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Thomsen Homes

Affordable Luxury Homes in Fargo, ND

Guest Blog

A Holiday Take from the Sorby Home

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We have a special blog post from the Sorby family along with some holiday inspiration to get you in the festive mood! They had built their 2180 bi-level home in 2018. This DYI couple has an eye for design and a love for everything home.

 

Holiday Home Inspired

The days have gotten shorter and the air has turned crisp…it is finally the holiday season and we could not be more excited!

We closed on our Thomsen in December 2018, so this time of year always feels extra special to us. Not only are we reminded that we’ve spent another 365 days in a house we’ve made a home and truly come to love, but also that subtle changes to your space, like pulling out and putting up different décor, can make your heart feel really, really happy…and, honestly, who doesn’t love that (especially this year)?!

When it comes to holidays, much like the other decorating we do in our home, we choose to approach things with a ‘cozy + slightly minimalist’ mindset. To us, less is often more, although we very much appreciate folks who can pull off very full ensembles (with two large fur monsters running around, our home feels ‘full’ in other ways!). We tend to stick with mostly neutral-colored items that have different textures. This allows us to easily add pops of color without feeling like we’re overpowering one space or having items clash.

 

The Fun Part – Design Meetings- Guest Blog Chelsey Freng

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Continuing our home building journey, let’s talk about the fun part – design meetings. If you haven’t been following along, catch up here.

From personal experience, design meetings can be fun, but also stressful (think budget). In my opinion, the key to alleviating that stress is being prepared and planning ahead. Thomsen has structured their meetings so that each client has at least 3 meetings – floor plan, exterior and interior. We had a few more meetings than the initial 3, but we also had a lot of custom changes and I’m thankful for the extra time and effort the design team was able to put into our home.

Design Meeting 1 – Floor Plan

In our initial meeting, we discussed our site plan, floor plan, layout, windows, door placement, etc. Leading up to this meeting, we felt a little stressed as we couldn’t decide if we wanted to change the upstairs layout from 4 bedrooms to 3 bedrooms with a larger master bath (I’ve always dreamt of a large soaking tub). After talking it over, we decided to keep the original 4-bedroom layout and I’m so glad we did. The extra space will be much needed in the future as a guest room as we have family visiting out of town often.

Nate and I also knew we wanted to add a larger window in the kitchen, a larger patio door, and we opened the office space on the main floor by partially removing a wall. These are all items that we knew we wanted to add before going into our meeting, which was extremely helpful.

Design Meeting 2 – Exterior

During our second meeting, Nate and I were able to pick out our exterior siding, garage doors, shingles, and more. I love the look of the LP Smartside and can’t wait to see what it looks like on our home. We chose a classic white siding and brown brick for the front. We also were able to select a front door and I knew I wanted something with a large window. I had some inspiration pictures saved and Shirley was able to obtain pricing for several different doors. I love that we are able to make our home custom to our wants and needs. She suggested an 8’ door instead of a 7’ door and transom window. I can’t wait to see what the door looks like and how much light it will let in our entryway.

 

Starting our home search

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Thomsen Homes is so excited to be working alongside Chelsey as she and her family build their new home. She has a knack for design, and her chic style is breathtaking! Stay tuned for her guest blog posts and follow along for her home building journey.

 

Hello! My name is Chelsey, a mom of 3, with a passion for home design, living in West Fargo, ND. My husband and I originally built a Thomsen home back in 2017 and decided that we have outgrown the home that we are currently living in. Join me as I walk you through our home building journey on my Instagram and right here on this blog.

Originally from Texas, I moved to North Dakota in 2006 to attend NDSU. I ended up graduating from MSUM with a degree in Graphic Communications. My husband Nate and I have been married for 4.5 years and have three amazing kiddos – Avery (10), Auden (6), and Alder (3). Currently, we have a 3-bedroom home and with 5 of us, we have felt a little cramped. We’re looking forward to upgrading our home, so we have more space, and of course a 3 stall garage is on the top of our list.

 

First, I want to provide a little background about why we chose Thomsen Homes as our home builder and I hope I can answer some helpful questions that you may have when starting your own home building journey.

After meeting with several local builders, we decided to build with Thomsen Homes because the pricing that they had to offer was incomparable to anyone else. We loved the fact that Thomsen includes a sod yard, basic appliances, a patio and my favorite – LP siding. I love the look of the LP Siding because (in my opinion) it looks like a real wood home and provides a classic touch. We also liked the addition of a sod because when you’re buying a home, I want to buy new furniture and not have to worry about buying sod for our new yard.

Another fact that I loved about Thomsen when we initially met with them, was the fact that they were very upfront about pricing. We were able to get estimated costs for some of the upgrades we wanted so we knew we’d be able to fit those upgrades within our budget.

Stay tuned for next time as I discuss signing our contract and starting our build process with Thomsen Homes.