Posts Tagged ‘design trends’

Slow Home Movement Focuses on Building Homes That Work for Occupants

Wednesday, March 2nd, 2011

Dreambuilder found this interesting article on what’s known as the ‘slow home’ movement.  Though the name is not very catchy, there are some great concepts here regarding effective home design, livability and sustainability.  While we don’t agree with every detail of the concept, we firmly believe that every house should be designed around the family that will be using it — no ‘cookie cutters’ here.  Sizes and locations of rooms, optimized storage spaces and efficient use of square footage are just some of the considerations for home design.  At the same time, the home should be created to be not only functional but beautiful and unique.  Lines of site, use of windows and views and artistic construction all have a place when in proper balance with other elements.  These are just a few of the details that Dreambuilder considers when designing a custom home for our clients.  Visit our Dream Home Gallery to see our original designs, and contact us today to see how we can help you imagine and create the home of your dreams, so you can live the life you’ve always wanted.

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By Mary Beth Breckenridge

RISMEDIA, March 1, 2011—(MCT)—John Brown believes a home should ease the stress in life, not contribute to it.

Brown is the founder of the slow home movement, a philosophy of home design that emphasizes livability and sustainability. It’s about building a home that works for the occupants, not one that’s intended to impress.

The concept was inspired by the slow food movement, with its focus on healthful, sustainable ways of producing and preparing food, explained Brown, an architect, real estate broker and architecture professor in Calgary, Alberta. “You can think of the typical cookie-cutter house as being like fast food”—often supersized and designed to satisfy our craving for beauty, he said. It’s a house that’s designed to seduce us into buying by feeding our fantasies of a more glamorous life, he said, not one that’s necessarily easy to live in or easy on the environment. (more…)

A calm, contemporary kitchen from Kitchens.com

Wednesday, February 23rd, 2011

Last week we shared this great kitchen design website with you at Kitchens.com, and a section that shows you different kitchen designs and a ‘swatch board’ of all of the style selections that go into each one.  Currently Dreambuilder is working with a prospective kitchen remodel client on a contemporary kitchen that will look very similar to the one here.  Avoiding the extreme stark, minimalist look of some contemporary kitchens, this kitchen incorporates warmth and color while remaining very sleek and clean.  See more about this kitchen here, and contact Dreambuilder today to implement this look in your kitchen.

Kitchens.com provides great design ideas

Monday, February 14th, 2011

We here at Dreambuilder recently discovered Kitchens.com and encourage you to visit.  One of the things we really like about the site is the vignettes of various styles that the site provides.  For example, if you select the “casual coastal” kitchen, you not only see pictures of a beautiful kitchen in this style, but also a listing of all of the indiviudal design finishes that went into it.  It’s a great way to view alternatives and see exactly what went into putting the kitchen together.  From there, you can emulate the style by selecting similar elements in your own kitchen.  Dreambuilder can help you transform your kitchen — contact us today!

 

The best design categories you’ve never heard of

Friday, January 28th, 2011

Dubbed Best Rooftop Playroom for Adults, the outdoor ensemble atop this Manhattan high-rise features a dining pergola, hot tub, day bed and a wall of running water. It's one of the 100 spaces featured in "Design 100: The Last Word on Modern Interiors." Courtesy Filipacchi Publishing

by Bill Lahay

From its inception as Apartment Ideas magazine in 1969 to the December 2009 issue that marked the end of its run, Metropolitan Home underwent more than a few transformations. Its revenues waxed and waned, its publisher changed, and its audience matured and grew more affluent. Through it all, the magazine metamorphosed from a hip but humble journal for renters to an upscale champion of modernism in its many forms.

During that time, this sourcebook for modernist design developed a tradition of its own: an annual issue called the Design 100, which featured the editors’ favorite picks in residential architecture, decor and related disciplines.

Now Michael Lassell, a former features director for the magazine, has gathered with other former staffers to produce a hardcover book to extend that legacy.  “Design 100: The Last Word on Modern Interiors” focuses the same sharp lens on the 100 locations chosen here, but takes creative and sometimes whimsical liberties with the categories each represents (many of the homes featured appear under the MH banner for the first time, in order to avoid duplication of previously published material).

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Wood countertops no longer on the chopping block

Wednesday, December 15th, 2010
By Mary G. Pepitone, Universal Press Syndicate

This Cape Cod home uses reclaimed beech wood for its kitchen island countertop, which warms the white kitchen with stainless-steel appliances. Designed by Kitchen Views in Newton, Mass., the repurposed wood also helps blend old with new, creating a relaxed, cozy environment. Photo courtesy of National Kitchen and Bath Association

Don’t knock wood as a durable and functional kitchen countertop option. While wood might seem problematic in terms of water and stain resistance, it has a long tradition of being used as a countertop in Europe and is enjoying a resurgence in American kitchens. (more…)