Last Walk-through of the House

Well, we went out to the house this weekend. With 30 days until we close we were allowed to get into the house one last time prior to our pre-closing walk-through. It was worthwhile. In the two weeks since I was last there the builder managed to get all the lighting fixtures and the concrete poured for the driveway. Even more importantl, the solid granite slab counter tops in the kitchen were installed.

Overall we were very impressed with what we saw. In many ways seeing everything in place (esp. the granite) made us feel much better about some of the choices we made. In the case of the granite, we went 2-3 times to select the stone, but I was still not convinced the color we went with would go with the maple. Well, I'm convinced now ;)

images/dv_photo/house/house82403/

(View of the new driveway)

(View of Finished Dining Room)

(View outside from Living Room)

(View of Kitchen from Family Room. Note Granite counters.)

(Close-up of Granite Countertop Color)

(Family Room Fireplace w/tiles)

(Main Stairwell w/Maple Banisters)

(Master Bath Tub and Counter)

(Master Bath Shower)

(Front Guest Room)

(Rear Guest Room w/Rhonda looking towards door)

(View from finished office to main hall)

Cognitive Psychology & IA : From Theory to Practice

Ever wonder where a best practice for designing navigation or structuring content for the web comes from? Many things like breadcrumb navigation, colors, etc., that we in the user experience field take for granted have their origins in cognitive psychology.

The challenge in developing usable and compelling user experiences is in understanding how each target user thinks about your product online. Ultimately this translates into a system that hopefully is intuitive enough to address that individual user needs. When you add in the different needs of these same users from an international perspective where language and cultural differences can get in the way, there is a need to customize the experience along multiple dimensions.

This recent article on Boxes and Arrows delves into the depths of how people think and the translation of this understanding into common best practices for global and country specific user experience design.

Well, we have a completion date on the house...

That's right, we got a definitive completion date on the house. Now when I say definitive, I mean to say that this is supoosedly the official date. When we first signed our contract back in May the promised date for completion was September 15. Not believing the developers, I made them pad that date to September 30th.

As the days and weeks have rolled on the developer made increasing noise that the site would be ready well before September 30...like the 15th, but we really wouldn't know until 30 days out.

Yesterday I got the call and as you can imagine I was excited until...until I heard the date...September 30th. Lying weasels was my first instinctive reply, but then I thought about it and realized my demand to pad the promise date was well justfied.

At least this way I know when the house will be ready give or take a week. Moreover, every day over the official promise date costs them money so it it very likely to happen on the 30th. Now I can plan the move. Time to call the movers and tell the nasty ghetto neighbors what to do with themselves (maybe not just yet, but very, very soon).

We'll be out at the house this Sunday. Walking on a paved driveway for the first time there....oooh very exciting. My friends are probably ready to kill me with all the glow and talk of the house, but hey you don't go buying a house everyday.

The final stages of the House

Well, we're in the home stretch! The new house in Tracy is speeding to completion. From the pictures I took on Saturday, you can see that all the cabinets are in and the neighborhood is taking shape.

Kitchen Cabinets with Maple finish.

View from the Kitchen Nook into the Kitchen and Family Room Area.

View from Family Room to main fireplace.

View of our house and the Neighbors from accross the street. (We're the ones in the middle.)