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How to Decorate Your Fireplace Year-Round

decorate your fireplace

The hearth has long been a symbol of what home was. The comfort of a fireplace, even if seldom used, conveys a homey feel. This sentiment is one that has withstood the test of time.

This makes it even more important to make sure that your mantel not only represents your personality but the vibe that you want your home to give off. Check out these 5 ways to spruce up your mantel and achieve that finishing look to your home.

How to Decorate Your Fireplace Year-Round

  • Bring in a Little Bit of the Shoreline: For a year-round summer feel for your mantel, you can adorn it with unique pieces of driftwood, shells collections, and nautical ropes or lanterns.
  • Immortalize Your Favorite Verse: Have a favorite poetry verse or family saying? Put it on display on a chalkboard atop of your mantel, flanked by some varying sizes of candles to create a unique and a daily motivational piece.
  • Resurrect Some Silver Serving Trays: If you have some serving tray pieces that have been collecting dust waiting for the perfect occasion to use, you can repurpose them as mantel decoration. Their reflective quality adds a unique look to any fireplace.
  • Add Some Favorite Florals: Find some beautiful live (or silk) flowers that provide a pop of color that goes with the room. If you have a more neutral color palette, you can always go with a classic bouquet of white.
  • Provide Some Additional Room Lighting: Depending on the size of your mantel, you can decorate and provide some additional light to low-lit rooms by placing decorative lamps on each edge. Lamps also create spotlighting for mantel pictures as well.

If you are looking for an architectural firm to help design your house to truly become your hearth and home, contact TAB Associates today to schedule your consultation.

Choosing Wood Accents to Beautify Your Home

wood accents

Wood is undeniably one of the most versatile materials used to achieve architectural balance in a home. Homeowners that partner with an architectural firm in Vail Valley can expect a pleasing selection of interior design elements to create a contemporary, minimalist, modern, or Scandinavian decor. The success of any decorating scheme will ultimately depend upon the right architectural balance of textures and beauty, which TAB Associates can help you achieve in your own home.

Choosing Wood Accents to Beautify Your Home

Wood accents are perfect for adding beauty and warmth to a home, while also providing the right balance of texture. Soft surfaces like upholstery and carpeting benefit from a good balance of wood accents. Here are three wood accents that will add architectural balance to your home:

  • Natural Wood Interior Trim – Instead of painted wood at baseboards, choose a wood stain that contrasts or blends with the surrounding decor to immediately create visual interest or contrast with a touch of warmth.
  • Chair Rails and Crown Molding – This will break up the areas of monotone, especially in larger rooms such as dining room and great rooms. Either of these wood accents can be used create divisions between different wall colors or textures—such as a transition between a painted surface and wallpaper.
  • Wood Mantles and Built-Ins – Choosing wood for mantles as opposed to stone or brick versions will usher in a traditional feel and add contrast to contemporary decors. Built-in entertainment centers and bookcases which feature warm wood species will help minimize the visual transition.

Discover the difference an architectural firm can make by creating a distinct balance utilizing the form, function, and beauty of wood accents. TAB Associates have over 30 years of experience in the planning and design layout of residential and commercial interiors and exteriors in Vail, Colorado.

How to Choose the Right Rug for a Room

bedroom with rug

Whether you’re moving into a new home or you simply want to spruce up an old room in your house, a rug is a great way to add a nice touch to just about any room design. Unfortunately, if you’re not an interior stylist, it can be difficult to select a rug that truly suits the aesthetics of a room. Here are a few tips that should help you choose the right rug for your home.

Consider the Floor Plan

When buying a rug, the first thing you should consider is the floor plan of the room. Based on the floor plan, you should choose an appropriate size and location for the rug. Some common layouts for a room include the classic layout, the floating layout, and the dining layout.

For example, a room possesses a classic layout if the sofa and chairs are against the wall. For this layout, it is ideal to purchase a rug that is large enough to fit under the front legs of all the sofas and chairs. It may be necessary to rearrange the furniture in your room to achieve the desired look with the rug.

