Tag Archives: paint color

Pops of Color

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Legacy Models 057Neutrals always feel safer when you’re decorating, but staying safe keeps you from enjoying the power of color in your home. If more vivid colors seem overwhelming or just too risky, consider taking a chance with a few pops of color. Here are a few ways to let color help bring your home to life.

A strong accent wall: Paint, wallpaper or fabric can turn one wall into a natural focal point with a strong color choice. And the option is relatively easy to eliminate if you aren’t happy with the result. Take a look at this entertainment area in the family room of the O’Connor model at Legacy. The deep purple has enough gray in it to soften the impact on the wall, and neutral furniture, shelves and accessories keep the overall feeling rather low-key.

Contrasting accessories: Adding the yellow glass bowl on the right side of this console helps the space to really pop. Yellow is the complementary color to purple, which means that they are on opposite sides of the color wheel. By adding just a small touch of yellow, the purple becomes more purposeful in the space. The other complementary colors are blue and orange and red and green. If your colors seem drab, adding just a spot of the color on the other side of the wheel will add a spark.Legacy Models 027 (2)

Let color infuse your focal point. This Bertazzoni Range in rich dark red creates a new energy in this kitchen. Other neutrals start to feel like the background elements, allowing this retro range to stand out. (Photo from the Fulton Model at Legacy.)

So jump into color – starting small or with a big push – and let your home’s décor pop!

 

Adding Style and Function to a Hall

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Legacy Models 033Halls can serve two primary purposes: to connect a number of rooms efficiently and to provide some separation and privacy between the main living areas and the bedrooms. But this space can be used for more than an interior pathway.

Fulton’s Legacy community demonstrates this with its three models: The Basha, The Fulton and The O’Connor. Let’s take a look at some of the ways a hall can have multiple uses and design elements.

Take a look at the photo to the left. This niche, from the Fulton model at Legacy, adds an inviting design element to the hallway. Visible from the family room, this lighted niche provides the perfect location for a favorite piece of art. It could hold a wreath for the holidays, a family photo, a shadow-box of memorabilia, or almost anything of importance to you and your family. The glass tile background adds interest and DSC_0177personality.

The next photo, to the right, is from the O’Connor model at Legacy. Here decorative elements combine with some storage to create a feature that is inviting and functional. You could use the chest to store guest linens or anything that’s nice to have in easy reach for the whole family.

The look of this location has been enhanced with the dark plum paint on the hall’s back wall. The contrast between the dark wall and the metallic silver chest and plate above it creates a moment of drama in what is often an overlooked area of the home. Notice that the hall has extra depth at this location allowing you more design flexibility, a thoughtful addition to this home.

DSC_0185For a final addition to a hall space, take a look at this built-in cabinet and counter available in the O’Connor model. A corner of a hallway suddenly can become the perfect central location for charging mobile devices and keeping office and homework supplies handy. With its easily accessible central location every family member can use this as a drop-zone for homework, keys, purses and phones. Consider adding a small bowl or jar for spare change, which could be used for a family treat or dinner out once you accumulate enough. Add a bulletin board or calendar and it could also be the central location for messages and schedules.

For a closer look at these and other interesting approaches to hall space, come see the Fulton Homes models at Legacy in Gilbert. We think you’ll enjoy your visit.

 

Just the Right Neutral

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Carpet Design Center 055Most people want neutral carpeting, but how do you choose the right neutral for your new home? Here are a few tips to help you define your best choice.

Choose carpeting later: There is such a large selection for neutral carpeting that you can find a shade and tone to work with any décor. So if your new home has an open floor-plan spend time first on those options that have fewer choices such as cabinetry or countertops. Then bring samples of your choices along when you select your carpeting.

004 carpetingNarrow your search: Select three or four samples of carpeting and pull them away from the rest. Your favorite may pop out at you once you see your selections together.

Look for contrast: Is your furniture dark? A lighter carpeting choice will showcase your décor more effectively. On the other hand, if you have light colors in your home, darker carpeting can add drama. Overall, balancing dark and light creates a more interesting look.

Pull a color out of your upholstery fabric: Are there any prints highlighted in your home? Look for a neutral tone that you could pull out to integrate your furniture with your flooring more effectively. Guests may not notice the connection consciously, but your home will feel more coordinated.

Connect your carpeting with your paint choice. When you visit the Fulton Design Center, you have an interesting selection of neutral palettes to choose from for custom paint for your walls, and you may find it easier to make a paint choice first and then use that tone to determine the best carpeting for your new home.

Pinterest on Paint

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20237301_SWhen you visit the Fulton Design Center, it has a good selection of neutral paint colors for your home. The right neutrals can make a big difference in how your home looks.

