Exterior Elevations

Before we started the process of buying a home I had no idea the term "elevation" referred to the look of the exterior of a home.  You would think it had something to do with how high the home sat on a piece of land, or something having to do with that.  However, the term exterior elevation refers to the overall look and feel of the outside of your home, aka 'curb appeal.'  When you drive up to your home, you want to feel like you LOVE it.  You also want your home to appeal to others, so if and when you go to resell, it is easy.  Choosing an elevation was one of the most important parts of the new-construction process for us.

Ryan Homes Naples Elevation D

When we did our initial pricing meeting with Ryan Homes, we chose our elevation based on blueprint drawings.  Our floor plan only has one elevation with a front porch available, which we knew we really wanted, but later we initially eliminated this choice in favor of a less expensive elevation, due to seeing how much costs were adding up.

The most frustrating part of this entire process is there are no real-life examples of most of the options you can select.  We chose our elevation from a blueprint, and then chose some colors based on small samples in the showroom.  We later changed both.

Ryan Homes Color Selection Process

Looks good enough here.  After selecting our colors we asked our sales rep could we pretty please have some addresses of the houses in the neighborhood that have our chosen elevation or colors?

Ryan  Homes Naples Elevation L, Graphite Gray Siding, Silver Mist Shake, Roycroft Copper Red Door

I always wanted a red door, but at this point we realized we didn't LOVE the contrast of these colors, or the elevation very much.  It was time to make a change.

Now for my father's visit! He helped us determine what upgrades to add now and what we may be able to do ourselves later.  For example, crown moulding can wait.  We were able to move some money around on our selected options in order to get the elevation we really wanted, the one with a porch!  There is only ONE house in the neighborhood with our elevation!  There are other homes with front porches, but not with our floor plan or other exterior features.  We have a chosen elevation example and a color example, as we will be the first house with both used together (pictured separately here).

Ryan Homes Naples Elevation D with Partial Stone

We are getting a porch!  I definitely zoomed in on this house from way across the street.  Sorry neighbors.  Future home-buyers are welcome to creep on my new house.  I won't be allowed to mind one bit, considering how many times we circled through the neighborhood while doing our research.  The home pictured here is our exact elevation, including the cute oval window!

Now for the colors!

Ryan Homes Color Selection Process

Ryan Homes Pebble Clay Siding, Sandy Tan Shake, Brown Shutters, Cream Exterior Trim

We must have researched every color color option available in the neighborhood when we were researching our colors.  Seeing the colors in "real life" was important to us because how can you fully visualize your home?  Our home will look very similar to the "real life" example above but we will have beige windows, that will blend into the overall color scheme even better, since we have beige/cream trim.

Ryan Homes Front Porch with Arizona Stone

Again, trying to not "creep" so hard on the neighbors.  House numbers have been removed!

We have seen a lot of progress on our home since I last posted, but once they started framing everything moved so quickly! Lots of picture updates to come.

What color scheme is the exterior of your home?  I'd still love to have a red door someday!