Neil and I recently returned from vacation tracing the steps of the Apostle Paul as he helped establish The Church in Greece & beyond. This was not what I would call a relaxing vacation by any means, but definitely an amazing journey walking through archeological sites transporting us back into biblical times.
Whenever Neil and I travel, it’s inevitable we are amazed at different building techniques and styles that are indigenous to the area we visit. Greece certainly had us amazed at every turn from the ancient ruins filled with massive columns, perfectly stacked mega building stones, and elaborate marble structures to the more modern day, minimalistic, white washed homes that line the coastlines today; there was plenty to marvel over.
Our tour started with several ancient archeological sites at Philippi, Delphi, Ancient Corinth, the Acropolis in Athens, and my personal favorite- Ephesus. Ancient Ephesus was the most fascinating because we walked through miles of uncovered ruins that helped transport us back in time to the 4th century BC walking amongst the bustling agoras (shops), bath houses, government buildings, amphitheaters, a library, and of course elaborately built temples to honor the gods of that region. It astounds me how the Apostle Paul met such opposition from a multitude of pagan cities that are built around mythological gods of the times as well as influenced by Roman rule but yet when you go today, it’s easy to spot beautiful churches around every corner still active today. His mission seemed almost impossible, yet God used an unlikely vessel (once a persecutor of Christians) to carry out his mission of spreading the gospel to the gentiles.
The churches are beautifully and elaborately decorated by exterior and interior architectural details and painted icons and murals used to tell stories and invoke emotions from it’s visitors. You can’t help but be in awe of the attention to details hand crafted in the hallways and furnishings.
One of the most amazing stops on our tour was seeing the Monasteries of Meteora. Meteora means “suspended in the air” which is a perfect description of these remarkable monasteries suspended in air on top of uniquely shaped giant boulders reaching heights of 600 meters in the sky. These monasteries were built in the 14th and 15th century as monks and nuns fled persecution during the Ottomon conquests of Greece. Neil and I were mesmerized by these huge castle-like buildings built on the tip top of mountains. We couldn’t help think how in the world did they get their building supplies and workers onsite. LOL. In one picture, you can see where even today a cable system is used to transport supplies from the mainland. Simply incredible!
As we moved from land to sea visiting multiple Greek Islands such as Mykonos, Santorini, Patmos, & Crete we left the elaborate structures from ancient times to the more sleek, modern, white washed homes situated on the edge of cliffs and shorelines. My favorite feature of these simple but beautiful building styles were the pop of color used to differentiate buildings and churches. Santorini is a great example of the iconic blue domed churches sprinkled amongst beautiful, white, minimalistic network of homes and shops that line the island’s cliffs. At every turn, the unique doors and ironwork along with the quaint stone alleyways made this island one of my favorites.
Travelling is always fun, but there’s nothing like getting back home to make you appreciate all that you have. We are grateful to be back home and back to building in our local area. Not sure where our next adventure will take us, but for now, we leave Greece inspired by the Apostle Paul’s willingness to be obedient to God’s call for his life and hope to follow in that same obedience for where ever God’s next adventure takes us.
It’s been a few days now since the Parade of Homes ended and I’m still dragging a bit. It’s been a busy time. I’m not complaining, we are thankful for all the Parade traffic and leads that came along with it. From a marketing perspective it was a huge success. The banquet itself was very nice with a lovely venue and a great dinner. It was great to come together as an industry to celebrate Johnston County’s building successes.
But. . . I’m going to be a little transparent here, the Designer and Business Owner side of me pouted a few days after the Awards Banquet because even though winning Silver was nice, it wasn’t Gold. And Gold is my own personal standard. So to not win Gold in our category was very disappointing. I’ve actually been a Parade Judge before in other counties and I realize there is no perfect system in place to be completely accurate. There are many variables and sometimes they don’t line up with my own perspective. And even though I realize all of that mentally, for some reason my mental side is not communicating well with my emotional side. It’s now a week later, and for the most part I’ve moved on, yet, writing this blog article I realize maybe I’m still not 100% over the disappointment. When you care as much as we do about every detail, it’s hard to be told you weren’t the best. Being a perfectionist can be a positive and a negative trait at times.
So where do we go from here?
The good news, our Parade entry closed on Monday. And the family that purchased the home absolutely love it. And at the end of the day, that is what really matters. And I’m so looking forward to the Peterson family getting settled and getting their fence installed so I can come visit their future minicow. That’s right, a minicow. When they first asked us if they could have a minicow, I honestly didn’t know what a minicow was. When I went to research online, I immediately fell in love. They are soooo cute! In fact, I went straight to Neil and said I want a minicow. So for their closing gift I saw this adorable garden flag and just had to get it. I can’t wait to visit and maybe one day in the near future I can have one of my own.
During the Parade of Homes, we had over 200 visitors go through the home within two weekends. As in the past, I set up my voting station that allowed visitors to vote for their favorite feature. For the most part, visitors genuinely like the option of voting. Sometimes visitors would mention their favorite feature of the home that I didn’t have as a voting category. Three features I heard multiple times that did not have a voting jar were:
The Kitchen, The Lighting, and the Front Doors
If you read my last blog, I ended up adding the Fireplace as a voting category as well as gave participants the option of voting for their Second Favorite since people seemed to have a hard time picking just one.
