Building the house of your dreams
Building the house of your dreams?
Maybe it’s a Low-country beauty overlooking a sun-kissed putting green or a contemporary A-frame along the fairway. Whatever and wherever your imagination goes, dream homes provided by Golf Magazine, The Progressive Farmer and HGTV demonstrate the latest trends to lay a solid foundation for your dream home.
As plans move from daydream to drawing board to workplace, it’s important to involve trained professionals who share your vision and enthusiasm. Choosing a qualified architect to draw the house of your dreams is a must. In the case of Golf Magazine’s dream home at Reynolds Plantation on Georgia’s Lake Oconee. Cincinnati architect Don Beck created plans for a lavish 4,500-square-foot home with four master bedrooms and a walk-in closet. Getting an idea of how willing the architect is to work with your design requests is also essential. Emphasizing the best of country living, The Progressive Farmer’s dream home is designed for people with a penchant for country living.
Building your dream home may mean incorporating your plans into a themed community: design constraints and architectural standards. The builders of The Progressive Farmer’s dream home in McLendon Hills, a lake and equestrian community near Pinehurst, NC, incorporated cabin influences into the design. HGTV’s dream home on Cumberland Harbor in St. Mary’s, Georgia has coastal and Victorian elements.
Many of the nation’s top builders and suppliers contributed the materials and amenities for each dream home—products you’ll want to consider using once the two-by-fours begin construction. Golf Magazine’s dream home features paint provided by Ace Hardware, broadband phone service from AT&T, and state-of-the-art appliances and electronics from Best Buy. Your builder should be able to recommend materials that are both energy efficient and consistent with your home’s design theme. In total, from opening to putting up a welcome mat, you can expect your dream home to take a year to a year and a half to build.
Sometimes you have to see it to believe it. To spark the imagination of aspiring dream home builders, each of the 2004 dream homes spent several months open to the public.
In addition to being featured in its November 2004 issue, Golf Magazine’s dream home at Reynolds Plantation was open to the public. According to Bill Houghton, vice president of marketing for Reynold’s Plantation, approximately 17,000 people visited the house in six months. The Progressive Farmer Idea House and Farmstead was open for tours this summer and was featured in the August 2005 issue. HGTV’s Dream House Tours of Cumberland Harbor debuted in May 2007 with a Winners Weekend featuring awarded one of approximately 35 million contestants the home of his dreams, valued at $1.2 million. Also a giveaway event, the 2006 HGTV Dream House is under construction at Gray Rock in Lake Lure, NC.
At 4,500 square feet, Golf Magazine’s dream home features a spacious “‘Hunt Club’ interior with leather as the fabric of choice, providing a ‘feeling of sophistication,'” according to interior designer Jan Vorderburg. Four master bedrooms with attached baths ensure a luxurious stay that even guests will enjoy. Golf Magazine Editor Chris Whitman said, “Golf Magazine’s dream home has exceeded expectations on every level…truly a golfer’s dream come true.”
Recalling America’s rural past, The Progressive Farmer’s 3,500-square-foot dream home in McLendon Hills is “designed for people who choose the country as their place to live…with stalls and a storage room, the tiered garden, the pond and the pastures. It literally sets the standard for country living,” says Jack Odle, editor-in-chief of The Progressive Farmer.
Warm breezes off the Georgia coast influenced the construction of HGTV’s Cumberland Harbor dream home. The fully furnished 3,000 square foot home includes Victorian influences reminiscent of a bygone era. A 230-foot screened-in boat dock allows bug-free access to local waterways. “We want each dream house to have its own identity,” said Atlanta consultant Jack Thomasson, who contributed to the 2004 HGTV house.
Building on the success of the 2004 Cumberland Harbor Dream Home, Land Resource Companies (LRC) was once again honored to host HGTV’s Dream Home Sweepstakes. Currently under construction at the Gray Rock resort in western North Carolina, a mountain community also forged by LRC, HGTV’s 2006 dream home promises the same high quality and attention to detail as its coastal counterpart. “I am very pleased to have had the opportunity to offer another community that is level with Cumberland Harbor,” Bob Ward, president and CEO of Land Resource Companies, said of the 2006 dream home site.