The New Design Center
By Amy Marchand and Chelsey Halford
Three years ago Cedarglen Homes opened up a design center within our main office. Our objective: to offer our home buyers the convenience of a “one stop shop” for making the majority of their interior selections. It has been very successful.
Earlier this year, we decided to expand the design center to give our customers even more selection options and to create a third meeting space to maximize appointment availability. With the room to offer more choices, we are able to reduce the need for clients to travel to our suppliers to make selections. With all of the extra space, we are now able to show stone options for fireplaces, a wide variety of granite choices, additional hardwood selections, and many more tile selections...just to name a few. Interior hardware and finishing are also on hand to complete the selection process.
In addition to the added options available, we also did minor but eye-catching cosmetic changes. We changed the backsplashes throughout the design center, replaced old flooring with some new options and changed the way we displayed our products. We have two innovative displays to showcase all the cabinet door styles available and the various color options. We also have a mechanism where we can pair the door style with the crown moulding to help home owners visualize the way these two items would look together.
Now that we have an updated new space with lots of fun new product, it is interesting to see what trends are happening right now with our clients. We see a lot of glass tile being used. A few years ago it was a major trend to add mosaics that were a mix of different materials – glass, marble, travertine etc. Now we are finding that the mosaics are leaning towards simpler looks that incorporate one material such as glass but infusing them in a busier pattern. This is great when you would like a tile to add pizzazz but you do not want it to conflict or look too busy with your additional interior selections.
The trend in hardwood is leaning toward our distressed engineered product. Mejor – French Impressions in Maple for example, is slightly hand planed giving a bit of texture. When it comes to color, dark hardwoods are no longer the go to stain. For those who have experienced dark hardwood, most would agree that it is difficult to maintain and hard to keep clean. For that reason, light hardwood is the desired look for most.
We have recently introduced a new stain called Ash that has become very popular due to its soft grey finish. Its versatility compliments a large variety of interior finishes. If you are addicted to the website Houzz, like many of us interested in the design center would attest too (you can follow us HERE), you will notice that this color choice has become a huge trend in the design industry. Most commonly it is paired with white cabinets to create a nice contrast.
On behalf of the design team here at Cedarglen Homes, we always look forward to meeting with new home buyers in our expanded design space to help create homes that our customers have always dreamed of and will enjoy for years to come.
- The Design Team: Sandi, Amy, Chelsey, and Ryan