Spring home parade is smaller with loaded homes
About half the normal number of houses were entered into event
Bathroom tile alone usually isn’t all that interesting, but 2-by-4 tile is — if it’s 2 feet by 4 feet.
French Construction added a cathedral ceiling, freestanding tub and frameless shower, for an absorbing effect. Then there’s the grand entry way with 12foot ceiling, and the cathedral ceiling that runs from the kitchen through the living room.
Of special interest, perhaps, to aging boomers, the four bedrooms, three baths, half-bath, study and game room are all on on level. The list of amenities goes on.
French Construction — Tom French and his son, Andrew — wasn’t the only builder pouring on the amenities and extras for this year’s smaller-than-usual Parade of Homes Spring Festival this weekend and next.
Parade homes are usually showcases of the latest styles and trends, but builders spread them over more than entry. This year, with a demand-driven housing shortage, most builders in the parade entered just one house, and they loaded it up.
“We used a large-format, 24-by-48-inch tile that surrounds the tub and shower area. We have to lay it a little different, but it really looks great when you get it put up,” Andrew French said of 2925 Gold Finch Drive in Edmond’s Fallbrook addition.
Only about 50 homes are in the parade, less than half as many as usual, open free to the public from 1 to 7 p.m. Friday-Sunday and again April 30-May 2. Entries are from Edmond to Norman and Yukon to Choctaw. Coronavirus precautions will be observed.
The featured addition is Cross Timbers — with three neighborhoods, the Ridge, the Lakes and Creekside — off Covell Road between Sooner and Coltrane roads in Edmond. The parade book, with description and maps to the homes, goes online Monday. OnCue stores also will have the free guidebooks.
Joe Griffin Homes’ lone parade entry, a model at 9220 NW 82, is a mix of extras and extra touches.
Take the interior doors. They’re solid core, for one thing, but dark stain sets them off. All of them. And the fireplace: The red brick masonry towers to the cathedral ceiling.
Handcrafted cabinetry is featured throughout the large kitchen with its big island and buffet. Upstairs is a media room with a Blu-ray player, 100-inch retractable projector screen, projector, mini fridge and microwave, and a halfbath.
The home has Bluetooth speakers in the bathrooms, an in-ground storm shelter in the garage and an outdoor brick fireplace.
Ripple Creek Homes’ parade entry at 2433 Amante Court in the featured Cross Timbers addition features large sliding glass doors that open onto a big covered patio with a fireplace. The master bedroom has French doors that open to a patio.
Ripple Creek owner Paul Harris a special touch he especially likes are the “cool beams in the living room that are a little different from a more traditional beam.”
Edmond builder Caleb McCaleb said that all of the parade homes are dream homes because so many builders concentrated on showing just one in the parade. His one entry, in the Modern Farmhouse style, is at 1624 Boathouse Road in The Plaza at Town Square, his development north of Danforth Road east of Coltrane Road in Edmond.
“Every detail poured into this home shouts Farmhouse — from the shiplap vaulted ceiling in the living room, to the plaid accent tile in the guest bath, to the barn door on the walk-in pantry,” McCaleb says in the parade book.
Special features include a “panoramic window wall door system that goes out onto the screened-in outdoor living space” and a downstairs master suite with a “Pinterest-worthy” bathroom and large closet connected to the utility/ laundry room.
With so relatively few homes for sale, the parade will open in a particularly hungry market. So with many of the parade homes already sold or under contract, the event could be more of an interior design show than usual, with people going for design ideas, not necessarily looking to buy.
Builders expect a crowd, no matter what people come looking for.
“I don’t think it’ll be too crazy. I do expect a lot of traffic. People are ready to get out,” Griffin said.
In light of the coronavirus, parade organizers ask visitors to:
h Continue to practice social distancing as best as possible while visiting parade homes.
h Wash your hands frequently and use hand sanitizer before entering each parade home.
h Keep the touching of surfaces (countertops, doorknobs, cabinet doors, etc.) to a minimum
h Wear a face mask or covering if you think necessary.
Real Estate Editor Richard Mize edits The Oklahoman’s Real Estate section, and covers housing, construction, commercial real estate and related topics for the newspaper and Oklahoman.com.
Contact him at rmize@oklahoman.com. Please support his work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by
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