House Tour

My legions of fans have been clamoring for a house tour for quite some time now. Well, actually, my friend Jess asked me to post some pictures – same thing I guess.

We’ve officially resided in our house for a little over two weeks, and it does look markedly better than it did even a few days ago.  Of course, in every room I still have piles of stuff that need permanent homes.  Even though we have an abundance of closet space, it’s still a challenge to determine where I should keep certain items.  Complicating the matters is that I’m a bit more of a hoarder than Phil.  If Phil had to leave town tomorrow, he could probably fit everything he owned into a backpack.  I on the other hand have an entire box dedicated to different themed paper goods (i.e., Christmas paper plates, Valentine’s Day napkins, etc.) When we moved in together, he brought the following items to the table: a folding chair, wire crates and a television.  I am trying to par down some of my items, but I really do use them!  Still, in an effort to compromise, I am trying to take a minimalist approach — to an extent — when decorating the home.  I guess that’s a roundabout way of saying most of the piles o’ crap that still need homes are mine.

In addition to unpacking, we still need furniture.  We weren’t expecting to buy a house this large, and I’m very thankful we were able to.  However, that means that some of our rooms look a little … well, unfinished.  And they’re going to continue to look that way until we can afford to buy new furniture.  Did you know furniture is expensive?!  I think the hardest part about decorating is the idea that you’re not going to be finished in five minutes.  It takes time and money, and you simply can’t afford to do it all at once.  I look at other blogs and Pinterest, and I get a little depressed because their homes look so put together.  I actually have to limit my time on Pinterest because it gets overwhelming.  Woo, that was a lot of words to say, here’s our “in progress” home tour.

The porches are finally screened in!

This is the view off our porch. Isn’t the lovely dirt yard beautiful?

This is the view looking to the right, off of our porch. They’ve begun doing some landscaping with trees and bushes.

First Floor

Eventually, I’d like to have some type of table in this hallway/foyer.  We also plan to use the staircase to display concert posters from the Ryman.  Unfortunately, we only have one poster so far, so that seems a little premature.  This will be an ongoing project.

This guest room will eventually become a den.  When we buy a new couch, we’ll bring our old couch and coffee table down here.  For the time being, it’s home to our broken futon that the movers dropped during the move.  And also all of our paper towels.  This room is a great paper towel storage facility.  Damn that Amazon Prime.

Aren’t our temporary blinds lovely? I didn’t even know this existed. But, when you’re living in a community that’s under construction, it’s pretty necessary to have something on the windows and doors!

Yes, that’s a mini fridge in the middle of the room. And yes, we are almost 30 and have a “beer fridge.” We’re not sure where to put it yet. The futon will hopefully be replaced with one of the sofas in the living room (once we buy new sofas).

Second Floor

The living room design somewhat paralyzes me.  We’d really like new couches because our current ones are old, old, old.  They’re uncomfortable, faded, stained and holy (as in there are holes in them – not that they are divinely blessed).  Additionally, they are super bulky for the space.  Like I mentioned a few posts back, we’d like to flip the orientation of the room so that the TV is in between the two patio doors.  We’d like to get a sleeker sofa and then maybe two larger chairs or a chaise of some sort.  In a few months we might be able to afford this.

The living room currently is oriented around the TV. We’re thinking about switching it, so that the TV would be on the wall to the left (not in the picture).

The new orientation would place the TV to the left, where the table and painting are currently. I’d move the table upstairs into the guest room, and use it for my sewing machine.

The kitchen probably won’t change much.  But, I’d like to get some of the clutter off the counter.  My one accomplishment thus far has been organizing the pantry.  It just makes me happy to look at it.  Mmmm, organization….

Why yes, that is a box of wine in the pantry. It is a rather convenient way to just cozy on up with your wine glass and pour a little vino for yourself.

Our office could definitely use some work.  Pretty much everything in here is from Ikea, so it’s not necessarily extremely well made or nice.  For the time being it’ll probably stay like this, but I’d like to get some art up, and finish organizing the space.

This room definitely needs work. Most of the picture frames you see will be hung at some point. I did a map display at our last house, and I’d like to do that again, but I’m not exactly sure where. I’m thinking maybe the staircase up to the 3rd floor.

