Tag Archives: Home decor

Choosing your Fulton Home gas fireplace

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Gas Fireplace Design Center 040As the temperatures hover around freezing at night, this time of the year begs for a fireplace. With the Fulton Homes gas fireplace option, you receive the charm and warmth of a fireplace without the headaches of buying wood, cleaning out ashes, and managing the burning process. You also have the advantage of having a fire even on smokeless days in the Phoenix area when the weather begs for one.

A fireplace provides a natural focal point to a living or family room. People are automatically drawn to a hearth, just as fireplaces in years past provided the center of a home for families to gather together for warmth in the days before central heating.

Today’s fireplaces can bow to tradition or make a more modern statement, keeping in tune with your personal style. Let’s take a look at what makes this fireplace special.

Stonework: Using stone or tile to outline your fireplace and define your mantel makes your fireplace uniquely yours. The choice of the tile design for the mantel can be paired with the same look in your kitchen backsplash to help link your kitchen with your great room space. Notice how the stone shines in the light – the fireplace’s flames will be mirrored on that inviting hearth.

Shelving: Adding the matching shelves on either side of the fireplace itself enlarges the influence of this focal point in your home while allowing you to showcase some treasured accessories. The mantel also provides enough depth to provide the opportunity to display select items that fit your fireplace’s profile.

Lighting: Candle sconces to either side of the mounted television and lights shining down on the shelves provide a nice ambient brightness without overwhelming the space. Once again, the sconces can be selected to match your kitchen and dining light fixtures, helping to integrate the style in every part of your home.

Whether warming your home in winter or adding charm to your family room in the summer, a gas fireplace is a simple way to help create a welcoming feel to your home for family and friends.

Choosing the front door for your Fulton Home

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Door DisplayDesign Center 046We all know the saying, “It’s the first impression that counts,” and Fulton Homes is giving you the opportunity to create a terrific first impression for visitors to your home. With an amazing variety of styles, wood tones or even color, the Fulton Design Center can create the entry look you dream about.

Do you want a traditional door with the strong detailing that comes through as a powerful entrance with an established presence? Take a look at the door to the right in the photo above. With its deeply-grooved panels and oak grain, this door looks as though it’s been around for generations. The old-fashioned brass door handle also conveys this feeling.

Maybe you’re looking for something a little more rustic. Take a look at the door in the center of the photo. The sturdy wrought-iron door handle with its squared-off style fits a more hand-hewn rustic mood.

Then take a look at the lighter-hued door between the other two. With its bead board styling and curved top, this door suits a more casual country feeling. The soft wheat color fits the style, creating an inviting feeling before people even step inside the house.

Your front door introduces visitors to your home. Fulton Homes understands the importance of that first impression, and your selection options for your home’s entry door demonstrate that. When you take the time to find just the right look for your style, your front door will say “Welcome” to every friend and family member.

Exploring the Fulton Design Center: Kitchen Counters

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Design Center 018In our last Fulton Design Center blog, we recommended starting your kitchen design plan by choosing your cabinets. The next decision is countertops. Do you want granite? The look and feel of real stone is dramatic, and it seems that everyone’s dream kitchen includes granite countertops.

Fulton offers a wealth of granite choices, along with the option to pick out your slab, which helps to ensure that you are happy with your selection. Certainly granite adds to a kitchen. Take a look at the strong personality of the granite in this kitchen. It picks up the warm tones from the cabinets but also adds some cooler colors to connect the cabinets with the stainless appliances. This countertop choice truly pulls the kitchen together.Granite Design Center 015

Large slabs of the most popular granite options allow you to really see and appreciate impact of each stone. And with today’s sealed granite, it no longer requires the repeated treatment that was common not so many years ago.

Although you may be captured by this countertop option, take the time to look at some of the other choices. Quartz and other countertop materials may suit your taste more than granite. It pays to at least consider other countertops.

One final tip when making your selection: remember to create contrast in your kitchen. If your cabinets are dark, a lighter countertop can build a well-defined distinction between various aspects of your kitchen. Decide if you want your counters to add a strong personality or subtly blend into the background.

Will your kitchen be an adventure or a refuge? Your countertop choice helps contribute to the mood and feel of your final kitchen design.

Exploring the Fulton Design Center: Kitchen Start-up

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Bertazonni KitchenReady to plan your kitchen? The Fulton Design Center offers such a variety of styles and options that it may be challenging to narrow down your choices. These suggestions may help you with the process.

Choose your overall style: Do you love the richness of the traditional Tuscan look? Features such as the carved columns on the island above can help recreate that mood. If you lean toward a simpler option, take a look at the Shaker-style cabinets and start from there. However, do not feel obliged to be entirely consistent with your style choices. Take a look at the lighting in this kitchen. The contemporary pendants have a strong impact and help sharpen the more traditional look of this space.

