Homearama Showhouse Tour — Room-by-Room Highlights

After more than a year of planning, second-guessing, late nights, and many trips packing vases and chairs into the car, our Homearama Showhouse project is complete. To celebrate, we filmed a casual whole-house video tour — a down-to-earth walkthrough showing the finished rooms and the design choices behind them.

Below are photos and notes for several rooms we hadn’t shared previously: the dining room, powder room, mudroom, guest bedroom, guest bathroom, and the laundry room. Each space reflects a balance of color, texture, and practical decisions that were important for a showhouse setting.

Dining Room

We love dark, moody walls in a dining room, so we chose a deep charcoal and balanced it with crisp white trim and linear wainscoting custom-built by our carpenter. To keep the space lively, we layered in colorful chairs, bold artwork, and patterned curtains. The peacock chairs were donated, the weathered trestle table gives a relaxed, collected look, and a cozy rug grounds the space.

The curtain fabric was custom-made, and the light fixture, tabletop accents, and glassware were mixed in from several home retailers to create a curated, approachable vignette.

Mudroom

The mudroom sits past the pantry and shares the same charcoal wall color as the dining room. White built-ins and two large doors keep the space bright, while beadboard backs, a stained wood bench, and practical storage make it highly functional. A prism light overhead and tile flooring add pattern and visual interest.

We wish we’d had a little more time to fully style the built-ins — some baskets are mismatched and shelves aren’t as full as we’d like — but the space still communicates everyday family life: a spot for shoes, school bags, and quick drop-offs.

Powder Room

Across from the pantry, the half bath features an accent tile wall running from floor to ceiling. The tile we installed arrived a bit bolder than the sample, which turned out to be a welcome surprise: visitors often name this tile wall as a favorite. We kept fixtures classic with a pedestal sink and polished-metal faucet, and added simple mirror and sconce lighting for a tailored finish.

Laundry Room

The upstairs laundry is one of our favorites because of the graphic wallpaper along the back wall. We added lime-colored pendant lights for a citrus pop against a calm palette of black, white, gray, and blue. The other walls are painted a slightly warmer white to complement the wallpaper and avoid any yellowish contrast.

Practical design choices include large-format floor tile, deep soapstone counters, a stainless work sink with a pull-down faucet, and a custom floating shelf across the wall for detergents, baskets, and cleaning supplies. These elements keep the room efficient and visually balanced between light and dark finishes.

Guest Bedroom

The guest room is the one that “got away” for us: it didn’t come together exactly as planned because there simply wasn’t time for final tweaks. We initially aimed to warm up the house palette with some richer tones, but an accumulation of brown furnishings made the room feel flat. We lightened bedding, swapped furnishings to white where possible, and added colorful art and a patterned rug to inject personality, but we still think a different wall color would have pulled everything together.

There are elements we love here — a metallic upholstered headboard, tailored curtains, and a cozy accent chair — and a few last-minute purchases made a big difference in the room feeling more complete.

Guest Bathroom

For the guest bath we chose a simple, classic look with subtle vintage touches. Tile wainscot wraps the main walls and continues into the shower, creating a cohesive, cozy feel. Carrera-style counters, a bridge faucet, glass cabinet knobs, and a seamless glass shower door keep the space feeling bright and refined. A hex-style floor tile adds pattern underfoot without overwhelming the small footprint.

Final Thoughts and Next Steps

That wraps our Homearama Showhouse tour. We plan to compile a dedicated House Tour page with final photos of every room, the floor plan, source lists, budget notes, and the video walkthrough — a single resource for anyone who wants a complete look. Working on this showhouse was an extraordinary opportunity: we learned a ton about new construction, collaborated with talented people who now feel like family, and are proud to support Richmond’s Habitat for Humanity with our fee.

Thank you to everyone who followed along, offered advice, and lent pieces to help the house come together. We’re already looking forward to checking in with the future homeowners to see how the house functions for a real family — that will be the best kind of follow-up to this very rewarding project.