Parade of Homes tour

A couple weeks ago, we toured through about half of the 32 new builds included in our local parade of homes. I was pleasantly surprised to run across several features that caught my eye, a number of details I might want to include in our dream retirement custom build here at the lake. The light fixtures below were interesting to me since I'd like to incorporate a few modern iron and/or wood rustic touches.

There were a couple kitchen design ideas that I liked. The first one was particularly utilitarian, putting a paper towel holder in the recessed spot of a drawer above the trash can. Genius, really, to get it off the counter where most folks typically have it. 

Then there were the glass fronted kitchen cabinets where I'm planning to display my vintage collections. Most glass front display cabinets open on hinges that swing outward, left and right. However, these cabinets in the parade home were a single expanse of glass that opens from the bottom. And I was like oh-my-gosh, I love this! It's such a logical thing to do so you can see the entirety of what's being showcased behind the glass. But it honestly wouldn't have dawned on me to have the cabinets constructed this way until I saw it in the parade home. 

This accent tile below in the back of a shower at one of the houses caught my attention. It's such a fun leaf shape that I think would a unique select in one of the four bathrooms we've got to design.

I had already decided to include a casual dining nook in our retirement lake house. Then we ran across the one below in a parade home, and my idea was confirmed in all its cool and practical glory. And I gotta admit I'm kinda surprised we only saw the one because I think they're a great use of space. I like that it provides bench seating, but you can also pull up chairs to fully maximize the number of dining spots available for larger gatherings. Plus storage, y'all. The whole set up is a must-have for me.

This wet bar below was in the entertaining "barn" space of a design home out in the country on some acreage, and I thought it was really interesting. Such a typical Texas touch, too. However, this wasn't the only house where they had backlit a natural stone countertop or wall. I'm not sure yet if it would be a good fit for our wet bar and the direction I'm taking, but I do think it's a rather unique and kinda artsy option to consider.