Here’s the results of the voting:
Category
1st choice
2nd choice
Total
Master suite
47
16
63
Floor Plan
36
15
51
Ceilings & Trim
25
26
51
Fireplace
17
13
30
Use of Color
9
20
29
Exterior
16
12
28
The Lot
7
11
18
Hands down, the Master Suite seems to be the clear winner. Visitors commented how much they loved the vaulted ceiling and beams in the Master Bedroom as well as the Double headed shower, the beautiful tile floor, the tray ceiling with chandelier, and the angled vanity cabinet.
Second and Third place was a little tighter to determine. The Floor Plan had the highest First choice but overall, the Ceilings and Trim had almost an equal amount of First and Second place votes which seems to suggest an overall favorite.
Results also showed the Use of Color had a much higher 2nd choice vote than as a First choice vote which I found interesting because I think it lends to the “overall feel of the home” which several visitors tried to put into words with comments such as:
“ I just love the overall feel of being so light and calm”
“Just love how everything comes together with the colors and the light fixtures”
“I can see myself living here”
Comments such as these are always great to hear from a Design perspective.
So now that Parade of Homes is over, now what?
Well, first, I feel like I can breathe again. Which is a good thing. I can finally get my weekends back which is also good timing because it’s officially gardening season and I have a lot of weeding to catch up on. But from a Jarman Homes perspective, we are running full speed ahead. On top of the three current projects under construction, we are about to start 3 new homes in Laurer Ridge, one in Beulah Heights and two more projects on our desk waiting on preliminary plans and pricing. Not to mention our new exciting Development Project in the works called Buck Ridge. For a small custom builder like ourselves, that makes for a busy work week.
If you visited our Parade Home and were disappointed that it was already sold, no worries, we are about to start a new Meadow plan in Laurer Ridge (Wendell) and two additional specs coming soon in Beulah Heights. See the cutsheets below:
Parade of Homes judging was last Thursday (April 17th) and I’m pleased to announce we finished just in time for judging. And when I say “just in time” I mean we literally had three crews still working on Wednesday with the last one finishing up as the sun was going down. Whew!
And it wouldn’t have been a Parade Entry without a little drama. And no doubt we ran into some challenges these final weeks. I learned a valuable lesson that you never stop learning no matter how many years you have under your belt. But we worked through the challenges and over the years I’ve learned that sometimes challenges can bring you to solutions that turn out better. For example, one of my big challenges on Wednesday was the installation of gutters. For various reasons, gutter installation had gotten delayed several times and we were down to the wire. I walk up on Wednesday (THE DAY BEFORE JUDGING) and the first thing I see is this ugly gutter staring me in the face. I was not a happy camper to say the least. In my opinion, I prefer for gutters to blend away, not be the first thing I notice. Thankfully, the installer was still onsite and he was kind enough to listen to my rantings. Together, we talked through the options until finally he actually threw out the option of a Rain Chain. Rain Chain?! What a great idea! I’ve actually used Rain Chains two other times with the purpose of achieving a more aesthetic option. Thankfully, the painting crew was still onsite finishing up the exterior so we were able to remove the ugly gutter and patch the holes. Dilemma diverted!! Hallelujah! And I’ve already had two Realtors from our Realtor event yesterday mention how pretty it was. Now, instead of an ugly gutter, we have a pretty feature.
I am also extremely thankful for Caleb’s help this year. This was his first Parade Home experience and he definitely felt the pressure. But as a mom and a business owner, it’s so cool to see your son/employee take such pride and ownership in his work. He genuinely seems proud of being a part of something like this. I couldn’t be more proud of getting us to the finish line on time without a minute to spare and kept a cool head and didn’t let his stress show the way I did a few times the past week.
So now we wait. The Parade Banquet is not until April 29th, so we won’t find out how we did until then. I definitely feel we are in a very competitive category with stiff competition so I’m nervous to say the least. But to finish this home on time when we weren’t even planning to enter this home in the beginning (our first choice sold and closed before judging) so we knew it would take a miracle to get it finished in time for judging, but we did it. And that’s an award in itself (however, we really want to win one too, LOL).
Yesterday, I manned the house all day for Realtor Tour Day. Over 60 realtors divided up into four routes to collectively visit all the Parade Entries. It’s always a fun event filled with wows, food, and lots of goodies. I like being in the home to talk to Realtors and Visitors to get a good sense of what others like. Usually people are pretty open about what they like and very gracious and then there’s also usually one or two that let you know what they would have done differently (LOL). One way I like to encourage feedback that I started several years ago is setting up a Voting Station where visitors can vote for their favorite feature. Yesterday, we had 34 votes from Realtor Day. The good news is several voters seemed to genuinely have a hard time picking just ONE of their favorite features. So as we head into our first open house weekend I’ve decided to add a second color in order to vote for a second choice.
So far, here is how the numbers stand:
Category
# of Votes
Master Suite
15
Ceilings & Trim
6
Exterior
5
Floor Plan
5
Lot/land
2
Use of Color
1
In addition to my six voting categories, I had several visitors mention the Fireplace as their favorite feature and two said the Front Doors. It’s funny, how I sort of took those things for granted because it’s pretty standard for us, but that’s why it’s important to be personally available to hear feedback first hand. Sometimes when it’s what I do and see every day, it’s helpful to take a step back and see it from fresh eyes.
