Every year in my little town we have a Parade of Homes. It is an event where all of the top builders in town showcase their custom homes. They have 3 neighborhoods set up with anywhere from 5 – 10 houses in each one open. You pay $10 a person (money goes to a charity) and you can tour through the houses at your own pace. Well, we’ve been to 2 of the 3 so far. I’m hoping to still make it to the 3rd neighborhood but time is running out so we’ll just have to see.
The first neighborhood was in a newer development but not what I would call a ritzy area of town. The houses were all priced around $200K. It really looked to me that most of the houses there were basically one step above a starter home. The bedrooms were all super small but they did have open floor plans and most had granite, wood floors, and tile. I wasn’t impressed with a single house there…AT ALL!
The second neighborhood was in a much nicer, much more affluent area of town. The prices of these homes were in the $500 – $700K range. The first one we walked into was pretty much my dream home! I loved just about everything about it. There were just a couple of drawbacks or it would have been perfect. Here it is from the outside:
I didn’t get many pictures of this one though because I was so paranoid. My daughter kept telling me you aren’t supposed to take pictures but I swear there was no sign or anything that said that. I warmed up a little later and got some pictures of the house she loved though so I have some of them to show later. The things I didn’t like about this house was there were too many faux finishes on the walls. It was all dark and cozy which I really do like but it was almost too dark. But, the master bedroom, bathroom, and closet were perfect. The yard was almost perfect. They had this glorious pool with a waterfall and then a huge patio with an outdoor kitchen, a sitting area, and a dining area and all of it was surrounded by these retracting shades! The downside to it was that was all there was. There was no other yard. It would have been perfect if they had about half an acre of land to go with it but we need some running room for the puppies. Otherwise I would take this house anyday!
Now to show some of the details that I loved. I’m not really sure what house each of these were in, but they all gave me ideas that I can’t wait to implement!
First up…
I adore this light fixture. It was so interesting! I’m not as hip on the faux finish on the wall and ceiling but I don’t hate it either so it’s ok.
I took this picture because I’m so into orchids right now. I actually have my entire back wall in my living room covered in all my orchids. They are rocking too! I have almost all of them blooming again for the second time. I took this picture because I loved how they used something cool and interesting as the support stick. I’ve just been using ugly green sticks that came with the orchids when I bought them. I want to find some cute curly Q sticks and replace the bland with the bling!
How cute are these? I’m thinking they are just paper mache and then covered in print. I thought they were super cute though.
This picture isn’t that clear but I’m trying to get the wire mesh flowers. I wonder if I could get some wire mesh from the hardware store and make flowers with them? These were really cute.
This granite is the exact same granite we have picked out for our hall bathroom. I’m even happier with it now that I see it in place here. I don’t think we are going with a sink like that. I want ours more smooth and clean lined. But we are going with a bowl sink like this.
I thought this clock was super cute. I also think it would be pretty easy to duplicate. You would just need a large canvas, then cover it in some cute vintagey looking scrapbook paper, paint the numbers, insert a clock kit and voila…instant large custom clock.
This staircase is from the house that my daughter loved. I’ve discovered that my taste and her taste are entirely different in relation to our homes. She likes clean modern sleek. I like cozy, antique, classic. She loved this staircase though. The “railings” are actually steel cables tied between each post.
This was my son-in-law’s dream media room. He likes the idea of multiple TV’s to watch lots of games instead of just one big huge screen. I almost agree with him even though I’m not a huge sports fan.
These kids beds were ingenious! It really gave the room more space too because you could put both beds against one wall but they wouldn’t be having someone’s feet in another’s face!
This artwork was cool! It was just a canvas, covered in print, then painted in an overall color. Then they painted on the car. It would work with anything though, not just a car. The overall effect was very nice and very diy’able!
OK, check out this bed! How cool is this? I have no idea what those are made of but I loved them. I really tried to check them out too and I still have no idea what they made them out of. Anyone else have any ideas? I’m dying to figure out how they did this!
This bed looks like it is hanging from the ceiling by the ropes. It is just decorative though. The bed is actually anchored to the floor. The weight is not supported by the ropes, but it still looks cool.
We both loved this pergola made from rustic cedar. It made us wish we had more of those cedar trunks that we got from our yard this summer.
There was only one house that had a scrapbook/craft room set up and this was it. But, I did get this wonderful idea from it. They hung paper up by running a dowel rod through the roll and then threading the dowel into metal corner brackets with holes in them. I’m going to do this for a gift-wrapping station I’m working on. It is a great idea!
I loved this closet and these shoe racks. I’m not sure if I could use them because I keep my shoes in their boxes but it looks cool regardless!
The pull down rods are the best thing I’ve seen in closet innovations! You can store your off season clothes up high and then when you need them you just pull down that little handle and you can reach them again. How clever!
This was in a boys room. They just hung up a metal sheet and used it for a magnet bulletin board.
I loved this baby’s room. I like the idea of hanging a decorate “chair rail” pretty high, then hanging decorative knobs on it and then hanging things from it. I’m definitely going to borrow this idea somewhere in my house.
I have no idea how they did that panel wall but it is amazing. The pink part is cut out with all the designs and then the back is painted black. It’s kind of like it’s a laser cut box on the wall but how they did that to that scale is beyond me. The end result was super cool though.
So, that’s it. Those are all the pictures I took. Did you get some good ideas out of any of them? I know I did.
PS Sorry for the over-usage of the word COOL…I can’t help it. It was all just so, just so, just so….COOL! ha ha ha
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