OUR HOME LISTING IS LIVE!!!

OFFICIAL REAL ESTATE LISTING IS HERE!

The day is finally here!  Our home reveal & official for sale listing is LIVE!  The official listing link is HERE!

I’m sitting peacefully in the most beautiful home office that truly is beyond anything I could have ever imagined as I write this post for you all.  It’s quaint around here today: no construction, no subs, Croix is at school, Grant is at work and Barbie is napping by my side (keep in mind her “peaceful” sleep includes her tongue hanging out with very loud snores from her smush nose LOL).

I honestly don’t know where to start in writing this blog post, but I hope to appropriately set the tone for such a beautiful and meaningful post. This is the second custom home that Grant and I have built together.  However, it’s the first build where we hired a professional interior design agency.  Ambrose Furniture Works in Downtown Bryan is who we chose.  The decision was an easy one for me, based on my friendship that had developed in the few years prior with one of the Co-Owners: Joshua Ortiz.  There are very few people on this Earth who are as vibrant, creative, charming, unique and full of a zest-for-life like Josh.  We began working with both of the owners, Ray and Josh, through the framing phase of this home.  I was baby bump’ing with our little Croix when they came and did their first walk-through.  I vividly remember the first time we went for a meeting on-site at Ambrose, as Josh had all of his selections laid out together in one table.  I walked straight up to it thinking it was the most beautiful compilation I had ever seen in my life.  He reminded me that he was sure to be up-to-date on my personal online brand along with the interior inspiration photos I put together for him.  It’s a beautiful memory I’ll never forget, as it truly set the tone for how the finishing touches of this home would come to life.

Another special memory that comes to mind was going to their headquarters just the day before I gave birth to our precious baby boy.  Anytime I would show up with newborn Baby Croix, Josh would always ask to see him (even if he was sleeping) because he believed babies to truly be miracles from the Lord Above.  Josh even took our first family photo in front of our stair case, that was only sheet-rocked at the time, in one of our meetings together. Croix was just 4 weeks old and the home was being trimmed.

A few weeks later, life and this home project forever changed.  We were devastated and left heartbroken with the shocking news that Josh has passed away in an unexpected motorcycle accident.  From that point forward, this home project became much more emotional and bittersweet, as we all moved forward bringing Josh’s visions to life without him with us anymore.

With tears in my eyes, I just keep thinking what I would give to have Josh walk into this now completed, absolutely elegant office he envisioned for me. I would love to give him a big bear hug, a glass of wine and of course a home tour.  I remember when Josh chose the metallic neutral snake skin fabric to cover my double door entry into my office. He made me laugh (but also feel like THAT WOMAN) whenever he told me that we WOULD be designing my office doors this way (no questions asked) because anyone who would see these doors would want to know what *Bad B* worked behind said doors.  If you knew Josh, you can imagine him saying just that!  The first time we had to go in for a design meeting after Josh passed, I just lost emotional control and was met with comfort from Ray, who also poured his heart and emotions into tears during the entire meeting.  I consider it a true blessing and absolute honor to have one of Josh’s final visions-turned-to life, and we plan to take a lot of his touches in this home with us to our next home build so we can cherish and have them forever.

Josh would be so very proud of Ray, Colton, Ronnie and the entire Ambrose team for stepping up to fill big shoes on finishing this project for us. Colton truly became a dear friend and basically a “Josh 2.0 Version” for us in finalizing every detail of all the design work and even helping us stage the home before the real estate photos below were taken.

Other people who played key roles in this home’s construction include:

Jac Coleman of Design Co., also in Downtown Bryan.  Jac was THE MAN in terms of flooring this home and I’m so excited to get to work with him on another future project now!  He went above and beyond in so many ways including communication and customer service.  Plus, we are completely obsessed with the floors in this home!

Doug Anderson, owner of Centex Countertops, is another one who went above and beyond in the installation and delivery in terms of all of our beautiful countertops.  I don’t ever see myself using anyone in this town for any project that requires a countertop if it isn’t Doug!  His selection, expertise, design skill, expertise and his team of employees are all top notch.

Tammie Bissett, owner of Bissett Designs, LLC, was our fabulous architect.  Oh how much Grant and I loved going over to her home office to work on drawing these plans from scratch.  She even came to check-in during the framing process multiple times and we recently got to show her everything as it was finalized and staged, just before the official real estate photos were taken.

Heath Summerlin of Summerlin Stucco was another one who always over-delivered to us.  He did all the masonry work in this home, but also stepped in to help us in other various projects that we needed done because we knew we could count on him.  I mean he even stepped in to help me get caterers for my company Christmas party that I hosted here last December after my original choice couldn’t deliver.

