Landscaping, Oh Landscaping!

We've moved into a 55+ community with an HOA.  Like all HOA's, it comes with many rules, one of which is to have your landscaping completed within 3 months after moving in.  It must include 17 shrubs in the front, 20 in the back, a tree in the front, and all I remember reading after that is blah, blah, blah! We also added some hardscaping and additional plants.  

Truthfully, I'm not really sure what to think about all of this but let the landscaping begin. 

 

Starting our added front sidewalk.

It will extend around the house...

...to meet up with the 

patio extension in the back.

A half wall & outdoor kitchen in progress.  

The back of the kitchen.

The stone matches the patio fireplace
which you can see in the background above.

A prepared garden, 

sidewalk & patio extension. 

The concrete is ready for
the pavers that will go on top.

A side garden ready to go too.

Fence going up!

Eight Days Later, The Big Finish

Pavers rest atop the concrete

and the plantings are in.

One side of the house.

I love this weeping 

Blue Atlas Cedar 

near the garage.

Can you see the funky, winding trunk?

Crepe Myrtle and shrubs out front.

The other side of the house.

The back just off the patio.

Another view.

The finished kitchen.

Hollies to create privacy and 

Knockout roses off to the side.  

We're thinking about moving the Knockout roses to add more hollies in their place.  The roses will be moved in front of the hollies to give it all a more balanced look.  The backyard also needs some trees.  

Perhaps this is a project for fall.

A view of the backyard from 

the green belt / common area.  

We're thrilled with the way everything turned out!  The fence really defined the yard which made a big difference, and everything looks pretty!  

Now to watch it all grow!

Smiles,

Donna

Moved In and Busy!

 Alas, we are finally moved into our new home!  We closed as scheduled on January 27th, and we've been trying to get settled ever since.  To date, most of the "normal" stuff has been completed, along with a few side jobs.  

Our house.

It comes with a 

***bonus view*** 

of the emptied trash cans out front!

Our new home

We sold or gave away nearly everything when we moved out of our home, except for coveted keepsakes, favorite items, necessities and more.  The goal was to keep our belongings to what would fit into a 10' x 10' storage.  Make no mistake about it, that storage space was strategically packed and crammed to the rafters!  

Of course, we had to start fresh with new furniture for this home, as well as all kinds of odds and ends.  From October 2021 until December, we gradually started purchasing furniture.  By the time we were finished, we had furniture lined up for delivery from 4 different stores.  We knew up front that most of it would be delayed but that's life in these days of supply shortages.

A couple weeks ago, we had another delivery show up which inches us closer to being finished--only two deliveries remain.

The recent delivery consisted of 

the dining table, rug, and the

three island chairs seen in

the background on the left-side.

No dining room chairs yet but

we're grateful to have these items!

We're told to expect the 

remainder sometime in May.  

Do you think they mean this year?

: )  

Unfortunately, the arrival of the delayed furniture doesn't end our furniture quest.  Oh no.  There are still some pieces of furniture to acquire, most of which are random.  Since there's a lot going on these days, we plan to do what we can, when we can, and enjoy each day in the meantime!  

~~ Contemplating The Closet ~~

When we went through the house design process, we opted not to have any of the typical rods and shelves installed.  It was merely a carpeted room when we moved in.  

We knew we didn't want a closet company to do the job.  Geo was considering doing it himself but we didn't know where to start.  Lots of Googling was done, and eventually Home Depot saw us weekly standing in front of the Closet Maid boxes gawking at the styles and options.  Yet every week, the product looked the same, and it didn't appear that they ever sold any of it.  We always walked away with questions. Unfortunately, they weren't the type questions that anyone else could answer.

About the third week into this seemingly pointless routine, we knew we weren't feeling it.  Staring at the Closet Made boxes, in a glossy-eyed stupor, I eventually looked up and discovered a sign gradually coming into my blurred view as if approaching a desert mirage. The sign offered a Home Depot closet assessment & installation. We asked about it and learned that it was not affiliated with Closet Maid so we decided to check into it.

