Each year, the housing industry is showered by new trends in terms of design and styling. The year 2014 is no different with predictions coming from various experts and professionals. But how varied will this year be? It all depends in the trends that will surface one after another. Here are the top 5 home design trends to watch and follow this year.Use of neutral base colorsNeutral base colors will be at the forefront of many home improvement endeavors. The ease of matching them with other colors, prints, and patterns make them fantastic options. For instance, sofa sets with neutral base colors will complement throw pillows with prints and patterns. Mixing and matching neutral colors with accents are also best options if you want to achieve varied styling looks in your room without spending too much.Making walls and rooms more dramaticApart from the use of neutral colors in furniture, walls will be given touches of drama, class, and elegance. They will bear darker colors which will become perfect backgrounds for furniture and fixtures that have metallic accents or are metals themselves. The use of dark colors in walls will also pave way for making rooms appear warmer and more inviting. A lot of homeowners who frequently accept visitors are expected to go with this flow.Utilizing intriguing vintage displaysThe lives of vintage displays never stop in a year or more. They are to stay for decades. What make them long-lasting design elements are the intriguing factors behind their existence. Whether they are cabinets, frames, and other vintage pieces, they will surely become great conversation starters among guests. The appeal of vintage art will also fuse with what other interior designers call as urban nostalgia. Figurative and abstract paintings will also become more popular wall displays.Appreciating the beauty of layeringWood, metal, and fabric will become more prominent in layers. More of their appealing combinations will be seen in many parts of the house particularly the living room. The differences in their colors and textures will be great to play with. Considering the beauty and appeal of fabric designs and prints, they will become great accents to wood and metal furniture. When it comes to wood, the less expensive and knotty varieties will become competitors of the expensive fine-grained woods like white oak and walnut. Apart from their use in cabinets, they will also become prominent in floor and wall panels.Going ultramodern with smart home optionsComfortable living will rely more on smart home options. The past years have seen the rise of surveillance cameras and other home security systems. Several homes have also utilized thermostat systems and lighting systems with time sensors. Robotic cleaners with scheduling capabilities and traffic sensors will also become more feasible options to make home cleaning chores easier. Other home appliances will establish greater connections with the smart phones of their owners. More applications will give greater control over their use.These are just five of the many home design trends that will grace the homes of many individuals. More are expected to diversify how homes will look this 2014. The choice is yours to make to impart more beauty to your own living space.
Creating Your Dream House With Home Design Software Programs
In the olden days, if you want to design your home or parts of your home, you need to hire and consult professional such as architect and engineers to create you a home design. But today, with the improvement of technology, you can create your own house design project without having an advance skill of an architect and engineer. To create or to plan a project for your house, there are many soft wares for home design that you can try. Some of them are CAD Pro Program, Chief Architecture Software Program, Google SketchUp 6 software programs, and 3D Home Architect Décor & Design software program. Each of the programs offers different features and different benefits with it.Computer Aided Design (CAD) Pro is a drafting software program that can be used for designing a house professionally. CAD offers a full feature drafting software and presentation that enable any designers, whether you are an amateur or professional, to create a blueprint in a short time. Though many people assume that it’s difficult to be used but actually there are a lot of advantages provided by this program such as: you can view ad print your floor plans in a professional way and very quick, you can customize plan and project so you can suit it with your detailed needs. Even better, it also works excellently when you combine it with Windows Program.Chief Architecture is a professional house design software program. Its unique feature lies on its itemized costs estimate reports that enable you to know how much costs are calculated when you build a house so you can estimate the budget you have to prepare before building your house. It also is completed with 1,000 page reference of useful tips so that the design process can be more effective.Google SketchUp 6 is software that offers easy-to-use tool that can provided you with detailed 3D options in designing you house. The benefit of using this program is you can create as detail or fundamental as you want while designing your house. This software is for free.Another program that you can try to design your house is 3D Home Architect Décor & Design. This is a software program step to step wizard features that enable you to create a house design easily and effectively. It offers thousands of accessories such as colors, materials, and fabrics for your options in planning your project. It also comes with Architect Ability features that enable you design your own roof, house foundation, and even electrical wiring layout.With various house design software programs, creating a house design project can be very easy and fast. Even if you decide to hire professional in doing the job, you still can gain some benefits with the programs; you can calculate the costs so that you know your contractor give you the fair price for your house layout and you are also able to find what kind of house that you like to build for your own house.http://besthomedesign2010.com/creating-your-dream-house-with-home-design-software-programs/
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What Is Involved In Getting Custom Home Design Plans?
