2011 Home Design Color Trends

As a Designer it's so important to be well versed on all upcoming home design and renovation trends - from building trends to paint colors and everything in between. Benjamin Moore's 2011 Color Forecast was released to Architects and Designers last month - and I wanted to share their findings with you.
Each year the color expert team at Benjamin Moore declares their predictions for the upcoming year by tracking the more recent social, cultural and political conditions and how they directly impact fashion and design trends. What they discovered was an overwhelming desire for a sense of balance coupled with four underlying themes: The Farm, Order, Escape and Tribe.

1. The Farm
There is a major focus on hearth and home for obvious reasons and most are anchoring themselves within a new reality. Earthy colors straight from the farm will be dominating interiors this year. Just take a look at your local Farmers Market for inspiration. From earthy browns, buttery yellows and milky whites - to tomatoes, pumpkins and greens.
Also look for handcrafted fabrics, burlaps, tea-stained materials, and all types of petrified, bleached and natural woods - which suggests a return to life's simpler things.
2. Order
We are craving a sense of balance and order from the chaos of the past couple of years. This is interpreted by infusing red, blues, yellows and greens to juxtapose with more monochromatic variations of black, white and gray. Geometric patterns with crisp stripes, dots and spirals uplift our spirit and improve our mood. These days it's all about making ourselves feel happy.
3. Escape
The world has been a little harsh lately so escaping into a dream world full of hope and optimism for the future- is extremely appealing at the moment. The dreamy glamour of sheer draped fabrics, metallic finishes and softened textures coupled with a more pale, frosted and opalescent color palette can be just the remedy for overcoming adversity.
4. Tribe
A focus back to our ethnic communities and much like the farm, we are aching to return to the simpler things in life yet in a more soulful way. The spicy color palette of the land such as rich berry, cinnamon, saffron and fire orange are anchored with bronzes and charcoals. There is a huge focus on patterns, stencils, hand embroidery and beading,
So how will you seek that order and balance in your life? Will you be returning to the hearth, escaping into your dreams or focusing on your community when gathering your home design inspiration for this year?

Lori Gilder is CEO and Founder of Interior Makeovers Inc. She is an award winning Interior Designer to Hollywood's elite and is dedicated to providing her clients with a unique set of design standards and expert guidance throughout the home renovation process. Lori is known for her expertise in designing and creating luxury home environments that are more comfortable, more satisfying and more rewarding.
Please visit http://www.LoriGilder.com or http://www.diaryofarenovation.com and sign up to receive your complimentary ebook "15 Money Saving Strategies When Planning Your Home Renovation".
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Exposing The Brilliantly Interesting Home Design For Today

It is true that everyone wants to learn about the most interesting home design for today. To be precise, a comfortable relaxing place to call home is definitely our desire especially when we are entertaining visitors or family from afar. It is important to know the environment as well as the mood that you are trying to capture. This knowledge is important to help you make your final choices. Besides that, you need to know that it is at your fingertips to make full use of colors to create the dream palace of your choice. After that, you just need to make it happen. Gather paint chips, fabric swatches and the world is your oyster.

Truth to be told, talent and creativity can play a big part in overall decorative schemes. Skillfully planning the structure of design will rely on the information and the ground work of colors as well as the overall design. Anyway, when you are planning the theme and design, always remember to take into account what each room will be used for. This is definitely important so that you can make the right choice at the end of the day.
Besides that, there is no denying of the fact that we live in a world of colors. The hues and depth of colors we use in our home does make a difference. While the room size is something to take into consideration, be informed that color can increase size or decrease size depending on the color trend. With that in mind, you need to \decide what is complimentary to that space. If anything is to be the proof, places of business have done this for years. Color can make you want to stay or it can make you restless. Colors can have a calming effect, as well.
Besides that, the latest trends are another field that is worth looking into to. A good accessory is always welcomed. Staying with the basics and using complimentary accents in the latest trend is wise. Some of these can be seasonal with beading, shading or even stenciling. Fabrics and throw pillows can add dimension to any room. Drapes and even wall coverings are some of the choices used in the past.
With the stress levels of today, it is important to create a space that is not only relaxing but also will be able to improve your mood. It is up to you to decide what your creation idea will be for this year. All in all, no matter what you choose, it should be something uplifting and optimistic, as well as something that can fulfill your dreams. You really should reward yourself with a great home design.

