO MANY more ideas, so once they are tangible I will definitely post updates. I can say that I see glass etching in my future!!

7 Month Check-In and a Warning

The initial purpose of this blog was to document our experience of buying a Ryan Home so other prospective home buyers would have a resource to go to before signing on the dotted line.  We have been in our home for 7 months now and have completed a bunch of projects.  That being said I wanted to post a warning to all of those prospective buyers.  DO NOT purchase a Ryan Home.  Run as fast and far away as you can. The workmanship is shoddy to say the least.  You can babysit them through the entire thing and there will still be things that you have missed.  They don't even come close to the "Qualtiy Workmanship" that they claim.  Do keep in mind that each region is different because they use different contractors for each community, but you've got no control over that.

I have HAD IT with this place.  Bowed walls, "rippling" walls, crown molding with reappearing seams, HUGE cracks that reappear no matter how many times they fix them, gouges in drywall in corners where they think you won't see them, etc.  The list could go on.  And after you read through my blog you will know how "on it" I was.  Even after all of that, there are still so many issues with our home.

Below are various pictures from the past 7 months.  Some are of my projects (not all of them) and there are a few of the craptastic workmanship of Ryan Homes.

This was after we removed the molding in the kitchen to install our tiled backsplash.  They had caked on so much spackle to make the wall right but failed to do that everywhere, especially behind the wall plate.

This is my craft/sewing room with the sewing table I made so that my machine work surface was flush with the table surface.  I have since installed a sheet of plexi to the top so that my fabric slides along the table better.

The most recent "fail" that finally prompted this post.  This wall is SO BOWED that we can't hang this floating shelf.  The shelf has to be floating because I just spent the past 3 days hand painting the silhouette of a table onto the wall.

Canisters with decals that I created, cut and applied on my own.

Our striped powder room.

Daisy in her Halloween costume.

Daisy's little area.  I created the name decal and cut it using my Silhouette machine.

Frosted decals on the fridge that I customized and cut with my Silhouette Machine.

Another one of the decals I created.

Part of our gallery wall and also a curtain panel that I made with my sewing machine.  I am still working on the other 3 panels.

And there you have it!  I'm sorry for such a bitter post.  But I am just so angry.  Im angry that I have put so much time and effort into making this place feel like a home, only to find random "fails" every step of the way.

Hopefully some of you have had better luck than we have.

Serious plumbing issue

UPDATE: The plumber was here for about three hours.  Turns out there was gravel in the drain pipe beyond our house.  It required a powered snake and pipe cam to find the issue.  Our powder room was a MESS when he was done.  Unfortunately he damaged our toilet seat and the door jam, but Adam saved the day with a replacement toilet seat as well as a couple of guys to repair the damage.  So glad Adam believed me when I called to explain what was going on.  The good ol Ryan Homes customer service folks didn't believe me and thought I was merely putting in a ticket for a clogged toilet!  Kudos to Adam!

Do you guys remember this picture?  That is the drain pipe for our powder room. It was laid wrong initially and they had to come back and tear it up all the way beneath the slab and redo it.

Well now our powder room toilet won't flush correctly and overfills and the plumber (provided by Ryan Homes) thinks the way the drain was fixed might be why.

Either way its a bigger problem than he thought and is now ripping out the toilet to try to snake it that way.

Definitely not a good Monday!

So so much going on!

Today we finished the last of our appointments for our 30 day post settlement walk through.  Not much had to be fixed really, but some of those were pretty major.

We've had a lot of difficulty with our roman shower.  One of the doors fell off and had never been right since.  Adam brought the shower door guy by yesterday, and he said that it was because our walls were 1/8th an inch closer together at the top than at the bottom.  WELL DAMN!  So at this point I've given up with having an acceptable shower.  Mike and I plan to save up and have it ripped out and replaced with something acceptable.  I am really tired of going back and forth with Ryan Homes about it.

We also had some pretty serious drywall seams in our living room ceiling.  We were scheduled to have them fixed this week, but we simply didn't want to be inconvenienced for 2+ days while they cut them out and redid the bad pieces.  I can't even imagine how much dust that would produce!  Mike is on spring break this week and I really didn't want to take up most of it so they could make all of those repairs.  It would mean he and Daisy would be sequestered to the basement for two days.