Samantha and I are now gearing up for the upcoming Open House weekends. You can grab a Parade Book in any of the home entries or you can go online and map out your route at www.ParadeOfHomesNC.com
Parade of Homes Open Houses
April 26 & 27th and May 3rd & 4th from 12:00-5pm.
I will personally be onsite all day this Saturday (4/26) and the following Sunday (May 4th) and would love for you to come visit.
So grab your spouse or a few friends and have fun Parading.
January of this year marked Jarman Homes’ 25th year in business and earlier this week marked Neil and I’s 31st wedding anniversary. The biggest deal about that is Neil and I have been working together and have managed to stay married at the same time. That’s no small feat! I could write a novel telling all about the good, the bad, and the ugly, but due to time, I thought I would approach today’s blog post by answering some of the questions we have gotten over the years on “How we do it”.
Q: What is the hardest part about working with your spouse?
A: When I started working for JH full time I had a hard time separating work from home. My brain doesn’t switch things off just because it’s after 5pm. So in the beginning when Neil came to the dinner table or settled down for the evening, I would start asking questions about our jobs, etc. and that didn’t go so well. Over time I got the hang of it and we have since set perimeters of business matters being off limits during “home” time. It’s not 100% full proof in all circumstances, but I feel like I’ve learned over the years which work topics are best waiting until the next morning to discuss.
Q: What was your most challenging year?
A: As a whole, after 25 years in business, we have been through the hi’s and lows of the Building Industry. In addition to our 25 years in business, Neil is a second generation builder, so he also lived through his Father’s hi’s and lows within the industry as well so there have been many challenging times throughout the many years. But overall, I personally can recall two distinct time periods that were the most difficult.
2008-09: I am willing to bet that every builder working during this period would include this as one of those challenging times we would never forget. Not only did we have to survive through the “housing market collapse” but I also personally made a major life change that compounded the challenges. After 10 years of my own career and having our third son, we decided for me to stop working full time and help Neil more with JH. Before the market collapse, we had an office in town, an Office Manager, a Superintendent, and a Warranty Specialist. However, in order to survive, we had to scale back; ended up renting out our office space and moved Neil’s office into our home. It became just Neil and I. Our business plan changed at that moment and has pretty much been just the two of us until this past year. ALL of that time was challenging but we made it through it and became more reliant on each other through the process. I’ve always said, if Neil and I could make it through that year, we could make it through anything.
2020-21: Covid changed everything. Honestly, it’s never been the same since. Not only did building materials rise to unprecedented levels but getting the materials seemed almost impossible for a time. I won’t ever forget the night we had to call three current presale clients with the news there framing package cost just tripled in price almost overnight. Thankfully, two out of the three clients stuck it out with us and we turned the third one into a spec that sold pretty quickly. We are so thankful, because that was a very scary time for so many reasons. But, again, I feel very fortunate we weathered another storm and came out a little stronger and learned to never take things for granted (including toilet paper, lol).
Q: What was our most memorable home we’ve ever built?
A: The first one that comes to mind was a midcentury modern house plan that was designed for an artist and a musician. What was so cool about the home is from the first day we met, the client had showed me a charcoal sketch she had drawn of her vision. And at conclusion, it turned out just like her drawing. One of the favorite parts of my job is helping our client’s vision and style become reality. And this project was a perfect example of that. The project was also very memorable because it gave Neil a run for his money. The site work alone proved to test his engineering skills to come up with a basement home basically on the side of a mountain. But the finished result turned out even better than the client had hoped for with a basement ceiling height at 12’ for her art studio space. To this day, it’s one of our most memorable projects from start to finish.
Q: Where do you see JH in the next 10 years?
A: Last May, our middle son Caleb, graduated college and ended up working with us as a Superintendent. His addition to our Team has been such a blessing. Now that Caleb has taken on keeping our jobsites running, it has freed Neil up to finally do something he has been talking about for years but never had the time.. . Developing. We recently purchased 100 acres about 10 minutes from our current home & office and Neil has been like a kid in a candy store ever since. He is eager to get that project under way and we both look forward to adding one more “hat” to our repertoire. And we couldn’t do without Caleb. Caleb has been a nice addition also because he’s our comic relief around here when we get a little too serious (most days). We look forward to him continuing to grow and learn the business and open up even more doors in the future.
I hope you have enjoyed our little trip down memory lane. Neil and I both feel very blessed to have been given the opportunity to build beautiful homes for our clients for these past 25 years and look forward to servicing and supporting Johnston County for many years ahead.
Meanwhile, we are still pushing forward with all intentions on meeting our “judging” deadline on April 17th (only 13 days away!! ). Follow us on our Facebook or Instagram for updates. It’s going to be down to the wire, so stay tuned in to see if we make it.
For all the Pinterest fans out there, photos of gorgeous cabinets are probably one of the more popular posts for home design enthusiasts. And believe me, I love looking at all the beautiful photos as well. One thing you have to consider when looking at all the gorgeous photos of homes, is more times than not they are coming from million dollar projects. So we all admire and dream we can have those million dollar looks in our own homes. I’m no different. I had collected photos for years before designing my own Kitchen in our new home.