The author has been writing articles online for a couple of years now. Recently, he has embraced new interest and you can check out his latest website on large jewelry boxes. Apart from that, it has the best information on custom jewelry boxes too.
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Home Design - Three Types on Two Story Homes

It is an over simplification to say that there are only three types of two story homes but the vast majority of the mid priced homes follow simple logical patterns that divide homes into three basic types. By asking questions of your customers it is likely that you can guide them to one of these three types making design easier for you and still letting them believe the home has been customer designed just for them.
A typical home has either five or six rooms on the first floor; kitchen, breakfast, family room, living room, dining room and sometimes a den. The kitchen and breakfast area are next to each other for obvious reasons and in nearly every case adjacent to the family room. Because kitchen is more enclosed due to cabinets and cooking areas the breakfast area is almost always between the kitchen and family room.

While I have done the opposite - kitchen separating the family room and breakfast - it has not worked as successfully. Even the home owner for whom I built it regretted the decision after the fact.
The kitchen-breakfast-family room area makes up the primary family living area. The family will spend most of its' waking time in these three rooms and even when entertaining this is the area most often used. For privacy these three rooms are nearly always at the back of the house away from the street.
The dining room will logically be next to the kitchen.
The resulting layout has the family room, breakfast and kitchen along the back of the house with the dining room in front of the house next to the kitchen and the living room the other side of the front door in the front of the house. This is a very functional and therefore popular plan. Nearly every builder has a version of this plan in their portfolio and it is usually their most popular five room plan.
This layout also places the family room adjacent to the living room. If the client likes having additional entertaining area you can open the living room to the dining room. If the family likes separate spaces so one member of the family can escape to read in the living room while the rest of the family watch action movies the family may want to close off the opening and create separate use areas.
If the family wants a "den" you need to determine why they need it. If it is to be an office work area with possible client visits the buyer will likely want the office den at the front of the house. If this is the case you put the family room behind the garage with the breakfast and kitchen along the back. To create more room at the front of the house the den is placed next to the kitchen but at the back of the house. The den office and the dining room are then placed either side of the front entry. If the dining room is placed next to the living room so that a single large room the dining room table can be expanded into the living room to accommodate large gatherings.
If the den is really a guest bedroom then the room can be created by sliding the garage forward and placing the family room behind the garage.
There are any numbers of variations most significantly the location of the powder room and first floor laundry, if desired, but the vast majority of two story homes will fit into one of these three templates. When we designed a custom or semi-custom home before we started the plans would ask the family a couple of questions:
If the family is usually together we would open up the family room to living room. If the family wanted two separate areas we would either close off the family room or put it on the opposite side of the house.
Select the first floor plan that meets their need and you have a semi-custom template from which to work.
Original content copyright 2011 Thomas Robinson

About the Author: Thomas Robinson has over thirty years of entrepreneurial business experience from managing a specialty retail store to running a successful land development and home building business. For more Small Business Tips visit http://smallbusinessmanagementtips.blogspot.com/
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Sustainable Design in New Home Plans

The purpose of sustainable design is to eliminate negative impact on the environment through sensitive, skillful design. Sustainable design has minimal impact on the environment, requires no non-renewable resources, and relates people with nature. Sustainable design requires forethought in site selection, home building plans, material selection, and project implementation. Some of the considerations to be taken into account include choosing non-toxic materials which are sustainably produced or recycled, and require minimal energy to process; using materials which are longer lasting and of higher durability, to reduce the impact of producing replacements; designing for reuse and recycling; and designing systems on biological lines, to enable the reuse of materials in continuous closed cycles. The basic idea is to create healthy homes, which are not harmful to the occupants or the larger environment.

