The Cambridge Blog

If you’ve read our “Love Story”, you’ll know why we named our company after Cambridge, Massachusetts.  On Christmas Day, the New York Times travel section ran an article extolling the virtues of that city.

As North Texas’ premiere Builder of Luxury Patio Homes, we at Cambridge Homes specialize exclusively in this small niche of the custom home building market.
There are three major reasons why we’ve chosen to do this:
First, because of the PRIVACY we can create home-to-home.
Second, because a private, OUTDOOR LIVING SPACE is an integral part of each Cambridge Patio home, and
Third, because our clients love the EASY MAINTENANCE of living in a Cambridge Patio Home.

PRIVACY:

Patio homes, instead of being centered on the property, as is typical, are actually positioned directly on the property line.  The side of the home positioned on the property line is called the “Zero Wall” because it rests zero distance from the property line. Because that zero wall has no windows or doors, it actually acts as the privacy wall between neighbors. For this reason, patio homes provide virtually complete side-to-side, home-to-home privacy.

OUTDOOR LIVING SPACE:

On a typical, centered lot, the homeowner must maintainall four sides of the home, even though most of that space is neither visible nor usable.  In a Cambridge luxury patio home, the side and back yards are concentrated in a single, enclosed “courtyard” space which is both visible and immediately accessible from major rooms in the home.This private courtyard becomes, quite literally, an outdoor Living Room.  With minimal effort and expense, each Cambridge homeowner can have a low maintenance, yet immensely livable and attractive, outdoor living area.

EASY MAINTENANCE:

In addition, because the front yard of every Cambridge patio home is maintained by the Homeowner Association, the time required of the homeowner to maintain his home is minimal.  Cambridge homeowners have the happy option of just locking the door and leaving on a trip at a moment’s notice, knowing that their yard will be maintained while they’re away.

When speaking on CNBC this morning, the President of the Dallas Federal Reserve made the following statements about Texas:

1. 38% of jobs created in the USA after crash of 07/08 were created here in Texas.
2. The GDP of India just recently passed Texas
3. Texas passed California 7 years ago in international trading
4. All the natural gas recently discovered in the US is a result of technology developed in Houston
5. Only 1 bank in Texas has failed during the financial crisis
6. Very few homeowners in Texas are upside down on their mortgage

The Morale of the Story???
Things are GOOD here in Texas!!

Appearing on D HOME’s Best Builder List for the 7th Consecutive Year, Cambridge Homes offers irrefutable proof that bigger isn’t necessarily better.

We have built our reputation on the proposition that a truly gracious home need not be enormous.  That it can, in fact, be smaller.  Much smaller.  With fewer, but more spacious, rooms.  With the same elegant features and finishes usually found only in extravagantly large custom homes.

Cambridge Homes creates Luxury Patio Homes for Discerning Adults seeking Low-Maintenance Living and Luxurious Appointments in a Smaller, Custom Designed Home in unique, planned communities throughout North Texas, including Far North Dallas, Colleyville, Allen, McKinney, and North Richland Hills, and coming soon to Southlake, Coppell, and Arlington.

The dedicated members of the Cambridge Homes Custom Design Staff excel at helping each of our clients create a home that perfectly fits their stage of life.   These competent and caring professionals who make up our Cambridge Homes Team are committed to high standards of design and construction, and to giving each of our clients a happy homebuilding experience.

A recent issue of House Beautiful magazine features article after article about the Color PINK.
Yes, Pink.
Pink in all its varieties:  Blush, Rose, Hot.  Pink!
Photo after photo of Pink rooms, Pink chairs, Pink sofas, Pink bedspreads, Pink Lamps!
As I flipped the pages, I marveled at the Courage it must have taken to choose that paint, that furniture, those fabrics, those accessories.

Color is such a personal thing.

One of my dearest friends, Ruth, cannot abide the color Yellow, but adores any version of the color Blue.  Her husband’s favorite color is Green.  Since both Blue and Green are “cool” colors, they find common ground by staying away from “warm” colors (like yellow!).

Ruth’s Cool Colors

Another very dear, and long time friend, Linda, is most comfortable in rooms of neutral tones.   She is willing to use muted colors as accents, but for the most part keeps her spaces very neutral.

Linda’s Neutral Colors

Both Linda and Ruth make no secret that they could never be comfortable with “my” colors.  To them, my spaces are too bright, too glaring, too loud.  They shout.
But I like my colors.  I like bright and bold and shouting!
They make me feel Alive.  Happy.  Energetic.

My ‘Shouting’ Colors

My friend, Lydia, on the other hand, loves hot, spicy colors.  She’s a fabulous cook who specializes in creating Mexican dishes featuring varieties of hot peppers.  And her dress and décor reflect the same sizzling excitement.

Lyndia’s Spicy Colors

One reads so many “RULES” about choosing color.

