Hi, everybody. I'm Kelsie with Tilson. And I am here with the Moore family to talk about their custom Tilson home here in Waller County, Texas. So for starters, you come up to this house, it's a beautiful white farmhouse. So tell me a little bit about your inspiration for the outside of your home.

Well, we drew a lot from the Canyon in Bryan, Texas. We visited there a couple of times, two or three times. And we knew that's what we wanted. We wanted the board and batten, the all white. And so we got a lot of inspiration from that model home in the Canyon.

And when you first came in to Tanya, to her office to draw up your plan, did you have an idea of what you wanted the exterior to look like at that time? Or was it kind of evolved as you figured out your floor plan?

Yeah, we knew kind of how we wanted it to look. We knew we wanted a Dorble on the front, porches, a long porch in the front, porch in the back. And so we just kind of took her some sketches, some things I just kind of cut and pasted things together. And Tanya just took it and drew it up.

And just rolled with it.

She was awesome. Yeah, Tanya was awesome.

And then you come inside your house, you've got this beautiful front door, lots of light coming in. And the first thing that you see is your dining area.

Yes, we wanted a big space for large family gatherings and entertaining space. And I also wanted when you came into the front door, I wanted the view to the back.

Yeah, I love that when you come in. It's just a straight shot out to your back patio.

And I wanted the table to be in the view as well.

And then in here, you have a gorgeous kitchen. So tell me a little bit about what you wanted in this kitchen area.

Well, I wanted lots of cabinets. And I also wanted a space to display my family heirlooms, my china. Because I don't have an old school china cabinet. And so Tanya helped us with drawing that up and giving us ideas about the cabinetry.

I love that not all of the upper cabinets are the glass. You just have your specific display cabinets. And then the rest, you've got tons of storage in here all around. And then tell me a little bit about this bricks and the wood.

Oh yes, the brick-- I saw this idea online. And we wanted an open space. But we also wanted to define the kitchen area. And we thought that this brick would be a good way to do that. And we also want it to look messy and--

Rustic.

Rustic, yes.

I actually was here the day the mason came to do it. And I just said-- I showed him some pictures that we saw online. And I said, just make it messy. Make it look old. And so there's not clean, defined lines. And so I mean, he just-- he nailed it.

You're like, just give it a little character. So that it looks like it's well loved and lived in. And then you've got tons of workspace here with this island.

Yes, I wanted workspace. But I also wanted gathering space for family and friends. So we-- Tanya, once again, suggested the dimensions. And it fit perfectly.

And you still have tons of walk space all around it on all the sides. And then tell me a little bit about this side.

OK, I wanted just a regular old school-- I call it old school oven instead of the built-in. And so believe it or not, I wanted the old school fan vent. And she helped us with the cabinetry above it. All right, well, let's go check out your living space.

OK.

I love how much light is in here. The big windows, and then this one coming through too, that's awesome.

We wanted the views. That's why we chose the large windows there.

And then in here, tell me a little bit about your living room.

Well, this originally was just a blank wall. We knew we wanted-- or she wanted a fireplace inside but didn't necessarily want a wood burning with the smell. And we had an issue with the box was going to be too far into that hallway behind it. And so it was going to stick out. So we decided just to go with the blank wall.

And I built this shiplap enclosure here and the brick. We had some brick left over. That's the thin brick. Excuse me. So I built that. And we have the electric fireplace that actually has a heater in it. So it blows--

Blows out some hot air.

So you can get heat from it. So that was something we did after the fact that I did.

Yeah, and it kind of gives a nice little ambiance as well. You get your fire burning. But you don't have to worry about--

We can turn the fire on now and it's in the middle of the summer. But you don't have to have the heat.

Yes, just leave the heat off. And then you've just got the nice glow.

So that was something we added after we moved in, it added to the room.

Yeah, I think it turned out great.

And we also wanted it to be a large space, but also cozy, cozy feeling.

