Now that we decided to move to Florida, and settled on the right neighborhood, it’s time to share some details about the lot we chose and the home itself! To find out what goes on during a walk-through, click here!
The Location
The neighborhood itself is only about a ten minute drive from Walt Disney World property, close to Flamingo Crossings (which will soon have a Target-anchored shopping center, hotels, and restaurants). The lot we selected is an oversized lot, at the end of a cul de sac, without any backyard neighbors. The land behind us is conservation land, so we can rest assured that there will never be anybody back there – just the trees, some wildlife, and beautiful, lush greenery.
Since we are at the end of a cul de sac, the lot is pie-shaped. The house will be set back from the street a little bit, and we will have plenty of space between our neighbors. Lot location was very important to us, because every place we’ve lived as husband and wife, it has seemed like our neighbors were right on top of us! We value space, quiet, and a beautiful view.
The Home Itself
The model we chose sits at just under 4,000 square feet, and it is everything we are looking for in a home! Downstairs, upon entry, you’ll see a powder room on one side, and a “flex room” on the other, which we plan to use as a formal dining room. Heading through the hallway you’ll see the kitchen, family room, and informal dining area in an open-concept area of the home. Behind the kitchen is the master bedroom and bathroom. The laundry room is located off the kitchen, along with entry to the 3-car garage.
Heading upstairs, you’re greeted by a large loft/game room. Then there are two hallways – off one hallway are two bedrooms and a jack & jill bathroom, and off the other hallway are two additional bedrooms and a bathroom with dual vanity. Each additional bedroom has its own walk-in closet. One aspect that attracted us to this particular home was the size of the additional bedrooms – they are quite large compared with other new homes that we have seen!
The Design Center
Once we selected our home and the lot, it was time for our appointment at the design center! This, to me, was the most fun part of the process. We selected an appointment for about 5 weeks after we picked out the home, so we had a few weeks to coordinate time off from work, flights, hotel, rental car, and start thinking about what we wanted the inside of the house to look like.
We flew out on a Sunday and flew home on a Tuesday, so our appointment was on that Monday. We were told it could take 4-6 hours, so we came prepared with snacks (I was newly pregnant at this point, and at this point if I don’t eat ASAP it is game over for nausea!). The design center was located in an unassuming small office park, and they had plenty of snacks and drinks to keep us satiated until our appointment was over.
We arrived a little early, so while the designer was finishing getting set up, we were able to wander around and check out samples of flooring, paint, cabinets, and more! There was SO MUCH to choose from and it was so much fun, albeit a little overwhelming.
The Design Process
We started out with flooring, then moved to countertops, cabinets, and cabinet pulls. We also got to pick the grout color for the tile. The cabinets took awhile because we had to figure out what types of cabinets we wanted in the kitchen and bathrooms (pull out drawers, cabinets, cushion-close, etc.). Then we selected cabinet pulls.
While we were picking out all these items, the designer took the samples that we chose and stacked them on a small display area so we could see how it was coming together.
After the cabinetry, we worked on bathrooms. We chose a different floor tile for our bathroom, and then we had to pick what we were doing for the walls of all the showers. We opted to extend the wall tile all the way to the ceiling in all the bathrooms for a more clean, consistent look. We also chose to install a cut-out in each of the showers to hold shampoo, conditioner, etc.
We then went through the house and added some additional recessed lighting, as well as some electrical choices such as extra outlets, outlets for electric vehicles in the garage, etc.
The final step was the house color itself. We had already picked the elevation so there wasn’t much change there, but we had plenty of choices for the house color.
As you can see, we like clean neutrals and prefer a dark wood-look tile for the floor. Our kitchen counters will be a white quartz, with a white subway tile backsplash. I think I’m most excited for our bathroom – we decided on Carrara marble in the shower, with a gray wood-look tile on the floor! I prefer sticking with neutrals throughout the house so that we can play around with artwork and furniture. Plus, this gives us the ability to swap out pillow & towel colors, and other home decor, to give our home a whole new feel. We also love decorating for the holidays, so this gives us a bit of a “blank slate” to play around with when it comes to holiday decor!
Design Center Tips
It can be extremely overwhelming to see all the choices laid out in front of you, and if you go in with no idea of what you want, it can be absolutely crippling. If you are heading to any builder’s design center, here are some tips to help make the process a little easier!
- Go in with a budget in mind. It is really, really easy to go over budget and then come to the realization that you have to cut back. If you stick to your original budget, you won’t fall in love with things you can’t have. And, don’t get discouraged if you don’t get 100% what you want – there are some things that can be changed later down the line (sometimes for cheaper, too!).
- Have an idea of what kind of furniture you have, if applicable. We are moving into the house with some of our own furniture, so we kept in mind the color of our couch, table, and a few other things when picking out colors. If you’re going in with no furniture, then your house is essentially a blank slate!
- Browse Pinterest, blogs, and magazines to get ideas. It can be challenging to envision what you want your home to look like, but taking some time to go through pictures and articles can help give you a better idea.
- Play around with things! If you’re not quite 100% happy with the choices you made, and you haven’t finalized anything yet, don’t be afraid to try something completely different. You may surprise yourself.
- Read everything and ask questions. Before signing any paperwork, make sure you read everything thoroughly and ask any remaining questions.
- Bring a form of payment to pay for your upgrades with. Double check with the home builder as to what type of payments they accept, and how much they want you to pay in advance. Be prepared to pay for at least a portion of your upgrades at the end of the appointment.
- Save room in your budget for things you didn’t get during the design process. This is our second new build, and both times we have found the washer, dryer, and refrigerator prices through the builder to be higher than what we could find at local appliance stores. That said, we will obviously need these things once we do move in, so we saved a little bit aside to pay for those things right away. We also did not do any sort of blinds or shutters on our windows, and will need to budget for that as well once we move in.
I’m so excited to continue sharing with you our moving process! The next step is a virtual meeting, then we will fly out for a pre-drywall walkthrough. Keep following along to see how it goes!