Choose your cabinets: As you can see from the photo above, cabinetry makes the biggest design statement in this room. Your choice of cabinets affects every other decision you make, so make your cabinet choice the foundation of your kitchen’s design.Cabinet Display Design Center 034

The Fulton Design Center has a rich selection of styles and finishes, with sample doors that you can take throughout the Center to coordinate your total space.

Consider cabinet style and tone: You have two important choices with your cabinets. The first – style – provides the framework for the entire kitchen design. The second choice – cabinet tone – affects every other option you select.

A dark cabinet choice may lead to a lighter countertop and flooring selection. Painted cabinets can create a farmhouse feeling and a bright kitchen space. Light cabinets have a younger, more contemporary style, particularly when paired with a dark countertop and exciting backsplash.

So when you make that first decision – your cabinets –you’re well on your way to creating the perfect kitchen for you and your family.

Design Center Magic

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DC SignAre you a fan of HGTV? Do you pause to leaf through home magazines whenever you see them? Are you fascinated by the Pinterest boards that focus on home design or great kitchens? If any or  all of these describe you, then the Fulton Design Center is your version of a trip to Disneyland.

When you select your new Fulton Home, the focus is on square footage, the number of bedrooms, closet size and in general how well the home will function for you and your family. Those are all very important issues. If you think of your home choice as the entrée of a lovely meal, your design center experience is the dessert!

Before your appointment, be sure to visit the Fulton Design Center during one of the browse nights. With designers there to help direct you to the various options available, this provides a no-pressure introduction to the Center. Also check out the online option information on Fulton’s website for a preview of coming attractions.

Visiting the Fulton Design Center for the first time can almost overwhelm you with the variety of choices for every room in your new home. But with the help of your designer, you will soon start envisioning the home you want. Like the Design Center’s motto: “dream and create,” you can create just the right look for your home and have your design dreams come true.

From countertops to carpeting, appliances to area rugs, the Fulton Design Center provides the grown-up version of Disney’s world, where all of your wishes can come true. Enjoy the ride.

Patterns: How to Incorporate Florals in Your Home

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15359994_SPatterns are a major trend in fashion and interior decorating.  Floral patterns are back in and hitting the scene full on when it comes to home décor and design.  This particular pattern might remind you of floral patterns from your mom or grandma that just may seem dated.  You can add floral accent pillows, floral vases, and even bring in florals with actual flower arrangements to keep your home looking and smelling fresh. Here are a few ways to incorporate today’s floral trends at home.

15285253_SIf the image above made you rethink using florals in your home, there are other options.  You could take the pattern above and place it in a frame to hang as a piece of art on the wall.  The image to the right, uses the pattern more subtly.  Using a black and white color palette keeps the room looking neutral and classic. The floral accents are able to stand out, but are less invasive to the eye.  Using accent pillows is a great way to test out if you’ll enjoy using floral patterns throughout your home

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since they can easily be traded out.  It would also be fun if you traded these black andwhite floral pillows for pastel floral pillows during the springtime.  The candles on the shelf are a similar style and, again, are easy pieces to move in and out of the room.  Duvet covers are another great source if you want to experiment with subtle or bold floral patterns in your bedroom.  The duvets will most likely make your bed become the focal point of the room.

18969410_SIf you already know you’re in love with adding floral patterns in your home, maybe try to incorporate them with more long-term methods like purchasing a floral patterned accent chair like the one to the right.  The chair becomes the focal point of this seating area.  Decorating around it is easy with a simple side table, mirror, and lighting.

You could also make an accent wall with floral wallpaper or floral stencils.  However you choose to add florals into your home, they’ll be sure to add more depth and interest to your design.  Whether it’s through accents, major pieces of furniture, or small décor pieces we hope you enjoy the floral pattern as much as we do! 

Design Inspiration: Set a Stormy Mood

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5775664_SThere’s nothing restful about a stormy day. Clouds roll over the sky, threatening rain or hail or snow. Lightning flashes unexpectedly, followed by the rolling roar of thunder. A stormy room wouldn’t be restful or dull. Instead, it would demand your attention.

Take a look at the stormy scene to the left. Even in a static photo, you can see the movement of the clouds and the explosion of lightning. Dark colors, browns and greys and touches of black, provide the color palette for a stormy room.

731973_STo begin to determine what makes a space feel like the outdoors in a storm, take a look at the photo on the right. This indoor space – a tunnel – echoes the mood of the storm. The ceiling is dark like the stormiest of storm clouds in the sky. The lights and the stripes on the street move like lightning across the sky. Unintentionally, this tunnel mimics some of the feel and even the sounds of a stormy day within its enclosed space.

15750868_SLet’s take a look at a room that captures the intensity of a storm in its design. While this could be a residence, it could as easily be a hotel lobby with its air of grandeur.

The colors are primarily dark, appropriate to a stormy mood. But the shiny lit stripes across the back of the ceiling and the walls provide the same stripes of light we see in the storm above and the tunnel to the right.

