Come the weekend, or on Monday night, does your living room or family room become a center for the sports enthusiasts in your family?

Whether your team wins or loses, you can be a winner after the party if you plan ahead to keep your floors clean under the onslaught of snacks and beverages that are part of watching a game.

If you’re ready to replace your flooring or planning for a new home, take the potential for parties in your home into account. When you plan the position of a large flat screen, think about choosing flooring that can handle the challenges of the gathering of family and friends for sports events, movies, or other events.

Tile and laminates provide the most low-maintenance flooring solution. With a quick wipe down, crumbs and spills disappear. If you prefer carpeting, look for the stain-resistant varieties that allow spills to be handled with no leftover damage. You can also pre-prepare by gathering the requirements for carpet cleaning – the right cleaner and plenty of small white work towels so that you can clean up any spills immediately. It’s important not to make a fuss, just clean up the situation and move on.

Think about snacks that minimize mess such as pretzels and cheese. Set up a snack buffet in your kitchen, where people can fill their plates to bring into the big-screen area of your home.

The final solution is rather dramatic but it works. Pick up a few beach towels or bath sheets in colors similar to your flooring. Then simply scatter them within the snack zone. Dropped chips and spilled crumbs stop being a worry. Once everyone leaves, gather the towels, shake them outside and throw them in the wash. In the meantime, your floor is ready for the next exciting incursion by the untidy crowd.

 Are you ready to redecorate your home? One of the most challenging, and most fun, aspects of your planning is choosing the right mix and balance of colors.

If you’re having trouble deciding on a color palette for a room, how about starting with totally unrelated photos? Browse through some photos you like. They can be close-ups of nature like the one here, or landscapes in any season.

Let’s take a look at how a room looks that uses the colors in the photo above. This inviting mix of browns and neutrals has the potential to translate into a warm room in natural tones.

Let’s start with the flooring, the best foundation for any room’s design. As you can see the mid-range wood floor here pulls its color from the shell at the front of the photo. The walls pick up the shell’s lighter tones with the brown wrapping the windows and doors just like it wraps around the shell’s spiral pattern.

For the sofa color, check out the shell toward the back of the beach photo. That rich caramel is a very close match. The area rug captures all the shades of gray that are reflected by the stones in the photo.

The beach shot also has a variety of dark and light tones, and these can be seen in the accessories. By drawing on the colors and mood of a photo, this homeowner was able to create a room with a natural feel in soft warm neutrals. Whatever your color preferences, take the time to find just the right image for inspiration as you design your own home.

This inviting contemporary condo has so many features that add sophistication and style. What may not be as easy to recognize is that this home is also designed for children.

The marble flooring has a natural beauty and the darker color choice, large tiles and glossy surface keep it low maintenance – particularly important in the eating area.

The art in this room also works well with children. By choosing a simple tile mosaic in the place of more traditional art, the piece has a strong presence while actually providing the same wipe-clean advantage as a kitchen backsplash. Notice that the chairs have modern lines while the leather provides another easy-clean surface.

One appealing and unusual feature separates the dining area from the front entry. This half wall differs from standard designs thanks to the square openings set in a pattern through the entire wall. This architectural feature allows homeowners to simply leave the spaces empty, providing inviting glimpses from one area to another. This homeowner chose to add Plexiglas containers to allow for additional style by adding various elements to each opening.

In this case, good plastic replicas of fresh produce provide an intriguing addition to the entryway while hinting at the purpose of the next room. Small children’s toys or blocks could also fill the containers at the lower levels, adding color while providing elements of interest for little ones. The options are only limited by your imagination and size restrictions. Altogether, this space combines a home for adults to appreciate and children to enjoy.

Would you like to add some architectural touches to your home without moving in a traditional direction? How about adding a stone feature wall? In an entryway or surrounding a fireplace, stone adds a natural element to your home while still providing flexibility in décor.

This grey slate wall provides a good example of using texture rather than color to provide interest. Even though all of these slate tiles are the same color, light reflects off the angles of each element to make it seem as though numerous shades of grey animate the wall.

This wall would work just as well in a mountain vacation home as in an urban environment. Imagine this grey as a background for a bright red sofa or silver accessories. There is almost no limit to the decorating options with this wall.

The second photo here is another grey wall, but the pattern is more uniform and several shades of grey help the tile layout pop. There are even a few stones in warmer grey tones, adding variety to the wall. This wall also has texture to spare, but more is going on. Either of these is neutral enough to be flexible.

Slate is by no means limited to grey. The stone family includes reds, gold, brown, black and even some blues. Collections of slate allow you to choose the look that will work best for your taste and style.

