Category Archives: Uncategorized

The Delight of Extra Storage

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extra-storage-webWhen you invest in a new home, one smart decision involves the choice to install additional built-in storage. Drawers and cabinet options such as this one can be used in so many ways; you will never regret any extra storage you give yourself.

This smart compact storage area can be used to store craft tools, for wrapping gifts, seasonal decorations, office or homework supplies, home maintenance essentials or anything you want. The biscuit-colored cabinetry is enhanced with a caramel glaze, creating an old-fashioned look that is easy-clean and inviting.

This could be space to store platters and bowls for special entertaining – those items that are too large for regular family gatherings. Or maybe it’s the perfect place for treasured table linens inherited from your mother or grandmother. Wrapped in acid-free tissue, they will be ready for special holiday use.

How would you use this storage space? For a closer look, visit our Peninsula models at our Oasis at Queen Creek Community.

 

Hang Out in this Kitchen

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One advantage to an open living space is the opportunity it gives you to spend time as a family. This cozy kitchen from the Capital model at Seaboard in Cooley Station is well set up for chatting with family and friends while cooking.

The island has plenty of room for a couple of kids to sit at the end and talk over their day while munching on an after-school snack. No worries about their tendency to kick into the island base with a tile background that is sturdy enough to take a licking from a shoe or two. And at the same time, that mosaic adds a splash of style to the entire space and links the island to the backsplash.

The granite countertop certainly has an edge that looks made for leaning against if you have party guests who are noshing on your appetizer assortment while catching up with you and each other. Just add a couple of trays of cheese and crackers, maybe a little fruit, and you’re all ready for company in this kitchen. The pendant lights add style and ambience while being set high enough not to interfere with conversations.

And if you have a surprise dessert, how about just tucking it in that pantry of yours? After dinner you can sneak in there and pull out your masterpiece, hidden until you want it to appear. By the way, the pantry is also a perfect place to hide all the containers from the other food that you don’t want visible to visitors.

Finishing Touches Make Bathroom Special

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finishing-touches-make-bathroom-specialwWhat takes a bathroom beyond its function and makes it special? This bathroom from the Capital model at Seaboard in Cooley Station has elements that make it more luxurious and enjoyable to spend time in. Let’s see why.

Interesting flooring: By their nature, bathrooms tend to be the smallest rooms in a home, which means that your design options are more limited. However it also means that you can splurge a bit on options such as flooring because there isn’t as much square footage to cover. This floor is both interesting and unusual. It has the look of rounded river rocks cut flush to make up the floor. The same stone is used for the sink’s backsplash.

By choosing this as both floor and backsplash, this has become the bathroom’s primary design element. The look takes this bathroom out of the ordinary without making its design too confusing for a smaller space.

Mirror frame: Fulton Homes offers this in its bathrooms, and the option makes the mirrors feel more finished. It adds a touch of sophistication and upgrades the feel of the space. Notice that the mirror choice doesn’t match the cabinets. Instead the dark tone provides a welcome contrasting element.

Accessories: The flooring and backsplash send a back-to-nature message, and the accessories support that. The earth-tones of the towels and the flowers at one end keep up the nature theme.

When you’re designing your home’s bathrooms, take the time to make each one a unique and special reflection of your taste and style. Remember that nice things come in small packages.

Holiday Shopping Plans

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pixabay giftMaybe you’re one of those organized people who already have all of your gifts bought, wrapped, labeled and ready to put under the tree that will be going up this weekend. If you are, great; this blog is not for you. But if you’re still trying to figure out how you’re going to get everything done this holiday season, here are some suggestions for making your gift-giving easier.

Make a list: Every organized person talks about how a list is essential, but when it comes to gift giving, they’re absolutely right. It can seem overwhelming to figure out whom you want to buy what for, but a list helps you keep things straight. It also provides a handy check-off system to make sure you didn’t forget anyone.

Make a budget: Every year people get in trouble by spending more than they can afford for the holidays. Take the time now before you start buying to make a financial plan to hit January in a good place. Budget for each person with the understanding that you may move the number up or down slightly if needed. And remember when tempted to go over, it really is the thought that counts.