And plenty of seating area for whenever you have the family over. And then should we check out your master bedroom? Sure.

Oh, I like this little section that leads to your master. This we'll definitely talk about in a minute because I love the screened in porch that leads to your outdoor patio. That's such a smart idea. And I'm guessing that that's one of the doors that just slams and you get that sound?

Yes that's what we wanted, the screen door that slammed.

And then here we have a nice half bath. That's really lovely for guests. Make sure everybody feels accommodated. And we'll go check out your master. All right.

Oh, I love the beam in here.

Oh, thank you. That's so pretty.

The ceiling is super high.

Yeah, we-- as I mentioned, we visited the Canyon. And so this was something we saw there. And so we had to do for this room.

Yeah, I like that you did the Cathedral ceiling in here and just left the regular ceiling in the family room because I feel like it gives a little bit more dimension on the outside of the house. But it also makes your master bedroom feel so much more spacious without having to add additional square feet to it.

It makes this room feel really large, which is. It's a large bedroom.

Yeah, you've got really, really tall windows over here. Are those the same-- same dimensions as the ones on the back of the house?

I think those are a little taller. I'm not sure but because this is such a tall ceiling height in here, we had to have large windows there to make it proportional.

Yeah, you didn't want tiny little ones. Really big wall. And we wanted to be able to see out. We have this property, so we wanted to be able to see everything. In the living room, we wanted to be able to see the woods and--

Yeah, exactly, you have fabulous views of your property in every single room. And then through here, do we have your master bathroom? All right.

Very light and bright. I love it. Oh, I love the shiplap.

Oh, thank you. We just wanted a touch of shiplap. We didn't want the whole bathroom done in shiplap. I wanted my own mirrors and lighting. So we got credits.

We got credit back from Tilson for the mirrors and lights.

Just left the wall blank.

Yeah, we installed our own mirrors and lights in all the bathrooms.

Separate vanities. That's a must.

It's the marriage saver.

Which one's hers? And she's got the big one. You've got your corner.

I've got my little space.

Right, right. All right, and then on this side of your bathroom, we've got your walk-in shower. No glass.

Yeah, we're not tub people. So we wanted a big shower. Walk-in shower with no glass, no door, don't have to squeegee the glass anymore. And so it's plenty big enough and the water doesn't splash out. We love it. And I love my river rock. Yeah, I got the river rock that I had to have. That was a must for me because it kind of blends with our nature, our land out here.

And it gives you a spa feeling when you walk in. You've got the nice window to let in some light. And then through here, we have the laundry room. OK, let's go check it out. Well, this is a nice big laundry area.

Thank you.

Really nice. So tell me a little bit about what you wanted in here.

Lots of light. And we added at the last minute. You can talk about that.

Right before we signed our final plans, I realized that we didn't have a way to get into the house other than the garage doors. And so the last minute, I emailed Tanya and said, I need to add a door. So this door, we added in the little porch. And she just drew it up. And it was perfect.

I mean, so now we can come in here into the mud room, laundry room, and not have to open the garage doors. And so I just totally missed that. But I got it to her in time. And she added it. It was perfect.

And then through here, what do we have?

Right beyond this door, we have the drop zone.

Oh, OK, so it just kind of makes a loop. All right, and then it leads all the way through to your kitchen too. That's really nice.

And the drop zone is here. We knew we wanted a drop zone right off the-- this is the garage door leading into the garage. So we wanted the drop zone here. And I added the hooks and the beadboard after the fact. So that's just a little something I did--

To dress it up a little bit.

Give it a little charm.

And it's perfect. We use this a lot. You come in from there or come in from out here.

I didn't realize how much we would use it. It's really nice.

It's definitely necessary. And then I do-- I like that you still have some cabinetry up here just for extra storage space.

Yes, to have bags and whatever storage containers. And even having this door open to the laundry room, it lets so much light in down the hallway for the rest of the house.

