Tag Archives: house

Autumn Trends To Fall in Love With!

October 3, 2018Uncategorized2018, Alamo Heights, Autumn, bathtub, beautiful, best, Bill Smith, blog, Boca Do Lobo, custom, custom built, Dominion, Fall Trends, Flex Room, floral, green, high end, home builder, home design trends, house, houzz, Jason Gale, Jesse, luxury, Mudroom, new, New Braunfels, new build, Olmos Park, open kitchen, personal, pink, private, real estate, recommended, reviews, sales, San Antonio, Schertz, Stone Creek Custom Homes, Stone Oak, sustainable, sutapants, Texas Hill Country, top rated, upscale, Vintage Oaks, wash basinStoneCreekTX

It’s been a brutal summer in South Texas with 100-degree weather for days on end. Thankfully, fall is finally here! What better way to celebrate this new season than with some exciting new inspirations for your current home or new? Here’s what’s trending:

Kitchen Un-Confidential

New residential construction trends are seeing kitchens built with more open space, which is ideal for folks who love entertaining and inviting friends and family into their kitchens. For many, the kitchen is the new living room. Imagine a kitchen which opens up to the rest of your home showcasing a giant marble counter lined with chairs, so visitors can enjoy some cocktails and appetizers while you prepare the main course. If this is your dream, we want to fulfill it!

Pretty in Pink

Old-fashioned pink tones are in this season. Done artfully, pink can lend your home both a vibrant, cozy feel. Imagine a dark fuchsia couch contrasted by powder pink pillows, as an example of a stunning use of pink in your home. Pink, of course, is not for the meek. Experts recommend pairing it with metallic, contemporary greys and darker neutrals.

Flower Power

It seems this season is all about celebrating traditionally feminine aesthetics. Another hot décor trend right now is big, bold flower patterns. Before you dismiss this idea, remember flowers can be more than just beautiful. They can be wild and inspiring. Think of the intrepid orchid, of which there are approximately 30,000 species from all over the world. Some look like the creatures that pollinate them, such as the Bee Orchid. When it comes to décor, imagine a giant mural of flowers in dark, rich colors, complimented by dark wood floors.

Bathtub Bliss

If you want a showpiece for your bathroom, look not further than this Boca Do Lobo bathtub:

n’t be afraid to dream, and dream big. This tub also comes with a wash basin, if your truly feeling adventurous.

Mudrooms & Flex Rooms

Be gone are the days of the over-filled hall closet by the front door. Welcome in the days of the mudroom filled with a plethora of storage features, such as cubbies and cabinets. Flex rooms are also gaining in popularity. Typically located near a front hallway or entryway, it’s a room with pocket or French doors that can be used as an office space, library, parlor or other. You decide!

If any of these features sound enticing, please call us at 210-494-5400 to set up a consultation and discuss your vision. You can also simply fill out our online form.

What About the Kids?

September 6, 2018UncategorizedAlamo Heights, art, beautiful, best, Bill Smith, birdhouse, blog, build, bunk beds, custom, custom built, DIY projects, Dominion, fairy garden, green, high end, home builder, home decor ideas, house, houzz, how to, Jason Gale, Jesse, kids, kids room, luxury, mailbox, new, New Braunfels, Olmos Park, personal, play room, playroom, private, real estate, recommended, reviews, sales, San Antonio, Schertz, Stone Creek Custom Homes, Stone Oak, sustainable, sutapants, teepee, Texas Hill Country, theatre, top rated, upscale, Vintage Oaks, wall artStoneCreekTX

When you envision your perfect dream home, make sure to carve out a little dreaming for the kids too! Whether you’re looking to start from the ground up or you just need a make-over, here are some great ideas that will make the kids happy! Some of these are also an opportunity for family bonding.

Wall Art

Give the kids permission to paint on the walls and you’re definitely going to get kudos from the kiddos. Use wainscoting in a room and paint the wall below with chalkboard paint. The kids can pick whatever colors they like and have a blast!

Additionally, removable wall transfers are a great and affordable way to let the kids decorate their own room, knowing that as soon as they’re bored with it, it can easily be changed. These “wall tattoos” come in a variety of styles and patterns.

Playtime

What kid doesn’t want his/her own playroom? Turn that extra bedroom into a mini theatre where your kid(s) can create, imagine and perform. All you need is a mini stage with a curtain, a mic and a few chairs for family and friends to watch… because the show must go on!

