Good design for your home should be beautiful, believable and achievable. Here are some tips to help you get started.
Design Tips for Your Home
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Spring Home Tours Provide Design Inspiration
ASO Designer Showhouse
Spring is a time for rebirth and a season for new beginnings. And what better place to start than a newly remodeled or freshly designed room in your home. Pick up some great ideas and have fun in the process when you attend some (or all) of the tours listed below.
The Junior League of Atlanta’s Tour of Kitchens is scheduled March 21-22, 2020. The tour will feature 14 of Atlanta’s finest residential kitchens by some of the city’s most celebrated kitchen designers. There also will be live culinary demonstrations in various homes on the self-guided tour. Tickets are $35.
The Inman Park Tour of Homes is part of the Inman Park Festival, scheduled April 24-26. The Tour of Homes showcases stunning Victorian homes of the late 1800s in Inman Park, one of the city’s oldest and prettiest neighborhoods. Although admission to the festival is free, the cost for home tour tickets is $20 in advance or $25 starting the Friday of the festival.
The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Designer Showhouse will be open for touring Feb. 15-March 8. (Yes, it’s a little before the start of spring, but the house looks fabulous.) Many of the city’s top interior designers are bringing their visions to life to complement the house’s contemporary architecture. Tickets are $25. A portion of the proceeds from the showhouse will benefit the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra’s education and community engagement programs.
Where do you get your design inspiration when you’re making changes to your home?
Hardwood Floors Improve Indoor Air Quality
You probably think a lot about whether the food you eat is safe. But how safe is the flooring surface in your home?When it comes to flooring, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finds that hardwood floors improve indoor air quality. They don’t harbor microorganisms, allergens or pesticides that can be tracked in from outdoors. Hardwood floors also minimize the accumulation of dust, mold and animal dander, which makes them a healthy option for your child’s first steps and beyond.
Allergens can exist everywhere. Some are more common outdoors, like pollen and mold spores, while others are more common indoors, like dust mites and animal dander. All allergen sources, however, can be present anywhere at any time. And because the impact of air-borne allergy-related illnesses can be staggering – up to $17.5 billion in health care costs and more than 6 million work and school days lost each year – it makes sense to prevent and minimize allergy triggers whenever possible.
While outdoor allergens can be hard to control, there are ways to minimize the impact of allergens that occur indoors. Frequent dusting, vacuuming, and washing will minimize many indoor allergens, but these activities can stir them up as well. One way to prevent allergens altogether is to eliminate many of the areas where they can gather.
Flooring is one area of the indoor environment where the number of indoor allergens can be controlled. Certain types of flooring, such as carpet, are simply better gathering places for allergens. Small microorganisms, pollen, dust, dust mites, mold, animal dander and other substances tend to accumulate in carpet fibers. Other flooring types, such as wood, tend to minimize the accumulation of allergens because there are no fibers to trap these substances. Taking steps to minimize these kinds of allergens can result in improved indoor air quality.
Step-by-Step Guide to Finding Your New Floor
Photo: Lauzon Flooring
Are you ready to update your home this year with new wood flooring? Here are seven steps to help you streamline the process.
- Determine where in your house you would like to have wood flooring.
- Establish a general budget range and desired timing for the project.
- Find a professional to help with selecting/ordering product and installation.
- Choose the type of flooring, design requirements and colors that are necessary for your project.
- Plan a time to have the work completed.
- Discuss maintenance requirements with your flooring professional.
- Enjoy your beautiful new wood floors for a lifetime.
Source: National Wood Flooring Association
It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas
Callanwolde
Deck the halls with boughs of holly. Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la. No, you’re not hearing things! Decorations are up at the malls and Christmas music is wafting through the air. If you’re looking for unique gifts for family and friends or need some design inspiration for decking your halls, we’re here to help. Check out these places to go in metro Atlanta.
On Fridays and weekends from Dec. 1-15, Rhodes Hall will be transformed into a winter wonderland. Enjoy holiday entertainment, yummy refreshments from area caterers, and music and art activities. You also can schedule an appointment for a photo with Santa for $45.
Rhodes Hall, aka “The Castle on Peachtree,” was built in 1904 for furniture magnate Amos G. Rhodes. Proceeds will benefit the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation. For more information, visit https://www.georgiatrust.org/tours-events/santa/.
The Christmas at Callanwolde Designer Show House and Holiday Market has been an Atlanta holiday tradition for more than 40 years. The 27,000-square-foot historic mansion is elaborately decorated by some of Atlanta’s top interior and floral designers from Nov. 29-Dec. 7. It also includes an expansive artist and holiday market, and themed events for all ages.
Tickets are available for $10 online/at the door, and parking is free. Don’t forget to take a donation for Toys for Tots.
Learn more at https://callanwolde.org/events-calendar/christmas-at-callanwolde/.
Are there other holiday-themed events you enjoy attending each year?
What is the Janka Scale?
Did you know that each species of hardwood has a different level of hardness? Some common domestic species like walnut, cherry and birch are less hard in comparison to other common domestic species like maple, hickory and oak. The hardness of solid wood is measured according to a system called the Janka Scale.
The Janka Scale gives a good indication of how well a wood species can be expected to withstand dents and dings. The scale is determined by the amount of pound-force required to push a .444-inch diameter steel ball halfway into the wood.
Ratings for both domestic and imported species are included in the scale; however, none of these values apply to engineered wood flooring. While Janka values give a general sense of how hard solid wood is, other factors also contribute to the durability of wood as well. This can include things like how the wood is cut and the finish that is applied to the wood.
Durability
Paws and claws? No problem! Wood floors are designed to withstand the traffic of busy families, including man’s best friend. Wood floors are extremely durable. They can withstand the rambunctiousness of a puppy and still look beautiful for decades. Just be sure to pick a species that can endure Fido’s playful spirit, sharp nails and occasional accidents.
2020 Colors of the Year: Which is Your Favorite?
Wow! This year has flown by quickly. Have you noticed all the new car colors on the road recently? We have always wondered why people gravitate toward certain colors when they choose a new vehicle. That’s also true when paint companies announce their picks for colors of the year.
The 2020 Colors of the Year serve as a predictor of the paint color and decorating trends to come. Which one of these colors is your favorite? Do you plan to use any of them in your design or home improvement projects next year?
Sherwin-Williams selected Naval SW 6244, a rich navy that creates a calm and grounding environment infused with quiet confidence.
Sherwin-Williams
PPG Paints recently announced Chinese Porcelain as its 2020 Color of the Year. The energetic hue is a clever blend of cobalt and moody ink blue.
PPG Paints
Benjamin Moore’s 2020 Color of the Year, First Light 2102-70, is the backdrop for a bright new decade. The 10 harmonious hues of the Color Trends 2020 palette, including First Light, deliver modern paint color pairings that combine optimism with understatement.
Benjamin Moore
Behr’s Back to Nature is a restorative and revitalizing green hue that engages the senses and pairs well with other colors both inside and outside the home.
Behr
