Category Archives: Design Inspiration

Let Color Create Character in a Room

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wWarner-Groves-at-Morrison-Ranch-069 - CopyYou don’t need to spend a lot of money on furniture to create a guest room with personality. Take a look at this bedroom from the Sycamore model at Warner Groves at Morrison Ranch. The room has no headboard and simple matching nightstands with lamps. Yet it has a charm all its own. Let’s take a look at why.

Smart use of paint: The dramatic wide blue stripe is a powerful substitute for a headboard for this bed. By pulling it up and onto the ceiling, the mind translates it into a canopy, making the bed feel very finished, even without a headboard.

Smart art: The distinctive piece of art hanging over the bed pulls everything together – yellow brings the bed coverings up to the wall and the silver frame reflects the grey on the pillows.

Smart bedclothes: Yellow and grey combine for a sophisticated bed. There is just enough white to let the colors pop. Pillows really make a difference with a bed, and they are a low-cost way to create just the right mix of color and pattern.

Smart curtains: Notice that the curtain is a darker yellow in a heavier fabric. This helps to anchor the window and keeps the room from feeling too matchy-matchy. It also provides an inviting contrast to the bright window.

Smart accessories: Lamps reflect the white from the bed pillows but there is just enough yellow pulled in with the accessories to keep that color front-and-center.

When you’re planning a guest room, don’t think that you have to spend a lot of money to make it special and inviting. It just takes imagination and a willingness to draw on color to create a room worth coming home to.

 

Gold Tones Warm up Family Room

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wWarner-Groves-at-Morrison-Ranch-072 - CopyWhen you want to create a warm living space, consider choosing gold as the primary color. The hue fills a space with warmth. It also lends a sense of light.

In Renaissance times, furniture and accessories were often covered in gold leaf, creating a sparkle to any space. Today gold leaf is less common, but the choice of a blend of gold tones still works in any room.

Let’s start with the gold sofa. This sectional is the primary piece of furniture in the room, and it sets the feeling for the entire space. Every other element is built around it. The pillows provide a strong contrast with the sofa and also introduce the darker and lighter elements present in the room – navy blue and a bright yellow-gold.

The cocoa color on the back wall really helps the sofa to pop, and complements the mid-tone gold carpeting. This medium shade for the carpeting is a smart choice – not too dark but dark enough to maintain the mood in the room. All of the major elements hover in a mid-range, but then the pops of dark and light tones in the artwork and accessories keep the room interesting.

Notice the artwork. It depicts a natural scene with enough bright colors to draw the eye. Pieces such as that and the bright yellow bottle on the coffee table help make the room shine.

Decorating a room with a single color makes it restful and inviting, but be sure to add those color surprises to help the room sparkle too!

Daring Lighting Makes a Room

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wWarner-Groves-at-Morrison-Ranch-009The dining area often provides the best opportunity to showcase daring lighting. If you are tired of the classic chandelier look, today’s light fixtures offer you plenty of interesting and contemporary alternatives. This light is a good example.

In the past few years, shades have grown in popularity. They help keep light evenly distributed and provide the opportunity to add a fabric element among all the metal. But this shade is far from standard.

First, the proportions are unusual. Only about six inches tall, the wide circle feels almost sculptural. This is helped by the dramatic rectangular design elements in the light itself. There’s an echo of some mid-century modern fixtures but with a styling that stays true to today.

Notice the second lamp just like the first one in the game room. Having two of the exact same lamps with almost a mirror look adds to the daring feel of this lighting choice. This particular light has a dramatic impact when viewed from a distance.

Lighting is a good way to bring style into a room. When you choose just the right light for each space, your choice can add a strong element of design. In this case the light is clearly the focal point for this dining area.

Fulton Home models provide a great venue for viewing some of the best of today’s lighting choices. Visit our new models at Warner Groves in Morrison Ranch to see this and other interesting and unusual lighting options.

Warm up your Bathroom

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wModern-Shower-Evergreen-Elm-Warner-Groves-at-Morrison-Ranch-014By their very design, bathrooms tend to be colder in style. With all the glass, tile and porcelain, you have a lot of hard surfaces to contend with. But it doesn’t take much effort to warm up the feeling of a bathroom. Here are some tips to make a difference:

Be generous with towels: One of the best resources for adding warmth and color to any bathroom is by your choice of towels. For maximum effect, double up on the towels like these shown here. With the black towels as a base, the bright light green hand towels really pop. Look for opportunities to add more than the basic towels where you can. For example, the towel at the left of the photo on the ring is perfectly located for drying hands at the sink.

