Building Dreams: A Habitat for Humanity Homearama Showhouse Journey
The past few months have been a whirlwind of activity and exciting milestones as we immerse ourselves in the Homearama showhouse project. You might recall this special endeavor – a home we are proudly helping to design and decorate, collaborating with an incredible team of dedicated builders, visionary architects, and skilled professionals. More than just a design showcase, this entire project is dedicated to benefiting Habitat For Humanity, a cause incredibly close to our hearts. For those new to our journey, you can dive into the initial background details here and explore our early floor planning concepts here. The truly exhilarating news is that in a remarkably short span of mere weeks, what was once just an empty patch of dirt has transformed into an almost fully constructed home. Witnessing this rapid evolution has been nothing short of astonishing and deeply inspiring. To give you a glimpse into this incredible transformation, here’s a visual summary of two months of intense progress, condensed into six compelling photographs:
An Exclusive Glimpse: Our Early Construction Tour Video
Just a couple of weeks ago, we even managed to capture a little house tour video for you. It offers a raw, unfiltered perspective of the burgeoning structure. While it’s admittedly a bit rougher around the edges than our typical finished home tours – primarily because the walls are still taking shape, and furniture is, of course, non-existent – it offers a unique insight. The on-site audio was quite a challenge, overwhelmed by the symphony of construction noise. So, we decided to voice over the tour later from the quiet comfort of our home, ensuring you get clear insights into our vision. Nevertheless, this video serves as an invaluable tool, helping you visualize how the initial floor plan is dramatically springing to life. We also take this opportunity to share some preliminary plans and design intentions for each room as they gradually come together.
Navigating the Design Selection Overdrive
With construction hurtling forward at what feels like hyper-speed, we’ve been thrust into a full-throttle design-selection overdrive. It’s a thrilling, yet demanding phase where decisions about lighting, plumbing fixtures, flooring materials, and countless other elements must be made – often all at once. This intensive period is crucial, ensuring that the foundational “bones” of the house are meticulously built to flawlessly accommodate every chosen detail. It makes perfect sense that when embarking on a new home build, you need to specify every last tile, cabinet style, and wall sconce from the outset. This foresight allows for essential accommodations, such as the correct underlayments for specific flooring types or precisely placed electrical boxes for future fixtures. However, for us, accustomed to a more phased approach, tackling all these critical decisions simultaneously has been an entirely new experience. It’s a true testament to the complexities of custom home building.
This journey has been a blend of exciting, inspiring, awesome, humbling, and, at times, profoundly overwhelming experiences, all unfolding simultaneously. There’s been a significant learning curve, and we like to believe we’re growing more adept with each passing day. For the past eight years of homeownership, our routine involved tackling one room at a time, often focusing on selecting just one or two elements before moving to the next. Now, being tasked with selecting a multitude of elements for *every* room, all at once – often before any physical structure or even walls are in place – is undeniably exercising a brand new mental muscle. It challenges our traditional design process and pushes us to think in a far more holistic and integrated manner from the very beginning, ensuring every component aligns seamlessly within the grand vision of the entire home.
To truly give you an idea of the sheer scope and detail involved, here’s a breakdown of the types of pivotal design decisions we’ve meticulously made over the last few demanding weeks:
- **Cabinetry for Seven Rooms:** This involved selecting the perfect cabinetry for seven distinct areas, including the kitchen, various bathrooms, the laundry room, and built-ins. For each, we had to choose specific door and drawer styles, decide on paint colors or wood tones, determine optimal configurations and layouts for maximum functionality, and finally, select complementary hardware that ties each space together aesthetically.
- **Countertop Materials:** We carefully chose five different countertop materials, each suited for its specific environment. This included durable and stylish options for the high-traffic kitchen, resilient surfaces for the bathrooms, and practical choices for the laundry room, balancing aesthetics with performance and budget.
- **Plumbing Fixtures Galore:** A comprehensive selection of 21 individual plumbing fixtures was required. This encompassed everything from elegant faucets and functional sinks to luxurious tubs, efficient toilets, and versatile shower sets, all chosen to harmonize with the overall design theme and ensure optimal performance.
- **Extensive Lighting Design:** Our lighting plan required selecting 44 hard-wired light fixtures. This extensive list covered everything from grand chandeliers and sleek flush mounts to stylish pendants and functional sconces, strategically chosen to provide ambient, task, and accent lighting throughout the home, creating layers of illumination.
