The biggest home trends spotted at Design & Construction Week 2018.
It’s a huge event. Bursting with the excitement of more than 85,000 attendees and 583,000 square feet of exhibits, the annual Design & Construction Week includes the International Builders’ Show and Kitchen and Bath Industry Show. This means there are aisles upon aisles of breathtaking and eye-catching displays filled with never-before-seen home building products. And, it’s a first chance for home builders, remodelers, and designers to see and touch what’s new and what will be perfect for their clients’ homes in 2018. The place to find out what’s new and next in home design and construction is Design & Construction Week.
It’s also a good place to spot the home trends that will be major themes throughout the year. The trends that are rising to the top are Abstraction, Authenticism, and Restrained Glam. Let’s breakdown each trend and share a few favorite examples.
Home Design Trend #1: Abstraction
The trend of abstract design means basically means that simple shapes are becoming popular. Abstraction is the next generation concept born from minimalism and tiny home living has been popularly talked about and embraced in recent years.
While it’s hard to get a firm number on how many Americans are actually living tiny and have attempted a minimalist lifestyle, many of us have viewed and read the tips from decluttering guru Marie Kondo and 33-item wardrobe creator Courtney Carver. Now that idea of minimalism has led us to getting even more pared down in our homes, and we are trending toward paring down the items that make our homes. The simplicity of design, by using abstract shapes in home building products is having a strong showing right now.
Abstraction is all about simplicity in form and shape.
For art and architecture geeks like me, this design with the red square is a major nod to Mondrian and de Stijl, a style of abstract geometric shapes and bold primary colors. With the 100th anniversary of de Stijl celebrated just last year, combined with our interest in living simply, the abstract style is popping up in new places, like this shower door by Coastal Shower Doors. The Gridscape doors are custom built to fit each opening, and there are glass and other options available.
Thanks to 3D printed technology, The Grid by Kallista Faucets will be an option in the summer of this year. Inspired by de Stijl, this simple grid style will be offered as lighting, towel bars, a robe hook, and a toilet paper holder, all in matte black.
The bold outline of the de Stijl line also is seen in this patio door by Ply Gem. With the minimalist frame, the MaxView Patio Door allows for expansive views with its three‐panel, multi‐slide door system that’s 18 feet wide and 10 feet tall.
Home Design Trend #2: Authenticism
It might not be a word that you’ve heard in home design, but it’s a major trend that has taken deep roots and shows no sign of stopping growth any time soon. Authenticism is the embracing of natural textures and colors. The ‘farmhouse’ look and ‘coastal’ are two kinds of the Authenticism style. With our obsession with all things tech and touchscreen, the need for a home environment that offers natural elements of nature that are so nurturing after trying to keep up with our crazy-hectic modern lifestyle is trending in home building products and design.
The exterior of a home makes a major statement. When using a combination of natural finishes and colors, there’s an inviting warmth that a home can exude. This is part of an Authenticism home, as shown here with Ply Gem’s Engineered Slate and Cedar Roofing shingles, which are designed to look like genuine slate and cedar shake shingles, without the maintenance. The grays of the roof mix with the warmth of the exterior stone and wood details. And these roofing shingles can withstand large hailstones, ultraviolet rays, extreme temperatures, wind loads of up to 190 mph, and have achieved Miami‐Dade wind certification.
Natural textures and styles are influencing interiors through finishes and lighting with modern interpretations of the farmhouse look. Progress Lighting showcased its Cherish chandeliers at this modern farmhouse interior as part of The New American Remodel during the International Builders’ Show. The linen shade with the bronze and brass candle covers provide the touch of nature that pairs well with the wood and earth-tones of the space.
The fireplace is a perfect way to bring Authenticism into your home. The company HEAT & GLO has taken the gas fireplace one step further into an authentic experience. The Phoenix TrueView is a gas fireplace that has the look of a real traditional fireplace but without the glass to separate you from the glow. A TV can be placed just 12 inches above the fireplace, without a mantel. And an optional Bluetooth speaker system is offered. Yes, while we want the feel of authentic experiences, we are all still obsessively attached to our tech options.
