Many suburban homes throughout the country in the early 20th century were based on the architectural style commonly known as Tudor. An architectural style with a fairly wide latitude of expression, the “Tudor” label is loosely based on the architecture of Medieval England, from the 15th through the 17th centuries.

An identifying Tudor feature is a high-pitched roof, usually side gabled and with one or more dominate, front facing cross gables. Tudor style houses often feature striking decorative timbers, fashioned after Medieval construction techniques. This decorative woodwork comes in many different designs, with stucco or patterned brick between the timbers. The roof lines of Tudor homes are almost always graced with massive chimneys, constructed of brick or stone and capped with elaborate chimney pots.

In the United States, Tudor styling takes on a variety of forms ranging from elaborate mansions to modest suburban homes with mock masonry veneers. The Tudor style was most popular in America during the 1920s and early 1930s, with somewhat of a resurgence in the 1970s under the “Neo-Tudor” classification. However, the Neo-Tudor is a somewhat modified and diluted form of the more historically correct Tudor Revival style.

1st floor (a/c): 2900 s.f.
2nd floor (a/c): 1050 s.f.
Total (a/c): 3950 s.f.

This 4 bedroom design places the master suite on the ground floor with an optional elevator leading to the secondary 3 bedrooms and baths on the 2nd floor. Note how the Master Suite splits the bathing areas from the sinks, providing ample light and sitting in both spaces. The downstairs also features a single dining area, joint Game Room and Media Room with a Wet Bar. This space can be closed off from the foyer with a large paneled sliding door. A downstairs Study is accessed from underneath the staircase. While the majority of Tudor Revival architecture uses a wide range of exterior materials, this particular design is crafted mostly with a stone veneer, with some rough cedar accents and a brick chimney. Note the deeply recessed arched entry and matching arched wood entry door, as well as the very clean and simple roof line.

This original Tudor Revival house was designed by Heritage Design Studio and is available for purchase. If you are interested in seeing this or other unique designs, please visit: www.HeritageDesignStudio.com or email Chris Hough.

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French Eclectic architecture is the most varied style in history. Detailing comes in a multitude of flavors, as does form. Symmetrical form, asymmetrical form, quoins, towers with conical roofs… this archetype contains a wide scope of features.

The one constant seen in the French Eclectic style is the steep roofline. A variety of materials are often seen, including stone, stucco, brick and even half-timbering. The French Eclectic home can be easily mistaken for English Tudor, but what sets the two styles apart is the fact that English Tudor will have front-facing gables, where French Eclectic will not.

In the United States, we were exposed to the French Eclectic style due to soldiers returning home from World War I. After their exposure to the homes built throughout the French countryside, many soldiers brought back ideas for their own homes. Our French Eclectic trend in the United States began in the 1920s, carried through the 1930s, and was resurrected in the 1960s.\

Features of this Floorplan

1st floor (a/c): 2931 s.f.

2nd floor (a/c): 1111 s.f. Total (a/c): 4042 s.f.

This is a single living area home with 4 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, including the master bath with groin vaulted ceilings, as well as one 2-car and one 1-car garage.

The first floor plan features a gallery immediately located off the main foyer and stair hall with leaded glass windows. Toward the other end ofthe gallery is a study with a fireplace and beamed ceiling.

The second floor includes 2 bedrooms, 2 full bathrooms, and a study.

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This original French Eclectic house was designed by Heritage Design Studio and is available for purchase. If you are interested in seeing this or other unique designs, please visit: www.HeritageDesignStudio.com   Or contact Chris Hough (email: chris@HeritageDesignStudio.com)

The Italian Renaissance style became popular in the 1880’s and remained so into the mid 1930′s. It is a much more authentic interpretation of classical Italian architecture than the earlier”Italianate” style of the mid 1800′s. First begun in 1883 by the firm of McKim, Mead and White in New York, other fashionable architects of the time used the style as a sharp contrast to the Gothic-inspired Shingle or Queen Anne styles ofthe era.

