If you’re building a custom or semi-custom home, especially your forever home, and the budget allows, consider these new home upgrades. They are more than worth the cost — they offer functionality, efficiency, comfort, and long-term enjoyment. Additionally, if you should ever sell, these new construction upgrades will increase your resale value.

New Home Upgrades for Your Forever Home

When designing your new home, the obvious upgrades come to mind, such as lighting, fixtures, paint, and flooring. But did you know there are structural and behind-the-scenes upgrades and clever ways to add invaluable extra space that can make a huge difference to the comfort, functionality, and efficiency of your forever home?

Here are our recommended new home upgrades that, through decades of home-building experience and customer feedback, we are certain you will love!

Structural Home Upgrades

Structural upgrades include features like 11-foot high ceilings with transom windows and a 9-foot foundation pour for a deep basement. You can add atrium windows to light up the deep basement, thicker, higher-grade insulation, and the highest-quality, energy-efficient hot water heater or on-demand hot water systems. There are also plumbing upgrades that prepare your home for each sink, wash basin, bathroom, kitchen, and outdoor spigot, and extra electrical outlets for the latest smart home technology, a home office, spa, pool, or hot tub.

• 11’ high ceilings with transom windows
• 9’ foundation pour for a deep basement with atrium windows
• Thicker, high-grade insulation and wraps
• Plumbing upgrades
• Electrical outlets and panel upgrades
• Smart home technology

Luxury Kitchen Upgrades

When we talk about luxury home upgrades, the obvious kitchen upgrade features come to mind — professional appliances, feature lighting, granite, quartz, and marble countertops, deep porcelain or copper sinks, and superior cabinetry. These are definitely important to get right when building your new home because they are difficult and intrusive to change later, but there are a few other luxury kitchen upgrades you may not have thought about.

For example, how large do you want your walk-in pantry? Do you want electrical outlets and counter space to hold small appliances in the pantry? Do you want a built-in wine rack in the pantry or elsewhere in the kitchen? How useful would it be to have a larger overall space with a large laundry area, kitchen, breakfast nook, and powder room?
Do you want an island? What type and how large? What about a custom tile backsplash?

Upgrading a basic kitchen with luxury kitchen upgrades after you move in is invasive and costly, so why not do it when you design your forever home and enjoy the immediate benefits?

• Kitchen materials and appliances: custom cabinetry, stone countertops, feature lighting, professional appliances, sink size, shape, and material
• Extended laundry/kitchen/breakfast area with a powder room
• Larger walk-in pantry with purposeful shelving, racks, and counters; wine rack
• The size and shape of your kitchen island (L-shaped, butterfly-shaped, rectangle, hexagonal, number of seats)
• Custom backsplash behind the stove and/or around the entire kitchen area

Luxurious Master Bathroom & Master Suite Upgrades

For the most luxurious master bathroom and bedroom suite, the sky’s the limit! There are endless configurations and products to choose from when designing a luxurious master suite and bath ensemble. At CMS Homes, we offer spacious suites with unique architectural features such as tray ceilings, crown molding, French doors out to a private patio, bay windows, feature lighting, oversized walk-in closets, and spa-inspired bathrooms.

Our luxurious master bathroom plans can be customized to include a stand-alone marble or jetted bathtub, a large walk-in spa shower with all the frills and practicalities, built-in linen closets, in-floor heating, and a multitude of color patterns, materials, and fixtures to achieve the desired feel, right from the start.

We also recommend rethinking the size and functionality of your home’s other bathrooms. One can never go wrong with larger bathrooms, Jack-and-Jill bathrooms, the occasional powder room, and easy-access bathrooms on each floor (maybe even in the garage!).

If you decide to “wait until later” to add a bathroom or renovate one, keep in mind that remodeling or adding bathrooms is invasive and messy, often strains the budget, and the outcome can be less than favorable, depending on how much tearing out of walls and reconfiguring plumbing and electrical must be done.

These luxury upgrades earn the highest ROI and rank topmost on the enjoyment factor.

• Spacious, luxury master suite with tray ceilings, crown molding and cornices, large windows and walk-out doors for natural light
• Oversized, customized, walk-in closet; his and hers closets
• Master bath, marble tub, walk-in, waterfall, spa shower, luxury dual vanity with upgraded countertops, plenty of cabinets
• High-quality, timeless flooring, shower, and wall materials (ceramic, porcelain, glass tiles; tumbled stone, wood, luxury vinyl tile/LVT)
• Heated flooring
• Larger bathrooms throughout the house with high-quality features

Garage Upgrades

A well-planned, oversized garage will provide enough parking bays to protect your primary vehicles, boats, ATVs, and RVs. But did you know that you can add garage upgrades that create space to store lawn equipment, sporting goods, and tools, and add a dream workshop with cabinetry? A garage is also practical for a home gym with heavier workout equipment and a functional utility area with a sink and shower.

As a garage upgrade, some people create a third or fourth bay with a temperature-controlled upper floor for a man-cave or she-shed, equipped with all the comforts of a small kitchen and bar, technology for gaming, streaming, and computer work, hobby and craft tables, and a home office.

A large, temperature-controlled garage with insulation and drywall is much easier and less costly to finish when you’re embarking on new construction, rather than trying to get permits and improve it or add more space later.

