Colby Interior Designs

Greeting awesome future neighbors, The Mercury Luxury Homes builders at Inspiration has the largest home plans (4000+ sqft/ 3 car garages) and most unique home designs (Elevation C has the cool cone roofs) you can get at Inspiration. Bonnie from Mercury is extremely knowledgeable and was able to answer just about every question I threw at her. We opted to build Mercury Luxury Homes's Pinehurst plan (the same as their model home) because it's the only open plan that combines the kitchen, family room, sun room, and dining room in one area. Tons of options including covered balcony, Gourmet Chef kitchen with 48" Range and 42" refrigerator, replacing bathtubs upstairs with super showers, converting hearth room to a sun room with more windows (our lot has the sun room & balcony facing east/south to get that morning sunshine), extended patio with a outdoor kitchen rough in, and utility sink in the laundry room. Options I requested: Double doors for the front entrance, tankless water heater, central vacuum, laundry chute, sliding patio door, CAT 6E wiring in every room, wet bar in media room, whole house speaker system, intercoms, smart home accessories, etc Update: No laundry chute (similar to laundryjet.com), multi sliding patio door (Cappiello plan), wet bar, intercoms, or whole house speaker system. Not a deal breaker because nowadays you can get a wireless Sonos system for intercoms and whole home speakers. Pro Tips: 1. If you want more customization, go with the Mercury series instead of Gold. Use their preferred lender (Cornerstone) for a generous discount that may cover all of your extra options. They will price match with other lenders for a better rate. 2. Go over the orientation and final walkthrough "with a fine tooth comb". Make note of every single thing, even if it's minor. They will resolve it within their specfications. Update: Due to the pandemic, it took about 14 months for our house to be built. While the buying process was great, the craftsmanship of the finished product felt like it was rushed. As of this writing, we have lived in the house for six months. Here are some things that we had issues with: [Resolved/Fixed] - Master tub draining issue. It took over an hour to drain one foot of water from the tub. Construction team said it was normal. I doubted it and requested someone else look at it. They had another plumbing team come in and confirmed the tub drain wasn’t installed correctly. Took about five months to resolve due to the surrounding tub tiles on backorder. - Irrigation line ran into the neighbor’s yard and sprinkler caps at the trees were leaking. My neighbor pointed out I was watering his yard and my trees were being overwatered causing water to run down the street. (Fixed) - Venthood outlet installed at the wrong spot and couldn't install the vent hood. (fixed) [Not Resolved/On going issues/I'll have to fix it myself] - Various floor wall mounding over painted and not sanded down. (Fix denied). - Stairs has a dent. - Various cabinet doors misaligned. Some are difficult to pull. - Missing strike plate on a door. They said it wasn't indicated during the walkthrough so they won't add it. -Turret trim incomplete - Front door missing bottom bricks. They said it wasn't necessary since it's not needed to support the door step. I requested they at least paint it instead of leaving it bare. Well, it's painted a quarter of the way as shown in the photo. I'll have to do it myself with the paint kit one day. - Missing backyard floodlight. See photo. - Countertop chip damage. - Garage entry door is crooked. Door hinge is loose causing the corner of the door to rub against the frame, making a popping noise when in use. [Minor Inconveniences] _ The shower mat gets caught on the shower door because there is no "step" built-in like the model home. Not sure if that is standard now. I feel like my rating is appropriate for all the issues I had to deal with, the lack of followup on warranty claims, and build quality of the home. I will update my rating once everything is resolved.

UPDATE: Jennifer has just helped us on another remodel of our new lakehouse in Horseshoe Bay TX. Overall, this will be a total house remodel but we opted to do the upstairs first (so we can stay up there during the 1st floor remodel. We started just as corona virus business shut downs -started happening. Jennifer was a life saver for our contractor and the job. She ordered all plumbing fixtures, tile, blinds- everything the contractor would need before shut down & shipping completely stopped. She even taught the contractor about a new shower system vs concrete pan making. She worked extremely well with our contractor & stayed on top of the job via FaceTime & calls/texting. She had everything lined out for the contractor with written instruction of what was to be done in each area & what to use. The fixtures came in marked for the room they went in. You just can’t believe how organized & caring Jennifer is. The planning of paint, shades,tile, carpet, fans, lighting, furniture, bedding & drapes for the TV/game/extra sleep (Murphy bed) room AND bedrooms - made our home livable (no worries when family uses our house) yet eye-popping - I think it is called Rustic Modern. Sleek & clean with touches of wood. My husband’s “wants” for the game/tv room were beyond his imagination. He loves sitting in there. Just wait until Jennifer does the downstairs! Anyone wanting something new from just drapes & bedding, to a huge job :USE JENNIFER! She also just did new bedding, bench & draperies for our master at home- beautiful & quality! And she understands budget!!! PREVIOUS REVIEW: Wonderful! Jennifer has worked with me on TOTAL remodeling & interior design for two of our homes: one is over 5,000 sq feet, the other a lake house about 2300 sq. feet. One traditional, one transitional. How was she to work with? She listened to what I wanted yet suggested things that I may not have considered. She took a lot of the stress and agony that I felt over so many decisions and made my life so much easier. Cost: you may think that using a designer is more expensive but IT"S NOT. We were able to do SO MUCH in our homes because she gets the best pricing and passes the savings on to you. I never buy retail on "sale"- Jennifer's prices so much better. Plus, she saves you costly mistakes & time by you not returning items you bought that didn't work. A MUST: custom draperies & bedding that fits correctly. Well worth it! Jennifer is so talented with fabrics and puts that 'designer' touch on items. Jennifer also understands construction, blueprints and has vision. She has worked well with my two contractors! Don't waste you time with other Designers- Jennifer can handle it all and she really cares that you are happy. She gives your job her all!

