2nd Guardian Meeting

Finalized all our selections with Guardian today.  We decided on the following:

Security System - had to add a couple of additional motion detectors to get full coverage and added the monitored smoke and heat detectors as well.

Whole house audio - decided to rock the house out...well not quite, but almost.  Have audio speaker pairs in the sunroom, solarium, Master bedroom, and outdoor speakers.

Surround sound speakers for the family room and basement.  We are putting all our audio/video equipment in the hall closet (got this idea from another blog) and running everything from there, so we also got a full wiring package to connect the TV over the fireplace to the closet equipment. This also includes an internet connection to the TV as well.

And finally, in addition to the 2 phone and 2 cable connections that come with the house we added 9 cable and 3 data cables.  We have a cable connection in just about all rooms and we added the 3 data cables to be able to connect TVs/Blueray players directly to the internet for speed.  Most of the time we will use wireless for our computers, but it's nice to have a direct connection when trying to steam video.

Thats a lot of "stuff", but we did not get the full audio package (way to big a mark up on the equipment) and the intercom was way overpriced and we did not get the central vacuum system either...would rather spend that money on a jacuzzi later.

Creative Floor Meeting

We met with Creative Floor this afternoon to make all our flooring and bath room selections.

Hardwood - Living Rm, Dining Rm, Foyer, Kitchen, Morning Rm, Study, Solarium
Carpet - Family Rm, Basement, 2nd Floor, Stair Runner
Linoleum - Basement Bathroom, 2nd Floor 2nd and 3rd Bathroom
Tile - Laundry Rm, Sunroom, Bar, 1st Floor Bathroom, Master Bathroom

We have also decided on our cabinets for the Kitchen, Bathrooms, Laundry, and Bar - We have selected the Wyoming Cherry Bordeaux - darker of the 2 Cherry - some of the pictures don't give a good representation at all.

Below are pictures:

Manchester C218 Cherry Hardwood - Picture shows the wider plank - we will have the narrower plank and the picture doesn't do a good job showing the cherry color.

Cabinet Picture off Timberlake Website

Best Picture of Cherry Hardwood floor

Linoleum for upstairs bathrooms

Linoleum for basement bathroom

Tile - Laundry Rm, Sunroom, Bar

1st Floor Bathroom Tile

Master Bathroom Tile - also shows the Absolute Black Granite that will be our counter tops in the Master Bath

Carpet - Upstairs, Stair Runner, Basement

Carpet - Family Room

We also stopped by a Ravenna model that was just built to look at the bar.  Pictures below...we will have the Cherry cabinets from above with the tile(like the sunroom) from above and also the Absolute Black Granite.  We are also going to have the pendant lights.  Will also be adding the under cabinet lights in our kitchen as well.

1st Guardian Meeting

Met with Guardian last night.  Spent about 1.5 to 2 hours going over everything they have to offer.
Security System
Phone, Cable, and Data lines
Whole house audio
Surround sound systems (everything from rough ins to complete package)
Rough ins for TVs
HDMI cables
Remote Controls - IR wall sensors and RF remotes
Intercom System
Central Vacuum System
Went thru all the options and got complete list of pricing for all.  Our heads were spinning by the time we got done.  I think it was all the $$$ signs whirling around.

Right up front before we even started we agreed that we would not make any decisions last night....just gather all the information and bring it home and decide.  We will be getting back together sometime within the next week to write up our order.  Will post again when we have made our decision.

Guardian Meeting

We have our meeting with Guardian next week.  I know the extras we will be getting will be over and above the cost of the house.  How are payments made to Guardian?  Do you make payments along the way or a deposit up front and final payment when the work is complete?  Does anyone have a list of the speaker model numbers and other audio/video equipment models that they offer?

It's Official - We are building a house

We met with our sales rep last Tuesday to finalize the pricing and sign all the paperwork.  We felt like there were more forms to sign then when we have previously bought and/or sold a house.  We left him with questions about a bunch of other options and/or potential custom changes we might do.  We drove over to the development afterwards and attached the sold sticker to the homesite sign...YEAH!!!!!