Love the lifestyle, don't love the home styles.HELP!
 

My DH and I recently toured several homes in the Villages. We loved the lifestyle but nothing about the home styles excited me at all. I'm a Craftsman style kind of girl wondering how to make a Florida style home feel more like MY home. Anyone out there struggle with the same concern? Give me some REAL hardwood floors throughout, moldings and built-ins...sigh. Help?

I'm sure that if I'm wrong, someone will correct me.......

I believe that if you buy a "tear down" in the historic section, you can hire your own builder and designer. It would of course, have to conform to certain restrictions of the developer....but I think you can build what you want. I know others have done this.....might be worth looking into. I think the historic older section of the villages is the most beautiful area and has so much character.

The days of design meetings for new homes where you can pick and choose what you want, is over.

All homes will not be perfect and therefore, need to be updated, to your likes and taste.

You won't be doing as much living in your home as you think you will. You will be on the go, all day long.

Your buying the lifestyle. Some people have opted for, bigger homes in the surrounding areas of TV, but seem to lament, thay don't have much access to TV, as they would like.

IF your I like me I like half million plus homes. :loco: Gee, I seen some out of this world premiere homes. If those don't please you, then either you like me can't afford them or Dreaming trying to get new Mercedes at Kia price:Screen_of_Death:.

Most say, not at home that much. Only to sleep and take breaks form all the activities. That is the magic of the Villages IMO, buy what you can afford, but you enjoy the life style no matter which side of the tracks you live on. Del Webb and Top of the World right up the road it you want more house and less activity.:wave:

Beth, I am amazed by how much renovation/remodeling/updating people do here. We have new neighbors who moved into a resale about 3 months ago and there are no less than two contractors a day working inside and outside since they moved in. The good news is that costs for this work is quite a bit less than we were accustomed to paying up north. Good luck with your decision.

The Premier model, Seabrook is a craftsman style bungalow with a front porch.. Several of those built have crown moldings and hardwood. They cost more than Designers but I think that style is very pretty. There are many craftsman looking homes in the village of Mission Hills and another village of bungalow style courtyard villas near Lake Sumter Landing. If you like craftsman style interior design, that can be accomplished with Stickley-looking furniture and décor.


I think that you are looking for more of a custom builder which has not really ever happened here.


I love design, and we have built several homes in the past, but I am very happy with our choice here. I hope you find something beautiful to you, wherever it is.

Totally agree! I'm hardly ever home because I am out there enjoying the lifestyle. :wave:

Everything you mentioned is cosmetic. You can add moulding, stack moulding, add built ins... and the list goes on. If you love the life style, you can add your personal taste and touches. I'm lucky and have a very handy husband that loves to tinker with these things, but I'm certain there must be someone that offers these services, if not in The Villages, close by geographically. If the outside architecture is not to your liking, there may be more of an issue making drastic changes. Then it's a matter of weighing your options of having the perfect house or the perfect life style.

I would check out as many different over 55 communities you can. Many that we toured had the cookie cutter houses and not the life style. Those that had houses more to our liking, were far more expensive than The Villages, and didn't have the amenities. This is our personal experience and others may have more insight to options available.

This is very true and as jojo says, very common. Beth, there can be practical reasons for some of the finishing materials though. For instance, wood flooring may not stand up well to the alternate humidity and air conditioning that we put it through. There is an exceptional amount of blowing sand here that may create a situation where you are constantly cleaning those floors instead of being out golfing.
Design is a different issue, though. You can't change the fact that this is a "new" community and there aren't historic homes here. I understand how you feel and have a friend who flat out rejects TV as a result. There are older sections with more mature trees that you might find more attractive than new construction.
That said, you may consider embracing new possibilities and think about ways to complement and integrate that Craftsman style without losing the Florida feel.
Florida Architecture magazine is a great resource and a good way to look at the higher end materials and designs that people are using here. You can probably get back issues at the library. Tour some of the older homes in Ocala and other nearby areas. Get up to St Augustine and tour Flagler college, etc. Most likely you will find some attributes that you can bring into your new home without sacrificing the look you love.

Thanks everyone. I really do appreciate the encouragement. We have just started our search and have quickly realized that we will have to weigh all factors...lifestyle, house, distance from family, etc. Renovation seems to be realistic and it's always good to know others have shared the same concerns. If we decide to live there, I will need a good decorator to get me started. I know what I like when I see it but am not the one who can plan it all out and pull it all together.

It's a major decision and something that can't be done without a lot of thought. We embraced what we called figuring out what to do the last third of our life. We're optimists! Only you can decide what you want and need. We found this forum to be a great source of knowledge and encourage to post questions you may have about The Villages.

Have fun looking, exploring, and know when the time/place are right, all your doubts will vanish. If there are doubts, keep looking.

Just my 2¢, I don't think northern comfort cues work well with the Fl lifestyle. Eastlake walnut dressers, Hooker entertainment centers, mahogany dining rooms, dark stained moldings are things that make a house feel warm and cozy when it's cold and dark outside. At TV (and FL in general) light and airy feel comfortable, and contemporary styling seems to convey that best. As was advised to me recently, it is probably best to sell everything that isn't precious to you and arrive with a small moving truck and a big wallet, rather than the other way around, and make TV a fresh start.

