[mimisw]

We are considering a Whispering Pine (Designer). I would like to know what owners of this model have to say about it. We are trying to stay within our retirement budget. We will be in TV around the 23rd of this month to choose our new home.

[logdog]

After our Lifestyle visit a few years ago, we thought the Whispering Pine with closed kitchen would be our next home. The only things that concerned us was the smallish living room and that the living room shared a wall with the master bedroom (concerned about noise if I stay up late). We wound up buying a close out Cypress which came in at the same price as a Whispering Pine. What we like better about the Cypress is no shared walls between living room and master bedroom, larger living area, still has the breakfast nook and twin walk in closets. However, if you want a large lanai, you'll probably prefer the Whispering Pine.

[BlueHeronFan]

Did not buy a Whispering Pine, but almost did as the wife liked the layout. What I did not like was the narrow entrance of the front door. It gave me a tunnel feeling. That alone moved us to the Gardinia, which now we have a Lanai, and a front porch.

[English Ivy]

We've got the Whispering Pine with closed kitchen and I really like it. If you have the closed kitchen I think it "lives a lot bigger" than the square footage would have you believe.

With the closed kitchen I don't feel the living room is small at all. The two walls give you many options of arranging the living room furniture that you don't have with open plans. We don't find the shared wall with the master bedroom to be a problem if we're watching tv in the two different rooms.

The first time we hosted a neighborhood gathering and several of the neighbors with big Lantanas came in our Whispering Pine, they couldn't believe all the room we had and kept asking what model it was.

The cons are the guest room and bath are on the small side, but they're not that bad. We have the den rather than third bedroom so the extra closet would have been nice, but I'd prefer to have the open double doors for the den.

If you're looking at resale homes, some of the older models have the laundry in the garage and the square footage is about 100 sf less than ours which is, I believe, 1682 sf.

If you're thinking of building I would strongly suggest, if possible, to increase the width of the lanai. We enclosed ours with acrylic sliders and had ceramic tile installed. It's an eastern exposure and we use the space a lot, but I would love it to be a little wider.

I would certainly recommend this model. Feel free to ask any additional questions.

[mimisw]

Thank you so much EnglishIvy. I'm happy to hear that you are pleased with this model. I will take your suggestions into consideration. I feel so much better now. With the price increase in June we had to rethink our decision to build the Lilac.

[LittleDog]

We also have a Whispering Pine with the closed kitchen and the den instead of a 3rd bedroom. We prefer that as we have converted it into a computer room with computer furniture along one wall and wall to wall bookcases on the back wall which we couldn't have done if this was a 3rd bedroom. As others have commented the guest bedroom is on the small side as is the guest bathroom. We had a pocket door installed in the hallway there so that any guests would have their own private area. We took the dining room area and made it a reading area with a sleeper sofa and a couple of chairs. We added a solar tube there because it was dark and added one in the guest bathroom.

We have our tv sound system along the bedroom wall and find that its perfect for a surrround sound system. I usually go to bed before my wife and sometimes, depending on what she is watching, the subwoofer can be loud. However, I usually fall asleep in 10 or 15 minutes so sound is not a problem.

We have also converted the lanai into a Florida room with glass windows. Granted the lanai could have been larger but for 2 its fine.

The only thing we would want would be a golf car garage.

One comment I make to my wife is when we lived in NJ the TV room was in the basement and I had to go up 2 flights of stairs to get to the bedroom. Here I just walk out of the living room to the bedroom. What a pleasure!!!!

John

[Debfrommaine]

We bought our Whispering Pine last June and love everything about the layout and size. The kitchen is "open" and when we had 17 guests last night it was perfect for entertaining - received lots of compliments and plenty of space. The bar in the kitchen is huge; lots of room for bar stools at one end and a buffet at the other. We also turned our dining area into an extra sitting room - with a kitchen nook and bar, no need for another eating area. The 9' sliders provide generous lighting, plus the bay windows, etc. The master bedroom is huge and bath with roman shower impressive. We also made our 3rd bedroom into a den and that was a wise decision. No noise issue problems between walls regarding the TV/master bedroom common wall. Only reason we would consider a move is we just got a doggie and a villa sound enticing but we're not sure we want to give up space! Good luck with your selection.

[NextGenVillager]

My parents have owned a Whispering Pine since 2002. They have a den, closed kitchen with a 9' eating area extension (bringing s.f. to 1,628 from 1,513) and have put sliding windows and ceramic tile in the lanai. There is very little that they dislike about this model. Initially they did not care for the laundry room in the garage, but that was a quick nit and has since been remedied in all new construction. They too have the TV against the bedroom wall and have never complained about any noise permeating.

At the final walk through (I accompanied them) the Agent made an interesting point - the WP was the only model in which one could stand in one corner of the house (kitchen eating area) and have a clear view through the house to the opposite corner (guest bedroom). True.

Even with the closed kitchen, given the high ceilings the house lives large, well and has an efficient floorplan. Recent SolarTubes in the kitchen and living room have brightened it up considerably.

We started the hunt ourselves when visiting last Xmas for a future home and really like the Lily model due to the larger room sizes, open kitchen and large bay window in the guest bedroom - which I would use as an office. However, this does not negate any of the positives of the WP. It is a great value.

[DebbieB]

Hi! We just bought a lot and plan on building a Whispering Pine, but since our lot is big enough, we are stretching the garage, adding a golf cart garage, adding a bay window in one of the front bedrooms, along with stretching every room bigger. Will have close to 2,000 sq ft by time we are done I believe. I like the model a lot, and the cost for the stretches is not all that bad. Having it built new. Stretching the lanai 4 feet too, which will make a huge difference. Plan on doing this just once and not moving again, so worth it to us to do it with a new home as it has been hard to get everything we wanted in a pre-owned home room size wise. Only thing we haven't decided on or shall I say agreed upon is whether to have the kitchen wall there or keep it open. Lots of time to decide that one though.

[DebbieB]

FYI ~ They have now changed the Whispering Pine model to a new model of the Whispering Pine. The Lania is not the same, but is now that of what is on the Cedar model. Kitchen area, nook and living room dimensions are now changed as well, all else remained the same as in original model w/p.

We plan on building a W/P, but may have to reconsider as I really liked the old lanai setup and with a stretch on the old one, ideal. The new one is longer, yes, not same location as original or as open. Back to the drawing board to see if it will still work or not.