Affordable Luxury Homes in Fargo and Grand Forks
When you reminisce on memories you’ve made with friends and family, where do a lot of those memories occur? Think about events and parties you’ve been to, or have hosted yourself. What space do you gather in? The kitchen is the space most beloved and used in the home. You cook, entertain, eat, socialize, and so much more in the kitchen. Designing this space to your liking is key to ensure plenty more memorable moments happen in the years to come!
There are quite a few things to consider when picking out your counters. With all the choices from laminate to granite, from a simple to a busy design, picking countertops may give you a little stress when it comes time to choose. Not so design savvy? Don’t worry! Our Designers will help guide you through this process by asking you questions to get your mind fine-tuned and running towards countertop success! With an abundance of samples in our Design Studio to feel and look at, the choosing becomes a little easier! We will help you get a feel for your space as a whole by helping you choose cabinets and flooring to match, creating something that is cohesive and beautiful!
We offer three types of countertops in our homes:
Laminate: These come standard in our Classic home bathrooms. They are made from layers of bonded plastic and board. Many varieties that have a consistent look.
Quartz: These come standard in both Classic and Luxury home kitchens and standard in our Luxury home bathrooms. Made from ground quartz and resins, these countertops are very hard, durable and easy to clean, but not heat resistant.
Granite: Granite is an upgrade option for any home. Granite countertops are made from sheets of granite, therefore the color and pattern can vary from one sample to the next. Granite is much more heat resistant than quartz is.
Not sure which to choose? Check out this article on choosing quartz or granite.
We have created a series called Design For Your Mind, which focuses on guiding you through various aspects of the design process! Watch our countertops edition below!
Continuing our home building journey, let’s talk about the fun part – design meetings. If you haven’t been following along, catch up here.
From personal experience, design meetings can be fun, but also stressful (think budget). In my opinion, the key to alleviating that stress is being prepared and planning ahead. Thomsen has structured their meetings so that each client has at least 3 meetings – floor plan, exterior and interior. We had a few more meetings than the initial 3, but we also had a lot of custom changes and I’m thankful for the extra time and effort the design team was able to put into our home.
In our initial meeting, we discussed our site plan, floor plan, layout, windows, door placement, etc. Leading up to this meeting, we felt a little stressed as we couldn’t decide if we wanted to change the upstairs layout from 4 bedrooms to 3 bedrooms with a larger master bath (I’ve always dreamt of a large soaking tub). After talking it over, we decided to keep the original 4-bedroom layout and I’m so glad we did. The extra space will be much needed in the future as a guest room as we have family visiting out of town often.
Nate and I also knew we wanted to add a larger window in the kitchen, a larger patio door, and we opened the office space on the main floor by partially removing a wall. These are all items that we knew we wanted to add before going into our meeting, which was extremely helpful.
During our second meeting, Nate and I were able to pick out our exterior siding, garage doors, shingles, and more. I love the look of the LP Smartside and can’t wait to see what it looks like on our home. We chose a classic white siding and brown brick for the front. We also were able to select a front door and I knew I wanted something with a large window. I had some inspiration pictures saved and Shirley was able to obtain pricing for several different doors. I love that we are able to make our home custom to our wants and needs. She suggested an 8’ door instead of a 7’ door and transom window. I can’t wait to see what the door looks like and how much light it will let in our entryway.
Niels is the younger brother of Chris Thomsen and has been with the company from the beginning. He’s the jack of all trades, and has worked in a variety of different areas within the company. Niels oversees many large processes and keeps everything flowing in the right direction. In his free time, he enjoys hunting and being at the lake with his wife and son! Get to know him below!
What hobby would you get into if time and money weren’t an issue? Two seasonal activities that I really enjoy doing, but never seem to have time for are Waterfowl Hunting in the fall, and Wake Surfing in the summer.
What fictional place would you most like to go? I’ll stay in the realm of reality ?
Look at your last song listened to on your phone. What is it? I actually don’t have music on my phone. The only time I listen to music is either in my truck or when someone else plays it on a speaker.
My favorite word in the English language is? I have no idea – I’m sorry!…
If you could only watch one movie for the rest of your life, what movie and why? Any of the Star Wars, or Marvel movies – I’ve always enjoyed ‘super hero’ type movies.
Flashback to when you were 10 years old. What did you want to be when you grow up? I don’t actually remember, although I’m sure it was a professional basketball player as that was the only sport I wanted to play, and loved watching Michael Jordan.
Where would you spend all your time if you could? With my family at the lake during the summer, and somewhere in the mountains during the winter.
