Delivering A Model Home

I have just finished installing my biggest project, the decorated model home at Mountain View, Sukonik Builders’ newest community in Limerick Township, PA.  I am very excited by the finished product and hope you can get to see it soon!  It’s on Sunset Road, Schwenksville, PA 19473.

Clients and friends often wonder, “WOW! how do you do something like this?  It seems so overwhelming!”  I often think as I’m in the process that its a lot like delivering a baby.  This baby took 9 months, it required a lot of preparation and planning, and in the end, a lot of sweat!  But the final product, a real live model home for buyers to enjoy, is WELL WORTH IT!

In reality, planning a decorated model home (called “merchandising” in builder lingo) is as much about marketing as it is about decorating.  After all, the Idea Design-ed model is now a sales tool – part of the builder’s overall marketing plan.  So before any furniture is even considered or any colors selected, I have to delve into the 4 P’s of Marketing:  Place, Product, Price, and Promotion.

• Who will buy here?  Why?
• What is their demographic?
• What are the current trends of this demographic?
• How are they living now and how do they want to live?
• Who will this price point attract?
• What is the style of this home and how do I design it to fit all of the above?

Often after I have established the buyer’s profile, I will set out to actually describe the buyer in great detail.  Visualization is a big help in design and gives direction to the project.  Sometimes I even give them names!  Is this a family buyer with one or two children?  How old are they?  What activities are they involved in?

My first step in establishing an overall decorating scheme is to locate a key fabric for the project.  This is my jumping off point.  The fabric is usually an exciting print, one that I feel this buyer will relate to, a fabric whose colors feel “current.”

This is the key fabric chosen for Mountain View.  Why?  Well, first off, I love it!  Its color base is putty, mushroom, grey, and black which enabled me to hop onto the transitional look that’s current for this buyer.  It also gave me a great motivational pop of color – a brick red – to move with.

The paisley has a hint of tradition in it, which we identified was still important to this buyer.

I start to envision all the other elements that would work with this fabric…geometrics, sure!  Stripes, sure!  Neutral walls…sure!  Stainless appliances…sure!

From here, once I’ve fallen in love with the key fabric for the job all other phases of the design process seem to fall forward from there.

After all, design and decorating is a love affair, just like delivering a baby.

Holley