Custom construction

Unifying the Interior and Exterior of Your Home

Unifying the Interior and Exterior of Your Home

“Nature is not a place to visit. It is Home.” ~ Gary Snyder

With Spring just around the corner, the promise of the return of green leaves to the trees and flowers to flower beds fuels the desire to get outside and play. No matter the time of year, there is a growing trend among homeowners and home buyers to infuse elements in their homes that create an undeniable connectivity between the great indoors and the Great Outdoors. Premier Atlanta builder and renovation company, Highlight Homes, is pleased to present a list of ways you can do just that in the design of your custom-built home or the renovation of your current home.

“Time to Spare” Room

Why merely add a new room to your home or integrate a flex space to the design of your custom home when you COULD create a space that’s all about relaxation, reflection and reverence of the space beyond the walls of your home. From a screened porch that allows for three-season enjoyment to a sunroom that provides a space to enjoy the outdoors all year round. This is a space where you can drink your morning coffee while watching the birds play in the birdbath or enjoy a nightcap while counting the stars.

Windows of Opportunity

Windows aren’t merely intended to let the light shine into your home or be opened to let the fresh air in. They can be reimagined as veritable works of art where the world beyond your windows serves as the palette. If you have a private backyard that serves as a particularly pleasing backdrop, you can open the frame a bit by creating a wall of windows – blurring the line between where the inside ends and the outside begins.

Feathering Your Nest

Another way to bring the outdoors in is to infuse elements of the natural world throughout your interior design. Use lots of interesting houseplants throughout at a variety of levels. Incorporate wood in your flooring, timber beams, accent walls and interesting furniture pieces. Include stone in your countertops and fireplace surround. Then enhance the sense of nature by adding wall art, throw pillows, rugs and décor that fit your color and design themes, but are inspired by the natural world. These might include birds, butterflies, dragonflies, horses, flowers, the ocean and so much more. Choose something personal to you as your central theme so it has real staying power and holds meaning.

Outside Looking In

Of course, the BEST way to extend your living spaces outdoors is to ADD an outdoor living space that could very well become your favorite “room” of the home. This might include a covered patio or deck with an outdoor hearth, pool with a cabana, outdoor kitchen with inviting seating, an old-fashioned playhouse with swing set, and so much more! Just imagine creating a space where you feel comfortable telling the kids to go outside and play, but “be home by dark” (‘cause they’re already home)! The memories you can make together in this space are virtually limitless, so whatever you create, make sure it’s the right fit for your family.

Highlight Homes welcomes the chance to help you incorporate one or all of these outdoor-focused enhancements in your new custom home or luxury renovation. To learn more about Highlight Homes and our signature design-build method, please visit www.highlighthomesga.com. Once you’re ready to get started, contact us at 678-874-9234 or info@highlighthomesga.com.

What Makes a Great Room Great?

What Makes a Great Room Great?

There is no better time than the holiday season to really explore all of the elements that make a Great Room truly GREAT. Also known in many circles as the “Family Room”, it’s a room of the home where countless everyday moments happen AND where major milestones are marked. As the backdrop to all of these special occasions, special care should be given to the design and realization of this living space that sees an awful lot of living. Whether creating this space as part of a major renovation of your current home or placing an emphasis on this space in the design of your new custom home, Highlight Homes has some opinions on the matter of taking a Great Room to the Greatest Room you’ll ever know (and love!)…

The Hearth of the Home:  From the materials used to create the surround to the mantle itself, the fireplace in your Great Room should be a focal point – a veritable work of art. It should reflect your personality and sense of style, as well as complement the rest of your home. From stacked stone with a rough-hewn timber mantle to a marble surround with intricate woodwork, you can go as casual or as formal as you wish to set the tone for the rest of the room.

Raise the Roof: One component many builders use to make a Great Room feel GRAND is an open second story – opening the space up immeasurably. At Christmastime, just imagine how TALL your Christmas tree could be! If a two-story Great Room isn’t in the cards, there may still be a way to raise the ceilings to 10 feet for more of a sense of spaciousness.

The World Outside: Windows are an important element of your Great Room. If you have a particularly beautiful and PRIVATE backyard, a wall of windows may serve to make the room seem more expansive – connecting it to the world outside. If that is not the case, the addition of just a few windows to let the light shine in might be a better way to go – helping to keep the focus inside the room itself.