Home Design Trend #3: Restrained Glam
Having authentic and minimalist surroundings are helping calm and comfort our over-busy brains, but that doesn’t mean we want to give up the little moments of glamour that make us smile with delight. Yes, there’s still a desire for pops of glamour in our homes. It’s not ostentatious glam, it’s just small refined moments of luxe in and around our homes.
A farmhouse sink isn’t new, and could be considered part of the Authenticism trend, but Elkay is offering this farmhouse sink in gold. It’s a spot of glam in an otherwise visually calm kitchen. This white-with-gold-pops look, sometimes paired with elements of black, is strongly on-trend in kitchens and bathrooms right now. The Stainless Steel Farmhouse sink is offered in rose gold, blue and gold. And the front of the sink is interchangeable, so you can swap out the color depending on your current color obsession.
On the outside it may look like just a regular sleek dishwasher, but on the inside you’ll find the glam. Called the Star-Saphire Dishwasher, it has lighting that can be customized from three shades of blue or white. Yes, Thermador has added a pop of glam in cleaning up after dinner or a party.
If you want a pop of glam on built-ins in your home office, media room, or kitchen, check out the hardware options for pulls and knobs. Glass knobs are a traditional way to add a bit of fun shine to a cabinet, but there are more glam options available using metals and patterns. Wisdom Stone is creating a collection of cabinet hardware inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright. The graphic elevated look of these pulls can create a pop of glam in any room.
So what trends are you seeing in home design and construction? I’d love to know. Share your thoughts in the comments below.
Source: – Theresa Clement, home designer, color consultant, licensed contractor, author, blogger, and host at MyFixitUpLife.com.
For homeowners, it can be really difficult staying on top of home design trends. Especially when updating certain aspects of your home only happens once or twice in a lifetime, like your siding or windows. Fortunately, there are a few home design trends that look like they’re here to stay – one of them being gray. A few years ago, nobody had gray in their homes. Outside walls were mostly beige. Now, those that don’t have gray on their homes are jumping on the bandwagon. But this has many homeowners wondering – is it too late? Is gray on the way out?
Most home design experts say no. Gray is the new standard. In particular, neutral gray will be big in 2018. The undertone of this neutral hue is not particularly warm or cool which makes it more versatile. A classic color that will never go out of style. The best part? It works wonderfully all year around. So, how can you stay on top of this color trend and use gray on your home?
Here are three ways you can incorporate gray into your home.
1. Gray Siding
The ultimate way to add gray to your home is with gray siding. Because gray is so versatile it can easily be mix and matched with just about any accent colors and trim you can dream of.
Here are a few gray siding ideas.
Wood accents stand out against this light silver gray siding with white windows.
Blue gray siding is an ideal compliment to this cream stone veneer accent wall.
Black shutters and white windows pop against this dark gray shake siding.
2. Gray Windows
Gray is the new black in window colors. This window color trend has emerged throughout the past few months and is growing quickly in popularity.
What makes gray windows so wonderful? They can be seamlessly integrated into just about any existing home decor and will make your house stand out from the rest of the house in your neighborhood.
Here are a few gray window ideas.
Gray windows stand out against this pale green siding and white trim.
Dark gray windows make a statement next to this light gray siding and cream stone accents.
3. Gray Stone Veneer
Stone veneer is a growing home design trend that isn’t slowing down anytime soon. Stone veneer is easy to customize and gives a vivid pop of color and texture to any space, whether you use it indoors or outdoors.
Here are a few gray stone veneer ideas.
Dark gray stone veneer adds character to this garden.
Gray stone veneer walls add texture and contract to this living room.
Ready to add gray to your home?
Visualize what new gray siding or gray stone veneer will look like on your home with our home design tool. This tool lets you see what colors will look like on your home before you make a commitment. Try a color scheme developed by our design experts, or create a gray color palette that’s all your own. Click here.