- **Electrical Walk-Through:** A critical electrical walk-through allowed us to pinpoint the exact wiring locations for each fixture, down to the inch. Simultaneously, we determined the precise placement of all recessed (can) lights, electrical outlets, and light switches, ensuring both convenience and aesthetic integration.
- **Tile Selections:** We made 14 distinct tile choices, each playing a crucial role in defining the character of various spaces. This included selecting the kitchen backsplash, flooring and shower tiles for multiple bathrooms, and durable yet stylish options for the mudroom and laundry room floors.
- **Appliance Selection:** Outfitting both the kitchen and laundry room involved carefully selecting all major appliances, prioritizing energy efficiency, performance, and a seamless integration with the cabinetry and overall design aesthetic.
- **Door Styles:** From the grand front entrance door and robust garage doors to every interior door (including specialized pocket doors for space-saving), we meticulously chose styles. This also extended to selecting all door hinges and doorknobs, ensuring consistency and quality throughout the home.
- **Carpentry Walk-Through:** A detailed carpentry walk-through was conducted, where we shared comprehensive plans, photos, and sketches for custom moldings, elegant wainscoting, and intricate built-in features. This included bespoke shelves, practical bookcases, comfortable benches, functional mudroom cabinetry, a dedicated desk nook, and even a custom bed flanked by two integrated wardrobes.
- **Hardwood Flooring:** The selection of the perfect hardwood floor style and coordinating stain color was a significant decision, setting the tone and contributing to the warmth and flow of the main living areas.
- **Exterior Finishes:** We pinpointed an exterior stone style that complements the architectural vision and finalized the precise height for the porch columns, contributing to the home’s curb appeal and overall grandeur.
- **Fireplace and Mantle Plan:** A to-scale construction plan was meticulously mapped out for the living room fireplace and its accompanying mantle, ensuring it would be a captivating focal point in the heart of the home.
We knew from the outset that this project would involve a multitude of decisions and material selections, but we hadn’t fully appreciated the intricate coordination required to ensure everything meshes seamlessly. It’s not just about stylistic harmony; it’s also about precise sizing and placement. Just today, for instance, we found ourselves coordinating diligently between the countertop fabricator, the cabinetry team, and our plumbing specialist. This meticulous communication was essential to ensure everyone was on the same page, preventing any missteps – such as ending up with a sink cabinet cut for the wrong type of faucet. This level of detail underscores the collaborative nature and inherent complexities of custom home building.
Discovering Our Favorites: The Thrill of the Hunt
Among the myriad of selections, one of our absolute favorite parts of the hunt so far has been lighting. If you know Sherry, you know her passion for illuminating spaces is unmatched! The excitement of discovering unique fixtures that will not only light but also define a room has been truly energizing. We are eagerly anticipating the day these carefully chosen finds start getting installed and, as the walls continue to go up, begin to transform each space. The impact of the right lighting cannot be overstated, and we can’t wait to share how these selections contribute to the overall ambiance and functionality of the showhouse.
I’m sure many of you who have previously undertaken a home build are nodding along in understanding. We imagine the process shares many similarities, though for us, nothing has come “pre-packaged” as we sometimes hear it can with certain new construction homes (e.g., “pick from these three bathroom suite options”). This bespoke approach, however, is precisely what makes the Homearama experience so exciting. The entire purpose of Homearama is for each of the seven participating houses to proudly showcase distinct styles and, hopefully, innovative ideas that will inspire everyone who walks through their doors. Consequently, we’ve found ourselves purposefully stretching our design comfort zone a little, driven by the hope of creating something truly fresh and exciting, while simultaneously ensuring the home remains supremely comfortable and perfectly livable. The jury is still out on exactly how all these intricate pieces will ultimately come together, so admittedly, we have all of our appendages crossed pretty much at all times, eagerly anticipating the final reveal.
Crucially, all of these myriad decisions must be made within a stringent budget and adhered to strict, unyielding deadlines. We have absolutely zero wiggle room, as the show opens precisely on May 1st, regardless of our readiness. In this high-pressure environment, we feel incredibly fortunate to have our builder, affectionately known as Builder John (pictured above, sporting his now-gone mustache, grown for charity back in December), at the helm. He is exceptional at keeping us on track and expertly managing the project’s timeline. He consistently reassures us that we are actually ahead of schedule, a statement which we sincerely hope is true and not merely his kind attempt to alleviate our inevitable stress! His guidance and expertise have been instrumental in navigating this demanding process.
