2014 Magnolia Green Richmond Homearama House Tours – Houses 5, 6 & 7

The Richmond Homearama is showcase of local Richmond home builders. The model homes feature all of the latest trends in home construction and design. The Richmond Homearama takes place in a premiere Richmond area community. The 2014 Richmond Homearama took place in Magnolia Green (Chesterfield) and featured 7 model homes. A few weeks ago Jesse and I went to tour the Magnolia Green Richmond Homearama. We spent the day wandering in and out of the show houses, snapping pictures and taking mental notes. I’ve already shared tours of Houses 1&2 and 3&4, so this post will wrap it up with Houses 5, 6 & 7. I’m going to try to stay as objective as possible, but just as a fair warning, these were my least favorite houses.

Magnolia Green Richmond Homearama House Tours: House #4, “Rustic Stonemill Retreat” by Harring Construction Co.

We nicknamed this house “The One with the Weird Secret Room” and there was a lot of wasted space. However, there were also plenty of gorgeous features. The main living space in this house was very open and was a gorgeous mix of rustic and chic. There was a lot of natural wood and stone, but it was mixed with white cabinetry and trim that kept the house from feeling like a lodge. (Photo via Homearama) 

The living room had a gorgeous vaulted ceiling (are you guys seeing a trend in my favorite features yet?) and amazing windows. Seriously, gorgeous. (Photo via Homearama)

And just for a realistic perspective, this is how the space looked at around 1 pm on a Saturday. 

I loved the vaulted ceiling in the master bedroom as well, though I was less in love with the location. There was a small hallway/mudroom behind the kitchen that led to the bedroom (on the left) and the garage (to the right) and it just made the room feel disjointed from the rest of the house. 

The bathroom was lovely, but I couldn’t understand why they put a giant armoire in the middle of it. The picture doesn’t show it well, but the armoire is on the wall between the show and the tub. It’s a gorgeous piece, but I’d be worried about some sort of water/steam damage from having it in the bathroom. 

 

Going back through the living room and outside to the deck there was a lovely outdoor fireplace under the covered porch. It was like an outdoor living room, and there was a dining table on the other side of the deck for more entertaining space. I liked that the outdoor “living” furniture and the dining area were close to each other on this deck, so that everyone is in the same space when entertaining. 

I would have been happy to see the backyard left grassy and open, since there was no need for extra patio space or a fire pit, but instead they put a weird fountain in the middle of the yard. It’s between those two chairs and it just looks so out of place. (Photo via Homearama)

This house only had three bedrooms, but there was a large bonus room upstairs that could be converted into two bedrooms, or maybe be a shared room for a few kids, if needed. This room was set up as a playroom/TV room for the Magnolia Green Richmond Homearama, and I surprisingly didn’t hate that concept. Maybe because there was only one large family room downstairs. 

The part about this house that stuck out the most was the “hidden room” behind a book shelf in one of the bedrooms. A lot of people on the tour thought it was the neatest thing, but Jesse and I thought it was weird. We called it the ________ station (*hint* the missing word ends with bation and begins with master) and could only think about the hidden magazines, alcohol, people, etc. that teenagers would put in this space. Not that they couldn’t hide all that in their bedroom, but seriously a secret room is just asking for it. Especially with the master bedroom downstairs and on the other side of the house. 

 

Magnolia Green Richmond Homearama House Tours: House #6, “Viniterra,”by Falcone Custom Homes

This home in the Magnolia Green Richmond Homearama had a strong wine theme going on throughout the house and the upstairs was a complete waste of space. It did have a pool, but it wasn’t a full pool so why bother?The dining room/living room/kitchen/breakfast area were all open to each other in a giant room with high ceilings, which made the house look huge and open. (Photo via Homearama)

There was enough storage in the kitchen for like 100+ bottles of wine, but the wine storage was right across from the windows so it would be damaged by the exposure to so much sun. Why would you have that much space for wine if it’s just going to go bad?! (Photo via Homearama) 

The bedrooms were all set up around the perimeter of the house. Two of them were down a little hallway between the dining room and family room and the master was behind the kitchen and breakfast nook. The master bedroom was huge and filled with so much natural light, perfect for people that like to be up with sun (aka not me). 

