Tag Archives: light fixtures

Love Your Living Room

Courtesy of Glen Andrews Art Glass

Courtesy of Glen Andrews Art Glass

There’s that one main room in your home where everyone gathers, perhaps watches TV, enjoys lively conversations, plays games. You might call it the living room or the family room. You might even have a great room, a modern version with an open floor plan that also combines the dining room. We love building great rooms for our clients, which by its very nature, encourages family interaction.

Regardless of what it’s called, this is the heart of your home, and you want it to be a room that shines. Your living room should, more than any other room, reflect the personality of you and your family.

Here are some tips to help bring some love into your living room or make that great room even better!

-          If you have a great room, then you must rely on area rugs and furniture to create the spatial boundaries in the room. Typically, you want a backdrop that is more neutral. Different sections of the space can utilize colors and patterns but should compliment the other sections of the room. Accent walls can also be used to cleverly add definition between spaces.

-          Update your great room with a home office space, small library, children’s play corner or adult arts and crafts corner. All of these options can, again, add dimension and definition to the space.

-          Find some unique antiques to add some character to your living room. Old antique doors can also be used to divide up a room. We recommend a hidden gem right here in San Antonio, called Architectural Antiques Salvage. This giant warehouse is filled with all sorts of treasures, from doors to light fixtures, clawfoot bathtubs, sinks and even some décor. They are located at 403 Dawson St., just on the eastside of downtown.

-          If you’re looking to update your furniture, which is a fun way to change the look of your living room, consider adding some curved furnishings. Once popular in the 60’s, the curved look is coming back. For example, a crimson velveteen sofa with a back in the shape of a half circle and a curved cushion in front. A piece like this can help add a touch of femininity to the room.

-          Light fixtures can be an easy way to define the space in your great room or living room, and can also serve as a showpiece that truly represents the ambiance you’re wanting to achieve. You might consider having some custom blown glass pieces to create a modern-day chandelier. Locally, we recommend Glen Andrews Art Glass of Caliente Hot Glass. They can design a piece specific to your look and tastes and even install it for you. For more information, visit glenandrewsartglass.com.

However, if it’s simply time to start dreaming of a new great room, we’re here to help! Give us a call at 210-494-5400 or fill out our online form to get started.

Meet Our Interior Design Consultant, Carla Royder

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As you can imagine, building dream homes requires a strong team of professionals. When it comes to interiors, we rely on interior designer, Carla Royder, and her own team (Renee Golobay, in particular) at Carla Royder Designs to inspire, inform and guide our customers so that they achieve everything they want within their budget.

Carla, who opened her business in 2003, has a wide range of customers with homes ranging from $500 thousand to five million dollars. Her company is a full-service firm, meaning they also completely furnish homes when the client requests it.

Think of Carla as a liaison that helps streamline communications between builders and customers. “The selection process can be overwhelming,” Carla pointed out. “We help narrow down their choices so that it’s not overwhelming.”

The Selection Process

First, we provide Carla with a budget. Before you go in to pick out what you want, she recommends sifting through home magazines and pouring over Pinterest to help give her team an idea of the style and look that you’re wanting. The clearer the vision you have of your new dream home, the better they can help you create it. That’s true for us as well.

“My biggest philosophy is I like to get to know the client and who they are. I want their personality to show through in their house because a home should say who you are. I think people should be able to walk into your home and be able to feel your personality,” she explained.

The best part is the showroom! Carla has samples of everything you could ever want and more, from tile to countertops and light fixtures – literally anything and everything you might need in your new home.

This process should be fun, if not easy, but we guarantee Carla’s team does their best to make it feel like a breeze.

Trends

No matter how hard we try to avoid trends, it’s nearly impossible. Carla recommends every home get a facelift approximately every five years.

For our customers, she says the trend is leaning towards light colors and clean, crisp interiors and simple tile patterns. She noted that brass tones are also making a comeback.

So what’s the best part of Carla’s job? She tells us, “When the clients are blown away. I absolutely love the big reveal when we pull a room together, and they come home and see it for the first time. Some clients fall to floor and have tears coming out of their eyes. That is super rewarding.”

With Carla and her staff on our team we know the home building experience is definitely a rewarding one! To get started, please call us at 210-494-5400.

 

 

Lighting the Way in Your New Custom-Built Home

Many people don’t realize just how important lighting is to achieving the desired look or feel you want in your new custom home. Lighting isn’t just an art, it’s also a science. The right lighting can dramatically enhance the space – make it look larger, softer, grander, warmer, cooler, the list goes on. Architectural elements and art pieces should also receive precise lighting design consideration in order to gracefully showcase the unique aspects of your home that make it special.

Natural & Artificial Light

Finding a harmonious balance between natural and artificial light is key to feeling at home in your new house. Natural light and the way it moves through your home is a crucial consideration.  For example, how the sun moves along the horizon from sunrise to sunset and how it affects the interior as well as the exterior of your house, helps us to make decisions, such as orientation and design.

In the evening hours, artificial lighting must replace the natural daylight and enhance your space, not diminish it, using either subtle or dazzling methods. Understanding the intent of the lighting and décor such as how the space is to be used and what, if any, decorative pieces should be emphasized, determines exactly where fixtures should be located and what type of fixtures are best.

Our Lighting Experts

We work with Turney Lighting & Electric – who is quite literally a one-stop source for all lighting, fans and home accents. When the time comes to decide on lighting fixtures, we send you straight to the experts, along with the house plan and lighting budget. Turney has a beautiful showroom in San Antonio and Boerne where you can explore a variety of options. They help guide you in the right direction, based on whatever theme or style you want throughout your new home.

Illuminating Trends

The U.S. Lighting fixture industry generates over 22 billion dollars a year and is estimated to rise 7.7% annually to 32.5 billion in 2018. Surprisingly, there are a lot of factors that influence the market, including things like environmental factors.

Lighting fixtures themselves are becoming showpieces in modern homes. Gone are the days of bright white kitchens and garish lighting. Directional sconce lighting is coming back into fashion. Depending upon the style of your new kitchen, you can go for a minimalist monochrome design or traditional brass fixtures, for example, that look exceptional in a room with natural tones.

Go Green

Following LEED energy-saving practices is becoming more and more common as energy costs continue to rise. CPS Energy has indicated that energy bills will increase approximately 4% in 2015, therefore saving energy wherever and whenever we can is always at the top of the priority list.

Lighting controls are a fantastic and easy way to save money. Not only do they dramatically extend the life of bulbs, but they use less electricity. As opposed to standard light switches that only save money when “off,” dimmers and controls save on energy around-the-clock!

For more information on illuminating your new custom home, call us today at 210-494-5400 or visit our website!