East Haven | Purser & Co Real Estate Group

Oh Easthaven…. Where do I start with the design of this house? It has been my favorite house to design so far.

The neighborhood of East Haven is the cutest little community. Half of the neighborhood is in the historic district, the homes in that part have to be approved by the historical society. The other half of the neighborhood is pretty much open to do what you want to do. Although, I chose to make new look old. I wanted the design of this home to reflect the historical homes in the area as much as possible. When you look at The East Haven home, it fits. I took a new house plan and incorporated historical features and elements to it.

When you pull up to The East Haven it doesn’t strike you as a new construction home. If you take in all of the architectural elements this home has, you would swear it was a remodeled historic home. Take it all in, there is a lot to see.

The Exterior

The brick we used is an aged red brick, similar to what you would find on a historic home today. I didn’t want just a traditional red brick. I wanted something that looked as if it had been there for 100 years. It had to be an aged brick and it had to be red. For the siding, we used hardy board siding and painted it an off white.

If you look closely you will see the dentil molding. A lot of the historic homes that you see today all have dentil molding somewhere on the home. Dentil molding is hard to come by these days though. So, instead of trying to find dentil molding. We took modern trim and made the dentil molding ourselves.

We used black windows with a 4 over 4 grid and surrounded them with white trim to really make them pop. The gutters are also black and the roof is a black shingle roof.

Finding the exterior lighting was a chore! I searched and searched, trying to find lighting that was budget friendly but fit the era of design that we were going for. I finally found them and couldn’t be happier with it.

I added fans to the front porch because this Georgia heat is no joke! A lot of homes around here have fans on their porches. It helps keep the bugs away when you are outside and it helps keep you cool. I would suggest anyone in the Southeast to add fans to their porches. You will thank me later, trust me.

The Interior

Once you open the stained wood door, you step into the prettiest foyer. When I saw that the stairs of this home were right in front of you as soon as you opened the front door, I knew. I knew that that they had to be a show stopper. We used white subway tile to create the design on the steps. The guys that had to put that tile in hated me I’m sure. But, it was worth it.

As you walk down the hallway towards the kitchen, you might notice the stained pine floors as you walk past the main floor bathroom. ( I can’t give an exact stain color, because the stain is a combination of stains.)

The Main Floor Bathroom

This bathroom was HARD! This was not supposed to be a full bathroom on the house plans. It was supposed to be a half bath. But, with a bedroom on the main floor, it needed a full bathroom on the main floor. (This is why you hire a home designer when you are building. We help you with the layout and function of the home) Mike and I had our work cut out for us. Not only did it need to be a full bath, it needed to open up to the bedroom and the hallway. A little measuring here, a lot of scratching our heads there, and wallah, a full bathroom was made.

I tried to incorporate some more of the historic features in this bathroom. I used a black and white basket weave tile for to help with that historic feel. The shower tile is a simple white subway tile but I decided to have them lay it in a vertical herringbone pattern. I used a vertical diamond glass tile for the niche and the tile feature in the shower. (It is the same tile I used for the master bathroom.)

Now, the lighting in this bathroom is not where is was designed to go. The electrician didn’t put it in the right spot. But, the lighting fixture itself, gorgeous. It it an oil rubbed bronze finish with a brass accent. I fell in love with this lighting.

The Kitchen

The kitchen. I want all of the homes that I design to have a “cooks kitchen”. What I mean by that is, a kitchen should be easy to navigate, have plenty of room for prep, plenty of room to cook, and lots of storage. If a home plan doesn’t have a designated pantry in it, I try to add one when we build. But, even with all the functionality that I require when designing kitchens, it still has to be pretty.

The pretty, in this kitchen, starts with the backsplash. I chose a textured arabesque tile. Even though it is a white tile, the texture really makes it stand out. I incorporated a pot filler with a vintage feel above the range and gave it a little modern flare with the stainless range hood.

The functionality of the kitchen starts with the cabinets. I added a cabinet everywhere I could. There is even a cabinet in the side of the island. I chose large, deep, drawers under the range so the homeowner could store their pots and pans. I also added those same large deep drawers to the kitchen island. We all have those little kitchen gadgets that are too small to take up cabinet space but too large to fit in a standard kitchen drawer. That’s where the addition of the deep kitchen cabinet comes in. If you look under the island, you will notice, we even put outlets in the island for convenience.

A walk in pantry is every cooks dream. So, of course this kitchen had to have one. The shelves in the pantry are custom built ins. I used a little wall that would have been dead space in the pantry to build shelves for spices. We left enough space at the top of the panty shelves and the bottom of the pantry shelves so they could store larger items (light large packs of paper towels).

A little unique feature about this kitchen is the kitchen window. It is a vertical crank open window the opens to the screened in back porch. (Perfect for letting in little fresh air without all of the bugs). The kitchen window is situated directly above the stainless farmhouse style sink. (It gives you something pretty to look at while you are washing the dishes.)

The Living Room

In the living room, I chose brick for the fireplace and added built ins on either side. The open floor plan from the kitchen to the living room, really made this a great entertaining space.

The Master Bedroom

Once you head up stairs to the master, you will understand why I love this house so much. The master bedroom is a nice large bedroom with carpet (so no cold feet in the morning). Nothing too fancy. But, when you turn around and look at the master bathroom, that is where your jaw will drop.

I chose to put a freestanding tub in the center of the large window. It just made sense and really gave the bathroom that WOW factor when you walked in. Once they put up a window treatment, it will be their little spot of serenity in the evenings. Especially with just the chandelier lighting on, it will make you feel like you are at a spa.

The shower in the master bathroom is just as amazing. It is huge, for one. The glass wall with the glass door really open it up. I chose a large marble-like tile for the walls with a penny tile on the floor. I prefer to use the smallest tile I can on shower floors, so you have more grout. More grout, means more grip, and less slip. I used a diamond patterned glass tile for the accent. I wanted the different shades of gray and vertical pattern to give a waterfall feel. The shower has two shower heads and a bench on one side. I don’t think you could add anything else to this shower.

The master bathroom also has a double vanity and a large walk in closet with custom built in shelving.

Other Features

I could go on and on about this home. It truly is my favorite design to date. It has a total of 5 bedrooms and 4 baths. The laundry room is conveniently located upstairs where 4 of the bedrooms are. Two of the bedrooms share a jack and jill bath room (which is great for the kiddoes). This house also features a screened in back porch with a gas hook up for your grill.

There are so many unique features about this home, its hard to pick a favorite. I hope you guys fall in love with it as much as I did.