As a stylist, I completely immersed myself into the design process of our new home. In my last post, I covered all the details about how to prepare for your design center appointment, and today I am going to focus more on the actual design upgrades we selected for our home.
When you decide to build a new home, the base contract price includes the standard floor plan before any structural or design upgrades. We are fortunate that our base contract with Drees Homes already included some great standard options, such as:
- 9 ft first floor ceilings
- Whirlpool appliance package
- Kichler lighting package
- Moen plumbing package
- DreeSmart energy efficiency and smart home technology
- And much more!
In addition to making a number of structural upgrades (that you can read more about here), we decided to personalize our home with many design upgrades too. Keep reading to learn more about what builder upgrades we think are worth getting, as well as some tips on how to customize your house design to your style.
Design upgrades to consider
With Drees Homes, all design upgrades are locked in prior to breaking ground on your home. I like that this gave me a hard deadline to make decisions, rather than dragging it out over the course of the entire home build. As I mentioned in my last blog post, I did a lot of prep and research before our design center meetings, which was key to successfully navigating the home design process.
Here are some of the design upgrades we think are worth considering:
Exterior Materials. Think of your exterior elevation as the first impression for your home. Both my husband and I felt that the exterior was a priority in our home design, so we decided to upgrade all of the standard siding on the front of our house to Royal Building Products Shake Siding. Truth be told, I was drawn to lighter exterior colors, and my husband liked darker colors, so we met in the middle and settled on Harvard Gray color, which we accented with light tan Texas Cutstone, bright white trim and a stained walnut front door.
Kitchen cabinetry. The kitchen is the heart of your home, and where you ultimately spend a lot of time cooking, cleaning and of course eating together as a family. My husband and I definitely made the kitchen a priority in our design budget, so we decided to upgrade to a deluxe kitchen layout, with Timberlake Windsor cabinetry in a gorgeous linen color. We also added a custom wood vent above our cooking range as a focal point in our kitchen too.
Countertops. While countertop upgrades can be a bit of a splurge, it is a huge undertaking to remove and upgrade countertops once your kitchen is built. With that in mind, we decided to upgrade to level 5 Mont Surfaces Fantasy Quartz countertops in our new kitchen. We also upgraded our bathroom countertops, but selected a level 1 quartz in these rooms for durability, style and cost.
Main level flooring. Another design upgrade to consider is the flooring on your main level. This is where you spend the most time as a family, and it is also the space that guests see the most when you are entertaining, so if your budget allows, flooring upgrades on the main level definitely make a big impact. We decided to upgrade our entire main level (with the exception of our family room) to Armstrong Flooring Hearthside Asheville LVP flooring, which will not only look beautiful, but will also be very durable for our busy family of four too.
Trim and molding. The little details and finishes are what really bring a home design together, which is why woodworking is another upgrade to consider. Of course, if you are a handy wood worker, then feel free to pass on this upgrade, but if you are like us and would have to hire it out regardless, it may make sense to add on some of the trim packages that your builder offers. We upgraded our house to include window encasements, ceiling beams in our family room, larger crown molding on our kitchen cabinets, as well as wainscoting and crown molding in select rooms.
Electrical. I had no idea how important electrical design upgrades would be when we first started building our home! I highly recommend thinking through how you would like each room to function in terms of outlets and lighting to see the space could benefit from any electrical upgrades. We added a handful of LED lights, pre-wiring for additional decorative lights, as well as quite a few more electrical outlets in places that made the most sense for our family.
Areas to save with design upgrades
Tile backsplashes. A beautiful tile backsplash can add so much to any room, but this is a detail that can also be added on at any time. It just so happened that at the time we were designing our kitchen, I was very indecisive about which tile to pick for our backsplash, so we ultimately decided to hold off on this design upgrade.
Lighting. We are incredibly fortunate that Drees Homes offers a great Kichler lighting package. While we did make a few lighting upgrades, we mainly stuck with included lights, or in some rooms, capped the electrical, so we can upgrade the lights over time once we move in.
Tips to customize your house to your style (while staying on budget!)
Small details that make a big impact. As I’ve mentioned before, the kitchen was a big priority for our home, so I tried to get creative with ways to make it look more custom without significantly increasing our design budget. One of the ways I did this was by adding decorative wooden legs on either side of the island and extending the island countertop for more depth. When added thoughtfully, simple upgrades like these can add up to make a big impact.
High end floor tile placed in a small room. I fell in love with Anatolia Sand Deco Compass Tile, but as luck would have it, it was one of the most expensive tiles in the Drees Home Design Center. Rather than eliminating it from our home design all together, we decided to incorporate it sparingly in a small room in our home, which made the cost more reasonable.
Alternative design options with a similar look. If are you looking for ways to reduce your budget, don’t forget to lean on your designer for advice on alternative products with a similar look. I was considering a 4”x 16” white subway tile shower for our master bathroom, however, as a way to reduce costs, we ultimately went with a larger format Emser 12” x 24” tile. The look was very similar to my original vision, but it saved us nearly 40% to make this simple design swap.
I hope you found these tips helpful for deciding which builder upgrades are worth considering! Of course, the upgrades that made the most sense for our family, may not be the same for everyone, so I’d love to hear what builder upgrades YOU think are worth adding to a new home.
Next up in our home building blog series, I will be sharing an update on breaking ground on our home, as well as some tips on how to navigate land prep when building on your own lot!
**This post was created in partnership with Drees Homes, however all opinions expressed are my own.
Cheryl Duncan says
Thank you for your design center insight. We have our appointment in 6 days. I’ve been really anxious not knowing what to expect. I wish I would have known they do preview appointments. That probably would have helped my design anxiety some. We did get the digital information but to be able to see & touch it in person is much better for me.
Tara Berger says
Congrats on your new house build! They really do have a great process, so try not stress too much! Our designer was so patient with my endless questions, and offered great insight on how to stay on budget. I came in with a clear vision for most spaces/rooms, but when I’d tip over budget, I did feel like there were solutions on how to trim to budget without sacrificing overall style and design.
Krystin Sheridan says
I saw the image of your first floor plan. Will you post the image of your second floor plan too? I am curious how you reworked the upstairs since you moved the laundry room downstairs. What did you do in the basement? Did you leave it unfinished or is it finished?
Tara Berger says
The only thing we changed about the upstairs layout was converting the laundry room into a second walk in closet for the owner’s suite. We did a fully finished basement with a rec room, 3/4 bath, and closed den that we plan to use as our guest suite. I’ll try to pull our blueprints and can send via email if you’d like 🙂
Krystin Sheridan says
That would be great! I’d love to see the floor plans. Thanks!
Emily says
Hi! I was wondering how much extra you spent for upgrades over the base price of your home?
Tara Berger says
We learned that on average, most people add another 10% in design upgrades to their base contract price. Ours came in closer to 15% above our base contract price, however these costs were not a surprise, and something we had planned for before ever signing our contract. We found that it was super helpful to have our Market Manager provide estimated pricing for our big ticket wishlist items such as upgrades to flooring, cabinetry, counter tops, fireplace and more, which allowed us to factor these costs in before stepping foot in the design center.
Emily says
Oh that’s good to hear actually! I was expecting it to be way more than that. I’m waiting to hear back about a quote! What other costs did you have for building on your own lot? We are looking to do the same as a custom builder is crazy expensive! Are you all moved in yet? Happy so far? Thanks for the quick reply!
David Crandall says
Thank you for the post. We are considering building with Drees because of the standard features that come with their packages. You don’t have answer the specific number obviously and I know this question can vary from customer to customer but we also value exterior as well as kitchen. What percentage would you say you upgraded from the original base home price?