(3.5-min read)

Wood flooring is all the rage these days and for a good reason. Wood floors give a traditionally handsome look to any space while allowing for sleek modernity that many crave. However, when trying to decide whether to go for traditional solid wood, engineered wood, or entirely artificial “wood,” there are many good reasons for each and many more options. Let’s take a look at some of the options and the preferred choice depending on the room or scenario.

Solid Wood Flooring: When to Go Real

There’s nothing quite like the look and feel of a genuine solid wood floor. What do we mean by “solid” wood? This means that the wood pieces are each one piece of solid hardwood — no filler woods or any other funny business. These are what you’ll usually find in older houses that give it that charm of yesterday. While the most handsome of the floors, they are typically the most expensive as well as temperamental. Solid hardwood floors require installation on a plywood subfloor, making the height of baseboards, connecting rooms, and swinging door heights a potential issue. Connecting tile floors or carpeted areas may not sit flush with this heightened floor. Still, solid wood is among the most aesthetically pleasing of all of the hardwoods when installed correctly and without issue. They can be re-sanded and re-finished over the years to keep them looking great for generations.

Engineered Wood Flooring: Meeting in the Middle

Many claim that there’s no comparison to a solid wood floor. Despite this, engineered wood floors are right on their heels in terms of aesthetics while blowing them out of the water in terms of maintenance. Engineered wood floors come in lengths with a top layer of hardwood sitting on top of plywood support. This plywood support almost acts as a built-in subfloor, allowing for a dramatically more straightforward installation process. These panels are also much less resistant to water damage thanks to a coating applied during the engineering and manufacturing process. Building a new home? Engineered wood flooring is probably the most popular wood flooring choice for new home construction due to its low maintenance, ease of installation, and increased resilience against water damage. This style of wood flooring comes in a range of sizes and styles.

Artificial Wood Flooring: Completely Fake

There are instances when one would like the look of wood flooring, but either maintenance or cost simply won’t allow it. For these occasions, artificial wood flooring is an easy solution. Artificial wood flooring contains no actual wood, only either an image of wood grain or a grain-like pattern on another form of flooring — typically vinyl, ceramic, or porcelain tiles. These styles are especially popular in areas of the home that have a higher likelihood of getting wet such as entryways, kitchens, bathrooms, or basements. Some even use porcelain wood-like flooring outside due to it being nearly impervious to water.

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If you’re building a house, but can’t decide on materials for different sections, the Tulsa-based home construction experts from Perry Hood Properties can help.

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(4-min read)

The internet is full of people who claim a professional knack for design, an eye for color, and the ability to create a space that is beautiful as well as functional. With these many choices available, it pays to not be too hasty in deciding upon a designer or architect to design the flow and function of your home. Let’s take a look at a few attributes of genuinely great designers who can take your ideas from good to stunning.

1. They’re Really Listen

Even though they are the designer, you are simultaneously the director and the muse of your home. To be able to create a space that excites you as well as makes you feel calm and at home, any designer worth their salt will hang on your every word during consultative sessions. Don’t be put off if they ask you to elaborate on a point in your input — they’re genuinely trying to understand the feelings you want to experience in certain sections. If they don’t ask many questions or act as though they know what is best for you before listening, this may be a sign that you’re about to be presented with an unoriginal idea that does not match your space via an amateur designer.

2. They Work With Larger Concepts and Themes

The sign of a good designer is the ability to pair and blend colors, build out the function of a space, and work with existing elements. The sign of a truly great designer is the ability to make a space exude a specific ambiance. Like a terrific piece of music that captures your emotions without you being able to put your finger on precisely why it moves you, so too should your designer be able to orchestrate the attributes that resonate with you within a space.

3. They Value Simplicity

Any designer can cram endless amounts of accessories, furniture, and changes into a room until they feel that it is right. A professional designer will have a honed eye for what, when removed, will enhance the space. In many instances, less is more, and having a designer that understands this will not only save you time and energy, but also money in the long run.

