remodeling

High Value and Luxurious Remodeling Ideas for Your Home

Posted on by dhopkins
By Natalie Akins, Guest Blogger, Innovative Building Materials, With Photos from Eklektik Interiors

Everyone has their own luxury home remodel wishlist, whether it’s a deep soaking tub and spa-like bathroom, custom wall coverings like bespoke wallpaper, a feature wall with custom artwork, or high-end appliances in the kitchen, there is something out there for everyone’s taste. 

Whole House Luxury Upgrades

Some upgrades are worth doing throughout your home, and they aren’t limited to just one room. 

Radiant Floor Heating

One of the most popular luxury upgrades to any home is the addition of radiant floor heating. Once you have heated floors, you may not remember life before! Designed to evenly heat a space from the floor up, instead of from the ceiling down such as with forced hot air or traditional radiators, this feature is about more than just warm feet. Radiant heat more evenly heats a room and takes advantage of the fact that heat rises, making it a very efficient heat source.

 A word of caution: to get the best return on your radiant floor investment, you’ll need to consider radiant floor heat insulation in your subfloor. These specific subfloors help to retain heat, spreading it out even better and more efficiently. The right subfloor can also help your floor retain heat for longer, requiring less power to heat overall.

 Feature Walls

Walls are blank canvases begging for interesting details to add dimension and depth to any room. Making one of a room’s four walls stand out from the crowd can add a custom feel to your home, as well as allowing you to try bold colors, types of wall coverings, or accents that might be overwhelming across your entire space, but just right for one wall. A smaller space also allows you to splurge without breaking the bank.

High-End Wall Coverings and Custom Millwork

High-end wall coverings come in various textures, color schemes, and styles, from patterned wallpaper to natural textiles. When combined with custom millwork like moldings, trim, wall paneling, and crown molding, it can put a refined touch on your space. Particularly helpful in rooms with large, expansive walls, wainscoting can break up the space, add visual interest, and draw attention to any artwork displayed above.

 Kitchen Upgrades

An inviting kitchen is the focal point of a home for family and guests. It seems like no matter what, everyone ends up in the kitchen at some point whether they are preparing for dinner or picking out dessert. Kitchens are a great place to show off your personality and create the most functional space possible, bringing glamour to your home with luxurious appliances, custom cabinetry, and breathtaking finishes that will make every day feel like you’re on vacation.

Beverage Centers

Beverage centers have exploded in popularity, and for good reason. A well-stocked beverage center allows you or your guests to easily grab or mix their favorite drink in a dedicated spot complete with refrigeration, a coffee station, and the guest-worthy glassware. This also helps control traffic in the busy kitchen hub, keeping your main prep and entertaining space available for food.

Custom Ranges, Hoods, Ovens, and Warming Drawers

When choosing where to invest in your kitchen, a good range never goes out of style. With more and more custom options on the market, you can completely tailor your range to your cooking and entertaining style, and accent it with a custom hood for an extra tailored look in your kitchen. Customizing the color, finish, and shape of this kitchen staple immediately brings a personalized look, replacing the standard rectangular hoods of the past. 

A beautiful kitchen will undoubtedly get some use, and for larger gatherings or meals having multiple ovens can help consolidate prep and cooking time. For even more convenience, a warming drawer can keep your food warm for seconds and thirds.

Sail Over to your Kitchen Island

Kitchen islands are central features to any kitchen, and what better way to draw attention to this focal point than with a custom, complementary color to offset the island from the rest of your kitchen? Top it with a one-of-a-kind countertop, and you can easily make a bold statement with this relatively simple upgrade.

Countertops on your island and throughout your kitchen are a good opportunity to show off your personality and highlight your taste. Natural stone, like quartzite slab, offers subtle beauty, with neutral tones and natural variations, while remaining durable and easy to maintain. Mixing materials such as natural stone with butcher block combines complementary styles with function.

 If you’re replacing your kitchen island, consider incorporating amenities like built-in refrigerated drawers, a warming drawer, bookshelves, outlets, and storage space maximized for awkward items like cutting boards or particularly large pans.

 Primary Bed and Bath Upgrades

Your day begins and ends in your primary bed and bath suite. It should be a space you can’t wait to get back to! We spend hours each day in our bedroom between preparing for the day, sleeping, or even just resting. High-end details in primary bedrooms and bathrooms can make them even more comfortable and convenient.

 Dressing Room

Closets have certainly trended towards being bigger over the last several decades, but have you made the leap from a closet to a dressing room? Beyond just being a walk-in closet space, a dressing room is equipped with counters, storage, mirrors, vanities, and more.

 Dressing rooms are not just a place to get dressed—they are a place to truly get ready. For an added perk, add a mini-fridge stocked with your favorite beverages.