All the Trimmings: Woodwork can serve as the frame to the Great Room of your dreams. For a more rustic, cozy feel, you might elect to go with timber rafters. For a more traditional, formal feel, you might incorporate a coffered ceiling, crown molding and built-in bookcases.

Go with the Flow: If you always dreamed of having one of those enormous overstuffed sectionals where you and the entire family can lounge around eating popcorn and watching a Christmas movie marathon, it’s important to communicate this to your builder. The layout of the room should be designed in such a way to accommodate your vision – from the placement of the sectional to the location of the TV.

The Ground Beneath Your Feet: Choice of flooring can serve to enhance this space, as well. If you elect to go with hardwoods or tile, you’ll want to invest in throw rugs to soften the space and make it more inviting. The addition of carpet will make it more welcoming to bare feet, but be aware that spills in this popular space are a very real possibility – making the investment in stain-resistant carpet a wise one.

A Little Light on the Subject: Lighting is an oft overlooked design element that – when wielded properly – can result in a stunning transformation of any space. If your Great Room doesn’t get a lot of natural light, you’ll want to pay attention to the placement of your lighting. For a truly dramatic effect, invest in one showstopper fixture in the center of the room.

Color Me Happy: The choice of paint colors in this space can serve to open up the space further AND set the mood. You might want to keep it neutral and let your décor do the talking, or you may want to choose a paint and trim color that will enhance the ambiance. Gray is all the rage in home design. You might elect to paint the walls a pale gray and the trim a slightly darker gray. Gray exudes a sense of balance, formality and sophistication. Other emotions/sensations tied to color include: beige = calm, white = clean, black = edgy, brown = earthy and rustic, pink = innocent, red = passionate, yellow = happy, green = natural, blue = serene and inviting.

The team at Atlanta-based Highlight Homes welcomes the opportunity to help you transform the look of your current family room, add a Great Room onto your existing home or design a custom home on your behalf that includes the Great Room of your dreams. Getting started is easy! Simply call us at 678-873-9234 or email us at info@highlighthomesga.com to schedule your no obligation consultation. You can also elect to complete our convenient online contact form.

From all of us here at Highlight Homes, we wish you and yours a very Happy Holiday Season and all the very best in the New Year!

Suite Dreams: Six Essential Elements for the Ideal Master Bedroom

Suite Dreams: Six Essential Elements for the Ideal Master Bedroom

When it comes to a good night’s sleep, it doesn’t begin and end with the ideal mattress for your back issues or the perfect pillow to combat your sleep partner’s snoring. There are certain elements that can go into making your surroundings as relaxing and tranquil as possible. The team at Highlight Homes has been in the business of designing and building master bedrooms for nearly three decades, and we’ve outlined SIX Essential Elements for Achieving the Ideal Master Bedroom:

  1. Soothing Colors: Bright colors – while beautiful and FUN – tend to invigorate the spirit… and the mind. For the bedroom, you’ll want to select cool, soothing hues such as pale blues, light yellows, delicate greens, calming lavenders, soft pinks or elegant grays. Through color psychology, all are guaranteed to help put your mind at ease so you can skip the chore of counting sheep.
  2. Lighting Set to Lull: When it comes to setting the mood for sleep, a dimmer switch can become your best friend. Bright lights tend to stimulate the mind, while low lighting encourages relaxation. You may also want to incorporate light-blocking curtains or blinds so you don’t have to wake with the sun on weekends.
  3. Room to Breathe: Air quality is an important element to a good night’s sleep. Plants – in addition to serving as beautiful natural décor – help detoxify the air by taking in carbon dioxide (CO2) and emitting oxygen. Jasmine, lavender, valerian, gardenia, gerber daisy, English ivy and peace lilies are all excellent choices for the bedroom. In addition, a well-placed ceiling fan can help circulate the air so it doesn’t become stale and stagnant, and an open window can do the same by letting in a little fresh air.
  4. Keep Your Cool: A smart thermostat that’s set to your ideal temperature right around the time that you typically head to bed is a great example of home technology at work. In an article about insomnia, WebMD suggests keeping the room between 65 and 72 degrees Fahrenheit, although the ideal temperature may be individual to the sleeper.
  5. Uncluttered Space = Uncluttered Mind: If your master bedroom is the “junk drawer” for the rest of the home because guests rarely enter within, you could be robbing yourself of precious sleep time. Clutter tends to lend itself to a restless mind. Put the laundry away and minimize the knick-knacks so the overall impression of this space is neat, orderly and inviting. The incorporation of a sitting room, where you can place a TV away from the bed so the bed itself is used primarily for rest and NOT for binge-watching, is also a great idea for uncluttering the mind before bedtime.
  6. Everything in its Place: The placement of the master bedroom is also a major component to ensuring fewer sleepless nights. If constructing a new home, you’ll want your master bedroom placed AWAY from the street, overlooking the backyard if at all possible. This will allow for a quieter environment, tucked away from revving motors and squealing children – making it seem more of an oasis. You’ll also want to make sure it’s not over the garage – which is not only noisy but will tend to rob the space of heat due to less insulation.  If you have a master-on-main, avoid placing it under a highly trafficked area such as a kids’ playroom or teens’ media space. The pitter-patter of little feet isn’t always a welcome sound.

