Building a custom home brings decisions to be made…lots and lots of decisions. Each decision affects either the budget or function of the home, sometimes both. Oftentimes, I see my clients overwhelmed by the amount of decisions they have to make as they build their homes. Most of the technical decisions are made during the first part of construction, including electrical, plumbing and HVAC components. After these are in place, the construction crew will be ready for flooring, cabinetry, tile and counter top selections followed by the finishing touches, including hardware and paint. Many times, couples find themselves so exhausted after making the technical decisions–Should we put outlets in the closets? Do we want French doors or a slider leading to the patio?–that they lose sight of the finished product or are simply too overwhelmed to make any more decisions.
While it can certainly be an exhaustive process, VDI offers a fantastic service to assist clients in the home building process: our Color & Finishes service. We help identify the client’s style and then use the allotments provided by the builder to ensure materials stay within budget. We always provide the builder with a list of final material selections. We also offer this service on a smaller scale when clients are redesigning a room or space. Here’s my latest Color & Finishes project: a kitchen featuring contrasting upper and lower cabinets on top of gray-washed engineered hardwood flooring. The homeowners are looking to incorporate both industrial and nautical elements.
Here are my tips for selecting the finishes and colors for a new build:
1. Choose the flooring first.
Many homes nowadays feature open-concept layouts. Homeowners are drawn to the flow between living spaces and the inclusive feeling between living areas, usually the kitchen and family rooms. Flooring takes up a lot of square footage as well as visual space; designers usually treat the flooring in open-concept layouts as the material that unites the two spaces together. It’s also the component that homeowners are least likely to change in the future because of the hassle involved. It’s not an easy task to move furniture out of several spaces to install new flooring.
2. Then, choose cabinetry.
In today’s open concept homes, the kitchen is usually visible from the main living area. After the flooring, the cabinets take up quite a bit of visual space, so once your flooring material is locked down, choose your cabinets next. Always take your floor sample with you when choosing cabinets.
3. Next, pick your counter tops.
Counters decide how the cabinets and flooring mesh with one another. Counter tops can be a source of contrast or cohesiveness, depending on the floor and cabinet selections.
4. Last, pick finishing touches like the backsplash, light fixtures, and hardware.
These things are all great places to experiment with different styles and themes in your decor. The finishing touches are enough to make an impact on the space–look at the rope chandelier in my kitchen project. It definitely makes a statement and will be a focal point of the space, yet changing it is easy should the owners decide to go for a different look in the future.
If you’re building a home or redesigning a room and need help choosing paint colors and finishes, contact me.