Lantana model

[rodie]

Has anybody built a Lantana and if so what do you like and or dislike?

[pooh]

I have a Lantana, bought in 2006 when you didn't have any decorator choices, however, I really like this model.

What I do like in my particular house...pocket door between the kitchen and laundry room. Good sized lanai, which we had enlarged just a bit and added a cage. I have a walk in shower...a Roman shower I think it's called....LOVE IT! The front bedroom is huge and makes an excellent den and that's what it is in our house. This room also has 2 cable outlets so you can use two locations for television set up. I have an oversized garage...get it if you have the option...actually stretch the house as much as your lot and the plan allows. Mine isn't stretched, but my friend's Lantana is and it really makes the great room, GREAT... :) My bathroom base cabinets are rather tall and that's something I like.
If you don't have a Roman shower in the master bath, you can have a pocket door to the master closet...that's really something I wish I had, but the shower structure prohibits that type of door.

Personally, I like this particular model, it suits my more casual lifestyle.

[NJblue]

Pooh, they must have changed the design options a bit since your house was built. Our Lantana (built in 2008) has both a Roman shower and a pocket door to the closet.

We love our Lantana. The huge front bedroom is what sold us on it. We use it as a TV room and it is large enough to even have guests over to watch football games. I'm not aware of any designer home that comes close to the size of it for a second bedroom.

The only possible downside is the somewhat small kitchen (compared to the Bridgeport and Gardenia). However, we solved that by taking the huge laundry room area and having custom cabinets that match our kitchen cabinets built in. Now we have more than enough cabinet space - and an office area as well.

[pooh]

Pooh, they must have changed the design options a bit since your house was built. Our Lantana (built in 2008) has both a Roman shower and a pocket door to the closet.

We love our Lantana. The huge front bedroom is what sold us on it. We use it as a TV room and it is large enough to even have guests over to watch football games. I'm not aware of any designer home that comes close to the size of it for a second bedroom.

The only possible downside is the somewhat small kitchen (compared to the Bridgeport and Gardenia). However, we solved that by taking the huge laundry room area and having custom cabinets that match our kitchen cabinets built in. Now we have more than enough cabinet space - and an office area as well.

I agree that the kitchen is on the small side, but I had a small kitchen in my other house so I'm sort of used to it...thought in the stretched model, the kitchen is much larger.

You have a Roman shower and a pocket door? Oh, that's wonderful. I love that shower, but my bathroom has no room for a pocket door. Enjoy it for me, will you... ;)

The front room was a selling point for us, also. We have two desks, a sleep sofa, wicker rocker, coffee table, two lamp tables, a credenza for the tv and a narrow bookcase and there's still lots and lots of room!

Our laundry room is strictly utilitarian, shelving, but not fancy. I use it for storage....paper goods, bottled water and sodas, appliances I use, but not daily. Many have made it an office, but we have ours in the front room...and mostly my laptop floats around the house with me... ;)

Pat

[villages07]

As others have said, the big room in the front is wonderful... we use it as an office with 2 desks and a sleep sofa. Also, the third bedroom is decent size and makes a great guest room. Depending on your own needs, setup the front room for yourselves and save the smaller room for guests.

We bought in summer 2006 when everything was spec. Ours included a separate jacuzzi tub in the master bath so the space had to be reconfigured and did not have room for the roman, walk-in shower.

The large separate dining room is wasted space for us since we don't eat in there or entertain that often. We mostly use the eat-in area of the kitchen.

As others suggested, stretch where you can and get the largest lanai that you can. Our kitchen nook area has a window to the outside patio...would have been nice to have a door there.

It is still our favorite floor plan.

[Carla B]

We like the Lantana, not only for the larger bedrooms but for the sliding glass doors across the back. If you have a view lot that's a consideration.

The main drawback to me is the inadequate seating area in the living room. The 2-ft. stretch that you can now order would solve that problem. We also didn't like the appearance of the closet/pantry in the kitchen, so we removed that and put in a wall oven with cabinetry. Just after that, they started offering that option.

