Blog-v2 – Erin Sander Design

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Oct

Battle of the Layouts

Today we want to explore a conversation that’s often prompted within the first ten minutes of the first design meeting: Layout. The flow and organization of rooms within a home not only greatly influences how a family lives on a daily basis, but how each space is used long term as well. A big buzz phrase of the last twenty years has been “open concept” but the design world has recently begun to see a shift towards smaller, more individualized, and function-specific rooms again. We’ve had clients go from a more compartmentalized layout to open concept, as well as vice-versa. In our two most recently posted projects, we see both options and how both can be beautiful as well as functional.

An open concept design often means that there are no formal room designations, minimal interior walls, and flexible spaces. Dining table in the great room? No worries! This layout allows for personalized space planning and more often than not is associated with a more casual daily routine. We’ve had clients in the past lean towards this level of informal space for reasons ranging from wanting flexible party hosting space, to needing the home to be wheelchair accessible in the future. Oftentimes the dining, kitchen, and great room are all open to each other. Interestingly enough, in our experience, the clients that gravitate towards this have older children or are empty nesters. They want space to entertain and host family in a low key setting. We find that they’ve had the formal dining room with the chandelier, antique buffet, and fine china and now want something that can function as a dining space as well as a craft table when the grandkids come to town.

School of thought number two proposes smaller, more manageable spaces. Rooms that you can shut the door and hide the 500,000 legos, and a proper butler’s pantry where the china and silver all have a designated home. What people often don’t realize with a layout like this, is that it does not automatically mean that you’re going to feel claustrophobic and live in a maze. It simply means that the adjacencies of spaces has to be a little more thought out in the beginning. If you want a good reference point, our “Perfect Blue” project is a great example. The clients here could have easily created a massive doubles story great room open to the kitchen, but their desire for more purposeful spaces created opportunities for us to really give each room it’s own personality and allows the client to make gatherings as formal or informal as they want.

Both layouts can be equally as beautiful and both pose pros and cons for any homeowner. So before you commit to one or the other, it’s important to think through your family’s needs and current lifestyle. There’s no wrong answer when it comes to layout, just hundreds of opinions and schools of thought for you to sort through. And as always, ESD is happy to help in anyway that we can.

Jun

Defining your Personal Style

One of the first thing we ask prospective clients is “how would you define your style?” Sometimes it’s a quick and assertive response, but more often than not, it takes a few vacation references, a house they drove by and liked, and a Pinterest link for them to show us what they appreciate. It’s really overwhelming and we usually never get to the root of the question. We are so bombarded by internet images and Instagram accounts screaming out what we SHOULD like that it’s getting progressively harder to decided on our own. We were having a meeting with a very wise client a few months ago and ended up discussing this very topic. (We got a little sidetracked, as we sometimes do). She explained to us that there is a huge difference between style and trends. Style is unique to each individual person, it’s timeless, and it’s thought provoking. Trends are cyclical, and while some of them are gorgeous in their own right, they never spark conversation at a dinner party. They usually just serve as an unbiased backdrop.

If you’re still thinking on what makes your home uniquely yours, or what to tell your architect and designer when you go to build your dream house, we highly encourage you to go through the list below and really think on your responses. Take pictures of your stuff, pull some reference images, and really think on it.

When you drive through a well established neighborhood, what homes catch your eye? The mediterranean with aged terra cotta on the roof? The warm mid century modern? Or the stark contemporary with ultra defined patterns in the landscape?
Take this home and jot down how you envision yourself living there. If you have formal dinner parties, take note of that. If you love that your current house tells a story through the scuff marks and time-worn tile, write that down too. People often forget that who you are so often influences how you live your everyday life. Your home always needs to reflect that.
What are you drawn to when you go to a museum? Do you like art that forces you to think, or art that allows your mind to relax? Hate museums? No problem! As an alternative, envision your favorite garden or park. Why do you like it? Is it organized and well manicured, or has time allowed it to mature organically? Sketch it out.
Now think about your dream vacation. Where do you go? What do you bring back to your hypothetical space? Does the piece spark conversation or simply make you smile when you walk by?
Maybe the easiest question of all: What does your closet look like? What outfit do you own that makes you feel the best? Do you wear all the jewels or the same simple bracelet you’ve worn for 30 years?

While it might seem like a bizarre exercise, all of the above questions in some way tap into your personality and your preferences some way. Even if you don’t think it will, we bet a lot more of your style and personality comes out than you think.

In our opinion your style is defined by your experiences, your stories, and your history. Your style isn’t going to be the same at 25 as it is at 55, and that’s ok. Because if it’s well defined, there is probably a very strong continual thread throughout all of those decades that make it uniquely yours. Even if the architecture of your dwelling changes, there’s probably still a strong tie between your first home and the one you live in now. It might take awhile to put your finger on it, but that comfort level and homey feeling you got when you saw the house, or spent hours pouring over the plans wasn’t a fluke. There was some kind of continual stylistic note that made it feel right. And if after reading all of this, you’re still struggling to figure it out, hire someone to help you. Because a good designer won’t tell you what you like, they’ll just help you make it tangible.

We would love to hear your feedback, comments, and questions. If there’s a blog topic you would like to see explored, let us know! Shoot us an email at info@erinsanderdesign.com.

Mar

New year, new website, and a new blog revitalization!

New year, new website, and a new blog revitalization! The Dallas housing and building markets certainly have heated up in the last few years and we have so loved being along for the ride. Here at ESD, we have a lot of exciting projects coming up this year and are excited about sharing them with you along with our thoughts and reflections on this fabulous industry.

With 2017 behind us, and so much of 2018 to look forward to, we thought we would kick off our inaugural blog post by throwing out a few trends that we think are sticking around or making their debut into the residential design world in the following year.

1. Monochromatic texture: Of course, this has been a design staple for ages, but we don’t really see it going anywhere. Texture is such a fun way to explore and add depth and dimension to a space. Dallas design has grown in sophistication the last few years and one of our favorite ways to keep sophistication fun in a home is to layer unexpected textures in a space.

2. Closets: Hear us out on this one. But treating a master closet like a living space more than a storage facility completely changes the way you use it. Making sure everything has a home, designated layout, and most importantly allowing each piece to be seen and not letting your favorite cashmere sweater get lost behind the kaftans from 2016’s beach trip is the way to go. You use more of the stuff that you’ve purchased, and it makes getting dressed in the morning much more of an enjoyable experience vs. a fight to keep the boots stacked.

3. Traditional with a Twist: Something we’ve noticed with clients recently (and are loving) is that people no longer want a tone on tone beige and white living room in a traditional setting. They want the lines of a traditional set up with tons of color pops, which we full condone. You live in the space, you might as well have fun with it, right?!

4. Room Scale: On the construction end, we’ve seen a few things shift in the last few years. One that really sticks out is that people are shying away from massive, cavernous spaces. Even in a larger home cozier spaces have become the norm. Spaces that families can actually live in and spend quality time together have become more and more popular vs. a home where every living space is completely open to the next one. It’s a great way for each space to have it’s own feel while still flowing with the adjacent spaces.

5. Courtyards: Here in Texas we have to really up the fan count, add a few mosquito screens, and make sure outdoor living spaces get good shade. But we love that outdoor living has begun to get the credit that it deserves. One trend we see picking up speed in the next year is breaking those outdoor living spaces down into smaller, more appetizer sized portions. Interior courtyards, kitchen gardens, cabana porches, etc. have really made a comeback and help a homeowner maximize every inch of their yard.

We would love to hear your feedback, comments, and questions. If there’s a blog topic you would like to see explored, let us know! Shoot us an email at info@erinsanderdesign.com.