My name is Polly Scharling. My husband and I have been dreaming of building our Amicalola Cottage/Tranquility style of home from Garrell Associates since we got married in 2007. We are finally getting close to looking for land to build our home, in the North Carolina mountains, near the Asheville, NC area. It would be so great to see how you built your homes. I have always wanted to see a walk through video (not just still photos on a loop). Also it would be great to see photos some of the spaces that are not necessarily shown on the Garrell website or youtube posts, like the master closet, etc. Also, any custom areas any of you may have changed or designed yourself as custom options. Thank you in advance for your time. Scott & Polly Scharling. :) pascharling@gmail.com or text 239-249-1167

@boe dillard, I tried to cover everything, again most of the issues were accessibility - added a foot in the single side of the 3-car garage to allow , added a foot in the master bedroom side, etc. We built the Tiger Creek - another spin-off of the Nantahala/Amicola, etc. (there's also a Houzz thread on the Tiger Creek). Pictures of my build are shown on Garrell Associates webpage Tiger Creek Cottage C 18028, in the photos at the top. (click on either side of stock drawing - says 'more pictures'). I certainly wasn't overly smart about this whole darn thing - when you are doing it all alone (my husband is a severely disable vet) you get taken advantage of from EVERY direction. I feel like I have "SUCKER" plastered across my forehead! Best of luck!

I'm almost done with a middle of the road (cost-wise, for my area) build, and even though I thought I was prepared for this.....I have to say it just about did me in. What shocked me is how many things go wrong, take longer, and cost more than you ever thought possible. It seems like every stinking day something wrong happens. I went into this "sort-of" knowing that, and yet at a certain point the never-ending problem-du-jours pushed me to the edge. You are right, I think someone's personality has a lot to do with how well they can sustain the process of building a home. I thought I was a "roll with the punches" person, but again after months and months of it, I admit I'm probably only one minor problem away from being a lunatic right now. Another thing to consider - I planned this house for a long time. I mentally walked the hallways, thought about the way it would live, placement of things, etc.. And so we built a home because I thought I could get it exactly the way I wanted it. Layout, function, colors, etc.. It turns out nothing is ever perfect. (Shocking, I know, Ha-ha.) But there are several things that I would already change if I could. Some of them are my fault, in that I didn't notice some things on the plans - but then again, at a certain point the details overwhelmed me, so some mostly minor stuff got lost along the way. I mention that only to say that NOTHING is ever perfect. You have to weigh the pros and cons along with really knowing yourself and how well you will survive a long, stressful process. I'm not quite done yet, so ask me again in a few months. As it stands right this second, I am wondering if we should have just bought an existing home. It definitely would have been a lot cheaper, and likely less stressful too. But then again, I do LOVE 95% of my new house, so it is possible a few months from now (once I'm in and it's done) that I will say it was totally worth it. Who knows.

It depends. I have seen both approaches (matching and not matching int/ext and in either, you can have successful or catastrophic results they could be boring and matchy-matchy or they just do not belong. Just talking about exteriors only, have you seen what they did in the Louvre? It goes from French/renaissance/baroque to CONTEMPORARY! And I think that was VERY successful. I have seen in the prettiest city of the Caribbean, Cartagena, now UNESCOÂs World Heritage Patrimony, most of them original "Spanish Colonial Style" and some NEW houses with the "SC Style" exterior (by city ordinances) and in the interior they either match the exterior using ancient techniques and use furniture with the same style or they go eclectic and sometimes contemporary. I live in a very traditional city in the Midwest. Most subdivisions here have covenants and they establish steep roof pitches and lots of brick or stone. Most of these houses are New American and some are "old world style" and I have seen a few interior decorations in a more contemporary or eclectic style. Very, very few people here dare to build a contemporary exterior house, some go Prairie style and they call that "contemporary". After all of this My opinion is that although you could be successful  if you get skilled guidance- building your DH choice house and going a bit different in the interior IÂd say: PLEASE DO NOT DO THAT!!! The house that you like is a lot Nicer. It is a less "dated" house and a less limiting house. Also, in the event that you need to sell the house for any reason, it will be easier to sell. Because this is your forever home I highly advise you to convince your DH of how important this is for you. You see, the thing is that if you are not happy, chances are that in a few years you would want another house (believe me on this one). I am pretty sure your DH wouldnÂt want that. There is something with guys and lodge/lumber cabin style houses; my DH likes them. But most guys actually do not fall in love with the houses, the just like them so I bet he will get over it, while in the other hand, you will not get over it. If your hubby has common sense he most know that if the wife is happy everybody in the house is happy!!! In my experience, I really think this is a battle that you have to choose. Please, do not allow your DH to make a mistake selecting that house. Good luck