Think outside the store: Maybe this is the year that you give your niece that heirloom necklace you inherited from your grandmother or your book-loving nephew a couple of special first-editions from your personal library. Are there other family or personal treasures that you would like to share with the next generation, or even a friend who would appreciate them? These can make great holiday gifts.

Shop online for out-of-town gift giving: Don’t waste your time with packages at the post office. Instead order your gifts online and let them ship for you. Many vendors offer free or low-cost shipping and will even gift-wrap and add a note.

With just a little planning, you can make this holiday season productive and fun without creating the stress and worry gift buying can produce. And that will give you more energy to enjoy this time of year!

Fostering Gratitude

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place-setting-1058984_640Thanksgiving is a time of coming together with family, enjoying a traditional meal, and giving thanks together. But how can you encourage your children to think beyond the food to the meaning behind the celebration? Here are some suggestions to help encourage an “attitude of gratitude.”

Don’t wait until Thanksgiving dinner: Start talking about Thanksgiving’s meaning earlier in the week. Ask your children what they’re thankful for at breakfast before school or at the dinner table.

Remind them of the first Thanksgiving: Tell them the story of the pilgrims barely making it through those first tough years, or, better yet, let them tell you what they know about the story. Talk about a time when people couldn’t drive down the street and pick up the food you needed at your neighborhood grocery store and how hard it was to survive in the New World.

Create a thank-you tree: Put a branch in a pot or hang one on the wall. Have your children help you cut out leaves from paper in fall colors and have everyone in the family write down things they’re thankful for on each leaf. Tie the leaves to the branch for a festive reminder of why we celebrate Thanksgiving each year.

Set a good example: Be sure to tell your children all the things you’re thankful for, including them! Give them examples of the good things in their lives and yours. Explain that there are things to appreciate every day and it’s up to us to notice and be grateful for them.

Thanksgiving is a good opportunity to step back and take a look at all of the good things we have, but an attitude of gratitude serves us well all year round.

Urban Industrial Features Sharpen Kitchen’s Look

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urban-industrial-touches-sharpen-kitchen's-lookwIf you want a kitchen with traditional styling but would like to add a bit of an edge, consider including a few urban industrial touches. This kitchen ups its look with just a couple of smart additions that fit the profile of today’s urban look. Let’s see what choices give this kitchen the flair of a city loft.

Subway tile: This is always as sophisticated option. Subway tile has a smart yet retro look that creates the mood of another time while standing out front in terms of style. This soft subtle cream-toned glaze doesn’t take over the space yet certainly adds life to the look of this kitchen.

Oversize pendants: You could imagine these pendants hanging over an old-style factory or shop in New York or Chicago at the turn of the Century – the one before this last one. The dark trim and speckled glass combine with the industrial shape and size to stretch the boundaries of this kitchen’s look. They add just the right touch of yesterday to the kitchen’s design.

Sleek stainless vent hood: The clean lines of this hood would work in a commercial kitchen and they add a touch of industrial style to this one. Sitting atop the subway tiles, the look would be believable in a restaurant hideaway in lower Manhattan, but it’s in your kitchen instead. Nice.

When you plan your kitchen, why not step just a bit away from the traditional? Add a few urban industrial elements and make your kitchen’s design just that much more daring and unique.

 Make Room for Art

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make-room-for-artwWhen decorating a home, many people focus only on the big items such as furniture and then slowly add accessories over time, and this is a good approach. But while you’re furnishing your new home, be sure to include art in your plans.

If you’ve been living in an apartment, you may find that your current collection of wall art looks rather small in your new larger rooms. This photo shows one way to deal with this – by hanging two smaller pieces together. This way the art takes up more space. Two or more pieces like these – with the same size, the same kind of frames and the same feel to the art – work well as a team on the wall.

Don’t limit your art thinking to walls. Notice the book set on the stand on the counter to the right of the photo. With the luscious photo on the cover, this book positions itself nicely as another art piece. In fact, if you didn’t look closely, it could be a small canvas set on an easel. You may have books or other elements that can double as art in your home if you take a look around.

If you would like more art on your walls but your budget is limited, consider photographs. Visit the Library of Congress photo collection online to view a rich choice of historical and other photos. You can have these reproduced for a minimal cost and frame them to create instant art at an extremely reasonable price. And family photos can be enlarged at your closest warehouse store at good rates.