 Spa Bathroom Upgrades

Being able to relax in a spa-like oasis, right in your own home, gives you a private and customized place to truly let go of any stressors. Instead of packing up to go to the spa, you can head right into your bathroom for an unforgettable experience.

Popular bathroom upgrades include everything from tub upgrades to changing out the hardware. Deep soaking tubs have risen to popularity and come equipped with features to maximize heat retention, prolonging your soak.

Custom double-vanities give you and a partner space to spread out, while still being together, with high-quality craftsmanship and custom color schemes. While you are looking at your vanity, don’t forget about high-end faucet upgrades, like black bathroom faucets, that can stand out against popular neutral bathroom fixture colors like white and grey.

Bathrooms are the perfect place to use your green thumb—the relatively high humidity of your bathroom is the perfect atmosphere for a vertical garden, adding natural and relaxing elements to the space.  

 And one of the ultimate bathroom upgrades is an in-home steam or sauna room where you can go in, close the door, and be transported to another world.

 No Wrong Place to Start

Your remodeling options are endless for every room of the house. It’s just a matter of picking what is most important to you and then making some choices. Luxurious upgrades to your home not only make your space more welcome and comfortable for you but can add serious resale value for future prospective buyers. You can’t go wrong!   

Natalie Akins is the Interior Design Editor at Innovative Building Materials. With over 20 years of interior design experience, Natalie has worked on many projects including commercial office design and residential spaces.

Home Bar Design: Adding An At-Home Beverage Center

Posted on by dhopkins
Photo Description: This pass-through working bar is an artistic and dramatic focal point

 

By Stephanie Vaughan, Eklektik Interiors Designer

When remodeling, more homeowners are wanting to incorporate a bar area into their home. With the trend of entertaining at home becoming more commonplace, along with the recent “stay at home” mandates around the globe, specialty spaces in the home set aside for entertaining have been utilized more than ever. Whether that is a wine storage space, a bar or beverage serving area, or a full-on lounge, the typical homeowner is looking to have that special place in their home to “belly up to the bar!”

Interior designers love this trend in home design because it offers an opportunity to utilize significant spaces for practical needs, while also offering the chance to create an unexpected and exciting focal point. A beverage serving area can add beauty and function to your home and can be utilized not only for intimate personal or family time but for entertaining clients or friends.

What this space looks like is different for every homeowner, but incorporating a designer’s eye and input on different areas in your home that could be transformed into a bar space or wine storage can save you a lot of time and money and give you a working plan to move forward. Most homes have hidden nooks, which often go unnoticed by the homeowner, that would make perfect points of interest. An empty wall in a dining room, a cabinet section in your kitchen, or the space under your stairs can become something new and exciting like a wine display or full-service bar.

Asking the right questions before you begin a renovation project will ensure that your space is designed according to your needs and lifestyle. Here are a few questions to ask to begin the design process. How do I want to use this space and how can this add to my home’s function? Think about how you are going to use it and how to get the best bang for the buck. If you don’t really drink wine, why spend money and space on wine storage. Make it a liquor bar instead. If you don’t drink liquor, then concentrate on wine and all the bells and whistles you can fit into the space. Also consider, if I make this a focal point, who will see it the most? Will it be visible enough to really create a visually interesting space? For instance, if it’s going inside the pantry it should be designed for utility, but if it’s going in the living area or along an entry wall, it definitely should make a statement.

Important elements to consider in your design that add to the function but also the fabulous:

• COUNTERTOPS: Selecting durable countertops for preparing glasses of your favorite elixir, such as quartz or porcelain, add beauty and won’t stain from citrus acids or wine spills.

• LIGHTING: Lighting is very important and can create drama and effect in your new focal point.

• LAYOUT and STORAGE: A flashy or exotic backsplash is usually a good place to start in adding some interest. Storage can be hidden or used as display to add to the feel of the space. Shelves that hold liquor or beautiful wine racks add to the decor, while below the counter cabinets can hide various bar tools and appliances to keep the area uncluttered. Storing glasses is best when in a closed cabinet and even better if that door has glass and lighting on the inside for drama.

• APPLIANCES: A wine chiller with dual temp settings that will keep your reds at the perfect 65 degrees and your whites at 45-50. Depending on the space available, this could be under the counter or a tall unit for maximum storage. An ice maker and a sink are great additions if space and budget allow. You may also consider a drawer dishwasher that is great for washing glasses. One of the newest appliances that is a wine enthusiast ‘must-have’ is a wine saver/dispenser. It holds 4-6 bottles of open wine, keeping it fresh for days after opening and dispenses it into your glass when you push the button.

Originally published in the Houston Chronicle on July 4, 2020  https://www.chron.com/news/article/GHBA-Remodelers-Council-Home-bar-design-15382216.php