Progress Report -Richfield
Creative juices are flowing heavy around our offices as we are currently in the midst of doing something we have not done in many years. We are building 3 model homes , all at the same time! that means 3 sets of carpenter crews are all working at the same time. That means we have new questions and issues of products ,and measurements, and colorsthat are needing our constant attention as the builders in the field run into un-clear numbers and engineering situations as each new piece of the puzzle comes together.
You might think that following a blueprint would be good enough but when we are building new designs or modifications of old designs, new questions are bound to arise. Is an overhang supposed to be 12 or 14 inches? Does the concrete porch with the storage area below it have the most recent stell engineering plan, or is it the one from last week that has been changed? How thick do we really think those window grids should be? What choice of red bricks do I think will work best for which area, and can we find a close enough match for the near-by walk-way pavers? When you are building one new home at a time, you have a lot of these questions When you build 3 at the same time, the effort seems more than 3 times as much!
Last year for the Parade, we built a 1600 square foot ranch we called our “Little-Big House”. THis year, we have modified and improved the design and we now call it our “Little-Big House 2.0″. I was going to call it the “Son Of Little-Big House”, or “Little_Big House, The Sequel”, but saying “2.0″ seemed more Generation “Y” which is what Miracle is trying to aim our design sights on to.
The biggest alteration in this new modified version is that the home is about 2 feet narrower and about 2.5 feet deeper. The exterior is absolutely going to charm everyone. It will remind you of an older Victorian influenced home of the 1930’s to 1940’s era. Last years version was craftsman in influence. This year, Virtually every home in the Parade (In Richfield’s Reflection’s Village site), is a craftsman design. When I saw the designs , I thought they were all lovely homes but I was SO happy I had taken a different path as it appeals to me to have something that is not fitting into the “group” and stands a bit apart.
Victorian styled homes did not have too much in the way of masonry. They did have a lot of smooth painted woodwork. I have to admit, I am a little afraid of doing the woodwork in a smooth look since those rough-sawn siding and knotty boards commonly used in today’s homes provide a lot of hiding space for less than perfect exterior detailing. Since older homes had this smooth , no knots, no grain, more furniture detailed look, I am going to try to go that route.
This means, we will have to carefully attend to puttying the wood’s knots and imperfections before we can just start staining and painting. This home is going to be a cute combination of cream-yellow and white. I have found some ornate looking flower boxes and most windows will have them built-into the bottom of each major window. We are putting the roofs over each main window hanging over the window and being held-up by ornate carved wood brackets. The corners all have the look of a fancy square wood pillar with crown moldings on the tops. The garage is somewhat “hidden” as a side entry garage. The basement is being designed as a sort of separate apartment level complete with a kitchen(bar) with stove, theatre area, big bedroom with attached bathroom and its own laundry room. There is even a space for an extra bedroom or study or exercise room if you desire. Of course, this being a basement, we need to have a pool table area.
The main floor has a Master bedroom separated away from the other two bedrooms and a big central great room with seating enough for 22. The dining area had seats for 8 to 10 with an additional 6 to 7 stools at the breakfast bar/kitchen. There are so many unique details in the decorating of this home but one of my favorites is the master suite which does not have a door on the main section of the master bath. This is much like a luxury hotel where the sink area is not in the same area as the toilet and shower.
I also really like the alcove we have made for tucking the bed’s headboard into. We have a second alcove for a tall dresser and a huge 13 foot long master closet with a clothes chute going from this closet into the first-floor laundry room.
The garage is a larger 2 space size but we added an extra 4 feet of storage area along the entire rear of the garage so you can use this for storage or for a longer vehicle or boat.
Colors are such a big part of this home as I hope to have this home looking like an older grandma’s cottage complete with white painted cabinets that have a accent was of pewter on the detailing of the cabinets. The doors too will be similar and the hardware a dainty dull-gold. Not your typical black or brushed nickle colors at all.
If you are in the Reflection’s Village area (Richfield off 175, you can see it from the main hwy 45 just north of Germantown) why not stop by and see how things are looking. We have just erected 2 (of our 3) 8 foot by 12 foot mini-billboards ,(one by each of our 3 homes) at Reflections. They are hard to miss!
Next, I will give you a heads-up preview on our second home we are building for this year’s Parade. Thanks for blogging with me. I am always glad to read your comments, just emember to mention something specific from the blog so I don’t erase your comments as potential spam.
Blessings,
Tom Hignite
