design

Making Your Great Room Great

January 9, 2019

What’s the point of designing a Great Room if its just average or blah? Exactly. That’s why a great room requires a great room design; nobody wants to hang out in the Blah Room.

The American Great Room: Open Floor Plan Concept at its Finest

A great room is the result of the increasingly common open floor plan trend. Unlike the m.o. of the 40s, 50s and 60s – when most houses were divided into small boxes of completely separate rooms – kitchens, dens, living rooms, dining rooms, etc. – the open floor plan typically skips all that and coverts the main living areas into one large space – complete with an exposed kitchen and a great room.

Now, that isn’t to say that the great room means you can’t have formal living room and family room areas. Quite the opposite, there are ways to incorporate both using area rugs, modest room dividers and/or the way you arrange your furniture. The following are tips on how you can make your home’s great room as great as it can be.

A continuous design. Perhaps the most unique things about a great room is that it includes the kitchen and dining space along with the lounging and entertainment spaces. For this reason, you’ll want to take your kitchen design into consideration so that things flow visually from one area to another. By repeating or echoing accent colors, certain textures or shapes in each space will help to unify them and make them all feel part of a greater whole, which is what they are.

Build interest with color. To keep your great room from being boring, you will want to build interest using color variations. You can do this by selecting complementary shades, by alternating the use of paints and wall paper, by choosing window and patio door treatments with attractive colors and patterns and by keeping an eye out for large works of art that can add variety to large expanses of wall space.

Use various textures via furniture and textiles. Another way to add depth and interest to a large open space is to vary the textures. Consider using wood accents to trim walls, windows and doors. Add a plush, higher-shag area rug or two. Another idea is to pop a section of wall out just a bit, perhaps the section where the fireplace lives or the entertainment center wall. Yes, you’ll lose a little square footage but you can add wood paneling, textured wall panels or an accent color on the popped or recessed surface, adding a completely different dimension to that location, which automatically assists you in creating the illusion of different zones.

Create unique zones. How will your great room be used? Creating unique zones will help the room to make more sense. You can do this using furniture arrangements that prioritize a conversation area or reading nook versus the couches and chairs everyone uses to watch TV. Built-in shelving and desk space can make for a stylish home office.Your dining room area will be obvious but perhaps a play area can be enhanced by colorful area rugs and built-in storage units so games and toys are easy to keep out of sight when entertaining adult guests. Potted plants or temporary screens can be a wonderful addition and provide a flexible means of setting the boundaries for your intentional zones.

Being Prepared For A Bathroom Renovation

December 31, 2018

Bathroom renovations – they can be relatively painless, like when the bathroom is a rarely used powder room. OR, they can be a bit more involved, like when the bathroom in question is attached to your bedroom sanctuary or sends the entire family into your bathroom while their’s is torn apart.

The good news: you WILL survive your upcoming bathroom renovation. The better news: You’ll survive it with only a modicum of inconvenience if you’re prepared.

5 Ways To Prepare For a Bathroom Renovation

Consider the following as your “Bathroom Renovation Preparedness Guide”. Between this, and some deep breaths from time-to-time, you’ll come through the process swimmingly.

Hire the right design/build team. Not all design and build teams are created equal. Your job is to find one that’s experienced, professional and has excellent communication skills. One of the reasons I advocate hiring a interior designer when performing a remodel or full-scale renovation is to keep things as stress-free as possible. Even the best construction companies can err on the side of less-is-more when it comes to client communication. This can mean you don’t always know exactly what is happening, when, which is a bit stressful when it’s your own home you’re talking about. By hiring an interior designer who has professional relationships with high-quality contractors, you gain the best of both worlds: clear communication and a solid design plan, combined with top-notch work.
Create a communication plan. Even the most solid plans can be thrown off a bit depending on product availability or unanticipated discoveries in internal wall spaces. Make sure you and your contractor have a set plan for how communication re: scheduling or design changes will take place so you’re on the same page.
Prepare for dust. No matter how careful you are, things are going to get dusty. From saw dust to drywall dust, it can be talcum powder-fine and will seep into the most unlikely of places. You can minimize its infiltration by using sheet plastic and tape to seal off adjacent hallways, doors, rooms, closets and so one. Your design/build team will typically secure the most obvious spots, but you’ll want to take care of any closets or dressers that may be affected to minimize the clean-up later. Also, buy an extra HVAC filter or two from your local hardware store. Once your bathroom remodel is complete, you’ll want to change the filter – and then change it again a month later – to keep all that particulate matter from circulating around your home.
Set up another bathroom space. Depending on the scale of your bathroom remodeling project, you may be without a fully functional bathroom for up to three or four weeks. It’s time to set up a new bathroom space. If you have another full bath in the house, lucky you. Your biggest challenge may be setting a few new parameters for availability and use now that the whole family is sharing. If you are remodeling your only full-bath, you may need to be a little more creative. Most construction companies can rig a temporary toilet and shower area in another area of the house – garage, laundry room or basement.
Expect the unexpected. We hinted at this in #2, but the reality is that it’s a rare remodeling project that moves forward without a hitch. There is usually at least one snafu – sometimes small and often not-so-small. Just be prepared and keep an open mind so you can work more cooperatively with the design/build team to problem solve.

