A Tour of the 2016 HGTV Dream Home
Oh friends, do I have some beautiful eye candy for you today! Last week I was invited by GMC to tour the 2016 HGTV Dream Home in Merritt Island, FL, and it was amazing. I’m pretty sure I pinched myself two or three times just to make sure that this was actually real life and part of my job. What?! Craziness.
It was so fun getting to meet up with some awesome bloggers, drive cool cars, and take the grand tour of the home. We started out in Orlando, about an hour away from Merritt Island, and GMC had some pretty sweet transportation lined up for us. Literally lined up… 😉
We each grabbed a buddy and hopped into one of the 2017 GMC Acadias to make the trip to the island. I rode with Rhoda from Southern Hospitality, and she is just as sweet as can be!
We felt like queens in the cozy, luxurious Acadia Denali, which had all of the bells and whistles from WiFi to USB ports in every row (bloggers always seem to need to charge some device! 😉 ) to safety features like Lane Change Alert and Surround Vision Camera. (Yay for easy parking!)
Driving through palm tree lined streets was a fun change from the crazy cold weather we’ve been having in Pittsburgh! And when we pulled up to the HGTV Dream Home, it truly was paradise…
Exterior
I thought it was interesting that this, the 20th HGTV Dream Home, was the first one that was a renovation– all of the past projects have been new builds. It was cool to see how they took the existing structure, built in 1990, and totally revamped it to create a completely stunning home. Before we took a peek inside, we walked around to the back of the house, which was, of course, absolutely incredible.
Even the dog has a cute little mini house that matches the big house perfectly– adorable!
With the heat and humidity, we were tempted to take a dip in the gorgeous pool, but refrained! 🙂
I think I would spend a ton of time out here– the view is absolutely breathtaking!
Entry
Finally, it was time to go into the home, where we were greeted by this cute little entry vignette. That mirror is going on my “must have” list!
Living Room
The entry led straight into the living room, which had a full wall of beautiful windows/french doors so we could enjoy the amazing ocean view. I loved all of the neutrals in this space, and the light fixtures totally made the room for me.
One full wall housed a giant mural, which seemed absolutely appropriate for the location!
Dining Room
The living space flowed into the dining room, which gave a pretty view of the front of the property, and I was again blown away by the stunning light fixtures– LOVE!
Kitchen
The house has a very open concept, so the kitchen is connected with the main living space as well, making it perfect for entertaining. That tile, too– wow!
I’ve never been adventurous enough to mix cabinet colors in my own space, but it totally works here with the darker lowers and white uppers.
Den
The little den area in the front of the house had to be one of my favorites– look at all of that aqua! It was meant to be! 🙂
Coral Bedroom
The bedrooms were up next! There were two on the main floor, including this coral beauty. I think Donnie is going to be requesting one of those fans when he sees it.
Blue Bedroom
The other downstairs bedroom was my favorite of the three bedrooms in the house. I love the mixture of aqua and blue paired with understated white walls and awesome art.
{Loved this cool mirror!}
Master Bedroom
Finally we headed upstairs to the master suite, which was bright, bold, and so much fun.
Such a cozy little corner! This room had French doors that led out to a deck with an ocean view… I think I could wake up to that every morning!
Master Bath
And I couldn’t end the post without a shot of the incredible master bath. I now am determined to have a sparkly chandelier in my master bathroom someday. How gorgeous is this?!
A huge thanks to GMC for hosting our tour of the amazing HGTV Dream Home! It truly was dreamy, and I am completely envious of its new owners! Seeing homes like this one is always so inspiring, and I came home from the trip full of ideas of things I want to try in my own house!
Did you have a favorite room of the tour? Let me know in the comments!
This isn’t really related to the post, but I’ve been following your blog for a while now and just realized you’re also from Pittsburgh! Awesome! And lucky you for getting to escape the crazy weather we’ve been having 🙂 Great pictures and recap!
So awesome! I love meeting other ‘Burgh-ers! 🙂 I think there are more of us bloggers in the area than I realize! Congrats on starting your new site, Gretchen! Hope you’re having a wonderful week!
~Abby =)
Hi Abby,
I love the entire house but my favorite room has to be the Coral room, oh and the kitchen…. Love, love, love the kitchen! Thanks for the tour. I’m from NYC I don’t know if the weather is any better here, thanks for the palm trees lol. XOXO
How fun! The dream house is beautiful! Love your ride also. I work for a GMC dealer so I know how nice your vehicles were!
