Tuesday, July 25, 2017 / by John Murdock -- CityScapeMetroGroup
Remember These? 6 Design Trends from 2007!
Can you believe it has been 10 years since these design trends took the housing market by storm? It seems like everyone wanted at least one of these features in their home during that time! Do any of these grace your home? Or did you switch these out for something more fitting with today's trends?
Enjoy this blast from the past!
1- Use bolder, deeper colors for trim
Enjoy this blast from the past!
1- Use bolder, deeper colors for trim
Realtor Mark Nash, who follows home design trends through by surveying more than 900 real estate agents and brokers, says that professional color forecasters predict the use of bolder colors for shutters, doors, window frames and other trim will be big in 2007.
According to Doty Horn, director of color and design for Benjamin Moore, Americans have gotten progressively comfortable with the bold look.
"Before we would use more neutral colors," she says. "We didn't want to offend anyone."
Now, a more self-assured public is asserting itself by using color to make dramatic statements. Colors are more saturated and deeper. And we have tapped other cultures for ideas.
Benjamin Moore has a color group they call Cultural Tapestry that looks to China, India, the Baltic and Latin America for inspiration. It combines colors - rhubarb, passion blue, potpourri green and wood grain brown, for example - from all these regions and adds a sheer coat of fool's gold pearl finish to create a multi-layered and textured look.
2-Get engineered stone for your countertops
For the latest in countertops, engineered stone is slightly cheaper than granite but superior in many ways, according to Mark Nash, who surveys real estate pros about design trends.
It's made from quartz crystals and polymer resin so it's nearly maintenance free. It's heat and cold resistant, mildew free, stain resistant and harder than most things you put on it so it will not scratch.
It also comes in a variety of colors and can be formed into different shapes and patterns. Even the sink can be made as a seamless part of the countertop. The color range is wider than natural stone.
The engineered stone's appearance tends to be more uniform than natural stone, and many buyers may prefer the variation real granite provides, but there's no denying that engineered stone is very handsome as well and the virtues that make it so practical will surely convince many buyers to go with it.
The cost ranges in price from $70 to $120 a square foot with installation.
3- Choose wrought iron over chain link
Buyers associate wrought iron with luxury and chain link with utility, according to Mark Nash, author of Real Estate A-Z for Buying and Selling a Home.
Ken Helfer, marketing director for Amazing Gates, which produces wrought iron fences and gates, says his product is stealing market share from chain link because it's much more aesthetic.
"Back in 1974, when I started in the business, it was all chain link," says Helfer. Today, both wrought iron and wrought aluminum businesses are growing fast, but iron has a more luxurious look and better durability than aluminum.
Iron comes in many designs and Amazing Gates sells its product for about $20 to $30 a running foot for a six-foot tall section.
4- Go glass
Glass tiles are an elegant alternative to ceramic and the cost differential is slight, according to Mark Nash, who surveys more than 900 real estate pros on what they believe are the coming design trends.
Donna Greenbush, director of marketing for Oceanside Glasstiles, says the production of glass tiles goes back to Roman times, but it only got restarted in the United States around 1992. Demand has been building ever since.
She says the product adds a depth of field and luminosity unmatched in ceramic tile. It comes in iridescent, non-iridescent and matte finishes and all seem to "glow from within," says Greenbush.
You can use them in many of the same application - except flooring - as ceramic. It's even being used outdoors in pools and fountains.
Like ceramic tile, it comes in many different price points. Oceanside is a luxury brand, and costs from $28 to $60 a square foot. It can be used as accents for stone or ceramic tile, introducing an elegant grace note to the application.
5- Get drawer-type refrigerator/freezers
Mark Nash, who tracks home design trends by asking 923 real estate agents and brokers about what their customer are asking for, asserts that you'll love the flexibility these units provide; they can go wherever you want them to.
Sub-Zero's director of marketing, Paul Leuthe, says "The design community was expressing a desire for a product that worked in a more decentralized and integrated way."
Traditionally, the refrigerator was a big box set on a wall somewhere that formed part of the kitchen work triangle. But look at the rest of the kitchen and it's mostly cabinets with doors above the counter and drawers below them. The new refrigerators a re configured like that, with drawers below the countertops.
Leuthe says, "Many of the new kitchens have multiple work stations so it makes sense for, say, where the salad prep area is to have a drawer refrigerator with lettuce and vegetables right there. Other homes will have another one by the back door so the kids can run in from outside, grab drinks and go out again without tracking up the house."
Leuthe reports that designers loved the concept; it enabled them to arrange the kitchen any way they wanted it. "After the embraced it, the trend took off like wildfire," he says.
Sub-Zero's two-drawer units start around $2,600.
6- Research exotic and reclaimed woods
Homeowners value the rich, vintage look of recycled or unusual woods rather than the off-the-shelf look that everyone else has, according to Mark Nash, who gleans such tidbits of information from a survey he conducts of real estate agents, brokers and industry execs.
"People want something with character," says Matt Nichols, marketing director for TerraMai, a California wood company that uses all recycled woods.
