Aug 15, 2022

This post is sponsored by Drees Homes, but all opinions are our own. We set out to build the home first and foremost and later entered into a formal collaboration.

Why are we building?

Our journey in deciding to build is very much like our love story; it found us when we least expected it, 325 miles from home! It was an a-ha moment for us as we visited friends with their three children and learned their beautiful home was a Drees Monticello floor plan.

We could imagine a day in the life of Sunday morning, waking up and just having complete chaos!

There was something truly magical about witnessing a space being maximized for the daily journey of a family of 5 ranging in various activities while at the same time also graciously hosting us as guests!

The floor plan was glorious, from seeing mom tidying up post-breakfast while children #1 and #2 were rampaging all three levels to dad operating a juice machine in the kitchen while also taking time to appreciate child #3’s artwork in the sunroom (right off the kitchen).

Then there was us, coming up from the guest bedroom on the lower level to understand the glory of a well-lived home.

Love it or...

As much as we continued and strived to make our house our home, we couldn’t fight the feeling of anxiously looking at more projects and wondering when we would feel satisfied.

We needed to determine whether we would continue to love our house or, as David Visentin on HGTV says, “list it!”

Our decision

As we were driving home from visiting our friends, we worked with our Realtor and found a community in our region where we could build the Monticello floor plan.

Our needs included:

• Neighborhood with sidewalks​
• Additional garage bay that could be used as a dedicated workshop​
• Two permanent home offices​
• Flexibility to remain modular and multi-functional for our growing family.​

Suffice it to say, Drees Homes and their Custom + Construct approach to building ensured we would meet all of these needs in our dream house for years to come.

Our exterior selections

For the exterior, we chose an elevation that provided the New England feel we were looking for. Then we wanted it to have high contrast, so we selected:

• Horizontal and shake siding: Westlake Royal Ironstone
• Brick wrap: Swan Creek
• Architectural roof shingles: Certainteed Landmark Weathered Wood
• Trim: Sherwin Williams Extra White
• Front door and shutters: Sherwin Williams Tricorn Black

Some of our interior selections

Inside, the main level is bright and will feature modern luxury plank vinyl flooring that fools the eye into thinking it’s light brown oak.

For the kitchen, we chose:

• Flooring: Bruce Ultimate Brown Oak
• Cabinets: Timberlake New Haven Linen
• Island: Timberlake New Haven Maple Truffle
• Countertop: Mont Surfaces Fantasy Quartz
• Faucet: Moen STO Brushed Gold
• Sink: Blanco Truffle

Our owner’s bathroom will be luxurious and moody:

• Flooring: Daltile Haut Monde Empire Black
• Shower walls: Virginia Tile Malta Travertine
• Cabinets: Timberlake Sonoma Espresso Duraform
• Countertops: MSI Babylon Gray Quartz
• Faucet: Moen Gibson Matte Black

To be continued...

We are excited to see this all take shape in the coming months. Stay tuned as we continue to share more of our build journey as construction happens.

The most important part to remember is that things will arise, but we have a trusted team in Drees Homes who will be there each step to guide us through the process.