The Mission and Spanish Eclectic styles also share similarities with the Italian Renaissance style in exterior finishes (tile roof and stucco walls), however can be easily distinguished by their eave conditions. The Italian Renaissance style almost always has wide boxed-in eaves with decorative brackets underneath, unlike either the Spanish (very little overhang) or Mission (open eaves) styles.

Today there are a wide variety of homes designedwith the label of “Mediterranean.”  These designs are generally an eclectic mix of different styles andcan be found all over the country. Apparently, the only real criteria for the category of Mediterranean is the use of some stucco on the exterior and/or a red roof. They, unfortunately, bear little resemblance in either the details or layout to the authentic and classically inspired Italian Renaissance homes that were produced at the turn of the previous century.

Identifying Features of the ITALIAN RENAISSANCE Style for this Design

Floor Plan Features

This is a single living area home with 2 eating areas, 4 bedrooms, 4 full baths, 2 half baths, and a 2 + 1 car garage.The upstairs also features a front facing balcony, a game roomand room for a future media room. A wine vault is located directly off the Formal Dining downstairs.

The exterior of this design features a clay tile roof and brick veneer exterior using flush grout joints between the brick, to provide a smooth surface resembling stucco. Cast stone !accents and columns provide classical detailing and the !louvered shutters and bracketed wide eaves help finish thelook of this cla ssic Italian Renaissance design.

1st floor (a/c): 3400 s.f.

2nd floor (a/c): 1450 s.f.

Total (a/c): 4850 s.f.

This original Italian Renaissance house was designed by Heritage Design Studio for the subdivision of Old Grove in Colleyville. If you are interested in seeing this or other unique designs, please visit: www.HeritageDesignStudio.comOr contact Chris Hough (email: chris@HeritageDesignStudio.com)

Origins of the Style

According to authors Arrol Gellner and Douglas Keister, the Storybook style is “…a rambunctious evocation of medieval Europe, and surely the most delightful home style of the twentieth century.”

The style emerged in Los Angeles, California in the 1920s with the expanding movie industry, with film stars looking for homes that reflected both their wealth and the magic of fantasy related to the overall industry.  Storybook style was not long lived, however, and came to a halt in the early 1930s at the start of the Great Depression.

Exterior features include stucco (often roughly troweled), frequently with half-timbering.  Use of rubble stone and clinker brick are common.   Al-stone, all-brick, and all-wood construction are sometimes used.  Turrets iwth conical roofs are a common feature, as are dovecots.  (A dovecot is a bird house built into the wall of a structure, where doves or pigeons nested.  In medieval Europe a dovecot was a symbol of nobility and was only allowed on the homes and barns of privileged families.)

Identifying Features of the Storybook Style for this design

Floor Plan Features

This home was built by Venetian Custom Homes in Southlake, in the development of Tealwood.  The Kitchen is flooded with natural light at the front of the home and opens freely into the Family Room.  The Master Suite has a rolled ceiling, and the bathing area is separated from the vanities,  which are surrounded by windows.  All three Bedrooms are located on the first floor (one as optional Study).  On the second floor, we have designed a 14′ x 20′ Bonus Room, with full bath and closet.  This will be located over the garage.

Download Heritage Design Studio’s Newsletter about Storybook Design.

Getting the kitchen your client wants is about expressing your client's lifestyle in a room. The kitchen is the heart of their home--let us help you make it their favorite room in the house. Our kitchen designers and installers will work with you to help create the kitchen they've always dreamed of. Available through DCX Enterprises, Grapevine. 817-291-3727

It’s time to celebrate some of the most important rooms of any home—the kitchen, bath and laundry rooms.   Creating these all-important spaces first requires an effort to get up to speed on some of the newest and most innovative products on the market, and second, your willingness to keep with what’s new, in style and practical as far as décor is concerned.