And I can honestly say, once I put all the various ideas together, I couldn’t be happier with how my Kitchen turned out.
The reality is I would have never been able to afford my current Kitchen back when we built our first or second home. So the challenge is creating those million dollar looks in our own Kitchen designs within a more realistic budget. We’ve been building for over 25 years now and I have honestly never had a client that said to me, “money is no object”. I hope to one day get a client like that, but for now, I’ve gotten pretty good at getting the most out of the budget we have to work with. One thing Neil and I do is try to create a sufficient allowance up front for clients to get what they want. So let’s get started.
As a recap, for our Parade of Homes entry, my selection process began with the Brick color. From there, I knew I wanted the overall color scheme to be light in color and pull all the whites, browns, and blue-gray tones to coordinate with the beautiful brick that will be a prominent feature on the two story fireplace. In the last blog post we discussed all the countertops in the home and coordinating cabinet colors. From there, I coordinated tile and paint. Here’s what we have so far:
In regards to overall design, I’ve always believed the Kitchen is the heart of the home. So generally, whether I’m working on a spec home or working with a presale client, I like starting in the Kitchen and working out from there. In the Meadow floorplan, we have a great open Kitchen layout with a large Island to work with. I love the symmetry of the Perimeter wall. Back when we completely redrew the Kitchen layout from the original plan, we purposely moved the oven/microwave combo to the wall with the refrigerator in order to create a nice balance and focal point on the hoodvent wall. In this plan, the ceiling heights are 9’ which I like for a Kitchen because it makes its easier to run the cabinets up to the ceiling. For 10’ ceilings we have to add a soffit that comes down.
OR you can stop the cabinet short of the ceiling and then determine if you want to leave them at the same level or staggered heights. All things to consider when designing the kitchen.
In this Meadow Kitchen, I love the symmetry of the main perimeter wall. There is plenty of space to add upper cabinets with glass doors and accent lighting for added “wow”. Also on this wall the hoodvent is a big focal point. Over the years I’ve used many hood vent designs. Here’s a few of my favorites:
Another added feature I love using whenever I can are storage pullouts. In this Kitchen, I am able to add a pullout on each side of the cooktop. These pullouts are so functional. You can choose from different configurations, but my personal favorite is the Knife Block and the Large Utensil cans. It helps get all that clutter off the countertops.
My favorite part of the kitchen design is the 10’ island. I personally don’t like going any bigger than 10’, even in plans that may call for a larger island. The reason is I don’t like seams in my countertops, and it’s hard to find oversized slabs that would accommodate anything bigger than 120”. This island is wide and deep; therefore, it provides an additional layer of storage hidden on the backside underneath the bar top. I’m a firm believer that you can never have too much storage.
For this island I like using big chunky sides to support the overhang. But sometimes when the island is not as large, I like using decorative legs to support the overhang. Here are a few examples:
For my personal home, I knew I wanted an “x” design on the ends of my island to mimic the “x” beams in my foyer. My island also measures 10’ wide but even though I had plenty of room for a deeper island like the one in the Meadow, the deeper it got the more distorted the “x” design became. So I had to make the hard decision to forgo the extra storage in this case in effort to keep the end-panel design like I wanted. Sometimes, design decisions can be challenging. But overall, I’m super happy with the way it turned out and wouldn’t change a thing.
An added bonus in the Meadow, just off the Kitchen right beside the walk-in pantry, is a super cute Butler’s Pantry. You could use it as a Coffee Station or a Wine Bar; so many possibilities. It sits in that odd space underneath a set of stairs. If this house had a basement, it’s where the basement stairs would go. But since we are on a crawlspace foundation, I wanted to turn it into more than just a closet. Here are some different options we’ve done in the past:
From the Kitchen, my second favorite space to design is the Powder Room. The Powder room is where your guests will really appreciate its design. I always like to add some simple, cost effective design elements that really jazz up the small space and make it extra special. One way I like to make it unique is by designing a cabinet that looks more like a piece of furniture than a standard, everyday cabinet. And I love using color in this room. Either, by making the cabinet itself a bolder color choice or going with a stained cabinet and putting a bolder color on the Shiplap accent wall behind the cabinet. Here are some different styles we’ve done before:
Add in a cute, decorative mirror, a nice plumbing & light fixture, and an upgraded tank lever and waalaa. . . a super cute Powder room your guests will marvel over.
The next most important space regarding cabinetry is definitely the Master Bath. Outside of the Kitchen, this is where you will spend most of your time. This plan has a great size bathroom. The vanity is long and is a bit odd shaped because of the angle at one end.
Over the years, we have done several configurations. The advantage of using a custom cabinet-maker is we can redesign the layout to fit your wants and needs. Here’s some examples.
This plan has two additional secondary bathrooms that both have spacious cabinets with lots of drawer and countertop space.
Can’t wait to see it all finished.
I always love feedback, so let me know which Powder room cabinet is your favorite?
