House paparazzi

(Note:  Every so often, I will have a "House Paparazzi" post.  These will cover houses that I find and visit and have a certain liking for---usually parade homes or new model homes.)

Ever since we've been together, my husband and I have always loved houses and looking at houses.  We love to stop by an open house when we see one as we drive down a street.  Before we had kids, we used to visit my parents in Dallas and then take a day to visit open homes and model homes.  Sometimes (shhh..don't tell anyone) we would find new houses for sale that were not technically "open", but find an open door or window and go look inside.  Hey, it's not breaking and entering. We just walked around and had a look-see.  Anyway, we love looking at houses and we still try to visit new homes when we can, but it's harder with children in tow.  Here's some pics of a parade home in Austin that we visited last summer.  I was really inspired by this house and used some of that inspiration when designing the interior of our new house.


I love the red windows and the metal roof (but metal roofs are bad for cell phone reception)

Forgive the slight blurriness (camera issues--or operator error) but I loved the light fixtures in the kitchen- very modern, but classic.

The cabinets were shaker style, but I thought having them all wood toned made the kitchen a little dark for my taste. 

L.O.V.E. the transom window above the half bath.  Really wished I could have done this in my house, but I wasn't working with an unlimited budget.  Also loved the frosted glass door, but not sure that would feel very private for those using the bathroom. 

Beautiful stair railing. 

Loved this use of a dark gray glass subway tile in one of the secondary bathrooms.  Almost did this in our house for my boys' bathroom, but decided on less glass tile--so as to be more budget friendly.