Stairs to the Bonus Room

From just looking at the plans it's kind of hard to see how the stairs are to the bonus room.  I took a bunch of pictures for those wanting to know.

 view coming up the stairs

 view from the top of the stairs looking into the bonus room

 view from the top (on the bedroom side) looking into the bonus room

 View looking down.  You can see the "landing" area is actually two large steps

 View from the bonus room

Coming down the stairs, I am standing on the "upper landing" and yes, those are crayons on the stairs.  I have a 1 year old so there is always something somewhere :)

I hope these help those looking to add the bonus room.  Please let me know if you'd like a different view or angle. :)

Sectional Shopping

I have spent the last month shopping for a sectional for the Family Room.  There are so many options and they can get pretty expensive.  I wanted something built well (I have 4 active kids), stain resistant, but stylish too.

Some that were really pretty with turned style legs and nail head trim were just too uncomfortable.

Some that came in a million different fabrics, great price, nice construction just weren't quite right.  I don't want to have to "Heave Ho" to try and get out of it.

We looked at High end which were super nice, well built, comfortable...but with a $5,000 - $6,000 price tag it was a bit hard to take the plunge.

Then while shopping with my DD and stumbled into Macy's and found this (it's their #1 selling sectional)

It's called the Radley Sectional and it's just what we need.  It doesn' have the fancy feet or nail head trim but it's well built and most importantly comfortable!  It has the highest quality cushions available and is a great size.  The ottoman flips open for added storage as well.  And the price, well let's just say it's way less than $6,000!

We ordered it with the Chaise on the other side and an extra armless chair making the long side of the sectional about 176 inches long

These are the Fabrics I like.  I'll probably go with the Java because it's dark and will wear well with kids.  The light tan is so pretty but I have nightmares of kids dive bombing in the sofa with spaghetti sauce faces...EEEK!  Dark it will have to be, that's just the phase of life we are in right now.

Our Updated Floor Plan

Our Olsen

This is our floor plan with the structural changes we made.  The X's mark where recessed lighting, lights, & fans are going. "Kind of" 

Our Options & Upgrades

The process of choosing upgrades for the house can be really stressful.  Do not feel bad about choosing stuff and then changing or reconfiguring.  It is what the SR is there for and this is a big investment so you want to get it right.  Since we had experience with this process I think we took the SR by surprise!

My big gripe about this process is that every single upgrade possibility isn't listed. There is a list but it doesn't include everything you could change.  I had to constantly ask the SR what can I add in this room, what about moulding, are there upgrades to the stairs, etc.  We felt this is information she should have been telling us instead of the otherway around.

Here are the upgrades & options we chose.

Olsen Model Elevation L.  It has stone, shake, & siding.  We couldn't get the colors we wanted for our home because Ryan Homes thought this part of Ohio was not "ready" for the new colors.  This was a real disapointment because we are READY for the new colors!  We ended up choosing Pebble Creek Siding, Sandy Tan Shake, White Trim, Bucks County Ledgestone Stone, Brown Shudders, Outerspace Door.  Cottage style front door & garage doors came standard.

We upgraded to whole house Oil Rubbed Bronze hardware & chose level 3 molding package which gives you larger baseboards, larger door casings, crown molding, chair rail, etc.  We upgraded the stair balisters to iron.

Basement 

• Unfinished (just couldn't fit it in the budget)
• 3 piece bathroom rough in

First Floor

• Added the morning room
• 4ft extension on study
• recessed lighting in the Family room
• Partial Stone Fireplace.  We originally had a full stone fireplace but it was feeling a bit too rustic for my taste.  Then I discovered they offer a partial stone...so pretty.

• level 4 appliance package

• Level 2 cabinets Rushmore with a Hazlenut Glaze

• Level 2 Granite New Venetian Gold
• Goose neck faucet

• Gas cooktop (electric is standard)
• Ceiling Fan in Family Room
• Light in Living Room
• Light in Study
• Extra outlet in Study
• Added an outlet in the Pantry
• Under cabinet lighting
• Cabinet Moulding

Second Floor

• Added Bonus Room
• Upgraded Master Bathroom
• Ceiling Fans in all the bedrooms & bonus room
• Changed the Master shower to a Roman Shower(his & hers shower heads)
• Jetted Tub
• Removed the wall between the 2 master closets making 1 large closet.  We have seperate closets now (which I love) so we will see if we like this set up. 
• Laundry sink

Garage

• Added an outlet
• Added an extra Hose Bib
• Service Door (gives you a light on the side of the house too)
• Floor Drain

We did not get the Hutch in the morning room although I really wanted it I just couldn't justify the $5,000 price tag. Plus this is something I can add later on.

We did remove one window from the family room.  They have 3 windows across the back of the house in the family room kind of spaced out and I think it looks weird.  We removed the center window so now the couch will go in between the 2 windows.

We requested for them to not install the wire shelving closet system in the kids closets.  I HATE wire shelving!  If I could remove it from the entire house I would but I just can't afford to redo every closet nor do I have the time.  I will install custom closet systems in the kids closets and then do the master closet later.

We would have liked to Jack & Jill the bathroom upstairs but would have to give up the vaulted entry way.  Since the boys will be sharing those bedrooms & bathroom we figured they didn't need walk in closets.  This was a $6,000 upgrade.

With the added upgrades the sq footage of our home is now 3,800 sq ft. not including the basement.