Kevin Mdier of Excel Landscaping understood the crisp, timeless and grand vision we had in terms of landscaping.  He was super easy to work with, always delivered when promised, and always checked-in to see if anything needed adjustment or replacement weeks after each installation.

Clay Holland with CRC Roofing really helped us to elevate the roofing selection for this home.  He delivered a product that was even more elevated than what Grant and I originally planned for.  He for sure gets a public recommendation from us!

Todd Weigand of Navasota Mirror & Glass.  Clearly we love mirrors, antiqued mirrors and lots of glass and Todd is as efficient yet meticulous and dependable as they come.  He made is possible to create our own version of the Palace of Versailles famous Hall of Mirrors in our own master suite!  He’s had many people reach out to him since seeing all of our antique mirror work and we plan to use him as we re-create a lot of the mirror design from this home.

Nelson Garcia of NG Construction was our pool man that constructed our backyard oasis in record timing so we could get this house complete and listed by summertime!  I never envisioned we would have the pool finished by Croix’s birthday party (which is next weekend), but his crew finished many weeks in advance.  While we are sad we won’t get to enjoy this pool for too long, we are so excited to get to build another one with him!

Brad Aills, one of Grant’s friends, was our pool architect that took my little paper drawing without hesitation and turned it into a full-fledge 3D rendering with video footage of both daytime and night time, along with all indoor and outdoor view angles.  He’s another one that we look forward to working with again and are proud to give a public recommendation.

Keith Camp with Tree House Woodworks stepped in and custom made our beautiful staircase molding and office molding. His craftsmanship is at a master level and we would recommend him for any trim or custom wood working needs you would have. Thank you so much for bringing Josh’s designs to life and giving us that extra touch of beauty throughout the house.

Of course we are always happy to mention the Cherry Ruffino Team of Coldwell Banker: Apex, Realtors!  Cherry and her right-hand listing agent, Katie, sold our last home before it was ever even listed.  They also listed and sold Grant’s bachelor home before we got married along with my personal home before I became a wife.  Each of those sold in just a matter of days, and as soon as we publicly stated this home would be coming for sale, they had multiple calls the next morning.  Agents around here just know of the Cherry Ruffino Team reputation as well as our relationship with them!

All of the design work was done by Ambrose Furniture Works, in addition to all of our furniture and drapery.  They custom covered almost every piece with unique and exquisite fabric!

It was not our original plan to sell this home so quickly, but we broke ground in February of 2020, just before the Covid Pandemic hit.  So much has changed in the world we live in, as well as our personal lives, and we’ve decided to take advantage of the record high seller’s market by listing this property.  We hope to bless another family with a stunning and exquisite home site while reaping financial blessings for our own family.  Don’t worry, we aren’t done hanging up our building hard hats just yet.

Last, but certainly not least, I have to thank my husband Grant.  Grant was not only the builder and lead GC in this entire project, but he was truly my safe place and sanity when I needed it most.  I understand a lot of people can see these photos and just think, “What kind of a man would allow his wife to paint so much pink in a house where both he and their son also live?”  The answer to that is: Grant Carrabba!  Grant is so much more patient than most men, and that’s one of the reason I choose him to be mine!  He has allowed me to think these big visions and helped turn them into reality for our family.  It’s one thing to be a creative visionary, but it takes someone who is grounded, logistical, analytical, and of course great with the budget to make this all come to life.  Grant is the key ingredient to this entire project from start to finish, including handling near-the-end struggles of living and working through months of construction to finalize everything you’ll see below.  I am so grateful to have a husband who isn’t afraid to take on a challenge as well as take advantage of a seller’s market without a definitive plan after we sell this home.  God gave me a wonderful husband and life partner who I owe an endless amount of “thank-you’s” to for building this dream home for our family.  The time we spend living here may be short, but it sure has been meaningful, educational, impactful and so very special.  This place will forever hold an exclusive place in our hearts as well as our life’s story.

So without further ado, here are the beautiful real-estate images of one of the most stunning and exquisite projects I’ve ever played a part in.  The official listing only allows us to include 50 photos on the listing, so you’ll actually see even more within this blog than the official listing will show you.

Welcome to our Carrabba Castle 2.0, a mix of Parisian Chateau Vibes with Timeless Glam, sure to be appreciated by anyone who pink and antiqued mirrors.  (Keep in mind, the pink can easily be painted into another color, but we chose to keep it the way that Josh chose for this space to be painted).  We hope you enjoy viewing it as much as we have loved building and creating it!  We will be following up with individual blog posts of specific areas that go into great design detail in the coming weeks!

For the latest posts, please follow @carrabbacastle and @randacarrabba on instagram.

Official house listing can be found HERE.