2013 Hot Design Trend Forecast Remodeling and New Construction

This year’s trends are all about balancing sensibility and practicality with imagination and customization for each homeowner’s style – and lifestyle!

Practical Spaces

Rooms are being repurposed from impractical uses like formal dining areas to suit today’s lifestyle needs, including health & fitness, entertainment, and work or study.

Bold Visuals and Creative Textures

Imaginative combinations of classic colors and rich textures with elements that gleam, pop, and sparkle, like mosaic backsplashes and LED lighting will become the new standard.

Upgraded Cabinetry

Upgraded, refaced, and refinished cabinetry, designed to accommodate your lifestyle and the specific things you do in your kitchens and bathrooms will become increasingly popular.

Green and Sustainable Materials

Materials free of toxins and harsh chemicals are becoming mainstream. Upgrades include Low Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) materials to improve air quality, and sustainable flooring.

Energy Star stainless steel appliances, better attic insulation, and leak-proof windows will make remodeled homes not only more beautiful and functional, but less expensive.

SUDDEN RAPID HEART RATE. DIZZINESS. POUNDING PULSE.

If it’s not love, it may be atrial fibrillation.

Atrial fibrillation, or Afib, is a common heart disorder that occurs when electrical signals in the heart become irregular, making the heart’s upper chamber to beat out of rhythm. It can cause blood to pool and clot inside the heart and increase the risk for heart attack and stroke.

The Electrophysiology Lab at Doctors Hospital at White Rock Lake is dedicated to treating Afib. We perform minimally invasive ablation procedures to help stop the abnormal electrical signals that cause an irregular heartbeat.

For more information about Afib, visit DoctorsHospitalDallas.com/Afib or call 800-887-2525 for a free physician referral.

Dirty water?

Thanks for the update. Has anyone noticed the water now has a very strong smell of chlorine or some other chemical (Advocate daily news blog, Jan. 7, “Did Dallas’ water system fail?”)? As the mom of a child with several autoimmune illnesses, including inflammatory bowel disease, I was not pleased to receive a vague postcard from the City of Dallas about water treatment issues.

—Susan, via advocatemag.com

Our water has been undrinkable since before Thanksgiving. Repeated calls to the city, including more than a few latenight visits from the guys over at Water Utilities still haven’t yielded drinkable water. We still intermittently have water that has a pale yellow tint to it (think of the color of a post-it note). We’ve been told to flush our hot water heater, however, we don’t run hot water to our toilets. I’ve cleaned the tanks (in addition to the bowls) multiple times. They stay clean for a few days and then get filthy again. Lots of sediment at the bottom of the tank. Clean and safe drinking water should be a priority. Why it isn’t for the City of Dallas is baffling me.

—Jbales, via advocatemag.com

Pet priority

We love Hillside Vets, but more importantly, so did our sweet, dearly departed Maisie, who thought of Hillside as her second home (Advocate daily news blog, Jan. 4, “Hillside Vet Clinic offers all-night service”). Now that we’re without a pet, we don’t have a chance to talk with the Hillside folks like we did when Maisie was living. But we were grateful then for Hillside’s late-night hours and especially for the professionalism and compassionate care they shared with us in Maisie’s end of life time. I’m glad to read that they are continuing with their excellent service. —Maisie’s mom, via advocatemag.com

World-class city

I’ve lived here for 50-plus years, and [Dallas is] really a much more interesting place than it was in the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s (January Advocate, “Keep it World Classy, Dallas”). I get the sense that Oak Cliff and East Dallas are building a critical mass of interesting people and projects that don’t utterly depend on city hall’s support. Let’s be encouraged that even if progress is slow, it’s still progress, and it’s noticeable in Dallas.

—topham, via advocatemag.com

If Dallas would stop wasting money on overpriced and unnecessary bridges and realize that most of the so-called world-class cities are so because of their commitment to outdoor recreation areas and world-class transportation systems as well as diversity, we’d be a whole lot closer to being worldclass. —Wendi, via advocatemag.com Talk to read and comment on this month’s stories and daily blog updates. Comments may be printed in the magazine.

Q&A: Lizza Connor

Everyone is a music critic, and Lizza Connor creates music for the most honest critics of all — kids. Namely, her kids. “The difference in playing for kids or adults is that kids respond immediately. If they don’t like something, they’re not going to dance; they’re going to stand there and look at you,” she says, laughing. Connor, a recent Lakewood transplant from Nashville, released her first children’s album, “Commander Salamander,” in November. The whimsical CD, inspired by her own experiences with parenthood, is comprised of 13 original songs promoting healthy lifestyle, nutrition, physical activity and positive self-esteem.

So you’re new to the neighborhood. Yeah, I’ve played in Dallas before but never really spent a lot of time here. You know how when you move somewhere and you’re worried about how it’s going to be? Dallas, to me, immediately I found people to be very open and welcoming, especially in the creative community, and that was huge for me to kind of find my people here. And it’s absolutely East Dallas. People always pointed us to East Dallas because they said East Dallas has a unique sense of community, and it’s got this sort of artsy element. We know we’re going to be here for a while, so I’m excited about actually putting down some roots.

How have you plugged into the arts community?

I’ve been focusing on getting the word out that I’m here, and I’m excited to play for both kids and grown-ups. Many of the songs of the CD encourage a healthy lifestyle for children, and I’ve been getting some gigs at schools, libraries, partnering with Whole Foods, things like that.

Tell us about the kids’ program you’ve been developing.

We have a lot of conversations in my house about health because my husband is a pediatrician. At a time when one in three kids are obese and we have a huge health care cost crisis, you see a lot of programs out there that encourage healthy lifestyles, but it’s mostly message. None of them have combined music and message, and I’ve seen in my own children how important music is to their learning and to their development. So I’m putting together this program called “Healthy Me” that I’m excited to take into schools and libraries and wherever people are interested. It should be ready around this summer, when school starts back in August. Basically it’s music with a message. You take a topic like health