A Home Design Amusement Park- MainStreet America

One night last week in the wee hours of the morning I was up watching t.v. because Littliest could not sleep. We were sitting on the couch and a commercial came on for a place called MainStreet America. Before the commercial was even over I was up off the couch googling just what it was. After reading up on it I knew it was a MUST place to visit so I messaged my pal Kristy from Living Life (un)Simply and told her we MUST go ASAP.

Monday we gathered up our kiddos..she has two beautiful teenage daughters... and we headed out to MainStreet America. Are you intrigued yet? What on earth could possibly be so wonderful that we scrambled to go and visit and dragged our kids along with us? MainStreet America is the Nation's ONLY year round Showcase Home and Home Demonstration Theme Park. So basically it is a theme park for those of us who love anything to do with home design/decorating! They have 12, yes 12 model homes! We asked ourselves how in the world we had never heard about this place that was basically in our own backyard, 40 min down the road. 

Once you arrive you pay your admission in the lobby. Yes, you have to pay to get in but it is nothing awful. From what I read proceeds go to area charities so we were cool with that. You can also buy memberships but I will get that in a moment. 

After you pay you go in a room to learn how to use this tablet. I forget what it is called by them but it is programmed to interact with all the "attractions" through out the park. Each model home is equipped with tags that you can scan with your tablet and your tablet will pull up anything and everything about that home from what the paint color is to what the flooring is called to who the builder even is. You also have the option of purchasing some of these things on site. That is where the membership comes in. There are different price levels for items depending on membership level. Yes, I know sounds like a gimick but trust me when I say it is not. There were NO pushy sales people and no pressure to buy anything at all not even a membership. You get to walk thru all the homes by yourself at your own speed and the only time you see anybody is if you need help and you scan a tag in the home and a person comes out to you to assist you.

After we learned all about the tablet thing it was time to go in. Oldest & Littliest were just as excited to go as I was which The Hubster could not believe. 

Once you enter the gates you see a long culdesac street with the 12 model homes in all different sizes and styles. If you have ever been to Universal Studios it was sorda like seeing a set in a neighborhood there. Kinda wild.

Kristy and I decided that The Ashby Manor would be first on our list. 

It was impossible to get the entire house in one pic.

The Ashby Manor I believe is 4200 sq ft and a one and half story home. 

I loved the planked ceiling on the front porch. I want to do this to all of our outdoor ceilings.

The dining room was so large it had not one but two dining tables. I have never seen that before.

Here is the coffered ceiling in the office. It was hard to get many good pics of this home. We were there right at opening and the maids just happened to all be in this particular home cleaning it. There were four ladies trying their best to get out of our way. I sorda felt bad we were getting in their way. Hence why I only have a pic of the office ceiling and not the office too.

Here is the living room. I am not sure I like the idea of not having a mantle. 

This home was a mix of French Country with some Tuscan.

Gorgeous HUGE kitchen island.

Built in fridge.

All four of the kids loved the master bath. I found them all in there turning the tub on and off.

This is why they all thought it was so cool. The tub is filled from the ceiling!

I thought this was a neat piece that you could buy.

It is a three way mirror!

The back porch was huge and even had a fireplace.
We had a lot of fun going thru all 12 homes. None of our children fussed which was awesome. It took us 3 hours and we were the only ones there for the first two hours so it was really great. 

Be sure to stop back by because I will be sharing each and every home! Next up will be this Craftsman style home.

Linking up to the following linky parties:
Wow Us Wednesdays
Open House Party

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Write by: AN - Tuesday, July 30, 2013