Third Floor

Next weekend we should receive our new mattress.  Then, we’ll move our current bed into the guest room.  Eventually, it’d be great to have a matching bedroom set.  But yeah…. until then, our nightstands will consist of a plastic drawer set and a planter.

Those curtains are permanent. JK! Because we’re cheap-os, we are using Christmas paper as temporary blinds upstairs. But don’t worry, we’re CLASSY. I made sure that the white side is facing outside so our neighbors will think we have taste. We get the joy of seeing the snowmen in our bedroom and bathrooms.

Stay tuned to see the guest room with a new bed next week.  I’m planning on setting up a table for my sewing machine in one corner, and I think once the bed and a few other things are set up, this room will come together fairly quickly.

Our bed will go to the right, and I think this will make the room come together nicely. Those random Fisher Price toys are Phi’s childhood treasures.

Guest bath with some Columbus treasures and of course our classy window treatments.

Unpacking, Furniture Shopping, and Homemade Meals and Drinks

When we first moved into our house, Phil asked me how long until I thought we’d be completely unpacked and settled.  Cockily I said, “Oh, totally by next weekend.  I’ll work every night getting this place in shape, and by next weekend, we’ll be good to go.”  Well my friends, that weekend has come and gone, and we are not exactly completely unpacked.  We’re certainly much better than we were a week and a half ago, but there are still boxes that serve as landmines around the house, and I’m still not 100% sure where 100% of my stuff is.  Alas.

Our house! They’ve added a little bit of landscaping (see shrubs in front) and most of the painting/screening is complete. They still have a bit of touch up work to do, but it was so cold when we were closing, they couldn’t paint outside.

Across our grassy courtyard. Ahaha, or mud pit. They’re supposed to sod it soon. I keep singing that song from Parks and Rec … “I fell in the pit. We all fell in the pit…”

Most of our kitchen is put away, but you can still see we have some piles o’ crap that needs a home. For example on the far left, we have all of our bar stuff. I can’t stand clutter, so it kills me that it’s all sitting out on the counter.

Phil hates the rug, and I hate the couches (they are so old and discolored from years of use), but we’re making do for the time being. Did you know buying new furniture is pretty dang expensive?

As we unpack, we’ve also been shopping for a few pieces of furniture that we absolutely, positively need.  Phil has had back problems for years, so the mattress that we have simply must be replaced.  I bought our current mattress in college for about $400 from a discount mattress factory in Hamilton, Ohio.  Needless to say, it’s not exactly high quality, and Phil complains about it every night.  Since Phil didn’t have to work on Monday for Dr. Rev. Martin Luther King Day, he went to Macy’s since they were having a mattress sale.  (Oh yes, you’re familiar with MLK’s other dream aren’t you?  That one day all people could have discounted mattresses??  But I digress.)  Anyway, because we have our wedding registry at Macy’s, in addition to the sale price, we got an additional 10% off the mattress!  I thought that was pretty clutch, and I always love to spread the word about stores that have awesome customer service.  Macy’s, Crate and Barrel, J.Crew, and Amazon are all in my win column.  I still have a grudge with Half.com that I will never forgive.

We also looked at a few couches over the weekend.  Originally we wanted a sectional, but we don’t have a huge living space.  We’re thinking of switching the orientation of the room, and putting in a smaller sofa and then maybe a couple of comfy chairs.  Here are the three couches we’re oscillating between.  Thoughts?  Suggestions?

Couch 1- We would get this in darker grey – not red

Couch 2 – Again, we’d go for the darker grey

Couch 3 – We really like this color

Besides furniture shopping, we have really enjoyed the opportunity to actually make delicious meals and revisit all of our kitchenware.  I love cooking, so I really missed that over the last couple of months.

Finally using the Moscow Mule mugs I bought Phil for his birthday. Our awesome friends Megan and Ed gave us the Watershed Vodka from Columbus, which was an awesome touch! We finished it off with a homemade jalapeno and pineapple pizza.

Ohhh, just drinking my boxed wine on my specialty wine and cheese plates Phil bought me a few years ago. I think this is the second time I’ve used them, but I love them!

