Home Design Trends for 2012

Bamboo kitchen, home design trends for 2012, stainless appliances

As Thanksgiving and Black Friday have passed it comes to our attention that the year is coming to an end and 2012 is just around the corner! With the new year comes new trends in everything from the clothes you wear to the floor you walk on. Although there has not been a drastic change in the styles from recent years their have been some home design trend for 2012 worth covering.

 

Home layouts are becoming more broad and open feeling, achieved in multiple ways. In past years we have seen many recessed living rooms and multiple levels to the home where todays designs are built for everyone, making it easy for all ages to easily move around the home. Larger halls open up the home and make it easy for an older person to maneuver a wheelchair or power chair from room to room. In the homes of tomorrow we may see more flexible floor plans, using sliding doors, pocket doors and other movable partitions which will allow greater flexibility to living arrangements.

 

Kitchens will continue to be open, using islands with bar stools to get that center piece feel and create common area comfortable to entertain guests or have a family dinner. Appliances are still sleek and shiny stainless steel but more and more of them will be energy efficient.

 

Energy efficiency, renewable materials, and recycled materials continue to be a gaining popularity. The use of bamboo or reclaimed wood (reused hard wood from old buildings or structures) to create your floors fall into that going green idea and can give the home a great look without depleting precious resources.

 

Comfortable colors accented by neutrals and soft tones are strong and seamlessly complement natural slate or limestone. It follows the green trend and gives the home that natural earthy feel. Sky blue and forest green along with neutrals such as grays and slate colors will make up much of the color pallet for this year.

 

If you have any questions regarding home design trends for 2012 or are interested in talking with a consultant about your home please contact us here, feel free to visit our website and check out our portfolio here.

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Prepare Your Home for the Holidays!

 

Holliday Party- Prepare your home for the holiday!

Thanksgiving is practically here and Christmas is just around the corner. For many this means its time to prepare your home for the holidays and as most of us know this can be quite the process from beginning to end. 

 

We have come up with 5 tips that are often overlooked but will help make the holidays go smooth and be safe! 

 

1. Inspect the dishwasher and refrigerator!  Dishwashers take a lot of abuse. We often place plates that have not been properly rinsed off in the dishwasher or we break a glass or drop a knife in the bottom and forget about it. Cleaning the bottom, checking for debris and emptying the strainer will help the cleaning process as well as keep it from breaking!

 

The refrigerator will be opening and closing a lot on the particular holliday. Guests getting drinks, putting away the desert or side they brought or you getting the ingredients you need to cook can put a lot of strain on the refrigeration unit. Make sure all vents are clear and reposition food in the proper places. Doing something as simple as moving the fresh food to the fresh food compartment will allow the cold air from the freezer to move more freely keeping food cold where needed. Checking all the screws, lights and door handles can be helpful, also using a cooler for the drinks will also help to keep the strain on the unit to a minimum. 

 

2. Check the oven temperature. If you don’t have an oven thermometer to check the appliance’s temperature, this is the perfect excuse to treat yourself to a more versatile test instrument: a battery-powered infrared thermometer. If need be, adjust the oven temperature using the instructions in the owner’s manual or using a repair manual for the appliance. Sometime’s it’s nothing more complicated than adjusting the temperature dial so it points correctly. Sometimes you will need an authorized service technician to adjust these settings. 

 

3. Tune the Toilet. During any social event the toilet gets a lot of use. It’s not something we normally like to think about it but the fact of the matter is that it may be the most important tool of the day. Checking the screws that attach the seat, the flapper valve and the ground support will insure that they toilet will not break during the big day and will make it through many more events!

 

4. Fix steps, floors and decks! Check the steps leading into and out of your house. If there are loose boards rusted nails or crumbling steps not only could someone get hurt but you could be held responsible. Making sure that your home is slip or fall proof is important and ensures everyone has a good time. Also check banisters and slippery carpets, using double sided tape to stick them to the floor will also help prevent any accidents.

 

5. Tune up cabinets! Your cabinets are an important part of your home. Grab a screwdriver, tighten and adjust hinges, drawers and handles. If you have a special cabinet try contacting the company that installed them, they should be able to help with maintenance.

 

If you want to properly prepare your home for the holidays follow these steps and if you have any questions regarding home remodeling, kitchen remodeling and cabinet instillation or home repairs please contact one of our specialists by clicking here! 

 

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Featured Project: Reading Home Renovation

Over the years we have completed some jobs that we believe we went above and beyond to create an extraordinary space for our client. We have decided that once a month we would like to feature one of these projects here on our blog. Through imagery and a descriptive writing we will give you the reader an idea behind our design process so you understand why and how we made the decisions that resulted in this wonderful finished product.

Reading Home Renovation



The Reading home renovation client is a cooking and gardening enthusiast and they wanted us to create a functional two zone working chef’s kitchen while incorporating the exterior landscape into the room. We were faced with the challenge of working around the existing vacuum and water line chase located in the center of the room, low ceiling and structural rigidity of a 1970′s ‘deck home’ and keep some of the existing quarry tile flooring to reduce waste.

 

We designed a center island with a diagonal countertop. This strengthened the distinctly separate work zones balancing professional cooking functionality with seating and entertaining. The 48″ Wolf range top and induction cook top, warming drawer and 48″ side by side refrigerator transformed this kitchen into a gourmet chef’s dream and allows ample room for multiple cooks and massive food storage.

 

The diagonal island shape added a dynamic quality to a rectangular room. The previous brick encased water line chase became a hidden small closet and integrated flat screen television allowing for multiple viewing positions.

 

By adding floor to ceiling windows to the Reading Home Renovation the beauty of their expansive exterior landscape acts as artwork in this beautiful showcase kitchen.

 

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European Style Cabinetry

European Style Cabinetry

Back Bay Kitchen with European Style Cabinetry

Choosing the right cabinets may be the most important decision made when redesigning your kitchen. Its more than just choosing a door color and style its about understanding what you do and don’t like about your current cabinets. Is it the color and style of the doors, is it that you don’t have enough space or that it simply doesn’t use the space well. What are the organization features you currently have and what are the features you desire? These are all things to consider when choosing new cabinets.

 

European style cabinetry also know as frameless cabinetry is a good option to consider. What makes a european style cabinetry different than a framed cabinet also known as traditional north american styled cabinet is that there is no face frame on the front. The doors of european style cabinetry attach directly to the cabinet it self, this allows for a much more modern look than the traditional framed cabinets.

 

In order for european style cabinetry to be as sturdy as the face framed cabinetry it needs to have much sturdier walls. Face framed cabinetry may be sturdier but the frame it self limits cabinet space and accessibility. By eliminating the frame you are able to put cabinets closer together allowing for more space and better functions with in the cabinets such as pull out storage devices that can swivel and rotate making accessibility to those items in the back much easier.

 

To find out more information about European style cabinetry be sure to visit the cabinet sections of our website at www.leekimball.com/cabinetry and to schedule a consult with one of our experts click here.



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