On the plus side though, in preparation for those repairs, we did get around to clearing out the basement this weekend! We can finally see the floors!

So while our house isn't PERFECT, it is still ours right?  We also mostly finished the kitchen back splash.  Boy was that a fiasco!!  We still have to put the extensions on the electrical outlets and switches but the tile part is done at least.

Also, I am not sure if I posted this already, but we got our dining room mostly together too!  Like I said, we've been busy!

I love love love our dining room!  See that rug? It is THE MOST soft, cozy plush rug I have ever stepped foot on.  We got it from www.homedecorators.com.

I am hoping to post our master bedroom and office soon!

Hope everyone is doing well!  

UPDATE:  Here is a picture for "C" showing what greeted us behind the trim they installed at the breakfast bar to hide the shims for the granite once the 4" back splash was removed per our request.  Apparently they fixed everything visible but left everything the trim covered as is.  I call that LAZY!  It was very difficult to fix, which caused the tile in this area to not lay right.  We did what we could. :(

 

Tile Sneak Peek

Mid project. Our kitchen backsplash!  About half way done with installing the tile. Once it cures overnight, we will grout tomorrow after work.

10 Days In

Okay, well we are not nearly as unpacked as I would like to be.  I was sick for a full week, including during move day and to be honest, I simply didn't want to do anything.  Now that I am on the mend, things are starting to pick up!  I am hoping to be completely done but this weekend.  Fingers crossed.

I am actually really surprised with how many issues we have found with this house.  Don't get me wrong.  I love this place, but I was expecting less urgent issues than what we've come across.

Issue #1 - Roman Shower.  The shower pan is beginning to separate from the tile, creating a crack in the caulk.  This in turn has allowed water to get into the crack and out onto our bathroom floor.  We can't let this go for long because obviously it could cause serious water damage as well as mold.  Adam is on it, we just have to find a time where either Mike and I are home to let the workers in.

Issue #2 - Kitchen Sink.  Just found this one tonight by chance when I was looking for the trash bags.  Apparently we have a leak in the pipe on the non disposal side of the sink.  We've been here for 10 days so you can imagine what it looks like under there.  It has ruined the inside of the cabinet.  So pissed about this.  If I had known I needed to check all the plumbing that closely before we moved in, I would have.  For those of you still in the building process, please make sure you check for leaks under all of your sinks!  Adam says it can be fixed too, but Im skeptical about how the cabinet will look. 

Issue #3 - Drywall.  This one isn't as serious because it won't cause permanent damage, but O.M.G. why can I see every single seam on the ceiling?!?!  Anywhere that is bigger than a single sheet of drywall, there are seams.  Seams. Seams. Seams.  Everywhere.  You can REALLY see them at night. (you were right M). 

On a happier note, we finally decided on a tile for the kitchen back splash.  It is a little unconventional, and we have been met with some skepticism but I am positive it will be GREAT.  Our order comes in on Thursday and we hope to start the project the weekend after next.

What do you think?

And since I know everyone loves pictures, here is Daisy enjoying her new roost.  She loves the arm of our new couch so she can look out the window.

Wow, we've been busy!

We had Verizon and the Lowe's blinds installer in on Friday, painted just ONE room (with the help of my mom) and moved on Saturday!  Our new home is a MESS, but its still OURS!!

We still have a few things at the old place, but at least the movers got most of it for us.  We used My Truck Buddy.  They are awesome.  We also used them last year to move into the apartment.  They are affordable, quick and polite.  If you are in the market for a moving company, they are your guys!  The only thing they don't do, is back your boxes.  TOTALLY worth it though!

My mom rolled up to the house right as the movers were arriving with our stuff on Saturday and once they unloaded everything, she blew through the kitchen and unpacked all of our boxes!  It was such a big help.  I wonder if I can get her to come back and do the rest of the house? :P

I think once we get settled in, it will begin feeling more like a home.  We still have tons of painting to do because on Friday, the paint fumes and dust in the new house made me sick.  Did you know that paint fumes can give you bronchitis? YEP it CAN! Its not contagious or anything, but still very inconvenient.  So it will be a slow process for us, but I am determined to get it all done!

Once the house is in better shape, I will take some photos.

In the mean time, here is one of the messy living room with one of the rugs we bought during black Friday.  Don't mind the TV on the floor.  We are in the process of remedying that now!