The company buys salvaged wood, such as Douglas fir from old industrial mills in Washington State, teak from houses slated for demolition in Southeast Asia and redwood from old wine tanks in California. Wood changes as it ages.
"Wood takes on a different patina over time," says Nichols. "It has more richness."
The wood is also thoroughly seasoned; it doesn't shrink or warp after installation. And old wood is denser grained because it grew slowly, under natural conditions rather than raised commercially. Reclaimed wood has also picked up some scars, nail and bolt holes, gouges, traces of old paint and the like, which only endears it more to connoisseurs.
Prices vary hugely but reclaimed wood generally costs quite a bit more than new wood. For many consumers, the difference is more than worth it.
Article provided by CNN Money
2-Get engineered stone for your countertops
For the latest in countertops, engineered stone is slightly cheaper than granite but superior in many ways, according to Mark Nash, who surveys real estate pros about design trends.
It's made from quartz crystals and polymer resin so it's nearly maintenance free. It's heat and cold resistant, mildew free, stain resistant and harder than most things you put on it so it will not scratch.
It also comes in a variety of colors and can be formed into different shapes and patterns. Even the sink can be made as a seamless part of the countertop. The color range is wider than natural stone.
The engineered stone's appearance tends to be more uniform than natural stone, and many buyers may prefer the variation real granite provides, but there's no denying that engineered stone is very handsome as well and the virtues that make it so practical will surely convince many buyers to go with it.
The cost ranges in price from $70 to $120 a square foot with installation.
3- Choose wrought iron over chain link
Buyers associate wrought iron with luxury and chain link with utility, according to Mark Nash, author of Real Estate A-Z for Buying and Selling a Home.
Ken Helfer, marketing director for Amazing Gates, which produces wrought iron fences and gates, says his product is stealing market share from chain link because it's much more aesthetic.
"Back in 1974, when I started in the business, it was all chain link," says Helfer. Today, both wrought iron and wrought aluminum businesses are growing fast, but iron has a more luxurious look and better durability than aluminum.
Iron comes in many designs and Amazing Gates sells its product for about $20 to $30 a running foot for a six-foot tall section.
4- Go glass
Glass tiles are an elegant alternative to ceramic and the cost differential is slight, according to Mark Nash, who surveys more than 900 real estate pros on what they believe are the coming design trends.
Donna Greenbush, director of marketing for Oceanside Glasstiles, says the production of glass tiles goes back to Roman times, but it only got restarted in the United States around 1992. Demand has been building ever since.
She says the product adds a depth of field and luminosity unmatched in ceramic tile. It comes in iridescent, non-iridescent and matte finishes and all seem to "glow from within," says Greenbush.
You can use them in many of the same application - except flooring - as ceramic. It's even being used outdoors in pools and fountains.
Like ceramic tile, it comes in many different price points. Oceanside is a luxury brand, and costs from $28 to $60 a square foot. It can be used as accents for stone or ceramic tile, introducing an elegant grace note to the application.
5- Get drawer-type refrigerator/freezers
Mark Nash, who tracks home design trends by asking 923 real estate agents and brokers about what their customer are asking for, asserts that you'll love the flexibility these units provide; they can go wherever you want them to.
Sub-Zero's director of marketing, Paul Leuthe, says "The design community was expressing a desire for a product that worked in a more decentralized and integrated way."
Traditionally, the refrigerator was a big box set on a wall somewhere that formed part of the kitchen work triangle. But look at the rest of the kitchen and it's mostly cabinets with doors above the counter and drawers below them. The new refrigerators a re configured like that, with drawers below the countertops.
Leuthe says, "Many of the new kitchens have multiple work stations so it makes sense for, say, where the salad prep area is to have a drawer refrigerator with lettuce and vegetables right there. Other homes will have another one by the back door so the kids can run in from outside, grab drinks and go out again without tracking up the house."
Leuthe reports that designers loved the concept; it enabled them to arrange the kitchen any way they wanted it. "After the embraced it, the trend took off like wildfire," he says.
Sub-Zero's two-drawer units start around $2,600.
6- Research exotic and reclaimed woods
Homeowners value the rich, vintage look of recycled or unusual woods rather than the off-the-shelf look that everyone else has, according to Mark Nash, who gleans such tidbits of information from a survey he conducts of real estate agents, brokers and industry execs.
"People want something with character," says Matt Nichols, marketing director for TerraMai, a California wood company that uses all recycled woods.
The company buys salvaged wood, such as Douglas fir from old industrial mills in Washington State, teak from houses slated for demolition in Southeast Asia and redwood from old wine tanks in California. Wood changes as it ages.
"Wood takes on a different patina over time," says Nichols. "It has more richness."
The wood is also thoroughly seasoned; it doesn't shrink or warp after installation. And old wood is denser grained because it grew slowly, under natural conditions rather than raised commercially. Reclaimed wood has also picked up some scars, nail and bolt holes, gouges, traces of old paint and the like, which only endears it more to connoisseurs.
Prices vary hugely but reclaimed wood generally costs quite a bit more than new wood. For many consumers, the difference is more than worth it.
Article provided by CNN Money
