Category Archives: Home Tips

Does Your Front Door Make a Great First Impression?

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When people visit your home, they start to get a feeling for the place before they even walk inside. The outdoor landscaping in the front yard, the look of the outside of your home, and the entranceway as they walk up to your front door all color their first impressions. Don’t forget, your front door makes a statement about what they’re going to find inside.

Have you thought about the impression you want your front door to make? The photo above shows two door styles available in the Fulton Homes Design Center. The door on the left is strong and formal. The panels give it a Mediterranean look. On the right, the door is more casual with an Arts and Crafts flavor. The glass panes add a welcoming touch to the outside and natural lighting inside. Both are beautiful, bold and still send very different messages about the home inside.

The photo on the right shows other Fulton door options. The first door makes a bold statement. The style, as well as the bronze door handle and ornaments, creates an old world look. The next door is more conservative, but the simple design is still striking.

Whichever style you choose, you will want what people see when they walk into your home to connect with that door. An important part of your home’s style is consistency. As you make a selection, you may want to consider how you plan to decorate your foyer to help link the outside and inside of your home.

Every one of these front doors says something about the house and the people who live in it. Have you thought about the message your front door sends? It’s about style, but it’s also about the impression you want your home to present to the world.

Making a Great Room, Great

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If you enjoy having the whole family together, want plenty of space for parties and gatherings, and want to be able to cook dinner or fix a snack without being cut off from everyone else in your home, a great-room design is perfect for you. But it’s very easy to end up with a disconnected look if you don’t plan your overall space design.

In spite of the roomy space, this room feels integrated and comfortable.  It provides a generous kitchen, an island that allows people to pull up and eat or talk, an expansive fireplace area, and a flat-screen television for entertainment. What elements help this room pull it altogether?

Color: The soft beige and brown throughout, help the entire room feel coordinated. There is a rich rust color on the kitchen wall to the left that is echoed in the niche holding the television. The granite, tile and carpeting all have shades that link together. The dark wood tones of the cabinets show up in the darker elements in the family-room area such as the mirror and table toward the back. Color is one of the strongest tools for integrating spaces.

Flooring: The kitchen floor tiles appear again as part of the fireplace surround, which makes the room feel even more cohesive. The carpeting provides a subtle separation between functional areas with no distracting breaks in the sight lines.

Lighting: The entire room is well-lit with ceiling spots – one of the best tools for providing useful and interesting lighting throughout a great room. The kitchen pendant lights and the fireplace sconces are from the same design group, further helping each room to feel connected with the other.

The architectural features and overall style of this great room helps create a space that really works. Make sure you think about integration when you plan your great room design.

Cool Colors for Hot Days

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We’re halfway through the summer and as our utility bills rise and the sun never seems to set, there are things you can do with your home’s decor to help you and your family beat the heat. Here are a few suggestions.

Bring cool colors into your home. Cool colors include blue, green, purple and pink. These colors help us perceive a space as cooler in temperature. Most rooms have a combination of warm and cool tones. Consider removing some of the warmer color accessories, pillows or linens – red, yellow and orange – and replacing them with cool colors for the summer. A few small changes can make a big difference in the color balance of a room.

Add more white. White is a cool tone, and the more white you have in a room, the cooler it feels. How about covering your sofa or upholstered chairs with white canvas slipcovers? These can be washable, making summer spills less of a problem. Take a look at the room below to see an example of how fresh and cool white can be.

Eliminate clutter. What looks warm and cozy in the winter can feel stifling in the summer’s heat. The less your eyes have to rest on, the more open and cool a room feels. You may also want to remove a few accessories or even small furniture pieces.

Add fresh elements. Flowers, plants or even fruit in a bowl can help a home feel cooler. You may also want to put those fresh items in vases, pots or bowls made of cool materials such as crystal or silver to double-up on cool images.

With just a few design changes, you can help your home feel cooler all summer long. Look for opportunities to bring a cool feeling into every room of your home.

Area Rugs Define Spaces

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An area rug can serve as artwork for your floor. On top of wood or tile floors or even carpeting, area rugs define conversation spaces and pull colors together while adding texture.

This birds-eye view provides some insight into how an area rug can enhance a room’s look. The rug is primarily rust and brown, and it has tones ranging from light to very dark. This variation captures and connects every other element in the room.

The lightest tones in the rug are reflected in the maple coffee table and the fireplace surround. That light wood wouldn’t work as well if placed directly on the warm mid-range wood flooring, but the rug allows it to serve as a dramatic contrast.

