HOA Fees are now a reality!

We came from a typical family neighborhood that didn't have any HOA fees.  We also didn't have all the amenities we have now.  I can honestly say paying the quarterly amount wasn't fun since it is cold and I can't even fathom using the pool at this time.  Our fitness center is not the greatest.  I haven't personally been in it.  I have peeked through the windows though.  We have 2 treadmills and weight equipment.  Our community is HUGE.  I think they could have gotten a few more treadmills.  Our play area is great though. I am excited for the kids to get more use out of it once the weather warms up.

Update on our kitchen flooring. I just received a call from Rite Rug.  They will be coming out and replacing the whole section of our kitchen that is bubbled up.  We have the laminate "wood" appearance floors.  It looks like when they laid it.  The contractor used a little too much force installing them and they bubbled up from pressure.  I am so glad they are doing this.  It was a pet peeve for sure.

My husband and I are currently working on a pinterest craft.  I have been searching for an old fire place mantel.  I found a fairly large one at the Antique store.  He sanded it and primed it last night.  So hopefully we will have it painted to hang this weekend.  We are placing the mantel in our front room.  To serve as a nice sitting area. I am sooooooo excited.  Our new catalog with my candle company launched and we have some really cute colors that are coming out.  So I am ready to decorate the mantel ASAP.  www.savannaperkins.mygc.com

Our deck is also completely built.  The last thing we need to do is stain it.  Which will have to be when the wind chills are not -40!

Once we finish the mantel I will post pictures and some of the deck as well.  I hope you all are staying warm!

Service Request Updates....

Last Friday Ryan Homes came out and took a look at the service requests we had submitted.  Here are the results of what they said.  Just in case some of you are experiencing the same issues.

Microwave Frost issue-  they believe it is a fluke thing because of the weather.  He thinks when we are using the vent while cooking is causes the vent to crystallize on the outside as it is hitting the air.  Which in turn can cause the vent to stay open and the cold to travel in.  So at this point they are investigating it but no replacement needed.

Garage Entry Door-  They will be replacing the whole door at our 10 month, but they did adjust it so it would open and close a lot easier.

Pantry always freezing-  At first he mentioned seeing if HVAC would install a vent.  He said it was extremely cold and that was not normal.  Yet, it does not warrant a vent in the normal floor plan.  He also requested to look in the attic space above the garage.  After doing that he determined that the insulation was never blown in.  He said that has been happening a lot lately.  So they are coming out Friday to blow in the insulation.  He seems to think this will help the cold issue.  I will keep you posted.

Missing brick-  They have ordered the one missing brick we are in need of!  HA HA.  He thinks the brick layers thought the vinyl would come down more so they didn't place one there.  Thankfully he says it hasn't caused any damage.  The weep holes in the brick would drain water if anything were to get in the space.

Kitchen Laminate- there are several spots that were coming up and even chipped in areas.  He called Rite Rug and they are coming out Thursday to see what we need to do to get it fixed.


**Other happy news besides all our tickets.  We are finally having our deck built!!!  There is supposed to be some warmer weather move through this week.  So tomorrow our wood is being delivered and the gentlemen is coming to install it.  He said it would take about 2-3 days if that.  I am so beyond excited. I hate taking our dogs out the garage everyday to use the restroom!

Have a great week!

Updates and Pictures...

After leaving messages and finally being able to submit tickets online.  Someone called to schedule our appointment and get things taken care of.  At least I HOPE!

A few issues I listed-

Our laminate floors in the kitchen-- some areas are bulging or stick up.  Which means when we step on them they squish.  I am not a fan of this.  Only because that means the wear on the floor will not be pretty.

Our Pantry- Is always freezing! Thanks to the blogger who shared they have a vent in their florence.  I am going to be figuring out why we do not have one.

Missing Brick-  We are randomly missing a brick on the top back side of our house.  Which is exposing the wrap and I am assuming letting water in.

Microwave-  The frost/ice issue we had.  Thanks to the blogger who shared that the vents recently changed.

All in all these are things that can be fixes so I am happy about that.  Since we have moved in we have arranged and rearranged rooms.  My poor husband can't catch a break.   I will have these bright ideas to relocate rooms of furniture at 10 pm.

Recently, we moved our sectional from upstairs to the basement and moved the basement furniture upstairs. We went to IKEA and made so great inexpensive purchases for the upstairs living room.  A new TV stand and lights.  As for the basement we moved our dining room set we originally had upstair to the basement and purchased a new dining room set and buffet server.  I just hope we don't have to relocate any more furniture. Lastly, we finally utilized our mud room.  Pictures are posted below.  I can thank pinterest and pier one for my findings :)

My son's wall color and my goodwill/hobby lobby finds.  The bins were actually supposed to hang on the wall but it didn't work as I had planned.  So they are now for storage/decor.

My daughter's room.  She has the wall paper accent wall.

I searched high and low for these letters.  I love them--pinterest inspired for sure.

Our Christmas gift to ourselves.  A new dining room set.  It actually fills the space in the morning room.  Our other table is now in the basement as a game/food table.

Our upstairs living room off of the kitchen.  (Don't judge me for watching the housewives.)  We have hung more stuff but I need to take more pictures :)

Our recent mud room to do.  We bought the hanger and large basket for shoes at pier one.  Everything in this picture was less than $200 :)

Accent wall in the front of the house towards the back living room.


We still need to purchase an over-sized chair for our basement and hang some more pictures.  But it finally is coming together.  I will post more pictures soon.


PS We just got a Water Softener.  AHMAZING!!!! I highly recommend you get one.  And do not spend $1500 on one.  You can buy them for around $300 and install it yourself.  We did not have the rough in either.  

Frozen Microwave!

I haven't posted in awhile.  It is craziness how the weather has been here in Ohio.  We had torrential down pours over a week ago.  Some of our neighbors had flooding in their basements!  Not a great thing to hear. Thankfully, theirs weren't finished so no furniture was ruined.  Doesn't give us the warm fuzzy feeling since ours is.  Makes me worry maybe we aren't seeing something.

Today it is below zero!!!!!  Horrible.  Our house sounds like it is loosing parts with the horrific wind we are having as well.  But to our surprise our Microwave is frozen and frosted on the inside!!!! Our pantry is the same degree as it is outside!!!!!!!! We have a facebook page for everyone on our street and it seems a lot of other neighbors are having the same issue.  Not very energy efficient if you as me!!!!  I have called and placed service requests.  I hope someone calls us soon.

I hope everyone had a Happy New Years and Holiday :)