Making old fashioneds with George Dickel Tennessee Whiskey that our uber driver and BFF Samir told us about. We also tried out the Eli Mason (Nashville based) simple syrup. Phil notes that a little goes a long way.

Phil using my skull cocktail glasses that I bought for him in October. He thinks they’re weird and has no idea why I bought them. I think they’re awesome.

As you can see, there’s still so much to do, but we’re so relieved and excited to finally be in our place.  This next week will be busy since I’m going to St. Louis on Friday to visit my dad.  Unfortunately, he is still in and out of the hospital.  We also have to get back to wedding planning.  I’m trying to decide if I want to design our invitations myself (and consequently deal with the possibility that they may look slightly janky) or just suck it up and buy some.  Until next time!

Washers and Dryers and Movers, Oh My!

After five months of gathering dust in a storage unit somewhere in Nashville, our belongings finally made their way into our home on Saturday!  Our movers from All My Sons were at our new house bright and early on Saturday morning, ready to start unpacking all of our precious heirlooms (I use that term quite loosely).  They did not seem thrilled to learn that there were three floors, but we didn’t have that much going to the third floor, so I didn’t feel too bad.

Home Sweet Home

Within two hours all of our furniture and 120 boxes were nestled in various corners of the house.  I was quite pleased with the speed, but not so psyched with all the dings and bumps in the walls and on the stairs as a result of this process.  My friend Angela had warned me that it’s almost painful to watch them bash into your house after you’ve spent hours combing it over with a fine tooth comb.  But, c’est la vie!  We have our stuff!

I’ve been trying like crazy to unpack and organize, but life keeps getting in the way.  You see, on Monday, I stayed home to wait for our cable/internet to be installed and our washer and dryer to be delivered and installed.  The washer and dryer installation seemed to go without a hitch … initially.  About an hour or so later, I was in the kitchen waiting on the cable guy, when I heard a tick. tick. tick.  At first I ignored it, assuming it was the ice maker or something.  However, after a few more minutes of this tick. tick. tick, I got up and started looking around.  I noticed a  shallow pool of water on the kitchen floor.  Imagine my horror when I glanced up and saw water pouring through the light fixture of our brand new, lived in less than 48 hours, home!

Washer and Dryer — just about to start leaking

Catching the water from the light fixture

Apparently, the washer and dryer had not been installed correctly, and the cold water hose was not tight.  I shut down the main water line, grabbed a bucket to place under the leaky light fixture, and whipped out my cell phone to start calling Lowe’s.  I won’t bore you with all of the drawn out details, but in a nutshell, I’ve had 4 visits from Lowe’s employees, and I don’t think I’m close to being done yet.  The washer is still not working, but they’re working with me, and I’m trying to put this in perspective.

Our next few to-dos are get this washing situation straightened out, continue unpacking and check out mattress and furniture sales this weekend.  We’re in sore need of a new mattress; plus, once we get a new mattress, this will make the guest room so much more complete (we’ll move our mattress in there).

On a positive note, we met up with friends on Monday to watch THE Ohio State University become the National Champions!  I still can’t believe it, and I’m continue to ride high this entire week as a result of that monumental victory.  Go Bucks!

National Champions!

It all came down to the wire …

And we’re officially homeowners!  What a long, arduous process.  After setback after setback, we finally signed the documents and procured our keys.

Keys in hand – officially homeowners

On Thursday we met at the house to do our final walk through with the builder.  I arrived first, and I parked near the construction site.  Because it’s still very much a work in process, I tried to pull over as close to the edge of the curb as possible.  What I didn’t realize is that the curb has about a foot and a half drop off from the edge.  I did however realize this after my driver’s side tire plunged directly over the curb and into the ditch.  F —- I tried to reverse, as I didn’t quite know how far over the curb I was or how deep it was.  No dice.  I got out of my car and surveyed the situation.  No damage to the car, but it was definitely at an angle with the the driver’s side in a ditch, and the axel resting on the pavement.  I should have taken a picture, but I was in no laughing mood.  What a fantastic way to start the final walkthrough.  After our realtor and builder pulled up, we discussed that I probably just needed to call a tow truck and have them lift me out.  I’m sure Phil was thrilled when he pulled up and saw my car teetering in a ditch.  So $125 later we started our walkthrough.  No one ever said buying a house is cheap!  However, normally expenses are just related to the actual house – not dumbass driver error.

