Tuesday, February 21, 2012

HGTV 2012 Dream Home: Top Trends Spotted - Part 1

We were excited to be invited by our friends at Ethan Allen last week to tour the 2012 HGTV Dream Home in Midway, Utah.  It was a great experience to see this home up close and personal. If you've been keeping up on our 2012 Trends this year, you'll be ahead of the curve and will see those great trends popping out all over this home. Interior Designer, Linda Woodrum did an amazing job designing this home from the gorgeous Ethan Allen furnishings and accessories down to the art hung on the walls by many local artists.

Since Linda Woodrum, was very careful to make sure that this 2012 dream home represented the latest and greatest.  I thought it was only fitting for us to give you a breakdown of how she incorporated the trends of 2012.  You can tour the complete home on your own at http://www.hgtv.com/dream-home/index.html but of course you'll miss me showing you examples of the trends, so just come along with me now and I'll walk you through it!

Part 1: Exterior, Entry, & Great Room

While this was definitely a dream home I thought it was still very practical.  I love homes that utilize their square footage and are not enormous just to be enormous. I thought this home did just that; with it's 4,000 square feet it contained 3 bedrooms, a 2 car garage, and lots of living space: a great room, large kitchen, 3 outdoor gathering areas, a game room, and dressing room. There's lots of room to have your family and friends over.   
Photo courtesy of HGTV.com
Beautiful exterior, complete with the winners new car parked out front.
Situated between two lots you have plenty of open land and yard space to enjoy the rambling Provo River that flows just behind the property. The exterior of the 4,000 sq ft. home sets the precedence of the Dream Home's color scheme.  Linda chose a grey color scheme with grey blue and grey brown accents.  The home's design was inspired by it's surroundings. During an interview Linda said the color scheme was inspired by the blue sky, the river, white snow, and how the mountains turn blue during the winter afternoons.  Being a resident of Utah myself I can attest that Linda is spot-on.

A great attribute about ths house is how it pulls from both traditional and modern elements to make a completely comfortable and up-to-date home.  Even on the exterior we have a traditional carriage houe garage door with corrugated steel shed roofs.

Photo courtesy of HGTV.com
Here is the entryway , I loved the staircase with its painted risers and wood stained treads completed with this custom hand rail.  It mixes the traditional styling with a simple clean modern look.

Photo courtesy of HGTV.com
Fabulous box light fixture bringing the natural elements in. 

Photo courtesy of HGTV.com
I love this simple oversized handrail with the modern glass. Think outside of the box when it comes to stair railing; eveyone doesn't have to have the same iron or wood balusters that are all too common.

On to the great room:
Photo courtesy of HGTV.com
I love the blue tones in this room and in person the stone walls are a touch lighter and have warm tones that tie them into the gorgeous Brazilian Chestnut wood floors that flow throughout the home.  The great room is full of symmetry, it flows through the architecture in the series of french doors that open to the vistas in the front and the back of the house and also in the furniture and art. This is the perfect room for entertaining as you could open all of the doors to bring the party inside and out, front and back. Now that's how I like to entertain!


Photo courtesy of HGTV.com

The custom trusses with the perfect steel cable detail lie in-between the clerestory windows.

Photo courtesy of HGTV.com
The large garden stools used as end tables are the perfect choice, they allow a nice flow in the room because if average sized rectangular end tables were used you would barely be able to get into the seating area. Garden stools are a huge trend in 2012.  You'll see them everywhere and they are so versatile.

Photo courtesy of HGTV.com

Now notice the Ikat art prints that were chosen to be displayed on the fireplace. We haven't covered the trend of Ikat yet but it's a big one.  Ikat, pronounced "ee-kot" is a process where they tie-dye the yarn before weaving which allows for a warped, bleeded look. You can tell an ikat print by its feathered edges.  This fabric pattern has become popular over the last couple of years and it is here to stay for a while. I love how Linda hung the art above the fireplace right next to each other instead of spacing them a few inches apart, which from a functional standpoint works perfectly as I'm sure it would have been almost impossible to hang them straight on the stone wall.

Photo courtesy of HGTV.com
Photo couresy of hgtv.com
The key to having the perfect room in 2012 is layering the textures.  Here we see a twill fabric sofa with ticking stripes and ikat print pillows on it balanced by the beautifully clad houndstooth chairs.  Everything down to the smallest details was taken into consideration for the design of this space. I also love how Linda styled the cocktail table, just perfect. Again with the layering of the wood and glass and woven grass tray every item has it's place and adds to the feel of the room.

If you peek to the doorway to the left of the grand fireplace that's the entry to the first bedroom, which we'll talk about on our next blog… so stay tuned!

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