Making Design Center Selections for Your New Home
You’ve chosen the site and the floor plan for your new construction home. There are a lot more decisions to make now—luckily, they’re fun ones! You’ll choose everything from your home’s interior and exterior colors all the way to the details of your finishes. We asked Rachel Todd, Alvarez Construction Company’s interior designer, to offer some ideas for making design center selections for your new home.
Pick your palette
The first step to building the design details of your new home is choosing the color palette. Rachel helps homeowners find the exterior home color that complements the architectural style and blends well with the neighborhood. Many of our homes feature brick on the exterior. She explains that painted brick has gained in popularity, like this Briars model in The Grove at Ascension, one of our Prairieville communities. Your exterior color choices extend to your roof, and Rachel will review your options here as well.
What’s trending in interior design today?
Inside, Rachel says, “It’s all about light, bright, and airy!” She guides homeowners to the interior design trend of creating a space that is neutral, bright, soft, and calming to the eye, like greys and whites.
Rachel, who graduated from the LSU School of Art and Design in 2014, says neutrals can be combined in high contrast with solids, if you want more color in your interior design.
Once you’ve chosen your color palette, you move on to other design details. Rachel helps our homeowners create a home where the style and color flows from one space to the next.
Flooring is another important selection that impacts your home’s interior design—from the rich color of engineered hardwood to the lightness of ceramic tile and the cozy comfort of carpet. We consider the use and traffic in each room to ensure you have durable flooring that remains attractive for a long time. Tile is preferred in kitchens and bathrooms, and carpet remains the top choice for bedrooms (a pleasant welcome to your feet first thing in the morning).
What’s cooking in kitchen design?
The kitchen presents many design choices, so be prepared to invest some time on this room. Granite countertops continue to appeal to today’s homeowners because this natural stone is visually appealing and durable. Alvarez Construction Company includes 3cm granite countertops as a standard feature in our kitchens and bathrooms. One of the upgrade options we offer is quartz countertops. This surface is about 95% ground quartz with 5% resin. While granite surfaces should be re-sealed every year or so, a quartz countertop requires no such maintenance. It also resists stains and, since it’s manufactured, the pattern you order is the pattern you get. If you want a solid color for your countertop with the beauty of natural stone, ask Rachel about the quartz countertop color choices.
The kitchen backsplash also makes a statement. You can choose subtle or dramatic—or anywhere in between. Subway tile presents a clean, classic look, but we providecustom backsplashes for those who are looking for something different.
“Our design center has backsplash options of good quality that will appeal to homeowners with a range of tastes,” says Rachel. “Whether they like more natural stone, traditional, or more contemporary, we can create a design that matches their style.”
The fireplace: Cozy, classic, or chic?
If your new home includes a fireplace, start thinking about how you want it to look. The fireplace surround can be crafted of stone, brick, or tile, in a variety of colors and textures. Then we finish it with the hearth and mantel, so you have several choices to make here. Look at this combination of a stacked stone surround and tile hearth and this contemporary styled, black granite surround.
TheAlvarez Construction Company family of professionals is ready to guide you through every decision for your new home. Our beautiful communities present affordable, single-family homesfor sale near Baton Rouge. Get started on the path to home ownership by contacting Matthew Petty.