Anyway, we did the walkthrough, and the house looked fantastic.  There were a few minor things – touch up paint here, buffing out scratches there.  But, all in all we were so pleased with the process.  As a final touch, the builder gave us a framed picture of the artist’s rendition of the home.  What a sweet touch!

Since we were originally scheduled to close on December 31st, I wrongly assumed all was good with our lender. The push back had been more from the builder not the lender, so I assumed that all docs had been reviewed on the lender end and it would be a bang, bang we’re done.  Initially, we were meeting at the title company at 11am on Friday to close.  Thursday afternoon we hear from the mortgage lender that there’s some discrepancy between the insurance company and lender regarding what we’ve insured the home at.  Honestly, I really didn’t understand the discrepancy, and luckily Phil dealt with all of the back and forth with the lender.  Eventually, they straightened it out, but it was not until the last. possible. minute. on. Friday.

Friday comes around and the lender and insurance company are still going back and forth, back and forth.  We’re stressing out, snapping at each other.  It reminded me of the scene from Christmas Vacation with Julia Louis-Dreyfus’s character after Clark busted through their window with an icicle:

Margo: And why is the carpet wet, Tod-duh?

Todd: I don’t know. Mar-go.

Some tense, snappish moments for sure.  Neither of us really knew what was going on, and we had so many other people scheduled.  Our realtor and title company were ready to go at 11.  We had movers scheduled for the next day.  I was staying home Monday morning for the washer/dryer delivery and cable set-up.  Ugh…

Then we moved the close back to 2:00pm.  Then, we’re stressing out, waiting, waiting, waiting.  Still no word.  My day at work is absolutely shot because I can’t concentrate.  I know Phil has it worse because he’s the one dealing with all of the bank entities.  At this point, I have to call Ashley and ask her what is the last possible time of day we can wire money to the title company in order to close on Friday.  She tells me 2pm for the wire, and we can close at 4pm.  It takes some time for the wire to go through and for the title company to verify the money is accounted for.

We finally hear that the bank and insurance company have reached some type of conclusion, and now we’re just waiting on the HUD-1.  The HUD-1 is the document that tells you exactly what you owe.  It’s the final settlement that shows your loan amount, credits from the seller, and money you as buyers need to bring to the table.  Until you have that document, you don’t know how much money to wire to the title company.

And it all came down to the wire.  We received the HUD-1, and Phil wired the money at 1:57 – 3 minutes before our drop dead time.  We were about to explode with anxiety and stress.  But we made it!  Phil got a call a few minutes later confirming it’d been approved on the bank end, and we finally heard an A-OK on the title company side.

Then at 3:30 we met our realtor at the title company, where the title attorney went through all 30(???) or so forms that we had to sign.  There were mortgage, title, tax, you-name-it documents.  One form showed every name that came up for you on your credit report.  For example, it had my full name with middle initial and my full name – no middle initial.  I guess I don’t always use the exact same name on all credit cards and line of credits.  Ashley told us on a few occasions it can be interesting because a couple will be buying a home, and all their previously used names appear.  Every now and then, she’ll have a couple where the woman was married before and her former married name pops up.  That isn’t that weird, but Ashley said once or twice the husband had no idea the wife had been previously married — until this form showed it!!  That’s crazy!  Rest assured, Phil had proof that I’ve never been previously married (or at least changed my name as a result, hah).

After about an hour and a half of signing documents, we officially became home owners!  It was such an incredible high!  Ashley gave us an adorable basket of Nashville goodies as a thank you, and we took our picture with her.  She really was such a great guide through the process, and we’re so indebted to her (and Angela for the recommendation).  Additionally, the title company also gave us a bottle of wine!  I guess after you spend hundreds of thousands of dollars, you get some freebies.  Regardless, we were thrilled!

