Smart Shower Design

Corsica Model at Ironwood Crossing 030What do you look for in a shower? Would you like space, a certain kind of shower head, lighting, style or ease of use? Take a look at this shower, from the Fulton Homes Corsica Model at Ironwood Crossing. This spacious shower seems designed to meet every desire.

Let’s start with the finish – marble rectangle tiles create a rich and inviting setting for morning or evening scrubs. The glittery mosaic of glass and metallic tiles running across at just under eye level add a welcome sparkle that works well with the brushed nickel finish on the faucets and shower heads.

The choice of clear glass for the wall and door keep the room feeling spacious, and the half-step into the shower ensures that water is under control in spite of the ease of entry. Notice the double option for your shower: a standard wall-mounted shower head combined with a convenient and flexible hand-held choice with a mounted handle that can be adjusted to a particular height. With only minimal adjustments, this shower could work well for someone with limited mobility.

By using glass block for the window, natural light comes into the room while still maintaining privacy. It’s also nice to have a towel rack handy just outside the shower while still within the framework of the shower space, keeping towels dry but providing easy access.

Notice just a couple more things – a perfect place for shampoo and soap positioned in the wall, and a small seat for convenience yet designed not to interfere with the shower itself. A lot of thought went into this shower’s design. How would it fit into your dream home?

Fulton Gives Back – Character Counts

reid mauriceThe Fulton Homes Foundation efforts focus on children, water safety, animal safety, and youth education among other areas. The team at Fulton Homes also believes that bricks and cement may create a home’s foundation, but honesty and character build a solid foundation for young adults. Programs such as Character Counts recognize and reward middle and high school student athletes who demonstrate outstanding character and good sportsmanship.

The Tempe-based homebuilder partners with KTAR Sports Radio 620 for the Fulton Homes Character Counts program. KTAR listeners are encouraged to nominate a 12- to 17-year-old student athlete who has exhibited character. Beginning in November and continuing through April, one winner from all of the nominees will be chosen each month to win a $100 gift certificate to Sports Authority. Each monthly winner – or “Good Sport” – will be interviewed on video by Ron Wolfley, and is featured both on-air and online.

At the end of the school year a celebratory banquet will is held for the top 12 finalists who exemplified true character and good sportsmanship, and one athlete will be awarded a $5,000 scholarship courtesy of Fulton Homes.

This Year’s winner was Reid Maurice, who will be starting his senior year at Shadow Mountain High School in Phoenix. Maurice, who plays on the baseball team at his high school, said he trains year-round for baseball, working to continually improve as an athlete.

The summer before his junior year, Reid and his 21-year-old brother, Ethan, rode their bicycles across the country to raise money for Phoenix Children’s Hospital. The two brothers pedaled from Virginia to Oregon and raised $96,000 for the hospital. Maurice said they chose PCH because Ethan was treated there four years prior for a life-threatening illness.

“Character is not something a person is born with; we must take responsibility to form and mold it,” Doug Fulton, Fulton Homes CEO, said. “This program acknowledges the many young adults in our community who are excelling in both sports and in their own lives. Fulton Homes is proud to recognize good character in our young adults and the outstanding model of character they are exhibiting for others.”

Fulton Gives Back – Stuff the Bus

stuff the bus overshotThis summer Fulton Homes partnered with KEZ 99.9 and ICAN Positive Changes for Youth for the annual Fulton Homes Stuff the Bus campaign to help provide deserving families with school supplies. Since early June a full-size school bus parked inside the Macy’s Court at the Chandler Fashion Center waited to be filled with pencils, pens, notebooks, backpacks, school uniforms and shoes.

girl_backpacksIn mid-July more than 4,000 students – many from Chandler’s ICAN School – assembled at Chandler High School to receive backpacks full of school supplies collected in that bus through a huge distribution event held in conjunction with the Operation Back-to-School Chandler program. Volunteers and ICAN officials stuffed backpacks for Saturday’s delivery.

“This event last Saturday went a long way in making sure the ICAN students and other children in need will get off to a good start for the school year,” said Fulton Homes CEO Doug Fulton. “Fulton Homes is happy to sponsor this program again this year, which helps give back to the wonderful community of Chandler.”

This annual campaign is just one of the many ways Fulton Homes works to support youth education in the community. Other programs include the Fulton Homes Teacher of the Week program, S.O.S. for Teacher’s School Supplies, and Be KOOL Stay in School. All these campaigns are aimed at keeping kids on the right path, and headed in the right direction. We at Fulton Homes want to thank all of those community members who helped us stuff the bus so more children in need can start school this month with essential school supplies to help them succeed.

Fulton Gives Back – Pool Fence Program

9337217_SFulton Homes has always been a proud proponent of Water Safety in the Phoenix area, and their summer outreach programs recognize the risk many families in the Phoenix area face every day – children near water. So Fulton Homes gave away fifteen pool fences this summer during the Annual Fulton Homes Fence Patrol.

