Category Archives: Home Tips

Front Entrance says Welcome

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Before you even step in the front door, this home welcomes visitors. The design of the home itself provides a natural courtyard at the front entry. The layout draws you to the home, and a number of option and design choices enhance the look.

First, notice the stone covering the patio. Instead of more traditional concrete, using these pavers ties the patio floor to the rich color of the stucco walls. By choosing this type of flooring, there is a sense that you are already in the house.

Next, the white trim on the windows feels like the casing you expect inside a home. The molding and gutters framing the roof also almost have the same impact as crown molding in a home.

Choosing to use furniture on the patio provides a comfy place to sit and strengthens the sense that you are almost in an indoor room. With today’s outdoor fabrics, you can find colors and designs that are just as nice as anything to cover a sofa inside. This red with a thin white stripe provides a dynamite and inviting color contrast to the neutrals of the courtyard.

Finally, the plants in the corner add an indoor-outdoor feel and nicely accessorize the space. With no open dirt for plantings, the three pots with high-profile plants add a warmth and natural element to that corner. This entryway, from Fulton’s Spyglass model at Victoria Estates, can make your friends and family feel welcome the minute they come up your walk.

Outdoor Lighting – Make the Night Beautiful

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Most people pay attention to the curb appeal of their home during the day, but what about at night? Outdoor lighting can combine functionality with beauty to create a home that is as appealing in the evening as it is all day long.

This Fulton home provides a good example of combining aesthetics and function with its lighting.

To start, the driveway entrance is clearly defined by low directional lights. Visitors don’t have to rely on their headlights alone to pull into the drive. The carriage lights on either side of the garage door as well as the windows on the door itself ensure that the home is easy to see.

From a security standpoint, the lighting and landscaping leave no places for trouble to hide. Even the backyard has lights that show off the trees while providing enough light to keep that area safe.

The front entrance is well lit, allowing the homeowners to see who is at the door and making sure evening visitors can see the entrance clearly. The walkways are easy to see from the street and the covered area by the front door protects guests from inclement weather while they’re waiting for their hosts.

The lines of this home are personality-rich, and the lighting really shows that. Notice how the rooflines create shadows that make the home even more attractive. Lights shining through the cross-hatched window panes add a feeling of welcome. This Fulton home provides just the right ambience for visitors and party-goers before anyone even walks in the door.

Be Daring with Wallpaper

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How courageous are you willing to be when decorating your home? Would you be brave enough to use wallpaper with this much of a flourish?

The bold red color and the metallic gold leaves make this bathroom pop. Let’s take a look at why it works so well.

To start, a bathroom has a lot of things to break up the vivid wallpaper. The mirrors, windows, shower, and bathroom cabinetry break up the walls so that this pattern doesn’t overwhelm the space. A bathroom is a great way to start expanding your home design thinking.

Second, the rest of the room is neutral. It would be tempting to add red towels and lots of red accessories, but that could overwhelm the room and actually distract from the wallpaper. Instead the red is limited to the walls and a few small pieces. Towels are a simple stone color that fit well with the flooring. Even the chair at the make-up table is upholstered in black.

Notice in the photo to the right that the room is filled with plants. That choice mirrors theleaf wallpaper without mimicking it. This thematic connection in the bathroom is understated but it has a subtle design impact.

Finally, the other tone choices – while neutral – show both light and dark elements. This helps them stand out even against the strong wallpaper.

So if you’re tempted to take a chance with color or wallpaper, consider starting with your bathroom, and you may find yourself becoming more daring throughout your home!

Home Office with a Home Feel

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If you are one of the growing number of people who work from home, or if you would just like an office to handle household accounts and work on your computer, you may want to include a home office in your new home.

The challenge is to keep the room functional while still fitting with your home rather than looking like a commercial space. This room, from Fulton Home’s Malibu model in the Shoreline community, does a good job of managing both.

The desk provides plenty of work space, even with the laptop sitting on it. A few drawers facing the chair will hold current papers and office supplies without creating the office-feel produced by file cabinets.