~~ The HD Designer Guy Arrives ~~

About a week later, a very nice HD Designer Guy came a knockin'. After listening to our needs, measuring the closet, and performing a plethora of active finger movement on his iPad, he sat down with us to reveal and explain everything.  He started off with the cost--$12,000.  

From there, he added,

"BUT there's things in here we don't need."  

"Huh?

"How did those pesky things get in there?"

Is there a pesticide for that?  

Mr. HD Designer Guy progressed through mysterious item after mysterious item never telling us what the item was but only saying, 

"You don't need that, 

and you don't need that. 

Oh, and then there's this,

no, you don't need that...". 

When he was finally finished deleting everything that he thought we didn't need, the grand total was around $5,000.

And, we'd only have to wait 

four months 

to get it installed!    

Four months.  

No closet.  

Yikes!

No, thank you.  

~~ Hubby Geo Builds the Closet ~~

💪

As soon as Mr. HD Designer Guy left, handy dandy Hubby Geo trekked on over to the Home Depot website where he located a line of products called Closet Evolution. 

Eureka!

Why hadn't we thought of this before! Everything we needed was there--side and upper panels, rods, drawers and shelves.  The entire kit and caboodle.  It's nice when you can find a kit, complete with a caboodle!  Closet Evolution answered our questions too.  We heard them!  

The build was on as soon as the supplies were delivered.

Geo starting the closet by 

adhering this metal bar.

The pre-cut side pieces slide

onto the angled metal bar.

It's a 
French cleat, 
hanging system. 
Installation was a breeze!

After a full day's work, 

Geo completed the closet.

My side of the closet.

I've lived in a lot of houses 

(and apartments) in my day, 

and this is--without a doubt--

the best closet ever!  

Geo's side of the closet.

I needed more space than hubby so I borrowed some of the space on his side.  The area behind the door was used for my long hanging clothes. 

Who knew we could be so organized!  

Not us!

Until now.

Our closet was never super messy in the past but as we acquired things and closets got fuller, total organization sometimes went awry!

* * * * 

So perhaps you're wondering 

what this tallied up to in the end.  

I'm pleased to tell you:

It was approximately 

$1,500.  

Geo and I are both thrilled with it!

The boys are too!  

Chewy (left), Elmer (right)

They enjoy winding in and out of the clothes like small children under a department store clothing rack.  

This was the second big project we completed.  The first one was my creative space.  If you'd like to see it, click here.  The yellow shelves on the creative space wall were hung with a French cleat system too.  

That's my post for now.  

Take care dear blogging friends!

See you soon.

Smiles,

Donna

Are We There Yet?

Not quite. Our close date of the 27th is still not firm but we received a somewhat encouraging report from our Superintendent yesterday. It said:

"I'm still trying to confirm that we will be able to close without the garage doors. It looks likely, but I still need to confirm a couple of things. Also, we are still exploring options and possible alternatives. I may know more early next week."

We think the options he mentions might be a temporary door.  That would be great!  I can't imagine the community's HOA allowing us to move in with no garage door but you never know.  

The house is looking fabulous!

The trim has been painted, and the

gutters and shutters have been installed.

Some flashing on the roof near

 the stone needs to be painted.

Upon entering, we found the cardboard 

had been removed from the floors! 

YAY!

Painter's tape marks spots on the 

wall throughout the house where 

things need touching up.  

Almost all the work has been completed 

so it's really looking and feeling like home.

💖

The hood vent needs to be covered yet.

We love the floor!

A few days back, they had just 

installed the shower glass in both baths.

We opted for rain glass instead of the 

trendy clear glass. While the clear glass

 looks super nice, we felt like it'd be a 

never-ending battle to keep clean.

This time, the red tape was off the glass, 

the floors are uncovered, and life is good!

With all the shortages and delays that construction has been experiencing throughout the pandemic, we were happy that we only had to make two changes.  One was the kitchen faucet (we love the new selection more than the original one!)  

