Tuesday, June 18, 2013

The curb appeal panic


So we met with our SR on Saturday and submitted all of our final changes, but we were waiting to sign the final change order until Monday after she ran all of the info by her supervisor to get a thumbs up. Well, after Saturday I started to get really nervous about our exterior selections because the outside of the home is the first thing that everyone will see. Oh course what matters the most is what we like, but I definitely don’t want people driving by my home thinking that it’s ugly. Curb appeal is a big deal to me. Btw, there is a home near ours that was built recently and they have already put it on the market, but the colors are awful and I don’t know what they were thinking. I can almost guarantee that even though the price is good that most people won’t even schedule a viewing because of the exterior. I could be wrong though, that happens sometimes….Anyways, in the beginning we selected Island Pearl as the siding and Pebble Clay as the accent shake color, blackwatch green shutters, and fiery brown for the door. I started to worry that the siding color would be too light and show dirt easily and my husband isn’t easily motivated to clean so this could be an issue. In the mix of the exterior color conversation with Dustin we both decided to add partial stone and when we were at the model on Saturday he mentioned liking the Kentucky stone a lot. So we changed our exterior colors to Pebble Clay siding, Sandy Tan shakes, Dark Berry shutters, Black fox door, with white trim and garage door- this selection came with the Kentucky stone….After we got home Saturday I started searching blogs to see if I saw houses with similar colors because I was worried that it would be to dark and I contemplated going back to the original colors. No kidding I bet I spent 20+ hours worrying about this. On Monday I emailed our SR to check on the status of the final change order info and admitted that I wanted to come in and revisit our exterior color selections. On the way to the model this morning I drove through the neighborhood and really looked at all the house on our street and there were 2 or 3 that I really, really liked and they had the dark siding that looked similar. There was only one house that was the same model as ours but hopefully I won’t look like a copycat because the plans are reversed.  When I got to the model I went through the process of elimination. There were some colors that I didn’t even consider because I knew that I wouldn’t like it and Dustin wouldn’t either. After holding all the color combos next to the stones I ended back at our 2nd selection (Pebble clay, sandy tan, dark berry, black fox). I feel such a relief and so much more confident about the selections now. I also decided to change the trim and garage door color to almond. It looked awesome with the other houses that had similar colors, and our SR says the almond looks classy :) I will probably do a drive by and take a pic of one of those houses so I can show Dustin and post it here (did this obviously). He has been really awesome about letting me get the things I liked and his only firm choices were the granite and the exterior stone. He didn’t like my kitchen cabinet choice (maple hazelnut glaze), but I won that battle by promising that I wouldn’t complain if I had to constantly wipe them down after we move in! I’d really hate to hear him say, “I told you so”.
Oh I also found out today and want to mention that the lot on the right of us will be empty because of the retention area beside it. HOORAY!! I am sooooo loving that idea! Not that I would have been upset to have a neighbor there, but that extra privacy is cool. The lot on the left side has been sold and I was told that the owner was very nice, so that’s a plus too. I was worried that we might get awful neighbors and since we’ve been there and done that we know what a miserable situation that can be.

Anyways, when Dustin gets home today we will sign all the final change order stuff and I will scan it and email it to our SR and that will be that! I was excited before, but I am super excited now! From what I have read in the blogs the building process flies by, I hope this is the case!

Thank you God for this blessing! You continue to bless us with your grace and mercy even though we are so undeserving. You are so worthy of our praise and as for me and my house we will serve and worship you Lord!!
The house with similar colors.
 

4 comments:

  1. We have second guessed several of our decisions but have yet to be disappointed. We were worried about our brick, our siding, and our cabinets...all have turned out to be beautiful.

    That is one of the great things about the blogs; if you search long enough, you will probably find someone who has used the combination you are looking for and possibly with the house you are building.

    We didn't have it that easy because there is only 1 other Highgrove blog out there but we could look at Avalon's and Yorkshire's which are our close cousins.

    ReplyDelete
  2. We have pebble clay siding and I love it. It's warm and neutral at the same time. With your shutter and door choices, it should be just lovely. No worries! Second-guessing yourself is just part of this process. Welcome to it! :)

    (avalonbuildingandblogging.wordpress.com)

    ReplyDelete
  3. We chose the pebble clay with partial stone. It will be a little over a month before I have any pictures of it but I have seen it in person. I do have a picture on my blog of another house with pebble clay plus Newbie has it on her house and it gorgeous. It is hard to pick out a whole house with 2x2 foot or inch samples so it will happen. The Island Pearl was our second choice but in the end keeping it clean would have been tough.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks for all the input. I'm feeling good about all the choices. Glad I can't change them now.

    ReplyDelete