This episode is for anyone out there who is building a lake house and, more specifically, looking for trending exterior paint colors for lake houses in 2025.

I decided to record this episode because, ironically, a significant number of my clients inside BEFORE YOU BUILD℠ are planning to build a lake house. 

For some, it’s a secondary home, but for others, it will be their primary residence.

Either way, they obviously want to get their exterior colors RIGHT!

And hey … even if you aren’t planning to build a lake house, this episode will still be very helpful because the paint color palettes are popular for home exteriors in general in 2025.

And, be sure to check out the show notes for this episode so you can see some of these colors in action (in other words … you’ll find photos of the colors on my blog).

-

EPISODE SHOW NOTES: carolineondesign.com/trending-exterior-paint-colors-for-lake-houses
BEFORE YOU BUILD℠: carolineondesign.com/before-you-build
BLOG POST (4 STEPS TO CHOOSE PAINT COLOR): carolineondesign.com/steps-to-choose-a-paint-color
PEEL-AND-STICK PAINT SAMPLES (affiliate link): https://rstyle.me/+8h_YTkI3gg-JchgCAKrBhw

👉 Grab a seat in my FREE CLASS, 'The 3 Most Expensive Home Building Mistakes (and How to Avoid Them!)', at carolineondesign.com/free-training

Sticking to budget when building all starts with avoiding three common mistakes that I see people make ALL. THE. TIME. 

These mistakes can lead to significant budget overages (especially mistake #3!).

BUT … I’m not gonna let them happen to you!

These are all 100% avoidable ... and I'm so glad you’re listening to this episode so that you'll know exactly what to avoid.

---

EPISODE SHOW NOTES: carolineondesign.com/mistakes-to-avoid-when-building-a-home
BEFORE YOU BUILD℠ PROGRAM: carolineondesign.com/before-you-build
FREE CLASS: carolineondesign.com/free-training
WEBSITE: carolineondesign.com

👉 Grab a seat in my FREE CLASS, 'The 3 Most Expensive Home Building Mistakes (and How to Avoid Them!)', at carolineondesign.com/free-training

If you plan on building your dream home in 2025 (or 2026 or even 2027), you're in the right place!

I'm here to help YOU bring your dream home to life … within budget and without regrets. 😘

This podcast is a great place to start ...

The short, binge-able episodes are full of actionable home-build tips and advice to help you feel more confident as you prepare for, and build, your dream home.

And, if you want to dive deeper and work with me in 2025, I invite you to join BEFORE YOU BUILD℠. 🙌

Tune into this episode to learn ALL about how I can help YOU bring YOUR dream home to life in 2025 … within budget and without regrets. ❤️

EPISODE SHOW NOTES: carolineondesign.com/building-your-dream-home
BEFORE YOU BUILD℠ PROGRAM: carolineondesign.com/before-you-build
FREE CLASS: carolineondesign.com/free-training
WEBSITE: carolineondesign.com

👉 Grab a seat in my FREE CLASS, 'The 3 Most Expensive Home Building Mistakes (and How to Avoid Them!)', at carolineondesign.com/free-training

One of the most important keys to staying on budget while building is getting accurate home construction quotes BEFORE you hire your builder.

However, it can be a little tricky to get quotes when you most likely don’t even have a floor plan when you’re interviewing builders. 

So, how do you get (accurate) quotes from builders without a floor plan? 

It all starts with a crystal clear vision of your future home.

In this episode, we’ll discuss some (really important) things to consider when creating your dream home vision so that you can get quotes from potential builders that truly take into account your desired dream home.

EPISODE SHOW NOTES: carolineondesign.com/accurate-home-construction-quotes
BEFORE YOU BUILD℠ PROGRAM: carolineondesign.com/before-you-build
FREE CLASS: carolineondesign.com/free-training
WEBSITE: carolineondesign.com

👉 Grab a seat in my FREE CLASS, 'The 3 Most Expensive Home Building Mistakes (and How to Avoid Them!)', at carolineondesign.com/free-training

Building a custom home is a HUGE investment in both time and money. Obviously, you want to get it RIGHT! I want this for you, too, so I’m giving you a huge tip in this episode … stay tuned because this is a custom home build MUST DO!

EPISODE SHOW NOTES: carolineondesign.com/custom-home-build-must-do
BEFORE YOU BUILD℠ PROGRAM: carolineondesign.com/before-you-build
FREE CLASS: carolineondesign.com/free-training
WEBSITE: carolineondesign.com

👉 Grab a seat in my FREE CLASS, 'The 3 Most Expensive Home Building Mistakes (and How to Avoid Them!)', at carolineondesign.com/free-training

If you’re feeling overwhelmed about your upcoming home build and you don’t know how you can possibly feel confident designing an entire house, this episode is for you. All it takes to feel confident is to have CLARITY before building your house.

