I went to take a look at Whisler Ridge over the weekend.
I liked:
1. The fact that the houses are not in that Tuscan/Italian/whatever it's supposed to be style of all the new Irvine developments. I don't like that look, aesthetically. I think they look like they are trying to build little tacky pretend castles. The homes at Whisler are something else. I think the sales guy said they were "classic American." I don't know, but at least they weren't brown, ugly pretend castles.
2. The hill/mountain views and peaceful surroundings. Of course, this is before the 60+ homes have been built. Probably won't be as peaceful after that.
3. At least two of the floorplans had loft areas at the top of the stairs. I like this. I don't know what I'd actually do with the space if I lived in one of these homes, though. The model homes had TVs there. (By the way, they were still playing Cars 2, Socal.) I don't think I'd use it for TV. But anyway, it looks nice to walk up the stairs and see an open area. Of course, you have the option of having them make it into a bedroom instead (which I'm sure makes the upstairs area feel much smaller).
I didn't like:
1. I need a formal living room and a separate family room. Not just one big great room, because it's not enough space to store all my toys and clutter. None of the floorplans had more than one living area, as I recall. So you get just one common area where your TV goes, instead of a formal living room and family room. I don't like this, but it has been the trend in every new home development I've visited lately.
2. I want two dining areas: a casual one, and a more formal one. I don't think that's too much to ask. I don't want a granite-topped island with a couple of bar stools pulled up to it. That's not a table. It looks cool, but it wouldn't work for my lifestyle. And I need a formal dining room, so I can have somewhere to put my formal dining table. A formal dining table is a must-have...you know, for storing mail and other knick-knacks that you haven't decided if you're going to keep or throw away.
3. One of the plans, I think it was 2, had all these weird diagonal angles all over the place. The TV was placed over the fireplace on a diagonal wall, which I thought was odd. They had a sectional couch in the room, but from the couch, it wasn't comfortable to watch the TV. You kind of had to turn your neck at a weird angle. I need to be comfortable while watching "The Bachelor."
4. None of the homes felt big. Even the one that was over 3,000 square feet...you didn't feel it. They all felt smaller than they were. I noticed a number of areas where too much square footage was allocated, in my opinion. One of the houses had this really big laundry room with a sink. I know a lot of people like a laundry room with a sink, but I don't care. I could just run to the bathroom next door to wash my hands after handling dirty clothes. And this plan also had the world's hugest shower. Like really, really huge, with this huge bench, upon which you could store 50 bottles of shampoo, conditioner, and body wash. There was a big bathtub, too. I think it was overkill. I'm not against large master bathrooms, but you have to have the rest of the house to support it. Like it has to be overall huge. You can't just have a small or normal house, with on-the-small-side bedrooms, and then have a baller master bathroom.
5. Really small yards.
6. Maybe I'm being too picky, but one of the secondary bedrooms in the largest plan had an en suite bathroom, while the other two upstairs bedrooms did not. If you have more than one child, I think this could pose a problem. I guess you just put your oldest or favorite kid in that room, and the other ones have to share a bathroom.
7. Totally nitpicky, but why can't they have all the models in the same order as the floorplans? Why is Model Home #1 actually floorplan 3, or whatever it is? Would it really be so hard to make them the same, just so simple people like me can keep track.
And...that's all.