There is plenty of light in the room. The ceiling fan provides ambient light and a bit of breeze to chase the mental cobwebs away when you’re thinking too hard. The nice large window gives plenty of natural light during the day and the floor lamp serves for task lighting at night.

The desk chair is not a traditional office choice, but it provides a home touch that benefits the room. The informal wing chair to the side makes a useful companion chair – moving across the desk or behind it for the convenience of a visitor.

The nicest feature from a home office standpoint is the bookshelf/china closet to the right. With its glass cabinet doors books become decorative as well as functional. The three drawers at the bottom provide space for more office supplies or papers.

Only a few years ago, the look of this room would have been hurt by scads of wires and cables. Now, thanks to Wifi capabilities, the most you may need is a cord to the nearest electrical outlet for the laptop if you want to conserve its battery.

To keep your home office as inviting as this one, look for furniture you can repurpose the way they did in this room. With some art and window coverings this room is inviting as well as useful.

Décor – Bedroom Lighting

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The exaggerated height of the bedside lamps in this bedroom makes the lamps a standout feature in the room. The black headboard anchors the bed area while the tall lamps appear to soar. Bedside lighting can be more than functional; it can become a beautiful design element in the bedroom.

 

Bedside lighting is essential in the bedroom. Whether it is for a master bedroom, a guest room or child’s room, having a light next to the bed is a must.  Even if you have overhead lighting, reaching the switch to turn it off or on might not be convenient from the bed. Adding a lamp to the bedside table or nightstand will make flipping on or off the lighting in the room more convenient.

 

Lighting in the bedroom, like most rooms in the home, should be layered. Overhead lighting is great for getting dressed or looking for a lost earring in the carpet. It can be bright and too harsh for other times. Pairing an overhead light with bedside lighting creates lighting zones and layers of light.

 

Reading in bed or using the laptop is better done with bedside lighting that can create pools of light rather than washing the entire room in light. Stylish bedside lamps can be sat on the nightstand or mounted as wall lamps bedside the bed. Either provides adequate lighting for reading in bed. Look for a pair or near pair of table lamps that are keeping in scale with your nightstand and headboard for stylish and functional bedside lighting.

Elements That Make For A Special Family Room

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Plan ahead and you can create a family room that provides everything you and your family need for an evening’s entertainment.

This built-in cabinetry to the left makes the room a one-stop shop for games, movies and music. The television has a home theater sound system built into the room through inconspicuous speakers set in the ceiling.

The glass doors under the television allow family members to control the cable or satellite system, the DVD player and the Ipod-based sound system with several remote controls. These remotes are hidden from sight when not in use thanks to the drawer in the middle of the coffee table.

Board games join a WII system complete with accessories, all tucked in the cabinets to the left and right of the flat-screen television. The generous space in front of the coffee table and the plush rug encourages kids and adults play games on the floor or engage in sports and exercise using the WII.

This wall of cabinets provides plenty of storage and the lighting is bright enough for afternoon activities such as homework or other projects. With a quartet of matching drawers and cabinets across the bottom of the built-in cabinetry, each school-age child could use one cabinet for storing school books and homework, while school supplies could live in the drawers above.

With a wealth of storage space and plenty of comfy seating, this room provides everything a family needs to enjoy the room. This is one good example of how Fulton builds homes with families in mind.

 

Decorating for Teen Girls

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The old adage that boys are easier to raise than girls is perhaps never truer when it comes to decorating their rooms.  Teen girls can change their style as often as they change their outfits—and that can be a lot. Decorating a room that will keep our teenage daughters happy can be tricky but isn’t mission impossible. Getting input from the teen is important but you have input too. After all, it is still your house.  Working together on decorating your teenage daughter’s room will make you both happy.

 

Keeping the major things neutral and timeless will help the room to grow and change as your teenager grows.  If you are investing in new furniture and flooring be sure to select pieces that can work for several different styles.  Wood floors will never go out of style and can be topped with area rugs that suit this year’s color scheme.  Wall color is a great way for your daughter to express herself. And paint is inexpensive and easily changed as her mood or style changes.

