Grey or beige wall color? Warm or cool-toned flooring? Dark or light hearth stone? To help them decide on design choices for their Drees home, Mattie and Vince Bober took a unique approach: They polled their family and friends on Instagram.
The Bobers shared their entire building experience — from Design Center selections, to breaking ground to closing — in a series of Instagram stories called “Building with the Bobers.” The couple even planned Friday date nights around visiting their home site.
Vince and Mattie sat down with us and shared highlights from their home building experience.
What floor plan did you choose and what attracted you to this design?
We chose the Buchanan for the open concept of the kitchen into the great room. We have a big family who loves to gather, and the heart of our gatherings is the kitchen. The floor plan was perfect as we could envision the entire family sitting together in close proximity between our kitchen table, island, dining room and great room. The family foyer add-on with the walk-in pantry was also a huge sell for us. Most of our family enters from the garage, and having a seating bench for bags, shoes and coats was also ideal.
As you have watched your new home’s design come to life, what have been your favorite spaces and features?
Our kitchen space and our super shower in the owner’s suite bathroom definitely are on the top of the list. We focused the most on designing our kitchen space as we knew that it would be where we would hang out in the most.
We also love the smart features Drees included in our development such as the built-in video doorbell, tankless water heater and smart-lock features.
What did you enjoy most about the building process?
We loved seeing it come together. Every week, there was something new. We would have Friday date nights and see the house each week while eating takeout in the car. It made the process enjoyable, and we looked forward to it week-by-week. Our favorite was posting weekly Instagram story updates for our friends and family. We called them “Building with the Bobers” episodes. It was fun to have them along on our journey. We even polled them to help us make some of the design decisions.
What advice would you give others who are interested in building a home?
We, like many others when building, did not have an unlimited budget. So we focused on our structural wants and wishes: things we could not add on later and turn back time. For example, we focused on pouring ceilings one foot taller in the basement, adding windows, etc. We wanted to address the “bones” of the home first knowing that we could always change up the design at a later time.
Other advice we would give is not to look at things under a microscope too much. It all comes together in the end and Drees exceeds in their customer service and satisfaction. We thoroughly enjoyed working with our Builder Eric every step of the way. He was responsive, attentive to our needs, and if we were concerned with something, he would put us at ease.
Why did you choose to build with Drees?
We fell in love with the floor plan options, style and modern feel of Drees homes. We felt the quality, plus the customization, fulfilled our desire to build a home.
Learn More
To learn more about building your own Drees home, visit dreeshomes.com and select your location. Interested in other personal stories from the Homeowner Spotlight Series? Click here.
