Anyone build a Don Gardner home?
SCinPA
18 years ago
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SjT 123
6 years agoRelated Discussions
Our Current Build...Don Gardner 'Idlewild'
Comments (3)mightyanvil - I guess there really is no difference in the sense that you could have a carriage style wood door, but I didn't really clarify well enough. Carriage style metal garage door with black/oil rubbed hardware on white body color was what I should have said. Here is a link to one I've been contemplating - maybe even without windows as mentioned: Click here For the wood one, I was thinking something along the lines of just solid wood with maybe a simple exterior trim detail like a shaker style cabinet door or something similar. View this link to see the picture: crescent50 - The stone is Natural Ledgestone by Dutch Quality Stone (Visit Website) and yes it does look lighter on their website than it does on the house, but I'm glad b/c I love the way the color turned out. The Pennsylvania looks awesome up as well, as I got to see it on a large column inside the distributor's showroom where we ordered the stone from. PS - Dutch Quality looks just as good to me as Cultured Stone by Owens Corning as was over $2 cheaper per sq.ft. than the Cultured Brand. Also, the water table pieces were like 4" longer per piece or something similar and a few dollars cheaper per linear foot that Cultured. Hearthstones are about $8 cheaper per stone than Cultured. I'm so glad we chose Dutch Quality and I was hesitant at first b/c I had never seen it up, but our stone rep assured me it was his favorite brand for the value. The transom above the french door in the great room is just a standard transom by Jeld Wen which is the brand on all of our doors. I could check the model # for you and size if you want me to when I get back to the office tomorrow. Just email me and let me know and I'll forward to you later. info@athomewithchuck.com Thanks for the feedback. Any more???...See MoreThoughts on this Don Gardner House I am planning to build?
Comments (31)Dining rooms really do require some thought when there's symmetry involved as in your plan. The lighting fixture is usually centered over the table, so you must know where it will go early on. It is also usually centered on the window when the window is located where yours is, and also on the Foyer doorway when it looks like yours. Will you have a buffet and/or china cabinet? If either is on the long wall opposite the wide Foyer doorway, the window might be shifted to the left, and you would have to consider how this would affect the space left for seating around the table, as well as the front elevation. If neither is on this wall, you'd want to have a focal point from the Foyer doorway--a group of pictures, a large painting, etc. on the long wall. If either is on the wall to the left of the Butler's Pantry, you would also have to consider how much space would be left for seating, and possible take some space from the Pantry and B. Pantry. If you did the latter, I'd get rid of the B. Pantry by turning the cabinet to face the hall, and make it a "To Go" setup--keys, charging station, mail sorting, travel stuff, etc. Or extend the Mudroom. It also might change how wide you want the opening to the Foyer on the "north" end. The Pantry can be any depth down to a finished 9" inside, and could be quite wide with 2 or 3 doors to make everything easily accessible. I saw one like this in a model home, and liked it so much that I tried unsuccessfully to work it into my plan. To have a place for some larger items, I think a pantry with about a 15" finished interior would be sufficient, but it depends on what YOU plan to put in there besides cans & normal sized grocery items. I hope others can add to this from their DR experiences. Anne...See MoreHas anyone built Don Gardner’s The Courtney?
Comments (1)Never build a house where you can sit in the powder room and carry on a conversation with those in the living room....See MoreAnyone here build Don Gardner's "The Ramsey"?
