Fashions may change, but style is timeless. Enduring elegance results when yesterday’s classic looks blend with today’s breakthrough trends. Two entries in the local Parade of Homes, with 2015 shows in Harrisburg and Lancaster, reveal the magic that happens when old and new are carefully joined. One home projects an old soul, comforting and cheery. The other presents a modern manor ideal, steeped in tradition while looking to the future.
Old Soul
Covered porch. Deep windowsills. Wide plank floors. Ask Charter Homes & Neighborhoods (www.charterhomes.com) if a new home can have an old soul, and the answer is sure to be yes.
Charter Homes built its Lancaster 2015 Parade of Homes entry in the new Grandview community, Lancaster. Designers drew inspiration from a range of classic features in the area, including the farm setting, memories of a colonial-era home once on the site, and the adjacent community of bungalows dating to the 1920s.
Then they infused the concept with contemporary elegance, adding airiness and light. The seamless result earned single-family Best of Show honors in its price category. A house with an old soul “should be timeless,” says Charter Homes & Neighborhoods president Rob Bowman. “It should speak to people today. It should hold up to what’s been built before.”
The Kitchen
In Charter Homes houses, sightlines drive design. “You feel like your eye leads you from one sight to the next,” says Bowman. Wide-plank hardwood floors provide a seamless transition among spaces. And of course, if the kitchen is seen from every room, it must look as if it belongs with them.
White cabinets and dark counters are “the right answer,” providing a crisp backdrop to this visual feast, says Bowman. The island is built with beadboard to recall the home’s historic setting, but it istopped with oiled soapstone counters—the same counters featured throughout the kitchen—for a sleek, contemporary look. Industrial-chic barstools add casual fun.
Classic finishes such as a stainless steel sink and faucet, brushed nickel hardware, and stainless steel appliances project the timeless theme. A single glassed-in cabinet adds depth and display space, while crown molding unifies the maple cabinetry.
The Morning Room
A traditional morning room was exactly that—the sunny spot where residents started their days. Then along came the sunroom, a delightful feature in many homes, but often segregated from other living spaces.
Charter Homes meshed old and new ideas and recreated the morning room into a multi-purpose space filled with natural light from floor-to-ceiling, energy-efficient windows. While it’s easy to visualize the room gleaming with sunlight, Bowman notes, “there’s nothing like a new-fallen snow seen from the back of a Charter home. You’re warm, you could be standing there in your PJs and slippers, but the outside comes in. It’s a space that people use twelve months out of the year.”
In decorating, Charter Homes’ designers varied a neutral pallet with textures. The shag rug is “fun and comfortable,” says Bowman. “Everything should feel good when you walk on it, when you put your hands over it. Everything should have a feeling to it. Not everything needs to be shiny and smooth.”
The Study
In a home where neutral whites, tans, and grays soothe, wood trim painted in dark colors brings a spark of contemporary pop. The dark door opening to the study, for instance, “makes a statement that now you’re in a different space. If you want someplace that feels a little warmer, a little removed, there’s nothing like darkening a room to give you that kind of feeling.”
The wide, bold stripes painted on the wall emphasize the study’s size and give the room a touch of whimsy and individuality. They create a modern backdrop for classic furnishings and decor, including the glass-fronted bookcase and framed avian print. The round wood-framed mirror reflects—literally and figuratively—the leather-topped coffee table.
The overall idea, says Bowman, “is that the architecture, interior design, and the neighborhood all work together.”
The Second-floor Game Room
On the second floor, a space that Bowman calls the game room provides a secluded hideaway. It’s an open hallway outside the bedroom where residents and visitors can get away from the main level’s hustle and bustle. “This is where you can watch TV, gather, or play video games,” says Bowman. “Not everybody sees it every day.”
Like the rest of the house, the game room is decorated in timeless fashion, “mixing pieces and ideas that could be from different eras.” The open, two-tiered coffee table provides a contemporary complement to the antique-style chest, delivering “the kind of interior space that most people aspire to today,” says Bowman. “Not everything’s new; not everything’s old. It’s less about the consumption, less about stuff, and more about permanence.”
See more inspirations from the 2015 Builders Association of Lancaster Parade of Homes at www.lancasterparadeofhomes.com.
Modern Manor
Take an English manor, maybe not quite Downton Abbey opulent, but clad in arched doorway, gables, and steep rooflines that seem to welcome guests for the hunt. Stir in styling for today’s living, with popular colors and contemporary fixtures.
The result is “modern manor,” displayed splendidly in this five-bedroom home from Roland Builder (www.rolandbuilder.com) at the Estate at Autumn Oaks, Harrisburg. Here, past and present meet amid touches of rusticity and twenty-first-century finishes.
The Kitchen
The kitchen spotlights the custom, old-growth black walnut flooring that flows throughout the first level. Milled specially for this house, it’s finished in a dark tone that’s both timeless and popular today.
