Parade of Homes 2016: Part 1

On October 2 and 9, Savannah and I toured 13 homes on the Parade of Homes. It is one of my favorite (and free!) annual events! Nearly 200 new homes in our county are open for public viewing during the first three weekends in October. The homes we visited ranged in price from $250,000 to $1.3 million.

The home below is in our neighborhood and priced at $975,000:

All of the homes that Savannah and I toured were furnished models that were full of design inspiration. For example, I loved these beautiful bedrooms for little girls:

Pink and turquoise...just like Savannah's and Hadley's bedrooms:

The bedroom below had the same headboard as Hadley and Savannah...

but in turquoise instead of pink!

As I toured the homes, I didn't pay attention to a home's layout or consider whether or not I would want to live in the house or neighborhood. Instead, I paid attention to the design choices, including the hardware, lighting, and tile. I was especially interested in the current trends and decorating selections in the bathrooms, kitchens, and laundry rooms since Tal and I are going to renovate these rooms in our house over the next couple years.

Just like our house, the home below had hardwood floors in the hallway and upstairs rooms:

The door hardware and mudroom bench/cubbies looked just like our house!

With the exception of the pendants, bar stools, and valances, the kitchen below is pretty much my dream kitchen:

Over the next couple years, Tal and I will be doing a modest, budget-friendly kitchen renovation. To save money, we will keep the same cabinets and the same layout. However, we will update our kitchen by painting the cabinets white and the island navy blue, adding oil-rubbed bronze hardware, installing quartz countertops and a tile backsplash, hanging pendant lights, and putting in a farmhouse sink.

Here's a good example of what our farmhouse sink would look like:

Our door hardware will probably look like this:

Tal and I have a friend who is an interior decorator. She recommended that we only paint our cabinet doors and frames. As shown below, most white kitchen cabinets are unpainted inside: 

Within the next few months, Tal is going to build a banquette in our kitchen. It will include a built-in bench that is much simpler than the banquette below:

Here's another view of my dream kitchen and banquette:

When Tal and I renovate our master bathroom, we are planning to install a free standing tub and a frameless, walk-in shower (like the ones pictured below):

I am looking forward to going on the Parade of Homes on Friday with my mom and girls!