On Wed, 11 Aug 2010 17:37:59 -0500, "Leon" wrote:

Currently My wife and I are preparing to build a new home. Certainly not
high end but it will most likely have most of what you have mentioned. I
suppose it is all relative as a for instance your mention of 10' ceilings
being in lower custom homes. Our 30 year old "starter home" has 10 foot
ceilings. Rounded corner sheet rock has been the norm in all new
construction for 15 + years. Hard wood trim is common but typically a
marginal up grade. What is a Pot Shelf? Skupltured/stepped ceilings and
crown molding are available in starter homes. Fancy front doors are common.
Starting to see fire places offered in the back yard patio. Granite is
common place and a 3 car garage is becoming a common neighborhoow sighting
for homes in new neighborhoods. Our new home will have a 3 car garage.

When I looked at new homes in the Des Moines, IA area *every one* had a
three-car garage. Only one of the several tens of new homes here in Alabama
had one, and that one was almost the identical size as a normal two-car, only
with three doors. The trickery wasn't evident until I measured. ;-) I would
certainly go for a three-car garage, if I built.

At the moment the home we are most interested in and appointed the way we
want will have, 10" ceilings, Island kitchen, extra study room, 3 bedrooms,
formal dining, breakfast nook, 3 car garage, brick 3 sides, extral high roof
line, tile in all rooms except bedrooms, oval tub and seperate shower,
remote controlled fire place, radient barrier decking, double pained low-e
windows, Cat 5 media wiring to name the most obvious and just under 2100 sq.
ft. single story. $148K.

10" ceilings? ;-)

Our house isn't "high end" by any means, but it's certainly not a starter,
either. We have 2600ft^2, 3 bedroom, 3-1/2 baths. There are granite tops
everywhere except the laundry (5 surfaces in the kitchen, living room shelves,
and the four bathrooms). Fireplace, formal dining, great room (kitchen,
living, and breakfast separated by a bar area). The master suite is about 1/3
of the main floor, with two bedrooms upstairs. 9' ceilings, with cathedral
ceilings over the great room (not kitchen or breakfast areas).

The master suite is connected by two hallways to the great room, with the
master bath on one end of the second and to walk-in closets leading to the
bedroom at the other end of the hall. Whirlpool tub and 6'x6' shower, with
rain head, in master bath, all tiled. The master bath is about 12'x15'. The
other two full bathrooms have the crappy one-piece fiberglass tubs and
surrounds. This sort of master suite setup is quite common here. Almost all
new homes had similar.

The other nice feature was the screened in porch and a space big enough over
the garage to build a shop (current project ;-).