7 Ways To Use A Serving Cart

December 30, 2018

Furniture can be divided into three categories: pieces you use daily, pieces you use weekly, and pieces you hardly ever use. To a minimalist designer, the latter category is clutter, filling up unnecessary space. A traditionalist will look at that piece differently, allowing it to remain as long as it jives with the rest of the decor. A transitional or functional designer says, “Let’s put that piece to use more often!”

Serving carts are a prime example of a furnishing that can be superfluous unless you’re getting more out of it than the occasional service at a party or social gathering.

7 Ideas to Make A Decorative Serving Cart More Functional

A serving cart can be attractive in its own right but, unless you’re using the piece regularly, it’s also a space hog. Here are ideas to put that piece to use.

Make it a home bar. Serving carts work great as a small home bar. Put all of the basic – or your favorite – liquors on the top, along with an ice bucket, napkins, a shaker and a glass to hold spoons or stir sticks. Put a few tumblers and wine glasses on the bottom level. Now, happy hour can migrate anywhere you want it and is at the ready when you have a visit from an impromptu guest.
A kitchen island. Have a small kitchen? Apartment, cottage or townhome dwellers find a serving cart makes a wonderful kitchen island substitute, providing extra “countertop” space for food prep and storage.
Enjoy fresh flowers. The idea of having a fresh flower arrangement on a weekly basis is lovely, the practicality is less so. It’s difficult for families to find a space where a vase of fresh flowers can sit relatively undisturbed – most of the spaces where it would rest are used on a regular basis, which makes it more of an inconvenience. Your serving cart, however, makes a perfect host for your arrangement, and when it’s tucked diagonally in a corner or along a wall, it won’t be in the way.
Craft cart for kids. No matter how hard you try, the kids’ craft supplies are rarely returned to their intended location. Why? Because kids draw on the coffee table, the dining room table, the kitchen table, on a book on the floor…etc. Purchase some attractive storage containers and make your serving cart a portable kids’ craft cart they can wheel to where its useful and then wheel back again – making it easier for the miscellaneous supplies to make it back into one spot.
Your craft cart. Do you love to scrapbook, embroider or sew? Don’t tuck those projects away in a cupboard. Instead, use the same idea as the kids’ craft cart. Organize your crafting materials in tidy, attractive storage containers and keep them out and handy so you can work on your projects more often.
Use it as an end table. If the height works with a chair or couch in your living or family room area, the cart can serve as an end table – holding a lamp, some magazines or those errant remote controls.
Plant stand. House plants add color and life to interior decors, and the right plants also improve your indoor air quality. Your serving cart will work as a plant stand. Put the pots on serving trays to protect the stand from water run off and to simplify things when it’s time to relocate the plants while you use the tray.

Senior Friendly Design

December 20, 2018

Are you first-time homeowners who would love to never move again? Are you baby-boomers interested in aging-in-place, rather than moving into a retirement or assisted living community? Are you a homeowner interested in selling your home as quickly as possible and for top-dollar? Do you plan to have a parent, grandparent or in-law living with you for some time?

If you answered, yes, to any of these questions – I recommend turning your attention to what we call accessible design principles.

Senior Friendly, Accessible, Universal or Livable – Good Design Matters

The terms accessible, universal and senior friendly frequent design publications these days. This is partly due to baby boomers, but it’s also about something bigger and larger than that.

It’s the post-2008 perspective shift that makes people want to buy a home they can make home, without worrying about flipping or investing. It’s about the mobile worker population who can live where they want and work without having to transfer companies or uproot their families. It’s about families who are choosing to care for one another in the comfort of their own home, rather than relocating in senior-only communities.

Finally, it’s about people realizing that accessibility improves life for everyone, not just those in acute need. With that in mind, let’s look at some of the ways you can make your home more accessible.

Lighting and electrical plans

It starts with something as simple as a lighting and electrical plans. By building these things in now, you won’t have to cut into walls and amend things later.

As with any good lighting plan, you need to accommodate for safety and task lighting. Make sure that all exterior walkways, stairs, and doorways are well-illuminated. Lighting inside the home should be bright enough on a dark night to illuminate the full room, with fixture placement such that shadows are minimized. Safety lighting can also take place via toe-kick or undercabinet lighting that provides an ambient glow when desired and also serve as wee-hour night-lights for the kitchen and bathrooms. Putting all of your fixtures on a dimmer switch is the best way to keep lighting under your desired control.

In terms of electrical plans, I recommend installing some well-placed floor outlets in the living and family rooms. This minimizes exposed cords from floor lamps, which are common, senior trip hazards.

Have a master suite downstairs

If you have a two-story home, I highly recommend placing a master suite or a comfortable guestroom with an attached bathroom on the downstairs, or most accessible, level. Even if you choose to sleep upstairs, for now, it means you and/or your partner will be able to have an accessible bedroom/bathroom, that doesn’t require navigating stairs, when you’re older, are recovering from a surgery or illness, etc.

