What about the Begonia??
 

We have our designer meeting next month. Begonia is our first choice, but don't see any opinions about that model. So, what do you think? We bought a little larger lot in Charlotte...please help us decide.....

We closed on our Begonia 7/27 and are very happy with our choice. We extended the lanai, garage, master bedroom and the den, to make it a full bedroom with closet. Put in a wall oven and stacked cabinets. We like the dining room at the back of the house and the kitchen/nook in the front. A lot of the designers have the dining room at the front so you walk through or past the dining room to get to the living room and kitchen. Just our preference. Also, like the master bedroom and guest rooms split. And, the master is not directly off the living room, so you can't see into the master from the living room. Again, just our preference. Only thing I wish there was is a hall coat closet. Also, the guest bedrooms are a little smaller than some other homes, but they are 'guest' rooms, and you don't want to make your guests too comfortable... Stretch everything that you possibly can. We love our Begonia.

If you have room a Gardinia is the same house without the cart garage. The cart garage can be added on the outside of the regular garage. This will make it possible to see out the front window of the kitchen. We live in a Begonia and the cart garage is directly in front of the kitchen. It covers the street facing window that you would have if it were not there.

I stayed in a Gardenia for my Lifestyle Preview Plan in May and it was quite comfortable.
I did like that the kitchen nook area looked out the front of the house, but felt the living area could have been a bit larger. If you have room to stretch to the back, it would alleviate that. Also stretch the lanai if possible as stated above. Comfortable floor plan. Currently I am building a Lantana and have stretched that and added a room. Best of luck and I hope you find just what you want! Welcome to TV!

We have a Begonia -- We Love it ---My suggestion is to ---------

Extend the Garage, the Lanai, the guest room side of the home --and also extend the front bedroom in order to have closets

We did that and could not be happier ---------Good Luck

How about the laundry room? Is there enough space? We have our design meeting on 10/15 and we're torn between the Begonia and the Iris--there are features in both houses that I really like and I just am having a hard time deciding which one to choose. I really like the idea of the bedrooms being split in the Begonia but like the hall coat closet and additional space in the laundry in the Iris--maybe should just build two--one for me and one for my husband:)

We looked at both a few days ago, it's a close call.

We didn't like the columns in the living area, and the way the MBD is you can think about a door into the lanai.

Standard bath layout is not as nice as the options.

If you're questioning the laundry room the iris has more space to work with.

We would pick the iris between those two.

But be mindful it only takes the stoke of a pencil to change almost anything, that's why you're buying a designer.

What didn't you like about the other models?


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I loved the kitchen in the Begonia, but like all the light that comes through the patio doors and windows in the Iris. We're used to watching TV during our meals (sad but true) so the nook in the Begonia wouldn't have gotten much use. Iris seemed to be the perfect choice for us. I'm getting very anxious. We move and close in November! :pepper2:

Really like the layout of the Begonia.

We bought the Begonia and close Oct. 19. We don't use the nook so I will be using it as a small office. Waiting for an estimate on adding a desk and some cabinets fit that space

Thanks for all the thoughts. On the Begonia, the columns that separate living-dining rooms are removable in the option and we like that better. The things we like in the Begonia are the split bedrooms, no obstructions between kitchen and living space, the 2 MBR closets. I do wish the laundry was bigger and could be closed off. We will try to stretch everything possible.

We are also going to build a Begonia this summer. We want to put an office space in the breakfast nook as well with a desk and some extra cabinets.
Could you PM me when you get the price on your office space?

We just moved into a new Begonia in June.
I'd recommend the 2" width addition on the living room, guest bed, guest bath and den side. It really makes a difference in all four rooms. The 3" lenght extension on the front den w/ closet turns that room into a real nice
2nd guest bedroom / den. Contrary to other postings we turned the nook into an office. We found that we tend to eat on the lanai with the formal dining room and the kitchen bar as backups. We didn't need a 4th dining area.
Mistakes we made, no door bell on the lanai, didn't run speeker wires for the surround speakers.
Other nice stretches that we took advantage of: 4' lanai addition and 4' width and 2' depth additions on the garage.

We have a pocket door to close off the laundry in our Gardenia - can't you do this any more?

[I can't believe, that you all change the new homes, when you buy them! It must be nice to be so rich.

Thanks for your info--we're already planning to sretch the lanai and will probably stretch the side of the bedrooms. I still like the layout of the Begonia--my husband likes the Iris--I've got to make my mind up quickly!

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Donna -- The stretches are changes you can make before they build the house --not that expensive when you cosider the space you gain ---

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pocket door
 

We did it in our Iris which we just closed on so I think it is still available.

I dont think they will do that ---but take a look at the ELM it has a similar set-up but the second bathroom has 2 entrances --one goes out to the Lanai

We had a pool installed and use the slider to the Master bedroom for acces to the bath for the swimmers --works well --keeps the main area dry --

Good Luck

Thanks kelsie. That explains LOL.

