The icing on the cake

Today was our walk-through with the "builder", Mark, who was actually just a guy that was appointed by the builder. I think he's the designated inspector...

We didn't find much at all for them to touch-up or fix before move in. Here is what we did find:

• Secure "bollards". The things that go in front of the water heater/furnace to prevent us from crashing into them with our car.
• Stain front steps to match porch. Install toe-kick on bottom back step of deck. Paint toe-kicks.
• Replace a piece of siding on the side of the house.
• One electrical outlet is mounted funny.
• A couple of paint touch-ups
• The master bathroom counter was a little loose.
• Cut exposed wires from foundation.
• General perimeter clean-up.
• Replace damaged weather stripping on garage door.
• Install fan control knob on fireplace.
• Install new locks on exterior doors.

I think that's it for fixes. Really not much at all. Mark was telling us that we could probably start moving things in early, at least into the garage. I'm going to call Brad tomorrow to see if that can be arranged. I believe that all we need to do is make sure our insurance is in effect.

I am so excited, like over the moon excited. This house has turned out so much better than I ever would have expected our first home to be. I always thought we would end up buying a major "fixer-upper", in a bad neighborhood, no garage, 2 bedrooms, one bathroom. I never had very high expectations about our first house, and that's probably why we hadn't started looking until now. And we weren't even planning to buy a house now... Today, when we saw the house "finished", I was giddy like a school girl. I can't wait to move in. Even Mike was admittedly excited, which is EXTREMELY rare.

One of the great things about our meeting today, was learning all the ins and outs of owning a house. We now know how to:

• turn off the water to the house or between the street and house.
• turn off the A/C unit (also found out it's an energy efficient model. Yay!)
  
• turn the furnace off or on and change the filter
  
• operate the water heater (turn it off or on, change the temperature, or set it to "vacation") mode)
• open vents on the outside of the crawlspace
• turn fireplace on or off and light the pilot light
• operate the sprinkler system

The number one highlight of the day was seeing all of the appliances installed. We had seen the sexy refrigerator and the washer/dryer, but seeing everything in the kitchen was amazing. It looks so good. I am so happy with the way it turned out. It feels gourmet.

Naturally, I forgot the camera, so these pictures were taken with my phone.

Professional, gourmet looking kitchen:



The "bollards" that are being installed in the garage.