The first order of business is purchasing a lot. A truly custom home design is specifically designed for the lot it sits on. Please read EzineArticles online article “Buying a Lot to Get a Custom Home Designed” for what to consider. A survey will be needed before the custom home design can begin. If it is an older property there should be one in the closing documents.Now there is some home design homework to do even before purchasing a lot. You have to know what you desire in the home and what the footage goal is to know what size the lot has to be.This homework is the first step in the house design. No matter how talented the designer they are dependent on you for it to be a custom design with communication being the key. So do not be shy about providing whatever you have accumulated or generated whether it be pictures, notes, spreadsheets or anything else that helps present what you want. Whether you provide a lot of material or none at all though it is the designers responsibility to discuss anything relevant to the project.The initial design conference meeting(s) will be to completely define your dream home.The footage will determine the cost more than anything else and should be the first consideration. How many stories and what exterior style and finish material needs to be defined. Each room should be discussed to determine the size, raised ceilings, flooring or any other features. The first factor in determining room locations is what view they will have. If there is a stunning rear view only so many rooms can take advantage of then these rooms need to be defined. A stairs if any often has expectations that go with it whether it is the railing, finish or location. If it is viewed as more of a functional need then a location requiring less expense in finishing than a foyer might be considered. Will the house be open concept so that the family room, breakfast and kitchen are open to each other. All aspects of the kitchen should be defined. Especially if there will be an island and all appliances and their locations. It is often helpful to know what the current kitchen cabinet footage is to ensure equal or greater cabinet footage. Does there need to be a private desk area off the kitchen for paying bills. Would a backpack, hobby or sports storage area with cabinets off the garage be helpful. All features of the utility room including a built in ironing board need to be considered. If there is a pool does there need to be a pool bath or can the powder room be located near the rear. Is the master bath to be more functional or luxurious or something in between. How many bathrooms. Will there be a game room, study, hobby room or other rooms not considered a given. Are art niches or ledges desired. This is a minimum necessary to start a design drawing.If the due diligence has not been this thorough then there is a good chance you will not get your dream home design. No matter how creative it is if it is not what you imagined then it is a failed design. I am not suggesting taking away creative freedom only that any expectations have to be communicated. Make sure the designer is asking all the right questions or make sure you volunteer them. Alternatively just consider another designer because it is hard to correct a design that heads down the wrong path.Only when the scope of the design has been completely defined should the design drawing begin. The primary goal should be to meet the design criteria in the most space efficient way possible while being creative.The next meeting will be to review the preliminary design which typically consist of the floor plans without all the construction details, the front elevation and the plot plan showing the house located on the lot.This is the first time to really know if you are on the same page as your designer. That is why the due diligence was so critical. Hopefully any revisions will be minimal but most importantly none will cause a compromise to the design. Sometimes even with all the necessary communication the design is still not what was expected. Unfortunately this is often do to the designer substituting their preferences. That is another reason to define what is expected. If it was discussed there is no excuse that it was never communicated. Stand your ground even if it means starting the design over.A designer has a responsibility to a client to inform them if they think they are making a mistake. Once the client knows why you are concerned hopefully they will agree. It is never acceptable to just ignore a clients wishes or substitute your own preferences.This preliminary design meeting is also the time to discuss in depth details like lighting, cabinet styles and finishes if it has not been done. If the revisions are such that it would be prudent to review the preliminary again once they are done that would be the next step. If any revisions are minor then the design is ready to be finalized.The next meeting will be to review the finalized drawings. Expect to see floor plans with the electrical outlets and switches or separate electrical plans, interior elevations (cabinet and other views), exterior elevations, cross sections if necessary (always on two or three story), form plan, roof plan and plot plan. The plans need to meet the appropriate codes, ordinances and subdivision restrictions where it will be built.Once any revisions are completed construction sets can be run. Additionally the foundation and structural should be engineered.So to review the design process since it might seem intimidating or overwhelming, design conference meeting(s), preliminary design meeting, finalized design meeting and construction sets. Seems less so hopefully. Primarily it is that there are so many decisions to make. So do yourself a favor and do your homework so you have fewer to make all at once. Also plan ahead and allow a proper amount of time for the design process. It can vary considerably based on the designer and the market but two months at a minimum and preferably three months. The most stress comes from waiting until you are ready to move to start the process and then being anxious throughout. When someone says “I wish I had considered” it is usually because there was not proper time for discussion or review. Most people hope to live in and enjoy their dream home for the rest of their lives so devote the short time necessary through the design process to help that happen.