Monday, June 10, 2013

Trim De La Trim

A way to make a home look custom is to add trim and molding.  When purchasing our home, we didn't think twice of adding the trim package from the builder. Then when I viewed other neighbors homes I had a case of trim envy!  Later when speaking to my neighbor, I learned that the trim package was under $4,000 dollars--not a bad price.  But in hindsight, I'm still happy that we elected not to go with the builder, as I found a trim company via my friend, Dena that does phenomenal work. Home Trim work, visit their web page:  http://www.hometrimwork.com/.

Here are a few pictures of their work.  I  lifted these pictures from their website.  This trim work appears to compliment our home.

I really like the wainscoting going up the steps and the trim on the walls on all these pictures. 





I also visited a model home for a custom built home.  Man, talk about a beautiful home.  The home starts at $1.4 million, so you can imagine what this house looks like.  Funny thing, the woman selling the million dollar home used to work for Ryan Homes and lives in a Savoy--how funny is that!

I confessed right away that there is no way I could afford that house and my main purpose was to capture ideas for decorating.  She was real cool about my honesty and told me to feel free to snap photos and look around.  So, I took some pictures of items that I liked, more trim work and a coffered ceiling, which I'm not sure if I want to add it to our dining room or office space.  Either way, a coffered ceiling is major bucks, but looks so beautiful.  In addition to trim work, I really liked the wallpaper in the house.  They had this cork looking one in the basement bathroom and some other textured wall paper.  I'm thinking at this point of adding wall paper to our dining room, powder room, and maybe the master bedroom.


Here are pictures from the million dollar model home excursion:

Coffered Ceiling

Crown molding

Trim work in the dining room.





This is the cork like wall in the bathroom--very cool and I like the texture.  I may try something like this once we finish our basement bath. 


Took this picture because it reminded me of our two story foyer in our home, the Savoy.  I also like the idea of framing twin art pieces in the hallway. 

I like the size of this tray ceiling…another idea minus the medallion for our dining room. 

Loved the tile in the bath and the very modern fixtures. 



Sleek fixture.

I liked the lamp with the tray ceiling here…it is transitional. A look that I'm going for in our dining room. 

This is wall paper!   The flash on my camera did not capture the color but again, I  liked the texture of the paper. 


More textured wall paper!

I liked these built-ins.  This is actually a sitting area in the master bedroom.  But I think this is something I would like to do in our office or basement space. 

Hard to see in the picture, but this vanity is all blinded out!  Jeweled knobs…loved it!


I'm so excited that we're approaching our year mark and can finally paint!  I know many of you painted already, but we wanted to wait until nail pops and settlement happened in the house.  And to date we see most of our nail pops in the bathroom and bedrooms. I also see a lot of settlement on the trim going up the steps.  

Either way, we'll be picking out paint colors, wall paper and trim work in the next few months. So stay tuned for pictures as we go.  In the meantime, happy building!


Thursday, June 6, 2013

Love Thy Neighbor

Hi everyone,

The last lot in our community has been sold!  Our community is definitely in full flux of being a neighborhood.  With over 20 kids on our cul-de-sac, summer nights should be fun.  Having great neighbors is truly a blessing.  In today's world we're so busy that it appears we have lost the essence of connecting with our neighbors.  One of the things that sold me on our community was the layout of our neighborhood. With  less than 20 homes in the community, I liked that we were new construction in the midst of a well established town that offered a little of everything; small town main street, easy access to the city, and the delights of suburbia--two malls, Costco, and Target!

In getting to know our neighbors, we have discovered that we live amongst some very generous folks.  We were  overwhelmed by the generosity and love of our neighbors--bringing gift cards and a basket filled with baby items was beyond nice--it was downright neighborly! We look forward to seeing our children grow in friendship and to hosting annual block parties too.  But beyond the fellowship of neighbors, I have heard from so many of them how my blog helped them with selecting and even negotiating for their home.  That made me feel good!  I'm glad that my little blog could be of service. I guess it is one of those pass it along type of gestures--after all, it was this Ryan Homes community blog that taught me so much when Patrick and I were settling on our home.

It's hard to believe that it was a year ago when we first embarked on this  building journey, and we have learned so much.  I'm often asked, what would I have done differently in our house, and I think the big two would be to extend the hardwoods through out the house and the 2 foot addition to the family room.  So, if you think no one is reading your blog, you are mistaken--many are learning from you and taking on home projects all because of you!

Oh, and one more thing--get to know your neighbors you never know what you can learn from them or how they can enhance your life too!  So thanks Green Briar Estates Community…I look forward to great times coming soon!

Happy Building,
D