To me, however, there is only ONE hard, fast rule about color:  Choose only those colors that make YOU feel comfortable!  Choose a color only because YOU really like it.

Most of our clients, when building a Cambridge Patio Home, ponder the issue of resale and whether or not their color selections should mirror current fashion.  I always recommend against choosing anything just because it’s fashionable.  I suggest they  consider only what truly pleases them.   (Remember:  Choosing anything that is now very “IN” virtually assures that within five years it will be just as “OUT”!)

Assuming that you’re planning to live in your Cambridge Patio Home for some time, what’s in fashion now is much less important than choosing something you know you’ll be happy with for many years to come.

Don’t miss the Art Show in Historic Downtown McKinney this coming Saturday, April 9th!
This much anticipated annual event celebrates the talent of more than 150 local and regional artists.
While you’re there, stop by the Historic District’s “sister neighborhood”, Chapel Hill, and tour
our newly decorated Luxury Patio Home model at 824 Chapel Hill Lane.  Call Debbie at (469) 446-2773 for directions!

According to a report by Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, as today’s Baby Boomers mature, they are seeking some of the same things sought by active adults in their parents’ generation.  These include easy-maintenance homes, active social lives, and close proximity to shopping, health care, entertainment, & fitness centers.  These studies further indicate, however, that the settings in which Boomers will find what they’re seeking are likely to be much different.  Instead of choosing large, highly amenitized communities, often in sunnier climes, with hundreds (or even thousands) of residents, more of today’s active adults are seeking smaller communities close to suburban hubs – and grandchildren.  We, at Cambridge Homes, have built our business on that very change.  The communities in which we build our carefree patio homes in north Texas are smaller, more intimate enclaves, conveniently located in desirable suburbs, near shopping and dining venues, world-class medical facilities, and a wide range of entertainment (including grandchildren’s soccer games and piano & dance recitals!).  Check out our easy-maintenance lifestyle communities in Allen, Colleyville, Far North Dallas, and McKinney.

We hear a lot of discussion these days concerning the size of our carbon footprint:  You know, the question of how much more than our fair share of the planet’s resources we use just by being here and living the way we do. 

Having lived in a country and culture where More & Bigger have been the universal goals for more than a century, the concept of reducing ones’ carbon footprint seems a reversal of values.  Suddenly we find that - now that we can finally afford a big home, big car, big boat, etc., - the values of our culture have reversed course!  We now find ourselves scorned for owning that same big home, big car, big boat.

Suddenly it is no longer a sign of success to own and operate anything that enlarges our ‘carbon footprint’!  Suddenly Bigger is no longer Better.  In fact, Big isn’t good at all!  Smaller is better.  Smaller is Moral.  Smaller is Kinter, Smarter, More Spiritually in Tune.  Less suddenly is More.  The lesser the better!  Less Stuff.  Less Space.  Fewer ‘Things’. 

At Cambridge Homes, this has been our philosophy always.  Since our founding nearly eighteen years ago, we have designed and built for our Luxury Patio Home clients, nicely appointed, smaller homes on smaller home sites.  Our homebuyers appreciate the sophistication of our patio home designs, the quality of our craftmanship, and the appropriateness of the space we provide.  Please visit one of our Luxury Patio Home communities soon to see for yourself.

Recently a friend sent me a link to the “Life Expectancy Calculator”.  After taking the quiz, I was pleased - and relieved! - to learn that I might actually have another twenty or so years yet to live!  Then I got to thinking how incredibly swiftly the last twenty years sped by.  If the next twenty pass just as swiftly, they’ll be gone in a flash!  It made me realize that I’ve got to get busy making the most of the time I have left!

With the current economic and political uncertainty in our world, it’s easy to put everything on hold and wait for things to get better before getting on with our lives.  It seems easier to just stay put:  To put off building a new home; to delay that trip abroad, to wait until the stock market turns around, or until the war is over, or until….

But if, like me, you’re in your 50’s or 60’s, or even 70’s, you realize that time is passing.  The question is this:  Knowing I have a finite amount of time left to live, HOW do I want to live?

Do I want to play “turtle” and pull in my head, waiting for events to make it safe for me to come out and play?

Or do I want to make the very most of what time I have left?  When I look at it THAT way, it’s a “no-brainer”!

I choose to LIVE and EMBRACE LIFE in the time I have left!  This is my last bite of the apple!

Maybe this means I’ll call the travel agent and take that trip to Australia.  Or maybe it means I’ll sell this old house (that was great when the kids were growing up, but that is fast becoming an albatross!) and build a new Cambridge Homes luxury patio home that has all the bells and whistles I’ve always wanted.

Whatever I’ve been wanting to do, this I know for certain:  NOW is the Time!

To check out the Live Expectancy Calculator, just click below:

http://www.sonnyradio.com/realage3.swf