Beyond the new fixtures and finishes, we’ve also been on the hunt for unique pieces that will infuse character and history into our showhouse. Our vision is for the home to beautifully blend new, carefully selected items with awesome secondhand scores. This approach not only allows for a more personalized aesthetic but also champions sustainability and thoughtful consumption. So yes, there has definitely been some exciting thrifting and treasure hunting going on in parallel with our structural selections, ensuring the house tells a richer, more unique story.
Transitioning to Furnishings and Finishing Touches
We are nearing the exhilarating end of the fixture and finish selection phase of the design – at least, we fervently hope so! This means we will soon be transitioning our focus to the next crucial stage: picking out all the items that aren’t permanently affixed to the house, those elements that truly bring a space to life. I’m talking about the comfortable furniture, the inviting rugs, the luxurious bedding, captivating art pieces, and all the thoughtful accessories that add personality and warmth. Wait a minute, I feel a super nerdy, color-coded Excel spreadsheet coming on to manage all these exciting details! Anyway, once we’ve made significant progress on these softer selections, we’re planning to start putting together some comprehensive mood boards. These will allow you, our valued readers, to visualize precisely how each room is shaping up, complemented by progress photos as the spaces gradually come together into their final, beautiful forms.
But we couldn’t leave you without a little taste of what’s to come! So, here’s a sneak peek at a couple of items we are particularly thrilled about. Let’s start with some tile. The exquisite tile on the left is destined to clad the powder room from floor to ceiling, creating a stunning backdrop behind a sleek pedestal sink, a carefully chosen mirror, and some truly sweet sconces that will cast a warm glow. The equally beautiful tile on the right is reserved for the main bedroom’s luxurious bathroom shower. This watery blue glass tile will form a breathtaking feature on a giant shower wall, evoking a sense of calm and serenity, while the elegant octagonal tile will grace the shower floor, providing both beauty and practicality. These tile choices are pivotal in defining the unique character and ambiance of these spaces.
We’re also having a lot of fun with our distinct hardware and lighting choices. Imagine two giant, striking gold pendants that will hang gracefully over a substantial navy blue kitchen island – a bold statement that will instantly draw the eye. The rest of the kitchen cabinets will feature a different, lighter tone, creating a beautiful contrast and visual depth. For every room in the house, we’ve chosen crisp five-panel doors, much like these. We believe this choice will be a refreshing departure from the more standard six-panel ones, especially given that the exterior of this house is beautifully Craftsman-inspired, and these doors perfectly complement that aesthetic, adding a touch of tailored elegance.
Lastly, this isn’t a specific item, but rather a compelling source of inspiration that guided one of our key decisions. We knew we wanted to paint the vanity in the kids’ jack-and-jill bathroom a joyful and vibrant green color. However, you might remember our last attempt at picking a green vanity color (seriously, it was quite a misstep). So, randomly, while browsing at Target, we spotted a side table that immediately captivated us with its perfect shade of green. Without hesitation, we busted out our trusty paint deck right there in the aisle (Sherry keeps that thing on hand more often than you’d expect!). And just like that, we found our winner: Courtyard Green, here we come! This impromptu discovery perfectly illustrates how inspiration can strike anywhere and how essential it is to be prepared to capture it.
The Road Ahead: Exterior Finishes and Community Engagement
Amongst other exciting developments, one of the next significant steps in this journey is for the exterior of the house to receive its much-anticipated coat of paint. This transformation is slated to happen within the coming week. In fact, we were just out there, carefully evaluating three different test pots of paint, meticulously selecting our favorite hue, along with the ideal trim color to complement it. So, stay tuned for that impactful update – the curb appeal of the showhouse is about to take a dramatic leap! We were also thinking it would be incredibly fun and engaging to open up some design decisions in the showhouse to votes from you, our amazing community (like the color of the front door, for example!). So, keep an eye out for those opportunities to have your say as we progress. Can you believe that in approximately three short months, we anticipate having over fifteen beautifully finished spaces to proudly share with all of you? The countdown to the grand reveal is truly on!
Psst – Eager to see the finished Homearama showhouse? Click here for Our Full Showhouse Tour, which provides comprehensive final pictures of every single room, a detailed floor plan, transparent budget information, an immersive video walk-through, and even shoppable links for the showhouse furniture and accessories that captured your eye.