Your selections appointment is where your new home’s look comes together. Floors, countertops, and tile all get chosen at one table, under the same light. A little preparation turns that appointment from “where do I even start?” into one of the most enjoyable parts of building a home. Here’s exactly what to bring, what to know before you walk in, and what to leave at home.

What Happens at a Saddleback Design Selections Appointment

Saddleback Design is an appointment-only design center that works with home builders across Denver and the Colorado Front Range. When your builder schedules you with us, you’ll sit down one-on-one with a designer to choose the finishes for your new home.

The key thing to know: your flooring, countertop, and tile selections all happen together, in the same appointment. That’s on purpose. When the slab, the floor sample, and the tile are side by side on the same table, you see exactly how they work together, instead of guessing from memory or a phone photo. It’s the single biggest reason finishes end up coordinated.

A few terms you’ll hear:

• Selections: the specific materials, colors, and finishes you choose for each surface in your home.
• Standard (or included) options: the materials that come with your home’s base price from the builder.
• Upgrades: options beyond the standard package, usually at an added cost set by your builder.
• Allowance: a budget amount some builders set aside for a category like flooring or countertops. Choose within it, or pay the difference to go above it.

Have a question before your appointment? Reach our design team here

Why Preparation Makes the Biggest Difference

We’ve helped a lot of buyers through selections, and the ones who leave happiest usually aren’t the ones with the most design experience. They’re the ones who arrived ready. The most common gaps we see:

• Tile gets the least homework. Most buyers have researched floors and countertops for months but haven’t counted how many places in the home actually get tile. Tile shows up in more spots than people expect.
• Not knowing what’s included. When buyers aren’t sure what’s standard and what’s an upgrade, every option feels like a guess.
• Missing decision-makers. If someone who’ll live in the home isn’t there, decisions tend to get revisited later.
• Too much inspiration, no pattern. Hundreds of saved photos can make it harder, not easier, to say what you actually like.
• Colors judged on a screen. Phone and laptop screens shift color. Real materials in real light often look quite different.

Every one of these is easy to fix before you arrive.

Ask us how to prepare for your builder’s selection package

What to Bring: Your Selections Appointment Checklist

1. Your Builder Paperwork

Bring your floor plan with room names, plus anything your builder gave you about standard finishes, upgrade options, or allowances. Knowing what’s included up front lets you spend your time on the choices that matter most to you.

2. A Tile Inventory

Walk through your floor plan and list every place that gets tile: kitchen backsplash, primary shower walls and floor, secondary bathrooms, tub surrounds, laundry room, and any fireplace surround or mudroom floor. Then rank those rooms by how much you care about them. You might want a showpiece primary shower and simple, durable tile in the kids’ bath. Knowing that ahead of time makes decisions faster and more confident.

3. Edited Inspiration

Instead of 200 saved pins, bring 10 to 15 images you truly love. Before your appointment, look for what they have in common. Warm wood floors? Soft white counters? Matte finishes? That common thread tells your designer more than any single photo.

4. Anything That’s Already Decided

If some parts of the home are already set, bring them along. That could be a paint chip you love, a cabinet color sample or photo from your builder, a fabric swatch, or a rug or piece of furniture you’re keeping. Seeing those next to your floor, slab, and tile options keeps everything in harmony.

5. Notes on How You Live

Write down the things that affect durability: dogs, kids, how much you cook, whether you work from home, and how much maintenance you’re willing to do. A family with two big dogs and a ski-boot entryway needs different floors than a couple who rarely cooks.

6. Every Decision-Maker

If two people will make the final call, plan for both to attend. Deciding together, with the actual samples in front of you, is far easier than describing them to someone later.

7. Your Home’s Orientation

If you know which direction your main windows face, bring that too. Colorado’s strong, high-altitude sun changes how colors read throughout the day, and your designer can help you choose with your home’s light in mind.

