Latest Trends for Home Improvement

What’s Hot and What’s Not for Home Improvements

From Lakehartwellrealestate blog, Julie Haley with All Hart Realty, discusses what to do and what not to do in order to get your home ready for a high return sale.

“The American house of 2008 will be smarter, greener and sleeker than before. But here’s the trick: Homeowners want a home that will work now–and 10 years from now.”

Here’s a run down of what’s hot — and what’s not — for your home in 2008.

What’s In

The destination bathroom

The huge bathroom getaways tempt you to linger and are outfitted with everything from wine chillers and espresso machines.

The smart house, operated by phone

“One tend that I think is pretty clear is that we are finally moving towards more tightly intergrated systems in the home that do allow for greater automation of certain functions, whether that’s controlling the temperature or lighting,” says Kurt Schrf, vice president and principle analyst of Parks Associates, a market research and consulting company that studies emerging consumer technologies.

Turning the house inside out

The trend of bringing the indoors outdoors is accelerating dramatically.  People are often extending radiant-heat floors outside, under patio flagstones.  The goal is to extend those shoulder seasons in order to sit longer by the giant fireplace that have become even more popular, or to cook in the extensive kitchens that anchor many of these outdoor spaces.

The return of glamour in furniture and decor

The whole idea of glamour is a little bit of a reaction to what is now still a very strong trend toward an appreciation of fabrics that have what you might call imperfections in them,” says Davis Remignanti, lead design consultant at Furniture.com. Remignanti refers to rougher fabrics that have sprung from the green movement, and to wood finishes with knots and grain.

Concealed appliances

More homeowners are opting to hide kitchen appliances such as the dishwasher and refrigerator. Some people think that appliances are ugly. What’s making it possible to hide a fridge behind cabinet doors is technology, which allows a big appliance today to be “broken apart” into separate, smaller pieces.  The kitchen is evolvingand is becoming an aesthetic room.

Home elevators

Elevators are starting to appear–and will only proliferate–as baby boomers age.

Bold fabrics

Smaller-scale furniture is in, and as furniture gets smaller, “it can sustain a larger and lager pattern without looking ridiculous, says Furniture.com’s Remignanti. So a hot trend for 2008 is using large-scale patterns on fabrics and floors and wall coverings. “If you’re choosing a pattern over solid colors, make it big and bold,” he says.

What’s out

Living rooms

Dark and heavy

…the trend is moving toward a little more modern, a little fresher, lighter, brighter, open, use of new materials.

Mosaic tile

The tile is such a personalized design statement that it scares off would-be home buyers who may not have the same taste. The cost and waste to remove intricate mosaic is overwhelming to buyers, especially if it has been recently installed.  Even the most expensive but not agreeable tile could kill an otherwise acceptable property.

The Taj Ma-ceiling

For years, tall ceilings inparted gradeur to a home and were a signal that the homeowners had really made it. Those soaring ceilings don’t impress prospective home buyers the way they use to.

Read the full article here.

CONTACT REDBUD Construction Services at 865-250-9172 to discuss the trends that will maximize the re-sale vaule of your home.