dj_idolize wrote:
it was quite interesting and thorough at our design appt... Christina was our consultant. real good, blunt honesty two thumbs up.... she advised that the bulkheads cannot be fully removed, whether that was done in the past is one thing but currently they are still there but not in full, they are "recessed" bulkheads to allow crown moulding on the top, but if one wanted "stacked" cabinets, they cannot fit them in. She confirmed that the railing should be on the left side, with 3 posts(2 upstairs,1 downstairs), we wanted those Newell Square posts and according to our design guide cost $642/post, but she advised that when we change our pickets to square profile ($112 total) it includes square newell posts, and the only difference between these posts and victorian newell posts is the victorian posts has this border in the middle and widens at the base... so she saved us $17XX.XX in that one upgrade. the only thing i felt that was a rip off was the A/C unit. 2.0 ton unit for $3500.00!!! definitely well overpriced. we spent $16k($11k after $5k credit) in upgrades, the hardwood is what killed us, level 3 in greatroom, kitchen, dinette, upstairs family room and hallways was $7k, and because we went with a "Maple" hardwood they said we had to have "Maple" staircase which costs $1k to change. *shrugs* but all and all we are extremely happy with everything and don't feel ripped off.
we were well prepared going to the design centre many times before so we knew what we wanted which still took 2 hours. there was this other couple who didn't come prepared at all, and you can see the bags under the eyes of there consultant getting bigger with frustration lol....
we also got our exterior color palette and loving the color...
dj_idolize, very pretty exterior package. Did you get to chose your top three exterior packages, or was the one that you got completely random. Also, do you know how many different exterior packages there are for the English Mill elevation?