Comments (11)I agree that having a north facing back of the house makes it much more usable in the summer in the south and we have that now and will in our yet to be built house as well. I've had both and I live in a southern climate where we have 8 months of cooling and the rest is no cooling or heating depending on the year. I don't find our house low on light with the way it faces as in general I think the light is very different in the south vs. north during the day. It also matters in general what trees and other things surround the house. I know we will be planting trees to shade the house from the south at our new location. The winter and southern light can be nice for heating things up, but the angle of the sun becomes quite a nuisance as well and we have a 10 ft deep front porch now. The porch is only pleasant to use in the early morning. So glad the back is not facing south. My old house that had a back porch facing south and had several large trees often went unused except in the am too and then in the afternoon we'd spend it outside in our driveway that faced east there. So don't feel bad about the orientation of your property. I do find all the gables a bit too much for my taste. Seems like that could be simplified. The pantry seems very far from the kitchen to be useful for everyday stuff. More like storage that isn't used daily. Also not a fan of the kitchen layout and how the cooktop is in the island with the walking path being right behind there or how the path is right through the middle of the kitchen. I'd also want some windows into the kitchen. Since you're in the south do you want the porch protected on three sides as shown in the plans outside the living room. The breezes won't reach that at all. I feel sorry for bedroom4 that shares the wall with a noisy washer and dryer. Even if you don't have kids still napping it would certainly make for a noisy experience. Also plan out how you place furniture in the living room with the walking path there so you can get the placement of the fireplace in a good spot so it looks ok with the furniture placement. As it is it won't be centered on the furniture....See MoreUser
6 years agoSjT 123
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agoUser
6 years agoWe purchased a lot in a new development that had all the infrastructure in place, about a year before we decided to build. The $360,000 didn't include the lot. Here's a picture of our house. Good luck with
your building project. Sounds like you'll have quite an adventure.
Jan Martin
6 years ago
Sharla Dunlap
6 years agoHi Jan,
Here are two pictures of our Hardesty. As you can see we are still under construction! It has been a long process! We hope to be finished up very soon. They are currently painting and working on tile and flooring inside so it is not real photogenic at this point. As soon as things are cleaned up a little I would love to share more pictures!
Jan Martin
6 years agoThe house looks great! I really like your stone and house color. Did you use the pre painted Hardie board or have it painted? It looks like Cobble stone or Monterey Taupe.
Our contractor preferred the unpainted kind so we went with the "raw" Hardie and had it painted the Arctic White Hardie color.
I love the look of the back of your house. We built on a slab with no basement and the porch all the way across, so our rear looks quite different. We did not do the vaulted screened porch, choosing just to leave it totally open. We love it, but I must say yours looks quite majestic!
Please do post inside pictures when you can. Good luck on finishing up and the move. Hard work!!!
Sharla Dunlap
6 years ago
Anita Robinson
6 years ago
Mary Ann Williams
6 years agoSharla Dunlap
6 years agokariesprague
6 years agoLydia Smith
6 years agokariesprague
6 years agokariesprague
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agosoapologies
6 years agoSharla Dunlap
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agoAnita Robinson. A few days turned into months! So sorry! I hope you are well underway with your construction. Here are some pictures. I tried to cover all angles the best I could. The only rooms missing are the study and boys rooms. The study is under construction. We are have some built-ins being places this week. I will add a picture when done. The boys rooms are boys rooms.....
Anita Robinson
6 years agoEDWARD CANNON
6 years ago
Cheryl Vets
6 years ago
Jan Martin
6 years ago
Glen Cove
5 years agoWe're building the Ferris. We just finished electrical, plumbing and HVAC rough-in. If anyone is interested in seeing more or have any questions regarding the build, please let me know.
kariesprague
5 years agoWe are currently building the Ballentine. Should be finishing up in the next few weeks
chevygal55
5 years ago
Karie Sprague
5 years agowill13
5 years agowill13
5 years agolast modified: 5 years agoArlene Geis
5 years agoArlene Geis
5 years ago
Tenisha B.
5 years agoKarie Sprague
5 years agoGlen Cove
5 years agoati18
4 years agoCooder Smith
4 years agoJoe
4 years ago
Andrea Smith
4 years agorjinga
4 years agoGlen Cove
4 years ago
Trish Walter
4 years ago
Alpia18
4 years ago
PROLee Carter Builders
2 years ago
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2 years agoJake Flower
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