Add art: Whether it’s a print like the one shown here or fabric wall hangings, some wall art makes a bathroom more interesting and appealing. But be careful not to put anything particularly valuable in a bathroom. The moisture in the room during and after a shower can damage art, particularly watercolors and pastels. Instead, look for nice prints or photographs with minimal value.

Use accessories: Even a smaller vanity like the one in this photo will carry a simple accessory, and that addition personalizes the space and can make a real difference in a bathroom’s mood. The simple vase of flowers shown here adds charm without taking up too much space thanks to its small footprint.

Bathrooms are a  functional space in your home, but with just a bit of effort you can also make them feel more like a haven for friends and family. So warm up your bathrooms with these simple additions.

Slate Finish Appliances

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wModern-kitchen-Evergreen-Elm-at-Morrison-RanchStainless steel has been the go-to finish for kitchen appliances for over a decade. There is something fresh and crisp about the stainless look, so it’s popularity is no surprise. But it may be time to consider another option: slate. This kitchen, from the Evergreen Elm Model in Warner Grove at Morrison Ranch, shows a full line of slate-finish appliances.

This new look carries the sophistication of stainless steel, but with a darker, matte look. Slate has some of the advantages of stainless but with a sophistication all its own. Here are some of slate’s advantages:

  • It’s completely neutral, allowing you to make color decisions without factoring in your appliance finish.
  • The matte finish does more than reduce shine. It makes fingerprints almost nonexistent. This has always been a concern with stainless’s much less finger-forgiving finish.
  • It’s darker and warmer than stainless, providing some of the advantages of black appliances without taking over a kitchen the way shiny black can.
  • Foir a kitchen as light as this one, it adds a nice sense of contrast without having the appliances yell out in the room the way they would with black.
  • Unlike other finishes that have come and gone since stainless first came on the scene, slate finishes seem to be lasting in interest and appeal.

If you like the sophistication and professional look of stainless but would prefer a warmer look that is easier to maintain, take a look at slate. It’s available in many appliance options, with more coming online every day.

Farmhouse Style

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Warner-Groves-at-Morrison-Ranch-045wIf you’re looking for a home with a farmhouse feel, consider this model at Warner Groves in Morrison Ranch. The Cottonwood showcases all the elements that help this new home echo the style and appeal of a timeless place in the country. Let’s take a look at the design decisions that give this model its farmhouse appeal.

Color: The strong gold in two tones provides a country flavor. Rather than the traditional earth tones we tend to expect in the Southwest, this home takes a page from an older book, to give a long-ago feel to this home.

Barn-style garage doors: As a major element in the front of this house, choosing a style reminiscent of barn doors continues a country theme. The planking and wrought iron handles turn a standard door into something special.

Front porch: A home isn’t a country home without a front porch. This half-porch is a common style in country farmhouses. The walkway and the wall extension makes this space useful as well as decorative. You have plenty of room for outdoor furniture, adding to the charm of the front entrance.

Shutters and Trim: Nothing says country like shutters on front windows, and the extra trim carries on with the look. The brown color choice works well with the two shades of gold.

Plank-style siding: Adding elements featuring a country-style siding adds a touch of country personality.

If you crave that farmhouse look, you can find it right here in Arizona. Just check out the Cottonwood model to get in a country mood.

 

A Welcoming Way Into Your Home

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Warner-Groves-at-Morrison-Ranch-webHave you ever stopped and just taken a look toward your front door from the back of your house? Most of us walk in the garage and then keep going, focusing on what we’re trying to accomplish rather than taking the time to really look around our homes.

Well, it’s worthwhile to take a break and look around as though you are a visitor in your own home. Here are the key areas you should check out – those places you rarely see but guests see all the time.

From your front door: Since most of us enter our homes through the garage, it’s rare that we actually walk in our own front doors. Start by standing just outside the front door and see how everything looks. Does your home give a nice first impression? Make any changes you need to make sure that it does.