We really like that. And the sight lines all the way to the back door. Then when you have guests show up, and you can see who it is. Do you find that more people use that door than the front door, just being out here?

Yeah, I mean, definitely family.

Family uses this door. But guest--

Like me.

Come to the front door. All right, and should we go check out the other side of the house? Sure, let's go.

All right, so you have rooms on either side.

The office is on the right. And then our bedroom, our two other bedrooms and bathroom are on the left.

So tell me about the split. Did you plan on having that? Or did you ever want maybe a hallway connecting all three?

Well, I wanted to have the office separate because I work from home some. And so we have that. And that room is larger than the bedrooms, the two bedrooms because she wanted to have a craft area on one side. And I have a desk on the other. So that's a little bit larger than the two bedrooms. And then we have the two bedrooms split from that. Plus they're split from us, the master. So we have the split floor plan.

Yeah, that's definitely a customer favorite is to have that division and have all the family and living spaces in between. So let's go check out the two bedrooms and the bathroom?

All right.

OK, so this is definitely a guest room.

Yes. Guest room. And we have a window that looks out onto the property there.

Yeah, and I like the space in here. It's a conservative amount of room because you don't-- I mean, it's just for guests.

We don't spend time in here. Don't use it very often when our kids are in town or we have guests over, then this is their room.

Yeah, they've got their space.

There's a walk-in closet. There's still a walk-in closet.

That's great, yeah. And then down the hallway we have the grandkids room, grandkids room and the guest room, guest bath?

Yes.

All right. I like that all of this is just on one side.

Yes, very convenient.

Bathroom.

Right.

Oh, it's so bright in here. This is great. And you've got the shiplap too carried over from the master bath.

We did our own lighting and mirrors in here as well, and hardware. And also we wanted a window in the shower. And I do like that you took the tile all the way to the ceiling too. We wanted to do that for sure.

It definitely makes the ceiling seem even higher. And the shiplap went all the way up and we went to the top all the way at the top.

Yeah, that looks great. And then here we have your grandkids' room. Yes, this is--

Grandkids room.

Grandkids room. We wanted a space for them to play, and sleep, and there's a walk-in closet here for toys.

Extra storage.

Lots of toy. Oh yeah, I can imagine.

Toys and books. And then as soon as they leave, just put it all back in there.

Yes, yes, so--

Well, it's a perfect amount of space. Gives you exactly what you need. All right, all right, well, let's go check out that back porch.

OK. I'm excited.

Oh, this is great, the fans, it doesn't help a ton. But it at least keeps the air moving.

Not this time of year, it just blows hot air. But it does circulate.

It's better than nothing. Yes. Well, this is an awesome patio. I like that you have some of it uncovered out here. So it kind of extends into your yard.

Yes, we spend a lot of time out here when it's cooler.

Yeah, I like that you have the fireplace too. It makes it a nice cozy place to hang out with family and friends, watch the game.

We watch a lot of ball out here and golf.

And then we have your screened porch.

Yes, this was a must.

With our old creaking sound screen doors, which we had to have.

That was one of the requirements.

We wanted a place to gather, and eat, and-- try to be at least bug free. A little bit bug free.

A little bit bug free.

No, I think it looks great. I love the colors out here. It's very warm and inviting. And still bright. You've got your lights out here just in case you need it. But there's so much light coming in from outside. Great views too.

We're happy with this, the screened in porch.

It looks fabulous. And it connects right on into the hallway.

There's a door here.

Nice and quick to get out here from your kitchen. This is great. All right, well, let's go back into the kitchen, finish up. And then I'll get out of your hair. OK.

Well, thank you guys so much for having me over to your house and showing me all around. I love everything that you picked out about it. And it just turned out so beautiful.

We're very happy. We've been really blessed.

Yes. And it's a great spot for our family, friends, your forever home out here in the country. I love it. And thank all of you as well for joining us for another episode of Tilson Home Tours. And we hope to someday soon make you part of the Tilson family.