With our realtor Ashley

Lovely congratulatory gift basket from our realtor

And just like that … we became homeowners.  As Phil said, both literally and figuratively, it all came down to the wire.

Nashville NYE Day 2: ML Rose, Buckeyes, and Broadway

On New Year’s Day, our entire group slept in, and it was fabulous.  Around 10 or so we all started stirring and cycling through the one bathroom in our apartment.  Luckily it was just the four of us: myself, Phil, Megan and Ed, but it still made the showering, getting ready process time consuming.  The guys were really excited to watch college football since there were bowl games on pretty much all day, and I was at least excited to watch our Buckeyes take on ‘Bama in the Sugar Bowl.

We decided to head over to M.L. Rose in West Nashville for a late lunch and watch some games.  By some miracle, we got a table for eight.  Well, we aggressively stalked one table until they left, thus swooping in on a table for eight, but details, details.  Every single thing on the menu looked fantastic, and there must have been over 50 beers on tap.  When I woke up I swore there was no way I could have a sip of alcohol, but one look at the menu, and I was ordering a beer.  Hey, it’s vacation!

M.L. Rose Beer Menu

I ordered the Nashvegas which is a burger with pimento cheese, BBQ sauce and onions on a sweet potato bun.  I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, pimento cheese is my favorite discovery about the south.  Some genius figured out a way to take regular old cheese and make it less healthy by throwing in some mayonnaise and jalapenos.  I could brush my teeth with this stuff.

At M.L. Rose we got to watch the Wisconsin game and Michigan State game and raise hell when they both won.  We started cheering, “Big 10, Big 10” and pretty much going crazy.  I know this makes us sound a little unhinged, but living in the south, no one cheers for the Big 10.  We have to watch the terrible SEC Network and listen to Mark May hate on OSU and Tim Tebow give insightful comments about how amazing the SEC is.  And don’t get me started on the Nick Saban (HAH!) worship.

In the late afternoon we decided we had to find a place to watch the OSU game.  We headed over to Soulshine Pizza Factory in Midtown where we met up with some other Ohio State fans that we’re friends with.  Soulshine had a perfect set-up with huge projection TVs.  Granted, there were some Alabama fans, but still, perfect situation.  Unfortunately, someone had decided they should book a band to play at 9pm, so while we’re watching the game, we see the band starting to set-up.  No one, I repeat, NO ONE in the bar wanted to watch a band.  Every single person was decked out in either Buckeye or Bama apparel.

Go Bucks!

In this moment of sports comradery, conference and team differences were transcended as we all came together to complain loudly about the band going on.  Long story short, we did not win the argument and had to quickly run across the street to Broadway Brewhouse.  No one was there, the place was a dive, but we got to watch TV uninterrupted.

At Broadway Brewhouse

And we lost it.  We were now completely alone to cheer as loud as we want, scream, dance, explode with happiness.   WHICH WE DID. The bouncer in charge of watching us was not our biggest fan, but our cheers of jubilation and dancing of ecstasy when OSU won could be heard up and down Midtown.

Group pic of all the Buckeye fans

At this point we looked at each other and said, “Where can we go to taunt SEC fans?”  I could think of no better place than Broadway and the honky tonks. During our trek to Broadway we cheered SEC while wearing our Ohio State apparel, and we ended up on the third floor of Tootsie’s.  It was hysterical how many Buckeye fans were out and about.  We made many a friend that night.  Towards the end, in one of my proudest sports moments if I do so say myself, I walked up the band and gave him $20 and said, “Will you play Hang on Sloopy?”  He laughed and said, “Okay, you must be  OSU fans.  I’m from Toledo.”  Then, in a moment of genius I said, “For $40 will you play it next?”  Thus, we capped off our night screaming O-H-I-O (how I lost my voice) and causing a mass exodus of SEC fans

It was glorious.

NYE Recap: Lucky Belly, Merchants, Broadway and Cannery Row with My So Called Band

So New Year’s Eve happened, and I am still detoxing.  I am eating kale and water for the rest of 2015.  Suffice it to say, I had an absolute blast with our friends this past week.  On Wednesday (NYE) our friends Megan and Ed arrived from Columbus, and Zach and Taylor arrived from Houston.  Matt and Katie had arrived late the night before from Las Vegas.

