Model Homes that Sell
Model Home ideas that help sell homes
DalTile Listens
Jun 16th
There are days (actually most of them!) when I love being a Lifestylist®, and this week was a great one. I was able to work with the amazing team at Champion Homes of Texas and finish the XTreme Model Home Challenge, then I was invited to the corporate headquarters for DalTile to view some new products they are working on.
Honestly, I don’t know why more companies don’t ask for our help – being able to give input to DalTile helps all of us in the long run. They get to learn about what we need and haven’t been able to find, and by learning about what DalTile is working on I’m able to be sure that my clients know about these amazing new and current products so they can take advantage of them as well.
DalTile has always done an amazing job of understanding the needs of designers and builders and delivering beautiful products that are exactly what the homeowner is looking for. After spending a few days with their team, I think I know know how they achieve this – they listen. The innovative new products they will be launching that we got to see are obviously the product of really listening to and understanding the lifestyle of today’s buyer. With more people wanting the ease of maintenance that tile affords as well as it being so family and pet friendly, tile is going to become even more important in tomorrow’s homes. I can’t give everything away, but soon you will be seeing tile that is so simple to install even I could do it 
and they are using new technologies to produce glass and mixed materials into mosaics that are worthy of being hung in a museum, but you will be able to easily install them in your own home. It was like they could read my mind – things that I had only dreamed about being able to use in my homes will soon be a reality.
Tile can be very intimidating to a novice homeowner, and with so many beautiful choices it can be very hard to choose what is your favorite. DalTile has helped take some of the guesswork out of this by having an easy to use website full of ideas. They also have design centers around the country that are staffed with some of the most knowledgeable designers I’ve ever worked with, and they are full of inspirations on how you can use tile to create your own dream home. They were very helpful to me when I was working on the new Design Center for @home Builders that will be opening soon – if you have a chance to stop by you should. They also helped me design the great kitchen backsplash for the new model home that just opened at Frisco Ranch for American Custom Builders.
Now it’s my turn to listen. I would love to hear about how you have used tile in your home. Feel free to contact us at: answers@lifestylist.com and share your beautiful rooms with us!
XTreme Model Homes Update – IKEA Saves the Day
Jun 10th
We are making progress!
On of the toughest things to do when you have to merchandise or stage a home quickly is find the right furniture for the space. I don’t like to stock furniture because then you end up putting things that just aren’t quite right into a space because you have them. Lucky for me, there is an IKEA in the area so after having no luck even with being able to rent and make budget for this client, I decided to see what I could find online. IKEA is truly a lifestyle, and as a Lifestylist® I know this is a great resource for designing homes with lots of personality.
In the last few years, the IKEA website has become very user friendly. It’s well organized, easy to find what you are looking for by room, and they also have great inspiration photos which can be a huge help. A new to me feature is the Shopping List. You can add an item in your shopping list and by doing so and entering which store you’ll be picking up at the site will then prepare a list that not only has a photo and cost of the item, it will also tell you specifically where in the store that item will be! If you have ever been in an IKEA store you know that because of the size of the stores and all of the great room vignettes it can easily take you an entire day to shop. But you’ll never go hungry -they all have a great cafe that is as reasonably priced as their furniture in them and also a take out area if you are eating on the run.
With the help of the website I was able to make out a very detailed plan for each home and know exactly where I would find it and if it was in stock. When I arrived at the store I was able to pull everything and get it to the delivery window in 2 hours so I was thrilled! I think that was a record for me but I stayed focused and only bought what I knew I needed. When you are working on XTreme Homes with XTreme budgets the key is to only buy what you know you need or your budget can go off target in one shopping trip.
For you all not used to the IKEA experience – be warned – their great pricing comes at a cost. Most of their merchandise is “Flat box” which means it is designed to take up the minimum amount of space when it is being shipped. After you purchase the item most of it will have to be assembled, even the sofas so keep that in mind if you aren’t especially great with a screwdriver. They do have outside companies you can contact to put your items together though but this would drive up your costs. The other thing is that you are literally shopping in a warehouse, and you have to pull the merchandise from the shelves and bring it up to the check out lines. This may not be a problem if you are only buying a wicker chair, but if you are buying houses of furniture be sure to bring help and a truck to take it home in. I used their delivery service but didn’t have a great experience so I’d only use this as a last resort.