When thinking through the interior design of a new home, different things give me inspiration. I often like to bring the outside in per say. For example, a home we are currently working on I was planning to paint the exterior color a very dark gray-green color. Therefore, I wanted to bring a similar gray-green color palette inside in some way as well. In this situation, I (planned to) start with a cabinet color combo that I like and then go to the Granite yards and choose something that goes with the colors I have pre-selected. However, once I got there I ran across this gorgeous slab that I knew I just had to use.
So I completely regrouped and looked for a color combination I could go with this slab. Once I determined the look and feel of the Kitchen, I worked my way out from there. In this situation, the entire feel of the home turned out this “moody” dramatic play between blacks and wood tones. I was eager to use some of my new stain colors and LOVE how it turned out. Here is a sneak peek:
One of my favorite days during the Selection Process is walking the Granite Yards. Personally, I am a big fan of natural stone for countertops. I realize there are a lot of people and designers out there that prefer quartz. It’s not that I don’t like quartz necessarily; it is a good product and manufacturers are consistently coming out with better, more realistic replicas of natural stone. But “replica” is exactly what it is. In my opinion, “replicas” can never replace the real deal– a true God-made product. If you have never walked a granite yard, I highly recommend it. Don’t settle for going to a showroom with a display of various small samples; make a trip to a reputable granite yard and take in God’s artistry. It really is like going to a museum. Here’s some of my favorites from last week: (Frame added)
Unfortunately, the reality is most of the AMAZING Quartzite slabs are way out of the tight allowance Neil makes me stay within. So I walk, I admire, and then I walk to the other rows where the more reasonably priced granite and marble slabs are. But even within my price range, there are many fantastic gems to discover. For this home, I knew I wanted the overall color scheme (that started from the brick as you read in the last post) and went searching for a slab that would be light in color and pull all the whites, browns, and blue-gray accents. I found just the piece in these White Ice slabs which also happen to be more reasonably priced than the previously mentioned options.
Not only is walking through rows of large slabs fun, but going to the Remnant Yard is super fun also. I compare going to the remnant yard like going to TJMaxx. Some days you find a cart full of amazing finds and somedays not-so-much. But I’ve been very fortunate that I do this for a living so any time I go and see a great find, we tag it for me and if I don’t get to use it that particular house I’m working on, I can always use it for the next one. I’ve been fortunate to have been working with a lot of our subcontractors and suppliers for many years now. So a lot of my suppliers have grown to know my style and what I like and are always on the lookout for me when really cool pieces become available. Somedays I feel like a kid in a candy store.
For example, check out this remnant I just found last week for an upcoming spec we are currently building. It’s a gorgeous, unique quartzite remnant. This would normally be an Exotic Level Five countertop, but I’m getting it at a Remnant price (just labor). How awesome is that! Can’t wait to see it in person.
Here are some of my favorite finds throughout the years where the countertop dictated the rest of the space.
For our Parade Home entry, I found some really good remnants for all three secondary bathrooms.
Powder: The Powder Room cabinet is a bold blue color. You may be thinking that color is going to be hard to find a top, but believe it or not I had three amazing options to choose from, but at the end of the day I went with this gorgeous quartzite piece called Brazillian Thassos.
The Downstairs Buddy Bath: I actually knew I had this piece of Alpinus Granite LF left over from the last job and was looking for a place to use it. It was a gorgeous slab that was used in a Kitchen. So I let the countertop dictate the rest of the room.
The Upstairs Hall Bath: Similar situation, I had two remnants that would have worked in that room, but based on the other colors within the home, I went with this pretty piece of Fantasy Brown LF and coordinated the other selections with it.
If you are not familiar with (LF) Leathered Finish granite, it is a newer option that is more of a matte, uneven finish instead of the glossy, smooth finish of the more traditional polished granite. Just a few years ago, it was rare to find slabs in leathered finish but now more and more options are available and now some even have dual slab options where you can choose leathered finish on one side or polished finish on the other. There is no difference in how to care for the stone; it’s really just personal preference.
The countertops are going in soon. I can’t wait!
UPDATE: The above article I wrote last week on Thursday, March 6th. First thing on Friday morning I got a call from our countertop installer that the beautiful leathered Alpinus selected for the Buddy Bath cracked while cutting the sink insert.
Since this is our Parade of Homes entry, and time is of the essence, we had to come up with an alternative game plan pretty quickly. After some troubleshooting and a few back and forth photos, I finally decided to go with an alternate Alpinus remnant in a polished finish. Still very beautiful and honestly, if I wasn’t writing about it no one else would have known. But that’s just what we deal with on a daily basis. “Putting out fires” is what we like to call it.
Added note: I want to clarify; I do use quartz from time to time. I know, I know, I just said earlier I don’t really like quartz. I didn’t say it’s not a good product, it is. There are many positives to using quartz. It is a very durable product, you never have to seal it (like a natural stone) and sometimes you want a more solid color or specific look that’s hard to find in a natural stone. For example, in the Laundry room in the last home I designed, I found a Quartz remnant called Black Temple. It has a more industrial, concrete vibe. It went great with that overall moody “black and wood” theme I had discussed earlier. I also used a Quartz remnant in my own personal home’s Laundry Room. In that room, the tile floor was the main focus so I needed a countertop that just blended in.