What is one of your favorite smells? It’s a tie between Fresh baking – cookies, pies, etc. or the smell of wood when working on projects
If you had to change your name, what would you change it to? I wouldn’t, I love my name!
What’s the title of the current chapter of your life? Ever Changing – engaged, married, and had our son Olin all within 3 years!
Who inspires you to be better? My wife and son Olin, as well as my brother Chris
When people come to you for help, what do they usually want help with? A little bit of everything; bouncing ideas off me, asking for suggestions on how to handle situations, construction knowledge, or how and why we do things a certain way.
What are some small things that make your day better? Mid-morning, and mid-afternoon coffee with a healthy snack!
What’s a typical day like for you at work? Every day is different – they vary from back to back meetings, to walking projects that are in progress or completed homes.
What do you think are the best skills that you bring to your job? An ability to visualize how something can work in my head, effectively communicate or illustrate it to team members working on the project, and help add structure or detail where needed.
What do you love most about your job? Being able to put my knowledge and skills to work, along with our entire team’s and then seeing our client’s excitement when they see their completed home and get to move in. It will never get old!
Don is one of the newer faces here at Thomsen Homes. Don’t let the newness fool ya, he fits in as if he was here for years. Always up for a good chat about sports or life, Don provides a great team atmosphere in the office. He oversees finances and budgets as well as office management. Don is also the current head of HR, so you can see he wears a lot of hats! He’s a hard worker too, often coming in bright and early, you might even catch him in the office on a Saturday! Get to know Don below!
Welcome back to our second post about our home building journey. If you missed the first one, you can read it here. In this post, we are going to dive into selecting what home we wanted to build and the contract signing process. We initially met with Jess, Director of Sales and Marketing, and our Realtor, Alex Kuznia, to discuss the type of house we wanted to build and where.
Nate and I knew we wanted to build a two-story home with space to grow. We discussed this with Jess as Thomsen Homes has several two-story homes in our price range. This was right before the fall parade, so we were able to walk through the two two-story model homes that we were considering. We walked through the new Thomsen 2161 floor plan and fell in love. We loved the fact that there is a main floor office because I work from home, 4 bedrooms upstairs and room to grow with an unfinished basement. I already had ideas running through my head on how we could make this home our own.
After we decided on building the 2161 two-story, we decided on a lot. Nate and I both agreed that we wanted to stay in the same location that we currently live in (West Fargo) because we love the school district, the ponds and parks that are nearby and lots of walking trails. The developer just added an ice skating rink and a huge park, which we can’t wait to use! We also love the fact that we don’t have any apartments located nearby, just residential homes.
Nate and I were excited about the new Wilds 11th addition because it was close to our current home and they had lots that either backed up to a pond, trees or the West Fargo diversion so there were plenty of good options to choose from. Ultimately, we picked a lot that had a large backyard that backed up to the diversion, with a pond view from the front of the home.
ContractAfter deciding on a house plan and lot, Nate and I talked with Jess and reviewed pricing. We went over a list of everything we knew we wanted to add to the home (such as upgrading from 8’ ceilings to 9’ ceilings, adding an air exchanger, changing the kitchen island to a square island, etc.). Having a list before signing the contract was really beneficial to us as Jess was able to provide some relative ideas of pricing and allowances that we felt comfortable with and from that point, we signed a contract.
Because we wanted to build in a new development, the development wasn’t buildable for about a month and a half after we signed our contract, which felt like forever in my opinion. After singing our contract, Shirley, a designer at Thomsen, contacted us to set up our first design meeting, which is when the fun started.
Stay tuned for next time as I discuss our design meetings in further detail.
Recently the Thommies recipient of the highly sought after, “Office Mom Award,” Jaden is just that. She’s our receptionist, office manager, stocker, clothing manager, dishwasher keeper upper, the list goes on! Her organization skills are top notch and her smile is warm and inviting. She makes Thomsen Homes feel like a second home and can always cheer you up with a sly joke or two. Get to know our awesome “Office Mom,” Jaden, below!
We are SUPERbowl PUMPED to be partnering with West Fargo Brewtus’ Brickhouse for this year’s 2020 Super Bowl Bar Olympics! Who doesn’t enjoy a cold beverage, the za and cheering on the teams with family and friends? Not to mention at one of Fargo-Moorhead’s hottest bar & grilles! Thomsen Homes will be giving away FREE BREWTUS BUCKS on the hour from 3pm-halftime! It’s sure to be a fun & eventful afternoon, so come on down and party with us!
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