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Be Careful What You Wish For In Design Center Choices for Your New Home

by Dena Kouremetis

A builder's design center can be a veritable Disneyland of opportunities for new homebuyers to personalize their homes-to-be. The dizzying array of cabinets, appliances, lighting fixtures, carpets and other flooring surfaces can leave even the stout of heart uncertain of the personal wisdom with which they chose their new home upgrades.

But are there some definite No-No's that almost any design center consultant would consider decorating faux pas? Some buyers would not welcome even professional comments on how they decide to outfit their personal residences. After all, the way you decorate reflects your personal tastes and may even make comments on your life experiences. However, when it comes to re-selling your home someday, if and when you do, some of your decorating idiosyncrasies may not be appreciated by the masses that may view your home when it comes time to make a buying decision.

Here, then, are several so-called decorating "gaffes" that may not help in marketing your home to potential buyers someday:

Using too much color on permanent, vast spaces. According to most decorating experts, floors are not the place to show how much you love the color pink. Even though your decorating scheme may blend beautifully with its forever flowery blush of color, most potential buyers will not have prepared themselves to furnish a home whose interior screams a permanent non-neutral floor color. Tones such as beiges, creams, taupes, and tans (be careful of gray tones also) blend with almost anyone's decorating and furniture.

Mixing hardwoods. Many may not be in agreement on this one. Home decorators, however, suggest that buyers either match woods (such as light oak cabinets with light oak floors) or opt for different types of surfaces that contrast and compliment one another. For instance, a popular sight in model homes these days is white, laminate kitchen cabinets with maple or warm oak hardwood floors. Featuring the beauty of one type of wood will not detract from the attention that may be paid to another, therefore, making it a focal point.

Using different types of tile within view of one another. Most decorators agree that your fireplace tile should match your entry tile if anyone can stand in one place and notice them at the same time. This contributes to the homogeneous "flow" to the floor plan, giving a good blend to your choices.

Using different color schemes in different parts of the home. If you notice a professionally decorated home when you stroll through it, the same basic core of three or four colors is evident throughout the house. One of the colors may be more pre-eminent in some rooms than others, but the others are almost always there. So, to be decoratively correct (if you care) pick some colors and stick with them.

If you love brighter (non-neutral) color and can't stand to live without it on walls, try not to paint an entire room with your colorful blast. Reserve one or two accent walls and the effect may even be more interesting as well as more easily changed back by a would-be buyer.

Cami Kern, a builder's in-house design consultant in Northern California, warns against using a natural surface's imitiation product in view of the natural surface itself (such as Corian and natural granite in the same areas, or granite-like Formica, for example) Kitchen countertops should all match one another, unless completely diverse in nature. Strangely enough, solid colored ceramic tile blends well with many real granite, Corian, or Formica styles.

On floors, use small patterns in small areas, especially with sheet vinyl, or use no pattern at all. And try not to "break up" floors, using carpet, tile and vinyl all within view of one another. And never, never permit two vinyl surfaces to meet, if you want to stay within acceptable decorating standards. Be aware of "transitions" in color, texture and design that, when put together, may look confusing to the eye. Remember what surfaces will be touching others in every room before you make a permanent selection.

Keep in mind that small swatches of color, shown to you in a builder's design center, may not translate into precisely the look you may expect when it is installed. Light colored carpeting tends to darken with window coverings installed, and appear even lighter than you may remember it in direct sunlight.

These are a few of the yellow lights new homebuyers may want to observe when upgrading their new homes, while trying to preserve its future re-sale value. Some design center consultants will back off from offering much advice to the would-be buyer-decorator when they have specific ideas in mind that have been swirling around in their heads for years, just waiting for an opportunity to express themselves. But if you are among those buyers who welcomes suggestions and advice, don't hesitate to ask for the designer's input. They may even have photograph albums full of pictures to give you ideas other homebuyers have successfully used in decorating. Pick their brains for the latest in design trends and most-asked-for combinations, if you like.

It's about to become your home, but remember that one day, it may very well become someone else's. And your decisions now can make that an easier reality, or a more difficult one.

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Published: October 25, 1999

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A veteran of the real estate and homebuilding industries since 1986, Dena Kouremetis first joined Realty Times as a new homes writer in 1998. Since then, she has authored four books, written consumer columns on new homes issues for websites and newspapers all across the country, contributed to builder trade magazines, appeared as a guest expert on several radio shows and even created a ten-chapter podcast for LendingTree.com’s homebuilder website, iNest.com, now available on iTunes, entitled Uncharted Waters; Navigating the Purchase of a New Production Home.

Kouremetis recently joined her local Folsom, CA Coldwell Banker office as a broker associate while continuing to write for the real estate industry. For the past three years, she has been training real estate agents for both the resale and new homes industries, putting her experience, research expertise and gift of expression to work to help others entering the business.

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