That Model Home Look: What model home decorators know
Dishing out the eye candy.
Model home designers set the stage for real life
Model homes are about dreams and aspirations. A successful model home should resemble a movie set, not a sales center, designers say.
“Model homes have come a long way in 10-20 years. They’re much more cozy, lived in, complete,” says Helen Velas of Eleni Interiors in Naperville, who has been a model merchandiser since 1987.
“There is a difference between a decorator and a model merchandiser,” Velas explains. “Our goal is to make it look like a family actually lives there.”
That includes setting the table, setting out games, and adding aromas to the kitchen. Children’s rooms feature strong themes that highlight “value activities” such as Scouts, horseback riding or sports. The man’s study has golf trophies, and photos of classic cars.
Velas calls these “memory points,” which are scattered throughout the home to make a lasting impression on potential buyers. They might include things like a custom stone range surround, or a Cinderella-themed girl’s bedroom.
A home that is not professionally merchandised feels like a hotel,” Velas says. “It feels a little bit vacant, and you don’t aspire to it; you don’t picture your family hanging out around the fireplace.”
Working like social scientists, model merchandisers design with specific demographic profiles in mind.
“We find out from the builder or developer who they are targeting,” Velas says. “Usually they will have extensive research on age range, income level, children’s ages, why they are moving, where they’re coming from, and where they work. That helps us to shape the lifestyle we want to show.”
Aspire
Mary Cook & Associates is also a major player in Chicagoland model home design. The firm has done seven area communities in the last 24 months, from rental apartments in Lakeshore East’s Aqua to Mayfair in Naperville to the Trump Tower.
Kate Brennan, business development manager at the firm, says the Trump models required five distinct profiles. “One was a 36-year-old single woman who is a marketing executive and lives in the city and loves to travel. Her color palette is black and white, with pops of persimmon,” Brennan says.
Model merchandisers say the thing most homebuyers respond to is the concept of moving up. They call it “aspirational.”
Mayfair, a townhome community in downtown Naperville, was set to debut new models at the beginning of October designed by Mary Cook & Associates. Even the developer’s logo on the website reads: “M/I Homes Move Up.”
“The townhomes start around $200,000, but the detail is pretty remarkable because we’re including finishes you would see in more expensive homes,” Brennan says. These buyers still want to see things like granite countertops and kitchen islands that have wine storage or that look like furniture, built-in spice drawers, tile details in the master baths.
As for décor, “In these townhomes that are close to transportation, we use urban influences pollinating suburban settings because buyers want the conveniences of the city in the suburbs,” Brennan says.
Eye candy
A model should be a bit like a show house too. That’s where the wow factor comes in.
“We show the finishes they don’t have now that they’re dying to have,” Velas says. Hot items include: decorative windows with beveled glass, iron detailing on the front door, wine storage in the kitchen, steam ovens and microwaves, cultured stone/composite stone on arched doorways and stove surrounds, glass tile, vanities that mimic furniture, sinks in non-porcelain materials, kitchen cabinets to the ceiling, textured and metallic paint, hand-scraped, wide plank flooring. Velas is planning many of these for The Hamptons of Hinsdale, whose model is opening at the end of the year.
“You have to give the prospective homebuyer as much eye candy as possible,” says designer Scott Arthur Yerkey of Scott Arthur Yerkey Design in Chicago. He has done three single-family homes at Meadow Ridge in Northbrook recently. Yerkey customized the very structure of the model homes, raising doorway heights, opening up a cathedral ceiling, adding larger baseboards and crown molding, putting marble details in all the bathrooms, and using double-thick granite in the kitchen.”
Designed to sell
Does all this window dressing help sell homes? Yerkey, for one, keeps designing models at Meadow Ridge because the homes themselves are selling — even though a model home may cost a third more than a basic home in the same community.
Brennan says Mary Cook & Associates experienced the same success at Aqua. “The rental units had been open for 18 months, and were moving kind of slowly. We took a vanilla box and created a dynamic rental unit. The first person they showed it to rented, and over the next two weeks they had 11 more rents, so it’s a very powerful tool,” she says.
What happens to all that great stuff inside a model home once it’s purchased? Sometimes buyers buy the whole thing furnished, or the merchandise is moved to another model or sold at an auction — just like on a movie set. Either way, designers say it’s money well spent.
“The success is just as strong at $199,000 as it is at $1.6 million,” says Brennan. “The fundamentals are still the same.”
Model home designers say buyers expect to see the latest in home features, finishes and décor when they visit a model. “These are things that their friends who bought their houses five years ago don’t have,” says Helen Velas of Eleni Interiors in Naperville. “It gives them a reason to move.”
Here are some features that fuel the fantasy:
• Custom woodwork, from ceiling beams to built-ins, to crown molding to wide plank flooring
• Furniture that is just a cut above what the buyer can afford
• Huge kitchen islands with seating and built-in appliances, such as warming drawers and half-drawer dishwashers
• Wine storage in the kitchen
• Custom stonework inside the home on archways, range surrounds, bars
• Architectural range surrounds, or custom range hoods
• Kitchen cabinets that go up to the ceiling
• Steam washers and dryers
• Textured wall treatments
• Textured or metallic paint
• Decorative vanity sinks in alternative materials, like wood, metal, stone, or glass
• Glass tile accents in the kitchen and bath
• Vessel sinks (those that sit on top of a vanity like a bowl)
• Custom front doors with ironwork
• Decorative windows with beveled glass
• Integrated refrigerators that match the cabinetry
Dishing out the eye candy.