The master bathroom was ridiculous though. Jesse asked me if we were in a locker room at the YMCA. I would feel so awkward standing naked in the middle of a space this big. Almost as awkward as Jesse looks in this picture.

The only doors leading out to the pool are in the main family room/breakfast nook area. As you can see, it’s not a full sized pool, lame. There was also a weird fire/fountain setup going on out there. Another poor layout factor in this house was that you have to walk through the house to get to a bathroom or a bedroom from the pool, so you just track water everywhere. All over those beautiful hardwood floors.

The upstairs of this house was the weirdest thing ever. You go up the stairs and there was a small landing with two doors to two different, weird rooms. One of the rooms was painted an awful, eye gouging salmon color and was chopped up by the strange ceilings. 

It was also a strange “L” shape that made it look like a room, in a room. 

There was also a bathroom with a shower attached to the salmon room. I sure hope you don’t have tall guests staying up there. Or that your guests don’t mind feeling trapped in a cave while showering.

The second room was more open, and not a terrible color, but the ceiling angles chopped up parts of it too. This part of the room would be totally wasted once your kids got older and taller. 

Basically, this house gets a big ole “What were you thinking?!” from us.

Magnolia Green Richmond Homearama House Tours: House #7, “Chateau on the Green” by LifeStyle Builders

This Magnolia Green Richmond Homearama house had a similar living space layout to the YHL house. Some parts were better executed and others, not so much. The family room and kitchen areas were the most similar to YHL’s house, just done in a different style. The whole curved fireplace with the tv on a shelf to the left thing was odd. It would have been better with the tv over the fireplace and full windows on either side. The way it was felt kind of like a cave. (Photo via Homearama)

I did prefer their breakfast banquette setup though. It felt so bright and open, rather than being surrounded by bookshelves. 

I didn’t get a picture of it, but there were giant windows in the living room (to the right) and doors in the breakfast area that led out to a covered porch. The porch had an outdoor fireplace that faced in towards the house. It was really weird because you could see the outdoor fireplace from inside and vice versa with the living room fireplace. I felt like I was a mime trapped in a glass box.

I did like that there was a guest suite downstairs in this house, rather than the master being separate. It’s always nice to have a bit of privacy as a guest. However, the funky colored/patterned lower wall was awful.

Upstairs there was a large media room with a bar. Again, weird. Why would you put the bar upstairs? Wouldn’t you want to serve drinks downstairs? 

The trim in the bar room was painted black, which was cool, but it made for a weird transition into the hall way since there was no door separating the spaces, just a few stairs.

The worst thing about this house was the layout. I seriously felt like I was in a maze. You could walk through bathrooms into other bedrooms and the master closet was basically a hallway. You started off in the “hers” part of the closet, walked through that into the bathroom and then through the bathroom into the “his” part of the closet. That is way too much walking for me in the morning. (Photo via Homearama)

Jesse did like the shower in this bathroom though. It ran the length of the back wall with a shower head on either side. It was like a his and hers shower. He liked that it utilized the space of the room well, and that all my special soaps, and gobs of hair, would be on the other side of the shower.

Another design element in the house that I liked was the cork covering in one of the bedrooms. If you could attach it without damaging the walls it would be the perfect solution for a pre-teen with posters. 

Overall, the Magnolia Green Richmond Homearama was a fun experience. Jesse and I had a great time touring all seven houses and talking about what we liked and didn’t like. It’s our dream to one day build a house, so it helps to walk through open houses like this and get a feel for what we like and don’t like. You can always change the decor of a house, but you can’t change the bones. Overall, I’d say that House #1 had our favorite layout and House #3 was my favorite as far as design elements were concerned.

Did you make it to the Magnolia Green Richmond Homearama? Whether you did, or didn’t, which house was your favorite? I’d love to hear some other opinions! If you missed the tours of the first four houses, you can find them here and here.