The Huffs

What initially made you decide to build in Gray Oaks?

It was the perfect location for us and we know we liked this area. We like the idea of having a neighborhood that has some particular character to it. Not just a bunch of typical Indianapolis two story homes. We kind of met those criteria and then we fell in love with the model floor plan and our lot so it was kind of a tri-fecta. We were ready for something smaller more manageable lot wise.

Now that you live here, what do you like the most about living in Gray Oaks?

Location, we really like our neighbors. We like watching the neighborhood grow. We were one of the first half dozen or so to build in Gray Oaks. It’s kind of a little contained community. That sounds kind of Stepford Wife-ish doesn’t it? But really, we like living here. You can go for a walk and see your neighbors and you don’t have to be super friendly. It’s just a nice little community. By the way, we love the GetGo.

What’s your favorite thing about your home?

I think it turned out exactly the way we had envisioned accept maybe a little bit better. It was exactly the feel and look we were looking for. Even though we had a pretty good idea that we wanted something like the model, we feel like our home is totally different. It’s totally ours. And we love our kitchen and how it came out. It really fit with our lifestyle because it all centers around cooking and eating. We really enjoy everything about our kitchen.

Tell us about the building experience with Old Town.

I have to say that it was an overall positive experience. Anytime that you build, with any process that’s that involved it’s always going to have its ups and downs, but overall a good experience. We got the home that we wanted. Yea, there’s some punch-listing, but they recognized that and things were taken care of. If you want to know our general opinion, it was a good experience. And we really enjoyed picking things out, decorating our home and making it ours. A majority of their vendors were very helpful, nice people and were very knowledgeable about their products. I think that’s really a good place to start for sure.

You don’t want your vendors to be a bad reflection of your product. We got a lot of help from Marble Uniques and ADS, they were very helpful. They really helped us make the home what we wanted. And the flooring people, Angie, she was really helpful with suggestions. It’s overwhelming, I mean building a house just gets overwhelming and when you have to kind of pair it down into certain things the vendors are great. As long as you have someone who can kind of guide you, because we knew what we kind of wanted, but that’s their business not our business. We got exactly what we wanted at the end of the day. We don’t look back or wish we’ve done anything differently.

Share with us the thoughts and feelings you had when you got to walk into your home fully completed.

That’s a process because we still don’t consider it quite completed. First of all, it certainly was a relief, that we didn’t make any big mistakes in picking out stuff. Secondly, this is really cooler than I thought it was going to be. It’s really better than we thought. And how much different it felt, like we were saying before, if we go back to the model now we’re like “Oh my god, we could not live there.” You know it was the house that we kind of modeled this one after.

It still feels so much like ours, it’s so different that we go back and look now and it’s like, no, we need to go back to our house. I think I really enjoyed seeing how that whole process evolved. You don’t relax or feel good until the landscaping is in and everything is done it’s like, “Thank goodness!” This looks kind of like the way you wanted it to look. It’s just like Dawn (their neighbor) said, when they first moved in she felt like she was on vacation. “This feels like living in a resort.” It was a really sweet thing to say. Like she’d have to go home in two weeks. It’s a great feeling actually. I don’t feel like it’s a resort, it just feels like, this is our house. It feels good and we’re totally satisfied.

Would you recommend us to your friends?

We already have. The gal in my book club who now lives next door, she called me and asked, “Do you mind if I move into Gray Oaks?” I thought, I can’t really control that, but of course not. Another friend of ours is building over by Ace hardware, they have a lot over there. They’ve been through our house many times and looking around the neighborhood. That’s happened more than once with our friends. So yes, and you hear things about every builder or every experience whether you buy a used house or a new house there’s always going to be something, but just for the complete process, it’s still a good one.

It’s shocking how many people our age are building houses here. It’s Gray Oaks for a reason because we have gray hair. But yes it is shocking, there’s a lot of people building new homes, but you kind of get what you want then, finally, and you don’t have to worry about kids and schools and what district you’re in. Not that you would have to worry about that here and that’s another thing is the re-sell value due to the location is great. So the answer to your question is yes.

The Huff family found the home design and location that was right for them. Make the move and write your own building story with Old Town Design Group.