Suppose, however, you want to add some color to your walls. Visiting a paint store can seem overwhelming. If you want yellow, how yellow do you want to go? It’s easy to move from a light lemon to a horrifying egg yolk without realizing it until you see the final version on your walls.

With its strong focus on visuals, Pinterest provides a great resource for choosing the right paint colors. Instead of studying 30 different versions of the color you want, you can see various rooms with the paint colors listed. Pinterest also lists popular colors with designers which can help you determine the right choice for your home.

If you need direction for choosing the right color, several pins provide clear steps that explain a process for selection that will help ensure success. In addition, check out the many tips and tricks to enable you to tackle any painting project like a pro.

The Fulton Homes Pinterest site has a board, Painting Your Home with pins selected to help you approach painting successfully. Our board is just the beginning of the support Pinterest can offer as you begin your search for just the right wall colors to make your home perfect. While you’re at it, how about visiting some of our other boards? You may find just the decorating or design advice you are looking for!

Simple Guest Room Shows Comfy Charm

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Fulton Homes Starlight model

A lovely guest room is more about imagination and thought than a large budget. Take a look at this bedroom. It creates a welcoming and whimsical impression with a minimum of expense and effort. Let’s look at why this room feels so inviting.

Using a theme: Think beyond the standard approach to décor with your guest room. Since any visitors are temporary, the only person you have to satisfy is yourself. So if you have a yen for a gypsy caravan approach, full-on country style or an inviting western theme like this room, let your creativity run wild. In this case, a painted headboard and wall art create a cowboy mood with just a couple of design choices.

Don’t be afraid of color: Creamy yellow walls, a red bedspread and matching grey and red bedside tables create a vivid space that capitalizes on the theme. The colors are bolstered by bed linens and paint – two of the least expensive ways to brighten a space.

Find inspiration: Visit stores for guest-room inspiration. Imagine finding the boot painting at a store, then deciding to build a guest room around it. Look for unusual or lively items to help you develop a direction for the space.

Add a few homey touches: Guest rooms don’t need much in the way of storage space. Most people will live out of their suitcases when visiting. Instead include a few magazines and books, a basket of snacks, and a collection of small soaps and personal grooming articles in case guests forget anything.

Take the time to make your guest room special and your guests will feel special and welcomed when they visit.

Decorating a Boy’s Room for Fun & Flexibility

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Fire Bedroom DSC_0287

Fulton Homes Daylight Model

It’s fun to decorate a child’s room, and the photo to the left shows a delightful way to make a boy’s room special while allowing easy opportunities for changes as this child grows up. Take a look at the essential furniture. The headboard and lamps will work with almost any design.

One fun choice in this room comes from selecting shipping containers in place of standard nightstand/chests of drawers. While these will appeal to a small boy, they have the potential to be interesting elements as he grows into his teens. When choosing furniture for a child’s room, don’t be afraid to have fun, but think of the future for more substantial pieces.

The fireman theme carries through with inexpensive pieces such as bedspread, pillows and various toy fire trucks. By using stick-on and peel-off decorations on the walls rather than wallpaper, making a change to reflect the boy’s changing tastes is easy. These are available online and at various home stores in a good selection of themes. Notice that the sophisticated paint color allows transitions without repainting.

Car Bedroom DSC_0288The photo to the right provides a design choice for an older child. The metal signs and old-fashioned posters reflect specific interests while still demonstrating a sense of style.

The strong green focal wall gives extra oomph to the room and pulls in the stripes on the bedspread and pillows.

Both rooms would work well with either wood floors or a neutral carpet choice. It’s also smart to look for neutral window coverings such as wood blinds to keep the space flexible.

By taking this approach to a child’s room, you create the opportunity for the design to change frequently to reflect his or her changing interests without creating a need for a great deal of effort and expense.

Personalize your Home: Color

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15825954_SDo you find yourself always choosing “safe” neutrals when you make a purchase for your home? Well, maybe it’s time to add some of your favorite colors!

If you’re not sure where to begin, take a look at these ideas to kick-start color in your décor.

It’s just paint: This seems like a daring place to add color, but it’s actually one of the easiest and least expensive ways to change a space. Here’s a suggestion. When you’re looking at paint samples, move down the color cards to the rich darker tones at the bottom. Then get sample pots of several of your lighter choices and a few of the brightest hues.

Now, challenge yourself to paint at least one wall with the vivid shade. Use the sample pots to see which wall and which color works best for you. Be sure to live with those sample colors for at least a week. You may find that a color that was startling at first grows on you over time.

20700581_SPlant a pocket of color: Whether it’s bookshelves, a guest room or some simple storage in the kitchen, consider adding a splash of various colors in combination. Take a look at how appealing the vivid mix of tones appears on the right. Simple lines pop when you add color to the mix.