Everything got delivered yesterday, they are finishing up the houses today and hopefully I get to start making them look like home tomorrow! Can’t wait to see how they end up.
Xtreme Model Home Challenge
Jun 5th
I love a challenge, but when I got a call this week from Champion Homes of Texas I may have gotten one that is even more than I can take on.
They are introducing their new XTREME Home Value Series, and they are so excited about it they didn’t want to wait for the normal time it takes to put together a home show to introduce it to their buyers – they decided since these are factory built homes and they could get them built in a week, they would have a home show in a week! This means putting together 4 furnished model homes with Xtremely tight budgets in 7 days.
Can Lifestylist Design Inc. get this done? Check back in a week or so and find out how we did!
Sneak Peek Sunday at Frisco Ranch
May 16th
American Custom Builders is inviting neighbors and interested buyers to it’s Sneak Peek Sunday today from 1-3pm. Take advantage of the opening to view our latest Lifestylist Designed home and see for yourself this fresh approach to home building and design. All of the furniture is from the local Ashley HomeStore and consumers can go and purchase almost everything they see in the homes themselves.
Lifestylist Designed Merchandising
May 4th
What a busy, busy month so far! Three models and a design center for three different clients in three different states – it looks like the Lifestylist Designed concept is gaining momentum.
Yesterday I was out working on the new model home for American Custom Builders in Frisco, TX and was fortunate enough to have the very talented Lisa Stewart of LAS Photo join me to take some preliminary photos. The home isn’t done yet but we wanted to get an idea of what it would like like in photos. This has ended up being one of the more difficult homes that I’ve done, but I think it is going to also be one of the most successful. Using the Lifestylist Designed philosophy we have merchandised this home with items that can be purchased at stores within 10 miles of the home or online – all being within the budget of what a prospective homebuyer might want to spend. Drapes and rods are JCPenney or Bed Bath and Beyond, all furniture is from the Ashley HomeStores, and a lot of the artwork and accessories is from Wisteria – a great catalog resource. Pottery Barn Kids helped the children’s rooms come to life, IKEA helped us stay in budget, and we even found a very cool resource here in Dallas – a consignment pool table company that got us an incredible deal on the pool table and they even picked it up and installed it for us!
American Custom Builders will now be working with the Ashley HomeStores so that their customers can go in and purchase what they see in the model, and we will be providing purchasing information on most of the items in the home. More information and photos to come – I’d love to have your feedback on what you think of the home and our concept.
HomeAid America Celebrates 200th Shelter for the Temporarily Homeless
Mar 13th
The opening of the newest facility in Fairfield, CA, marks the 200th shelter completion for HomeAid America, Inc., the nation’s largest provider of temporary housing for the homeless. This milestone was reached with a special dedication of a women’s and children’s building, family units and a day-care center at the Bridge to Life Center at Mission Solano.
“200 shelters in 20 years is a remarkable achievement,” stated Jeffrey A. Slavin, chief executive officer of HomeAid. “With 21 active chapters in 15 states, we are very proud to have assisted so many deserving individuals in such a short period of time. Our mission is far from over, however. As many as three and one-half million people are homeless in America each year, and one million of those are children. The vast majority of the homeless are not the chronically homeless, but our neighbors, people whose lives have been suddenly changed by an unexpected event like loss of job, domestic violence, or illness. HomeAid remains committed to addressing this unfortunate situation, and we currently have 36 more shelters in development.”
HomeAid shelters have served over 100,000 homeless people since the organization was founded in 1989 and now offers 1,800,000 bed nights annually for homeless Americans all across the country. The Bridge to Life project was spearheaded by HomeAid Northern California, a HomeAid America affiliate, supported by the Home Builders Association of Northern California, with major contributions from Brookfield Homes, DeNova Homes, Centex Homes and the Lennar Charitable Housing Foundation.
Ron Marlette, executive director of Mission Solano, added, “We are grateful to the homebuilders who stepped forward during one of the industry’s most challenging times. Without their dedication and a superb team of volunteers, the Bridge to Life Center may still have been a dream, not a reality.”
