That Time I Visited The HGTV Dream Home

That time? You guys, whoa. Thanks to Delta Faucet for inviting me to come along with you for this ride.

In the world of sweepstakes, the HGTV Dream Home giveaway is a big one–the biggest on cable television. In the world of my life, touring the HGTV Dream Home was a significant notch on the timeline, marking somewhere in between getting married and retiring.

The sweepstakes kicked off this morning, and it ends on February 17th. You can enter twice daily – once on HGTV.com and once on frontdoor.com.

Martha’s Vineyard is obviously a lot different in the summertime when it’s lined with hydrangeas and buzzing with tourists and its summer residents, but the charm wasn’t lost when we were given a full tour of the island on a cloudy December day. Coastal towns are always beautiful. The Cape itself is gorgeous (we stayed at the charming Woods Hole Inn, on the mainland right next to the ferry). Martha’s Vineyard is especially un-commercialized, so it’s really like a great escape this day in age. The architecture has long been a favorite, and I had never been to the island, so it was a fun and inspiring few days.

With the company of a few representing Delta Faucet and Ferguson Showrooms, fellow bloggers Kathleen from Grosgrain Fabulous, Julia from Cuckoo4Design and I ate lunch at Black Dog Tavern, bought our friends and family gifts at local souvenir shops, and spent time in the 19th HGTV Dream Home in Edgarstown.

The tour ended at the Dream Home itself; new construction comes at a premium in Martha’s Vineyard, where towns, beaches, and estates line the coast and leave very little free land available for the taking. The Dream Home is not waterfront, but in a new quiet development where similar, beautiful homes will be going up on either side.

There are a lot of sponsors that participate in the construct and design of the HGTV Dream Home, and Delta Faucet was responsible for all of the faucets, shower heads, bathtubs, towel bars and other accessories, even the toilets. If you’ve ever toured show homes recreationally as a home enthusiast, imagine this as the ultimate, with brands’ top-of-the-line products, no architectural detail opportunities overlooked, a really fluid coastal theme from room to room. Winning it wouldn’t just be winning a prize listed at over $2,000,000, it’s instantly acquiring a perfectly furnished vacation home.

Visiting The Home was an exclusive opportunity, I learned. Not many press or “outsiders” are invited in, and they do their best to keep the house clean. Even the furniture itself has never been sat upon – it’s all mint for the future owner.

Overall, it provides a lot of great inspiration for anyone building or remodeling a coastal-themed home, but it strays from the traditional in a few ways. One of my favorite features in the kitchen was a big skylight directly above the sink in the island, which felt like it really opened up the space, even on an overcast afternoon.

The kitchen is fitted with Delta’s Cassidy faucet with Touch₂O^® Technology, as well as a chrome Pot Filler faucet over the stove.

I wish that I could remember definitely, but I think the countertop you see in the above photo is Mahogany (it’s pretty much the only thing I left out of my notes, I guess). The floors throughout, visible in the below photo, are Lumber Liquidators 3-1/4″Walnut Hickory, and yes, I inspected them closely after my own experience with LL products because I had to know how their seams fell.

The appliances in the kitchen are incredibly awesome too; we had just purchased our new range when I headed out to see the Dream Home… no comparison. And that range hood? Amazing.

The Great Room in the Dream Home is where the design of the home breaks most dramatically from the traditional Cape. With lofted ceilings and dormer windows all around, the very open-concept living space is also lit with natural daylight.

Jack Thomasson and Linda Woodrum have worked together on all 19 Dream Homes. Jack, the Home’s planner, is responsible for everything from location scout to managing the build, whereas Linda is responsible for all of the interior design. They were both there at the Dream Home the day we toured, and it was a real pleasure to be able to meet them both and see them showing off the project and detail-work they’ve spent so much time on this year. They’re involved beginning to end, and their enthusiasm doesn’t stop when the build is complete, they’re really excited to meet the person who wins it. Jack and Linda couldn’t divulge anything about the location of the 20th Dream Home, currently in progress, but if they’re going as big I would expect to celebrate the milestone, I’ll be excited to see where they end up.

Almost every time I questioned the source of something – from furniture, to fixtures, and decor – the answer was Ethan Allen, so if there’s something you like in these photos, that’s where I would direct you to look first.

The Master Bath featured a set of minimalist Compel faucets and an extremely shiny shower head, the In2ition^® Two-In-One Shower Arm Mounted Shower (I posted a close-up on Instagram that day). In another bathroom, there’s even a new product that isn’t on the market yet.

The designers integrated lots of subtleties into the home’s decor too, like beer from Bad Martha which I regretfully didn’t get to sample, art from local artisans, and some special finds from local vintage stops in town. There was something to admire at every turn, which made it a really fun place to explore.

The bathrooms all include a Delta FlushIQ toilet (flushes with the wave of your hand – no levers!); we’ll be getting one too in the next few months, my compensation for this post and a much desired upgrade in our home.

My photos don’t do anything to capture the true beauty of this home, partially because it was an overcast day and mostly because I’m not a professional photographer. I’m not even showing you any of the bedrooms in this cool home, so be sure to check out the tours put together by HGTV, and don’t forget to enter to win!

Editor’s Update, later that same day: I forgot three of my favorite photos! 

I would love an outdoor shower someday, and the set up at the Dream House was incredible, also featuring Delta products. A functional space made super classy.

Dog house, OBVIOUSLY. Yes, a huge, awesome coastal dog house.

Lastly – yes, the GMC Acadia that is given away with the house was there, posing in the front yard! And then we rode back to mainland on the ferry with it. A real star!