15 minute read
Home Trends & Innovations
Exploring the Latest Home Trends & Innovations
By CASSIDY KENDALL // Photos By RYAN PARKER
After the hustle and bustle of last year’s holiday season, AY Publisher Heather Baker found bulging cabinets in her home, and heard incessant ticking coming from her kitchen at night. She knew something was afoot. After weeks of searching, Baker eventually found the icemaker had been leaking for months, steadily spewing water underneath her kitchen floorboards. By the time the discovery had been made, severe damage to her beautiful home in Little Rock’s Waterview Estates had already been done.
Baker’s home was only eight years old , and even though it had seen wear and tear through her children’s teen years, it was still nice, and she had no plans for any major renovations prior to the catastrophe.
So, what does one do when life presents such a sour situation? You take those lemons and make lemonade. This was an opportunity for Baker to take her home in peril and grace it with an up-to-date look.
The first thing she did was contact her home insurance agent, Kenneth James, of Farm Bureau. James and his colleague, Tyler Hill, referred Baker to Metro Disaster Specialists, and never left her side while handling the disaster.
“They truly went above and beyond,” Baker says, adding that she could not have done the renovation without their help. From the mess made, to the dozens of workers coordinated to come in and clean it up, Farm Bureau and Metro Disaster Specialists had her back.
“I had no idea, in the beginning, that it was going to be this big of a project,” Baker says. “We have had to look into every single detail of every thing, from floorboards to all new flooring, to brand new cabinets, countertops, appliances, sinks, faucets — I mean everything.”
One of the first steps they took was looking for new flooring that would replace her ruined travertine. Baker knew she wanted marble, and Lloyd’s Flooring Company in Little Rock came in at the
best price. Together, Baker and Lloyd’s owner, Terri Lee, chose a massive, matte white marble tile with a black swirl for the main flooring. They contrasted it with a matte black marble tile with a white swirl for the guest bathroom and hearth around the fireplace.
“I'm not a designer, nor do I build homes,” Baker says. “So, with the questions I had, Lee was very easy to work with and helped me figure it all out.”
Baker’s close friend, Ari Fason, of Design and Events by Ari, also helped with the design process.
“We did a 2-by-4-foot tile, and it is fabulous,” Fason remarks. “But we were filling a huge space. If I were doing a bedroom, I’d do like a 1-by-2-foot tile. But because this was such a large area, it looks better, and you don’t see as many seams.”
With these oversized tiles, they attempted a “zero grout line” at one-sixteenth of an inch, nearly diminishing the seams where the tiles are lined up. This trend is new compared to having about a half-inch grout line in the past.
Compared to travertine, marble is durable, long-lasting and easy to clean. And because of the easy cleaning that comes with hard surfaces, Fason says carpet is phasing out.
“People like to keep carpet in their media rooms to kind of absorb the noise, but I feel like these busier families are loving turning on their iRobot and letting it just clean one type of surface,” she says.
When updating hard surfaces, Fason advises to restain hardwood floors darker, and replace 2-inch planks with 4-to-6-inch planks.
“I also love to just rip everything up and see what’s underneath there,” she says. “If you have great concrete, stained concrete is so popular right now and it’s so easy to care for. I feel like that’s my second favorite from doing tile or hardwood — I would go with stained concrete.”
Baker is also partial to stained concrete, which is featured widely on another floor in her home.
After the flooring was squared away, Baker moved on to her kitchen cabinets, an imperative part of the renovation. After deciding to demolish her two kitchen islands and replacing them with one big island, she lost 18 drawers for storage in her kitchen.
“I immediately, 100%, knew I would go with Duke Cabinets,” Baker says, adding that she wanted custom, innovative storage tailored to her specific kitchen needs.
Current trends in the design of cabinets include things like soft closing and thinner doors and drawers. But current trends in the innovation of cabinets is stunning in its own right.
From deep, waist-level cabinets for dishes to a cabinet with an attached spice rack that leans out at an angle, giving home chefs an accessible spice selection, the realm of cabinets really has it all these days.
One new cabinet in Baker’s kitchen is dedicated to her KitchenAid Mixer. The mixer sits on a platform that elevates with a simple push, and has a convenient outlet behind it so you never have to bother with re-storing the heavy machinery when you’re done with it.
Another exquisite custom cabinet display can be found in Baker’s bar area, where the above cabinets are outfitted in custom glass from West Little Rock Glass, with lights illuminating her selection of liquor.
One of the final steps Baker took in her home renovation was choosing countertops from Countertop World.
She wanted a large statement piece on her newly built island in the center of her kitchen. The first piece Countertop World Co-Owner David McDougall showed her was a white with black detail piece of art she fell in love with.
For the countertops wrapping around the kitchen, black granite was placed, with a unique leather overlay. A new cabinet in Baker’s kitchen is dedicated to her KitchenAid Mixer. The mixer sits on a platform that elevates with a simple push, and has a convenient outlet behind it.