Think About Foot Traffic

You should also think about how much foot traffic the room receives. Different materials offer different advantages and disadvantages. Therefore, the material you decide on for your ideal rug should be based on the type of room the rug is intended for as well as the amount of foot traffic said room receives.

Due to low foot traffic, rugs for dining rooms and bedrooms typically don’t need to be as durable. On the other hand, rugs in the hallways should be both durable and dark in color due to high foot traffic.

As you may know from experience, choosing the perfect rug for a room can be an ordeal. For more information about room and home design, you should consider reaching out to TAB Associates, an architectural firm that can help with the home of your dreams!

How to Use Stacked Stone in Kitchen Styling

Stacked stone in a kitchen gives a room character and dimension, and it’s become a popular choice when it comes to remodeling a space. You can buy stone in a variety of textures, colors, and shapes to customize the look you want, though it helps to understand stacked stone and its decorative properties before jumping in.

Composition and Tone

Stacked stone won’t give you smooth, polished walls, but it will give you a multi-dimensional kitchen with real charm. The stones have varying colors, sizes, and depths to create an interesting focal point in the kitchen, and they provide a rustic quality (similar to what you might on the outside of a storybook cottage.) They can be made from a variety of natural elements, such as quartzite, and are roughly shaped like bricks. The color variation of each stone can be high, so it’s important to be on the lookout for stones that don’t fit your palette.

How to Use It

Most people use stacked stone in a single part of their kitchen to highlight a specific area. We typically use it to surround major appliance pieces, such as cooking ranges.  Decorators will tell you it works best if the stone is set closer to the ceiling to draw the eye upwards, but it can also be used between cabinets or as a backsplash. Under-cabinet lighting can be an excellent way to call attention to the wall, while decreasing potentially dangerous shadows at the same time. Stone will last for quite some time, even when under constant duress, but it will need grout and sealant for reinforcement and protection.

If you’re looking for architects , it’s time to give TAB Associates a call. It’s our pleasure as architects to help you discover the right type of stacked stone for your kitchen. This material is not only inviting and warm, it’s also a lot of fun to style. Let us help you figure out the best route to your dream kitchen today!

Benefits of a Minimalist Home

minimalist vanity

It’s true, according to Psychology Today, clutter has a negative effect on our brains and our lives. Clutter can induce stress and anxiety, making it difficult for us to focus or relax. It’s all about architectural balance: Finding a balance in your home that imbues peace, order and fulfillment. The means to that end is simple—minimalize your home. Our Vail Valley architects provide reasons why updating your home to a minimalist approach will benefit you both in the short- and long-term.

Benefits of a Minimalist Home in Vail Valley

When an outsider thinks of Vail Valley, they imagine majestic mountains, spas and an overall healthy lifestyles. And it’s true, this is the Vail Valley way, but it should also extend into your home. Here are five main reasons how a minimalist home benefits you.

  1. Have less stress. Clutter is a tangible representation of chaos, and chaos causes stress. Your mind can’t rest. Without clutter, comes peace of mind.
  2. Be more productive. Cleaning up the clutter and opening spaces in your home is literally opening spaces in your mind. You can be more productive and think more clearly.
  3. Experience more freedom. Having things, things and more things ties us to one place. Start donating unneeded items and feel how liberating it is.
  4. Feel a calming effect. This benefit is both internal and external. There’s a sense of order and calm within the house that affects everyone. There’s less cleaning to do. With fewer distractions, you are calmer and more relaxed.
  5. Maintain a clean appearance. It is easier to keep a minimalist home clean, but the appearance itself is simply clean. It’s free of distractions, free of unnecessary items, and free of things that complicate life.

If you want more productivity, freedom and relaxation, then you should consider a minimalist home. Contact a professional Vail Valley architect to start getting your life the way you want it!

Want to view more of our work, with luxurious features complemented by a beautiful babbling brook? See this article from Mountain Living.

3 Reasons to Finish Your Wood Décor

wood entryway

The wood in your home, such as wood flooring, with the addition of wood furniture, add dimensions of warm colors to any home.  Add that to a home designed by a top Vail Valley architectural firm, and you’ll have a beautiful home with rustic charm.  It’s important to properly finish your wood decor, especially in the Vail Valley area to keep the architectural balance of the home for years to come.