Sustainable standards of new home plans design are being developed by a large number of private and governmental organizations, and there is a growing body of new methods emerging from the rapid rise of sustainability science. Sustainable technology means using less energy and fewer limited resources, not depleting natural resources, not polluting the environment either directly or indirectly, and designing for reuse and recycling at the end of useful life. Sustainable architecture tries to reduce the environmental impact of manufacturing and transporting building components both during the process of construction and also during the life of the building. Sustainable design aims for efficiency in heating and cooling such as ground source heat pumps; using alternative energy sources such as appropriate home siting and solar technology to heat water and generate electricity; recycling building materials and using local materials where possible; harvesting rainwater for washing and gardening; and on-site waste management. Waste management is as much a matter of prevention as elimination, and sustainable waste management involves using products which are non-toxic and minimize waste to begin with; can be composted or digested anaerobically; can be reused on site, or recycled off site.
Sustainable new house plans design technology is based upon using renewable energy sources such as geothermal energy, solar, hydro, wind and bioenergy. Wind energy, captured through wind turbines, is the fastest growing energy source in the world: used for centuries in Europe, it is now gaining popularity in America. Solar energy can be harnessed through the use of photovoltaics to generate electricity, and by using passive solar hot water heaters to bathe and to heat homes. The basic test for sustainable design is whether it can function unplugged - without using fossil fuel. This means eliminating pollution altogether rather than just reducing it. These goals are being realized already: in 2004 a 59-home housing community was unveiled in Freiburg, Germany which is the first community in the world in which every home produces a positive energy balance. Sustainable design also means constructing furniture and appliances of renewable and recyclable materials such as glass, steel, and aluminum; and designing them for repair and recycling.

Sustainable design in new home plans involves all phases of home building plans, from site selection and orientation to choice of scheme and building materials. Sustainable new house plans make good economic and environmental sense, and insure prosperity for future generations.
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Individual Home Design

There are very few things that are closer to our hearts than the houses that we live in. And there are even fewer things that we take a greater interest in than the homes which we personally own. The actual size of the house does not matter really. It is our personal little castle on this earth.
It is really hard for us to create a house which mirrors or reflects the personality and traits of its owner where it is consistent to all of its parts and faithful to its chosen style or character and also containing over all the elements of a good design. It is no wonder that in these fast paced days, when our time is filled with so many interests, we sometimes feel like strangers in our own homes.

In a larger home we are more likely to draw our inspiration for its design from widely separate fields and we bring into them the accumulated art forms of the distant past to finally create a grand home rich in history and culture. Also, a spirit of pride and emulation is often designed into the building of a larger home.
Quite too often though, this motive to build the super ornate home demonstrates its self like the construction of a fort that separates us from our ideals and the things which we actually wanted to accomplish. Our motives were to build something beautiful and ornate but we wind up creating something large and gaudy. If the designer is not careful in his or her blending of treatments and trims, we wind up designing something that was not really a reflection of ourselves, but of something that is from someone else's past ideas and not really what we had in mind at all.
The same can be said about the motives that influence us who are trying to design a smaller house. Fortunately, it is not true to the same extent. Firstly, more often than not, we lack the money for the super elaborate. The materials we build our home from need to be found close at hand, and for the sake of economy, they must be inexpensive. This particular influence together with a bunch of others of a similar nature force us towards the design of the smaller house which actually can be more intimate.
In American homes, especially the smaller ones, we have learned to be inventive in order to make the home more personal in nature. Sixty percent of the homes built in the United States follow the simple Ranch or Rancher design which has a very straightforward layout and can be built with economy in mind. The Rancher can also be adaptive in that it does not have to follow conventional rules. For instance, a room or two can be added outside of the rectangle which is the basic design of the building and then treatments like ornate columns, shutters, gable vents, modified roofs, etc., can be added to make the house more individual.

Tim Davis is a fully trained home designer with around thirty years experience as a designer and drafter. His website is at http://customhouseplans.8m.com.

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