Wow, I’ve said a lot and didn’t even touch on the actual cabinets themselves. So I’m going to table that conversation for next week and we will take a deep dive in the world of custom cabinetry next post.
Even though we have been building homes for over 25 years now, believe it or not, every home I’ve ever designed has been unique. I’ve never done the exact same color scheme more than once. Sure, I have some “go to” colors, or tiles I have used multiple times, but every home I have ever designed has been uniquely different. And each home has a Starting Point. Sometimes the starting point is the Kitchen Cabinets, sometimes the countertops, sometimes an inspiration from a picture I’ve seen and liked, sometimes the lighting, you get the picture. For this year’s Parade Home entry, I started with the brick. Not just for the outside, but the brick influenced the interior design as well. Let’s start with the exterior.
If you read my last blog post, you know we have built this Meadow plan 10 times now. So it’s becoming more difficult to come up with unique ideas. The previous nine times we have built this plan we used a combination of siding and stone on the front elevation. So this time I wanted to go a different route by using Brick for the accents instead of stone. The challenge for me personally is for years I was never really a big fan of brick. Variations of Red brick just have never appealed to me. However, in more recent years, with the addition of some really pretty newer shades of bricks falling into the white and grey categories, I’m finding myself looking for new ways to incorporate brick more.
Last year, Neil and I built our own personal home on some land we had been sitting on since 2019. It has been almost exactly a year since we have lived here and we absolutely love it. However, in the beginning, it took us a while to agree on what we wanted to build. Neil wanted an all brick house. I wanted a Farm house. To me, a Farm house is not brick. Thankfully, we did evidentially find a plan that combined both our wants.
The key to making this whole Brick Farmhouse concept work for me was all about the brick color. And ultimately, it ended up being one of the most important decisions in the entire build. I absolutely love the brick we chose for our personal home. What do you think?
Jarman Farmhouse
Fast forward to months later and many design decisions later and it’s time to brick the fireplace surround. I had made all interior decisions based on using the same brick we used on the exterior for the interior. However, when the time came to order the brick, I discovered the cut brick (thin slices of the brick used as veneers on interior applications) was not available and would be months before we could get some.
Needless to say, that was not a good day. After pouting a few days, I finally made the decision to just go pick out something else that would be available without holding up progress. After some debate, Neil and I ended up choosing this brick which was similar but had more “warmth” in the brick.
Once I saw this brick I felt it would look good with all the wood accents we had already in other selections such as the hickory wood floors, the stained alderwood island and accents, the stained wood beams and barn doors all having warm wood tones. So we went with this new brick choice for the fireplace. But I’ll be honest, I was nervous and felt a little like I was just settling in order to keep things moving. But the day that fireplace was finished and we got the mantel in place, I was soooo happy with the end result and feel to this day it all worked out better in the long run because the warmth in the stone was just perfect with all the wood tones on the inside. Plus it blends beautifully from the inside out and I love how it all turned out.
So you are probably thinking by now, “wow, great story, Joy, but what does that have to do with this Parade Home entry?” Well, it has a lot to do with it actually, because I have been admiring that beautiful brick on my fireplace every day for the past year and thought, “it sure would be pretty on the exterior of a home”. So I designed the entire exterior pallet around that same brick from my fireplace. Started building, and then guess what happens. We go to order the brick and of course we find out, that particular brick is out of stock!! I really hate those words.
So back to the brick store I go. My brick installer told me they had just installed a similar brick on another job and told me to check it out. It wasn’t the same, but it was pretty. So I approved it. Tragedy averted. Honestly, things like this happen a lot, so I try not to get too upset . But some things bother me more than others. As soon as the brick foundation was completed I knew I loved the brick and has now become one of “my favorites”. So it wasn’t my original choice, but again, I think it all worked out exactly how it was supposed to. Here’s what we have so far:
I’m planning to stain the wood posts (not installed yet) and gable accents a warm wood stain. Right now, I’m planning on NO shutters. Although Neil is trying to talk me into adding them. You will just have to come and see for yourself during the Parade to see what the final decision will be.
A big part of the interior design in this plan is the BIG two story fireplace. Again, I usually just run the same stone from the exterior onto the fireplace surround all the way up to the ceiling. This time, I will be using the same brick. I ordered the cut brick a few weeks ago and was told it was four weeks out so I’m counting on it arriving in time (hopefully).
Based on the brick, I went with a color palette I thought would look great with the brick and added wood accents to tie it all together. I can’t wait to see how it turns out.
Last time I built this plan, for the interior design, I started with the Pendant lights over the Island and worked my way out from there. Literally, the entire house was designed from this pendant light. And it turned out so beautiful.
The interior trim is almost complete and then painting begins. So in a few weeks the trim outs will start and it will really start looking good. This is when the building process really gets exciting in my opinion.
Next week we will take a closer look at the Cabinets and Countertop design choices I selected for each room.
But before I go I thought of an additional side note about brick that has nothing to do with our Parade Entry but thought it was worth mentioning:
An important thing to keep in mind regarding the beautiful “white” brick styles–the white, rubs off. The brick still has a red base underneath. So you have to be careful how you use it. For example, building in areas with red clay soils is challenging b/c the red clay gets all over the foundation while you are building. When you go to pressure wash near the end of building, pressure washers have to be very careful NOT to wash the white right off the brick. The other concern is how you are using it. When building our personal home, I knew I wanted that beautiful herringbone brick pattern you see all over Pinterest on my Front Porch. I mean, who wouldn’t. So beautiful.