Keeping Wood Decor Clean

One reason to finish your wood decor is practicality.  Wood is porous, which means there is room for dirt, dust, and microorganisms to live.  Dust and microorganisms can cause health issues, especially for those with allergies.  A quick remedy is to finish the wood in your home.  Wood flooring takes on the majority of household activities, and the architects in Vail Valley understand the importance of a high-quality finish with a proper seal!

Stabilizing Wood Décor

Many do not think about finishing wood décor as a necessity to stabilize the wood material.  Wood is naturally unstable because it is able to absorb and release moisture from its environment.  As you may know, wood absorbing and releasing moisture will cause it to swell and shrink.  Untreated wood swelling and shrinking will lead to splitting, warping and overall deterioration over time.

Adding Beauty and Warmth

Finishing a home’s wood décor adds natural beauty, color and warmth.  Wood has its own depth of beauty unique to each piece that is easily brought out by finishing.  From new flooring to an antique piece of furniture, finishing will add a variety of warm colors to your home that easily blends together.  Create a gorgeous home effortlessly.

If you’re dreaming about a new home, imagine yourself entertaining and relaxing in a home with beautifully finished wood décor.  Contact a professional architect today to start making your dream a reality!

Want to view more of our work, with luxurious features complemented by a beautiful babbling brook? See this article from Mountain Living.

How to Mix Rustic and Traditional Decor Into Your Home

rustic and traditional decor

Eclectic is a design style of its own. Usually defined as a style that embraces influences from different eras, cultures and design aesthetics, it can represent a comfortable mix that appears to have evolved over time. In fact, most interiors evolve in just that way: Grandma’s dining room table is pulled into use alongside a newly-purchased china cabinet or buffet, and an inherited, refinished wood coffee table sits in front of a trendy new sofa.

Mixing Rustic and Traditional Decor in Your Home

Sometimes, however, the mix is a matter of preference and is purposeful and dramatic. Within Vail Valley architecture, the mix of rustic and traditional is especially appealing, as the stunning natural surroundings encourage a variety of architectural expressions. The juxtaposition of sleek and refined with weathered and timeless is always appealing.

How to Blend Furnishings with Great Effect

It’s all about balance. Only in museums is every piece of furniture and architectural trim a similar style. But knowing when to stray from the primary design aesthetic can require a sure sense of what is appropriate. Polished woods and refined color schemes just “ooze” traditional, but even a club chair with traditional lines can be made to feel slightly rustic if you choose a homespun weave for its upholstery. In the same way, a distressed wood floor will feel appropriately elegant in a room filled with traditional furnishings, if you add a hand-woven Oriental rug.

If you adore Vail Valley architecture with a hand-hewn vibe, you can still furnish rooms with some fine antiques. Just pick colors and add accessories that complement both designs, perhaps even adding some Native American designs or displaying ethnic themes from foreign travel.

That’s the beauty of eclectic design—ignore the rules as long as you have a good eye and keep your eye on quality. If you need advice about balancing your Vail Valley home’s architectural or interior design, why not give us a call today?

The Enduring Beauty of Stone for Homes

stone wallWhat better material to bring out the natural, soul-refreshing beauty of living in the Vail Valley than stone? Imagine the perfect home for all seasons. Chances are, you’re envisioning stone within the architectural balance of the space.

Stone Is a Mass that Works for You

Today, with the importance of energy conservation for our environment is well-understood and stone comes forward for its energy-saving properties. Its heat retention powers are outstanding, creating a reliably cozy warmth in the Colorado winter. Yet it has an equally remarkable capacity for helping to keep indoor spaces cool under the summer sun.

Passive eco-aware and solar design features boost these natural benefits considerably. To build with stone is to blend inherently good insulation—and the all-season comfort it brings—with timeless elegance.

Stone Endures

It is famously beautiful, with many hues & textures, and eminently durable. It resists insects and stands up to all of nature’s elements. Maintenance is simple and minimal. With neither painting nor siding needed, a stone exterior retains its appeal through the years.