Mission Solano operates entirely on voluntary contributions. Their doors are open 24 hours a day, 365 days a week and they provide help without charge to any person regardless of race, color, creed or social standing. The newest facility is creating 208 beds, as well as providing families and individuals with the holistic services that will help to guarantee their ability to break the cycle of homelessness and poverty.
Creating shelters takes teamwork from the local community, builders, contractors, journeymen and volunteers across the United States. If you or your company would like to work in partnership with people in need, helping them to secure shelter and a start a new beginning please contact HomeAid at www.homeaid.org or 1-888-3HOMEAID.
HomeAid has been praised as the best public/private housing program of its kind in America by Art Agnos, former Mayor of San Francisco. Through the generosity of America’s builders, their trade partners, financial institutions and private and public donors, its projects to date total nearly 1.4 million square feet of space representing more than $160 million in project construction costs, of which $75.4 million has been donated by the building industry.
HomeAid affiliates are located in Atlanta; Charlotte, NC; Chicago; Colorado; Dallas; Houston; Las Vegas, NV; Los Angeles; Massachusetts; Michigan; Northern California; Northern Virginia; Northwest Arkansas; Orange County, CA; Portland, OR; Riverside-San Bernardino, CA; Sacramento; San Diego; Seattle; Tampa; and Washington, DC.
When to Hire a Professional
Mar 12th
You would be amazed how many times I’m asked this. Not because as a Lifestylist I am a professional, but because if you are going to make the investment to build a model home, advertise and market it, and have a sales professional there to sell it, why would you trust your model home merchandising to someone who isn’t trained and doesn’t do this for a living?
The times are a’changing. In years past many merchandisers only bid doing homes by charging according to the square footage of the home. As someone who teaches merchandising for the National Association of Home Builders IRM courses we tell our students in every class this isn’t the way to bid or budget a job, and at the Home Idea Factory we don’t. Until we do a study figuring out who the buyer is, what the demographics are and how much that buyer can and should spend, and of course what their lifestyle is we won’t give a quote. The other big question that many builders are reticent to give up is budget – how much the builder can or will spend on merchandising. They think if they give a budget the merchandiser will spend every penny even if it isn’t necessary. I was amazed when I builder that I’m currently working with told me that I was the only firm that was willing to work with him and his needs not on a sq. ft. budget, and even though he doesn’t have a lot to spend we are doing innovative things that will save his company money while still giving a home that will stand out and sell homes. Doing some partnership merchandising with the Ashley Homestores is one of the ways that we will achieve this and also help him with his marketing dollars.
This has been a really busy week and I love it! Color selections were made for 3 different builders and communities, and we were also finally able to finish up interiors selections for one of our builders. This was when I realized how working with firms that understand professionalism, have a system that works and are able to guide not only the builder but their customers through the process seamlessly can make all of the difference. This particular builder was a new to this market so we were deciding who the other partners were going to be on his team as we went. And I love this builder – American Custom Builders – because they understand the value of a strong team and include all of us in the decision making. Mike Land of Plans by Land designed amazing homes that I couldn’t wait to get started on, and getting his feedback on what he envisioned these homes looking like has been a huge help. But when it came to partners that would supply flooring, tile, etc we hit some roadblocks.
So you know, one of my biggest pet peeves is people who don’t return phone calls. Especially when they have bugging you for your business for months, then you give them the opportunity and they disappear. Or they are 9-5, even though that may not work for your homeowners who need to make selections. We wasted almost two months making selections with companies like these that once you offered them the business they suddenly became too busy to return your phone calls.
Enter the perfect missing link to our team - Creative Touch Interiors. Shame on me, I hadn’t heard of them before, but I promise that won’t happen to anyone else because I’m going to spread the word! Paul of CTI found the owner of ACB Homes and contacted him making promises he kept! When prices were needed we got them by the next day (if not within the next hour!), when appointments were needed they happened – at our convenience, not necessarily theirs. They wanted the business and made us feel like they appreciated it.
When it came time for me to make and finalize the interior selections on the four homes ACB had started I had the wonderful opportunity to work with Shannon who works out of their beautiful design center in Dallas. She made it so easy, knew her products and gave me the opportunity to design amazing homes for my builder and stay in budget – I didn’t have to sacrifice a thing! It was an absolute delight to work with another professional, and as I told the builder I am comfortable putting his customers into Shannon’s very capable hands.