Facing your kitchen: You probably tend to stand in your kitchen and face out. Take a look at how your kitchen looks from the other side. Too cluttered? Too dull? What can you change to make the most of that view?

From the back of your home facing front: This is the view you see in the photo above. What you see in this Fulton Model in Warner Groves at Morrison Ranch is there are lots of interesting things to the left and less going on to the right. But in this case artwork, built-in cabinetry and details such as the arched doorways along with the white trim against the darker walls keep things equally interesting on the right side.

As you plan your new Fulton Home, be sure to think about how it will look from all angles – those you will be seeing and those visible for your guests.

Use Toile in a Bedroom

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Warner-Groves-at-Morrison-Ranch-master-webPatterned fabric is always a nice addition to your home’s decor. In living and family rooms, stripes are the most common pattern choice, followed closely by geometric options. You will see some florals too. But one of the most intriguing patterns is an old-fashioned choice: toile.

Toile was originally produced in France when cotton fabric was first brought from India. The people of Europe were used to wool and silk clothing, fabric that didn’t wash well and was often hot in the summer. When cotton first appeared with its wash-and-wear sturdiness and cool weight, it was much in demand. The French Government was so concerned that cotton clothing would take over French cloth manufacturing that they tried to make cotton cloth illegal.

That idea soon failed, and printed cotton cloth became extremely popular. One of the first manufacturers used woodcuts and then a printing press to produce over thirty thousand different designs. Many of the designs depicted country scenes or exciting events of the day such as the first balloon ascension.

Most of these fabrics were printed in one color on white or off-white fabric with repeating patterns. The fabric was called toile de jouy which literally translates to cloth from jouy, or the part of France where the factory was based. Over time, the fabric name was shortened to toile.

This style of fabric has enjoyed a new popularity in home decor recent years, and you will see it in bedrooms and kitchens where people want a French country style. The bedspread above in blue and white shows the most popular color combination but you can find toile fabric in colors to suit virtually any decor.

Arts & Crafts Style Home

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Cooley-Station-012-web - CopyAlthough this look has been around for a long time, the appeal of the Arts &  Crafts style has only grown in recent years. When you’re planning your next home, how about considering this warm and intriguing option?

Let’s begin with color. Arts & Craft architecture brings in rich dark colors to recreate the best of nature. This light and dark brown combination brings in classic colors for the style. In particular, the dark brown pediment echoes the feel of yesterday when the Arts & Crafts style first appeared. Notice how the white trim helps make the darker tones pop and keep the home from feeling too dark.

One way to spot an Arts & Crafts bungalow is by the porch columns. They always grow larger at the bottom, not unlike a tree trunk. The three columns here have that characteristic look.

Adding the rock base also demonstrates an understanding of the Arts & Crafts movement. The goal was a return to hand-crafted materials that take advantage of natural elements. This model, Sunset at Cooley Station, shows how the style can be reinterpreted in today’s new homes.

We invite you to visit this and our other models at Cooley Station. We think you’ll find them inviting and appealing.

Granite Adds Color to Kitchen

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Cooley-Station-106web
If you’re drawn to painted cabinets in a kitchen but worry that there won’t be enough color with your choice, take a look at this option, from the Surfliner model at Cooley Station. The cabinets are white, the appliances stainless, but this kitchen is anything but bland thanks to the dramatic granite countertop.

With every Fulton Home, granite countertops are standard in your kitchen. This choice is perfect with white cabinets. First, there is enough light color in the stone to connect the countertop with the cabinetry, yet there is still enough contrast to be effective. The natural brown and gold elements warm up the space, filling in the tones normally provided by stained wood cabinets.

Notice how the tile work stays light, but adds a rustic charm to the space with its beveled edges and trim. The dark mosaic tile elements over the stove and along the middle section of the island add an interesting dark contrast.

The dark flooring brings out the darkest brown visible in the countertop, connecting everything in the kitchen together. A few touches of black – the sink, the burners on the stove, and some accessories – pull in some additional strong dark tones.

This kitchen doesn’t really need a lot of additional color. A bit of maroon from the bar stool cushions and coffee cups are all that it takes to finish off the look.

Is this the kitchen of your dreams? Come take a look at this choice and more at our model homes at Cooley Station. Visit FultonHomes.com to learn more.