Design Appointment for The Pate Place

Wow!  Talk about making a lot of decisions in a short time!  Yesterday, we had a three hour appointment with the designer for our home, and made every important decision, right down to the soffit color and which carpet pad we wanted.  It was crazy!

First shock of the morning was when we learned the rendering of the house we've seen all this time didn't actually include the bonus room, so the house will look much bigger than we thought.  It looks beautiful on the blueprint, and I'm so glad we added the 5' bump out onto the garage because it even adds an extra window in the front of the house.  

We went into the appointment with a good idea of what we wanted on the exterior, and ended up picking a completely different brick.  The designer was awesome in helping us get to the vision I had in my mind and I'm so excited to see how the brick looks when finished with the dark roof and cedar shutters/accents.  

I knew the cabinetry/countertops would be the hardest part for me.  What I've had in my head for my dream kitchen for years aren't available as standard options, and we were trying hard to limit our upgrades.  Thankfully, the glazed/distressed cream cabinets they had as a standard option are beautiful and I am really excited to see them in.  We left the appointment choosing this combo below - cream cabinets, a taupe/grey tile floor that I love, and Luna Pearl granite with a slate colored glass tile backsplash.  And I do think it looks good together.  BUT, I'm worried it's going to end up darker than I want, so already I'm doubting our choices, and will be chatting with the designer to see if we should change the backsplash and/or countertop.  Changing the countertop will most likely mean an upgrade, which would mean going over our budget, but it might be necessary to make sure the kitchen is my favorite room of the house.  (I'll keep you posted what I do!)

And super exciting - the lot has a SOLD sign now!  It's all very real now!  

And it begins...

We're Building a House!!

I'm completely thrilled/excited/shocked/scared-out-of-my-mind/overwhelmed...but we are under contract!!  We asked for a lot from them, and we didn't get all that we wanted.  The biggest thing was for them to pay closing costs, and they refused.  But, after a lot of consideration, we decided we'd make this work.

We could've waited a year or so and saved some more money for closing costs and the down payment, but in doing so, we'd miss out on the ideal lot we wanted, plus risk interest rates and prices rising even more than they already have.  And this neighborhood feels right...I'm so excited about that!

Unfortunately, this new home means a different school for the kids.  Of course, Riley won't be impacted as much since she's just starting, but Gavin isn't exactly overjoyed with the idea of leaving the school he's known and loved, and all his friends.  I've promised him we will keep in touch with the boys, through soccer and playdates for sure.  I know it won't be the same, but I will make sure their friendships continue to grow.

So...here goes nothing.  Bring on five months of stress, decisions, second-guessing, planning, dreaming, and anticipation.  The Pate Place is going to be amazing.

The Pate Place Update

Well, I'm a nervous wreck, but we submitted an offer yesterday!  We'll see what happens...I'm not very confident that they'll accept the offer because of how much we asked for, but we're hoping to build a Walnut floor plan home in The Parks at Brighton Creek - four bedrooms and 2.5 baths downstairs with a bonus room and another half bath upstairs.  It would have a covered patio and be on one of the premium lots in the neighborhood (still not huge, but larger than most and backs up to a green space with no one building behind us).  Here are some sketches of the exterior elevation and the floor plan.

We'll know by tomorrow!  I'll be sure to update what is going on. :)

The Pate Place

A new home for the Pate family? Maybe!

A little history.  We moved down to Bentonville almost SIX years ago.  That just blows my mind.  After a very short stint in Rochester, Jarrod was encouraged to come down here to work at the Home Office.  I was hesitant.  I did not think he would like working in an office setting, but it seemed like there were some advantages we couldn't pass up - mainly working 'regular' hours, not retail.  Plus, when we looked up housing here and compared it to UNY, we could get SO much more here.  So, we jumped in with both feet BUT I made sure he knew I didn't want to buy a house here.  I wanted to make sure we liked it here first.

So, for the same monthly rent as our two bedroom apartment in Rochester, we moved into a beautiful 4 bedroom house here in Bentonville.  And, we ended up loving it here!  Ideally, I wish I could take Bentonville and physically move it closer to Ohio (can't we just swap places with like Kentucky or something??) but overall, this has been a really great place for our family.  We started to look to buy a house, but I was still hesitant to own two homes (since we still owned the home in Miamisburg).  Well, back in 2011, we were shocked to learn our tenant had vacated our home, leaving us high and dry, and we went through a very stressful short sale.  Because of that, we couldn't buy a home here for many years.  Thankfully, we were in a great rental home with fantastic landlords and didn't have a real need to move anywhere.

Fast forward to last fall...our schools went through some major changes, which included eliminating our much-loved year round calendar and a major rezoning.  That triggered us to see if we could go ahead and buy a home so we could get close enough to our current school to avoid switching schools.  Good news - we were told we COULD in fact apply for a loan now.  Bad news - the homes near our current school have increased drastically in price over the last couple of years and no longer in our budget.  After a LOT of stress, I finally came to peace with the idea of switching schools and we decided to look in a different part of town near another school.

So, after a lot of looking, we stumbled upon a sign for a brand new neighborhood that is just getting started.  While we haven't decided to 100% go forward with this, I have spent countless hours over the last two weeks, staring at the lot map and comparing floor plans, making list after list after list of pros and cons.  Typical Jen, right?  And whether this is the route we end up going or not, I want to make sure I document the journey here for us to look back on.

The perks of being in this new neighborhood are really appealing.  We'd be just under a mile from the elementary school, middle school and junior high (assuming we don't get rezoned again...which I've learned I can never assume anything with our school board).  Finally, we'd be in a neighborhood with kids for Gav and Riley to play with.  Yes, it's brand new and I don't know that for a fact, but Riley did make a friend while we were just meeting with the builder's salesperson at another model home and they're also building in that neighborhood.  I have a feeling Riley and Sydney are going to become close friends if we go this route. ;)  The neighborhood will not only have a pool and a playground like I've always wanted for the kids, but also a dog park.  Seriously?!  Oh, and the POA is responsible for all lawn mowing.  We wouldn't even have to cut our grass.  Jarrod's not so sure how he feels about that, but I've assured him we'd still be able to do yard work and it will give him more time for running.

So, the cons - the lots are not going to be very large, and in keeping with most of the new neighborhoods here, the houses are going to be pretty close together.  Not ideal, but probably something that we can deal with if it means a better neighborhood for the kids.  The floor plan we are leaning toward is a bit more than we want to spend, and it will most likely mean that I will need to do some part time work when Riley starts kindergarten to help with our budget, but again, I think it will be worth it.  And of course, since it is BRAND NEW (meaning the model home isn't even ready....they just poured the foundation actually), we aren't able to walk through floor plans and make sure what's on paper is actually what will work for us.  Kinda scary for someone like me who is very hands on.  I really wish I could walk through a few homes first.

But...that's where we are right now.  Still figuring things out with which lot we'd go with and for sure which floor plan we'd choose.  Jarrod's been gone most of the last two weeks traveling for a new club opening and YBM, so I'm hoping after Friday we can really make some headway because kindergarten registration is next week and I want to try everything I can to avoid the kids being put on a waiting list for their new school.  I'll keep you posted on the Pate Place! :)