Learning from a Model home Part 1

Living in South West Florida, we have seen quite a difference in residential building over the past few years. An area that was in the midst of the building boom has now tapered down . Builders that once built beautiful model homes and decorated them with the finest have become a thing of the past. You can imagine my excitement when I found a new area with all kinds of new models for me to explore.

Yes I know…I have pinterest and houzz…who needs models anymore for decorating ideas?  ME!  I keep getting asked things like…”What kind of edge do you want on your counter top?” How am I supposed to know that?

My sister-in law and I stumbled across some model homes, and I couldn’t get them out of my mind so I went back with my camera. I am going to try to pick out a few things to share with you…but bear with me…it might take a few posts to get it all in.

First I want to show you some wall treatments

Who knew that grass cloth was making a come back? So if any of you still have yours from the 80′s hang on to it. The new stuff looks just like the old. In fact I saw a lot of wallpaper in these models. They tended to be large geometric shapes.

This wall had to be my favorite thing in all of the models. The picture can’t begin to capture the feeling this wall gave. This was in a foyer and the wood was just on one wall, yet the coziness that it brought to the space was unbelievable!

Now for a couple of elements of surprise…

Would you consider making such a bold statement with your closet? What if you just did it in the guest room?

The houses had a lot of interesting ceilings…most of the tray ceilings were painted a color…often some shade of light blue. But this ceiling caught my eye….

I don’t know if you can tell, but there are grass mattes on the ceiling. This is a very elegant room and yet for some reason this worked.

And finally…something that I am trying to talk my daughter into for her new room

I love how they took very large stripes and ran them horizontally… on just  one wall. This room had such a peaceful feeling to it.

I am now excited to look at the walls in my new house in a whole new way…They are not just a place to hang art…they can be art in their own right.