The black of the fireplace opening and tools connect with the dark outlines of some of the leaves in this rug. Two different shades of rust making up the sofa and chair hang together well thanks to the choices of color in the rug itself. Finally, the rug clearly defines the living space in this part of the home, providing a frame for the furniture.

The photo to the right demonstrates another way an area rug defines space. This corner is created by focusing on the space left where the rug’s border ends. A comfortable reading chair under a window becomes a special private nook, with a couple of tables for a cup of tea or a pair of reading glasses.

When you use area rugs to highlight specific design features in your home, the extra layer adds charm to your décor.  Contact us or come to Browse Night and take a look at our new line of beautiful and well-constructed Feizy area rugs or just to get more insight into how area rugs can complement your design plans.

Vanity Valet Provides Innovative Solution to Bathroom Clutter

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Hair dryers, curling irons and hair straighteners or crimpers add to clutter and can pose a hazard due to heat and electrical cords near the sink. Fulton Homes is pleased to introduce a solution – the Vanity Valet – that takes advantage of that unused space in front of the sink to store hot appliances away from countertops.

This option easily handles the challenge of multiple cords with individual metal slots designed to hold any hot bathroom appliance and easy-release cord holders to keep everything under control. Open the vanity to remove and use any appliance then you can put it right back without having to wait for it to cool. Close the door and no one will know your secret solution to keeping your countertop tidy.

The Vanity Valet has an optional pre-wire, which allows you to keep your hair appliances plugged in and ready to go within the drawer. This video shows you how the Vanity Valet operates.

Anyone who has accidentally brushed a hand across a hot hair appliance will appreciate the greater safety of the Vanity Valet. From an aesthetic viewpoint, this also keeps your bath looking more like a spa than a beauty salon. This option is particularly valuable in a teen bathroom with multiple users.

For just a small investment, Fulton homeowners can take advantage of this innovation in bathroom storage – exclusively available in Fulton Homes. Talk to our design center designers for more information.

Quick and Easy Refreshers for Boring Rooms

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At first glance this room is attractive enough. The space and the furnishings are new and the flooring is beautiful. It also has lovely architectural details. But the owner seems to be hesitant to add much in the way of personality to the room and this makes the design safe but also rather boring.

Any room can become more interesting with a few design refreshers. Let’s take a look at a room that incorporates some of these options and see what you may want to include in your own home. This room is modern also, but a few different choices make it much more interesting.

Paint: One wall is painted a dark rich brown. Comparing the two rooms, the brown wall softens the space and adds warmth.

Pillows: Something as simple as adding a splash of color or style with contrasting throw pillows makes a real difference. Take a look at how the pillows in the photo above disappear because they match the sofa. The pillows to the right pop!

Art: A large piece such as the one displayed here adds drama and interest to any room. Or you may want to add several smaller pieces in an arrangement. No matter your preference, art allows your personality to shine in your home.

Accessories: This image on the left shows how just a few accessories can add to the appeal of a room. The simple ladder-style bookshelf holds a few books and an interesting bowl and lantern that look as though they came from other countries. They open up the opportunity for conversation: did they pick them up on their travels? Do they collect folk art?

Look at your home objectively. Have you chosen to create rooms that disappear into the background or are you willing to add color and personality to make your home shine? How about taking a chance and adding one or more of these ideas to refresh your home décor?

Bring a Taste of the Outside Inside with Fresh Flowers

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With the Arizona summer barely half over, we can look forward to the future days to come when it will be more pleasant to spend time outside. One good way to bring the feeling of the outside into your home is with fresh flowers.

Shop your favorite florist, pick some from your garden, and check out the flowers available at your grocery or warehouse store. Look for flowers that are perky, with buds only partially open so that they will last.

Put flowers where you spend most of your time. Take a look at this home office to the right. A small bunch of flowers like these gerbera daisies tucked behind the computer monitor add a bright spot to your space. Gerberas are available in a rich variety of colors in one bouquet.  You can also look for flowers with a nice, fresh scent to add a real perfume to your room.

 

If you’re uncomfortable making your own flower arrangements, go simple. The arrangement at the top of the post is made up of only yellow tulips, all cut to about the same length. Even simpler, how about tackling the easy option to the left. This also uses gerbera daisies, but by using only one or two flowers per vase, you create an almost sculptural look. This is also an inexpensive option since you only have to use a few stems.

For those of you who would rather buy flowers, one bunch can be affordable, so don’t hesitate to experiment. If they don’t turn out the way you imagined, they will still be beautiful. Even the process of arranging flowers can be relaxing and enjoyable. Give yourself a present of fresh flowers every now and again, and bring the best of the season inside.

