I’m excited to share more of our home-building process today, specifically our design appointment selections. If you missed it, we’re building a house! This post leads to where we are now — waiting. Nothing has happened on our lot since our design appointment selections, which were at the end of September. However, we know they’re working behind the scenes on things. We expect more to happen in December or January, so we eagerly await. In the meantime, I’ll share our design appointment selections from what we kept standard, what we upgraded, and what we’ll do ourselves down the road.

Exterior

Whenever people think about design decisions, they tend to overlook the exterior. A reason that Brett and I chose our builder was that they offered multiple exterior options. One important thing to me was that I didn’t want a Spanish exterior, which is common in Arizona. It may seem silly, but I want to love pulling up to my house as much as I love the inside. We immediately agreed on the farmhouse exterior like the picture below. That is our actual house rendering but with a different color scheme.

As for exterior color schemes, we got to choose from six choices. I had an idea of what colors I wanted, and thankfully there was an option that was what I envisioned. We saw a different floorplan house with a similar exterior color scheme the day, which looked beautiful. Think white stucco, black window frames, and grey brick — I love it so much.

Structural Upgrades

We only had a few structural upgrade options, and even then, we struggled to make decisions! The one thing we wanted before even knowing the pricing was the multi-panel pocket doors in the kitchen. Aside from that, the only upgrade we chose was the base cabinet in the laundry room with a sink. It was a bit pricey, but we did want a sink whether we got it sooner or later, and only getting pre-plumbing was not an option.

Other options we considered but didn’t get included adding an exterior door in the garage and a tankless water heater. Before selecting our upgrades, we set a budget, and while we went slightly over our ideal budget, we didn’t go over our hard cap. So while it would’ve been nice to get the exterior door in the garage and a tankless water heater, we had to let some things go.

Design Upgrades

Now onto the most fun part — design choices! I feel so fortunate we got almost all the design choices we wanted. Thankfully we won’t have any major renovation projects after we move in. While there are some things we’d like to change after moving in, we won’t be in a rush. I’ve detailed everything below.

Things We Kept Standard:

• Carpet (Mohawk Welcomed Reward Tradition) — We’ll eventually rip out the carpet and replace it with LVP like the rest of the house.
• Kitchen Faucet — There weren’t many options, and the upgrades were pretty pricey, so we’ll be changing this ourselves after moving in.
• Kitchen Sink (Sterling McAllister Undermount Stainless Steel Single Bowl)
• Pedestal Sink (Sterling Sacramento White) — I’ll replace this with a vanity.
• Toilets (Sterling Windham Elongated)
• All Doors and Hardware
• Paint — Sherwin-Williams Alabaster
• Drywall
• Front Landscaping — Our builder’s packages weren’t customizable, so we’ll hire contractors for our front yard and backyard landscaping.

Things We Upgraded:

• Luxury Vinyl (Gemcore Topaz Bayside) — We chose the standard color but upgraded to get it everywhere possible (the entire first floor and wet areas on the second). There was another color we loved, but it was browner with yellow undertones. I love how neutral the Bayside is and how everything goes with it.

• Countertops (Calacatta Maywood) — I love the quartz countertop we chose. We went to see it in person before we committed because there were two countertops that we considered. Ultimately, we loved it so much that we chose it for the kitchen, the full-height backsplash, and the remainder of the house countertops.

• White Shaker Cabinets — We upgraded our kitchen cabinets and the house’s remainder. Ours come with chrome edge pulls, but we’ll be replacing them.
• Crown Molding — 3″ flat profile (all cabinets throughout the house)
• Shower Upgrade to Tile Surround (Themar Matte Bianco Lasa 12×24 | Color Wheel 2×2 Architectural Gray)

• Faucet/Bath Hardware — Originally, we didn’t plan on upgrading any hardware, but we wanted the widespread sink faucet, and the standard is a center set, so we chose to upgrade.
• Upgrade from Oval to Kohler Verticyl Rectangle Undermount Bathroom Sink (all bathrooms except powder)
• KitchenAid 36″ Dual Fuel Range Top — Brett was hesitant about this one because it was a pricey upgrade, but I knew I wanted to upgrade to the 36″. Also, if we eventually want to resell the house, one of the best places to invest our money is the kitchen.
• Cultured Marble Surrounds at Bathroom Tub
• Frameless Shower Enclosure
• Baseboards
• 2″ Faux White Wood Blinds — We didn’t plan on getting the blinds, but with how many windows we have and how pricey window treatments are, it’s something we’ll have to do over time. Plus, our builder offered a surprisingly good deal on the blinds, and it’s for the whole house.
• Soft Water Loop

It’s crazy to think we’ll probably be celebrating the holidays in our new house next year, and I can’t wait to start decorating. If you have any favorite interior design blogs, share them with me in the comments! xo