The Aruba Floor Plan at Latitude Margaritaville Watersound: What You Choose Before You Build

Lynn LeMaster

Oct 1

5 min read

The Aruba is the Island Collection's two-bedroom-plus-den plan at Latitude Margaritaville Watersound: 2,336 air-conditioned square feet, two and a half baths, a covered lanai and a three-car garage. In this week's tour, Lynn LeMaster and Nancy Glaze walk it room by room. The short version is that a lot of what makes this model feel the way it does is not standard equipment — it is a series of decisions you make before anything gets built.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ks-3o9Zxkb0

A quick look at the Aruba floor plan

The Aruba sits in the Island Collection, the larger end of the single-family lineup at Latitude Margaritaville Watersound. Two bedrooms plus a den, two and a half baths, and a three-car garage, at 2,336 air-conditioned square feet.

Lynn and Nancy describe it as one of the community's most popular plans — in their words, resales rarely come up because owners tend not to leave. That is their read of the market rather than a published statistic, but it is the kind of thing two people who live here and sell here would notice first.

Current base pricing and homesite costs are published on Minto's Aruba floor plan page and they move around, so check there rather than trusting a number in a blog post.

One open room, and a dining table built for a crowd

The great room opens straight into the kitchen and the dining area, and the flow between the three is the first thing the hosts point out. The island seats four on counter stools. The quartz is a color called Montgomery — one of the most popular countertop selections across the collections, with enough sparkle and enough turquoise in it to read as unmistakably coastal.

The dining room got the biggest reaction of the tour. It is large enough to seat the whole family at the holidays — or, as Lynn and Nancy work out on camera, two mahjong tables at once.

What is standard, and what you choose

This is the part of the tour worth slowing down for, because a model home shows you the best version of a plan. Several of the things that make the Aruba model look the way it does are selections rather than standard features:

The vent hood and the gas cooktop in the kitchen
The tile backsplash — the design center carries tile options, or you can run the quartz up the wall instead
In the laundry room: the utility sink, the base cabinets with countertop, and the upper cabinets
The ventilated wood shelving used throughout the model, which is a builder upgrade and holds up well in Florida humidity
The gas fireplace, which is optional — and which one of the hosts calls her favorite feature in the home she built, switched on every morning and evening just for the ambiance

All of these are settled at your structural and design appointments, which happen early. Knowing which line items are which before you walk in is the difference between choosing calmly and choosing under pressure.

Decide the accessibility features now, not in fifteen years

The most useful thirty seconds of the tour is easy to miss. Near the powder room at the front of the house, the model showcases accessibility options: grab bars, zero-entry showers, extra-wide doors, and even ramps. All of them can be selected during your build.

This is worth thinking about even if you feel no need for any of it today. Blocking inside a wall for a future grab bar, or a shower built without a curb, costs very little while the house is being framed and a great deal once it is finished and tiled. Buyers in a 55+ community are choosing a home they intend to stay in, and the cheapest moment to plan for that is before the slab is poured.

The performance center: seeing behind the walls

Back by the entry from the three-car garage, this particular model houses a performance center — a cutaway that shows how the homes are actually built. The roof, the Tyvek system, the hurricane clips. Lynn and Nancy both flag it as a stop worth making.

If you are moving to the Florida Panhandle from a part of the country that does not build for wind, that display will answer questions you did not know to ask.

The lanai, and the extra ten feet

The back wall is four sliders, with the middle section opening at the center. The detail buyers tend to care about most: Island Collection homesites carry an extra ten feet of width, and that shows up outside as a noticeably wider pool space.

Inside, the plan keeps the primary suite at the back and the guest suite at the front, with its own en suite bath. The hosts call that separation one of the plan's best qualities, and it is the practical argument for a home this size: guests can stay a week without anyone feeling crowded.

Frequently asked questions

How big is the Aruba floor plan?

2,336 air-conditioned square feet, with two bedrooms plus a den, two and a half baths, a covered lanai and a three-car garage. It is part of the Island Collection, the larger single-family series at Latitude Margaritaville Watersound.

Can you add accessibility features to a new home here?

Yes. The Aruba model showcases grab bars, zero-entry showers, extra-wide doors and ramps, and those can be selected during your build rather than retrofitted later.

Is the gas fireplace standard in the Aruba?

No — it is an option. So are the vent hood and gas cooktop, the laundry room cabinetry and utility sink, and the wood shelving used throughout the model. A model home shows the upgraded version of a plan, which is exactly why it is worth asking about each item.

Do Island Collection homesites come with more room outside?

According to the tour, Island Collection homesites include an extra ten feet of width, which mostly shows up as a wider pool and lanai area behind the house.

Where can I see the Aruba in person?

It is one of the models open to walk through at the community. If you are planning a first visit, it is worth reading about Model Home Row and all fourteen models first, so you know which ones to prioritize.

Thinking about building here?

If the Aruba is on your shortlist, the useful next steps are working out whether building or buying a resale suits you better, and understanding what monthly life here actually costs. We have written about new construction versus resale homes near Watersound, about amenities, HOA fees and daily living, and put together a full buyer's guide to Latitude Margaritaville homes for sale.

And if you would rather just walk it with someone who lives here, call. We can meet you at the model and talk through which of these options are worth the money for how you actually plan to live.