Whether renovating your current master bedroom or building a custom home from the ground up, Highlight Homes welcomes the opportunity to help you achieve the sleep of your… well… dreams! To get started with a no-obligation consultation, contact us TODAY at 678-873-9234, info@highlighthomesga.com, or via our convenient online form.

Top Five Trends for Home Construction in 2018

Top Five Trends for Home Construction in 2018

Whether building your home from the ground up or reimagining your current home with some well-chosen renovation projects, it’s always a wise move to consider the latest trends in home construction. While timelessness NEVER goes out of style, in order to add to the wow factor or benefit from years of trial and error to find what works best – there’s a lot to be said for incorporating the latest looks and reaping the rewards from the most recent advances in home construction. While the trends abound from the interior to the exterior to the inner workings for 2018, here are just a few of our favorites from the team at Highlight Homes…

1)      Homes are Getting “Smarter”:  There is a growing trend toward “smart homes” in new home construction AND in renovations. Whether seeking an awesome security system, a way to control the A/C and electricity in your home with a touch of your mobile phone, a complete home sound system to fill each room with music or all of the above (and so much more), a Smart Home system is undoubtedly the way to go. To learn more about Smart Homes and how Highlight Homes can help, keep reading…

2)      Construction is Growing “Greener”:  If the environment is important to you and you hope to do your part to protect the planet, you’ll be pleased to learn that there are a number of ways to do just that when constructing a new home or incorporating a home renovation to your existing home. From using green home construction practices and incorporating low energy and water consumption elements such as energy-efficient appliances, Low-E windows and low flow toilets, you will be taking effective measures to limit your family’s carbon footprint. Keep reading to learn what else Highlight Homes does to take green construction to the next level…

3)      White is the New Black: For several years, crisp white kitchens have really made a comeback. What we’re witnessing lately is that trend spreading beyond the heart of the home to encompass other living spaces. White adds an air of tranquility and communicates CLEAN and REFRESHING. Mix it with Pantone’s Color of the Year for 2018 – Ultra-Violet – 18-3838 for an air of romance. All colors go beautifully with white if you’d like to add some color. And while we’re on the subject of color, be prepared to see lots of warm, rich colors in accents – from an accent wall to furniture. We’re also seeing a blend of both high contrast (a bold grey wall with pure white wainscoting) or tone-on-tone (where the wall and millwork are painted in the same exact hue) in living spaces – so go with whatever feels “right” to you!

4)      Industrial and Vintage Reign Supreme: From treated concrete floors and countertops to show-stopping industrial light fixtures and deep trough sinks, the “industrial age” rages on in interior design. We’re also seeing a mix of vintage finding its way back in. The vintage feel of subway tile, claw-footed tubs and romantic wallpaper prints are definitely making a very cool comeback.

5)      Textures Take Over the Interior: From highly textured wall treatments – like brick and reclaimed wood – to velvet furnishings and woven accent pieces, surfaces that have a visual and tactile interest are gaining favor among interior designers, home buyers and homeowners.

Long story short, 2018 is going to be a lot of fun! The race is on for the incorporation of technologically and environmentally cutting edge practices and elements paired with a throwback in design using clean colors, industrial and vintage components, and a variety of highly interesting walls and furnishings – making design, construction and the ultimate enjoyment of your new (or newly remodeled) home more rewarding than ever. Contact the talented team at Highlight Homes to help you incorporate any or all of the trends listed above in your custom home or whole home renovation in 2018. To get started, simply call us at 678-873-9234, email us at info@highlighthomesga.com or fill out our convenient online contact form and someone will be in touch with you shortly!  To learn more about Highlight Homes and view our online gallery of work, please visit www.highlighthomesga.com.