Re-Defining Country Curtains

Sometimes it really pays off to keep an open mind. I had the manager of the Rochester Country Curtains call me about the Ronald McDonald Homearama House I’m doing with @Home Builders, and express an interest in being included in the home. The name scared me because the home is anything but country, but I told them to send me a catalog and I’d take a look.

What a pleasant surprise! The colors were right on trend, the styling was beautiful and the prices were great. They have been an absolute delight to deal with as well, and I’m looking forward to seeing everything installed.

Taking Advantage of the Competition

Let's face it - with all of the media coverage about the "housing slump" consumers are expecting more and willing to pay less for the home of their dreams. We are having to really evaluate the return on every dollar that we spend and what the return can be on that investment.

As someone that makes their living merchandising model homes nothing hurts me more than to visit a builders community and see homes that aren't living up to their potential. I was in Las Vegas for a speaking engagement last week and went out to look at what was new and exciting in the Vegas market and I had a huge surprise. The most exciting, innovative, and memorable communities were multi-family and the most disappointing were communities that were built by national builders and had at least 8 models (and some a lot more than that) in each area. I'm going to write at length about the multi-family communities at length later, but until then if you are anywhere near the Las Vegas area be sure to take a look at Manhattan West. I was not only impressed I was blown away by the presentation and professionalism of the experience and loved the fact that the theme that ran throughout the presentation was Lifestyle. As a Lifestylist® it's always exciting to know you are going down the right path.

But back to the beautiful planned development I visited. I was told that this was the latest and greatest and the developers welcome center and staff was very impressive. They gave just enough information to make me curious enough to visit the builders models and to understand the goals of the community. So I drove out to see the first builders collection of 11 models and when I walked up to the door there was a sign that stated their homes were closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and lucky me I was visiting on a Wednesday. The next builder had 18 models which ranged in price from $200,000 to $500,000. I walked some of the homes but I guess the builder decided to have the merchandiser stick with the standard wall color - beige - and wallpaper and after about 5 homes I couldn't tell you one thing about any of them except they all looked the same.

On to my last stop - Toll Brothers. Fortunately I saved the best for last! I was greeted by a smiling welcoming sales person who offered me cookies right out of the oven and a water even though he understood I wasn't going to be a qualified buyer. They had three homes but they were stunning! Each one had different colors, lifestyles, and personalities and I was finally excited enough by what I saw to want to walk through every room and every home.

I also walked through the Kimball Hill community that you had to drive by to get to the planned community. They did a great job on a much smaller budget then their competition across the street. They were wise enough to position themselves strategically near a competitor that would spend marketing dollars on billboards ads etc. and bring traffic right past Kimball Hill's homes on the way to theirs.

By knowing your competition and taking advantage of their strengths and weaknesses, you can not only survive in a tough market you can flourish.

Inspirational Colors

For many people, choosing colors for their homes is a very scary process. Think about how many people’s homes that you’ve visited and the walls are still “Builder Beige” because they’ve been afraid to make a wrong decision. Do you live a beige lifestyle, or is your life full of color and excitement? Or would you like it to be? It’s been proven that color has a direct effect on our moods, so adding a little to your life might make a world of difference.

Here are some tips to start you in the right direction to find the perfect hue:

1. Ask Sherwin Williams or an expert at your local paint or home improvement store. Color is their life so they can help steer you in the right direction. I personally love Sherwin Williams because of their color palettes that they put together that give me fool-proof coordinates in a family of colors. Be sure to check out their new Concepts in Color - great fresh new colors with brochures that show the colors in an actual room.
2. Be inspired by your surroundings. When I lived in Arizona I fell in love with the desert colors so when I was ready to paint my family room I took my swatches outside to match up the colors that I had fallen in love with in nature. Technology is a wonderful thing (sometimes!) and many stores now have a machine that can match up teh color of almost anything that you can bring into them.
3. Start Small. Before you paint an entire room in a color pin some paint swatches up on a wall in the room and see how the lighting in the room affects them during different times of the day. The perfect blue in the store may become the imperfect violet with your lighting on your walls. When you’ve narrowed down the choices, buy a pint of a sample of the colors you’ve chosen, paint a 2ft by 2 ft section of wall if possible and take a day or two to live with the results. Many times I’ve thought I wanted to go light, but when I see the color up and view how it playes with the colors in my carpets or furniture I decide to go a shade or two richer.

