(*This is not our future home.) The lesson of the day for me is that a home is a home, no matter how small or where it is, whether it's furnished or not, you're camping out on the floor, or whether it's yours at all. A home is a place where your family belongs together and that's all you need. This is what I've learned and I can raise my palm to the air with a hearty "Amen", all Southern-style, that it is true.
All the same, a person can dream about how beautiful that home might be. When we were first looking for a home in Carbondale, I played with the fantasy of being able to build a home. During my research phase, I came across a company that ships out pre-fabricated homes that looking nothing like they sound.
They are all based on plans of colonial homes, some even from archived blueprints. I love this period of architecture that we shared with our parent country across the pond. And I love the beautiful wood millwork inside the homes that comes from a reputable Vermont company.
The home pictured at the top of the post is the Dorothea Harwell home by Connor Homes. I was so impressed with the look of the homes, the versatile floor plans and the markedly colonial interiors updated with fresh, modern perspective.
This is the Nathanial Fowler.
And this is the Emmaline Gabrielle.
The interiors and floor plans are just as beautiful.
From what I understand of the process and my brief email interaction with a representative of the company (who was extremely friendly by the way), secure a loan for the home, work with an architect to modify any of the plans, buy the complete kit and hire a construction company. It is literally a kit, complete with appliances, windows, and millwork. However, the exterior is not provided in the kit nor are foundation requirements.
Supposedly you save money because a home can be constructed in as little as nine days, although a more realistic expectation is 6 months. Still, this is at least half the time of normal construction. When I asked about price, the representative told me the typical building costs for a "basic" home (which includes many features but maybe not all that beautiful custom wainscoting and no extensive architectural changes) is around $200/sq.ft.
That was so way out of our budget and, knowing me, we would go overboard in a major way adding lots of beautiful, custom features anyway. So, for now, there will be no Connor Home in my future.
But,... maybe there'll be a barn?? I love this Connecticut River Barn and can picture it already in the yard behind the house (again, operating under the assumption we'll be able to buy our new home after all).
Has anybody has any experience with this company? Anybody out there? I'd love to hear experiences, thoughts, and input as to whether this process is really as good as it seems.