Beth, thanks for posting and welcome! I don't think your concern is unusual. Many of us have large, lovely, and quite different home styles where we come from and because we either want to downsize or need to, we have had to make sacrifices. What I would suggest is that if you love the lifestyle, keep visiting. First of all, the more you look (check out resales too), the more of a chance you will find something that fits your desires. But more importantly, the more you come, the more you may find that you don't want to leave. That's what happened to us. What was drawing us was the lifestyle and the people. At first, we were comparing the homes to what we already have. Now, the home is not as important and we ended up sacrificing a lot (house-wise)to be able to move down sooner than originally planned. Good luck with your search, take your time, and enjoy every minute of it!

I would suggest concentrating on looking at resale homes. These often have custom features that are not found in the new spec houses.

Naturally, if you cannot find what you want, the next step is to custom build your home. This cannot be done in The Villages but you have to make a choice to make you happy.

Déjà vu all over again!

One option to custom build is to buy a manufactured in the historic section and remove and rebuild anew.

Oh, and Beth, one more thing, keep looking and posting on here. There is a wealth of information and ideas on this forum. Already you can see some of the great suggestions being made by other posters........and it's only just begun! :)

Beth. There are many traditional style homes in the Village of Harmeswood. Off Buena Vista, north of the Savannah Center, same side. But they too are Premier. I agree that changing or modifying our interior design styles to fit the bright outdoors is a good idea, but traditional styling fits well into that too.


I love to talk home design. I have a LOT of really great magazines for inspiration, I would be glad to give them to you.

I like and agree with your 2cents!

We live in one of the newer villa neighborhoods. There certainly isn't any diversity of style on the exterior but you would not believe all of the unique designs on the interior. Even though our homes are new it seems someone in the neighborhood is always ripping out and redoing. It's crazy! We have a joke in our neighborhood. We didn't buy a home, we bought a STARTER KIT.

I agree with Gracie about Harmswood. It is a beautiful section of The Villages and almost a separate enclave. It is all Premier homes with large lots. Lots of custom work has been done to these homes. Downside is that there is not a lot of turnover so it will be tougher to find just your perfect home in there. They are also the very pricey homes - around 1 million or so.

Ain't that just the truth. We had a Camellia/ Gardenia before and people would come in and say...what model is this? Everyone interprets the very similar open to the kitchen style in MOST of the homes so differently. I love seeing peoples homes. Each is beautiful and different. AND welcoming. And so individual.

I have not even purchased my villa and I am already designing it to my own taste. I plan to do it Nantucket inspired, interior of course.

So true, Florida is all about the LIGHT.:wave:

you do have the option to go as minimal as possible with some things to meet inspection code.
For example on the flooring you can have them install the cheapest linoleum the have available knowing it is going to be torn out.

You can plan around what you don't like, depending on the model you choose. However if TV is no longer pre selling lots and build to suit homes you of course will not have that option.

Anyway in any event...anything you don't like can be done to your satisfaction with after the closing contractors.

I love your advice and we'll keep it in mind.

We had a Craftsman home in Winter Park built in 2004.
Loved the house but not a lot of lifestyle.
Now love the lifestyle and our Sanibel model house here.
All good.

It's also really easy to mix your decorating styles here, we brought with us some antique side tables, and a couple of other pieces and purchased our living room and sun room furniture from Whites. Whites is more conservative in their styles. We went from mahogany dining room furniture to a glass topped table with rattan chairs. Works well, looks very Havana(ish), while still keeping our northern charm.

By the way, the mahogany dining room set looks wonderful in my daughter-in-law's home and I get to visit with it when I go back!:laugh:

I would guess you would get more for your money with a resale.
Most have only two seniors in them and are like new.
And most have had something done or added to their homes one will not get with new.....including landscaping. The landscaping provided with the home leaves very much to be desired.

Good luck.

Madelaine - we also brought some antiques with us and have had so many compliments on how they work with my Florida purchases. I am not a theme decorator so the eclectic works for me just fine - and having moved more times than I can remember I've gotten pretty good at it!

So if you have precious pieces keep them and there is a good chance you can work them in with your decorating in The Villages.

Sorta kinda like this.
 

Like I said, my 2¢.

Beth, other posters are correct when they talk about remodeling. Almost everyone I know has made changes - many upgrade their landscaping, add hardwood floors, granite & stainless, crown molding, add birdcages, enclose or expand the lanai, etc. Try to think of the homes as kind of a starting point, and envision what some upgrades can add to the home. The lots are tiny unless you choose to pay a huge premium for a golf course or water view. Its a compromise we've made to enjoy the activities here. Good luck with your decision.

No Gracie!

Non? This isn't mine. Thought I was offering an example. I think it is pretty.
Everyone likes different stuff.


I wish we had a home forum where we could talk about this stuff. I love to read and see home décor.

Too eclectic for my taste .............. too much "stuff"!

the only thing I really miss in my house is a nice front porch area. So we sit in our garage!:pepper2::pepper2::pepper2::pepper2: