Would you like to add some architectural touches to your home without moving in a traditional direction? How about adding a stone feature wall? In an entryway or surrounding a fireplace, stone adds a natural element to your home while still providing flexibility in décor.

This grey slate wall provides a good example of using texture rather than color to provide interest. Even though all of these slate tiles are the same color, light reflects off the angles of each element to make it seem as though numerous shades of grey animate the wall.

This wall would work just as well in a mountain vacation home as in an urban environment. Imagine this grey as a background for a bright red sofa or silver accessories. There is almost no limit to the decorating options with this wall.

The second photo here is another grey wall, but the pattern is more uniform and several shades of grey help the tile layout pop. There are even a few stones in warmer grey tones, adding variety to the wall. This wall also has texture to spare, but more is going on. Either of these is neutral enough to be flexible.

Slate is by no means limited to grey. The stone family includes reds, gold, brown, black and even some blues. Collections of slate allow you to choose the look that will work best for your taste and style.

One delightful feature of slate is how its colors glow when wet. This makes it a good choice for water features such as fountains and waterfalls.

If you think slate may be a good choice for your home, come see the rich variety of choices offered by this versatile stone. Whether on a wall or a floor, inside or out, slate adds personality and drama.

It’s tempting to think it takes a four-poster bed to create a canopy that helps make a bedroom inviting and feminine. In reality, you can take advantage of your ceiling to add the yards of sheer fabric and turn a basic bedroom into something special.

The room starts with pastels. A buttermilk yellow – almost a cream – sets the stage on the walls. White bed linens combine with a quiet floral on the pillows to keep the soft color theme. Peach and gold sneak in with the flowers and the upholstered stool to add interest without distracting from the overall softness of the room. The simple upholstered head on the bed adds a feeling of comfort and gentleness.

The rug is a gentle lavender color. This daring color difference works because the entire room stays primarily with the softer pastels, allowing the color to connect well with the space. Art on the walls is limited to three floral plates, a fitting addition to the room

Of course the moment of drama comes from the gracefully-draped canopy. This is simpler than it seems to execute. There are actually two drapery rods with finials attached to the ceiling at either end of the bed. The fabric – a simple white sheer – is thin enough to wrap and drape without getting bulky.

This is actually about 25-30 yards of fabric, but the cost for something like this in plain white is quite reasonable. Another option would be to pick up a number of drapery scarves. It would take at least six to achieve this look. In this situation, balance is critical. It may take time to experiment until the look is rich without being overdone.

Where do children play? Where do infants crawl and toddlers learn to walk? Is your flooring soft enough – clean enough – for your little ones?

Children, grandchildren, the children of friends, nieces and nephews all love spending time on the floor. Make sure yours is ready.

Soft and smooth, inviting and plush, buy your carpeting or rugs with your hands as much as with your eyes. Touch, rub, run your fingers over the surface. Do you want little faces against that tweed, a little stomach moving along that carpet as it prepares for the giant leap to crawling?

Babies love lots of space and curling up in a corner. Babies want to walk as soon as they can. They’ll move from your hands to another’s and back to yours again. Did you choose a carpet cushion that will make their inevitable falls gentler, easier on their tiny behinds?

Little bare feet or wearing footie pajamas, running, laughing and sitting down on the floor to play, relax or read a book together like these two. Is your floor ready for them? Soft colors, room to play, and a carpet or rug that invites the children in your life to be comfortable, knowing that there’s always a place for them: a cookie, a favorite book, the squishy stuffed rabbit on the lowest bookshelf, and the oh-so-soft carpet for them to snuggle on and enjoy.

In long-ago times pots were used to store seeds, wine, medicines, and whatever people needed to keep contained. Most of these pots were hardened in a fire and remained unglazed. The terra cotta colors seen here in these pots and tiles are actually the tones of the original clay pulled from the earth.

Today’s tile choices are so much more varied – in design, size, color and use. Glazes allow us to create almost any color and design. Sophisticated manufacturing methods keep tiles very similar in size and easy to install. However, there is a real value to going back to the original feel of pottery when creating a special space.

This outdoor patio takes full advantage of the patina of old-style clay in its design. The unglazed tile floor demonstrates a wide variety of color and tone. The tiles themselves are uneven and imperfect squares. Natural toned grout has a wider application, allowing the variations in size and shape the leeway to fit the space.

Two different types of tile pots decorate the space. The classic red clay pots hold rosemary in the corner and a red hibiscus on the right. These pots have everything needed to keep plants going – holes for drainage and plenty of space for supporting soil. This is a good way to bring living plants onto a patio, softening the area.