 

Forcing your modern loving daughter into a traditional room won’t work for either of you.  Start by having your daughter pull together images from blogs or magazines of rooms she likes. Create a dialog about what will be possible.  Set a budget and allow her to make some of the design decisions. Bedding and accessories are great for adding a certain style and look.  Keeping furniture to classic forms means you can have more fun in the fabrics and colors of the room.

Classic White Molding and Trim

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Some design elements are classics because they’ve withstood the test of time and trends. White painted molding and trim are classic because they work in so many different types of interior styles.  White painted trim can make both the wall and floor color pop, acting as a frame for a colorful wall. Painting baseboard molding white also helps transition the floor color to the wall color. The white molding acts as a palette cleanser between the floor and wall or two different colors if used as a chair railing.

 

Of course there are other options for molding and trim colors besides white. Some styles like Craftsman or Mission prefer that wood trim, molding and paneling be kept natural stained wood.  There was a time when painting wood molding, wainscoting or trim was considered a design faux pas. That isn’t the case in today’s design world.  To make molding blend in with the wall color or wallpaper it can be painted the same color. It can be painted a highlight color from patterned wallpaper or even a contrasting color to the wall color. These approaches will have a very different visual effect than white painted molding, but can be equally as beautiful.

 

The type of paint used on molding is typically a gloss or high gloss oil paint.  These types of paint can stand up to the wear and dirt better than a flat paint.  The shiny, glossy surface will also draw your eye to the architectural detail created by the molding, baseboard or trim.

Home Decor – Purple Grows Up

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Purple is becoming a popular decorating color in all areas of the home.  You may have never considered decorating in purple but it is a big trend.  Yes, lavender and pink have been a popular color combination for a girl’s bedroom as long as girls have loved purple, but now purple is growing up.

 

Sophisticated shades of purple from deep plum to whispery silvers with lavender hues are showing up in living rooms, dining rooms and master bedrooms.  This color can work in either masculine or feminine or gender neutral spaces.  It is lovely in a room with a cool, tonal color palette such as this dining room.  Or it can be paired with its cool color sisters of blue and green.  Mix lavender with gold accents for a complementary color palette that feels sophisticated and serene. Plum and browns create a rich, dramatic feeling room.

 

The lavender chairs in this modern dining room have a little more pink or red in the color than the walls and this allows them to pop despite this being a monochrome palette.  The pendant lights have more blue undertones and being a darker hue helps them stand out.

 

Even monochrome room needs a few neutral shades to help balance the color.  The light wood and jute rug in this dining area act as both a neutral shade and a contrasting color because they have yellow undertones that give them some warmth.  Black or white would also work in this space.  A white parson’s table would be great with the modern chairs and pendant lights.

 

Setting the Stage for Good Design: Room Layout

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Creating a welcoming room begins with the furniture arrangement. This living room is a great example of a balanced room layout. It’s easy because the room is essentially a square, which lends itself to a balanced room.  Let’s take a look and see what works in this room, and what could be changed.

 

First, the fireplace is situated between a pair of windows, becoming the focal point of the room.  This way the seating can be set up to face both the view out the windows and the fireplace.

 

Second, the seating arrangement is nicely focused on the fireplace with a pair of sofas facing one another for conversation. Two chairs face the fireplace and are situated in close proximity to each other and the sofas, creating a tight arrangement that is perfect for socializing.  The coffee table anchors the seating arrangement.  It is large enough for drinks, snacks and even board games.

 

These are things the room gets right, but the design stops there.  Finishing touches are missing; the things that make a room feel like home need to be added. Blank walls are begging to be filled.  Accessories need to be added. A rug would center the seating area. The black and white palette could be kept or color could be added in the form of accent pillows, books, vases, objects and throws. Accessories would also add texture to the space.

 

Building off the basics is easy if you get the bones of the room established first.  This is where a drawing of the room can come in handy before you begin moving around the furniture. Plan first—move second.