When Kathy Raoof’s event planning business started taking off, using her boys’ playroom for work was no longer feasible. She and her husband, Qareeb, started to dream about their next home and what it could offer them and their three sons, 8-year-old Kareem and 6-year-old twins Malik and Mikhail.
The priority
“My vision was to have a house that was big enough for the boys to have a toy room and man cave and for me to have an office,” said Kathy, 34, who owns Events and Party Creations by Raoof and works as supervisor of the clerical support staff in radiology at the Atlanta Medical Center South Campus.
The biggest must for Qareeb, 34, a respiratory therapist, was having an all-brick home. He left most of the interior choices to Kathy, who wanted a kitchen with a butler’s pantry and a fireplace in the master bedroom.
The search
They lived in Hampton, but looked at buying in McDonough and Fayetteville because of the schools. They searched for about a year, working with Latisha Williams of Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Metro Brokers.
First, the family had a contract on a home in another subdivision, but the builder kept delaying the groundbreaking, they said. One problem was that the home ended up being too big for the lot. A solution was building the same floor plan in another neighborhood, but the home price ended up being higher. Once they visited the Wilshire Park neighborhood in McDonough, they discovered the Peachtree Communities floor plan was similar to the one they originally wanted to build. Homes in the Henry County neighborhood have base prices ranging from the $210,000s to $270,000s.
The home
The house, completed in December, has seven bedrooms and five baths. The bedrooms, including a master suite with a fireplace, sitting room and two walk-in closets, are all on the second floor. By selecting the lot and floor plan, the couple was able to have the extra spaces they desired for Qareeb, Kathy and the boys. On the third floor, there’s Kathy’s office, a workout room with a treadmill and weight bench, and Qareeb’s man cave with a big screen TV, pool table and surround sound.
In the kitchen, there’s an island, which the couple already enjoyed using as a dessert bar for the housewarming party, and a butler’s pantry with a wine rack. A desk area in the kitchen also gives the boys space to do their homework.
The lifestyle
Having space to work out at home makes it convenient, especially when they need to spend time after work helping the boys with their homework. Still, one of Kathy’s favorite spots is the master bathroom, which has tile and panoramic glass in the shower. “It’s like visiting a spa,” she said. “When you walk in and open up the French doors, it’s like walking into heaven. You don’t hear any kids, any noise.”
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