New Homes Today Magazine
Interior Design: Personalize Your New Home
Transform your new house into a warm, inviting home
By Andrew Bart
Purchasing a new home is always exciting, but with that excitement comes a multitude of tricky decisions related to furnishing and personalizing your space. Whether you're selecting furniture, window treatments, wall colors, flooring, or remodeling solutions, the wealth of options can be very overwhelming. On a room-by-room basis, interior designers Lina Quintero and Gena Chipley offer their expertise to help transform your new house into a warm, inviting home.
Master Bedroom
The master bedroom is one of the most important rooms in a home, because during the course of the day, it serves contrasting purposes. In the morning, the bedroom is meant to energize its occupants. In the evening, as the day winds down, the bedroom should transition into an oasis of comfort and relaxation.
Quintero explains that it is crucial to consider the effects of lighting on the mood of the room. At dawn, sunlight is going to enter and invigorate the room, and at dusk, the room will dramatically begin to darken. In order to establish the intended mood and offer the ability to relax or read in bed, be sure to include adequate ambience and bedside lighting. Long, elegant window panels will dramatize the area and act as a frame for the morning sunlight. Pooling the panels adds a European look and romanticizes the room.
A new home is a blank slate for applying personalized, creative and functional design concepts. Chipley points out that by including features suited to your specific needs, you can transform your bedroom into a highly personal space. For example, if you enjoy watching television in bed, add a trunk or chest at the foot of the bed that contains a pop-up TV stand. This clever feature will provide optimal viewing of the TV, open up space on the wall for additional artwork and hide the TV when it's not in use.
If your preference is to read in the bedroom, create a soothing reading environment by placing comfortable, upholstered seating at the foot of the bed. Anchor the seating with a trunk, chest, or nightstand and you can place additional lighting on the furniture and hide the wiring underneath the frame of the bed. Ultimately, you will end up with a highly functional yet elegant bedroom that is customized to your lifestyle.
Powder Room
Quintero stresses that the powder room, which is often frequented by guests, must not be neglected. For this reason, the powder room provides the perfect opportunity to exhibit an elevated level of creativity. Add a touch of sophistication by wall mounting faucets and accentuate the faucets by adding a vessel. When selecting a vessel, most people automatically gravitate toward glass. Instead of adhering to the norm, have fun and infuse additional texture to the room by opting for copper or travertine. For a small, stylish powder room, a clever cost-saving measure is to incorporate a remnant piece of granite or alternative countertop material.
As opposed to a standardized cabinet, Chipley recommends searching for an antique dresser or a Damachia from India reconfigured into an elegant vanity. For a more contemporary vanity with a custom appearance, apply a similar reconfiguration to a sleek console. Incorporate dramatic wall colors or textures by using Venetian plaster or fun wallpaper. Compared to the other rooms in a home, a powder room is small. As a result, the size and amount of materials required to design the room are minimal, so you can make a big impact by selecting high-quality materials.
Niches
Niches are architectural details that draw attention to contents housed within the space. Quintero says that artwork, accessories, or design elements that carry a significant aesthetic value are perfect options to fill in a niche. Adding an accent light will also help to highlight the intended interior design elements. If the niche appears awkward, don't be afraid to close it with drywall and use the added wall space for artwork or a hallway sconce.
Chipley explains that niches are great frames for a sculpture. Paint the inside of the niche with a dramatic color that will accentuate the sculpture. Consider using a metallic bronze or silver paint, as these colors are reflective and will cause the space to "pop." Combined with proper accent lighting, decorative glass items can be stunning inside of a niche. For a custom look that will create separation and added interest, install a re-fabricated remnant piece of granite or travertine to the area.
Traditional Kitchen
As a matter of fact, the kitchen is the most utilized room in every home. No matter your choice of style, the bulk of the budget for a new home remodel or design project should be dedicated to the kitchen. Quintero recommends that even if you are going for a traditional look, don't be afraid to mix cabinet stains. Consider a fun finish for the island in dark green or blue.
Cabinet hardware, which Quintero describes as "jewelry for cabinets," is an essential element to any cabinet. Cabinet hardware protects the longevity of the finish and diminishes the overall wear and tear on the wood. "Don't go overboard on accessories in the kitchen," says Quintero. The cabinetry should be the featured item on display. Backsplashes personalize the room and finish the overall look and feel of a design.
In order to heighten the level of elegance and sophistication of a traditional kitchen, Chipley suggests installing large crown molding on the upper cabinets. This creative detail will offer a customized look. If the cabinetry in your new home is of good quality, but you are not happy with the color, consider having the cabinets refinished with a stain or paint that suits your style. Under cabinet lighting is highly functional in a kitchen and it will help to draw attention to the cabinetry. There are small tracks and bulbs that are made specifically for it, and they will accommodate any size.
Contemporary Kitchen
If you want a contemporary style for the kitchen in your new home, Quintero recommends adding long track lighting to establish an industrial look. In order to warm up the atmosphere of the room and offer a sense of coziness, combine the track lighting with increased overhead canned lighting. A creative cost saving design tactic for a contemporary kitchen backsplash is to select an inexpensive four-by-four-inch glazed tile and add interest by installing the tile on a diagonal tilt. This minor maneuver will subtly and inexpensively offer a custom appearance.
"Don't be afraid to use color in the kitchen," says Chipley. Keep the primary walls and features classically neutral. Updates can be easily made down the road, but go bold on the accents. If the kitchen in your new home is too traditional, have the existing cabinet doors removed and add frosted glass door fronts on the upper cabinets to create a more contemporary feel. Chipley points out that since the kitchen is where visitors tend to gather, if the space allows for it, make sure you have comfortable bar stools and seating to accommodate them.
Designing a new home doesn't have to be a headache?you deserve to have fun and achieve the look you crave. Once you've chosen the atmosphere you wish to create, use these helpful tips to turn your new digs into the home of your dreams.
Interior designers Lina Quintero (owner) and Gena Chipley offer their expertise out of Elements of Design. The Scottsdale interior design studio, which caters to affluent homeowners nationwide, features one of the largest showrooms in Arizona with an inventory ranging from upholstered goods to accessories.