Personally, I love the kitchen in the Holly and also the living/dining area. However, the smaller inset lanai won't capture all the view if you pay extra $$$ for a golf course lot.

[rodie]

Thanks for feedback. The one issue is the limited closets. Has anyone come up with a solution for that?

[Bonny]

When we built ours in 2004, I took out part of the sink, I only needed one sink bowl and moved the toilet in that spot. I don't need the toilet in a separate room. The room the toilet was in, I pulled that wall out 1 foot & gave my hubby his own big closet !! Love it.
We have the Lantana in frame. Our kitchen ceilings are really high so I was able to put in the tall cabinets in a step design. Lots more cabinet space !
I love the size of the bedrooms, plus there's alot of entertaining space with the large nook & the dining room.

[pooh]

We have friends who have Lantanas and they've made the dining room into sitting rooms. They don't use the dining area...we seldom do, but we have a tall table there and I find I use it as a work area for sewing, crafts, etc and love it.

I have two sliders in my Lantana....one in the living room and the other in the eating area off the kitchen. I love having two doors out to the lanai and we use the door in the kitchen area the most.

If anyone is building, I'd consider having two sliders on that outside wall...makes access outdoors really quick and you don't have to go through the living room.

[rodie]

Thanks for the great info. My wife has already told me that a big kitchen is not needed as she is not going to be in there very often. I got the message very quickly. We are thinking about doing a 3 car garage, with the extra car space holding the golf cart and then in the front of that putting a storage area that can act as a big closet. Might have to a/c it, not sure yet.

[NJblue]

Getting the largest lanai you can is good advice IF the resulting size of the lanai will be big enough for you. In our case we built the largest lanai that was then offered (12x29) but ultimately found that we wanted it to be larger and with taller ceilings. We ended up demolishing the lanai that we paid extra for and built a larger one with 12 foot ceilings. In hindsight, it would have been better to have the smallest lanai and use the extra money for the renovation.

[pjmcd]

Thanks for all the insights on this awesome model. We were trying to decide between a stretched Lily and the Lantana. I think we will go with the Lantana and stretch eveything we can. The problem is finding a lot with a reasonable upgrade that will hold the stretches. Our salesperson is hoping that the next designer unit in Sanibel will be released soon! We will be down on Sept. 12th and are hoping for the best! Does anyone know if you can have birdfeeders in your back yard. (Old habits die hard!) Keep the info coming- it is beyond helpful-thanks Jim and Pat

[jojo]

We love our Lantana. As others have said the front bedroom is big and works for us since my mother lives with us. Our home is stretched several ways and so our kitchen is fairly large and we do have an island. I like the utility room for storage. We have the Roman shower. Could use a larger closet in the MBR. The living area is not open to the front.

[rodie]

Which room do you consider the utility room, the one with washer and dryer?
Do you find the island in the kitchen to be in the way or a good addition?

[jojo]

Yes- the utility room is the one with the washer and dryer. I love the island in the kitchen - useful for cooking and entertaining and additional storage.

[jaspal]

We build a Lantana the end of last year. We pushed the lanai back 2 feet all across the back of the house. Made a great difference in all rooms. We added pocket doors & pushed the lanai out 2 feet deep & 4 feet longer. My mistake---with pocket doors I lost 1 foot of the lanai. I would NOW push the lanai out an extra 4 feet.

Love all we did...

Good luck.
Pat

[rubicon]

We have a Lantana built in 2006 love all of the rooms. Added cabinets in laundry room Have a roman shower and closet has a hinged door..good size for us and easy to maintain

[Chi-Town]

The living room in my Lantana has a series of windows. There is a loveseat-couch-loveseat configuration with the loveseats opposing each other and the couch in the middle facing the entertainment center. The one loveseat backs up under the windows. This gives you a conversation area without worrying about how to get to the lanai. The eating area off the kitchen has triple doors to exit to the lanai. The lanai furniture is on the windows side, so you have a clear exit. I had no planning in this as the previous owner had this done and actually wasn't crazy about this to begin with. Now I would do it again.

[rodie]

How many different ways can you stretch the Lantana?