By the time everyone had arrived, checked into their VRBO and cleaned up, we were ready for a late lunch.  We decided to stay close to home base and grab food in Hillsboro Village at Lucky Belly since it had just opened a few weeks prior.  The concept is a sushi burger joint mix.  Apparently, this is a thing in Asia?  Since it had only been open a few weeks, I am trying to give them some slack, but the service really was terrible.  It must have taken 15-20 minutes to get our drinks, and there were maybe 5 other tables in the joint?  However, the wait for my Cookies and Cream spiked Jeni’s milkshake was well worth it.  Alcohol and ice cream mixed together.  What is not to like?

I ordered sushi, and I thought it was really good.  Some of the guys ordered burgers that looked delish, but I was glad I stuck with sushi given that I probably consumed 20,000 calories that weekend.

Delicious Sushi from Lucky Belly

After our late lunch, we headed back to our respective apartments to get ready.  Then, we were ready to paint the town red, and we sauntered into Legend’s to get a taste of some country music and honky tonk action.  Since it was late afternoon, Legend’s was pretty dead.  Nonetheless, we saw a magician and an Elvis impersonator and got to listen to live music.

Broadway Ready for NYE

Megan and I

Broadway for NYE

I realized pretty soon that we’d need to actually eat at some point.  On a whim, I ran across the street to Merchants to see what the wait was like for a group of eight.  I offered to beak up into multiple groups if necessary, but by some miracle, by 6:30 we were all sitting together.

Merchants

Taylor waiting for dinner

Guys at dinner

Ladies at dinner

A few apps and pulled pork sandwiches later, and we were ready to head over to Mercy Lounge at Cannery Row for My So-Called Band.

Doors were scheduled to open at 8:30, and I think we showed up pretty close to 8:30, so it was pretty dead when we walked in.  I was really nervous that this was going to be a total bust, but by 9:30 it had filled up.  Still, there was never a long line at the bar, and it was always comfortable in terms of space.  The band was incredible!  They opened with a 10-15 minute YouTube montage of 90s clips, like Back to the Future and the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.  To complement all the different genres and artists, the band had a variety of male and female vocalists.  As a result, we were treated to pretty much every one hit wonder of the 90s.  We LOVED it.  By midnight, I was fading fast, so we watched the ball drop, and then immediately tried to get ubers out of there.  I was shocked when we were both able to get ubers at no surge pricing!  And it took only about 10 minutes!  I think we timed it exactly right because the second the ball dropped, we booked it.

End of the night selfie

Getting Ready for NYE

Our guests will arrive in Nashville in two days!  We just got back from Omaha to see Phil’s parents and meet our niece, who is objectively speaking, the cutest baby in the entire world.

I’m back to work today, but as I get ready for our visitors, I spent a few minutes making a high quality, welcome to Nashville picture.

Nashville

Tell me that isn’t the best MS Paint job you’ve ever seen?

Phil’s off work through the end of the year, so he’s been tasked with going to the grocery and making our apartment presentable for our friends.  And… in 2015, we are going to go on hard core diets since the next few days will involve eating out non-stop.  Can’t wait until Wednesday!

Home Inspection and Initial Walk Through

Our realtor Ashley had warned us in advance that once you get close to your closing, everything sort of happens at once.  As much as possible, we had been trying to brace ourselves for the fact that quite a few things would come up last minute, and we needed to try to roll with the punches as best we could.  Originally, we had both our inspection and initial walk through scheduled for last Friday.  However, the day before Ashley told us that she had the flu, and she wouldn’t be able to do the walk through.  She said we could do it without her, but Phil and I both agreed, no way.  We don’t know what we’re doing; we want and need her expertise regarding what we need to be looking for during the walk through.  Thus, we went ahead with our inspection on Friday, but rescheduled the walk through for Monday.

