New Homes in Kirkland - Summer Grove

     Summer Grove homes are built by Cam West, one of the largest mass production builders in the northwest. These are 3 – 5 bedroom homes from the upper $400,000s located in the northern end of Kirkland.  Across the street from the Safeway plaza, these new homes feature a high walk score of 77 with various shops and restaurants within walking distance. Juanita Village, downtown Kirkland, San Edward State Park, Juanita Beach Park, and I-405 are just minutes away from these new Kirkland homes. While this community provides very convenient life style, home buyers should be aware of the proximity to a very busy street. In the center of this community is a playground, which provides very nice open space for home owners. With this open space, home owners will enjoy more interactions with each other and more sun light into their homes. As the same with other new constructions in King County, each of these new homes has small yards. People who do not enjoy yard work might like the small yards at Summer Grove.

    The Great Schools ratings (with 10 being the highest possible score) for schools serving this community are: Juanita Elementary School: 8, Finn Hill Junior High School: 9, and Juanita High School: 9. Juanita High School is also ranked 22^nd within Washington and 834^th nationally by US news. The crime index by the Neighborhood Scout for the city of Kirkland is 25, with 100 being the safest. (If the crime index of a city is 50, the city’s crime rate is the median value in the nation.) While Kirkland’s crime rate is higher than half of the cities in the nation, one’s chances of becoming a violent crime victim in Kirkland (1 in 672) is only about half of that in Washington (1 in 339) according to the data from neighborhood scout.

     According to Feng Shui guidelines, the best orientation for a home is the one with most of the windows facing south. (See Feng Shui – part 1.)  Unfortunately, very few builders take this into account. From the neighborhood map of Summer Grove, very few homes have unobstructed south facing windows. A lot of these homes face either East or West. Homes with these two orientations will enjoy half day of sun light. Home owners in Summer Grove may want to invest in shutters with real good quality to shield the rooms from the strong summer sun light.

      Cam West designed eight floor plans for Summer Grove homes. The size of the bedrooms on all eight floor plans seems to be appropriate from the point of view of Feng Shui. Placements of beds can be easily adjusted to the layout of the bedrooms in most of the floor plans to reach maximum comfort. However, the design of all of the bedrooms on the floor plan of Iris and Hawthorn is against basic Feng Shui guidelines. Positioning beds in all of the bedrooms on these two floor plans can only be that the bed is in direct line with the bedroom door, the headboard is on the same wall as the door, or the headboard in under a window. If possible, home owners should avoid these arrangements. For remedies, see future article: Feng Shui – Part 3 bedroom Feng Shui.

Figure 1. Upper floor plan of the Iris in Summer Grove

Figure 2. One of the bedrooms in Summer Grove's model home. Placement of bed in direct line with the door is against Feng Shui guidelines.

     One thing I like about the living room /family room in these new Kirkland homes is that Cam West leaves a space next to the fire space for the placement of TV. With the two focal points (TV and fire place) next to each other on the same wall, home owners are able to watch the TV at eye level while enjoy the warm ambience created by the fire place. However, placement of sofa appears to be challenging for many of the floor plans in Summer Grove. In these floor plans, sofa is designed to be placed either next to a window or on an empty space. This design creates a feeling of anxiety for anyone seated as he can not see what was going on behind him. (See future article: Feng Shui – Part 4 living room Feng Shui.) Luckily, Cam West seemed to be aware of the privacy issues created by the living windows. They planted evergreen brushes and/or installed fences to protect the privacy of the home owners. These shields in turn mitigate the sofa placement dilemma in these floor plans. For home owners who have to place their sofa on an empty space, they can place a mirror above the fireplace so anyone seated could see what was going on behind him. (For more remedies, please see: Feng Shui – Part 4 living room Feng Shui.)

Figure 3. Nice design to place TV and the fire place on the same wall

 

Figure 4. Feng Shui guidelines suggest the sofa being placed against a wall to provide the sense of safety

 

Figure 5. Nice and bright kitchen in Summer Grove with beautiful slab countertop

 

 

Figure 6. Large open space in the center of the Summer Grove community