Enrich Your Dining Room with Built-in Buffet

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If you would like a buffet or china cabinet in your dining room but don’t want to sacrifice the space, a built-in might be the right solution for you.

If you choose to go in this direction, take a look at this successful installation from Fulton Home’s Tehama model in the Victoria Estates community. Here are a few design tips to help create a successful built-in buffet in your home.

Stay consistent: If your built-in will be stained wood, make sure it has the same basic tone as any other wood in the room. Notice that the table and chairs complement the buffet, while a touch of glaze on the cabinetry separates it from the other wood in the room.

Keep the furniture look: The height and depth variation in the buffet along with the floor molding help this piece read like furniture in the dining room rather than a traditional built-in. The inset is also a different height from the ceiling, wrapping itself around the piece as though the alcove was made for the buffet rather than the other way around.

Manage your flooring: Using tile or stone flooring to help contrast these beautiful wood cabinets, dining table, and chairs  will look better than wood flooring. Also, while it might be tempting to add an area rug, the location of the rug’s edge could affect people’s ability to walk comfortably next to the buffet.

Stay coordinated but not matchy-matchy: The rich rust on the walls, the soft taupe curtains, the artwork, and accessories pull all of the room’s elements together. Using a granite countertop for the buffet, the antique rattan chairs at the head and foot of the table also create an individualized look for both elements in the dining room.

By adding this built-in, the homeowner gained a generous amount of storage, a great solution for entertaining family and guests, and an additional sense of drama for the room itself. Consider built-ins when you make design plans. You may find them to be just the right solution for your home.

Master Bedroom Lighting Creates Relaxed Environment

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While this master bedroom is spacious and inviting, the feature that makes it stand out is the lighting. This is an area that is often ignored when decorating, but its impact is significant.

This room, the master bedroom from Fulton Home’s Tehama model at Victoria Estates, actually has four lighting options available, along with a number of variations. The first choice is natural light. With plenty of windows, daylight would find this room cheerful and appealing.

In the evening, the ceiling fan provides a broad base of overall lighting with one flip of the switch. For a cozier look, keep that light off and take advantage of the spots on the ceiling. This type of lighting is softer and can be used to or provide a little minimal light. Dimmers on these lights give the owner even more options for light levels.

Finally, lamps on either side of the bed offer task lighting for a reader and add personality with the light patterns on the walls. Thanks to the variety of lighting options, this room can be brightly lit to make it easy to clean out drawers or make the bed. But it can also set a mood or just provide a comfortable space to watch television or read for a while before going to sleep.

Whatever room you work with, giving yourself a choice of lighting options makes the space more versatile. For example, spotlights can highlight artwork or just provide a little more light to brighten up a dark corner. Lamps can make a large room cozy by keeping the focus on one area. They also add a decorative touch. Lighting is as important to your décor as furniture and accessories. Like this bedroom, the more lighting options you create the more control you have over a room’s look and mood.

A Dining Room that is Functional and Appealing

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Some smart decisions help make this dining room work particularly well.

When you have the space, a buffet is always an asset. Depending upon the event, it’s nice to have the top of the buffet available for appetizers or self-help desserts. With a larger party, the chairs can be pulled toward the walls, enabling you to use both the buffet and the table for food presentation.

It’s convenient to have the dining room accessible to the backyard for indoor-outdoor entertaining. Because this dining room, from Fulton Home’s Harmonique model at Ashcreek, has access to the back patio, it can be used during a barbeque as a place to stage cold food. Or you can set it up for people who prefer to eat inside and they will still feel like part of the group.

The dramatic chandelier is hung perfectly – at 30-34 inches above the dining table. Notice that the table, chandelier and lamp on the buffet all have similar metal elements. This helps keep the room in balance given the amount of wood present.

When it comes to draperies, adding a wide border of contrasting or patterned fabric to either the top or bottom of each panel creates a striking look. This drapery length is smart. It provides some of the luxurious feeling of pooling at the floor while staying short enough to make it easy to get in and out of the sliding glass doors. The weight of the fabric is also important. A lighter panel would be difficult to manage on windy days.

Choosing wood rather than carpeting for the flooring is also a smart decision. With people coming in from outside, wood is easier to keep clean. With the right finish, once-over with a dust mop will pick up most dirt quickly.

Altogether, this room was designed for entertaining, whether you’re talking about a formal dinner for eight, or a casual pot-luck supper for several families.