Take a chance: Instead of a brown leather sofa, how about choosing one of the colors shown below? The rich blue, warm olive green, or even one of the daring reds could turn your safe living or family room into something dramatic and inviting.

Does a sofa seem just too much? Why don’t you start with a chair; then add some color in a rug. You never know, you may end up with a home as bright and colorful as you are!19877392_S

Silver Gives a Touch of Winter

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5602580_SIf you have children – particularly little girls – you’ve probably seen Frozen. The story, the music and the characters are delightful, and the scenery really puts winter front and center.

For those of us who live in Arizona, winter is not the icy adventure presented in the Disney movie, but you can bring a hint of winter’s splendor into your home using silver.

More and more, metallic paints liven up old pieces of furniture such as the bombe chest shown in this photo. Add an old-style upholstered chair and ottoman with silver leaf on the wood and rich modern black and silver upholstery, and you’re headed for your own winter design.

Black is the perfect pairing with the shine of silver, setting it off while providing the perfect addition of drama. Notice the dark burgundy silk throw pillow – a touch of dark red or turquoise will spark the black and silver with a bit of color. The silver-framed mirror, chandelier visible through the glass, and the selection of silver accessories finish up the room into something you would expect to see in Elsa the queen of Arendelle’s bedroom.

19419998_SYou can create your own silver furniture simply. Look in thrift and antique shops for a table, chair or framed mirror with some character such as the occasional table in the photo to the right. Choose something inexpensive, possibly with a damaged finish, so you aren’t covering a beautiful patina with paint.

Wash the piece and sand lightly. Before painting, wipe it down with a tack cloth to remove any dust. Look for a good quality silver spray paint. Take it outside to protect yourself against the fumes and set it on a drop cloth or newspapers to protect your landscaping. Spray the piece, using several light coats to finish it completely.

So maybe you really don’t want to recreate a Disney film set in your home. You can still bring a bit of winter silver to a corner of any room that could benefit from the additional splendor.

Design Tips: Making Your Laundry Room Stand Out

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HRM0344With your Fulton home, your laundry room is generously-sized and functional, like this one from the Spyglass model at Victoria Estates. It’s nice to start with such a lovely space, and take it to the next level. Your laundry room can be the perfect place to experiment with some of your more daring design ideas. Here are a few suggestions to make it stand out.

Color: Have you always wanted a yellow room? How about robin’s egg blue? Or maybe you’re thinking about wallpaper. The room is small enough to make a project like this manageable, but you can create quite an impact with a little cash when you add color.

Art: Notice the bold and bright flowers decorating this laundry room. Maybe you’d enjoy enlargements of your favorite photos of family or your travels. You can get photos blown up to poster size for a reasonable price at most warehouse stores.

Go with a theme: This might be the space where you indulge in your love of country style, or perhaps you enjoy daisies or chickens or antique china. The laundry room is generally just for family, so have fun with the space.

Improve function: Would some hooks make it easier to hang clothes on hangars when they come out of the dryer? Maybe you could use a little sewing kit to tighten loose buttons. This might also be a good room for posting upcoming family events on a bulletin board. Take the time as you do laundry to think about additions you could make to this room to make cleaning clothes easier.

The laundry room is often the most ignored spot in the home, but you can make yours unique and special. So why not make your laundry room a space that makes you smile every time you walk in it?

Fulton Homes Design Online – Colors & Textures

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Std Int 2-Tone Paint ColorDecorating your home starts before you place your first piece of furniture. Choosing the right paint color provides a great start to the decorating process.

Gone are the days when every wall in a new home is painted the same Navaho White. Fulton Homes provides a choice of 12 designer colors for your walls, all 12 available in low VOC paints.

Or maybe you want to go with a two-tone look with Frazee eggshell wall paint in 16 Designer Colors? Take a look at choices online at Fulton Homes Design Online and then make your final selection at the Fulton Homes Design Center.

Doors, baseboards, casings, trim, closets, garage and ceilings will all be painted with Swiss Coffee. This soft off-white complements any wall paint choice.

You may want to bring samples of your upholstered furniture colors, and consider your flooring and cabinet and countertop choices when making your final paint selection. By spending a few minutes, you will find that the right paint choice helps bring everything in your home to a coordinated whole.

Exterior Color Scheme 24CYou have a choice of exterior paint choices also, along with Coronado stone trim. These colors are chosen to coordinate with your home’s particular elevation. Paint samples are available in both the Sales Office and Design Center. The photo to the right shows only one of the options you can choose from for your own home.

Fulton Homes Design Online also shows you the textures offered on the interior and exterior walls of your home. Browse through the “colors and textures” section and discover those options that may stay in the background, but will have a real impact in the final look of your new Fulton Home.