However, when it came to that point in the building process, both my installer and my salesman warned me NOT to do it. They warned that over time, the white wears off and it’s NOT a good look long term. Well, I plan to live here the rest of my life so “long term” is important. So, even though I was disappointed, we regrouped and found some pavers that coordinated beautifully with our brick. Here’s how it turned out.
I love it. Sitting on my front porch is one of my favorite pastimes now and I’ve never regretted going with the pavers instead of the brick. For further validation, the brick steps leading into my home from the garage are definitely showing significant wear with a lot of the red showing after only one year of use. So take that into consideration when choosing your brick color. Hope this tip was helpful.
As a Custom Builder, most of our homes we build are presales (when we build for a client from start to finish). Therefore, we don’t build the same floorplan more than once very often. However, we do like to have at least one spec home (a home we build and I get to choose all the selections) going at a time. This year marks our 25th year building homes and we only have one other floorplan that we have built more than three times, and that is the Meadow plan. We have built this plan 10 times counting the one currently under construction that we have entered into this year’s Johnston County Parade of Homes.
As I looked back over the years, we built our first Meadow plan back in 2016. The plan itself has really evolved over the years. I thought this would be a great opportunity to stroll down memory lane and look at some of the changes we made. At this point I feel the Meadow plan has evolved into what I feel is pretty darn near perfect at this point. So let’s take a look at how we got here.
The first time we built this home back in 2016, we made a few changes from the original plan we purchased before a single brick was laid. One big change we made was in the Master Bathroom. For years we had seen the trend of Big Tubs going out and Big Showers coming in. So we manipulated the Master Bath by removing the tub altogether, made the shower a large 2-headed shower and turned the old shower space into a nice big linen closet.
The second big change we made was we removed the deck off the back and then added a Screen Porch with a vaulted ceiling that extended from the Nook. We had to move the door to access the screen porch which shifted the windows a bit. The screen porch is great for North Carolina weather and the vaulted ceiling is such a nice aesthetic feature. We add stained tongue and groove in the ceiling to really show it off.
One of the biggest changes over the years has always been the Garage. On this first lot, we needed to shrink the overall footprint a bit to best fit the lot requirements. So we turned the 3 car garage into an oversize 2 car. That also directly affected the upstairs bonus room square footage. Over time, when we make changes to the Garage, the total square feet will change slightly. Here are a few examples.
Another change we made to the original plan was changing the two individual dormers in the Bonus room to one bigger, more centered dormer. That makes a much more usable space. It can be a Reading Nook or Toy storage area. One of my favorite uses of that space came from a client that asked our trim guys to custom build a platform for a day bed. I love the way it turned out.
The second time we built the Meadow plan, it was as a presale for clients that had walked the first one and fell in love but wanted a different lot in a newer section of the development. Since we were building it new, they decided to make a few custom changes including turning that Garage back into a 3 car and changing the front elevation by adding craftsman style columns. Here’s how it turned out.
But definitely the biggest transformation came on the inside by changing the Kitchen layout. I remember the day when we discussed the option of tearing down the wall and creating a big island. I was almost giddy discussing the change because I had already asked Neil during the first build if we could knock out the wall between the Kitchen and Family Room, but I had asked a little too late. So this time, I was so happy to be able to build this plan again with the modified kitchen. And oh, did it turn out so nice. We have been building it that way ever since.
Ever since the second time we built this plan, the biggest changes we made over the years involved the Garage to either better fit the client’s needs or the lot requirements.
We’ve increased the 8×8 Garage bay to a 9×8 which increased the total s.f. to 3261 and officially changing its name to the Meadow Anne.
We’ve even turned the Garage into a 2 Car Front Load version in order to accommodate a tricky culdasac lot. It still turned out beautiful.
Once, while we were building it, a prospective client wanted the exact same plan but on the same street within view of each other. So we had to manipulate the front elevation enough where the two homes looked completely different.
Every time we build the Meadow, we have always sold it again as a presale. It’s just that good of a plan. Believe me, I look at a lot of plans, and I’ve yet to find a plan that offers so much for the footprint. That means, you can get three Bedrooms down, plus a Study, plus a Dining room, plus a Nook, all on the 1st floor while keeping the footprint a reasonable size. The tighter the footprint, the more cost effective to build. Add in a 4th Bedroom, Bath, and Bonus upstairs plus a huge attic and a 3-car Garage. What’s not to like. That is one of the main reasons why we have built this plan 10 times. It’s functional, it’s beautiful, and it’s cost effective. From a builder’s perspective, it doesn’t get better than that.
We are thrilled to be entering the Meadow floorplan in this year’s Parade of Homes. I hope you will come by and walk through the home and see for yourself why this has earned the title of our #1 selling plan.
So mark your calendars for April 26 & 27 and May 3rd & 4th.
Next post: We will look at what influenced my entire selection process for our upcoming Parade Entry home. . . The Brick.