What to Know Before You Walk In

A Quick Materials Primer

• Engineered wood: a real hardwood top layer bonded to a stable core. It’s a popular choice in Colorado’s dry climate because it handles humidity swings well.
• Luxury vinyl plank (LVP): a layered, water-resistant floor with a realistic wood look. Great for busy households, basements, and mudrooms.
• Laminate: a durable, budget-friendly floor with a printed wood or stone look.
• Porcelain vs. ceramic tile: both are fired clay tile. Porcelain is denser and more water-resistant, which makes it a common pick for floors and showers.
• Quartz: an engineered countertop made mostly of ground stone and resin. It’s consistent in color and low-maintenance.
• Quartzite and granite: natural stone countertops. Each slab is one of a kind, and natural stone may need periodic sealing.
• Honed vs. polished: honed is a soft, matte finish. Polished is glossy and reflective.

Finish Matters as Much as Color

The same color can look completely different in matte versus glossy, or smooth versus textured. Ask to feel the samples, not just look at them.

Use the Table

Because everything is chosen in one appointment, you can put your floor sample, countertop sample, and tile right next to each other. Do it often. Pull a combination together, step back, and look at it as a whole. That’s the advantage of choosing everything in one place.

Have a Comfort Range for Upgrades

Before you arrive, talk through which upgrades matter most to you and roughly what you’re comfortable spending beyond what’s included. Your builder sets upgrade pricing, so check with them for specifics. Knowing your priorities lets you splurge where it counts and save where it doesn’t.

Want to compare materials in person? Book your Saddleback appointment

What to Skip

• Skip the endless scroll. Stop collecting new inspiration the week before. Edit what you have instead.
• Skip choosing color from your phone. Let the real samples, in real light, make the call.
• Skip trend-chasing on your biggest surfaces. Save bold choices for spots that are easier to change, like a backsplash or powder room. Keep your floors and main countertops flexible.
• Skip “we’ll figure out tile on the spot.” Your tile inventory and room ranking take 15 minutes at home and make a big difference.
• Skip deciding solo if someone else will live with the result.
• Skip comparing everything to everything. Narrow to two or three favorites per surface, then compare them side by side.

What to Expect: Before, During, and After

1. The week before: gather your builder paperwork, finish your tile inventory, rank your rooms, and trim your inspiration to your favorites.
2. The day before: put everything in one folder or envelope, including paint chips, swatches, and your lifestyle notes.
3. At the appointment: share your inspiration and priorities with your designer, then view floors, countertops, and tile together on the table. Ask questions about care and durability as you go.
4. Afterward: review your selections summary carefully. Ask your builder how changes are handled once your selections are finalized, since changes after that point can affect cost and schedule.

Ready to schedule? Contact Saddleback Design to set up your selections appointment

Selections Appointment FAQ

Do I need to know exactly what I want before my appointment?

No. You just need a sense of what you like and how you live. Your designer will help you narrow the options and see how they work together. A handful of inspiration photos and your priorities are plenty.

Do I choose flooring, countertops, and tile at different appointments?

Not at Saddleback Design. All three are selected together in one appointment, so you can see every material side by side and make sure they coordinate.

Should my partner come to the appointment?

If you’ll be making decisions together, yes. Seeing the actual samples together is much easier than trying to describe them afterward.

What’s the difference between quartz and quartzite?

Quartz is an engineered surface made mostly of ground stone and resin, so it’s consistent and low-maintenance. Quartzite is a natural stone, so every slab is unique, and it may need periodic sealing. Your designer can show you both.

What if I change my mind after my appointment?

Ask your builder about their change process. Changes after selections are finalized may involve added cost or time, which is why preparing ahead pays off.

Talk with a Saddleback designer about getting ready for selections

A great selections appointment comes down to preparation, not perfection. Bring your builder paperwork, a tile inventory, a short list of inspiration, anything already decided, and every decision-maker. Know the basics of what’s included and how the materials differ, and skip the screen-based color guessing. Do that, and choosing your floors, countertops, and tile together becomes the fun, confident part of building your home.

Schedule your appointment-only design consultation with Saddleback Design today — call (303) 940-3932 or visit gosaddleback.com/contact.

515 W. Mississippi Ave., Denver, CO 80223