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Castaway Cove

The Lavelle family has recently completed their new home, 6884, Castaway Cove in Florida. At the time of this interview they had spent several weekends in their new vacation home getting the furnishings and finishes just so. More recently they have been able to simply relax and enjoy the retreat they have created for their family.

"Now that it is all finalized, we just love going there."
Plan 6884

"Since my husband and I both spend long hours and travel frequently for work, it took every bit of 3-4 months to get the house set up to our satisfaction, because we only had weekend time to do it," said Kristen. "Now that it is all finalized, we just love going there. It is like a true retreat from our everyday hectic life. Both the house and the community offer a serenity which we just love and look forward to for the next visit." Kristen happily reports that the new home "has exceeded our expectations." Due to lot restrictions, the Lavelle's had to modify their original floor plan to make it narrower and deeper. They did this using Sater Design Collection's in-house modification team, and though they were confident that it could be reworked they were a little nervous about the finished room sizes. "When we were required to resize the house to fit the lot, we were really nervous that the rooms would be too small for us — most specifically the master bedroom/bathroom and the kitchen," said Kristen. "Now that the house is finished and furnished, all of the rooms are the right size and we don't have any regrets. The house has so many different things to offer — beautiful outside spaces, comfortable bedrooms with their own baths, a spacious and open great room and a highly functional kitchen." Another amenity the Lavelles particularly enjoy came along a bit later in the process. Last time we chatted, the Lavelles were trying to reach a decision on whether to add a pool and cabana on the rear of the property to accommodate additional guests and create more indoor and outdoor entertaining space. Ultimately they did decide to build the cabana, and couldn't be happier with their choice.

"It's been very exciting to see the finished product come together into the vision that was set nearly two years ago, and now we're getting to enjoy it!"
Plan 6884

"We are especially glad that we added the cabana. It finishes off the house perfectly and provides us with extra space from the main house," said Kristen. "Fortunately we caught the need for it early enough in the building process and just did it." With the cabana addition, the Lavelles feel that the house "has both luxury amenities and casual feel that make it the perfect balance for our lifestyle and entertaining friends and family," said Kristen. "The house is highly functional for our lifestyle," she continued. "Along with our initial concerns about room size, we were concerned about having a three-story house without an elevator along with detached cabana — especially with a 2 year old (Morgan is now 3). We had a full distributed audio and video system installed that included an intercom and video cameras. This has made all the difference. We can contact every room and also have monitor capability. Because of that, the three story design has not been an issue." The colors and finishes the Lavelles selected have turned out better than they hoped. Kristen said, "We are thrilled with our color selections, faux finishes and how all of the design elements have just really come together." She continued, "ItŐs been very exciting to see the finished product come together into the vision that was set nearly two years ago, and now we're getting to enjoy it!"

Mike and Kristen enjoyed a good working relationship with their builder, River City Homes. "Overall, we would say we had a satisfactory relationship," Kristen said. "A client / builder relationship is always challenging because on one side you have a financial transaction and on the other you have an emotional transaction. It is just the nature of the beast. Overall River City Homes exceeded our expectations of the finished product. They were also very engaged and fair in dealing with issues and executing to completion."

"It was time consuming, but looking back it was worth it."
Plan 6884Though construction went smoothly for the most part, the Lavelle's did exceed their initial budget in a few areas, mostly because of adding the pool and cabana that were not accounted for in the initial project. However, because they have built before (this home is their 5th) they anticipated the overages. "Since we have done this so many times before, we were prepared that we would go over budget," Kristen said. "Every time we were faced with running over budgeted items we evaluated the value and level of importance for the change. Decisions we moved forward with we are truly happy with, and those that we passed on, we don't even miss." The one element of the building process that presented the most challenge was the fact that the home was being built over two hours away from the Lavelle's primary residence in Orlando. "It was harder than we originally thought (being so far away)," said Kristen. "We figured that because it is a second home that we wouldn't want or need to invest as much time into it.
"The fact that the finished home is so beautiful makes all the effort worthwhile."
Plan 6884As we got into the process and realized how many new things were on the market since we built our primary residence we ended up putting an equal amount of time into it to ensure that the final product was the best it could be relative to our lifestyle and our budget. It was time consuming, but looking back it was worth it." She continued, "It was difficult being so far away because we would often go weeks to months without seeing it, and sometimes this became problematic as it made it harder to 'undo' things that weren't done to expectation or to plan. We worked through it with our designer and builder, and as it got closer to completion we spent a lot more time there than we initially would have expected."

The fact that the finished home is so beautiful makes all the effort worthwhile. Friends and family who have seen it are impressed with the home as well. The Lavelles are looking forward to sharing the home with family who visit for vacations and special occasions. "This Thanksgiving will be the first time that we'll have a large group at the house. We can't wait to see their reaction. We have had friends and a few family members to the house since it has been finished and consistently people are amazed with the thought and detail put into the design and furnishings. It is the perfect balance of elegance and casual feel to match the beach and vacation community." Even though they are not new to the building game, Kristen says they have learned from this process and have gained new insight into building a home. They share some advice with others who are considering building a custom home:

"It is the perfect balance of elegance and casual feel to match the beach and vacation community"
Plan 6884"We would recommend they focus on the efficiencies of the things that operate the house and in parallel the things that are most important to you in making your home comfortable and a retreat from your day to day life," said Kristen.

"Keeping things in perspective is probably the other thing. For as many houses as we have built, we were hopeful that it would proceed in a timely manner, we would have no issues and we wouldn't get emotionally invested. That was certainly not the case and probably never would be as long as you are building it for yourself," Kristen said. Her final piece of advice: "Keeping good documentation and frequently ensuring everyone is on the same page is likely the best method to limiting angst and issues." We congratulate Kristen, Mike and Morgan on their beautiful new home and hope it brings them years of joy and relaxation.