Parade of Homes Recap: 5 of 5

Good morning!  Let's get another week rolling with the fifth (and final) house tour from the 2013 Parade of Homes!  To be honest, I'm both happy and sad to see the end of this series for the year. Happy because these posts took FOREVER to write (the 40-50 pictures per post seemed to take a lifetime to load), but sad because I've really enjoyed re-living all of the house tours and writing about what I liked about each of the homes.  

Don't worry.  By next fall, I'll be ready to tour a new crop of houses and will have forgotten about the 90 minutes that it takes to load each post's pictures. (Blogger friends---is this normal??!)

Ok.  So onward to the fifth house-- I really liked this one!

Just like the house before it, House #5 was also in the Amber Fields community.  However, this house was built by Garman Builders.  This house won many of the Parade of Homes Awards, and it was easy to see why.  This home has 2,776 square feet, four bedrooms and two and a half baths, as well as a three-car garage.

As you can see, the exterior of the home was very traditional and quite stately.  It kind of reminded me of the house from Home Alone (a good thing, in my mind)! I'm not sure that we can be friends anymore if you don't know what I'm talking about, but just in case some of you have never seen Home Alone, here is a comparison:

The fifth house I toured.

The house from Home Alone

Upon entry through the front door, I arrived in a two-story foyer, and I knew immediately that I was going to like this home. It was furnished, for one thing, and while the decor was much more traditional than I would select for myself, it was lovely.  Another thing that I noticed immediately were the iron balusters, which suggested that the builder had paid attention to details and built an interesting and special home.  

How right that was. This home had many lovely details, like a sitting area located at the top of the stairs!  To the right of the foyer was a powder room that was perfectly located for guests, and a study.  To the right was the formal dining room.

In fact, here's a look at the first story floor plan:

PA Parade of Homes

The powder room was painted a rich, deep red, which was brightened up with white wainscoting.

 I particularly liked the built-in shelves, and thought that they would be fun to style.

Once again, the study in this home felt rather masculine.  I would have liked to see the gorgeous hardwood floors flow into this room, and an area rug to liven up the decor.  

 But there's no doubt that this room would be a wonderful office.  Ahh...to have my very own home office. Perhaps I should add that to my ever-growing 'wish list' items for my dream home?

I really liked the nail-head trimmed end table, and thought that the cool curtain rods illustrated once again how well the builder and decorator paid attention to details and making this house much more special than a builder-basic model home.

The dining room was my favorite place in the house.  Those coffered ceilings had me at hello.  In fact, I feel like I can't go another day without having those in my house.  I wonder if they can be added? (Making mental note to ask Mr. M. about this.)

The kitchen could be accessed through the foyer or through a doorway at the back of the dining room.  It was open to a spacious eat-in area. 

The kitchen was pretty traditional with granite counter tops and bright white cabinetry.  I would have liked to see the cabinets extent to the ceiling, and a backslash that offered more contrast to the white cabinets.  I liked that the island was a different color than the cabinets.  

In the center of the above picture, you can see a doorway that leads to an area termed the 'drop zone', which consisted of a mud-room-type area and a large walk-in pantry.

See the attention to detail on this doorway?! It was touches like this that made the home feel custom.

And here is a view from the 'drop zone', through the kitchen and eat-in area into the family room.  Once again, I think the space may have felt larger and more flowing had they chosen to continue the hardwood floors into the family room.  But that was a complaint that I had in every single home that I saw, so maybe I'm in the minority here?

The living room was gorgeous.  I loved the paint color on the accent wall and many of the fabric choices.  Like those ikat accent chairs!

I thought the wood on this coffee table was beautiful.

I also loved this end table!

Then it was time to go upstairs.  Here is the second story floor plan:

PA Parade of Homes

I was greeted at the top of the stairs by the laundry room and this cute sitting area.

At the top of the stairs, the left side of the house was dedicated to the three secondary bedrooms and the full bathroom intended for them to share.  These secondary bedrooms were not painted or furnished, so there isn't much to show, but each one of them had its own walk-in closet.  Here's a shot of one of the bedrooms, which was a little different from the others in that it had a peaked ceiling.  If you didn't need to use it as a bedroom, this would also be a nice media room or craft room.   