DIY Projects for the Kids

Wanting to spruce up your home décor this fall? Get the kids involved and create a homey atmosphere at the same time! Some easy DIY projects might include building a bird house. It doesn’t take much – just a few scraps of wood, some paint and bird feed. You might need a few power tools as well. We like THIS easy to make birdhouse, which claims to take 5 minutes and cost only $5. Check it out:

Other fun DIY projects include painting a mailbox, creating a mini fairy garden in the backyard and making a teepee. If you want a serious project, build some bunk beds, which are perfect for sleepovers and space savers. Who wants a regular bed these days anyway?

We bet you can come up with even more fun ideas to help make your house a home for the whole family! If you’re ready for a new home, please call us at 210-494-5400 to set up a consultation or fill out our online form.

2018 Mid-Year Housing Market Update

August 3, 2018Uncategorized2018, Alamo Heights, beautiful, best, Bill Smith, blog, business journal, custom, custom built, Dominion, green, high end, home builder, house, housing market, housing prices, houzz, Jason Gale, Jesse, luxury, Mid-year, new, New Braunfels, Olmos Park, personal, prices, private, real estate, Real Estate Market, recommended, reviews, Rueters, sales, San Antonio, San Antonio Express-News, Schertz, Stone Creek Custom Homes, Stone Oak, sustainable, sutapants, Texas Hill Country, top rated, U.S., update, upscale, Vintage OaksStoneCreekTX

We’re already over halfway through the year, if you can believe it!? School’s about to start up again, and the holidays seem right around the corner. We decided it was about time for an update on the housing market. If you’re considering buying a new home, here are some things you should know.

We’ve been saying for a while now that there’s no better time to buy a house than right now, and that statement has never been more true. According to the San Antonio Business Journal, home sale prices in San Antonio are still on the rise.

The good news is if you’re looking to sell your current home, before investing in your new dream home, it’s currently a seller’s market. The average sales price per year is increasing by approximately 6 percent. Primarily, homes being sold range from $200,000 to $500,000.

With the market being so hot right now, it makes even more sense to invest in building a home designed specifically for you and your family’s needs – one that will last a lifetime. At Stone Creek Custom Homes, we also go above and beyond to help you find just the right property. Why not start from the ground up, instead of moving into a pre-built home made for somebody else’s family, where you don’t really know what you’re getting into?

With us, you will know exactly what’s going into your home, from the quality of the materials to the expertise and dedication. We work with our customers every single step of the way, so there are no surprises.

According to the San Antonio Express-News, builders aren’t constructing enough homes to keep up with the demand – yet another reason to work with a personalized company such as ours. You’re not just a number in a long line of home owners.

On a national scale, U.S. house prices are expected to rise at twice the speed of inflation and pay, according to a Reuters poll. House prices have been rising more than 5 percent over the past few years – driven again by the shortage of affordable homes in the U.S.

It’s clear San Antonio will continue to grow as well. It’s already considered one of the best places to live in America for a variety of reasons, and we agree. When you’re ready to bring your dream home to life, you know we’ll be here for you! For a consultation, please call at 210-494-5400, or fill out our online form.

Life Gets Sweeter with Local Honey

July 10, 2018UncategorizedAlamo Heights, beautiful, best, Bill Smith, blog, custom, custom built, David Holdman, Dominion, green, high end, Holdman Honey, home builder, honey, house, houzz, Jason Gale, Jesse, local, luxury, new, New Braunfels, Olmos Park, Pearl Brewery, pearl farmers market, personal, private, pure, raw, real estate, recommended, reviews, sales, San Antonio, Schertz, Stone Creek Custom Homes, Stone Oak, sustainable, sutapants, Texas Hill Country, the bee place, top rated, upscale, Vintage OaksStoneCreekTX

