So, I've been busy reading other blogs of couples building their homes, and I realized that with all the chaos of moving and all, I've completely forgotten to mention what type of house we are building, and all the fun little things we chose to go inside of it!
I will start by giving a shout out to the builder we selected. There are so many different builders out there these days, that choosing one is not an easy task. The development that we are building in offers two builders. Ryan Homes and Drees. After all the not-so-pleasant things we've heard about Ryan Homes, we finally decided to go with Drees - and I couldn't be happier! Ryan Homes did offer a lot of great ammenities in each house, including larger square footage for the same price as a (smaller) Drees home. We still couldn't do it, we just couldn't take the chance on all those rumors being true. So we decided that 2100 square feet was large enough for us, and that we would go with Drees.
Drees offers so many different types of houses - from ranches to colonials, and bungalows to homes that may as well be castles. We knew we wanted a colonial. So then we had to begin looking at all the models and floorplans of all the colonials they offered. Darn well knowing that we can't afford a 4,000 square foot, five bedroom house, we ended up going with a very modestly-sized and priced colonial, called the Crosby., It is 4 bedrooms, 2.5 baths. We selected elevation "D," - which happens to be the most high-end version of the house, complete with a brick and siding combination front. It is one of those houses that has a two-story foyer, so you can see the chandelier in the second story front window when you pull up to it at night...how exciting!!!
A lot of things come standard with Drees homes, but there were certain things that we decided to upgrade. Of course with the base price of the house already being higher than we were anticipating spending, we had to be conservative with our upgrades. We decided to do the following upgrades:

- A custom 3 foot extention to the main floor; allocating 1 foot to the breakfast room and 2 feet to the family room. With this alteration, our basement will also have those extra 3 feet. We chose to do this for a couple of reasons. The first reason is that although we do have a (small) front living room, we plan on using it as an office, so our family room needed to be more of a "great" room. Second, since we chose a floorplan without a formal dining room, we wanted to ensure our breakfast room was plenty big to fit all our family/friends in.
- Kitchen Island - we definitely wanted a kitchen island. More counterspace, an overhang for kids to sit and eat or do homework at - it was a decision that wasn't even a decision. It was a must!
-Upgraded countertops. We upgraded to granite. With the main floor being very open, we knew that it was going to be the star of the show, and nothing screams star like granite. Nothing. With this upgrade, it automatically upgraded our sink, and then upgraded the upgraded sink to be undermounted. Fabulous!
-Upgraded kitchen faucet. When you have granite countertops, an upgraded stainless sink, and beautiful cabinetry (standard), you can't have a rinky-dink faucet. This upgrade cost more than I thought it would though, that is for sure.
-Upgraded appliances. We ended up selecting the stainless package. Again, when you upgrade everything else in the kitchen, which is the star of the show, you can't have apartment-sized standard appliances.
-A gas stove. Hard to believe, but running a gas line to the stove was an upgrade. A very inexpensive upgrade, but an upgrade none-the-less.
-Recessed can lights in the kitchen. The standard option was a huge flourescent light that looked so 1980's it wasn't funny. Actually, the whole lighting category is where Drees definitely dropped the ball. Their standard lighting options were hideous.
-Upgraded whole-house light package. We upgraded every single light fixture. There wasn't a question about it - hollywood lights in the bathrooms and a tin chandelier just wasn't going to do it for us.
-Upgraded flooring in the foyer, hallway, powder room, breakfast room, kitchen, and mud room. All of those areas will be gorgeous hardwood. I am in love with the flooring! We did leave all the other rooms as standard builders-grade carpet, but did upgrade the padding. We have a baby, and a small dog, so if this carpet gets puked, pooped, or spilled on I won't mind (as much).
-Gas fireplace. A house would never be a home without one!
-Fireplace surround. This was a last-minute upgrade. We decided to go with a super sexy slate in lieu of the standard beige tile. The slate is blackish-brown with hints of copper and blue running through it.
-Mantle outlet - we didn't upgrade the mantle itself, because the standard Drees mantle is gorgeous, but we did add an outlet in it, so that I can plug in my holiday decor directly into the mantle and never see a wire! How creative is that?!
-Wire chase - This is a man upgrade if I ever heard of one - and that's exactly who selected it - my husband! Apparently this upgrade makes it so the TV will be mounted above the fireplace, and you won't see one stinking wire. Again, just a cosmetic upgrade that will probably make a world of a difference.
-Vaulted master bedroom ceiling. This was just one of those options that made the bedroom look grand. I can't say enough how thrilled I am about this upgrade. 10' ceilings will make my bed look like it belongs in a college dormroom. Our bedroom also has a sitting area, which comes standard.
-Owners bath. This was another area where we decided to go ahead and really get what we wanted. We upgraded to the full five-piece bath (double bowl sink with upgraded countertop, toilet, shower, garden tub). It really will be my own personal retreat!
-Upgraded master bath window. The window that comes standard is a non-functioning 4' window that is above the garden tub. I changed it to a functioning window, even though it resulted in the window only being 3' wide.

We also upgraded our paint colors, toilets, added a wash-tub in the laundry room, and few extra outlets and cable jacks, but honestly those are necessary add-ons, i'd hardly call them "upgrades."

While our house is definitely not going to be the largest house in our development, it is exactly what we want, in the location that we want. (On a cul-de-sac), with nothing but un-buildable land behind it, trees, ponds and nature!

C'mon April 19th - I can't wait to meet my new house!