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When helping a homeowner design the perfect seasonal space, especially as a key wish list item during a renovation project at any time of year, it’s important to focus on customization. Not only are homeowners’ everyday aesthetic preferences going to be different—so, too, will their individual holiday traditions. From hosting intimate gatherings with just a few visitors to inviting family and friends to fly in and stay over for days at a time, each family’s expectations will be different than the last.
Once you’ve established the degree to which a client plans on hosting and entertaining guests, you can get down to the real work of personalizing their spaces. This includes the eye candy of aesthetic preferences and more practical considerations such as how foot traffic will flow through a space, when it makes sense to emphasize natural lighting, where to leave room for expanded seating in the living and dining room, and more.
Above all else, your goal in designing and building holiday-ready spaces is simply to help homeowners lean into their “every day” style when curating a shared experience for their holiday guests:
A Homey Hearth
No feature showcases the infusion of natural elements within the home better than the hearth. With its distinctive mix of fire, wood and brick or stone textures, the fireplace is an ideal area to incorporate personal touches to show off a softer side of the home It’s also a natural anchor point for conversation, which means you’ll need to plan a variety of transit pathways for people who might be passing by the fire when the room is crowded and buzzing with lively banter.
As a focal point of everyday life, the hearth should be its own statement maker while also leaving room for seasonal displays. When selecting color palettes and textural touches that will make this space the hub of the home in every season, be sure to consider the holiday accoutrements that may take up residence for a few weeks or months as well.
A Guest-Friendly Kitchen
Many of us associate the holidays with warm memories and decadent desserts. It all starts and ends in the kitchen, and there’s no place more perfect for a contemporary makeover than the heart of the home. While most modern styles emphasize bright, white hues and clean lines throughout the home, the kitchen is another area where it pays to invest in warm accents and rustic textures that pull inspiration from the natural world.
From live-edge wood countertops and shelving to light touches of greenery and cozy fabrics on barstools against the island, there are many ways you can help homeowners design a space for daily utility and season-specific allure.
Room Around the Table
During the holidays, many homeowners are opening their doors to more visitors and neighbors than at any other time of year. To help them plan accordingly, one of the most valuable decisions you can inspire might be that they “leave room” for those guests by enlarging the size of their dining space and planning for extra chairs around the table.
To keep the mood festive and bright during the holiday season, it’s also best to keep this dining space bright and open, with plenty of natural lighting and consistent air flow.
Ultimately, design choices made during the holiday season don’t have to be temporary. With a little planning and discussion between your team and each homeowner with whom you work, you can make considerate, intentional decisions now that will continue to elevate the look and feel of their favorite spaces for months and years to come.
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About Sarah Lograsso
As Director of Marketing and Portfolio Management for the Westlake Royal Building Products, Sarah has successfully coupled her design talents with business acumen to refresh, refine and distinctly position five standout brands in the North American market and abroad. She continues to provide design direction for the brands’ variety of best-selling modern profiles and trend-forward color palettes while enhancing the prestige of the category among masons, builders, designers, architects and consumers.
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