5 Home Design Trends to Be Thankful for This Year

After years of normalizing neutral color palettes, for example, designers are embracing more colorful trends to showcase personality in homes. REALTOR® Magazine’s Styled, staged and sold blog asked designers and stagers what home interior trends they’re most grateful for this year. Here are their top picks.

1. More colorful spaces

Goodbye, white kitchens and gray walls. More color is moving in. Homeowners favor bolder hues inside the home, not just for pops of color but also as a base color for an entire room. Paint companies have chosen variations of blues, pinks, and greens as their picks for 2020 color of the year. These colors also are being splashed on kitchen cabinets, exterior doors, and home accessories.

The paint firm PPG selected Chinese porcelain, a blend of cobalt and muted navy tones, as its 2020 color of the year. Sherwin Williams followed suit with Naval, a deep navy blue.

Behr’s top 2020 pick is a meadow-inspired yellowish green called Back to Nature.

Pinks also are catching on. HGTV Home by Sherwin Williams, the company’s offshoot brand, chose a blush hue called Romance, while Benjamin Moore chose a soft, rosy hue called First Light.

2. Luxury vinyl flooring

A design trend that’s stylish but low maintenance, luxury vinyl is enjoying popularity as an alternative to hardwood and ceramic tile flooring. Vinyl is touted as being cheaper, warmer, and softer on your feet; it also requires less upkeep than traditional hardwood or tile.

Today’s luxury vinyl shouldn’t be mistaken for linoleum and other varieties of sheet flooring. Luxury vinyl can be laid out in planks, tiles, and sheets, and it comes in trendy finishes. Luxury vinyl planks can resemble the look of hardwood and are offered in handscraped and wide plank varieties. The planks can be installed diagonally or in a trendy herringbone pattern, and they also can resemble tile and marble.

The lower maintenance of luxury vinyl is appealing to families with young children and pets. It’s a water-resistant material that works easily in kitchens and bathrooms.

3. Voice-controlled smart appliances

Alexa, Google Home, and Siri are ushering in a new and advanced era of smart-home technology. The choices are growing, too: Smart plugs, for example, cost as little as $10 and enable you to say: “Alexa, turn on the lights.” Add smart lightbulbs that can be controlled via voice assistants, as well as other appliances such as the thermostat, door locks, and security cameras. Suddenly, smart homes have become more attainable and cost-effective.

4. Statement ceilings 

Finally, a reason to look up! The homes fifth wall is commanding the spotlight In the roaring ’20s, stamped ceilings, such as those plated in copper or tin decorative sheets, were popular. But the trend faded in favor of smooth ceiling finishes. Now, the statement ceiling is back.

This time, however, paint, wallpaper, or wood moldings are the ceiling accents of choice. A statement ceiling can brighten up a space and make it memorable, says Katie Skoloff, principal designer and founder of In Site Designs, an interior design firm in Greenville, S.C. “We find the interest on a ceiling draws the eye up, and you cannot help but feel the space is there to ‘wow’ you,” she says. Wallpapered ceilings, as well as wood beams and coffered ceilings, are today’s standout options.

5. Contrasting kitchen design

Along with more colorful interiors, the white kitchen is fading in favor of a bigger statement, including tuxedo cabinetry, shiny hardware, and brass-trimmed range hoods.

Polished brass on cabinet hardware, range hoods, and appliance handles shines in otherwise white kitchens, appearing to be like jewelry for the space. Café, a hardware line for the GE Appliance brand, offers customizable options in various metals for refrigerator or oven handles. For example, soft-brushed copper handles can be added to a matted white refrigerator for a more contemporary vibe.

Contrasting kitchen cabinets, such as the tuxedo kitchen, also are gaining popularity. The trend calls for upper and lower cabinets to be painted different colors—perhaps white on top and a gray or dark walnut on the bottom. It’s essentially a way to add more visual interest to an otherwise all-white display.

An alternative—and slightly less bold—version of this trend is also taking root, such as all-white cabinets and a contrasting kitchen island in a deep blue, gray, or walnut color.

IT’S A GOOD LIFE!!

Five Star award Winner 2011- 2019 honoring the top 7% of real estate professionals in Oregon.

Rachel Sheller

Principal Broker, Realtor, CRS, ABR, GRI, SRES

Diversity Specialist-HOWNW, Earth Advantage Broker,

MASTERS CIRCLE

CSA-Certified Staging Agent

Oregon First, Washington First 

Direct 503.380.9634

Email- rachel@rachelsheller.com

View ALL available Houses on the market on my website.

Licensed in the State of Oregon and Washington

My business is referral based.
If you’ve enjoyed my service, please refer me!

Are You Looking To Update Your Interior Surfaces?

The trendy styles for countertops, flooring and walls were revealed at The International Surface Event trade show this year.

It was reported that “Geometric designs, increasingly refined faux-hardwood porcelain tile and luxury vinyl-tile floor coverings were prevalent.”

Whether you’re updating your drab interiors for your own enjoyment or redecorating your home for resale, here are some highlights to consider.

• Patterned tile: Increasingly popular choices for kitchen floors and bathroom walls are graphic encaustic (or inlaid) tile and arabesque mosaic tile.

• Quartzite: “The great thing about quartzite is it comes in so many colors, so a lot of it looks like marble, but it’s much stronger,” according to the National Stone Institute. “It’s good for countertops.”