Inspection

We were supposed to meet our inspector, Chuck, over at the house at 10am on Friday morning.  My only experience with inspections is what I’ve seen on HGTV.  Whenever they show it, it almost seems as though the buyers are walking around with the inspector as he conducts each test, inspection, etc.  By the time we arrived, Chuck had pretty much completed the entire inspection.  He said he’d been there since 7am, and he was just working on his report.  I wasn’t a huge fan of that.  Nothing was very structured at all.  I thought we’d start on the ground floor, room 1, and work our way up.  But, we met Chuck in the kitchen, and he just absent mindedly pointed out things he’d noticed.  He never really introduced himself or explained the process.  We never went room by room either.  We’d be talking, and I’d ask a question, and he’d say, “Oh yeah you should get carbon monoxide detectors on every floor and put them here.”  Or he’d be talking about the kitchen, and say, “yeah I noticed the pan for the HVAC unit is too large, and it doesn’t look right, so they should change it.”

I was furiously writing notes, which he seemed to think was odd.  He kept saying, oh it’s all in my report.  I’m sure he did a fine job, but the process just seemed so disjointed.  Most of the questions I would ask about were “cosmetic” in his eyes, but I didn’t always know where to draw the line between cosmetic and structural.  Ok, so the cabinets aren’t level.  I get that this is somewhat cosmetic, but it also seems structural to an extent!  It just seems overwhelming, and you have to trust that the inspector is just doing their job.  However, that is a little hard to do when our report has typos in our address and names… Ugh.. This process.  All in all, Chuck thought things looked great, and Brendon, the contractor, agreed to address everything.

Which brings me to …. The Initial Walk Through!

Phil and I were majorly stressing about this.  We thought it would be adversarial, and we know enough people who have closed on a new build who had warned us of this process:

• Note everything!
• Bring your own role of painter’s tape and start marking up the walls.
• Sit on every toilet and look at the room from that vantage point to see if there is anything you’re missing.
• Bring a flashlight to shine on the ceiling to notice imperfections.
• Try every outlet, window, light switch, faucet, etc.

Brendon was actually extremely organized.  We started on the third floor, and worked our way down, room by room.  Most of the issues we pointed out were minor.  Paint needs to be touched up here and there.  Brendon and I each had a roll of painter’s tape.  Whenever we noticed an imperfection, we’d mark it with the tape and let Brendon know so he could make sure it got taken care of.  It actually turned out to be a fun experience.  For the most part, Brendon agreed with us about everything.  Even in a few instances, he noticed things we hadn’t seen.  According to Ashley, this was one of the better walk throughs she’d done.  The builder (i.e., Brendon) was organized, and the house was pretty much 95% done so there isn’t a huge list.  The biggest items that still need to be addressed:

• Porches are not complete
• Sink in kitchen is not level with cabinets
• Tiling in one bathroom was messed up so it needs redone
• Master closet is not done
• Stairs need a final coat of stain

But, we are super close.  The big hold up is the gas is not yet turned on.  We cannot get a final appraisal and certificate of occupancy from the city until this is complete.  And, until we have a final appraisal, we can’t get the loan from the bank.  And without the loan from the bank, we can’t close.  So, we’re in limbo until the city comes out and hooks up the gas.  The new goal is to either close December 31 or early in January.  Several parties in this process have incentives to close before the end of the year, but there’s really nothing we can do until that gas is turned on.  As a result, I’ve rescheduled our movers for the third time.

We’ll just have to sit back and relax.  Phil and I are out of town until the 28th since we will be visiting his family in Omaha.  I’d like to point out that it’s in the mid 50s here, and I’m pretty sure there will be snow in Omaha.  At least it’ll be a white Christmas!

Nashville New Build v9

You guys!!  We are actually doing our home inspection today!  Like, for real.  It’s scheduled.  We’re showing up at 10am, and doing the home inspection.  Our actual walk through with our realtor and the builder is scheduled for Monday, and we know there are still quite a few outstanding items that need to be finished before we can close.  However, most of them are small and cosmetic, so this shouldn’t affect our home inspection.

I was over there yesterday (and every other day this week), and I am so thrilled by the progress.  Like I mentioned, there are quite a few items still outstanding (finish screening the porch, staining the stairs, installing the quarter round, touch up paint, etc.), but all in all it looks very close!