• Build a 3-car/oversized garage with an 18’ wide door and additional living or storage space
• Install insulation, drywall, cabinetry, Slatwall, racks, and organizational systems
• Create a multi-purpose space with a sink, foot shower/dog bath, gym, mudroom, workshop, man-cave, or she-shed
• Finish the garage floor to a high standard to keep it from cracking, peeling, and staining
• Add beautiful windows, exit doors, and smart home technology to locks and garage door openers

Upgrade with a Hearth Room

What the heck is a hearth room and why would you want one in your forever home? A hearth room is a cozy gathering place with a fireplace and comfortable furnishings. It provides just enough interior space to relax and unwind, and often becomes the favorite room, with the fireplace as the focal point.

Traditionally, hearth rooms were casual and small, but as our lifestyles and values have changed, so have these rooms. You can have a hearth room as your formal dining room with chairs and sofas positioned at the hearth. You can opt for a Zen hearth room situated outside the master suite or create one as a formal living room where you entertain guests, sans TV.

A hearth room can provide a secluded place to congregate, away from the crowded kitchen, perfect for hosting or simply stepping away from the home’s daily bustle. There are so many ways to configure your hearth room, but no matter how you design it, it’s a “must-have” in your newly constructed home.

Consider a charming hearth room with:

• Built-in bookshelves for a library feel
• Nature as your backdrop with extra-large windows or French doors to the outside
• A bespoke hearth with a unique mantle and surrounding materials
• A board game and puzzling area
• A snug with a bar and inviting furniture

Exterior Home Upgrades

It may seem obvious when building a brand-new home to have the outside be as beautiful as the inside with incredible curb appeal. However, you might be surprised how many people cut corners on the exterior to stay within budget. Though this sounds like a good plan, it can come back to bite you in just a few short years. How?

When building a luxury forever home, the last thing you want to do is scrimp on the quality of the siding and facade, the roofing, and the accent pieces, such as railings, banisters, downspouts, and doors. When selecting slightly inferior products or skipping certain features, you may be forced to replace them sooner than anticipated, which is expensive and stressful. Nobody wants to replace vinyl or wood siding, a roof, or gutters due to deterioration or faulty installation within a few years of building a new home.

On the other hand, when you choose a builder who uses top-of-the-line products with lengthy warranties and high-end architectural upgrades, you’ll have one less thing to worry about.

Be sure to select:

• High-quality siding, possibly used in different patterns for a unique aesthetic
• French country stone and brick accents
• Multilevel rooflines and decorative gables
• Copper awnings
• Statement pillars and wrought iron spindles
• Interesting windows and shutters
• A beautifully designed entryway, porch, and decking
• Professional landscaping
• An all-season outdoor living area and covered patio

All these features offer timelessness and peace of mind that will make you love your home for decades while adding curb appeal and real value.

7 More New Home Upgrades

In addition to the valuable luxury home upgrades detailed above, there are a few more that are popular in the Midwest as convenience reigns, people work from home, and the home has once again become the social hub. These are also new home upgrades our customers rave about and say they wouldn’t have chosen differently once they’d moved in and realized the benefits.

• A large, main-floor laundry room with well-planned storage, sinks, and a dog wash
• Beyond the deep pour foundation for future basement completion, actually finishing the walk-out lower level before they move into the new home
• Installing smart home technology
• Designing a dedicated home office
• Upgrading interior doors and hardware
• Springing for a few extra windows for the joy of more natural light
• Building a temperature-controlled pantry or wine cellar

In Summary: Luxury Home Upgrades That Are Worth It Whether You Build Your Next New Home or Your Forever Home

1. Structural upgrades, such as insulation, electrical, plumbing, foundation
2. Luxury kitchen upgrades, such as high-end materials and accents, island size and shape, combination rooms
3. Master bathroom and bedroom suite upgrades, such as tray ceilings, crown molding, large walk-in closets, spa showers, in-floor heating, and luxury vanities
4. Garage upgrades, such as extra bays, a home gym with shower, Slatwalls, built-in cabinetry, and an upper-floor
5. Hearth room addition on the main floor, as part of master suite, or an upstairs library
6. Exterior upgrades, such as French country stone, brick, statement pillars, doors, multi-level roofline
7. Main-floor laundry with storage and dog wash
8. A finished lower level or walk-out basement before move-in day
9. Smart home technology
10. A dedicated home office
11. Interior door and hardware upgrades
12. Extra windows with upgraded features
13. Temperature-controlled walk-in pantry and/or wine cellar

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Ready to Start Building Your New Construction “Forever” Luxury Home? Let CMS Homes Know How We Can Help

When building your forever home, whether you’re an empty nester or in retirement, you want it to be future-proof with quality you can count on, features that make sense as you age, and enough space to scale as needed. Downsizing is not always the best idea as many retirees have discovered, so plan your new home with practical design and layout features and work closely with your builder to sort through the best luxury upgrades for your goals.

If you reside within 35 miles of Lincoln County, Missouri, CMS Homes offers dozens of high-end yet budget-minded luxury home plans and features with endless, flexible customization options. Check out our home plans here and let us know how we can help you get started. Our consultations are always free and have no obligation.