“You can use a trend, but you can also choose a look that won’t go out of style in ten years,” says Brent Roland of Roland Builder. “That walnut will look good forever.”
The copper range hood, handmade in Pittsburgh, is the kitchen’s centerpiece. The fashionably chic barrel look complements the rustic English manor ideal for a “mixed modern look,” says Roland.
An up-to-the-minute white kitchen would have contrasted too starkly with the manorial atmosphere, so Roland’s team chose to paint and stain the cabinets in a soft off-white. The granite counters offer the rich look of mocha suede, shimmering with a matte finish, while the genuine stone backsplash provides solidity. “There’s a warm feel to everything, not that crisp modern look,” says Roland.
The kitchen’s standout is its custom-designed, flip-down iPad dock, where a tablet is housed and charged in the cookbook rack. Roland had the idea because his family iPad, keeper of schedules and recipes, “always floats around the house. It doesn’t have a home. My thought was; let’s bring it into the kitchen.” The tablet not only shares family information but can also control security, lighting, audio, and HVAC in this smart home.
The Living Room
In an English manor, an addition might have been built against an outside stone wall, and that’s the look replicated here, bringing exterior elements to the interior. The custom stone fireplace surround continues the rustic look but also features a Roland signature element—the see-through, double-sided fireplace that peeks outside to the covered patio. “That fireplace provides heat on the inside and the outside,” says Roland.
Interior designer Sharon Brill of David’s Furniture, Harrisburg (www.davidsfurniture.com), mixed traditional styling with modern grays, taupes, and beiges when she first decorated this home in 2014 (which will be decorated differently for the 2015 Parade of Homes). She sought “a relaxed clean line, a less cluttered look,” she says. In the living room, the stone wall was her springboard for making the room “really earthy and comfortable, while adding a few pieces of bling and fun.”
Take, for instance, the large mirrored cocktail table. Shiny and eye-catching, it reflects an area rug that introduces an orange earth tone to the space. Curtains bookending the patio doors flanking the fireplace are in that same orange, but they also glimmer with a high sheen that enhances the bling.
The Master Bath
The master bath embraces the modern manor theme but amps up the elegance, creating “a nice retreat,” says Roland. The warm gold colors add a natural warmth and reflect the gold tone of the light fixtures, including the dainty sconces and the chandelier over the bathtub.
The clawfoot slipper tub brings curvature to the room, while the vaulted ceiling soars. Crown molding where the arch meets the wall adds a finishing touch.
Roland likes to build vaulted ceilings in smaller areas, adding loft to such rooms as breakfast nooks and baths. The sit-and-talk spaces, such as family rooms, often have flat ceilings for intimacy. In this home, the dinette off the kitchen also sits under a vaulted ceiling, with exposed beams that continue the manor theme.
The most important element of any home, says Roland, is its underlying quality, “the things behind the frills” that make the home functional and cozy. “The structure behind it,” he says, “is all very high quality.”
Think of a Parade of Homes as a job interview for builders. Whether you’re looking to build a new home or remodel your current home, the Parade of Homes puts you face to face with the person who could be your contractor.
“Price is important, but beyond price, you have to feel comfortable with that person, and that’s where the Parade of Homes is a winner for everybody,” says Cathy Warner, director of events for York Builders Association.
A Parade of Homes also offers the chance to see what’s new in the ever-evolving world of home fashions, design, and technology, says Linda McMasters, assistant executive vice president of the Home Builders Association of Metropolitan Harrisburg.
“It’s open house all week, and you don’t have to wait until the weekend,” says McMasters.
In the Harrisburg, York, and Lancaster areas, three builders associations each offer a Parade of Homes, meant to delight and educate—and maybe introduce you to your next builder.
Pennsylvania Parade of Homes, presented by the Home Builders Association of Metropolitan Harrisburg:
About thirty-two homes in Dauphin and Cumberland counties.
When: September 26 through October 4, 2015.
Special Feature: On October 3 and 4, the Remodelers Parade will spotlight an additional selection of remodeled homes and outdoor living.
Info: www.paparadeofhomes.com, 717-232-5595 or 800-281-5539.
York Builders Association Parade of Homes:
About eighteen new and remodeled homes and landscapes.
When: September 19 and 20, 2015.
Special feature: Chefs on Parade, a traveling gourmet party at five Parade homes, September 17. Tastings also include wine and beer selections, plus pop-up boutiques with sweets and specialty foods from Central Market vendors. Proceeds benefit Servants, a local nonprofit whose Home Helps program provides home maintenance services for senior citizens, people with disabilities, single parents, and others who can’t afford to hire professionals for the work.
Info: www.yorkbuilders.com/york_parade_of_homes.asp, 717-767-2444.
Tickets for Chefs on Parade: $20 per person.