Technology Advancing Rapidly for Appliances

Once just big white boxes in our kitchens, today’s popular appliances in shimmering stainless steel remain popular.  We’ve also seen a return to the preference for the seamless, integrated look of built-in appliances with custom panels.  Answering to this demand, appliance manufactures offer a host of built-in and counter-depth styles designed to allow your refrigerator, drop-in range and dishwasher to blend in almost seamlessly with surrounding cabinetry.  They are made to accept cabinet-matching custom panels purchased from your cabinet-maker.

30" Built-In Single Wall Oven with V2 Vertical Dual-Fan Convection System from Jenn-Air. This oven features a 7" full graphical LCD display and over 50 convection modes. Available at Morrison, 5001 Bryant Irvin Road North, Fort Worth, 817-259-0920. For more information: http://www.jennair.com/flash.cmd?/#/product/JJW3430WS/

Technology for cooking, refrigeration and dishwashing is advancing as rapidly as Internet technology these days.  Smart LCD screens provide information and track usage. Ovens heat up and cook food faster than ever before. Refrigerators are capable of pinpointing ideal temperatures for each food type.  Dishwashers have special cycles making them trustworthy for safely washing your finest china and crystal and also tough enough to tackle the worst dried-on, greased-up mess you could make without prewashing; some are so quiet you’ll barely even notice when they are on.

The laundry room is not to be skipped when it comes to technological advancements.  Modern washers and dryers allow homeowners to create customized cycles based on personal preferences, all while using less water and less energy, to save on utility bills.  Finally, we’re seeing more advancement in appliances that eliminate the need to wash your clothes, remove them from the washer and place them into a separate machine for drying.  Space-saving, washer-dryer combination units perfectly accommodate apartments and small spaces and cut out multiple steps in getting the laundry task done.

Save Energy and Water Without Sacrificing Performance

Without the right appliances, the kitchen can be the most wasteful room in home. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, lighting, refrigeration and cooking are responsible for 41.5% of a home’s energy consumption. Add dishwashers, electronics and all the other specialty paraphernalia we want in our kitchens plus the washer and dryer that seem to be constantly going in the laundry room, and every home has the potential to be an environmental hot spot.  But appliance companies are coming to our rescue by vastly improving the efficiency of new models. A good place to start is to look for ENERGY STAR® labels.

Water conservation is another hot button, and here, the bathroom is even more of a culprit than the kitchen and laundry room.  Don’t forget that since water savings will reduce demands on water heaters, water-saving fixtures also save energy, too.  Showering accounts for nearly 17 percent of residential indoor water consumption, or about 30 gallons per day. That’s nearly 1.2 trillion gallons of water used in the United States annually, enough to supply the states of New York and New Jersey for a year.   By simply installing high-efficiency shower heads, designed to reduce as much as a gallon of water usage per minute, the average household could save more than 2,300 gallons per year.

The largest daily user of water in the home is the toilet. By replacing this one product with a high-efficiency toilet (HET) you can greatly affect your total water usage.  If your toilet flushes 3.5 gal per flush, one person can consume as much as 19.5 gal, or 7,135 gal per year.  If your toilet flushes 1.6 gal per flush, one person can consume as much as 10 gal per day, or 3,760 gal per year.  If your toilet flushes 1.28 gal per flush, one person can consume as much as 6.4 gal / per day, or 2,336 gal per year. If your toilet flushes 1.0 gpf per flush, one person can consume as little as 5 gal or 1,928 gal.

Early on, without technology to make water saving shower heads, faucets and toilets work as efficiently as their water-guzzling predecessors, they were about as popular as flies at a picnic.  Technology that controls the water’s shape and velocity producing larger spray droplets that retain heat longer now allows shower head spray dynamics that provide the sensation of a high-flow shower experience, while significantly reducing water usage.  Technology has also solved some of the early problems with low-flow toilets as well.

Weigh Personal Style Preferences and Durability When Making Kitchen Selections

Brookhaven Cabinetry by Wood-Mode is made to suit any style and space based on the homeowner’s style. Available at The Kitchen Source showrooms Dallas 214-741-1912 and Fort Worth 817-731-4299 www.thekitchensource.net

Armed with a wish list of all the technology you need and want to include in your kitchen and resolved to be energy and water efficient, your choices in cabinetry, countertops and floors are also paramount.  Colors, styles, finishes, woods, and details selected for the kitchen express more about the owner’s personality than perhaps any other room in the home.

