Parade of Homes KICKS OFF
EDMOND — The first thing that might grab attention in this Ridge Creek home is the view: a pair of glass-paneled sliding doors open out on an expansive porch and the yard beyond, which slopes gently down to the tree line.
On the other hand, it might be the breakfast nook: three walls lined with benches, with windows overhead.
“We built a table to include in here,” said Foster Signature Homes’ Brad Thiessen, gesturing toward the middle of the nook during a recent visit. “There will be a full table, so really, you could keep this as a dining room.”
Or not. Just through the nearby sliding barn doors is what Foster designers have termed “smart room,” which could serve as a more formal dining room, a study or whatever else a homeowner might want.
“Smart space is basically for you to use however you want,” said Thiessen, director of sales and marketing for Foster Signature Homes.
The home at 8216 Ridge Creek Road is one stop in this year’s Parade of Homes Fall Classic, Saturday through Sept .17, with 106 new houses by 61 builders open free to the public from 1 to 7 p.m. daily all over the metro area, from Edmond to Norman and from Yukon to Choctaw.
Guidebooks are available at metro-area Best Buy stores. Free tickets are available for download at paradeofhomesok.com, which also offers maps and photos, as well. Check in with the downloaded ticket at five homes to be entered in a drawing for a $1,000 Metro Appliances gift card.
The Parade of Homes, in its seventh decade, is the biggest annual project of the Central Oklahoma Home Builders Association.
Ridge Creek
Ridge Creek, which is taking shape north of the intersection of Coffee Creek Road and N Douglas Boulevard in east Edmond, is the parade’s featured neighborhood this year. Foster Signature Homes, 2500 Boardwalk St. in Norman, is both builder and developer.
Even with noisy construction equipment, the appeal is clear. Thick groves of trees wrap in close to the houses, forming a dramatic backdrop. The houses themselves, with their stone-and-wood-exteriors, seem to echo their surroundings.
“Everywhere we build, we try to blend the homes with the land,” Thiessen said. That takes careful planning, laying in the homes among the trees and preserving as many as possible.
“As a developer, it’s really hard to do it this way,” Thiessen said. “It’s easier and less expensive to just clear the land and put as many homes in there as possible. But we decided to give Edmond a little unique community, to really think it out.”
The feature home at 8216 Ridge Creek Road offers a snapshot of what potential homeowners can expect here. Coming in at 3,266 square feet, it features four bedrooms and three baths with a wide-open floor plan and a cathedral ceiling in the living room.
Shiplap and reclaimed wood add texture to the walls, and a bay window fetches more light into the front bedroom. A dark-stained barrel ceiling towers high over the free-standing tub in the master bath.
A double-sided fireplace joins the living room and the “smart room,” whatever purpose it will serve.
A wide hallway leading in from the garage offers another “smart room” option with space for a desk, and built-ins, such as the china hutch near the kitchen, offer stylish storage.
The kitchen blends seamlessly into the great room and comes with its own perks.
“You have floor-toceiling cabinets in the kitchen, so your kitchen is oversized,” Thiessen said. “Lots of kitchen cabinets for storage.”
The layout features two bedrooms downstairs and two upstairs with their own bath, a split three-car garage and a master suite with its own private patio.
The home is listed for $529,900 with Karen Blevins, of ChurchillBrown & Associates Realtors, 1362 E 15th St. in Edmond.
Ridge Creek is in phase one. The Estates at Ridge Creek concentrates on bigger lots and offers a handful of acreages. A second community, Watermark at Ridge Creek, will offer highend living on smaller lots. Subsequent phases will layer on more amenities, including a walking trail and a community pool.