Thrift shops and consignment stores are also a great resource for art at good prices. This is also an excellent place to pick up inexpensive frames. Just replace the art you don’t like with something that you do.

Take advantage of all your options to add art to your home. It can contribute color, interest, style and personality to your décor.

Kitchen Clean-up Center

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kitchen-clean-up-centerwFew people really enjoy cleaning up the kitchen, but if you have dirty dish duty, it’s hard to beat this kitchen clean-up center from Seaboard at Cooley Station. Let’s take a look at the advantages offered with this savvy layout.

Plenty of counter space: With room on both sides of the sink, dirty dishes and pots can go on one side and clean items can fill a drainer on the other. Which side? Why don’t you pick? There’s plenty of room in either direction. With a dual sink, use one for rinsing and the other can be filled with hot sudsy water for things that don’t go in the dishwasher like your sharp knives.

Silverware drawer: A drawer for your silverware right on the island is a real step-saver. Clean silverware can move right from the dishwasher to the island drawer to the table when it’s time for dinner. Or maybe you prefer that drawer closer to the table for silverware? Then how about using that drawer so that your sharp knives and other prep utensils are always handy?

A nice view: A sink that faces the wall may make the person who draws clean-up duty feel isolated. But this island location helps keep the cleaner entertained with an easy view of the television or other activities in the family room. It’s more fun if you can make chores a family event.

One final wipe of that appealing stainless dishwasher door and you’re ready to head out of the kitchen for the evening. It’s not so bad getting clean-up duty when you’re working in a space like this one!

Ceiling Makes Room Special

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ceiling-design-makes-room-specialwWhen planning a home’s décor, most of us start with the flooring, then move on color choices. We may select a daring paint option for a room like the almost-black on this bedroom’s left wall. Window coverings often come next, followed by larger, then smaller pieces of furniture. We finish up with accessories and art.

But one thing we generally don’t do is worth the extra step. Before the flooring, the paint and the furniture, take a minute to look up. What does your ceiling have to offer in a room? If you’re stuck with one of those popcorn ceilings from a few decades ago, it may be time to hire someone to redo it. That will add value and selling your home will be easier if you lose that dated look. However, what about having a ceiling that makes the room something special?

This master bedroom gains luxury and style before you even notice the walls, floor or furniture with its dramatic coffered ceiling. The molding running along the inside adds interest and a bit of traditional flavor to a non-traditional approach. The lights and ceiling fan create shadows that make the entire ceiling intriguing. The white molding works well with the dark ceiling color to create contrast and keep the room feeling cozy and inviting.

When you’re planning a new home, think about every surface. Adding molding, wainscoting, lighting and ceiling architecture becomes the gift that keeps on giving – making your home a special one-of-a-kind place for you and your family.

Fly the Flag and help Wounded Warriors

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fulton-flag-photo-webFulton Homes has partnered with KSLX, 100.7 for its third annual “Fly the Flag for Veteran’s Day” campaign. From now until Veteran’s Day – November 11 – any visitor to a Fulton Homes’ community who tours one of the new model homes has the opportunity to buy a full-size American flag kit for only $10.  Fulton Homes will match any $10 donation offered up a maximum of $25,000, with 100 percent of these donations going to the Wounded Warriors Project. Fulton Homes wants to encourage everyone to display a flag on Veteran’s Day and make a difference in the lives of veterans too.

“Fulton Homes honors all of our military personnel who defend our country and protect our freedoms,” Doug Fulton, Fulton Homes CEO, explained. “Displaying our flag on Veteran’s Day is a way we can honor and support our troops and show our gratitude, and the donations collected will support those who have been wounded while in service. We are indebted to our veterans and their families for the sacrifices they make to keep us safer.”

The Wounded Warrior Project provides programs and services to meet the needs of injured service men and women and works to provide more awareness of the needs of those veterans injured in service to our country. It focuses on honoring and empowering wounded warriors, encouraging them to help each other. For more information, visit their website at: http://www.woundedwarriorproject.org/.

We invite you to visit one of our communities to pick up your flag and donate to this good cause.