This is the 12th consecutive year that Fulton Homes has presented free pool fences with installation included for residents in need. The program is managed in partnership with KMLE 107.9 and Ironman Pool Fences. The fences are specifically designed to meet city codes for optimum safety. Families are selected through a nomination process from friends and families of the homeowners.

“If the Fence Patrol prevents even one needless drowning, we’ve succeeded,” said Douglas Fulton, CEO of Fulton Homes. “Drowning incidents happen in the blink of an eye and can occur with anyone near a pool. At Fulton Homes, we believe that parents must remain vigilant in regard to watching their kids around water and a properly installed pool fence is essential, especially for families with young children in the mix.”

The Fence Patrol is one of many water-related initiatives Fulton homes supports. The Tempe-based homebuilder also sponsors the “2 Seconds is Too Long” campaign as well as supporting the Valley of the Sun YMCA, providing swimming lessons to disadvantaged youths who learn valuable life skills, including personal safety and growth, stroke development, rescue and water sports.

As Doug Fulton explained, “Drowning is a harsh reality in Arizona, and we want to continue doing everything we can to prevent another family tragedy.” For more information go to www.fultonhomes.com and click on the “Fulton Foundation” link.

Listelles add Personality

Listels Design Center 027Would you enjoy the impact of a strong tile design for your kitchen backsplash or shower? If your design dreams are limited by your budget, incorporating a stripe of listelles can provide the bang for fewer bucks.

You may not be familiar with listelles, but the pre-designed and cut stone or tile patterns give you the opportunity to create an interesting and unique wall or backsplash without greatly increasing your costs for materials or installation. That’s because these pieces come pre-cut and arranged on webbing to keep them much easier to install than a design created on site.

Take a look at a few of the listelles available at the Fulton Design Center. Whether you prefer a dramatic geometric such as the choice on the lower left or something more organic such as the vine design in the top row, fourth from the left, adding one or two rows of listelles can really add a wow factor to a simple tile or stone installation.

There are two approaches to incorporating a listelle into your tile or stone design. You can start by reviewing the listelle options and then select the background tile or stone that suits your choice. Or sometimes it’s easier to start with a tile that suits your other design decisions and then visit our selection of listelles to discover just the right one to suit your taste in the rest of the room.

Your grout choice will also fill in the gaps in the listelle of your choice, helping to integrate it into the final installation. Visit the Fulton Design Center to take a closer look at our rich selection of listelles and determine the right choice for your new Fulton Home.

Hardwood Flooring

Hardwood Design Center 058With a classic and timeless look, hardwood flooring is hard to beat. Hardwood flooring, with its long life, flexible background for any décor, and variety of tones and finishes, can work in any room in your home. At the Fulton Design Center, take the time to investigate our hardwood options for flooring.

Fulton Homes offers a choice of Shaw, Armstrong or Holland Hardwoods brands for flooring, all three with a long-term and well-deserved reputation for quality materials and construction. Hardwood flooring has been designed to last, and it has a significant impact on resale value and speed. But the main reason to select hardwood flooring comes from the elegant appearance of this choice.

Many of today’s hardwood finishes tolerate more wear due to modern coatings. But hardwood flooring gains personality with wear. If you’ve ever visited a historic home, you may have noticed that those hardwood floors can last through generations of use, and a few scratches and dents don’t detract from the way this flooring creates an environment of tradition.

With hardwood flooring, changes in décor are easier, as wood makes a perfect background for any combination of colors and style. Hardwood provides the perfect background for area rugs, adding an additional layer to your home’s design.

Hardwood flooring isn’t for everyone. When you’re ready to choose flooring for your new Fulton Home, talk to your designer at the Fulton Design Center to determine if hardwood is a good choice for you and your family.

As you will find out when you talk to others who have chosen hardwood flooring, it’s an option you won’t regret. To see the full range of Fulton Homes’ hardwood flooring, visit the Fulton Design Center on one of our browse nights: the first and third Thursday evening of every month.

Painted Kitchen Cabinets

Design Center 003There’s a fresh clean look about painted cabinets in a kitchen. They bring light into a space yet still work well with black or stainless appliances. With the black countertops shown here combined with the black and white marble backsplash, this kitchen has the perfect combination of traditional and modern.

design center 002003Painted cabinets today take advantage of some of the options you see with stained cabinets such as glazes to create a more three-dimensional appearance. Take a look at the finish on these cabinets, from one of the kitchen vignettes at the Fulton Design Center.

The detailed trim on the cabinet doors combined with a rich crown molding option offer the perfect surfaces to showcase the dark glaze on these off-white cabinets. The rubbed bronze knobs and pulls suit this inviting style.

