One of the most common things we hear when folks come to us to build a house is overall concern with how to design their home. Valid concern!! This can feel very overwhelming and stop some from pursuing building a home, but that doesn’t have to happen! This can be a very fun process if you ask yourself some questions.
While some of us are gifted in the area of design, others are not but that doesn’t mean you can’t make your home look amazing! Let’s talk about what you can do!
The most important thing to start with is, “What personality do you want your home to have?” Think about how you want to feel when you walk into your home, or even drive down your driveway. Consider other places you have been and how you feel when you are there.
Some of us are sensitive to color. We actually need it. That can be neutral walls with pops of color, for example, on your kitchen island. Sometimes, that means light blue walls with white cabinets. Everyone is different and the important thing to remember is that ‘different doesn’t equal wrong’. This is your home and you need to love it! :)
Some of us need things to be very neutral to feel calm. Some love to follow trends and don’t mind changing things up every few years while others want their home to feel timeless. Sometimes how people decorate is very generational. Just think about when you walk into someone’s home that is full of antiques. They decorate around their family heirlooms while others love what is new. Some of us need all of our fixtures to match and some of us are comfortable mixing things up a bit.
We have mixed reviews when it comes to getting help with the design aspect from experts so go with what you feel to be right for you. Whether you use a design expert or you don’t, a good place to start is with Pinterest. The old adage ‘a picture is worth a thousand words’ holds true! Create boards for the most important aspects of your home. Consider having separate ones for the exterior, the kitchen, the living room, and your master bathroom. Maybe you have a butler’s pantry that you would like a certain way. Make a board for it! Then go back and see what the common themes are. You can even look at mood boards that put your paint colors, flooring, tile, and even furniture colors/textures all together for you!
If you seem to have a couple styles you love, don’t panic! Consider choosing things that are easy to paint so you can change up those styles later down the road. For example, if you want to change the exterior color of your house every 5 years, then having Hardie siding is a great idea. If you want to paint your kitchen island every couple of years, make sure what you initially order is painted, not stained just to make it easier later. Tile is one thing that is hard, of course, to change out so that will need some thought as to what will last over time and keep you loving it.
Think about layering colors and textures. Let’s take the exterior of a coastal farmhouse, for example. Maybe you could have black windows, double ¾ glass exterior doors that have a light rustic stain look, brick edging on our patio and a light blue porch ceiling with black fixtures. Maybe that feels too much for you and you would like just a black and white traditional feel. That’s okay too! The big idea is to separate the important things so you don’t get overwhelmed but then bring them together once you have your overall style figured out.
This is a process and the good news is it does not have to all be figured out the day you break ground! The decisions you need to make the soonest are: siding, windows, and exterior doors. After that, you can take some time to consider what you will love the most, and again, if you’re a little stuck between a couple of styles, pick things you can easily change later so you can have the best of both worlds:)