A pool meanders like a twisting creek through the courtyard of the Moonshadow model. (There’s even a place to build a sand castle.)
[Street of Dreams]
Elaborate ceiling details, Venetian plaster moldings and stone tile floors emphasize the Mediterranean feel of the Villa Campania.
Think of it as the housing equivalent of foie gras, lobster and whipped cream: lavish, high calorie, expensive.
The Street of Dreams at a master-planned lakefront community near Orlando is just that: six over-the-top mansions outfitted with every imaginable amenity, detail and embellishment. Vast square footage, personal putting greens, dazzling pools - and we haven't even mentioned the pet centers or the concrete pingpong table.
A Street of Dreams is a luxury home promotion. Six luxury-home builders from the Orlando area have tried to outdo one another with their houses at the Sanctuary at Lake Butler Sound (not far from Universal Studios). The homes are open through Nov. 16 for an entry fee. Part of the proceeds benefit the Give Kids the World Village in Kissimmee, which provides dream vacations for children with life-threatening illnesses and their families.
One of the attractions of a Street of Dreams is the wow factor: the opportunity to walk through expensive homes that most of us will never have another chance to set foot in and marvel at it all. The homes range from 5,369 square feet to 8,615 square feet. All six here, priced from $1.2-million to $2.3-million, are already sold, a first for a Street of Dreams, the promoters say. It really is fun to see how the rich folks live.
Another reason to go is that these homes represent a showcase of the latest products, finishes and fittings. If you're building or remodeling, here's the place to get ideas. You may have visited a showroom or looked at a catalog or an ad in a magazine, but here's your chance to see what a woven-slate backsplash looks like, or a cobblestone-and-wood floor, or mirrored mosaic tiles.
Here's your opportunity to see the flat-surface sinks from Kohler (instead of a basin, the water cascades onto a flat surface, then down the sides to the drain - it's pretty neat). Or to figure out just how many places there are to install a plasma-screen TV. (Answer: unlimited.) Or to get ideas for your own closet. (Everyone who travels will want to install a suitcase shelf to make packing easier, as in the Villa Campania by Stonebridge Homes.)
Take a quick peek at each of the houses:
* Villa Campania by Stonebridge Homes: The $12,000 iron-and-glass front doors are a hot-ticket item in this market, a show spokeswoman said. The glass panels are hinged so they can be opened to allow fresh air. The pool, with its dark-blue bottom, looks like a rustic pond. In the back hall, don't miss the pet center: indoor "houses" where cat and dog can sleep, a built-in holder for their dishes so you're not kicking them all over the floor.
* Moonshadow by Jones Clayton Construction: This house is built on a lot with no view (the front view is the street, the back view is a brick wall shielding the neighbor's house). The house was designed to create its own view, wrapped around a meandering pool that flows like a twisting creek through a courtyard visible from every room. Swimmers can paddle under a bridge or enjoy a waterfall. (The owners added a separate lap pool for serious swimming.) This house offers unique flooring, decorative tiles on the stair risers, an outdoor shower and sauna - and a "carwash" shower: It's 5 feet 3 inches by 5 feet 3 inches, big enough for you and as many people as you want to take your clothes off with.
* Hamilton Manor by Ray Coudriet Builder: At 8,615 square feet, this is the largest of the homes, and you'll feel its expansiveness in the wide-open halls and doorways. Painted bright yellow, it is designed to look like a turn-of-the-20th-century manor in Bermuda (I thought it felt like Dutch West Indies; I was close). This is the house with the concrete countertops and concrete pingpong table outside. Note that the grass grows right up to the edge of the pool (no deck), which reflects a stunning view of the house.
* Coo Coo KaChoo by Castleworks Inc. This is going to be the "love it or hate it" house of this Street of Dreams. The awful model name aside (where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio?!), this is an aggressively modern house. I can say yes to the classic Barcelona chairs in the upstairs loft, but no thanks to the pointy objects, metal curlicues and lots of orange that pass for modern decor here. (The stainless-steel figures out front look like Halloween decorations; lose 'em.) The house is designed with a nursery for triplets (which occur in 1 of 8,000 births: a narrow market, no?). Right next to it is the master bath, with an $8,000 glass bathtub in which the bather reclines, allowing the spillover to cascade into a stack of black rocks (with a drain below). If you've really got triplets in the next room, you don't have this bathtub. On the other hand, this bathtub may be why you have triplets in the next room.
* Castellammare by R.L. Vogel Homes: Columns demarcate one room from another in this wide-open house with a 23-foot fireplace. Since our kitchens have become TV sets, this house welcomes foodies with an open pantry. A nice touch: a family reading room with easy chairs and bookshelves.
* Alexandria by Dave Konkol Homes: The don't-miss feature in this house is the "serenity room," with its own massage table. Other homes offer sun rooms or reading nooks as getaway spaces, and the Coo Coo KaChoo has a "mood room" decorated in an Asian theme with leather-covered mattresses, floor pillows and candles.
Besides those getaway rooms, some trends to watch for in all six houses: hidden pantries; lavish ceiling details; mixes of tile, wood and stone on the floors; lots of ironwork, inside and out; and media rooms tucked away in what would otherwise be attic space. They're dead (but expensive) square footage when you're not watching a movie, so either convert what would otherwise be storage space, or make them do double duty as sitting rooms or studies.
WHAT: Street of Dreams, luxury home showcase
WHERE: The Sanctuary at Lake Butler Sound in Windermere, a suburb of Orlando
WHEN: Through Nov. 16. Homes are open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesdays through Sundays; closed Mondays and Tuesdays.
TICKETS: Wednesdays through Fridays, adults, $10; seniors (65 and over) and children 4 through 12 years old, $8. On Saturdays and Sundays tickets are $2 more. Children 3 and younger admitted free.
INFORMATION: Visit www.streetofdreams.com or call 407 909-0110. DIRECTIONS: Take Interstate 4 to Exit 29, Sand Lake Road. (This is between the Sea World and Universal Studios exits.) Drive west on Sand Lake Road until it makes a T at Apopka-Vineland Road. Turn right and drive about 2 miles to the intersection of Conroy Road. Turn left and follow that road into the village of Windermere. Turn left on Main Street, then right on Chase Road. The Sanctuary at Lake Butler Sound is a mile ahead on the right, opposite Isleworth, another master-planned golf-course community.