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I am currently building a Lantana. I have bumped, stretched, and added a third bathroom. One of my neighbors added a craft room to the back of the golf cart garage and rearranged the kitchen layout at his build. Should you make these changes during your build if you have purchased a lot, it is not cost prohibitive. The cost would depend on the amount of the stretch, i.e. 2 or 4 feet. To add an additional 2 feet to the one side of the house was about 3000. Certainly that would differ house to house depending on what you wanted done, so you cannot depend on the price I am saying. But to do an addition after the fact would be considerably more. And construction prices fluctuate month to month as well depending on material pricing, etc.
I also stayed on Merryweather Way for my LSV and would be happy with any one of those homes! They were wonderfully inviting! I believe mine was a stretched Gardenia.
Nice view off the lanai, close to LSL. Had a Langana come up for sale there I may have reconsidered!!

We built a Begonia in St James, closed in late February 2012. LOVE IT! When we did the lifestyle visit in March 2011 and looked at displays, the Begonia had the slider off the Master bedroom onto the lanai. When we came back to build the house the display didn't have the slider and we decided it worked out even better. It's nice having that wall in the master to put a dresser up against and the wall outside in the lanai was perfect for a outdoor entertainment center (IE flat panel TV and outdoor speakers). We did a 4' stretch in the lanai which I believe should be mandatory. Stretched the garage 4' wide and 2' deep which was as much as they would allow.

We also went with elevation "D". They call it the witches hat. It has 3 windows and conferred ceilings in the den. It looks great and adds to the size of the room.

We just had our desk installed in our breakfast nook on Thursday. Turned out great! We have 4 bar stools around the counter top, a 6 place dining room set and can sit another 10 in the lanai. We had no need for the 4 place breakfast nook. I'll never need to sit 20 people for dinner in my home so we pulled the trigger.

Bob Ives did a great job and I highly recommend him. His wife JoAnne was our real estate agent and they both know alot about the homes in the Villages. It took about three weeks to order the cabinets. They are exactly the same and the kitchen. Same manufacture from Indiana, same counter tops. Its a perfect match. The drawers on the bottom are hanging file drawers, we love it!

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http://i1194.photobucket.com/albums/...k/IMAG1883.jpg

http://i1194.photobucket.com/albums/...k/IMAG1885.jpg

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The Begonia laundry has normal doors on both ends (from the garage and into the entry way between the kitchen and dining area.

We considered the Begonia but went with the Gardenia because of the window that the golf cart garage in the Begonia takes away. A few pre-owned Begonias that we toured insatlled a solar tube for more light in the kitchen area, if you have a big lot I recommend the Gardenia, less yard to take care of and a roomy garage.
If you do the side stretch you can have a tray ceiling in the second bedroom. When we met with the designer she said no one ever ask and the up charge was around $150.00.

$150 for a tray is very inexpensive.

Wow, that is exactly what we want to do when we build our Begonia this summer! Yours looks beautiful! Can you PM me with how much it costs for you to have Bob Ives do this and how long it took him to do the job.? We were having a hard time finding information on who and how we can have this done!
Thanks!

Do you mind if I ask what you would use this kitchen space with the cabinets for? Extra storage I see but the counter isn't really usable for food prep (too far away). Are you going to put a laptop etc over there? I use my third bedroom/den as the office since it is unoccupied most of the time with guests. We also never thought we'd use that eating space but we tend to have our breakfast there unless we are on the lanai. To each his own I guess. But it does look nice.

We have 4 bar stools around the counter top and we eat there if we're not on the lanai and with seating for 6 in the dining room, that space went unused.

The den is my personal space (office/home theater/listening room) No women allowed. ;-) It replaces the basement I gave up in our old home up north. She called it "The Man Cave"

The desk in the breakfast nook is for her laptop, multi function office machine, hanging file folders, a place to set her purse, charge her phone, etc. Not sure what she'll put up top. It's brand new. She hasn't even seen it yet. It's a birthday gift

Awwwwwwwwwww!!! I love your dog! He/she's darling.

We have a begonia, and there is a foyer-type hall outside of the laundry room and a door closing the laundry off from the rest of the house.

We have our design meeting in January... planning on a Begonia! We have some of the standard stretches (2' to entire side from Den to Lanai, 4' Lanai, 4' Master BR... NO garage stretches were possible)... A few questions.... Anyone have french doors on the Master to Lanai? Doing (or have or have seen) a free standing wet bar? A spa on the Lanai (actually 3/4 into the "birdcage" area)? As with other postings, we are planning to use the nook area as "flex space" with full cabinet storage and a small desk area in front of the side window... So much fun dreaming of this... hope we can do it!
Guy and Dellie! Gillies in 214....

Although the french doors would be nice (love french doors), I wonder about two things. One... we have a Begonia also, stucco over cement block, and the effect is rather Mediterranean. I wonder if the french doors would match up with the flavor of the rest of the house.

Two... we have sliders from our master bedroom out to the lanai. We've only been here a total of five months, but we have never once used those sliders. We have the stackable sliders from the great room out to the lanai, and that's all we ever use. We put our bed and nightstands on the side wall of the mbr, which leaves a generous space from the bed to the sliders, and I plan to put an armchair and small end table in that corner for a little reading nook.

We did the stacked doors out of the great room and we love them, we consider them must have. However we deleted the doors from the master to the lanai. I wanted them and the wife didn't. I don't feel I'm missing them and having the additional wall space on both the lanai and Master is a huge plus.

It would be nice if they would put a large window there instead of the sliders. You could still have the extra room for a dresser or a chair, yet light would come in.