Here's the hall bathroom.

And then the entire right wing of the upstairs was dedicated to the master suite. It was really nice and spacious!

 See?  Look at all of that room!  Additionally, the master had tray ceilings and a large walk-in closet.  I'd love to have a sitting area like that in our bedroom. 

I particularly liked the bench at the foot of the bed, probably because of the nail head trim.  The wine didn't hurt either!

Then it was on to the master bathroom.  While it wasn't as huge as some of the others I saw on the tour, it was certainly spacious, with a walk-in shower, spa tub and double sinks.  

I liked the dark cabinetry and the oil-rubbed bronze trim on the shower, which were something a little different than the other bathrooms I saw.  

And that was it!  My favorite part of this one was definitely the coffered ceiling in the dining room.  I'd love to have on of those...maybe paint the ceiling between the beams rather than the walls in that room?  That would be fun. 

So you've seen all of the houses now. Which was your favorite?  

Parade of Homes Recap: 4 of 5

Yo.  Back again for another Parade of Homes post, and today I'll be showing you the fourth house that I toured. This one was a 4 bedroom, 2.5 bath, Craftsman-style home in the Amber Fields community.  It was built by Home Designs Unlimited, and featured a two car garage and 2,790 square feet of living space.

I really like Craftsman-style homes, and found the exterior to be charming.  I liked the coach house accents on the garage doors. 

Here's the downstairs floorplan:

Image via PA Parade of Homes

Upon entering the front door, I passed through a two story foyer, with the formal dining room immediately to my left.  The stairway to the second story was also located in the foyer.  I was disappointed to find that the home was not furnished, nor were the walls painted anything other than basic beige.

The dining room was very traditional, with beautiful hardwood floors, large windows, and board and batten walls.  I found myself wishing to see a paint color and some decor choices in here. It would have been fun to see someone's interpretation of this blank slate!

At the rear of the dining room, was a wet bar area stationed between the dining room and the entrance to the kitchen.  I imagined this area serving as a butler's pantry, offering both a staging area and storage for less frequently used serving pieces.  

Beyond lay the kitchen, with medium toned maple cabinetry and granite counter tops. 

And beyond the kitchen was a large sun room.  With all of the late-afternoon sun streaming in, it's easy to see that this would be a great room in which to read or hang out!

 The sun room looked out upon the deck.

And finally, there was a large great room directly across from the kitchen. As with some of the other homes on the tour, I wished they had carried the hardwood floors into the great room.  

 I particularly liked the built-in shelves and the mantle, which were both painted a fresh, crisp white.  

How much fun would it be to style those shelves and that mantle?!

And finally, the first floor offered a hallway with a powder room and mudroom area located right behind the stairway.  

The mudroom was connected to the entryway to the garage, and featured three separate locker-areas for storing book bags, shoes, and purses.  I loved how neat and tidy it looked.  Oh how wonderful it would be to have a mudroom!

Meanwhile, the powder room was also conveniently placed for guests, and offered a large mirror.  

And then it was upstairs to see what the bedrooms looked like.  Here's the upstairs floor plan:

Image via PA Parade of Homes

The top of the stairs led me to a second story laundry room, four bedrooms and two full bathrooms.  

All of the bedrooms were spacious and had walk-in closets.  But since they were not furnished or painted (other than beige), I only took pictures of the master suite. 

Before we get to that, though, here is a shot of the hall bathroom.  It had a double vanity and separate shower/toilet area, so it was perfect for sharing.  

The master suite was not furnished, but it did feature this lovely tray ceiling and two walk-in closets (one off the bedroom, one off the master bath).  I LOVE the idea of two walk-ins in the master bedroom!

The master bathroom was a galley style setup, with a double vanity on one side...

 ...and a spa tub and walk-in shower on the other. You can see that there is a separate toilet area just beyond the double sinks.

At the far end of the bathroom, was that lovely second walk-in closet.

And that does it for house #4!  Oh how these homes make me long for a spacious master bathroom!!  I can't wait to show you the fifth and final home that I toured!  I'll be sad once this series is over, I've really been enjoying these posts :)

What features in a home do you lust after?  As you have probably guessed, mudrooms, walk-in closets, and large master bathrooms top my list!