Holdman Honey

Local beekeeper, Gary Rankin of The Bee Place, teaches us that bees can do far more for us than make delicious honey. Gary’s primary focus is on supplying new beekeepers with the education and tools to help take care of the bees. Perhaps more importantly to homeowners or property owners, Gary can show you how bees can save you a substantial amount on property taxes. He offers a service for folks who want to lease honey bees from him for the purpose of qualifying for ag valuation on their property. To qualify, you must have 5 to 20 acres of land (minus a house). With a house, you must have 6 to 21 acres of property. Gary was able to save one of his customers in Lockhart over $10,000 in taxes a year. While there is a fee for Gary’s services, you can bet it’s worth it! Still, there’s no denying that there’s nothing sweeter than Texas honey. Although Gary’s mission isn’t to harvest and sell honey, he works with a guy who does! Introducing David Holdman of Holdman Honey. Located in Seguin, David and his family manage 800 hives around Texas. He sells several different kinds of honey, which are named after the counties the bees live and thrive in: Guadalupe, Bexar, Wilson, Medina, Gonzales and Atascosa. “Our honey is local, raw honey, which means it’s just pure honey God gives us through the bees,” said David, humbly. The flavor of the honey depends upon the types of blooming plants and trees in the area, and interestingly, there are seven different colors of honey. “Out in Medina, the honey is a lot lighter and has a smoother finish versus the Atascosa and Bexar county honey, which are a little stronger,” explained David. Perhaps one of the best things about eating local honey is the benefits it offers people who suffer from seasonal allergies. It’s no myth that eating honey on a regular basis that is harvested (not processed) from bees within approximately a 100-mile radius will help those who suffer from dreaded allergies, such as cedar fever. David’s own son, who had allergies when he was quite young, kicked those allergies by eating delicious peanut butter and honey sandwiches for lunch every day. Although you can find Holdman Honey in stores all over Texas (see their website for details), our favorite place to find them is at the Pearl Farmers Market on the weekends. You can meet the beekeeper himself and learn all sorts of sweet stuff! For more information on beekeeping classes and “bee leasing,” email Gary at beekeeper@thebeeplace.com. Of course, if you’re looking to build a gorgeous custom home to make your bees happy, call us a call at 210-494-5400.

Live Smarter with SmartHauz!

June 13, 2018UncategorizedAlamo Heights, Apple HomeKit, beautiful, best, Bill Smith, blog, cooling, custom, custom built, dimmers, Dominion, green, heating, high end, home builder, house, houzz, ipad, iphone, Jason Gale, Jesse, luxury, new, New Braunfels, Olmos Park, personal, private, real estate, recommended, reviews, sales, San Antonio, save money, Schertz, smart, smart home, smart technology, smarthauz, sprinklers, Stone Creek Custom Homes, Stone Oak, Sunny Sneckner, sustainability, sustainable, sutapants, switches, Texas Hill Country, thermostats, top rated, upscale, video doorbell, Vintage OaksStoneCreekTX

Courtesy of SmartHauz

We are thrilled to now showcase the first Apple HomeKit “smart” model home in Texas! We recently partnered with Austin-based company, SmartHauz.me, to install smart features, something more and more of our customers are requesting. In fact, we are now offering core smart features for our clients with options to upgrade, depending on how smart you really want to be.

We interviewed Founder and CEO, Sunny Sneckner, to get some more insight into what he does. Sunny worked for Apple on the Austin campus for 6 years, which is where he first saw the opportunity to provide service for people who wanted the convenience of on-site support. SmartHauz was formed in January of 2017.

“I wanted to work with builders to integrate the cost of smart technology installation into their new homes. People can roll the cost into their mortgages, so that they’re paying just a few extra dollars a month,” explained Sunny. “This is the true state of luxury. There’s nothing luxurious about walking around your house and turning off all the lights.”

Our Stone Creek Custom Homes’ model home, located at 1225 Vintage Way in New Braunfels, is equipped with the basic necessities, including lights, locks, environmental controls and doorbell.

“The majority of the house is now controlled with smart switches and smart dimmers on the lights, two smart thermostats, which can save you about 20% on cooling/heating costs and a smart lock equipped with a video doorbell that allows you to use your phone instead of a key to let people in and out, say to drop off packages or for maintenance.

If anyone comes up to the doorstep, you’re alerted before they even press the button, and you can communicate with them over video remotely,” he said. “These features are what make a smart home really functional. They save time and energy and offer you peace of mind. If you’re laying in bed at night watching TV, you don’t have to get out of bed to lock the door and turn off the lights.”

Sunny also loves to use his smart technology to automatically turn the ceiling fan on and off while he’s sleeping, to help control the temperature in the room, and keep him cool. Customers also dig the smart garage door, leaving you never to wonder again if you remembered to close it. Now you can use your phone to find out and close it from wherever you are in the world. They also offer smart sprinklers, which can reduce water consumption by a whopping 50 percent. Smart technology isn’t just about convenience, it’s about sustainability and cost efficiency in the long run.

New home buyers can rejoice that we are now offering a variety of smart home packages, as part of your build. There’s also the option to have a design consultation with Sunny and his team to custom tailor your smart features. “Just like picking out marble for your counter or wood for the floors,” said Sunny.

It’s all surprisingly easy to use, and Sunny makes sure he or a team member personally walks you through set-up on your iPhone, iPad, or whichever technology you prefer to use. For more information on Smart Hauz, visit https://smarthauz.me/.

If you’d like more information or to set up a consultation or tour, give us a call at 210-494-5400.

San Antonio Custom Home Builder Stone Creek Custom Homes

Best Custom Home Builder in San Antonio, Texas