Wow, I can’t believe it’s been FOUR years since my last blog post. That’s embarrassing. I think I need to have a word with my Marketing Director. Oh wait, that’s me. Well, in my defense, we’ve been so busy building that I haven’t spent much money or time on marketing these past several years. Thankfully, our continued growing area, word of mouth, and the good Lord’s provision has kept us busy.
Recently, I attended a fantastic marketing class. I left there inspired to ramp up my marketing efforts this year and created an immediate list of “To Do’s”. Top of the list was to start blogging again. Fast forward four weeks and it’s currently snowing outside so our jobsites are pretty much shut down this week. So I thought I would use this opportunity to sit down and put some thoughts together.
A lot has been happening over the last year or so. About 18 months ago, we finished building on our last lot in Portofino. That was a little scary because Portofino has contributed to half our closings for over 13 years. But as one door closed another opened and we are currently building in a new Custom Home subdivision in Wendell called Laurer Ridge. It’s always a little scary starting a new subdivision, but quickly our fears subsided when all four of our lots in Phase 1 sold within a few months time. Just last week we closed on four more lots in Phase 2 and expect to get cranking on those soon.
Neil also developed some land in Kenly this year and we are currently building those homes. I’m excited to announce one of those is going to be our upcoming Parade Entry. Yes, you heard me correctly, Johnston County is having their first Parade of Homes since 2019. Woohoo! So mark your calendars for April 29-30 & May 5-6.
The catch, we have to actually finish the home in time. Caleb made me a construction schedule and boy are we going to be cutting it close. He has the home getting a final clean on April 12th and Judging is April 17th.
It seems people are betting on everything these days, I wonder what the spread would be on us actually being ready by judging day??? I am hoping we beat the odds and come up winning big.
Time out! Did you read Caleb’s name and say, who is this Caleb fella? Well, if you haven’t heard by now, Caleb, our middle son who graduated college last May, ended up joining our team. Believe me, he wasn’t overjoyed with the idea at first, working with his parents mostly, but I think some days he is actually liking it (the job, not necessarily working with his parent, lol). We are super glad to have him and he’s doing a good job. He’s already watched two homes from start to closing and has four more under construction. Just having him overseeing our jobsites has really freed Neil up to do other things including something he’s been wanting to do for years but never had the extra time—Developing. We recently purchased 100 acres in the Wendell/Middlesex area and he is deep into planning and working through all that is involved with developing a new subdivision.
One more big change this past year is we built our new personal home and office in Wendell . And we love it. We love having a dedicated office again and absolutely love the Farm life. You can get a look at our new digs in this video.
Well, that pretty much get us caught up. Up next, I plan to start a new Series on our Parade of Homes entry. Join me as I take a closer look at the Design decisions and the never-a- dull -moment construction process. You can follow along with us and see if we actually make our deadline. If I were a betting (wo)man I would double down on us making it.
Next time: Find out why our Parade of Homes entry is our #1 Selling plan.
It’s Christmas Eve morning and my kids keep coming into the office asking, “are you working, mom?” Well, I don’t want to be, but just as everything else this year, I seem to be behind and a bit overwhelmed. 2021 has been a year like no other for us personally and professionally. We thought 2020 was a year like no other, and it was, then came 2021 and along with it a whole new set of challenges.
I’m a bit embarrassed that it has been last December since my last blog post. I had such big plans for blogging this year. A year like this, there has been plenty to blog about, yet, I have barely kept up with the daily tasks of keeping a business running with little time for much else.
As crazy as last year was in our industry, this year has definitely seen even more challenges from even higher prices in EVERY aspect of building, to material shortages, supply chain issues, labor woes, etc, etc. And probably the biggest challenge of all, DEMAND, DEMAND, DEMAND. Some weeks, it felt like for every call or email I returned from prospective clients, two more came in it’s place. Don’t get me wrong, we are VERY thankful for the business and the wonderful clients that have trusted us to be their builder. We are thankful people keep buying even though pricing continues to rise and build times continue to get longer. We are thankful to be a Small Business Owner that is still thriving when so many didn’t fair as well.
Yesterday, I was able to hand deliver my last Client Christmas gift. Again this year, I had aspirations to make our client gifts this year. Neil helped me gather some scrap material from our jobsites, and with the help of our framing crew was able to cut the boards into exact dimensions I had in mind for this year’s project. With wood being at a premium these days, I thought why not use left over material from our jobsites that was going to be thrown away. I was so proud of myself for getting started with phase one of the project before Thanksgiving and had such high hopes of getting ahead this year. Unfortunately, the constraints of multiple deadlines and other obligations quickly brought me back to reality (thus, delivering the last one two days before Christmas). However, I am so grateful for the personal time with each client and it is such a blessing to see how they have decorated their beautiful homes for the Christmas season. My hope is these gifts will always be a fond reminder of their first Christmas in their new home.
As we get ready to head into another new year, I don’t want to miss the opportunity to wish all our Clients, Friends, and Partners a very Merry Christmas. I hope you are able to enjoy some much needed time with loved ones and share in this special season of Love and Joy as we celebrate the true meaning of Christmas.
We are so thankful for each of you and hope for Good Health and Peace going into 2022.
Jarman Homes
Jarman Homes 