Great design work with stone exteriors and interior touches will combine form and function, selecting the best stone for each feature. Whether creating a home from the start, or redesigning a specific area, we often call upon stone to dramatically offset key architectural features in the home—a fireplace, a classic hearth, a Kitchen stove surround, an entry vestibule into a Master Suite or Entry Vestibule into the home.

Stone also performs as an enhancement of lasting beauty when surrounding metal, glass, or wood features. It offers a luxurious and serene wall setting in a bathroom, kitchen, or space for relaxation such as a den.  It can also enhance a water feature within or outside a home.

Call Upon Our Expertise

If you are seeking an architectural firm with decades of experience, we invite you to get to know TAB Associates. Our reputation for design and timely completion of projects within the budgets of our clientele is as solid as our construction. To discuss the future of your home with our leading architects, call (970) 766-1470.

4 Tips To Help Maintain Beautiful Hardwood Flooring

game roomHardwood floors bring a warm glow and elegance to any space. Whether you enjoy the luster of sturdy 18th Century flooring or contemporary hardwoods, it’s important to take a few precautions to protect their natural beauty from scratches and scuff marks. Our Vail Valley architectural firm understands the importance of vibrant living and work spaces. Consider these simple preventative measures to help maintain your floor’s long-lasting glow.

Pad Furniture Legs

One the most common ways that wood floors get scratched is from moving furniture across them. By fixing felt or other soft pads on the bottoms of chair legs, coffee tables and heavy pieces of furniture, wood-to-wood contact can be avoided.

Rugs and Carpets

Strategic use of floor coverings adds ambiance and mitigates impact on high traffic areas. A beautiful wood floor looks a little less so when some areas appear more worn out than others. Entryways, hallways and sinks can benefit from a little colorful foot traffic padding.

Shoe Check

Creating a place and policy that shoes come off and remain in mud rooms or by the door helps keep your space clean and avoids tracking grit across polished flooring. Obviously, foot traffic creates the most floor contact and wear. Think about all the potential scratches rolling through that door, from kids’ sports cleats to work boots to high heels. A solid shoes-off program will reduce the potential need for refinishing work.

Regular Maintenance

Hardwood floors enjoy tremendous strength, but the lovely sheen that gives them the warm glow may be subject to wear from everyday dirt, liquids and harsh cleaners. Sweep floors regularly and don’t allow spills to settle for very long. Everyday wear and tear may not cause permanent damage, but it will make your floors look unnecessarily dull. Select only cleaners designed to interact with wood floors.

We hope these suggestion prove valuable. If you are interested in professional services, contact our architects today!

Tips on Finishing Wood With Stain

wood headboardVail Valley architects love to include natural wood in their designs. Whether you’re finishing a new project or bringing life to an old piece, wood stain is the perfect way to get a smooth finish that enhances the natural character of the wood.

Prepare the Surface

Start by sanding the entire piece with 100-grit sandpaper, paying close attention to blemishes and rough spots to achieve a smooth surface. If you have large, flat areas to sand, a random orbital sander can speed up the task. Then, make sure all floors and nearby surfaces are cleaned as stirred up dust will land on your finish and stick. Once the area is clean, wipe down the wood with a tack cloth to be sure it’s spotless.

Apply Stain

Stir the stain well, but avoid shaking as that may cause bubbles. Use a natural-bristle brush to apply stain with the grain, making sure to use plenty of product so it can soak into the wood for a few seconds. Then, using a cotton rag, wipe off excess stain in the order you applied it. Use plenty of rags for even removal.

Seal and Finish

Once the stain is dry, apply a sanding sealer with a natural-bristle brush in the direction of the grain. When you reach an edge, quickly brush back lightly across the piece to eliminate brush marks. Once dry, lightly sand with a 280-grit sanding pad until all surfaces are smooth. Lastly, apply an oil-based varnish using the same technique.

Practice Makes Perfect

If you’re new to staining wood, try a practice run on a scrap piece to get a feel for the products and brushes. That way, you’ll be more confident and get better results when you do the final piece.

Want to incorporate wood into the look and feel of your home? Call TAB Associates to learn how we can integrate plenty of natural wood into your next home design.