Imagine if you could walk the best model homes throughout
the country, hunting for the latest design ideas for your new home? The next
best thing -- for those of us who don’t have a six-figure travel budget -- may
be to take a virtual tour through winning projects in industry design
competitions. Even better is to take that guided tour from one of the
country’s leading architects. Ed Binkley, a Tampa-based principal with BSB
Design, recently mined the galleries for the latest trends. Here’s what he
found.
Board-and-Batten Siding
The board-and-batten look, originally associated with
farmhouses, is showing up on the exterior of homes of
all stripes -- as you can see in some of Houseplans.com most popular new designs, like
Plan 430-156, above. It’s also
being used for decoration inside homes. Batten strips add texture to walls,
notes Binkley. They also add “solar animation,” he says, by casting shadows on
the wall. In the classic look, 1x2 batten strips run vertically over siding
boards. “But I’ve seen them turned at an angle to create a diamond pattern,”
says Binkley.
Bringing Exterior Material Indoors
This technique – using exterior siding, roofing or trim
inside a home – has long been core to custom homes. Now it’s increasingly
employed in mainstream housing to create a unified design theme. Using cultured
stone to wrap the fireplace, the same stone used for exterior walls, is the
most common technique. But now merchant builders are using shiplap siding in
family rooms, stucco to frame showers in Mediterranean
designs, and concrete
block to form the interior walls of contemporary homes.
Plan 888-3 uses board-and-
batten siding on the walls of the second living room to reinforce an indoor-outdoor feeling. In so-called transitional
designs – traditional designs executed with contemporary materials – corrugated
metal siding, wire mesh railings, and concrete walls may show up inside the
home.
Dark Door and Window Frames
One way to make windows look special, without spending a
fortune on custom styles and sizes, is to darken the frame around the window.
The treatment plays up the shape of the window, reinforcing the geometry of contemporary
design. The look is also commonly associated with historic buildings, Spanish-style
homes,
and farmhouses, as shown in
Plan 888-17. “It makes sense to do with big planes of thick glass,”
says Ed Binkley. “The interior spaces feel much larger.”
Metal Roofs
The metal roof, formerly relegated to rural reaches, is infiltrating
suburban housing. Even corrugated and
standing-seam metal roofs are receiving
attention. See
Plan 933-5. Though durable and inexpensive, metal roofs need to be insulated and
soundproofed, unless you really love the sound of rain on the roof. “It sounds
great on a front porch,” allows Binkley. A metal roof can tie together all the
metal on a house, including gutters, downspouts, and maybe even railings. The
exterior metal on one award winning home was even done with copper.
Natural Wood Beams
Using wood beams to decorate a high ceiling is a given in
luxury housing. But it’s become common in upscale production homes, too,
particularly when the roof of the great room gets above 12 feet. Dark wood
beams not only provide a pleasing contrast to the smooth white walls but serve
as a focal point, as in
Plan 935-6. “They draw your eyes to the ceiling,” says Binkley. Here’s a
secret, though – not even a $10 million home is likely to have structural wood beams.
And in mainstream housing, the beams may not even be real wood. “Synthetic
beams are less expensive to install and handle,” says the architect.
Outdoor Fireplaces
Outdoor fireplaces have reached flashover – taking off
throughout the country, even in warm environs. Why? They are an inexpensive way
to create a frequently used amenity. “We probably do more outside than inside
fireplaces,” says Binkley, who primarily works in Florida. Homeowners love the
idea of gathering around a wood fire pit, especially on a crisp evening.
Architects are starting to give more thought to where the fire pit
goes. “It
can become a focal point for several rooms inside the house.”
Plan 548-17 includes a particularly dramatic island fire pit.
Front Yard Living
Elaborate outdoor rooms are showing up on the backside of
the house. What about the front side? Binkley pushes front living areas in his
latest commissions. His inspiration is Orlando’s very walkable Lake Eola
neighborhood, where some homeowners have moved their living room, complete with
sofas and reading
lamps, onto the front porch.
Plan 901-120. On homes without porches,
Binkley may use pavers, bricks, and stones to inexpensively carve out social
plots near the front door. They are a great place to watch pedestrians, drink
an adult beverage, or read the newspaper.
Specialty Storage
One of homebuyers’ biggest regrets is that they didn’t get
enough storage space. Astute designers have answered that demand with
over-sized utility rooms and pantries, big walk-in closets, and garage storage
systems. Now they are including custom storage spaces everywhere. You can find
storage for
wine (
Plan 888-17), cookbooks, and mobile devices in the kitchen. Binkley
included drawers under stairs and benches in his award-winning homes at
Laureate Park in Orlando.
Boyce Thompson is the author of
The New New Home from Taunton.