WHILE there are many ways to enhance the appearance of a house — installing a new front door, adding shutters, painting the window frames, sprucing up the landscaping — few improvements provide the metamorphosis that results from installing new siding.
”In the last few years, the siding market has exploded,” said Bruce Herlitschek, president of American Home Exterior Design, a siding company based in Yonkers. Mr. Herlitschek said that the growth relates both to the number of homeowners calling to have their existing siding replaced and to the range of choices of replacement materials now available.
”Homeowners have more options now than ever before,” he said, explaining that in addition to traditional siding materials like cedar-shake shingles and wood clapboard, homeowners can choose from various styles, shapes, colors and even thicknesses.
And while many homeowners still install aluminum siding, he said, the most common siding material for new installations in the Northeast is vinyl. ”Vinyl siding is molded into different shapes and sizes in the factory,” he said, adding that since the color of vinyl is imbedded in the material itself — as opposed to being a surface finish, as it is on aluminum — scratches are virtually invisible.
The traditional vinyl panel, Mr. Herlitschek said, is called a ”single-eight,” which means that the panel is eight inches high. Most vinyl panels come in standard 12-foot lengths.
The panels most commonly used today, however, are known as ”double-fours” — eight-inch-high lengths of vinyl that are molded to appear as two four-inch clapboards, one above the other. Panels are also available in a style called shiplap or Dutchlap, a nine-inch-high panel that looks like two four-and-a-half-inch-high boards that are beveled on the edges.
”If everybody else on your block has double-fours, using shiplap will give your house a unique exterior detail,” Mr. Herlitschek said.
Joseph J. Horan, an owner of Vinylseal, an East Meadow, Long Island, contractor, said that it is also possible to purchase vinyl panels that look like three-inch-high clapboards. ”If you have a one-story ranch, oftentimes we’ll recommend going with three-inch panels because it makes the house look taller,” Mr. Horan said, adding that such panels on a two- or three-story colonial, on the other hand, could make the house look too busy.
Another popular style of vinyl siding mimics the look of cedar shingles. ”There are rustic shakes, scallops and even gingerbread,” he said. ”And there are also a lot of accessory items that can enhance the look of a house.” Among the accessories, he said, are shutters and decorative moldings that can be installed around windows and doors.
Mr. Horan said that in most cases, before new vinyl siding can be installed, the existing siding should be removed. Failure to remove it will result in an uneven base for the new siding and make it impossible to assess the condition of the surface underneath the old siding, he said.
”You have to make sure you have a sound subsurface,” he said, explaining that it is not uncommon to find rotted wood near where the foundation meets the sheathing and around windows and doors.
The sole exception, he said, is shingle-type siding that contains asbestos; such siding is generally left in place so that no asbestos fibers are released into the air. ”Then you install a plastic vapor barrier and a layer of foam insulation underneath the new siding that’s being installed,” he said.
The cost of installing standard vinyl siding, including removing the existing siding and installing a vapor barrier and insulation, should run anywhere from $500 to $700 for every 100 square feet of surface to be covered, he said.
A lawsuit in Oregon over melted vinyl siding is revisiting the question of what role, if any, windows might play in such events.
Michael Harney of Beaverton, Ore., is suing Associated Materials of Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, the makers of Alside siding, for not honoring its warranty after Harney said a house he sold in October 2015 had melted siding. The complaint says Alside rejected his warranty claim because it believed the melting was caused by an unusual heat source, according to a report from Plastics News. Harney’s complaint alleges that the vinyl siding melted while being exposed to “natural conditions” and is thus covered under the warranty. (Attorneys for Associated Materials have not yet filed a response.)
The lawsuit, which was filed in August in U.S. District Court in Portland, Ore., could become a national class action case.
“While the precise number is unknown at this time … the proposed Class may be comprised of at least thousands of members,” lawyers for the plaintiff said in their complaint, which noted that there are at least 100 potential class members who could claim damages in excess of $5 million.
A study by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) found that under certain rare conditions, it’s possible for windows to focus enough heat onto vinyl siding to melt or warp it.