There’s a reason that ‘Clarifying Your Vision’ is the very first step in my BEFORE YOU BUILD℠ Blueprint that I teach my clients.

A clear vision is an essential component to feeling confident (and in control) as you go through your home build.

It is the absolute foundation for every single design decision you’ll make while building your house.

We’re going to get into it, but if you’ve been thinking about joining BEFORE YOU BUILD℠, now is the time to do it :).

EPISODE SHOW NOTES: carolineondesign.com/confidence-when-building-a-house
BEFORE YOU BUILD℠ PROGRAM: carolineondesign.com/before-you-build
CAROLINE ON DESIGN WEBSITE: carolineondesign.com

👉 Grab a seat in my FREE CLASS, 'The 3 Most Expensive Home Building Mistakes (and How to Avoid Them!)', at carolineondesign.com/free-training

This episode is a little different than my typical episode … it’s more of a personal explanation of my top floor plan regret that I have for my own custom home. 

Although this is a personal story about my own home build experience, I know it will help anyone out there who is toying with the idea of doing what I did (and now regret).

I'm also sharing a BONUS at the end of the episode ... my second biggest floor plan regret :).

EPISODE SHOW NOTES: carolineondesign.com/floor-plan-regret
FREE FLOOR PLAN QUESTIONNAIRE: carolineondesign.com/fp-free-workbook
BEFORE YOU BUILD℠ PROGRAM: carolineondesign.com/before-you-build
CAROLINE ON DESIGN WEBSITE: carolineondesign.com

👉 Grab a seat in my FREE CLASS, 'The 3 Most Expensive Home Building Mistakes (and How to Avoid Them!)', at carolineondesign.com/free-training

I recently decided I was going to try to create a floor plan design with ChatGPT. 

I was looking online at different floor plans, and I found things I liked about each one, and then I thought, "Well, why don't I just create my own, and I'll have ChatGPT do it?" 

I thought I could plug everything that I wanted in, and a beautiful floor plan would spit out, and voila, I would have it. 

That's not exactly what happened. 

A floor plan did spit out, but it was far from beautiful! 

So that was a bust. However, I found things about ChatGPT beneficial when you're creating your floor plan. 

Tune in and learn why I think ChatGPT can be a great tool in your tool belt as you create your floor plan.

-
EPISODE: carolineondesign.com/floor-plan-design-with-chatgpt
FREE FLOOR PLAN RESOURCE: carolineondesign.com/fp-free-workbook
ChatGPT: ChatGPT.com
WEBSITE: carolineondesign.com

👉 Grab a seat in my FREE CLASS, 'The 3 Most Expensive Home Building Mistakes (and How to Avoid Them!)', at carolineondesign.com/free-training

My business coach recently asked me, 'What movement would you love to create for the people you serve?' In other words, how do I want to help YOU and others who are building their dream homes?

I had SO many thoughts automatically run through my brain. I knew these things deep down, but I haven't done a great job of explaining exactly how I want to help YOU. Tune into this episode because I'm sharing it all :).

Grab a seat in my FREE class, 'How to Build Your Dream Home On Budget WITHOUT Sacrificing Your Must-Haves'. This is a great place to start!

EPISODE: carolineondesign.com/before-you-build-movement
BEFORE YOU BUILD℠: carolineondesign.com/before-you-build
FREE CLASS: carolineondesign.com/free-training
WEBSITE: carolineondesign.com

👉 Grab a seat in my FREE CLASS, 'The 3 Most Expensive Home Building Mistakes (and How to Avoid Them!)', at carolineondesign.com/free-training

In this episode, we’re talking about the MANY MANY MANY benefits of planning before building your house. 

I see these benefits first-hand with my home build experience, as well as with my clients as they go through and complete the home build process.

I’ve started a movement to get people to PLAN before they build because I know there are SO. MANY. BENEFITS. to doing this.

It’s IMPERATIVE to PLAN if you want to stay on (or close to) budget when building.

It’s IMPERATIVE to PLAN if you want to get to the end of your home build WITHOUT regrets.

EPISODE: carolineondesign.com/benefits-of-planning-before-building
BEFORE YOU BUILD℠: carolineondesign.com/before-you-build
FREE CLASS: carolineondesign.com/free-training
CAROLINE WEBSITE: carolineondesign.com

👉 Grab a seat in my FREE CLASS, 'The 3 Most Expensive Home Building Mistakes (and How to Avoid Them!)', at carolineondesign.com/free-training