Living in a town home, Tim and Dawn Donovan knew that expansion was a necessary part of their family’s future. With a new baby and older children that visit from out of town, the Donovans needed more space.
Looking ahead, Dawn perused the pages of plan magazines as so many potential homebuyers do, and found a Donald Gardner plan she really liked, the Northwyke. Not quite ready to move, they decided to purchase a lot on which to one day build their dream home, and knew they would pick a plan to build at a later date. After a couple of years, Tim came across the Northwyke again and Dawn remembered it from before.
“I told Tim this was the same plan that I’d held onto from years ago. I knew then, it was fate,” Dawn said. The Donovans chose The Northwyke initially because of its open floor plan, country exterior, spacious porch and garage hidden from the streetscape. Now that they have moved in, the home has more than exceeded their expectations.
“It doesn’t seem like we’re living in a cave anymore because the design is so open and airy. The windows and skylights make the whole home so bright that you don’t need a lot on the walls because the scenery changes with the landscape outside. Before we were in a 1300-square-foot townhouse so this is quite a bit different,” Tim said.
“The layout makes it easier for the whole family to spend time together. The way things were set up in the townhouse didn’t work very well. I thought it would be a challenge to keep up with our toddler, but it’s easier and we can spend more time together,” Tim added.
Besides being open and airy, the Donovan’s home is more livable in part to a few modifications they made. Tim and Dawn are like many homeowners who find a stock plan they like and then modify it to specifically meet their family’s needs and lifestyle.
“One of the modifications we made was the addition of a half bath and closing in the mudroom area between the bonus room and garage. That has worked out great coming from the hot tub on the back deck. Instead of walking into the great room on the hardwoods, we can come in on the tile and go into the half bath when we’re wet,” Dawn said.
Like many first-time homebuilders, the Donovans were faced with several challenges when building their home, one of which was budget restraints and allowances that didn’t always include what they wanted.
“I have learned that your budget is definitely going to go higher,” Dawn said. “I would advise to anyone looking to build to definitely go out and look at the cost of things before you even sit down and look at a budget with a builder. You’ve got to know the price of things and what your builder is pricing you before you agree to a budget. We didn’t know what we were being priced,” she said. This resulted in their budget increasing and some sacrifices being made when it came to amenities they originally wanted. But as many homeowners do, the Donovans chose to complete the rooms that were most important to them first, and save the rest of the home improvements for when their budget permits.
“We didn’t totally finish doing everything we wanted to do in the basement. Unfortunately Tim’s Dallas Cowboys room didn’t get done, and we never got around to getting the pool table. The Florida room also didn’t get finished,” Dawn said.
The media room, however, is finished and is one of the most important features of the Donovan’s basement.
“The theater and media room couldn’t have turned out any better,” Tim said. “I look forward to having friends over on Sunday afternoons to watch ballgames,” he added.
Their hot tub is another amenity they enjoy, however their daughter has made a hot tub for herself out of the master bathtub.
“The hot tub is really nice. Just the other night we put something in the oven and jumped in the hot tub for 10 minutes after a hard day of moving things in. Reagan has taken over our whirlpool tub in the master so we had to put a halt to that and she has to understand that this is only for special occasions,” Dawn joked.
The Donovans have also really enjoyed their Kitchen Aid appliances as they both enjoy cooking and baking.
“One thing I didn’t think would matter but that we love is the trash compactor. It is something I’d definitely recommend. It’s been a real convenience and it’s nice because it looks good with the kitchen and you don’t have a trash can sitting around,” Tim said.
Aside from their favorite amenities, the Donovans are happiest just living in the home. Excited to entertain friends and family, Tim and Dawn are glad the building process is over and they are now able to enjoy all of their hard work.
“One of my favorite things was picking out the new stuff and then having new artwork and furniture in my new home. Seeing it all come together has been great,” Dawn said, while Tim added that he tended to shy away from a lot of the shopping.
“Having everything come together is nice. I wasn’t really into the whole shopping thing but it was cool to see it come together. Not to say I don’t enjoy shopping but it got to a point where it was just too much after a while,” Tim said.
Dawn enlisted interior designer Cheryl Sazama from Interior Concepts to help create flow from room to room.
“The colors in the house are pretty bold, but we have accent colors in the artwork on the walls that tie it all together. Cheryl and Dawn were able to integrate the rooms together even though the colors are so different,” Tim said. “Dawn and Cheryl and everyone else involved in their specific realm did such a great job,” he added.
“One of my favorite things was picking out the new stuff and then having new artwork and furniture in my new home. Seeing it all come together has been great,” Dawn said, while Tim added that he tended to shy away from a lot of the shopping.
“Having everything come together is nice. I wasn’t really into the whole shopping thing but it was cool to see it come together.
Not to say I don’t enjoy shopping but it got to a point where it was just too much after a while,” Tim said.
When asked if they could change anything, Tim responded, “If I had to do it all over again, there really isn’t anything I would change. I think it was just an overall learning experience that we had to go through. You can’t expect everything to go smoothly, it’s just not possible when you’re dealing with something on such a large scale. It’s not like buying a ream of paper,” Tim said.
“We really are so pleased with the entire home. The plan we originally saw downplayed the house. The rendering didn’t look anything like it ended up being,” Tim said. “The roofline is really impressive and has more dimension than how the plan looked on the page,” Dawn added.
With the home finished and the Donovans settling into life as new homeowners, our 2007 Reality Home Building series has a happy ending.
VIEW THE NORTHWYKE HOUSE PLANS HERE: http://www.athomewithdon.com/home-plan-details.aspx?pid=571
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