Parade of Homes

This week-end was cold and gloomy.  A little rainy.  Boo.

We made ourselves take a break from projects.  It was nice to relax…for a few hours.  And then we were both a little stir crazy…and driving each other nuts.  We need projects.  We are project people.

We decided to head to the Quad Cities Home Builders Association’s Parade of Home.  Who wouldn’t want to spend part of their afternoon looking a new homes and getting bad ideas?  All free of charge.  The bad ideas…not completing them.  Unfortunately.

What ideas did we walk away with?  What trends did we notice?

We both really liked the built-ins/moldings in this living room…

We could see making this happen here…

But the tv would need to stay above the fireplace.  It would just be surrounded by pretty moldings.  I don’t want to tilt my neck to watch How I Met Your Mother.

We also both loved the moldings around these windows…(Please work with the cell phone photos.  We figured carrying around our DSLR may be frowned upon.  And we’re chickens.)…

Nate had tried to explain this idea to me a couple of months ago. I wasn’t understanding.  He thinks we can make it work here…

We have wanted the windows closer together top-to-bottom since the day they went up but we think that adding moldings similar to the photo above may make the gap less noticeable.  Or we could be completely wrong but it sounds like a fun project.

I fell in L.O.V.E with these pendant lights.  I have no idea why.  They just spoke to me.  “Put us in your home Michelle.” I e-mailed the company that did the lighting in the house to see if I should keep dreaming or if I can make them a reality.  Fingers crossed I hear back soon.

We were also looking for basement ideas during our parading around.  The only thing we walked away with is this cabinet…

It looks like us.  And it looks like a good place to store DVDs, games, etc.  Add it to the list.

What trends did we notice in the new homes?  We want to be sure to keep up with the times and not leave our house stuck in 2008.  Probably not a problem now…but in the future.

• ORB finishes.  Makes me want to replace our satin nickel but I’m too lazy just yet.  Maybe satin nickel was circle back around.
• Carpet on the stairs.  Nate pointed this out repeatedly so that’s why it made the list.
• Doorless walk-in showers.  Nate was a visionary on that one.
• Dark kitchens with walk-in pantries disguised with cabinet doors.  The hidden pantries were awesome but not something we can make a reality.

Have you been looking at house lately?  New or old.  What trends are you loving/hating?