“I like [the leather overlay] because it just looks better,” Fason says. “If you spill something and you wipe it off, it's not going to absorb. … It’s almost like a matte — like a couch almost is the way it feels. … I feel like it's a lot more durable and … it won't go out of style.”
But regardless of the material you choose, Fason warns to avoid porous material that will absorb spills.
“Everything Countertop World has is beautiful,” Baker says. “He has an incredible selection of some of the most beautiful countertops I’ve ever seen. They can help you on so many different levels.”
Pro Source in Maumelle ensured that the walls above the kitchen countertops also showcase a stylish flare by supplying custom tiles for the backsplash. Lloyd’s pieced together the hexagonal tiles – outlined in white, black and gold – to make an undeniable statement in Baker’s bar area, which complements the beautiful brick-patterned backsplash that continues throughout the rest of the kitchen.
Countertop World is also responsible for the two sinks installed in Baker’s kitchen. One being a spacious, farmhouse-style sink, and another being a conveniently placed vegetable prep sink in the island directly behind the stove. The company also installed the sinks and countertops in her master bathroom.
Home trends and innovations are ever-changing, and according to these experts, “freshening up” the home is a good idea about every five years, according to these experts. Since Baker’s home was built in 2013, interior color palettes have lightened, flooring has grown in size, grout lines have become almost nonexistent and innovations have progressed.
Perhaps one of the best people to consult with on what’s up-and-coming in the realm of home trends and innovation is the winner of AY Magazine’s 2022 Most Innovative Home Builder award, Bill Parkinson.
Parkinson, of Parkinson Building Group, builds homes across Little Rock, and says trends change rapidly, varying by location.
“Lately we've just had a flurry of people say, ‘Hey my house now, I built it five or seven years ago, but it feels like it's 10, 15 years old. … I’ve just got to lighten and brighten this thing.’
“And so, we'll go in there and we'll swap out countertops, we’ll repaint the house. Maybe go from darker hinges and doorknobs to maybe a lighter brass. Whatever they want that’s kind of new and fun.”
According to Parkinson, lightening and warming is the way to go for home refreshers. In West Little Rock, where Baker’s home sits, Parkinson is seeing warmer whites, like Sherwin Williams’ Alabaster, coming back into interior palettes.
“That whole white, gray trend — it's not gone — but it seems to have some competition for what's the most popular in our current builds that we have going,” he explains.
Fason says a mere fresh coat of paint on the walls is the simplest way to freshen up your home. Some of her favorite warm colors are Dolphin Tail Blue and Repose Gray.
And with millions of warm-colored shades to choose from, she says to simplify the process, match the wall colors to the color already on the crown molding and doors.
“A lot of these trim and door colors are the same, so to save money, I match the wall color to the trim and the door, so we don’t have to go in and repaint all of that as well. That’s when your cost goes way up, when you have to do all your doors and all your crown molding.”
Parkinson is also seeing crown moldings get simpler as the years pass, giving homes a sleeker look. He doesn’t describe this trend as contemporary, but modern.
As for the home’s exterior, he is still seeing Stucco — which is what Baker’s home is dressed in — as well as rock, but Hardie boards are becoming a big player in giving the home a unique, sleek look.
And then, of course, there is endless innovative technology to incorporate into your home.
Fason suggests having a USB outlet (an update included in Baker’s kitchen renovation as well) added to something like a kitchen island, making it easier to charge your devices while cooking so you don’t have to stretch a cord across the room.
Parkinson says customers love to incorporate innovative technology into their homes now, and it’s not as expensive as it used to be.
“That can also become, you know, very painful over time as they start to outdate themselves and then you’ve got to update them,” he says. “So, if you're willing to go down that path of ‘I'm going to make an investment here and know that in five years, I'm going to need to un-invest and reinvest in something that is current,’ because that stuff doesn't tend to age well.”
Whether you’re set out to give your aged home a little tender love and care, or you’re in a situation like Baker’s – forcing your hand to repair and in-turn inspiring renovation – know that the possibilities are endless. Even the smallest changes can make the home, and life, that much happier. Countertop World is also responsible for the two handy sinks installed in Baker’s kitchen.
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Over the past year, inflation has caused the prices of homes – and everything else – to skyrocket, making for an initially desirable seller’s market in real estate. These conditions resulted in quick turnovers of ownership and exciting opportunities for both sellers and buyers. But, as inflation has persisted and teetered, many sellers are finding themselves between two homes – having bought one, thinking they could ask top price for their former abode, still anticipating a purchaser for multiple months, and saddled with two mortgages. Within this fickle market, however, many silver linings light a path toward promise.
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First, we'll unveil the winners of AY's 2022 Innovative Home Awards, which applauds – and take a look at home trends, which characterizes – the inventiveness emerging from these present housing conditions. Then, we will highlight AY’s 2022 Best Realtors, award winners from Arkansas Realtors Association and the Arkansas Realtor of the Year finalists, all of whom are critical facilitators of a resilient market. This special edition closes with a closer look at real estate inflation, offering some candid realities of the economic climate.
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