Everything is so BEAUTIFUL. I love all the details and that giant mural captures my eyes! You’re so lucky to have a personal tour of this dream house.
First, I’m totally jelly that you got to go tour this house.
Second, I loved the Den! My fave colors and I love that they went bright and bold with all the rooms, yet kept the kitchen simple with clean lines!! This whole house is right up my ally as far as colors go. They did an awesome job! you took very nice pics, Abby!
Hi Abby, it’s amazing that you visited the dream house personally. It’s even better that it’s part of your job 🙂 To me, it’s more than a dream house. It’s more like a resort-style house. I don’t mind spending all day long in such a beautiful house. I particularly like the couch outside and also the den area… time to daydream!
Come on down, Abby! Florida would love to have you! Glad you had this wonderful opportunity. We drove by the house one day when we all went to the beach. It was fun for us to imagine living there, hopping in the boat to go fishing after a long day, watching the sun rise and letting the dogs run in the yard. Your photos look nice!
Wow, so beautiful! By the way, we’d love to have you guys here in Florida, come on down!
P.S. Anxiously awaiting the start of BookBoss on the April 19th!
Robin-
Sounds good– be right down! 🙂 And thank you so much for checking out BookBoss! We are so excited for this course! Hope you’re having a wonderful week, Robin!
~Abby =)
Just gorgeous!! thank you for showing it to us! I grew up in East LIverpool Ohio and went to college at Carnegie Mellon so The Burgh is essentially home to me…but five years ago I moved to Florida and it’s been a great choice. LOVE your posts. Thanks. Yinz really made my day. 🙂
Yes! Someone else who knows what “yinz” means! 🙂 It’s always fun to meet other people from the area– though I’m jealous that you’re getting the FL weather all the time now! Hope you’re having a great week, Lisa!
~Abby =)
This home is absolutely beautiful!
So awesome you got to go view the dream home. Actually just getting out of Pittsburgh’s crazy weather & being able to go to Florida is great in itself. Btw, its always nice to meet another Pitts – burgher. I knew I liked your blog for a reason. : ) Besides the great idea’s you have. I’ve been thinking about starting a blog. But not really sure how to go about it or exactly what to do it on. But any way, back to the home. Great pictures! Thanks for sharing your tour with us.
Hi, Mare! So nice to “meet” a fellow Pittsburgh-er! Hopefully this weather will get better for us soon!!
If you’re interested in starting a blog, we have a really detailed post about it on our other site here: https://buildingaframework.com/start-a-blog/ . I hope this helps! Have a great day!
~Abby =)
Seriously dreamy and I am so swooning over here. That is so one of my dreams…HGTV is such an honor and you should be SO PROUD of yourself of all the hard work you have put in to get you where you are now. You go girl!
PS: I love that cute little dog house!
What a fun experience! That blue/aqua bedroom is most definitely my favorite. I totally share your love of aqua! I wouldn’t mind having a bathroom big enough to fit that tub in, along with the incredible chandelier above it.
Thanks for sharing Abby. Beautiful pics
what a great experience you had! i almost envy you.
Can I just say how jealous I am that you got invited to tour the HGTV dream home?!!! I am Indiana and I think we got that darn snow before you…ahhh spring in Indiana, smh. My favorite room is definitely the den!! All the pretty colors in one place gives me happy overload!!
Hi Abby! I’m a big fan of yours. I love your blog and I’m learning a lot from you. I recently just started my own blog. I was inspired by you. I took your 7 day challenge. My blog is happymomblog.Com. Come check it out if you can!
Thx for sharing these pics. This house is amazing and I love the colors. I also have bright colors in my house. This may inspire me to change my paint colors again!
So exciting, Emily! Congrats on getting started! I love the blog name you chose! Best of luck with your site!
~Abby =)
Wow – some great eye candy! We have something called the Street of Dreams in PDX every summer and I drool over the gorgeous homes and their amazing, well appointed decorations. Thanks for sharing your pics and visit highlights 🙂
Oh wow! You were right in my backyard! Let me know when you’re down here next time!! =)
Oh no way! I was literally only there for 24 hours, but it was a blast– I’m jealous that you get to live there all the time! Have a great week, Ciara!
~Abby =)
How cool! I love the photos! I literally live down the street from the Dream Home. I haven’t been able to see any of it so I’m so happy you posted photos of your tour. It looks beautiful and I would LOVE to have that upstairs balcony! Thanks!