Further toward the front on the right, the older pots play a purely decorative role. Unglazed and with a patina that looks to have come from age, they bring this outdoor space into another time. The old wood frame and simple pots can handle the weather, but they also serve as a rustic element – setting a tone and moving the space beyond standard manufactured choices.

How about mixing old and new? Let some pieces that bring back the memory of how pottery started join the newest tile options in your own home.

Are you drawn to wood floors with the rich colors and variation shown here? It may seem complex to decorate a room with this floor, but this dining room takes full advantage of the color and feel of this floor.

When you choose a floor like this, it will always take a front-and center position in your home. Your best design decision is to let it shine, and use your furniture and accessories to accent its strong and inviting personality.

Choosing black for the primary furniture finish allows it to pop against the lighter flooring. Red cushions pull the red shades from the wood. Together, the black and red feels as though the two colors are actually a breakdown of the wood tones from the floor. When you add rich colors to rich colors, everything plays off everything else, creating an inviting expressive combination.

Using ivory walls and white baseboards keep the rest of the room toward the background of the design. Red shows up on the curtains and accessories, but the choices are simple, allowing the flooring and furniture to take center stage.

You could reverse the woods and create an equally-dramatic room. Consider ebony-finished wood flooring and dining furniture in rosewood, cherry or another vivid wood. A rich area rug with lots of red could add that extra burst of color. On this floor, an area rug might work also, but adding another color such as a dull gold or ivory to coordinate with the walls may be the way to go.

When you’re decorating a room, start with the flooring you love and let your design flow from there. You will be pleasantly surprised with the results.

BUILDER USES RETAIL APPROACH TO SATISFY HOMEBUYERS

When Fulton Homes opened up their 13,000 square foot Design Center, in Tempe, they concentrated on using a retail approach to the merchandising of options as opposed to a “Builder Approach.”   Brand names are very important to buyers, so they selected quality brands such as Shaw, Mohawk, Moen, Kohler, GE, GE Profile, GE Monogram, Viking, Sony, OnQ- LeGrand, Jeld Wen, Therma Tru, and Hunter Douglas.  “We are constantly evaluating our performance of options, and adding new items as well as deleting items that buyers may not want”, says Dennis Webb, Vice President of Operations.  “In the past few years we have re-merchandised nine kitchens and three bathrooms in the center as we stay in tune to what our customers are looking for.” notes Douglass Fulton, CEO of Fulton Homes.

When purchasing a new home, recent studies indicate the homebuyers want a large selection of options in order to personalize their new home.  Fulton Homes offers over 6000 options to accommodate the discerning buyer.  Other builders offer a few option packages in their “Builder Approach” so that the construction of the house is less complicated and easier to build.

Fulton Homes also offers the first online options selection program called “Design Online.”  Here buyers can view thousands of options on line from their own living rooms.  The information on the online site is provided by over 200 manufacturers and contains rich content including pictures, warranty information, product specs, and dimensions.  Buyers are far more prepared for their Design Center experience when they are familiar with the options online.  Fulton also opens up their Design Center on the first and third Thursdays of each month from 5:00 PM to 8:00PM for “Browse Night” so that people can see, touch, and feel the many available items that might be difficult to imagine in an online only experience.

Recently, three brand new items have appeared at the Design Center.  A revolutionary new bathroom product called “Forza Stone” of which Fulton Homes is the first builder in the country to offer is a shower and tub surround that is manufactured in sheets, and is natural stone.  Because of the sheets, there is no grouting involved.  So the buyer gets the look of natural travertine or marble, but with no grout lines that makes cleaning a snap.  Another new product is by Therma Tru and Jeld Wen doors where within a patio door, an adjustable shade screen is housed between the dual pane low E glass.  This makes privacy and light adjustment simple without having traditional window coverings moving around the interior of the door.  The third item which is exclusive to Fulton Homes in Arizona is the introduction of GE Monogram’s new 30” convertible refrigerator.  The top of the unit is a refrigeration unit, the middle section is a freezer complete with icemaker, and bottom portion can be either a refrigerator or a freezer.

.

Fulton Homes is planning grand openings in three new communities this fall.  Monterey Bay at Victoria Estates and Mendocino at Ashcreek will debut in Queen Creek, while Shoreline at Fulton Ranch will open in Chandler.  For more information on Fulton Homes, visit www.fultonhomes.com.

This cool bathroom was designed by Sarah Richardson’s show, Sarah’s House. It has a lot of wonderful and stylish design elements that all come together to make it feel polished and styled. Let’s take a look at the major elements of the bathroom.

Use of natural stone. Both the floor and counter top are white marble with gray veining. This is a classic choice of hard surface for bathrooms. Using the marble on both the floor and the counter helps unify the design in a relatively small space.

