Eye of the Beholder...5 Tips to a more Beautiful Home!

Our friends, and client Cozy and Mark Palmer informed us the other day that DHome Magazine's editors selected their home as one of the 10 Most Beautiful homes in Dallas! A stunning accomplishment for Mark in particular who has been dreaming of building a Greek Revival Farmhouse for the last 25 years or so.

The old saying goes, '...one man's trash is another man's treasure...' And so it is with homes. What keeps life interesting is producers who continue to make chocolate...and vanilla...and even tutti fruiti - something for everyone who declares their individual taste.




But on the other end of the spectrum from "Most Beautiful" is often "Ugliest!" While 'beauty really is in the eye of the beholder,' here are 5 ways to maximize the beauty of your home construction or remodel project:

1. Go Pro - Just like Doctors are trained in how our bodies function, architects, landscape architects, and interior designers are classically trained in proportion, balance, harmony and variety. Who really studies da Vinci's Vitruvian Man or Le Corbusier's Modulor based on the Golden Mean? Architects do! It's all part of their training. As a result of their training, degreed architects or interior designers are more likely to help you create a thing of beauty. But don't always discount those who haven't studied Le Corbusier - some people just have a knack for designing beautiful things!
2. Show and Tell
   
   Trapped deep within your brain are images and feelings that are satisfying. Experience suggests the easiest way to "untrap" those feeling and images is to research pictures and find things that feel good. Coffee table magazines like Veranda, House Beautiful, and Southern Living to name a few, are brimming with ideas. Recently a website named Houzz began collecting catagorized pictures from architects, builders, interior designers and landscape architects for the sole purpose of displaying professional's best ideas for building or renovating homes. With well over a million photos, surely you can find something that resonates with your soul!
3. Point and Shoot  
   
   Once you have an inventory of ideas for your home project, and a professional(s) to help you with design, it's time to point to a captured picture and challenge the professionals with incorporating the idea into your home. Not surprisingly this will insure most of the ideas which have resonated with your soul will end up in the finished product. Remember, just because an architect or designer draws your idea on a piece of paper doesn't mean your builder will actually build it that way! Hang on to your photos for the next step...
4. "Can You Hear Me Now?"
   
    Think of your builder as a "put'er-togetherer" of gigantic jigsaw puzzles. Just like any computer, you will need to program him/her with the right information so that your building puzzle turns out just the way you wanted. Enter, the communications process! Your ability to end up with what you want in a home is directly related to the quality of the communications between yourself, the design professionals, and your builder. Interview carefully to make sure your builder has a communications system that translates great ideas into beautiful construction.
5. 
   Flies Stick to Honey  The age old expression "...you can catch a lot more flies with honey than you can with vinegar..." reigns supreme in the design/build industry. Exhibiting an "attitude of gratitude" insures everyone associated with your project would rather work on your home instead of someone else's. Through the years I've witnessed extraordinary efforts on the part of professionals, builders, and trade subcontractors, all because the homeowner was being kind and gracious to everyone working on the project.

Highly talented people consistently turn out beautiful projects. Experience has taught them what looks good, and what doesn't. While you may think it expensive to hire talent, you haven't seen "expensive" until you have to tear out something that's either made wrong, or ugly!