We are still both a little sick to our stomach because it seems like so many things are up in the air.  Will the inspection go well?  Will things be ready for the walk through?  Do we have everything we need for the walk through and close?  Will there be unexpected expenses (short answer – I’m sure.  So far this process has been bleeding us dry)?  But, while I contemplate taking a Xanax, I’m just going to sit back and get excited about the progress so far.

Exterior

Exterior – Still painting and staining and screening

Exterior

Our porch with our address

Interior

Kitchen – with a few fixes still to do (fridge, patching the ceiling, some of the cabinets are not level)

Looking into the kitchen from the living area

Kitchen sink

Stairs – stain still isn’t complete

Upstairs bathroom

Holding our breath until after the inspection!

New Years Eve in Nashville

A couple of months ago, several of Phil’s friends decided what better way to spend New Year’s Even than in Nashville — with us?!  This was way back in August or September, almost immediately after we moved here.  We thought it was a great idea because of course by then we would already be moved into our house, probably for several months, and we’d be ready to take our visitors all over town.

Flash forward to early December, and we are 99% positive that there is no way our house will be finished by December 30th.  Nonetheless, I’m thrilled to see all these people and have a great few days in Nashville.

As the Type A control freak that I am, I created a Google poll with many options for restaurants, bars and attractions.  I sent it out to all of our guests to indicate their top choices for Nashville things to do.  Once I got all of the responses, I created a spreadsheet to determine which places/events were the most desirable to our friend group.  Then, I started making reservations.  Finally, I sent everyone a PDF NYE Guide for their viewing pleasures.  Yes, I am slightly insane.  But, to make sure we hit all of the different places and get reservations at all the different restaurants, we just had to plan ahead like this.

Our friends Matt and Katie arrive from Las Vegas pretty late on Tuesday, December 30th.  The rest of the group will arrive the following day from Houston (Zach and Taylor) and Columbus (Megan and Ed).  I’m planning to go to work Wednesday during the morning but take a half day so I can pick Zach and Taylor up from the airport.  What we’re doing on NYE is still up in the air, but we’ve got a few contenders.

On Thursday (1/1) we plan to check out the local breweries.  I did this when some of my girlfriends were in town, and I think it’s a great activity for out of town guests.  Yazoo, Jackalope and Tennesee Brew Works are all in the same area, so it’s really easy to get from one to another.  You can either take a tour of the breweries (and this is free), or you can just relax and sample some beer flights.

Holly and I at Yazoo sampling a beer flight back in November

Later that evening we plan to watch THE Ohio State University take on Bama.  We have not yet decided where we plan to watch it.  Unlike every other OSU game, we know that bars here will play it (it’s against the OMG SEC!), but we’re debating whether or not we really want to watch it in an environment with 99% Bama fans.  So, we’ll either go to a sports bar or just watch it at home.  Regardless, we’re so excited for it.  Go Bucks!

Most of the NYE Group at the OSU Big 10 Championship Game in 2013

On Friday, January 2nd, we’re hoping that weather is somewhat nice so that we can tour Vanderbilt University, Hillsboro Village and the Parthenon.

The Parthenon

That evening, we have tickets to the Grand Ole Opry at the Ryman.  Currently, a few acts have been added to the line-up: The Hennigsens, Larry Gatlin, Randy Montana and Marty Stuart.  Unfortunately, I don’t know who any of those people are, so I’m really hoping they’ll add Dierks Bentley or someone.  Fingers crossed.

The Ryman

After the Ryman, we have reservations at The Southern, which is a steak and oyster restaurant.  I’ve been once before when I was in Nashville with some girlfriends – before we lived here.  I thought the food was incredible, so hopefully we have a great experience again!

On Saturday, our Columbus friends will head back to Ohio, but the rest of us will check out the Johnny Cash Museum and end the night with reservations at Etch.

Of course, there are so many other places we’d like to go, so during lunches and breakfast we’re going to try to check out:

• Hattie B’s or Arnold’s
• Pinewood Social
• Acme Feed and Seed
• Pancake Pantry

One thing that really shocked me was that several restaurants are closed the entire first week of January.  Both Rolf and Daughters and Husk are not open!  I can’t believe in less than two weeks we’ll have our guests in town.  I can’t wait!