The Design Process with Taylor Morrison

This is my honest, non-sponsored, personal experience with the process of selecting interior finishes through the builder for our new house.

[Model Home showcasing the Bay Palette.]

Let me start my saying that Taylor Morrison (TM) is a national company with multiple project locations and a variety of client experiences. Our experience with them was nuanced for a few reasons:

• As a designer, I went into the process wanting to select everything, and have control of various details.

• The complex was originally owned by a different home builder, William Lyons, and had been bought out and taken over by Taylor Morrison during the pandemic. The transition changed and limited the options and flexibility we were given.

• We bought, designed, and built this house during a global pandemic…

So, after purchasing the lot, we began what I will call the semi-custom design process with the design lead at TM. We were offered four pre-curated finish palettes from which to choose. Each palette contained selections for an engineered hardwood floor, carpet (which we tried to swap out for wood but couldn’t…), bathroom counter and tile floor, and kitchen countertop and backsplash.

I immediately resonated with the overall brightness and lightness of the Coastal palette, while Casey moved towards the Bay selections. I loved the hexagonal Daltile Carrara White backsplash finish in the Bay palette but really liked the Mohawk Coastal Bliss Oak planks offered in the Coastal package. The Vintage Nation Oak in the Bay option felt too grey for me so, of course, I asked if we could mix and match things. Unfortunately, that was a “no”, as was the case with most things I asked for some flexibility on.

After weeks of going back and forth, we decided to take one last trip out to the model homes and see both palettes represented in full scale. To my surprise, the Vintage Nation Oak planks had a lot more variety and were a more rich chocolate-y brown than I had originally thought. In comparison, the Coastal Bliss Oak seemed washed out and cool toned, rather than the warm look of the sample I had seen.

What I learned: If you can, try not to make a decision like the flooring of your entire house based on a single plank sample. There is a lot variety in wood planks, so if you can get a few planks of wood, a large sample size, or ask them to mock it up in a rendering - this will help you get a good idea of what the final product will be.

At the end of the day, Casey got his choice of wood flooring, and I got my favorite kitchen backsplash. We’re excited to see how everything comes together!