Ample room for maneuvering

Accessible designs are always focused on seniors, but what about when a family member has an unexpected accident that renders them in a wheelchair, with a walker or on crutches at one point or another? What about family gatherings or parties, when guests may have mobility aids that need to be accommodated?

Accessible designs leave at least 36-inches between and around furnishings and walls, down hallways, around tables and chairs, between your perimeter cabinets/countertops and the kitchen island, etc., so people can maneuver easily. You’ll never regret building that access into the design now, and it makes for a gracious and flexible home.

No grip faucets, cabinet handles, and door pulls

Things that seem easy to grip take on a whole new personality the minute hands are out of commission as the result of injury or arthritis. This is why accessible designs incorporate faucets, handles and pulls that don’t require strong gripping action. Plumbing fixtures can be touch-free these days, and larger bars or levers are preferred for doors and drawers.

If you’re a young family, you’ll appreciate that more accessible kitchen and bathroom fixtures mean more autonomous kids, not to mention less wasted water.

Plenty of daylight

We know now that electrical light is not nearly as beneficial as light from the sun when it comes to our circadian rhythm (sleep and wake cycles) as well as mental and emotional well-being. This is true for everyone, and it becomes especially important for those who work from home or are more housebound – spending more time indoors than out. Adequate daylighting also makes colors look brighter and fresher, it makes rooms appear more spacious and inviting and it helps indoor plants to thrive.

Make sure you have adequate windows and add skylights and solar tubes for extra benefit. A solar tube placed over a home workstation is superior to fluorescent or LED lighting any day!

Think about grab bars and handles

Shower and toilet area grab bars and handles are like a quintessential senior design feature. But, let me tell you if they’re available – you’ll use them. They also make bathrooms safer for people of all ages. If you plan on aging in place, having seniors or physically challenged house guests, these bars are worth well more than their weight in gold.

Your bathrooms will look infinitely more stylish if you incorporate these features into the design now than if you have to install them later.

Implement slip-free surfaces

Finally, slip, trip, and fall hazards are the leading cause of injury for adults over the age of 65, and this includes serious traumatic brain injuries or the need for surgical procedures that can lead to further complications. Since most falls occur in or around the home, it makes sense to minimize slip, trip and fall hazards when designing any space.

Select slip-resistant flooring in kitchens and bathrooms. Invest in high-quality area rugs that don’t curl at the edges and corners, and reinforce them with full-coverage, non-slip mats underneath. Be thoughtful about the transitions or thresholds between hard surface and carpeted flooring. Minimize stairs wherever possible and design a ramp if you’re able to for exterior stairways.

The Perfect Front Door Color

December 17, 2018

Your home’s front door is almost like the smile on your face; it’s a welcome beacon for family, friends and unexpected guests. In fact, the front door is considered by many cultures to be like the mouth of the home, and you must be careful about the energy you let inside. Even the color can be symbolic, depending on your beliefs.

The color you choose for your front door can run the gamut from bold and bright to more conservative or neutral, and each one will leave a different impression. If you’re stuck choosing a new front door color for your home, we have 7 tips to make your job a little easier.

Align with the architecture. Because architecture always reflects a period, certain colors will look better than others. For example the exterior paint colors used for colonial architecture will vary from those used for a Mediterranean-inspired design. Many of the major exterior paint manufacturers make period- or architecture-specific palettes that can help narrow your choices.
Play by the exterior paint rules. Architects and designers typically recommend selecting three to four different colors for your exterior paint. These are referred to as the field color, the trim color and the accent color. The latter is used for shutters, railings, and architectural accents. Your door can fall into this third category OR you can select a fourth color that is used solely for the front door.
Consider your landscape. Are there dominant colors in your landscaping? Working with these colors and highlighting a particular favorite color that appears in your geography or planted landscape can also be a good way to select your front door color.
Consider feng shui. While feng shui comes to us by way of China, there are interesting similarities between the color rules used by this specific design code and rules from other cultures. For example, blues are thought to represent peace and tranquility. Red doors are typically considered “welcoming”, which is why early-American homes often had red doors. A red door let wayfaring travelers know they could stop, enjoy a meal and stay the night along their journey. If you are seriously interested in feng shui, the direction your door faces will also determine your color options. You can read more about it in this article by feng shui expert, Rodika Tchi.
Take a peek at the neighbors. No, I don’t advocate keeping up with the Joneses, but your neighborhood has its own style and (hopefully) synergy as well. For this reason, I do recommend you try to select a color that blends somewhat with your neighborhood’s collective environment.
Be trendy. Not surprisingly, exterior paint colors don’t trend as frequently as interior paint colors and with good reason, right? Nobody wants to repaint the exterior of their home more often than necessary since it is cost and labor intensive. However, there are broad trends and, right now, deeper and darker colors like blues, grays and slates and woody taupes are popular.
Throw caution to the wind. Have you always wanted to go completely wild and paint your front door an atypical color? Why not do it? The good news about painting a front door is that it’s easy to repaint if you aren’t happy with it. There’s no reason why you can’t try something more daring as long as it still works with your existing exterior paint colors.