One thing that we have learned is the value of good shelving. We have pretty much redone every closet with help from our friends at the Container Store. The owners closet is my favorite, but the pantry is a close second! The Ryan pantry consisted of four shelves with lots of wasted space. We managed to get seven shelves in the same space! The shelves don't buckle under the weight of canned goods and they are all lined to prevent items from falling through. Before and after pics are below.
I hope to get blogging soon with more details on the 30 day walk through, the things we wish we had thought of earlier in the process, etc. It's too much to share from the tiny phone keypad. ;)
Yup I'm not a fan of the shelves either, everything falls through or falls over, they look good though dont they?
ReplyDeleteThe originals look good until you start putting your stuff on them. :)
DeleteI think the shelves they put in are tacky, with the big supports taking so much space. But I don't have a problem with them not holding things, or things falling through. I got some Jiff peanut butter boxes from Sams Club and use them as drawers on the one shelf with small things.
DeleteLove those shelves! May need to look into that!
ReplyDeleteThanks!
DeleteNice! Look at all those spices! Haha
ReplyDeleteWe have collected a few ;)
DeleteI love that spice rack on the door thing, I am gonna have to find one of those we have so many spices its crazy!
ReplyDeleteI love the shelves!
ReplyDeleteThanks, M!
DeleteLove it! I can't wait to see more pictures?
ReplyDeleteI look forward to sharing more once things are a little less chaotic :) The house is still pretty bare bones--no decorating has been done yet.
DeleteI love the shelves! We will be redoing ours too! I almost want to ask them not to even put the shelves in because the holes might not line up with what I actually want.
ReplyDeleteI still have time to think!! I love this :)
We were in the house less than a month when we decided to redo every closet. The only one we haven't done yet is the coat closet. We'll get to that one eventually. I recommend if you think you can get to hanging your own shelves soon after you move in, to just have them leave them all out. The only one we had them leave out was the owner's closet, which meant more work (and holes) for hubby to put the new ones up. With that said, the holes cover pretty well with the brackets that hang down on the elfa shelving. Any that you can still see are easily covered by a good spackle. Since the walls aren't a color, you can't see the patched holes unless you're looking for them. The original shelves drove me crazy...so I highly recommend replacing them with a higher quality shelf.
DeleteThat's our plan, to just let Ryan pile the parts in the closets. That way I can replace with higher end units, or simply get the height right the first time.
Delete-Jon
Hello! I am brand new to the blog world and I would love to chat with you more. I have so many questions for you. First and foremost, your house is beautiful! We are actually going to be your future neighbors. We are building the Ravenna Elevation A on lot 138. Our pre-construction meeting is on Monday. Do you have any tips for us? I love reading your blog!
ReplyDeleteHi Sue,
DeleteI sent a reply to your comment via email, but I'm not sure whether it went through since I saw it went to "no reply." Let me know if you got it.
Thanks!
Hello!
ReplyDeleteI did not get the email, but I just changed my settings so I should get it now if you resend the message. Thank you so much!
Ok, I will try again. Good luck tomorrow.
DeleteI don't think it worked...so here is what I said but with names withheld to protect the innocent ;)
DeleteI'm glad you have enjoyed the blog! That's great you are moving into the neighborhood. It's a nice neighborhood and the PM is really great. I would be happy to talk to you and help answer any questions I can. The pre construction meeting was kind of uneventful for us. The main thing is to ensure that all of the change orders (and original orders) are verified. This is also a good time to bring up things you would like, such as extra support under the laundry room via cross-members. We also asked about adding insulation to the exterior wall of the garage and in between the bonus and master. I have read other people's blogs about wrapping pipes with insulation. I haven't noticed "plumbing" sounds in the Ravenna, so maybe it's an issue in other floor plans. Not having a two story foyer probably helps significantly.
The best advice I can give you is to be very involved in the process--be your own PM! Ours is great, but he is working a lot of other homes too. I recommend visiting your site as often as possible once they start digging. If you see anything "off" or have questions, don't hesitate to ask PM. Many times, you can catch mistakes they may not. Now, overall we didn't have too many major problems. We are very pleased with the quality. But any time there is a big project with multiple workers, problems can arise. Best to keep on top of it and not expect others to notice on their own.
If you want to chat, let me know! We can meet up at the model or I can give you my number.
Happy building!
Thank you so much! I would love to chat! My email is suebdough@gmail.com
ReplyDeleteLove your blog and looking forward to more updates!!
ReplyDeleteJen
http://buildingourabode.blogspot.com/
You have tons of great information on here. Thanks for all of it! My wife and I are under contract to build the Ravenna (elevation M - it's new). One of our biggest concerns is that in the model home (no basement) they have the duct work running right down the middle of the house. This means that there is a sigficant amount of the ceiling that is "dropped" in the family room. I noticed in your pictures that you do not have this drop in your family room, but instead it is in the basement. We will have the basement as well. Is this something you negotiated? Our SR is supposed to be asking to move it to the basement, but I'm trying to gather as much backup as possible to get this moved, hopefully at minimal to no cost. Any information you have would be most helpful. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI am so glad the blog has been helpful.
DeleteI have seen that in one other Ravenna model, but I asked our PM about it at the pre construction meeting and he assured us that would not be the way our house is. I would ask the SR to get you in touch with the PM sooner rather than later to confirm. If you have read the blogs, you will know you definitely can't trust that your SR is giving you the whole or correct story. If the PM tells you he has to do it that way, I would take that up with Ryan homes before they start building. Clearly, if you have a basement, it can be done.
Jealous of your elevation M!! Best of luck with your build.
Nice! I just put my rack up and added a revashelf rack under one of the cabinets. Are you doing any other things in the kitchen?
ReplyDeleteThat's why I made everyone take every box of stuff where it belonged as soon as it came in the house and made them empty them immediately. Of course, I did the bulk of it. I couldn't bear the thought of finally getting into our house and living with boxes.
ReplyDeleteYour pantry looks great! I hate the Ryan pantry so much, but haven't decided yet what I want to do in there, so it stays as is until I have a plan.