Anand and Nimisha Shah started from scratch on their new Cobb County home. Building a custom home enabled them to create special spaces for their family and to teach their girls, 13-year-old Shreya and 9-year-old Shveta, about decision-making and staying within a budget.
“Whenever you are building a home, make it a kid-friendly home,” said Nimisha, 37.
The priority
The couple wanted to build the house of their dreams while their kids were young.
“Our mentality was there’s no point of having a bigger house when the kids are out to college and they’re not here to enjoy it,” said Anand, 38, who works in the consulting industry.
They wanted a finished basement, but didn’t want to relegate the play spaces to the bottom level. Another feature they wanted was an elevator, which could be helpful as their parents aged and visited them.
“Not only did we think about our kids, but we thought about our parents in the future,” Anand said.
The search
For several years, the couple had admired homes built by Massoud "Mike" Fatemi of Olympia Homes, which had West Coast features such as tiled roofs.
“As we thought about building the house, his houses were the first that came to mind,” Anand said.
About four lots remained in The Parc, an East Cobb County subdivision where Fatemi was building. They broke ground on the home in January 2011 and put their existing home, which was about 4 ½ miles away, on the market in March for $500,000.
Assisted by real estate agent Cheryl Bright Schalk with Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage, they dropped the price by $50,000 in June. Their new home was complete in late July, they received an offer on their house in August and closed in early September for $450,000.
The process
The girls got involved as soon as the floor plan was created, choosing the location of their rooms. The Shahs continued to make them part of the process; the girls helped select their light fixtures, bathroom countertops and tile, and paint colors. The girls accompanied their parents to stores and researched prices online.
“They learned when they were in Progressive Lighting to use our phones and key in the serial numbers of what we were looking at,” Anand said. “They got good at trying to find the deal and work within their budget. Yet it was very exciting for them to pick all of their stuff.”
The home
A six-bedroom, 6-1/2-bath home, with about 8,500 square feet (including the full finished basement). They designed the floor plan thinking about how their family would live. Special spaces included a playroom on a mezzanine level near the kitchen and a “pajama stairs,” which connects the family’s bedrooms and creates separation from the guest rooms.
“In a fairly big house, they don’t want to feel like they’re off in a corner somewhere lost. Design with keeping the kids in mind and keeping them close in mind, yet giving them space,” Anand said. “They feel some ownership and pride in the house. It’s not something that mommy and daddy built. It’s something that we all built together.”