“Glass in double paned windows may on occasion slightly warp or deflect due to a difference in barometric pressure between the interior of the glass panes and the outside air pressure,” a 2014 summary of earlier NAHB research says. “This can create a concavity in the glass. Such a concavity is a normal response to pressure differences, does not affect the performance of the window, and does not constitute a defective window condition. However, the concavity may focus sunlight reflected from the window in a fashion similar to the effect seen when light passes through a magnifying glass. This focused light may land on adjacent building surfaces, and appear as a brilliant star-shaped spot. The concentrated heat generated by the focused reflected sunlight results in surface temperatures well above that encountered from direct sunlight, and has the capability of causing damage to exposed materials, especially those which are plastic based.”
Other factors that can affect distortion include foliage, the angle of the sun and how close houses are to one another, the report says.
To prevent concavity, the NAHB report urges window manufacturers to use capillary tubes between the two lites of glass.
“The capillary tube connects the interior space between the window panes to the outside air, permitting a gradual equalization of barometric pressure, and thereby lessening the possibility that a concavity will develop in the glass,” the report says.
However, capillary tubes can’t be used in windows with argon filling, because the gas will leak out.
Additionally, the NAHB report says manufacturers could switch to double-strength glass to prevent the concavity problem. Most windows are made with two pieces of glass that are 3/32 of an inch thick. Glass that’s 1/8 of an inch thick would maintain a flatter surface.
For years, many homeowners assumed that low-E glass was the main culprit in melting vinyl siding.
Low-E glass has been standard in building codes for years. Today, it’s in more than 81 percent of all residential windows, according to the American Architectural Manufacturers Association (AAMA).
In 2014, complaints about warped siding and even a handful of fires led the North Carolina Building Code Council to adopt an emergency rule that would let builders use non-low-E glass in situations where they could foresee reflections causing a problem. However, after intense lobbying by AAMA, the Window and Door Manufacturers Association (WDMA) and other industry groups, the North Carolina Rules Review Commission rejected the rule.
But last fall, the North Carolina Building Code Council changed the energy conservation section of the state building code to allow substitution of windows when they have been either shown to cause a problem relating to concentrated solar reflection or it can be determined they could cause a problem. This permanent rule took effect in January 2016.
The change was made to ensure builders would be clear of any liability for not being in compliance with the energy conservation requirements, said Jeffrey A. Smith, communications director with the Vinyl Siding Institute.
If you had told me five years ago that windows are the cause of melting siding, I would have chuckled. I’ve built, remodeled and repaired several thousand homes and I had never heard of melting siding until the last couple years. But believe it or not, some of the new energy efficient windows are creating this problem. Let’s talk about what causes it, how to prevent the problem, and then discuss solutions if you already have the melting siding.
Low-E Windows Melting Siding
Combine low-E glass facing south or southwest, homes that are close together with vinyl siding, and the sun and you get a recipe for melting siding. In case you aren’t familiar with them, low-E (a.k.a. low-emittance) windows have a coating on them that suppresses radiative heat flow. In other words, it prevents heat from going where we don’t want it to go. The amount of low-E and it’s location on the glass is dependent on the climate the home is in. These windows are becoming more common as people seek to improve the energy performance of their homes.
Is the Melting Siding a Vinyl Issue?
Vinyl siding starts to distort (or melt) at temperatures around 165-170 degrees fahrenheit. As far as I know, this has been the case ever since the siding was first developed. In normal situations, siding would not be subjected to these temperatures. So in my opinion, as a builder, the answer is no, siding that melts from window reflections are not defective. The concentrated beam of light from the low-E windows is an external force that is uncommon until recently.
