Parade of Homes

Michael and I can not wait for the next step in our lives when he graduates, gets a job, and we move to a new place! Even more we can not wait to buy or BUILD our first home!! 

We love HGTV and have pretty much seen all the House Hunter and Property Virgin episodes. We also love to watch any show that does a home make over because when we think about what we want, we are never sure if we want to buy a house we want to make over or if we want to build a new house. After today I am saying BUILD PLEASE!

This weekend in the BCS they are having the Parade of Homes. I heard about this from some friends who found their builder through this event a little over a year ago. The Parade of Homes is an event where builders can apply to have an open house to show what they are up to. You are able to meet the builders (if they are there) and they give you ideas to what you can do if you use them. I couldn't wait to get out and look at new homes and meet the builders! 

I thought I would share a little about some of the houses we went into today.

The first house we went to was our friends who told us about this event (they actually just moved into their house this past week but were out of town this weekend, so they let the builder use their home as the open house). They builder of their home was JMV Homes and wow did they do an amazing job! We met the builder and learned some very neat things to make sure to include if we decide to build. One of the things I never thought about was with the granite counters, making sure it keeps the same thickness the whole way through. With most counter tops if you grab underneath there is a lip (and I do not like that) but when I grabbed underneath their granite there was no lip and it was very nice. We loved looking at their upgrades and their ideas all through their house. Here are some pictures of their beautiful home.

Loved the dark wood and the granite! Beautiful kitchen!

We liked the idea of adding wood to the fireplace

They used the same wood throughout the house and I loved this mirror

This was a big deal for the owners of the house! I love it! Laundry basket pull out drawer

I do not like shower caddies so I will need to remember this for our house

We then went into another home that we thought had some pretty ideas but it was very small and we did not like the use of space. We drove by some other townhomes that we were not that interested in as we are not looking to ever live in a townhome. With two sweet chocolate labs, they need a yard to run around and just be dogs in. 

Another house we went in was beautiful as well! It was built by Blackstone Custom Homes and was huge! It was 2,700 square feet which is a lot of house for our first home, but had so many great ideas inside. This was a really busy open house when we were there so we did not get to meet the builder, but we enjoyed looking through the home. Here are some pictures of things in the house we loved!

Different look with this fixture in the master bathroom

Michael loves this idea by the back door

Bar area, love the wine fridge and wine rack!

Exposed Wood Beams, LOVE

Can I say PERFECT, I want this exact range and pot filler!!

Very pretty cabinet idea

Spice rack pull out! On both sides next to the range, SO SMART!

I thought the entrance was beautiful with the dark wood

After that we drove north and thought we were headed towards 3 more homes, but it ended up being model homes that are always open and we were not interested in going in those 2 so we continued to the last one on our list. And I am so glad we did!!

Our last home was the best home I have seen and it was just the bones basically. They were not close to being done, but that made it even better because as we walked around with the builder he explained what was going to be happening in each room and all the details I loved. Raven Homes is the builder of this home and he was so friendly and helpful. The house is a 2,000 sq ft custom home being built on 10 acres (they already owned the land – exactly what we want) and was the best use of space I have ever seen. It had such an open floor plan and we fell in love with the layout. The one thing both of us loved that we do not see much anymore is when the front door (it was double doors) opens and faces the back door (double doors as well). You looked though the living room, but it made the house so open which we loved! The owners chose to do stained concrete which both of us really like how it looks! Here are some pictures of the home and I will explain what is in the pictures as the house is just in the bones phase.

Fireplace to the left and entertainment area on the right.The hole is in the master closet that opens up to the back of the TV, SMART! 

Window seats in the kitchen/dining area

So much natural light!

Looking through the living room to the back door

Front Porch, PERFECTION!

Front of the home

Another look of the front of the home

We know we are not ready to build or buy a house yet, but we loved going out today and looking at what we can do soon. We have been saving and saving so it is nice to finally have some ideas as to what it is going towards. We are lucky and got so many great ideas for when we ever build a home. We can’t wait to be in this step of our lives :]