After interviewing several different designers, we retained Jennifer Colby to redecorate several rooms in our Preston Hollow home. Even though we had used the services of other interior designers before, we had no idea there were so many beautiful options available to choose from until Jennifer presented us with her plans and suggestions. Jennifer designed and had custom created all new light fixtures throughout our home, worked with us on sourcing all new furniture, found the most amazing area rugs that blended in beautifully with our home, and topped it all off with dozens of unique and beautiful accessories. She also worked with amazing artists to design and commission custom paintings and frames. Jennifer was actually involved in the process of choosing what objects the artist should paint including colors, so the artwork blended beautifully with everything else in our home. Without changing a single structural thing, Jennifer literally transformed our home into an updated, gorgeous, and beautifully renovated showpiece. Throughout the whole process, she listened to what we liked and collaborated with us each step of the way. Although Jennifer custom designed and built new furniture that allowed us to add a unique element to the house, she also retained many pieces of our original furniture by reupholstering them with new fabrics and pillows which saved a lot of money while giving the furniture a whole new look. Jennifer is very communicative, creative, and dynamic. There is absolutely nothing “cookie-cutter” about Jennifer’s approach and how she transforms a home. Her relationships with every type of vendor and supplier imaginable run deep which makes the whole process so much easier than it is with other more run of the mill designers. Our projects stayed on time throughout and absolutely exceeded all expectations. We ended up totally loving everything Jennifer did for us and would use her services and incredible sense of style again in a heartbeat. In our opinion, Jennifer Colby is truly in a total class of her own when it comes to interior designing any living space - - indoors or outdoors. She is tireless and takes an enormous amount of pride in what she does. Simply put, no other designer in the Dallas area comes close to Jennifer Colby’s level of expertise, creativity, and exquisite taste.

Reminder : 4 star is for customer service Quality of construction: 3 star UPDATE: Kitchen island corbel issue was fixed. Waiting for caulking, drywall, painting, elevation stucco issues to be addressed. UPDATE: I was told before buying that all houses come with foundation soakers/drippers. But its false. The drippers are only in the front flower beds. False marketing. Changed my rating from 1 star to 4 star (customer service). Castle Rock took care of all the issues quickly. Ben, construction manager, was on top of things and got them done quickly. Thanks Castle Rock. We bought a Pinehurst model (Castle Rock Mercury Luxury line) in Inspiration Wylie last month. Doesn't feel like a luxury home at all. I was not lucky like the other home buyers who gave 5 stars. Very poor workmanship, no quality control and no supervision. Very disappointed with Castle Rock with their construction quality. And its frustrating to get the issues resolved. You won't believe decorative corbels on the house elevation are still not installed. Wrong corbels were ordered and delivered which are still sitting in the garage. Work was still being done and rushed until the day before we closed. Structural components were missed during construction time until I them pointed out. Here are some of the issues with the house: Missing support under sub-floors (creaking), bent baseboards, bent and damaged door frames, bent drywall, bad drywall texturing, damaged doors, doors that don't latch, crooked window walls, bad caulking throughout the house, bad painting, loose kitchen island corbels, missing bathroom accessories, shower doors hits towel bar, etc. See some pics attached. Few things i could get fixed were door latching, some crooked windows walls (there are 6 more to be fixed), sub-floor creaking (btw carpet is still not fixed after the repair), leaking windows and roof. God knows how the quality is inside the walls. Window shades don't sit properly because of bad window installation and crooked window walls. Created warranty service tickets for the issues I feel need to be fixed like elevation corbels, kitchen island corbels, crooked window walls, drywall, but don't know when they would be resolved. I understand there'll be minor cosmetic issues which I can take of myself. Dylan Gray (construction manager) is trying but as of today there are still open and waiting to be resolved. I'll update as and when things get resolved. I hope Castle Rock builders will take care of their customers.

Bonnie is a treasure. Without her attention and support I doubt I would have gotten the lot that I wanted. I first walked into her office when Covid was in full swing, Mask and all. I asked for a lot that they were some time away from acquiring, but she kept up with it, kept in touch with me, and when they finally had it made sure that I was the one who got it. She was excellent at keeping in touch with me during the entire process and responded every time I emailed, texted or called her, even on her days off. Now I am in my dream house on the most amazing lot in the best lot in the subdivision, overlooking the beautiful lake in Greenbelt. Ben is an excellent construction manager.. He paid attention to everything that I asked and got almost all of it done, except that which was impossible. I met with him several times during the construction process and two or three times right before close. They got everything done and the house is magnificent. He has even checked back with me several times since close. The castle Rock team is great and I would highly recommend them to others. I am very popular now … just sayin’ !