4. They Lean into Consistency

Like an art gallery, pieces are usually curated with a common theme in mind as a means of providing seamless flow and order to the viewer’s experience. The theme of your home should also reflect the consistent nature of your taste. When a designer fails to tap into your essence or simply fails to listen to your input correctly, the flow of your home will suffer. A true professional doesn’t rely on the aesthetic appeal and function of one space, but instead understands how different areas of the home play off one another. They will be able to weave the tapestry that is your home rather than awkwardly assembling ill-fitting quilt patches. The result will be a fluid design that you will relish for years to come.

5. They Won’t Fear Risks

Professional designers understand that they’re not usually hired by people who simply want to “play it safe.” If that were the case, most of their designs would be relatively benign and boring. Instead, a designer confident in their abilities will likely present a few ideas that may seem overly abstract or over the top. While some may use these ideas to gauge your comfort level with specific themes, colors, or concepts, you should keep an open mind, so you don’t miss an excellent opportunity to take your design from good to great. Some ideas will be ultimately out in left field, but the right risky idea may be a home run.

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Let Us Help
Tulsa-based Perry Hood Properties has worked with all sorts of people with all different tastes to help them build the custom home of their dreams. We invite you to learn more about our process and get started designing your ideal home today.

Learn more about Perry Hood Properties today.

(4.5-min read)

Storage has become a growing pain for most people these days. Even as home sizes increase, the mini-storage industry booming, and even massive decluttering efforts, most of us are still struggling to keep up with our need to find places for our stuff. Free-standing cabinets and shelves are one option, but one may find these too cluttering up their homes. A possible solution? Built-in storage options. In this piece, we’ll look at a few of the advantages and disadvantages of built-ins in your home. 

What Exactly are “Built-Ins”?

What are commonly referred to as “built-ins” by realtors and interior designers alike are any “built-in” interior features of a home whose purpose can be replicated by movable pieces of furniture. Built-ins range from china cabinets embedded in walls, permanent kitchen pantry shelving, floating shelves, or elaborate bookshelf systems permanent built into livingroom or study walls. 

Pros of Built-Ins

Built-ins Free Up Space

One of the main selling features of built-ins is that they free up a tremendous amount of living space. They typically do this thanks to their ability to be embedded in walls and corners — freeing up square footage for other uses or to make a room feel larger. Some adaptable built-ins can also increase the versatility of a space — a closet-mounted desk in a guest bedroom that turns the room into an office, etc. 

Built-ins are Visually Appealing

Because built-ins are designed to complement a space, their form and function will likely ideally match the room where implemented. Most professionally designed and installed built-ins will make a space look immensely tidy and efficient. For this reason, many like to use built-in shelving to display collections such as books, art, and conversation-starting items. 

Built-ins are Utilitarian

Many built-ins make efficient use of what was presumed to be unusable space. Whether it’s a corner cabinet, elaborate storage shelving under a staircase, storage inside of window-seat benches, or a wall-mounted desk in a tight spot, built-ins can help add immense function to every square foot of your home. 

Built-Ins = Less Furniture

Moving furniture around is a pain. Between the hassle of deciding where furniture best fits or potentially scratching floors and walls while moving it, having too many pieces of furniture can be quite a hassle. Built-ins furniture means less work moving and maintaining furniture. 

Cons of Built-Ins

Built-ins Limit a Room’s Use

Though a built-in bookshelf across the back wall of your livingroom may seem ideal to you, to someone else, they may prefer to flip the layout of the entire space. Not every occupant of a home may have the same ideas about their use, making built-ins more of a hassle than a convenience. 

Built-ins are Expensive

If you want to install built-ins in your home, the cost to hire a specialist to build and install them can be far higher than buying pre-made furniture. The price goes beyond merely the fabrication of the units themselves, also including the cost of possibly removing sections of the wall and installing parts in a way that looks neat and professional. 