The other re-selection was the shower door for the bathroom in the 2nd bedroom. We were less than thrilled with the replacement choices so we opted for the one they recommended as the closest match. The shower's wall tile is white and decorated with lots of gold design. The plumbing fixtures and towels racks are gold as well.  

 Now that it's installed, we're 

disappointed with the match.  

On a positive note, it's the only thing in this entire process that didn't turn out as expected. We can live with that. We can always change it out at some point.

Hopefully, the next time I post, our closing date will be firmed up.  

Have a wonderful weekend y'all!

Smiles & Blessings to Y'all,

Donna

Will We Close On January 27th?

Maybe.

Maybe not.

More about that later though.

As it stands now, all the sod is down.

The left side of the house

Right side

The front door is painted too!

Big Yay!

Inside

Entry

All the trim is down and painted 

as you can see from 

the photos above and below.

The carpet is down too.

We only had it put in the bedrooms and closets.

The hallway to the master bath and bedroom.

The door isn't on yet.  

It goes in the foreground doorway. 

The door to the bathroom is on the left. 

Master bedroom

The fireplace insert has been installed.

It's ready to go!

Geo is checking out the controls.

That's where we are at the moment.  

As for closing, we've run into a glitch. Garage doors are not readily available and won't go into production until the 25th so we won't have our door by the 27th.

We've asked our Superintendent if he thinks we'll be able to close without them.  He tells us the city shouldn't have a problem with it but he doesn't know about the community.  

We have an HOA with lots of rules such as you can't even park a car outside at night.  Cars have to be in the garage unless you have more cars than garage parking spots.  With that in mind, we'll be shocked if they'll let us close without a garage door.  

The builder's have experienced lots of shortage issues over the last year.  Our neighbors across the street moved in with a temporary dishwasher until theirs was available.  We're hoping they'll give us a temporary garage door so we can move in.  In the meantime, we wait for an answer.  After 15 months of waiting for one thing or another to get to this point, we're accustomed to it. 

Take care y'all!

Smiles & Blessings,

Donna

Some Sod & Appliances

Progress on the house slowed down a tad bit just before Christmas but there's still been some happy action!  

Our two Shumard Oak trees are in, 

one on each side of the house.

Some of our neighbors have gotten three of four trees but we were only offered two. We're not sure why but that's okay.  We were only able to select from four trees and were not thrilled by the choices. We've planned all along to add more trees anyway and we will.

They have started putting the sod down too. It's close to the same color of the dirt behind it but you may be able to see the little bit of sod that's in these two photos.  

Our super helpful and observant neighbors tell us that a front loader dropped them off so we're pretty sure they were leftover from another house. That means we were next on the sod list.  

Sod list?  

It doesn't sound like a list that 

one would want to be on, 

does it?    

We're fine 'n dandy with it!

Very much to our delight though is that our appliances have been gently placed into their designated homes.

Here's the dishwasher installed in the island 

next to it's teammate, the farmhouse sink.

Will there ever be technology that 

rinses the dishes , 

moves them to the dishwasher, 

and starts it? 

A girl can dream, 

can't she?

 

The fridge and two wall ovens.  

Oh my, those ovens fill me with joy!

Our RV oven doesn't maintain 

heat properly so we quit using  

it about a year ago.

The Gas over Glass Stove.

Be still my heart!

Stove and Hood.

As you can see, above the hood, 

there's some venting work to be done yet.

With the addition of our new appliances, 

it is really starting to look like home.

* * * * * * * * *

In a previous post, I commented that I'd post some better photos of the master bath's curbless shower. 

Here's a couple of very similar 

photos from slightly different distances.

 

The L-shaped wall at the bottom 

of the picture will have glass on it.  

* * * * * * * * *

Here's a couple of the home front...

...with Geo mulling around, checking it out.  

That's about it for this post.

* * * * * * * * *

I hope you all had a 

Very Merry Christmas! 

&

We wish you a 

Joy-Filled,

Healthy,

Happy

and

Very Blessed

New Year!

* * * * * * * * *

29 days until closing!

See you soon.

Smiles & Blessings,

Donna