Prevention
Here are some ideas to keep from melting siding in new and existing homes…
don’t install Low-E glass on south or southwest facing walls when a vinyl sided wall is within 20 feet (applies to low-E glass with coating facing exterior)
cover double hung low-E glass with full screens to diffuse sun reflections
use siding that has a surface that can withstand temperatures of 250 degrees fahrenheit before damage occurs
Solution for Existing Homes with Melting Siding
Here are some tips for solutions to your melting siding issues…
cover the low-e windows with awnings to keep the sun off (although, if it’s your neighbors home with the low-E…who pays for them and will they like the idea of awnings?)
replace the low-e glass with a different type
cover the exterior of the windows with screens to stop the reflection
plant a landscape buffer between the homes to prevent the reflections from hitting the vinyl siding
install a fence between the homes to prevent the reflections
talk to the window manufacturer…they have been known to take care of this problem in some cases
Check out the video below describing more about the low-E window/melting vinyl siding issue. Let us know if you have had similar issues with melting siding on your home.
Home ownership is rewarding and stressful. Home owners are always weighing the pros and cons of pursuing their dreams versus the family budget and affordability. Sometimes home owners will stretch their budget by doing some of their own home maintenance although replacing the siding on a house is large enough that most home owners will hire professionals.
Maintaining your home’s exterior is a challenge for any home owner so don’t think you’re alone. You can learn from one home owner’s experience as she considers residing her Victorian home with vinyl, all the way down to the Gingerbread details.
Replacing Wood Siding with Vinyl?
Home owners don’t always realize that painting their home’s exterior is key to protecting the home from water damage. Any type of wood trim that juts out from the home’s surface is more prone to damage as dirt can collect and cause water to pool. When the moisture content of wood exceeds 15 to 20 percent, wood rot can occur. Wood rot is most commonly found on window sills and on this beautiful Victorian home, there was horizontal wood trim at the base of the top floor which rotted out, plus the damage had started to creep up the siding above the trim boards.
At the time of these repairs, I recommended to the home owner that vinyl siding might be a better long term solution to ongoing maintenance issues. It’s now 4 years later and the home owner is ready to replace her wood siding with vinyl versus painting. We’ve visited a local building products supply house and found vinyl texture and colors very similar to her current colors, and now we’re looking for vinyl trim pieces to maintain the Victoria look and feel of the home.
While you can buy a known brand like Gap clothes online, it is best to purchase home products and materials from a reputable local, home building supply store that serves the construction industry. They get feedback from 100s of customers, adding and dropping products based on the experience of their customers.
Victoria Gingerbread Trim in Vinyl
Most vinyl siding manufacturers offer a wide range of vinyl siding textures, shapes and colors. Shown at left is Certainteed’s half round shingle accents that are often used in multiple color combinations to dress up a house. Another specialty manufacturer, MidAmerica Siding Components (www.midamericacomponents.com) offers many more variations of decorative siding shingles:
Hexagon
Mitered Corner
Fish Scale
Octagon
Round
Transitional for the bottom course under any style
For the fancy trim typically found around doors, on the porch and at the top of the roof peaks, you will need to google “Victorian & house trim” and search for vinyl as you don’t want to have to climb a ladder to paint wood trim at the peak of your home. Here are some websites I found with a good selection of Victorian trim although I’m sure there are other good sources out there (and if you find some, please share below):
Home Trim Plus (www.hometrimplus.com) offers exterior “ginger bread” trim choices along with screen door trim.
Vintage Woodworks (www.vintagewoodworks.com) has a wide range of products, well organized so you can see your choices for anything from gable decorations to porch posts and how to choose the right one.
Victorian Essence (www.missingromance.com) focuses on porch, arbor and gazebo components.
Home owners don’t always realize that painting their home’s exterior is key to protecting the home from water damage. Any type of wood trim that juts out from the home’s surface is more prone to damage as dirt can collect and cause water to pool. When the moisture content of wood exceeds 15 to 20 percent, wood rot can occur. Wood rot is most commonly found on window sills and on this beautiful Victorian home, there was horizontal wood trim at the base of the top floor which rotted out, plus the damage had started to creep up the siding above the trim boards.
Most vinyl siding manufacturers offer a wide range of vinyl siding textures, shapes and colors. Shown at left is Certainteed’s half round shingle accents that are often used in multiple color combinations to dress up a house. Another specialty manufacturer, MidAmerica Siding Components (