Built-ins Can Hurt the Resell Value

One of the keys to selling a house is getting a potential buyer to imagine themselves living in the space (one of the reasons why so many houses are painted in neutral colors when on the market). If someone else’s ideas for the home’s use don’t quite match that of the designer of the built-ins, this can cause them to feel that the home isn’t quite “the one.” On the other hand, the right built-ins can have the reverse effect, and almost singlehandedly sell a house. Still, this largely depends on the buyer’s attitude towards the built-ins or built-ins in general. 

Conclusion: 

When deciding either upon installing built-ins in new home construction or an existing home, consider how someone else may use these built-ins. If you’re planning on moving one day, limiting the permanence of the built-ins may be beneficial when it comes time to sell the home. If you have no plans to move anytime soon, your home is your oyster. 

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Love built-ins? Hate them? It’s your call! Tulsa-based Perry Hood Properties can help you design and build the home of your dreams. 

Learn more about Perry Hood Properties today. 

(3.5-min read)

Classically handsome and built to last, stucco has been a popular home building material for thousands of years. Despite this, there are a handful of unknown facts about stucco that are worth investigating before investing in either a previously existing stucco home, a stucco remodel for an existing home, or stucco for new home construction. 

What Exactly is Stucco? 

Traditional stucco went beyond a siding material — acting as more of a structural component to homes as far back as ancient antiquity. Most stucco materials available today are primarily intended for a certain aesthetic appeal while still protecting the exterior of homes. Today’s stucco is largely comprised of lime, silica (sand), and cement that is applied in layers over exterior wood or metal lath to ensure structural integrity. These layers form a protective concrete coating around a home, but also provides an appealing rustic look. 

The Pros of Stucco Siding

Stucco Application is Pretty Quick

One would think that stucco installation/application would take time, but due to its layered application process, professional stucco application may only take one to two days. 

Stucco is Immensely Versatile

Because it is essentially an applied mixture, the look and feel of stucco can vary depending on the homeowner’s preferences. The texture of the stucco can be manipulated to give a more rustic look or a smooth, almost polished look. Coloring is done by tinting the mixture itself, meaning that even as the material wears over the years, the color will largely remain consistent. Also, being a mixed material means that it can provide a custom fit to any home without measuring or potentially wasted materials. 

Stucco Provides Contrast

Because stucco is such a unique look, the material automatically provides contrast to every non-stucco part of the exterior of a home. Unique trim, fixtures, and windows will tend to visually pop out from the stucco’s less busy, more benign look from a distance. 

Stucco Provides a Strong, Insulated Shell

Mostly being an added layer of concrete to a home, stucco provides exceptional insulation from the summer heat — one of the reasons why stucco is so prevalent in hotter, desert climates. The low maintenance of the material will also save you time and money over the life of the material.

The Cons of Stucco

Stucco is More Expensive

When compared with its siding competitors, stucco tends to be the more extensive siding material. This price hike will primarily be for labor for installation due to the process being fairly hard work. 

Stucco Isn’t Fond of Moisture

As mentioned earlier, stucco is a preferred material for desert climates, but one of the reasons why it may be a rare sight in rainier climates is due to its weakness in the realm of moisture management. 

Stucco Isn’t Flexible

Many different materials can withstand slightly shifting ground conditions and come out relatively unscathed — stucco doesn’t seem to be one of them. Places prone to shifting soil or earthquakes can wreak havoc on stucco material, resulting in large cracks that may compromise the structural integrity of the siding. 

Stucco is a Pain to Remove

If you decide to remove stucco from your home, you’re in for a long, arduous process. Though there’s nothing particularly complicated about stucco removal, it requires a tremendous amount of elbow grease and time to do so correctly.

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Whether you’re considering stucco siding for your new home or have questions about new home building, feel free to consult the professionals at Perry Hood Properties.

Learn more about Perry Hood Properties Today