One delightful feature of slate is how its colors glow when wet. This makes it a good choice for water features such as fountains and waterfalls.

If you think slate may be a good choice for your home, come see the rich variety of choices offered by this versatile stone. Whether on a wall or a floor, inside or out, slate adds personality and drama.

It’s tempting to think it takes a four-poster bed to create a canopy that helps make a bedroom inviting and feminine. In reality, you can take advantage of your ceiling to add the yards of sheer fabric and turn a basic bedroom into something special.

The room starts with pastels. A buttermilk yellow – almost a cream – sets the stage on the walls. White bed linens combine with a quiet floral on the pillows to keep the soft color theme. Peach and gold sneak in with the flowers and the upholstered stool to add interest without distracting from the overall softness of the room. The simple upholstered head on the bed adds a feeling of comfort and gentleness.

The rug is a gentle lavender color. This daring color difference works because the entire room stays primarily with the softer pastels, allowing the color to connect well with the space. Art on the walls is limited to three floral plates, a fitting addition to the room

Of course the moment of drama comes from the gracefully-draped canopy. This is simpler than it seems to execute. There are actually two drapery rods with finials attached to the ceiling at either end of the bed. The fabric – a simple white sheer – is thin enough to wrap and drape without getting bulky.

This is actually about 25-30 yards of fabric, but the cost for something like this in plain white is quite reasonable. Another option would be to pick up a number of drapery scarves. It would take at least six to achieve this look. In this situation, balance is critical. It may take time to experiment until the look is rich without being overdone.

Where do children play? Where do infants crawl and toddlers learn to walk? Is your flooring soft enough – clean enough – for your little ones?

Children, grandchildren, the children of friends, nieces and nephews all love spending time on the floor. Make sure yours is ready.

Soft and smooth, inviting and plush, buy your carpeting or rugs with your hands as much as with your eyes. Touch, rub, run your fingers over the surface. Do you want little faces against that tweed, a little stomach moving along that carpet as it prepares for the giant leap to crawling?

Babies love lots of space and curling up in a corner. Babies want to walk as soon as they can. They’ll move from your hands to another’s and back to yours again. Did you choose a carpet cushion that will make their inevitable falls gentler, easier on their tiny behinds?

Little bare feet or wearing footie pajamas, running, laughing and sitting down on the floor to play, relax or read a book together like these two. Is your floor ready for them? Soft colors, room to play, and a carpet or rug that invites the children in your life to be comfortable, knowing that there’s always a place for them: a cookie, a favorite book, the squishy stuffed rabbit on the lowest bookshelf, and the oh-so-soft carpet for them to snuggle on and enjoy.

In long-ago times pots were used to store seeds, wine, medicines, and whatever people needed to keep contained. Most of these pots were hardened in a fire and remained unglazed. The terra cotta colors seen here in these pots and tiles are actually the tones of the original clay pulled from the earth.

Today’s tile choices are so much more varied – in design, size, color and use. Glazes allow us to create almost any color and design. Sophisticated manufacturing methods keep tiles very similar in size and easy to install. However, there is a real value to going back to the original feel of pottery when creating a special space.

This outdoor patio takes full advantage of the patina of old-style clay in its design. The unglazed tile floor demonstrates a wide variety of color and tone. The tiles themselves are uneven and imperfect squares. Natural toned grout has a wider application, allowing the variations in size and shape the leeway to fit the space.

Two different types of tile pots decorate the space. The classic red clay pots hold rosemary in the corner and a red hibiscus on the right. These pots have everything needed to keep plants going – holes for drainage and plenty of space for supporting soil. This is a good way to bring living plants onto a patio, softening the area.

Further toward the front on the right, the older pots play a purely decorative role. Unglazed and with a patina that looks to have come from age, they bring this outdoor space into another time. The old wood frame and simple pots can handle the weather, but they also serve as a rustic element – setting a tone and moving the space beyond standard manufactured choices.

How about mixing old and new? Let some pieces that bring back the memory of how pottery started join the newest tile options in your own home.

Are you drawn to wood floors with the rich colors and variation shown here? It may seem complex to decorate a room with this floor, but this dining room takes full advantage of the color and feel of this floor.

When you choose a floor like this, it will always take a front-and center position in your home. Your best design decision is to let it shine, and use your furniture and accessories to accent its strong and inviting personality.

Choosing black for the primary furniture finish allows it to pop against the lighter flooring. Red cushions pull the red shades from the wood. Together, the black and red feels as though the two colors are actually a breakdown of the wood tones from the floor. When you add rich colors to rich colors, everything plays off everything else, creating an inviting expressive combination.