In our market, there is often a misconception that factory-built cabinets are not as custom-made as those built in a local cabinet shop. Many are surprised at the price tag of factory-built cabinets but there is no question that there are advantages.  A factory finish provides consistent and long-lasting results; many manufacturers offer lifetime warranties on the finishes and cabinet durability.  The fact that they are not stained and finished on the job sites reduces exposure to toxic fumes, making factory built cabinets a much “greener” choice.  What’s inside of the top end factory built cabinets are another simply amazing benefit–organizer inserts, turn tables, roll-outs and more.

As the centerpiece of the kitchen, the countertop choice is huge.  Mother Nature gives us a rainbow of choices and patterns in granite.  Designers often advise to take a look at your closet when trying to decide on color.  If you see an abundance of color and patterns, then go with a bold selection.  If neutrals are your thing, monochromatic color schemes with a unified material distribution are a better fit for your personality.  If your closet sports the classics with a few fun accessories, apply the same principles in choosing your granite—perhaps going with a traditional top and accenting it with a fun glass tile backsplash.  Of course, there are also wood, metal and engineered surfaces to consider.  Weigh in the factors of budget, durability and personal peferences in the decision-making process.

For kitchen flooring, durability and ease of cleaning are top criteria. Ceramic tiles are easy to maintain, available in a huge range, and resistant to most dents, dings and scratches. If your family includes children or anyone with special safety needs, remember that smooth tiles can be very slippery when they get wet, so you may want to consider tiles with a textured surface. While some feel that wood is an unusual choice now that there are so many different flooring options, hardwood remains an excellent choice for the kitchen, adding warmth to an area where the whole family spends much time and also coping well with the high traffic volume.  Wood floors can also be more comfortable for long periods of standing.

The kitchen is a place to splurge on that special lighting fixture, but don’t forget the importance of a lighting plan to make the kitchen safe and comfortable. Natural light is important, but think about the places that natural light won’t reach or light well. Consider cloudy days, and remember that much of the work will be done in the evenings.

Simple and Serene are Key Words for the Bath

Find the latest Kohler® products at Ferguson Bath, Kitchen and Lighting Gallery. Ferguson has highly trained consultants who understand the building process and can orchestrate customers' dreams. Call Ferguson Bath, Kitchen, and Lighting Gallery in Dallas at (214) 761-9333 and in Fort Worth at (817) 348-8489.

Arts & Crafts visionary William Morris once said, “Simplicity of life… is the very foundation of refinement.”  Minimalism, one of the design movements influenced by the earlier Arts & Crafts movement,  advocates paring design down to only those truly essential elements.   Considering the current trend of downsizing, minimalism certainly makes sense in 2011. At least in the master bath where the spa-like atmosphere is often cited as the number one design goal, minimalism answers to our desire to create a clean, uncluttered atmosphere that’s in touch with nature. Even if you don’t embrace the minimalist style entirely, you’ll likely find that simply de-cluttering your bath can be the first step in clearing your head.  How many spas have you been to that are full of ornamentation and clutter?

As applied to bathroom design, the minimalist trend draws inspiration from nature, celebrating the intrinsic beauty of natural materials: gently flowing water, the handsome grains of hardwoods and the earthy textures of stone. Space is open and inviting, colors are calm and neutral, fixtures sleek and understated. The few accessories in the room can include organic cotton towels and soft, indirect lighting sources or candles and fireplaces.

For your kitchen, bath and laundry areas to have “wow factor” they must be technologically savvy, energy- and water-saving and as chic as they come!

Prior to 1920, most home designs of Spanish influence were variations on the Mission style developed by the early Spanish missionaries.  that changed with the Panama-California Exposition held in San Diego in 1915.

