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great design ideas for mobile, manufactured, and model homes
Color Spotting
Jul 30th
I do love being a Lifestylist®, and getting the opportunity to travel across the country meeting new people and spotting new trends. Recently I was up in the 1,000 Island area of NY and spent a day just driving and looking at the magnificent architecture and natural beauty of that area.
When I found this little cabin tucked by the river I fell in love – especially with the brightly colored Adirondack Chairs in the front of it. Of course I took a picture and never forgot what a great, happy look this was.
Then the other day I was walking through Home Depot and found these bright, happy chairs and I had to have them! Especially since they were only $12.00 each and maintenance free. I love what a difference they made in the backyard of the Idea Factory – even when I’m not out reading a book or birdwatching on them I love just being able to look out the window and seeing the burst of color.
It’s easy to use an accent of color to wake up any space. It can be done with pillows in a living room, towels in a bath or with plates in a dining room. Great, fun design doesn’t have to be expensive – you just need to be brave enough to try different ideas out.
I Want My Home to Look Just Like a Model Home
Jul 29th
Nothing makes me happier than when I hear these words from buyers – it means the model home that I merchandised is on target. And when it is a new homeowner saying this it’s music to my ears. This model is the one that I showed how we were inspired in the previous post – I think you can see where the colors and design ideas came from.
The new model home at Timber Banks is attracting traffic and buyers. Just yesterday I got an email from the @home Builders Design Center saying that a buyer wanted to replicate the model down to the furnishings and draperies! Fortunately with out new Lifestylist® Designed homes that’s possible. We have been working with the Ashley HomeStores and JCPenney to use merchandise in the models that people can buy themselves and make our paint colors available through the builder. Lifestylist® Design Inc. also provide training to the on-site sales team on why we used specific colors and played up a specific lifestyle so they will have lots of great speaking points to share with potential buyers.
If you are preparing to do a new model home or need to update your existing model to increase traffic and sales, contact us at: answers@lifestylist.com
Being Inspired by Your Surroundings
Jul 28th
When I work on a model home, my first priority is bringing the outside in – what’s going to make the buyer feel like what he experienced before he walked into the model continues into his model experience?
My son just gave me the perfect example – he is buying a new home in Florida, and was troubled after seeing the new model home because they didn’t like the colors or feel of the home after it was merchandised. It bothered them so much they actually considered canceling the sale. The colors and the lack of lifestyle felt like they could have been in any city in any community, but it didn’t have the warmth that they anticipated their home would have.
At Lifestylist® Design we focus on lifestyle, and what they buyer hopes to experience in his new life in your new home. We just finished doing a Lifestylist® Designed home for @home Builders in Baldwinsville, NY and I thought I’d share the thought process on how we came up with this home.
Timber Banks is a new incredible planned community near Syracuse, NY that features an 18 hole, Nicklaus designed golf course, river frontage with it’s own marina, clubhouse, and a stunning, natural beauty all around you that you can call home. It seemed only natural that I would bring this lifestyle and the colors I saw all around me into the design of the model. We went with some of the foggy greys, clear blue sky, river rocks and eco-greens that we discovered on our walks and as a result when you are in the home it truly pulls the outside in. Plan a visit to the Timbers yourself and see what we accomplished – contact Teresa Carpenter with @home Builders for more information at: 315-635- 6006.
Great Deals on Towels at JC Penney
Jul 26th
One of my favorite lifestyle items that many people don’t think about is towels. Think about how many times a day you use one, but when it’s time to make a purchase we spend more time worrying about cost and color than value. A typical family of 4 owns 15 towels, and we tend to hold on to them longer than maybe we should. My parents own a lake house and received 20 beach towels that were promotional items at least 10 years ago and we still use them!
My favorite store to buy towels from is JC Penney. They always have sales going on, but you can get a luxurious bath towel in beautiful current colors for under $10.00. As a Lifestylist® and model home merchandiser I buy a lot of towels for my job, and JC Penney is always my first stop for this purchase. Their sheets and bedding can’t be beat as well. Instead of buying all of your towels the same color, try buying coordinating colors. That way you can mix and match, and each family member or houseguest can have their own color so you’ll always know which is yours!
Great New Book on Manufactured Housing Being Published
Jul 12th
We found out today that Lifestylist® Design and articles by Lifestylist® Suzanne Felber are being featured in a new book – The Manufactured Housing Revolution. Published by mhmsm.com, this book will be full of great articles and information that you can use every day. Information about the Trailer Diva will be included as well – if you aren’t familiar with this personality you should be!
We also got a mention on the back cover so we are very excited! To get your own copy, check out mhmsm.com today.
A Hometown 4th of July
Jul 6th
The 4th of July definitely had new meaning for me this year after viewing Restrepo, and now when we celebrate I celebrate in thanks for all of the sacrifices our soldiers are making for us overseas. It also has made me appreciate my family even more, so this 4th of July was a meaningful celebration.
Since my parents are selling their beautiful lake home at Hideaway Lake this is probably the last 4th we will all celebrate there. After 20 years we have lots of great memories, but now it’s time for someone else to enjoy it. Hideaway is the place to be for the 4th! A private lake and community, the 4th is celebrated with great food, competitions at the pool and of course the infamous boat parade. We’ve entered a lot of years and have never won but we sure have fun trying! This is a perfect example of the Lifestylist® movement – people enjoying their lives in style.
The fireworks this year were some of the best I’ve ever seen, and getting to view them from the boat with my family made it even more special. Happy 4th of July to all and remember how lucky we are to have the freedom that we do.
Lifestylist® Advisory for Summer Fun
Jun 26th
Summer is officially here, and many of us are wondering how to keep the kids (or guests) entertained. When I was much younger, we used to go to the beach on Lake Erie with my Aunt Julie who is an artist. She always had great ideas on how we could do art projects using found objects, and we used to love making animals by gluing river rocks together then adding color and faces using Sharpie markers.