Using ivory walls and white baseboards keep the rest of the room toward the background of the design. Red shows up on the curtains and accessories, but the choices are simple, allowing the flooring and furniture to take center stage.

You could reverse the woods and create an equally-dramatic room. Consider ebony-finished wood flooring and dining furniture in rosewood, cherry or another vivid wood. A rich area rug with lots of red could add that extra burst of color. On this floor, an area rug might work also, but adding another color such as a dull gold or ivory to coordinate with the walls may be the way to go.

When you’re decorating a room, start with the flooring you love and let your design flow from there. You will be pleasantly surprised with the results.

BUILDER USES RETAIL APPROACH TO SATISFY HOMEBUYERS

When Fulton Homes opened up their 13,000 square foot Design Center, in Tempe, they concentrated on using a retail approach to the merchandising of options as opposed to a “Builder Approach.”   Brand names are very important to buyers, so they selected quality brands such as Shaw, Mohawk, Moen, Kohler, GE, GE Profile, GE Monogram, Viking, Sony, OnQ- LeGrand, Jeld Wen, Therma Tru, and Hunter Douglas.  “We are constantly evaluating our performance of options, and adding new items as well as deleting items that buyers may not want”, says Dennis Webb, Vice President of Operations.  “In the past few years we have re-merchandised nine kitchens and three bathrooms in the center as we stay in tune to what our customers are looking for.” notes Douglass Fulton, CEO of Fulton Homes.

When purchasing a new home, recent studies indicate the homebuyers want a large selection of options in order to personalize their new home.  Fulton Homes offers over 6000 options to accommodate the discerning buyer.  Other builders offer a few option packages in their “Builder Approach” so that the construction of the house is less complicated and easier to build.

Fulton Homes also offers the first online options selection program called “Design Online.”  Here buyers can view thousands of options on line from their own living rooms.  The information on the online site is provided by over 200 manufacturers and contains rich content including pictures, warranty information, product specs, and dimensions.  Buyers are far more prepared for their Design Center experience when they are familiar with the options online.  Fulton also opens up their Design Center on the first and third Thursdays of each month from 5:00 PM to 8:00PM for “Browse Night” so that people can see, touch, and feel the many available items that might be difficult to imagine in an online only experience.

Recently, three brand new items have appeared at the Design Center.  A revolutionary new bathroom product called “Forza Stone” of which Fulton Homes is the first builder in the country to offer is a shower and tub surround that is manufactured in sheets, and is natural stone.  Because of the sheets, there is no grouting involved.  So the buyer gets the look of natural travertine or marble, but with no grout lines that makes cleaning a snap.  Another new product is by Therma Tru and Jeld Wen doors where within a patio door, an adjustable shade screen is housed between the dual pane low E glass.  This makes privacy and light adjustment simple without having traditional window coverings moving around the interior of the door.  The third item which is exclusive to Fulton Homes in Arizona is the introduction of GE Monogram’s new 30” convertible refrigerator.  The top of the unit is a refrigeration unit, the middle section is a freezer complete with icemaker, and bottom portion can be either a refrigerator or a freezer.

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Fulton Homes is planning grand openings in three new communities this fall.  Monterey Bay at Victoria Estates and Mendocino at Ashcreek will debut in Queen Creek, while Shoreline at Fulton Ranch will open in Chandler.  For more information on Fulton Homes, visit www.fultonhomes.com.

This cool bathroom was designed by Sarah Richardson’s show, Sarah’s House. It has a lot of wonderful and stylish design elements that all come together to make it feel polished and styled. Let’s take a look at the major elements of the bathroom.

Use of natural stone. Both the floor and counter top are white marble with gray veining. This is a classic choice of hard surface for bathrooms. Using the marble on both the floor and the counter helps unify the design in a relatively small space.

The glass shower enclosure also helps the small space feel bigger. A shower curtain would close off the space and make the shower feel smaller. The glass opens up the shower space and lets it flow with the rest of the room.

Mosaic tiles are used in an interesting way. Creating stripes of color with glass mosaic tiles makes a bigger impact than using all one color or even having a random mosaic pattern. Horizontal stripes help to widen the feeling of the room. The tile is also a nice way to introduce color into the room.

A non-traditional bathroom mirror over the vanity is a nice way to add style to a small bathroom. The round mirror also echoes the round vessel sinks. Both circles break up all the linear shapes of the room.

Silvery sconces complement the silver frame of the mirror as well as the nickel bathroom fixtures, including the faucet and showerhead.

In a small space, such as a bathroom, all design elements need to be well thought out to make the room feel bigger than its small footprint.