The Parade of Homes Is Not Always for Buyers

Crowds pay $8 a ticket to tour luxury homes in Texas
Crowds pay $8 a ticket to tour luxury homes in Texas

RISMEDIA, June 27, 2006?(KRT)?First, there’s the entry.

You don’t just open a door and wander into a Parade of Homes house.

You travel through custom-designed iron gates and into an expansive courtyard. Or into a room with a wall of windows and a view of the pool.

Then comes the Italian Travertine floors, European cabinets, massive stone fireplaces, coffee bars in the master suite and outdoor kitchens nicer than your actual kitchen.

At the 2006 Parade of Homes in New Braunfels, Texas, it’s all about the details.

“Everything is hand-done and custom-ordered,” said Bart Goldblum of the Laredo-based Artison Homes, whose parade home entryway features a cross vault ceiling covered with Travertine in a herringbone pattern.

The Parade of Homes continues through Sunday in the RockWall Ranch neighborhood, a rural, gated community in New Braunfels.

Nine homes are open and tickets cost $8 at the gate, or $6 if you buy them at Home Depot locations.

If you’re inclined to spend more, the parade homes are for sale in the $1 million range.

Or, you can just look.

“It’s the best place to get ideas,” Goldblum said. “People have to see something first before they can do it.” While the parade homes have a Hill Country flair, there are several design and architectural trends that anyone building, remodeling — or imaginary decorating — can adapt.

Eleanor Scott, interior designer with John Williams Interiors, which worked on two of the parade homes, said most builders and buyers are moving more toward a Spanish theme instead of the Tuscan look that’s been so popular in recent years.

Although they both have a Mediterranean influence, Spanish-style homes include brighter colors and features such as courtyards.

“The trend is brighter colors, more color in the rooms,” Scott said. “People love fountains and pools. You’ll see that in use in all of your homes.” Other things Scott noticed in the parade: media rooms, ceilings as high as can be, dark cabinets, matte finishes on anything metal, and no formal living rooms, although dining rooms are still important.

Another new trend: Wall coverings are making a comeback.

Natural materials such as wood flooring or stone — from Hill Country limestone to Italian Travertine (a kind of marble) — remain popular. Carpet, when it’s there at all, appears in the bedrooms.

Builder Mark Seward with the Elan Group in New Braunfels describes his parade home as contemporary-Hill Country-Asian. It’s on 1.1 acres and includes a beach-entry pool, artwork by California artist Norman Foster and a 100-inch projection screen in a media room.

The Elan Group used flush-mortared limestone on the home’s interior. It’s a rustic-looking German technique common in older homes in the area. It’s made a comeback in high-end homes, Seward said.

He said other things recent buyers have asked for — and visitors to the Parade of Homes have asked about — include glass-tile accents and a coffee maker installed in a nook of the master bedroom. It’s attached directly to the plumbing, so there’s no need to carry in water.

The house also features a courtyard — something Seward and others said is getting popular.

“It’s a difficult floor plan to do,” Seward said. “It creates a whole lot more roof area, so it’s a little more expensive to build that way. You’ve got to deal with drainage. But it adds such privacy to the house.” Goldblum’s house has three wings that wrap around a pond and a large oak tree.

He described his parade home as a mix of Italian, Spanish and California architecture, which reflects that many buyers of high-end Texas homes are moving in from out of state.

“It’s a hybrid style now,” he said.

“We’re seeing buyers from out of state, from Houston, from Dallas,” said Gil Riedel of Riedel Custom Homes, whose parade home features a massive mesquite chopping block in the kitchen, copper sinks and an exterior than blends early Texas German style, stucco and Austin chopped limestone.

RockWall Ranch is off FM 3009, west on Schoenthal Road.

The neighborhood has been under construction for a year and a half and l eventually will include about 500 homes on 1-to 3-acre lots.

The parade is sponsored by the Greater New Braunfels Home Builders Association.

Builders participate in the Parade of Homes not only in hopes of selling the houses, but as a marketing and advertising tool to show off what they can do in their custom building businesses.

While some parade visitors shop for builders, others go to see how the other half lives.

“You can see how hard these wood floors would be to keep clean,” one woman said as she pointed to a bit of dust showing on the dark wood floors in one parade home master bedroom.

“Well,” her friend replied, shrugging her shoulders, “you have a maid.”