The House the Builder Built

The house we're building is a new model for our builder; they've only completed one so far (with another in process) and here it is. We will be doing a slightly different elevation, and our floor plan will be reversed (due to the location of electric lines are buried on our lot).

When you come in the front door, the half bath and laundry room are to the right (well they'll be on the left for us). Here's a picture of the half bath in the unit we went through. We'll be doing a vanity similar to this with a granite counter top.

What a beautiful picture, I know! In some of the other models I've seen, the builder has installed wood cabinets above the washer and dryer. I'd like to do that, although I'm not sure if we'll have the builder install them or if we'll get some stock cabinets from either Home Depot or Lowe's. They will be plumbing for a laundry room sink.

On the side of the hall, opposite the half bath and laundry room, will be our den. We will be putting french doors on the den, and as I work from home this will be my new office. Since it's so open, I'm going to need better places to store all my work papers!

After walking down the entry foyer, you'll walk into the great room. In the back right corner is a pantry. The builder is switching this model around a bit, and the refrigerator will move from the back wall to the wall on the right. The wall on the right will have a little cabinet (with counter and cabinet above it) to the side of the refrigerator.

Where the refrigerator currently is, will be additional cabinets and counter tops.

Instead of having a pass-through to the great-room (pictured back left) the cabinets, and counter tops will run to the wall, expanding cabinets and counter space.

Since those who know me, know I have a thing for light fixtures, we'll have pendants over the island and possibly the bar; under cabinet lighting will be installed.

Opposite the opening to the kitchen will be the dining room; we will be putting hardwood in there. We think that we're not going to want to waste space in the great room with a "kitchen table" so we plan on setting the dining room up for everyday use (no need to build a room we'll never use!)

A view from the living room portion of the great room. As I mentioned, we'll be closing the gap on the left side of the kitchen. The dining room is across the way, and you can kind of see the den to the back right. The half bath and laundry room are behind the pantry wall.

The master suite is on the first floor. We'll have double vanities, with granite. Having to share a sink in our rental, makes me appreciate the double-vanity ! There are two closets in the master bath, one directly behind the mirrors and the other to the left of the mirror. We're looking into raising the height of the counter top, to accommodate my tall husband (and not having to bend over to brush his teeth).

The shower will be tiled (none of that "plasticy" one piece that comes standard). In the master, we may add some kind of pattern to the tile in the shower.

The rest of the bedrooms are upstairs.

Here's a view from the top of the stairs. I didn't take a lot of pictures, because, well, all the rooms kind of look alike :) First door on the left is a closet for the AC, second door from the left is bedroom 3, third door from the left is a full bath, and the door on the right goes to bedroom 2. If you were to round the corner, there's a door to bedroom 4, and another to the bonus room that we'll be adding another full bath to.

And a quick snap-shot of the full bath upstairs. Instead of the plasticy one-piece shower, we'll be putting in tile (although it will be a fairly basic tile).

We're so excited to start thinking about building our first house; the condo was a good starter home, but we're ready to start the next chapter of our lives - in a house that looks a little something like this!