Keep in mind as well that you don’t have to paint an entire room - sometimes an accent wall is all that it takes to give you the look that you’ve been wanting. Paint is one of the easiest and least expensive ways to remodel your home and your life, and can add thousands of dollars of value if you are selling to a potential buyer who is as afraid as you were of color.

One of my favorite builders of all that I’ve worked with in the United States is @Home Builders in Rochester, NY. It’s hard to believe that I’ve been working with builder David Riedman for over 10 years! Time flies, but when looking back at some of the model homes that I have merchandised for him in the past I realized that one of the reasons this builder continues to be so successful is because he understands timeless design and style, and builds homes that will never looked dated or “trendy”.

When designing your home whether it’s a model home or your personal home it’s important to really think through decisions you make that will become investments -kitchen cabinets and appliances, large furniture items, bath fixtures, and other materials that are expensive or difficult to change out. Bedding, accessories, wall colors and area rugs are places you can have some fun with current trends but change things out when your tastes or needs change.

De-Constructing Construction

The great news about deciding to build a new home these days is that you have options and choices like never before.

Current technology has made it possible to build “Factory Built” housing that not only meets the quality that site built housing offers, but in many cases can exceed the quality and value that is available.

For the next few weeks I’m going to go more in-depth about the different choices, and how they compare. The building types that I’m going to review are the following:

Trailers
Mobile Homes
Manufactured Homes
Park Models
Double Wides
Modular Homes
PreFab Homes
Panelized Kit Homes
SIPS Homes (Structural Insulated Panels)

Please let me know if you have interest in other building processes and I’ll be happy to do the research and share it here.

The Long Road Home

It’s hard to believe that Katrina roared thru all of our lives over two years ago. Living in Dallas, you may not have thought this would affect me as much as many living on the Gulf Coast, but when your parents have found their calling in doing disaster relief and you received a call from them in their Salvation Army canteen outside New Orleans and the Super Dome it gets personal. They were focused on feeding people in need and I was focused on the images that were floating across my television screen showing how life threatening the situation was. I couldn’t be more proud of my parents and the work that they do, and after spending a few days when I can volunteering with them, I don’t know where they find the energy and strength.

My parents have always been great role models, and if there is one thing I know about and have a passion for, it’s housing. My mother can cook for 2,000 as easily as she can cook for 2 - a gift I wish I inherited, but instead my passions tend towards making a house a home.

When someone loses their home, and in a lot of ways their identities - how do you move forward? Katrina not only swept away people homes, she also stole their memories, and in some cases their futures.

Rebuilding Mississippi and the Gulf Coast has gotten personal for me. From having the opportunity to visit Biloxi, Gulfport, and other areas that were ravaged by the storms, I’ve been able to hear the life-changing stories first hand and to see how these determined homeowners can’t be kept from the communities that they love.

Duff Goldman is the Ace of Cakes

Have I mentioned lately how much I love my Job? As a Lifestylist I spend a lot of time researching trends and ways that I can help consumers enhance their quality of life, so researching foodies and food trends is a large part of what I do. Last week I attended the Texas Restaurant Association's Southwest Foodservice Expo, and as luck would have it Duff Goldman, The Rock Star host of Ace Of Cakes was one of the speakers! People have asked me if I go everywhere with a photographer - as a matter of fact I do any chance I get attend events with Lisa Stewart of Lisa Stewart Photography so I can capture images to share with you all. Thanks to her I was not only able to get some wonderful shots of Duff, I was also able to go behind the scenes and see what he's like without an audience in front of him.It's wonderful to now know that Duff is not only fun to watch on his Food Network show Ace of Cakes, he also has an amazing amount of experience and credentials to back up the fact that he's one of the most talented cake designers today. His loyalty to his employees - most were friends before they joined the business - talent as a true artist as well as the gift to not take himself too seriously has moved him to the top of my favorite chef list. As we all know, Food Network has been moving towards having personalities instead of chefs hosting their shows, but with Duff's background of attending the CIA Greystone (and not as a weekend course like others we know) and working at the celebrated French Laundry, this chef is more than fluff.I'm also in love with this man because so many times when you attend an event like this the speaker does their thing then disappears, but not Duff. He not only walked the aisles meeting everyone and being very gracious about it, but he also interacted with the various vendors and was extremely approachable.Duff is the perfect example of what the Food Network needs more of - great role models for the future of the food industry. I'm looking forward to watching the new season of his show which starts in a few weeks!