The exposition marks a point in time when a much more precise and elaborate imitation of Spanish architecture received wide attention in our country.  Inspired by the exposition, architects began to look directly to Spain for domestic building materials, and finding a rich history to pull from, the style evolved into what many refer to as the Spanish Colonial Revival.  However, the term Spanish Eclectic incorporates the more broad architectural roots of the style prior to the 1920′s.  It reached its climax in the 1920′s and 30′s but passed rapidly from favor during the 1940′s.

Spanish Eclectic designs are commonly found in areas where original Spanish Colonial building occurred in locations such as California, Arizona, Texas and Florida.

This home designed by Heritage Design Studio features a clay tile roof and brick veneer surface, using flush grout joints between the brick to create a smooth appearance that resembles stucco.  A cast stone surround at the formal dining and upstairs bedroom provides a refined detail to the front, while the rough cedar balcony and fireplace off the front terrace adds some rustic appeal to the design.

Download the PDF of Heritage Design Studios Newsletter about Spanish Eclectic Style

Gently lapping surf, warm Gulf breezes and long stretches of white sand beaches—this is the stuff of which dream vacations are made.  Rosemary Beach, a new traditional town, located between Panama City and Destin in Florida’s South Walton County, beckons visitors to experience the good life in this serene setting.  And for those of us in the homebuilding industry, a trip to Rosemary Beach is also a study in Pan-Caribbean architecture with architectural shapes and silhouettes calling to mind St. Augustine, the West Indies, New Orleans and Charleston. But the more advanced study opportunity comes in examining Rosemary Beach’s New Urbanism–a town-planning concept that relies on a blend of intimate neighborhoods and public spaces.

New Urbanism has been described by the New York Times as the most important phenomenon to emerge in American architecture in the post-Cold War era.  Andres Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, the internationally renowned husband and wife architect team behind the Miami-based town planning and architectural design firm, Duany Plater-Zyberk & Company (DPZ) have garnered worldwide acclaim for their work that uniquely portrays the concept.   Their accomplishments include the design of more than 130 new towns and community revitalization projects across the US, Canada, Australia, Jamaica and Turkey.  Partly thanks to its Hollywood fame as the idealistic setting seen in The Truman Show, Rosemary Beach’s famous neighbor, Seaside, continues to draw real estate developers, architects and college students who visit to study the town plan and architecture. It even drew a South Korean documentary film crew who visited and filmed a documentary about the town last summer.

Capturing the discarded values of 50 years ago, DPZ’s New Urbanism design for Rosemary Beach replaces grid-locked, automobile-dependent suburbia with a pedestrian community devoid of fast food restaurants, tee-shirt factories, tacky souvenir shops or gas stations. Ordinances restricting building heights to 50 feet or four stories along County Road 30A are also a factor preventing Rosemary Beach or its surrounding neighbors from being reduced to the concrete jungle that other beach towns too often become, with high-rise buildings blocking the beach view from the public eye.

Rosemary Beach is composed of an interconnected network of streets and blocks, featuring a street design to encourage walking, a variety of housing types, a commercial center and preserved civic spaces.  Roadways were laid to conform to the natural contours of the land.  The winding, narrow streets are lined by scrub oaks, which were planted along the edge of the pavement and branch out into the roadways forcing the flow of traffic to slow down.  The developers used permeable concrete for pavement throughout the town, which allows water to filter through to the sand below and eliminates the need for unsightly storm water drains or holding ponds.

Once inside the community, various footpaths and boardwalks are the main thoroughfares, providing passage through the town’s gardens and parks for residents to walk or ride their bikes.  Without ever getting into their vehicles, residents can walk five minutes to the center of town to get the mail, go to the bank, get a haircut, dine out or shop.  The beautiful beaches with dune walkovers to protect the fragile environment are a main attraction, but even without beach, there would still be much to entice outdoor recreation– four swimming pools, the Rosemary Beach Racquet Club, a 2.3 mile fitness trail with exercise stations, a butterfly garden and more.  Dramatic vistas are everywhere, framed in the columns of a beach-side pavilion, revealed by a sudden bend in the road or appearing, as if magically, at the end of a boardwalk promenade or secret pathway.

