Secrets from model home design pros

Secrets from model home design pros
By Kari Richardson, Special to the Tribune
November 9, 2012

There's a rush that comes from buying a new home that's not unlike first love: the thrill of possibility, the excitement of finding everything you always wanted wrapped up in one perfect package.

There's also the moment that sometimes follows, when you realize your new love is not everything you had once hoped. For some new homeowners, that difficult moment comes when the suitcases are unpacked and furniture unloaded. The realization hits: This home looks nothing like the gorgeous model we fell in love with.

Just as couples counseling can provide hope for love gone wrong, model home decorators provide hope for homes gone wrong.


Professional home stager and model home designer Katie Schafer of Chicago-based Dressed to Sell has a one-word explanation for why many new homes bear little resemblance to picture-perfect models: clutter.

Real homes have kitchen counters covered by junk mail and third-grade homework assignments, dog toys on the family room carpet and yesterday's dishes in the kitchen sink. Models have plush pillows intricately arranged on the couch and vases of fresh-cut flowers.

"A lot of homeowners don't take the time to consider all the stuff they have lying around," Schafer said. "Homeowners should ask themselves, 'Do I love it, or is it just taking up space?'"

Schafer speaks from personal, as well as professional, experience. She recently downsized her living space by more than half, from 4,000 to 1,800 square feet, repeatedly asking herself a tough question in the process: Would I buy this item today?

Things that were no longer needed — or loved — were repurposed. What remained she organized in pretty baskets and storage ottomans. While Schafer admits that her love-it-or-leave-it style can be extreme, she said most homes look best with less — clutter, that is.

Another common mistake, designers say, is assuming the furniture from your old place will fit effortlessly into your new scheme. Moving is a great time to get rid of pieces you no longer need while identifying new ones to enhance your space, said Mary Cook, president of Chicago-based Mary Cook Associates.

"Just because you had eight chairs around your dining room table in the old house doesn't mean you need to have eight chairs around the table in the new house," she said.

During the depths of the housing crash, Cook often was called in to redo models put together by other designers, she said. "There was just something missing in these rooms, but people couldn't put their finger on what it was."

Cook and her team soon noticed some patterns: Many of the models were lacking the same basic design elements.

"There are seven things you need to get right in any space," she said. "If you do, there's a wonderful harmony. We've seen it time and again. If these elements are right, people will pay more for everything from a piece of real estate to a hamburger."

Cook's upcoming book, "The Art of Space," scheduled for publication in 2013, elaborates on those seven elements in detail. A biggie, she said, and one that most homeowners tend to overlook, is scale, the size of something, and proportion, its relationship to the things around it. Rooms that are too full — or too empty — just look wrong, she said.

"People often start out their decorating with a monster piece of furniture," Cook said. "Sometimes it's something that they've inherited and they don't want to tell their parents or grandparents that they can't use it."

Color is another element that well-decorated models employ wisely. While new homes are often delivered with white walls, a Mary Cook-designed model can have as many as 25 different paint colors. Thoughtful-yet-fearless use of color can add richness that makes a home feel warm and inviting.

In addition to color, model home designers are experts at mixing patterns and texture, said Helen Velas, president of Naperville-based Eleni Interiors. While the average homeowner isn't likely to be as skilled, home-goods retailers have become good at bundling pieces together to help people get that custom-designed look, she said.

And while model home furniture tends to be high-end and custom, retail furniture stores may have good approximations of many pieces, she added.

Julea Joseph, owner of Palos Park-based Reinventing Space, said another difference between your new home and the builder's model is that models tend to include all the bells and whistles offered. The home you bought is likely to be a scaled-back version, since few buyers can afford every upgrade.

Still, celebrate what you did get, Joseph suggested: the fancy countertops with the beveled edge, for example. And don't be afraid to copy the professionally decorated model if that's the look you want. "Take a look at the techniques and ideas used and lay out your stuff in the fashion of the model," she said.

Apartment residents can face an entirely different set of challenges on move-in day. Their leases may forbid them from painting, wallpapering or attaching furniture to the walls. When visiting apartment models, ensure that your lease allows you to achieve the same look in your space, said Diana Pittro, executive vice president of RMK Management Corp., which oversees 9,500 rental units in Illinois, Minnesota and Indiana.

"I don't like to do anything in a model that a resident can't do," Pittro said, noting that RMK residents can paint and wallpaper but must return the property to original condition by move-out day. All of the furniture the company uses to decorate its models is commercially available, too, she said.

Above all, be patient in your new space, Joseph said. Great design doesn't happen overnight.

"Take it room by room and area by area," she said. "Having the energy and budget to create a turnkey home when you first arrive is nearly impossible. Let the process evolve."

If you can't stand the chaos that often follows a move into a new home, dedicate one room to make "perfect" and savor that space, said Norma Sabesin Zeiger, owner of Chicago's Entwine Interiors. For Sabesin Zeiger, that space is her living room.

"No one ever goes in there except my husband and me," she said. "We like to read in the living room."

Take solace, too, in the fact that some models are almost "too perfect" and consider relaxing your standards a bit. "Model homes do look perfect but no one can live that way," Sabesin Zeiger said.

Copyright © 2012, Chicago Tribune
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