First, on to the actual Parade of Homes. While we were waiting for a friend to arrive, we walked over to the Draper Temple. Unfortunately the grounds were closed so we couldn't walk around inside the gates. But Owen found something even more exciting - TRACTORS!
Ok...time to post pictures of the ridiculous 20k+ square foot mansion that was in the Parade of Homes. Apparently the home belongs to the entertainment industry promoter and manager of Justin Bieber, Usher, and Lionel Richie. It has 8 bedrooms, 9 bathrooms, 2 large kitchens, an arcade room, and a theater room with 6 different screens.
You can't quite see the whole house in either of these pictures, but here is is from the front:
Entryway/foyer (with a butler, of course):
Formal dining room:
One of the 1/2 baths that they had on either side of the stairs:
Entrance to the theater room. While it's not really practical or useful, I thought it was a fun idea.
Theater room:
Office:
These next three shots are all of the ballroom:
One of their young daughter's private bathrooms...bigger than our current bedroom. :)
Another daughter's bed and walk-in closet:
Master bedroom:
Master bath, complete with massage table. Give me a regular masseuse and I'm all over that!
Master walk-in closet. This is one half of it. The other half was identical and behind me. It doesn't do it justice as to how big it was...seriously - big enough to be a bedroom.
Upstairs kitchen:
Upstairs family room:
Mudroom:
Downstairs kitchen and informal dining:
Downstairs living/family room:
Craft room with me in it...because I'm obviously going to have one that looks like this someday. :)
Downstairs laundry room (don't worry, there was one upstairs that had TWO washers and TWO dryers):
Play room?
Arcade room:
And that was about it. It was a huge home, and had a lot of incredible features, but all in all I wasn't really that impressed. I thought it felt generally pretty cold. It was pretty modern with stark lines and it didn't feel very homey. I also couldn't stand the fact that there were no balconies off the upstairs rooms. Why on earth wouldn't you put a balcony there so you could walk out or sit on it and enjoy your view? It had doors that would just open to a railing. Lame. And while it was pretty, I really thought this house being built next door is more beautiful form the outside. And I love the huge arched driveway that goes through the house to the back.
We went to some other homes another day that although they were smaller, I like a lot better. They actually gave a "home" appeal and were somewhere I could imagine living.
Speaking of imagining places to live. We have been working our tails off trying to find a new home. Our condo only has two bedrooms, and I am really not excited about dealing with the transition of kids sharing a room. Can it be done? Yes. Do I want do it? No. Baby girl will probably sleep in our room for at least the first 3-4 months (and maybe longer if we don't move before then). I'd really like to find a place and move sooner rather than later so we don't have to worry about all of that. So we've spent a lot of time looking on the Utah real estate MLS site. And we've talked to numerous builders. We go out "parading through homes," looking at models, looking at lot locations and sizes, etc. at least three to four times a week. It's a frustrating, long process though, and Miles and I do not seem to agree on what is or is not important to have in a home. Often I like a home and would consider moving on it, and he says, "Meh. I'm not in love with it." Boo! Last year was so much easier when after looking at one of the only homes we saw, we both decided we liked it and wanted to buy it. Too bad it had structural problems.... Anyway, I hope we are getting closer - narrowing down pros and cons about locations, home size, features, yard space, etc. I just feel anxious since I know life will get crazy and harder once we have baby #2. But regardless, it is exciting and fun to consider our different options and think where our future will take us. Hopefully it will be somewhere we can call "HOME."
Entryway/foyer (with a butler, of course):
One of the 1/2 baths that they had on either side of the stairs:
Entrance to the theater room. While it's not really practical or useful, I thought it was a fun idea.
Theater room:
Office:
These next three shots are all of the ballroom:
One of their young daughter's private bathrooms...bigger than our current bedroom. :)
Another daughter's bed and walk-in closet:
Master bedroom:
Master bath, complete with massage table. Give me a regular masseuse and I'm all over that!
Master walk-in closet. This is one half of it. The other half was identical and behind me. It doesn't do it justice as to how big it was...seriously - big enough to be a bedroom.
Upstairs kitchen:
Upstairs family room:
Mudroom:
Downstairs kitchen and informal dining:
Downstairs living/family room:
Craft room with me in it...because I'm obviously going to have one that looks like this someday. :)
Downstairs laundry room (don't worry, there was one upstairs that had TWO washers and TWO dryers):
Play room?
And that was about it. It was a huge home, and had a lot of incredible features, but all in all I wasn't really that impressed. I thought it felt generally pretty cold. It was pretty modern with stark lines and it didn't feel very homey. I also couldn't stand the fact that there were no balconies off the upstairs rooms. Why on earth wouldn't you put a balcony there so you could walk out or sit on it and enjoy your view? It had doors that would just open to a railing. Lame. And while it was pretty, I really thought this house being built next door is more beautiful form the outside. And I love the huge arched driveway that goes through the house to the back.
And there were these crazy men walking along the top of the house doing their work. I would not want that job!
We went to some other homes another day that although they were smaller, I like a lot better. They actually gave a "home" appeal and were somewhere I could imagine living.
Speaking of imagining places to live. We have been working our tails off trying to find a new home. Our condo only has two bedrooms, and I am really not excited about dealing with the transition of kids sharing a room. Can it be done? Yes. Do I want do it? No. Baby girl will probably sleep in our room for at least the first 3-4 months (and maybe longer if we don't move before then). I'd really like to find a place and move sooner rather than later so we don't have to worry about all of that. So we've spent a lot of time looking on the Utah real estate MLS site. And we've talked to numerous builders. We go out "parading through homes," looking at models, looking at lot locations and sizes, etc. at least three to four times a week. It's a frustrating, long process though, and Miles and I do not seem to agree on what is or is not important to have in a home. Often I like a home and would consider moving on it, and he says, "Meh. I'm not in love with it." Boo! Last year was so much easier when after looking at one of the only homes we saw, we both decided we liked it and wanted to buy it. Too bad it had structural problems.... Anyway, I hope we are getting closer - narrowing down pros and cons about locations, home size, features, yard space, etc. I just feel anxious since I know life will get crazy and harder once we have baby #2. But regardless, it is exciting and fun to consider our different options and think where our future will take us. Hopefully it will be somewhere we can call "HOME."
2 comments:
AHH!! Danny and I use to drive by that second house all-the-time. Well I guess we drove by the first one, too, if it's in the same neighborhood. But we both loved the second one. Mainly because it was so big. One of our favorite go-to activities was "Let's drive around until we find the biggest houses/mansions we can in Utah." This neighborhood was usually up on the top of the list. Plus my brother lives not too far away, so we'd always pass by when we were up in that area.
Those are some crazy houses.
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