When I started my first company – Memory Merchandising – I wanted to stand out from the crowd so I made all of my own business cards using rubber stamps for an imprint that I then tinted using Prismacolor pencils. I’ve been told that people still have kept some of those because they thought they were so unique.
Today while I was web surfing I found two great websites full of ideas that can keep all of us busy for the entire year, if not more!
Sharpie Uncapped is a really fun site that has all kinds of ideas on how you can get creative with a Sharpie. I personally love the mugs, and think I may be heading out to Staples today to buy some new colors and play. I also love how they play up the talents of various artists and how they are really embracing the art community. If we had more companies like this the world might become a more colorful place.
Prismacolor has an amazing site as well, and I can’t wait to spend more time on it. You can upload your works of art to be showcased on their site, and a feature I really love is the color coordinator. You can use a virtual color wheel and they will tell you which of their products matches that color.
Congratulations to both of these companies for having websites that just aren’t about selling but offer great information that anyone can appreciate and use. I have some thank-you cards I need to send out – think I’ll be trying some of their ideas and making some handmade ones! Lifestylist Designed greeting cards here I come!
BeauFlor – The Next Generation of Flooring Has Arrived
Jun 21st
As a Lifestylist®, one of the things I spend a lot of time on is sourcing and specifying products for the home. Flooring is especially important, and I’ve seen a movement lately from what we’ve always expected to see in a home to some really exciting, unexpected products. Your lifestyle should play a huge part in what you want in different rooms in your home – do you have pets, kids, allergies to be concerned about or do you lead an active lifestyle? All of these should be considerations as to what type flooring you have in your home.
The Home Idea Factory is a perfect example of this. Living and working in a 1940′s building has lots of different challenges – add to that all of the animals we rescue and grandbabies – what you end up with is a need for something that is easy maintenance & a lot of style as well to make this Lifestylist® happy. I’ve been looking for years to find the perfect flooring for my media room which is my favorite room at the factory and where I spend most of my time. It is large so tiling or wood was cost-prohibitive, I knew carpet wouldn’t last since the dogs enjoy this room as well. I also wanted something with some sound barriers since the photography studio is below. When I discovered BeauFlor I knew I had my answer.
Believe it or not, this is a resilient vinyl flooring that is available in wider widths which means less or no seams. It also doesn’t have the paper backing that many vinyl floors have which can add to mold issues, and it is “lay flat – stay flat”. The patterns are absolutely amazing – I have been in homes that have BeauFlor in them and I have seen customers get on their hands and knees to see if the flooring was real tile or wood – actually it looks better in some cases! Plus you get the cost savings of a resilient flooring and the savings on installation – what more could you ask for?
Champion Homes of Texas has been using this flooring in their homes, and the customers love the look and how easy it is to care for. If you get a chance, be sure to take a look at this product in the nearest Champion Homes to you, or contact Syntec Industries to learn more about this amazing product. I can’t wait to have it in The Idea Factory to spend less time cleaning and more time enjoying!
DalTile Listens
Jun 16th
There are days (actually most of them!) when I love being a Lifestylist®, and this week was a great one. I was able to work with the amazing team at Champion Homes of Texas and finish the XTreme Model Home Challenge, then I was invited to the corporate headquarters for DalTile to view some new products they are working on.
Honestly, I don’t know why more companies don’t ask for our help – being able to give input to DalTile helps all of us in the long run. They get to learn about what we need and haven’t been able to find, and by learning about what DalTile is working on I’m able to be sure that my clients know about these amazing new and current products so they can take advantage of them as well.
DalTile has always done an amazing job of understanding the needs of designers and builders and delivering beautiful products that are exactly what the homeowner is looking for. After spending a few days with their team, I think I know know how they achieve this – they listen. The innovative new products they will be launching that we got to see are obviously the product of really listening to and understanding the lifestyle of today’s buyer. With more people wanting the ease of maintenance that tile affords as well as it being so family and pet friendly, tile is going to become even more important in tomorrow’s homes. I can’t give everything away, but soon you will be seeing tile that is so simple to install even I could do it 
and they are using new technologies to produce glass and mixed materials into mosaics that are worthy of being hung in a museum, but you will be able to easily install them in your own home. It was like they could read my mind – things that I had only dreamed about being able to use in my homes will soon be a reality.
Tile can be very intimidating to a novice homeowner, and with so many beautiful choices it can be very hard to choose what is your favorite. DalTile has helped take some of the guesswork out of this by having an easy to use website full of ideas. They also have design centers around the country that are staffed with some of the most knowledgeable designers I’ve ever worked with, and they are full of inspirations on how you can use tile to create your own dream home. They were very helpful to me when I was working on the new Design Center for @home Builders that will be opening soon – if you have a chance to stop by you should. They also helped me design the great kitchen backsplash for the new model home that just opened at Frisco Ranch for American Custom Builders.
Now it’s my turn to listen. I would love to hear about how you have used tile in your home. Feel free to contact us at: answers@lifestylist.com and share your beautiful rooms with us!
Lifestylist® Advisory – It’s Free!
Jun 8th
We are starting a new blog – Lifestylist® Advisory Services. As Lifestylists® we are out in the trenches every day finding new sources, great foodie destinations and traveling from coast to coast truly experiencing life and style. On our new blog we will share the best and the worst of customer experiences, and we already have some experiences that might surprise you. The best part is that all of this is at no charge to you – please just let the businesses that you learned about here know where you found out about them.
Have you had some experiences you would like to share with us? Email us at: answers@lifestylist.com and we’ll share the best ones on the Lifestylist® Advisory.