Shea Homes: Recker Pointe

Welcome to December!!!

We are still visiting model homes for inspiration and I wanted to share photos from our recent visits to Shea Homes’ Recker Pointe neighborhood in Gilbert, Arizona.  We were pretty exciting to see this community as we liked their Marbella Vineyards community further south in Gilbert, and wanted to see what this new neighborhood has to offer.

It has some strong positives since the community used the 3-D layout that allows you to pick which part becomes the heart of your home.  Our favorite floor plan, Hope, is what I wanted to share with you, along with some photos from our adventures.  (Honestly, I can’t remember what all floor plans the following photos were taken in.  We jump from home to home and I didn’t want to share all the photos I took that day.)

In this layout, the outdoor centric lifestyle is featured.

It’s interesting the home builder chooses the flexibility to change the downstairs to suit one’s lifestyle preference and I have yet to see a competitor do the same. Below is the layout for the floor plan if entertaining is your favorite thing to do.

My personal favorite is the kitchen centric layout…I could cook and bake all day.  When I first starting cooking after leaving the Marine Corps, I had simple ambitions.  I wanted to make some dinners I saw on Food Network.  I grew up eating a lot of prepared foods, but I didn’t want to eat that way (all the time) as an adult.  The challenging thing for me is I went from high school, where I was barely home based on my busy schedule, to college where I had dining hall options.  After a year of college, I transitioned into Marine Corps life and chow hall food replaced my dining hall, but it’s a similar pattern.  Someone was always cooking for me, but me!

This pattern held true for four straight years in the Marine Corps.  I lived in the barracks and my only options were chow hall food, snack foods from the PX (Post-Exchange) store, or food fast restaurants like Subway and Taco Bell.  Our rooms did not include kitchenettes…I think if our barracks rooms more equally represented apartment living single Marines would have a better quality of life.  But anyways, I’m not here to talk about all that stuff today.

Preparing food is one of my favorite hobbies so I love this layout.  When you walk into the home, the kitchen steals your heart.

Isn’t this kitchen gorgeous?! I love the pass through window as well.

I also like the laundry being located upstairs in this floor plan.  I’m fond of keeping the private spaces of the home separate from the public function of the home.  The loft space would also come in handy when my daughter is a teenager and fills out home full of her friends.  She is a social butterfly at seven years old and I can only imagine how her confidence will increase over the years; she will be the person everyone knows in her grade and we’ll have several friends coming over daily for snacks and get togethers. I’ll be broke all the time feeding everyone.

Other photos from our adventure to the midrange and large homes at Recker Pointe:

A cozy place for fuzzy friends

I love built in wardrobes over walk-in closets.  It’s very modern looking.

The coolest oven I’ve ever seen

I need this dishwasher in my life.  My current one is hit or miss some days.

The wall texture makes me happy.

The part of the community that impresses us less is their cluster style floor plans.  These share a long extended driveway.  There are three floor plans but the homes make a six pack, mirroring each other on each side.  Below is the lot map so you can see what I mean about the “six pack” a the “T” shapes are the shared driveways.

At this time, there looks to be ample street parking with one caveat.  I think it’s only ample parking if the parking spots will be reserved at least one per housing unit.  Unfortunately cluster style communities have the problem of sharing street parking since homeowners do not have their own private driveways that would permit them the ability to park two cars (at least) in their garages and two cars on the driveway pad.

The interior plans look nice enough though and the yards are small, but enough for people who don’t want the maintenance of a larger lot.

My dream home would also include cascading counters like the ones on this island.

Apron front sinks are nice

I love how these homes have windows in the pantries.  It’s quite useful.

The driftwood look of these tile floors are amazing.

I love, love, love this backsplash.

The full kitchen view with the backsplash I love.

I was less fond of the design finishes in this model home but I like the modern railing.

Narrow built ins are nice.

Can you imagine this oversize bedroom window?  I’m wondering how hot the room will be though with our triple digit summers.

Aside from finding design inspiration in the local model homes, we are still dreaming of the day we tear out some of the builder grade finishes in our current home and tackle remodeling.

We are not financially ready to remodel our house yet but I’m constantly loving all the different materials I find.  We won’t make any decisions until the time comes closer but I love wood look tile, serious texture, and stunning patterns.  In some regards, I pick things others would be scared to put into their homes, but that’s ok.  I think small doses of dramatically different materials is what every home needs, so it feels unique.  These picks are from Floor and Decor as it has prices that would be more in line with our prospective budget when the time comes to make final choices.

Thanks for stopping by again.

I hope to have more news to share next year.  Maybe we’ll be a step closer to remodeling at least one space in our home.

~Cheryl