The glass shower enclosure also helps the small space feel bigger. A shower curtain would close off the space and make the shower feel smaller. The glass opens up the shower space and lets it flow with the rest of the room.

Mosaic tiles are used in an interesting way. Creating stripes of color with glass mosaic tiles makes a bigger impact than using all one color or even having a random mosaic pattern. Horizontal stripes help to widen the feeling of the room. The tile is also a nice way to introduce color into the room.

A non-traditional bathroom mirror over the vanity is a nice way to add style to a small bathroom. The round mirror also echoes the round vessel sinks. Both circles break up all the linear shapes of the room.

Silvery sconces complement the silver frame of the mirror as well as the nickel bathroom fixtures, including the faucet and showerhead.

In a small space, such as a bathroom, all design elements need to be well thought out to make the room feel bigger than its small footprint.

Fulton Homes now carries Therma-Tru patio doors that are low E dual pane glass, but have a shade in the center  of the glass panels that can block out the light, when you need.  The advantages of these fully contained shades within the window, is that you can adjust the shade so that is fully closed partially closed and fully open.  The design possibilities are endless, as they come in many different styles and can also be done in a dual french door set up.

Beautifully crafted, energy efficient, secure, and easy to maintain, Therma-Tru fiberglass patio doors are a durable alternative to wood or steel.  Even after 25 years, fiberglass remains the most advanced material for entryways — able to satisfy both today’s and tomorrow’s homeowners by giving them the look of wood doors and the strength of steel doors, without the compromises of either.  It’s the optimum combination of security, energy efficiency, performance and aesthetics.

Gone are the days when you had to put up with blinds that clattered around every time you opened or closed the door. When you purchase an entry or patio door from Therma-Tru, you can rest assured knowing that you’ve purchased a high quality, beautiful product that was built to last.

CHANDLER, AZ – New reports show the number of bank-owned homes continuing to rise across the nation, while new home sales are still dropping. But one part of the Valley is seeing some hope.

Fulton Homes executives are reporting an unusual rise in new homes in Gilbert, Tempe and Chandler.

Vice President Dennis Webb said in just the past month and a half they’ve had 75 new home sales and in one south Chandler development, every lot just sold.

“It’s been tough… we’re just lucky to have the foresight to figure out what the buyers want and to give it to them.”

Webb says the company had to change their approach to selling new homes and become a customer-choice-driven seller over a home-builder-choice seller.

For Allison and Barret Hartman that made buying a bit easier.

The couple had their eye on the Fulton Ranch area for quite some time.

“We heard the homes were selling fast. We came in and took a look and knew that, if we were going to jump the gun it was time to do it,” said Barret Hartman.

The couple chose to buy a new home instead of a foreclosed home as a way of saving family time.

“It takes a lot of time to invest in a house that may need some fixing up,” said Allison Hartman, who has to keep up with two fast-paced boys.

The choice to buy new had to be tough with the increasing number of bank-owned homes available.

Reuters reports Nevada with the most foreclosed homes, while California and Arizona share the second spot, holding 56 percent of the nation’s foreclosed homes.

“It’s very difficult to compete with the homes that we built that are foreclosed homes that are $30,000 to $40,000 less than costs,” said Webb .

That’s where the choices come in. Webb adds that in order to attract new home buyers, the company had to display their prices upfront, with a 13,000 square foot design gallery of options that allow them to add or subtract options and costs.

“It’s kind of nice to be able to start with a clean slate,” said Barret Harman.

With the endless amount of possibilities of a floor plan styles in a home, an open floor plan continues to be one of the most popular choices for new homes and renovations.  A key factor to an open floor plan is functionality.  With opening up walls, the space between the kitchen, dining and living rooms creates a nice flow both visually and functionality.  Along with the style of floor plan, comes the task of choosing the colors that keep the open feel true.  Color in décor and paint can help eliminate the separating lines in an open floor plan.

Using a single color throughout the spaces creates a sense of unity between the different living areas.  If the living room were painted a single color, different from the rest, it would close the space away from the rest of the rooms.  The key is to uphold the flow of movement and color through the space with furniture and accessories to keep the openness alive.

One of the most common areas in a home that are included in an open floor plan is the kitchen.  Tile, paint and the appliances are just a few of the elements in the kitchen that need to be considered when decorating and choosing the right colors to accent the open concept.  In this modern kitchen, you can see the unity of color tone that is carried from the kitchen seamlessly out in to the living space.  The unity of color allows the space to be viewed as a larger living area. 

If you want a pop of color, be sure to accent the rest of the spaces with the same color or tone, to create a visually cohesive look.  Using throw pillows on a couch, dishtowels or vases in a kitchen are a fast, affordable and easy to update way of creating the feel of an open floor plan.