Lightning is more than just white – it is a light that temporarily blinds your eyes if you look right at it. The silver shine and lighting design of this room carry a reminder of lightning at its powerful best, as though it strikes and then lingers in the mind.

This design is daring and strong like a stormy day at its most powerful and overwhelming. A design like this may be too much for most homes, but how about capturing this mood in one corner of a den, or in an exciting dining room?

Storms can be frightening, but they are also energizing and interesting. Think about capturing a bit of that energy inside your home.

Design Inspiration: Set a Snowy Mood

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22974805_SThe number of times we’ve seen snow in the Phoenix area in the last decade can pretty much be counted on one hand, but we can visit snow country all winter by driving just a few hours.

With the holidays coming, some people from other parts of the country may miss the winter weather, while others are grateful for no shoveling off driveways and scraping snow and ice off cars.

If you would like to capture some of the feeling of a crisp snowy day, your decorating decisions can help make that vision a reality. Let’s imagine a January morning in the country just after the first fall of “real” snow – the kind that sticks to the ground and piles up rather than just melting away.

Here’s the first surprise. There’s a lot more than white happening. In the photo above, tree trunks look black against the snow, and shades of grey appear with the contrasts of sunshine and shadow.

Look again and you will see textures and patterns visible at no other time of the year. You can make your home reflect this mood with a few choices.

22549326_STake a look at the room shown to the right. White shares space with several shades of grey and some black. But it’s about more than color – notice the texture of the wall – matching well with the dappled look of snow in the shadows of the landscape above.

The rug mirrors the mix of white and grey visible in the scene in the combination of branches, ice and snow. If you look at that rug with winter in mind, it almost seems as though it might melt under your feet. The sheer curtains mimic the white sunlight coming through the snow in the distance.

The blue and white coverlets on the sofa bring in a color often visible on a snowy day, and the space finishes up with pops of red – always a powerful contrast color and perfect with a winter landscape.

Would you like to bring a snowy mood into your home just in time for the holidays? You can do it, with the right combination of color and texture. And maybe just a few sleigh bells?

Design Inspiration: Set a Foggy Mood

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14773707_SNow, we’re not talking about a place where you can’t keep your mind focused and aren’t sure where you’re going. Instead, think of it as a soft, misty feeling that is soothing and somewhat private – maybe with screens or curtains hung so that everything is not right in sight when you walk into a room.

Think of grey and white, with maybe just a few glimpses of a strong color once in a while.

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Take a look at the room to the right. The sheer roman shade can come down to hint at what’s outside, and the frosted glass on the French doors keep the next room half hidden.

There are a few surprises awaiting you as you move into the space. Only the bright green plants and the black clock in the corner provide any density of color and tone, just as a glimpse of a tree or flower can appear through the fog.

The wood flooring is touched with a bit of a grey wash to keep it from taking over a room characterized by warm grey walls and white trim and furniture. The space provides a sense of softness – this room allows you to relax in its soothing fog-filled mood.

18918213_SThe entryway on the left also captures a bit of the feel of fog. Very cool grey walls fit well with the soft-toned tile flooring. Every other piece of furniture and trim is white, with the half-table showing some soft edges of grey with its shabby-chic-style paint.

Notice again that there are only a couple of accessories to add contrast. The silver candlesticks ,the wall sconce and the mirror reflect light softly the way fog captures and reflects the sun. A small pop of the dark purple candle gives us the startling appeal of some item suddenly coming into view through a foggy day.

Driving in the fog can be unnerving, but taking a walk can provide an unmatched sense of magic. You never know what will appear with the next step. If you want to create that mood in your home, visualize a foggy day as you make your decorating choices.

Design Inspiration: Set a Breezy, Windswept Mood

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17624016_SAt first it may seem impossible – to create the movement of the wind in a static room design. But if you take a look at the photo to the left, one thing stands out – the wind creates curves.

Palm trees fare well in windy areas because their trunks bend with strong breezes rather than break. The fronds also create a lovely picture of curving branches in this strong wind.

The photo below takes full advantage of curves to create a windswept mood. While the flooring is a straight plank wood, it still captures the curves with the line of three steps from one section of the space to another.

Curves are echoed throughout this room. The ceiling’s curving flow really stands out thanks to the contrast of orange and white. Lights follow the orange streak in the middle, providing a curve of light along the room in the evening.

9348004_SThe outside and inside walls are also curved, and the open-air stairway arc sweeps into the room like its own breeze.

The hanging lamp and black chairs continue the theme with circles and ovals as part of their design.

Even the plants look windswept, with their leaves demonstrating a number of curving positions. There’s hardly a straight line in the place, and the shift of colors keeps the eye moving.

You don’t need a fan to create a breezy mood in your home. Look for opportunities to introduce curved rather than straight lines – in furniture, rug designs, artwork and fabrics. Add some sheer curtains or blinds to the mix and you can create your own windy day.