Home Design Made Easy: Balancing Style and Budget

At Eastbrook Homes, we understand that your dream home needs to not only be functional, but also a reflection of your unique style and personality. That’s why along the journey of the building process, we’ll connect you with a dedicated interior designer that guides you through the process of making all the intricate choices that ultimately shape the perfect space for your family. 

MI’s Best sat down with Eastbrook Interior Designer Amanda Smit to uncover what this process looks and feels like, and specifically, how to bring your vision to life while staying on budget.

Keep reading to discover all of Amanda’s strategic tips and tricks. 

Getting to the Fun Part

At Eastbrook, we break the building process up into steps to keep everyone aligned and organized. Following a meeting with their sales team, which involves choosing a selection process that’s the right fit for you, you’ll meet with the structural designer. Once those steps have been checked off, it’s time for the “fun part,” as Amanda calls it, because for many families this is where they start seeing their dream home flesh out. 

“I meet with you for either two design meetings or up to five design meetings,” Amanda tells MI’s Best, “depending on the level of service you choose.” 

MI’s Best digs into the budget question next, asking, “How can I manage my budget to make sure that my dreams match with what Eastbrook can do and we walk away together with something that we’re like ‘this was awesome”?

Amanda explains that the strategy is to start with your budget and work backwards, essentially. Clients come to Eastbrook with a number in mind, and everyone on the team works with them to achieve that number. 

“Something I love about Eastbrook is we are always designing to meet your budget.” 

This is all possible because of both Eastbook’s team that helps guide you while making structural and interior design decisions, and the company’s wide range of home plans and customization options. This starts with your sales agent, who will guide you into a home plan that best meets your vision and allows for the type of interior design choices you plan to make.

MI’s Best poses another great question, asking if there are any home plans that can grow with clients if they intend to expand their home later in life as their families or budgets grow. 

While Eastbrook has many different home plans that would allow this, Amanda recommends choosing a home plan with multiple levels. 

“When you have multiple levels in your home,” Amanda says, “you can focus on finishing the main level, and you can leave the lower level unfinished so as your family grows, you can then create that extra bedroom, create that rec space or extra office that you need.”

Even with budgets that don’t necessarily have a limit, Eastbrook provides a step-by-step process to ensure the finished product exceeds the home buyer’s expectations. In this scenario, you would come to your meetings with your vision, and our team of experts would help you make the best choices – from home plans to structural changes – to achieve your dream home. 

“It works with the buyer coming to us with some design inspiration,” Amanda explains, “working with the sales person, then working with the structural team on how to make that happen, and then working with us designers and fine-tuning all of that and making that come to life.”

Design Trends for 2025

As we inch closer to the new year, many interested home buyers will start to wonder what new home design trends are on the horizon? Amanda shares with MI’s Best her crystal ball vision, but, it seems the future may not be so predictable.

“Based on trends within the past year, it kind of is like the rules are out of the window,” Amanda tells MI’s Best.

Lately, the current trend seems to be a revolt on following the trends. From so many different home styles, to bold, striking colors, home buyers are leaning into a focus on what they really want and away from considering what others might think. 

On the topic of bold colors, MI’s Best wonders if home buyers and designers are influenced by the color of the year announcements from Pantone and leading paint companies such as Behr. Amanda assures that while home buyers may take inspiration from there, they are equally trend setters.

At Eastbrook Homes, we pride ourselves on towing the line between offering a wide variety of design options and design flexibility, while also standing on the years of experience it takes to be forward thinking and be able to guide buyers in the right direction when it comes to customization. 

“A lot of people love the fact that all the work is done ahead of time so you’re not constantly being asked questions along the building process of decision making,” Amanda says. “We do all of that ahead of time so you can kind of just sit back and relax”

We have a great team here, full of experts that share the mind that we’re all here to build the home that’s perfect for you. Whether you have a strict budget or the sky’s the limit, at Eastbrook Homes, we are ready to help you build your vision. Come to us with your number and your dream, and we’ll build it. 

Are you ready to design the home of your dreams? Start the home-building process, or find your perfect move-in-ready space? Wherever your inspiration leads, the Eastbrook team is here to join you on that journey! Explore our feature gallery, schedule a tour of a model home, or browse our blog to see what others have done with Eastbrook. Connect with us today to start a conversation.