Named for the herb rosemary that grows wild in the area, Rosemary Beach also has progressive landscape codes prohibiting the use of any landscape that is not native to the area on individual properties, including grass.  But that’s not to say that the allure of a barefoot stroll though cool grass on a sunny day is missed.  Relegating the use of grass to special community “greens” creates one of the special characteristics of Rosemary Beach.  Greens are the gathering places for picnicking, an impromptu game of ball or an outdoor wedding.

More suggestive than restrictive, the Rosemary Beach Code Book serves to educate and foster the Rosemary Beach design philosophy.  These guidelines, combined with highly skilled pre-approved architects, landscape architects, garden designers and builders with whom Rosemary Beach Land Company associates, are essential in creating the high-quality, traditional neighborhood that is Rosemary Beach.  Living quarters range in size from 1,000 to 7,500 square feet across 12 different residential building types to choose from.  These include Arcades, Live/Work Units, Flats, Courtyard Homes, Townhouses, Sideyard Houses, Small Houses, Large Houses, Park Houses, Beach Houses, Beach Cottages and Large Courtyard Houses.  While every home is architecturally unique and custom designed, each plays an inextricable role in the fabric of the town.  Building codes designate that only natural and genuine materials are used in construction, and no paints are permitted—only water-based stains can be used.

To date, more than 600 cottages, carriage houses and loft/flat units have been completed at Rosemary Beach with more than 150 available for rent. The opportunity to be a guest in one of the homes at Rosemary Beach provides the opportunity to “try on” life in paradise for a while.  Available accommodations range from Carriage Houses sized from 450 to 1,000 square feet housing two to six guests, to cottages as large as 6,000 square feet for up to 16 guests.  The Pensione, a European inn on Main Street offering 11 rooms is another accommodation option.  Hotel Saba, a new luxury hotel, is also under construction in downtown Rosemary Beach.  If you find yourself yearning to make Rosemary Beach a second home, there won’t likely be a better time to buy than right now.  The Private Resident Club offers fractional ownership opportunities beginning at 1/6 ownership (7 weeks) currently from $88,000.  Real estate offerings on the market include furnished main houses, carriage houses, lofts, flats and town houses, and at press time 19 building lots remained ranging in price for $175,000 to just under $5 million.

The brand-new Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport and Southwest Airlines service into Panama City makes getting to Rosemary Beach quick and easy for Texans.  Call the Rosemary Beach Cottage Rental line at 888-855-1551 to request brochures or book accommodations, or for more information, visit www.rosemarybeach.com.

Lessons Learned from our study of New Urbanism at Rosemary Beach

1. 1. Density can be desirable.
2. 2. Large and small homes can co-exist in the same block.
3. 3. Even with very specific building codes, material requirements and architectural specifications, every home can be architecturally unique and custom designed.
4. 4. A sense of community breaks down fears and emotional walls and encourages neighbors to interact with one another.
5. 5. All new communities need to be built with an awareness that the time has come to stop hopping in the car every time we need or want to go somewhere.  What we need and want needs to be available to us within a five minute walk on safe and attractive pathways.
6. 6. Grass and other plants that require watering and fertilizing should be avoided or used in limited amounts but restricted to common areas for mutual enjoyment and to minimize necessary maintenance by homeowners.
7. 7. Where there is a major natural attraction in a community (ie. the beach in this community), use and views should not be limited strictly to the most affluent owners.  Other amenities must be planned to ensure desirability of lots positioned far from the major attraction.

“Wall vacuum systems, built-in espresso makers (especially in areas other than the kitchen), beer tap dispensers, independent ice-makers, extraneous TVs everywhere, fireplaces in the master bedroom or bath, oversized tubs, oversized kitchens…”  Take a look at Builder Magazine’s trends, practices and products to avoid.    What are some under-used things we wrongly thought were “necessities” in our own market?   We encourage you to comment!