If you are considering hardwood flooring in your kitchen, or laminate or tile with a hardwood look, painted cabinets bring a positive contrast between the cabinets and flooring. Adding the dark countertops provides a strong delineation and keeps the kitchen looking interesting.

Old farmhouse kitchens often sported painted cabinets because it was easy to keep them clean and a new surface was only a can of paint away. But with today’s cabinet finishes, a quick wipe with a damp cloth will keep this kitchen sparkling.

With painted cabinets your color and décor options are almost unlimited. Bring in bright jewel tones, earthy colors or pastels and this kitchen provides the perfect background. Enjoy the beauty and flexibility of painted cabinets in your new Fulton Home. For more ideas visit the Fulton Design Center or the Fulton Homes Design Online center at https://edc.envisionoptions.com/welcome/browser.aspx?oid=506&iid=8007295&type=brw&src=edc&toid=505.

Little Touches Make Kitchen Pop

Corsica Model at Ironwood Crossing 009A smart, functional kitchen can also be lovely. This room, from the Fulton Homes Corsica model at Ironwood Crossing, demonstrates some of the best features a kitchen can offer when the goal is to combine practicality with style.

Let’s start with the cabinets. While glass-fronted doors add appeal to a space, many cooks worry that their cabinets are often just not tidy enough to make glass work for them. By choosing only one cabinet door – the angled one – for a glass front, this kitchen owner can place just the right dishes and bowls in this space to create the impression that every cabinet is this inviting.

Take a look at the type of glass on this cabinet. The vertical lines provide some shielding from seeing exactly what the inside holds and at the same time contribute another design element. Also, this type of glass is less likely to show fingerprints.

The glossy backsplash adds another pop of texture to this kitchen. While the tile and sealed grout make for an easy clean-up of any splashes, the grey, white and light coral tones provide a subtle element of color to the space.

Notice also the high-profile faucet. The clean look and strong curve provides another positive design element, while the skilled kitchen chef recognizes the height advantage when filling large pots. This oversize sink is ready for any culinary adventure.

Finally, the comfortable island invites family and friends to spend time in the kitchen talking to the cook after school or during parties. Overall this kitchen provides high style in its finishes yet still remains functional and welcoming for everyone.

Dining Area Works

Corsica Model at Ironwood Crossing 015If you’ve experienced dining at a circular table, you know how the space encourages conversation while providing an inviting central area for flowers, a centerpiece, or bowls of good food. The table in this dining room – from the Fulton Homes Corsica model in Ironwood Crossing – also works well in the space. When you have a square shaped dining area a circular table takes advantage of the entire space while still leaving breathing room for wanderers.

This table seats six comfortably and could handle up to eight with just a little squeezing. If you want to try this circle shape, look for a pedestal table that allows you the most flexibility in seating – there are no table legs to interfere with your guests.

The round presentation from the room’s chandelier provides the perfect lighting for the table. Choosing a light fixture with upward-facing shades provides a generous amount of light while avoiding glare. Add a dimmer to allow for darker, more intimate gatherings, possibly with added candlelight.

The built-ins offer another lovely feature in this space. Notice how the upper cabinets frame the window with glass doors that reflect all of the light in this room. The countertop provides the perfect spot to serve a buffet, and you could use the cabinets to store serving dishes as well as table linens. The electric outlet right at countertop level supports heated dishes or after-dinner coffee.

Positioning right next to the kitchen makes it easy to make and serve everything from a quick family lunch to a gorgeous dinner party. The two windows add light to daytime gatherings and ambience in the evening. How would this dining space work for you and your family? Visit our Corsica model to see it in person.

Sleek Entertainment Center

Corsica Model at Ironwood Crossing 014Do you like the idea of an entertainment center, but haven’t seen the right look for your home yet? Well, check out this one from the Fulton Homes Corsica Model at Ironwood Crossings. The cabinet style and finish coordinate with the kitchen while the more substantial floating shelves create a look that’s perfect for any living space.

You can use the door-fronted cabinets to hold DVDs, cable boxes, game equipment or anything else that supports your entertainment viewing. Out of sight when not in use but available easily when wanted, this space works for the busiest families.

The shelves could hold books with the help of bookends, or favorite accessories. Shelf size can be set to fit even the largest HDTV and the floating shelves’ absence of hanging brackets keeps the look sleek and contemporary – a fitting complement to the television itself.

To encourage the sense that this space is different from the rest of the room, a dark maroon accent color pulls all of the elements together. The brushed nickel pulls – matching those in the kitchen – combine with sparkly silver accessories to bring a welcome touch of brightness to the arrangement.

If you had a wall like this in your living or family room, how would you decorate and accessorize it? For more ideas, visit Ironwood Crossing and check out this model. Or visit the Fulton Design Center on one of our browse evenings – the first and third Thursdays of the month from 5:00 – 7:00 p.m.