We looked at many models before we bought but, because of our dogs, knew in the end it had to be a CYV even though we fell in love with the Lantana designer model. I am sorry that there are no CYV with true dining rooms and am mourning the loss of my formal dining room furniture which I feel too formal for the space in my CYV. I do love the enormous kitchen in my new home, but after we bought we had to go home to our northern house and upon looking around reality hit that we were going to have to pare down to HALF the square footage of our current home. It is very hard to say goodbye to half of your belongings. We are having trouble deciding which family antiques to take and where to put them. There is no longer room for furniture that looks good but doesn't have any daily purpose. We wonder if we made a correct choice and hope that we did. As always, the dogs come first so we had ultimately no choice. If you don't have dogs, or you can use an underground fence, you may have choices. Look around your home, see what you will miss and what you need to bring with you and decide how much room you will be comfortable living with and without. Then decide. It is a personal choice and you may value privacy over size but with a CYV you won't get anywhere near the sq ft that you get in a designer home. It's a selection that will be expensive to change.

We have lots of antiques and big furniture in our farmhouse in Seattle, so much. We bought a 1500 sq ft new CYV and before we get there the lanai is being changed to a fully useful Florida room including raising the floor so you walk right in flush from the kitchen. I am loving selling everything and moving into Florida mode, lighter, airier, away from the dark antiques and into a whole new feeling. It is freeing getting rid of stuff. Stuff is stuff, pepole make memories. Let others enjoy what you have and start anew. It is cleansing and puts life in a new perspective when you can give up the old and start anew! We looked at huge houses but settled on a huge back yard with a view that is amazing in the CYV. To me it is about the sun, the sunsets, the fresh air, the Happy Hours under the birdcage or in the Florida room looking at all the beauty outside.
But the houses availabe in TV, so many gorgeous. Hard to choose. but when dogs rule your life, well, it focuses you on what you need, not necessarily what you want. But when I saw the view and the huge yard, I was sold. Now I am downsizing and I love it.

Oh Reefer, you have no idea. Yes, all this and more because of the dogs. But we love them and each other so it is all good! And really, if you saw the view, you would be sold on the CYV too. Dogs or no dogs. It is breath taking.

Sheepishly, I have to admit, our dogs RULE our life. And we wouldn't want it any other way!

We went from a small designer to a cyv.

My husband has breathing problems and we needed to cut down his exposure to grass.

We no longer have a "kissing lanai" which we are extremely happy about.

Our annual expenses have decreased;
no lawn service
no lawn maintenance service (bugs, fertilizer, replacement of lawn, etc._
bond is lower on cyv
more usable garden area
freedom to leave lanai and kitchen doors and windows open
and not have to close them and reopen them everytime we left our home
Privacy and then some more privacy
QUIETER - in our designer home we heard the lawn mowers going at 8 am, here in the cyv I haven't heard any commercial lawn mowers - gardeners use hand mowers
our electric bill went down
irrigation water bill went down due to less lawn
have a beautiful vista - in the process of having an 87 foot mural painted
and I guess I can list more things.

We could not have moved into a cyv when we first came down here. We were used to wide open spaces - neighbors were acres away.

What ever you buy I wish you lots of luck.

We live in a CYV. Love it! 3 br/2 bath just under 1700 sf. Wide open. But the best part is it is on a corner lot at the end of the street. Plenty of space! Plenty of privacy. We know all our neighbors. Knowing we had only a 1.5 garage we got rid of a lot of stuff before we moved down in December. Couldn't be happier!

[QUOTE=VICAR OF DIBLEY;449366]We went from a small designer to a cyv....have a beautiful vista - in the process of having an 87 foot mural painted


Wow.... didn't know we could paint the walls. You mean the courtyard walls, right? Any chance we could see a photo?

The mural is approximately 90% completed.

It is an English country side setting with some items from our vista in the Mid-Hudson Valley of NY.

my 2 cents
 

During our lifestyle visit, we looked at designers and CYV's. We were staying in a 3 bedroom CYV and felt it was large enough for us. After talking to lots of folks during that visit, many said to us that they planned to downsize to a CYV down the road. Hubby and I decided we would not want to move twice, so we went with a 3 bedroom CYV the first time. The final kicker was our furry child who had a nice, safe yard to roam around. We're very happy with our choice.

We are giving all the antiques to the kids before we move to Florida. Don't want them to end up down there. Might be a burden for the kids to retrieve them.

I cannot even GIVE them away to my kids, they do not want stained glass, chine, crystal, antiques, etc....I am going to have an upscale garage sale!

LOL I know about that too. We do have one Grandson, at 14, is an old soul and wants what the parents don't.

Reefer, we bought a 36 foot MOTORHOME with slides so we could take our dogs with us when we travel and not have to leave them. Yup, all for the dogs. And the vehicle we bought was because of them. The northern house was designed for ease of use because of them and the acreage we live on was for them also. If it makes THEIR life easier that in turn makes OUR lives easier. If you aren't a dog owner, or even THAT kind of dog owner you can't even get it I suppose, but if ya are, ya just know it's so.