• Faux wood: Selected for its easy maintenance and lower cost compared with natural hardwood, the wood look is available in materials such as laminate, porcelain and vinyl.

Five Star award Winner 2011- 2019 honoring the top 7% of real estate professionals in Oregon.

IT’S A GOOD LIFE!!

Rachel Sheller, Principal Broker, Realtor, CRS, ABR, GRI, SRES, Diversity Specialist-HOWNW, Earth Advantage Broker, MASTERS CIRCLE, CSA-Certified Staging Agent, Oregon First, Washington First 

Direct 503.380.9634, Email- rachel@rachelsheller.com

View ALL available Houses on the market on my website rachelsheller . com

Licensed in the State of Oregon and Washington

My business is referral based.
If you’ve enjoyed my service, please refer me!

5 Coolest And Quirkiest Houses In Portland, OR.

Portland Oregon has long been a city of quirky dive bars, unconventional personalities, and for just being flat out “weird.”

Many of the people have adopted this city’s cultural norm, as they pride themselves in being open minded and non-judgmental.

Some of those people have even decided to showcase the best of the cities weird personality by sprucing up their homes to match the character of the surrounding environment.

Being born and raised in Portland, OR by an unconventional family spending years going through back roads and side alleys, east side and west sides whether personally or professionally, these are some of the coolest homes I have ever come across.

There was no poll taken for this piece, this is simply one person’s opinion after years of home scouting and searching. Here are MY top five coolest and quirkiest houses that Portland has to offer.

• LAURELHURST – THE PINK HOUSE

This house is one of my favorite houses of all time. Tucked away in one of the most beautiful neighborhoods you will ever see.

The Pink House has old Scottish architecture combined with 70’s flavor. I never thought you could make a pink house look tactful, but my hat’s off to these owners as they have done a fabulous job.

• LAURELHURST – THE MODERN HOUSE

This house seems to stick out like a sore thumb from it’s surrounding neighborhood. Such as incredibly modern design with such personality.

If you look closely, you can see the “cow family” on the balcony rails that provide this house with that much more personality.

• LAURELHURST – THE CASTLE HOUSE

This house exemplifies the creative talents Portland has to offer. Modern yet industrial, the castle house is the perfect example of one family’s willingness to say “why not.”

• SELLWOOD – THE EARTH HOUSE

This house is one of the more artsy and earthy houses that I have seen in the Portland Metro. With such grassroots designs, this house is the epitome of Portland’s organic culture.

• SW PORTLAND – THE YELLOW HOUSE

Possibly the most iconic, and most well-known house in Portland for being “quirky.”

While there are many homes that were not mentioned on this posting that could have made the list, these were simply some of my favorites that I have seen over my long-time career as a real estate agent in the Portland market.

To say that these houses are “cool and quirky” could not be more of a compliment to the design and features of the home, as they perfectly exemplify the unconventional mindset that Portland has become so notorious for.

We all that one person in the friend group that is a little weird, and I think we can all agree that we find that one house in the neighborhood that is a little weird to be pretty cool.

We like to do things differently here in Portland, and that is exactly what these houses represent, a willingness to bring your original idea to life, to pursue your goals, and to not worry about what others will think of your decisions.

I hope you find this blog fun and entertaining and remember that “It’s A GOOD LIFE!”

Five Star award Winner 2011- 2018 honoring the top 7% of real estate professionals in Oregon.

IT’S A GOOD LIFE!!

Rachel Sheller, Principal Broker, Realtor, CRS, ABR, GRI, SRES, Diversity Specialist-HOWNW, Earth Advantage Broker, MASTERS CIRCLE, CSA-Certified Staging Agent, Oregon First, Washington First

Direct 503.380.9634, Email- rachel@rachelsheller.com

View ALL available Houses on the market on my website

Licensed in the State of Oregon and Washington

My business is referral based.

If you’ve enjoyed my service, please refer me!

5 Steps To A Bedroom Makeover

Ready to refresh a bedroom in your home? Here are five steps to get the process headed in the right direction.

1. Choose a color scheme. Don’t make this decision harder than it is. If you’re stuck on choosing a color, start with a neutral (such as gray, creamy white or taupe) and decide on one or two accents that can be easily changed as time goes on.
2. Start sorting. Before you bring in anything new, you must get rid of the old. Donate current bedding, furniture and decorative items that cannot be recycled or refinished to fit the new decorating theme.
3. Pick timeless pieces. For the big-ticket items like a comforter or dresser, choose pieces that will stand the test of time. Use smaller items like throw pillows to add color, texture and patterns.
4. Change up the layout. While new furniture and a coat of paint can help change the feel of a room, a new layout can take it one step farther. Rearrange furnishings to give your room a fresh feel.
5. Switch out light fixtures. If you have a floor lamp, add a chandelier. If you like to read at night, add some soft lighting over your bed. Look for warm lights and avoid fluorescent bulbs that will make your room feel sterile.

IT’S A GOOD LIFE!!

Rachel Sheller, Principal Broker, Realtor, CRS, ABR, GRI, SRES, MASTERS CIRCLE, Diversity Specialist, HOWNW,  CSA-Certified Staging Agent, Oregon First, Realtors

Five Star award recipient 2011-2018 honoring the top 7% of real estate professionals in Oregon.

Direct: 503.380.9634, Email: homesforyou@frontier.com

View ALL available houses on the market on my website

Licensed in the State of Oregon

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