So back to the original comment – when to hire a professional. Why would you not hire a professional? When working with the other companies I was working with sales people who sold carpet, and tile, and wood, but they didn’t seem to grasp the fact that we were working on something that could not only make or break the builder, it also could make all of the difference in the potential buyers lives. There was no way they could work with potential home buyers, and I wouldn’t want them to – it might have jeopardized the sale. I’m thrilled that we now have Creative Touch Interiors, Paul, and Shannon on the American Custom Builders team. I’m comfortable with the fact that their professionalism will make a difference in the homes they help my builder’s buyers with and now I can concentrate on our model homes! We are shooting for a May 1 grand opening so I have a lot of work to do!
Rent-A-Center Eggs on Customers to Buy 2 millionth Egg
Mar 11th
This Lifestylist knows that Rent-A-Center leases a lot of great products for the home, but until this weekend I didn’t know they sold eggs! I saw a great article on CNN Money the other day about how they are having a huge drive doing just this.
These are actually paper eggs that customers can buy for $1 with all proceeds going to Big Brother Big Sisters. In the past seven years Rent-A-Center has raised over $1.79 million dollars and with the help of their great teams in local stores and loyal customers they hope to exceed the $2 million mark in 2010.
What is really neat is that money raised in each local area goes to those local Big Brother Big Sister chapters, and Rent-A-Center is matching individual donations dollar for dollar up to $100,000 with a guaranteed donation of $250.00 to each of the nearly 385 local agencies. The drive continues until April 3rd and you can find your local store here: www.rentacenter.com
I’m feeling Blue
Feb 24th
- The Preserve
- Bedroom Before
- Bedroom After
- Bath with Target Accessories
Earlier this year Pantone named blue, or turquoise to be exact the color of the year. I’m wondering if the winter Olympic committee had consulted with them because blue is definitely a color we are seeing a lot of as we watch the winter games.
I love the shades of blue and green that were chosen for the Olympics -it just goes to show how much of a difference the right colors can make in the appearance of an event, branding campaign or even a room. Using navy vs. aqua on a wall makes all the difference, even though they are both blue.
@home Builders hired The Home Idea Factory to merchandise a new model for them, and shades of blue were used in various rooms. This home was around the corner from the previous model which was in different colors, but the challenge was to use as much from the old model in the new one to keep costs down. Everything from the old bedroom was recycled in the new one but we added new bedding and headboards. The kids bath was merchandised with accessories from Target that were on trend and budget conscious. Buyers could actually go out and buy the items they saw and fell in love with in the model home. This new model home has character and personality and lookers became buyers – a community which only sold a few homes a year had 8 sales in snowy November and they now have a waiting list for the next phase.
Color can affect your mood, and happy colors create happy customers.
Falling in Love with Your Model Homes
Feb 14th
Using color is one of the least expensive, most terrifying but also most rewarding ways to change a room. When I’m designing a new model home most builders will encourage me to use memorable colors, but when they first paint the room and see it without any accessories or furniture I often get a call wondering if they have the right information.
These rooms are a perfect example. You can imagine the call the builder got from the superintendent the first time they saw these! This is a model for Canoa Homes in Tucson, and they trusted me enough to wait and see what happened. This is also a great example of designing for your buyer, not yourself – we were targeting families with school age children. A Lifestylist targets in on what the buyer is really looking for, even when they may not realize it themselves.Once we had a few families go through the home we found that almost every female from 2 – 50 wanted that room with those paint colors. It was something the buyer might not have been brave enough to try on their own, but when they saw it completed they loved it.
This is also a great example of Partnership Merchandising. The Home Idea Factory had a great relationship with Home Interiors and Gifts – a direct sell company that we had done styling and product development with. Many of the accessories and “wallies” – the decals on the bath wall – we theirs and we identified them as such so buyers could reproduce what they saw in the room at a price they could afford. The bedding was from Bombay and the furniture from Ashley so all could be bought at local stores or from a Home Interiors and Gifts consultant.
Let your child have a say in what they want their room to look like. It might not be a color you would chose or a style you would like but by letting them be a part of the decorating decision they’ll take ownership of their decisions and be even more proud of what they accomplished.
Happy Valentines Day from all of us at The Home Idea Factory!