Model home designers set the stage for real life
Model homes are about dreams and aspirations. A successful model home should resemble a movie set, not a sales center, designers say.
“Model homes have come a long way in 10-20 years. They’re much more cozy, lived in, complete,” says Helen Velas of Eleni Interiors in Naperville, who has been a model merchandiser since 1987.
“There is a difference between a decorator and a model merchandiser,” Velas explains. “Our goal is to make it look like a family actually lives there.”
That includes setting the table, setting out games, and adding aromas to the kitchen. Children’s rooms feature strong themes that highlight “value activities” such as Scouts, horseback riding or sports. The man’s study has golf trophies, and photos of classic cars.
Velas calls these “memory points,” which are scattered throughout the home to make a lasting impression on potential buyers. They might include things like a custom stone range surround, or a Cinderella-themed girl’s bedroom.
A home that is not professionally merchandised feels like a hotel,” Velas says. “It feels a little bit vacant, and you don’t aspire to it; you don’t picture your family hanging out around the fireplace.”
Working like social scientists, model merchandisers design with specific demographic profiles in mind.
“We find out from the builder or developer who they are targeting,” Velas says. “Usually they will have extensive research on age range, income level, children’s ages, why they are moving, where they’re coming from, and where they work. That helps us to shape the lifestyle we want to show.”
Aspire
Mary Cook & Associates is also a major player in Chicagoland model home design. The firm has done seven area communities in the last 24 months, from rental apartments in Lakeshore East’s Aqua to Mayfair in Naperville to the Trump Tower.
Kate Brennan, business development manager at the firm, says the Trump models required five distinct profiles. “One was a 36-year-old single woman who is a marketing executive and lives in the city and loves to travel. Her color palette is black and white, with pops of persimmon,” Brennan says.
Model merchandisers say the thing most homebuyers respond to is the concept of moving up. They call it “aspirational.”
Mayfair, a townhome community in downtown Naperville, was set to debut new models at the beginning of October designed by Mary Cook & Associates. Even the developer’s logo on the website reads: “M/I Homes Move Up.”
“The townhomes start around $200,000, but the detail is pretty remarkable because we’re including finishes you would see in more expensive homes,” Brennan says. These buyers still want to see things like granite countertops and kitchen islands that have wine storage or that look like furniture, built-in spice drawers, tile details in the master baths.
As for décor, “In these townhomes that are close to transportation, we use urban influences pollinating suburban settings because buyers want the conveniences of the city in the suburbs,” Brennan says.
Eye candy
A model should be a bit like a show house too. That’s where the wow factor comes in.
“We show the finishes they don’t have now that they’re dying to have,” Velas says. Hot items include: decorative windows with beveled glass, iron detailing on the front door, wine storage in the kitchen, steam ovens and microwaves, cultured stone/composite stone on arched doorways and stove surrounds, glass tile, vanities that mimic furniture, sinks in non-porcelain materials, kitchen cabinets to the ceiling, textured and metallic paint, hand-scraped, wide plank flooring. Velas is planning many of these for The Hamptons of Hinsdale, whose model is opening at the end of the year.
“You have to give the prospective homebuyer as much eye candy as possible,” says designer Scott Arthur Yerkey of Scott Arthur Yerkey Design in Chicago. He has done three single-family homes at Meadow Ridge in Northbrook recently. Yerkey customized the very structure of the model homes, raising doorway heights, opening up a cathedral ceiling, adding larger baseboards and crown molding, putting marble details in all the bathrooms, and using double-thick granite in the kitchen.”
Designed to sell
Does all this window dressing help sell homes? Yerkey, for one, keeps designing models at Meadow Ridge because the homes themselves are selling — even though a model home may cost a third more than a basic home in the same community.
Brennan says Mary Cook & Associates experienced the same success at Aqua. “The rental units had been open for 18 months, and were moving kind of slowly. We took a vanilla box and created a dynamic rental unit. The first person they showed it to rented, and over the next two weeks they had 11 more rents, so it’s a very powerful tool,” she says.
What happens to all that great stuff inside a model home once it’s purchased? Sometimes buyers buy the whole thing furnished, or the merchandise is moved to another model or sold at an auction — just like on a movie set. Either way, designers say it’s money well spent.
“The success is just as strong at $199,000 as it is at $1.6 million,” says Brennan. “The fundamentals are still the same.”
Model home designers say buyers expect to see the latest in home features, finishes and décor when they visit a model. “These are things that their friends who bought their houses five years ago don’t have,” says Helen Velas of Eleni Interiors in Naperville. “It gives them a reason to move.”
Here are some features that fuel the fantasy:
• Custom woodwork, from ceiling beams to built-ins, to crown molding to wide plank flooring
• Furniture that is just a cut above what the buyer can afford
• Huge kitchen islands with seating and built-in appliances, such as warming drawers and half-drawer dishwashers
• Wine storage in the kitchen
• Custom stonework inside the home on archways, range surrounds, bars
• Architectural range surrounds, or custom range hoods
• Kitchen cabinets that go up to the ceiling
• Steam washers and dryers
• Textured wall treatments
• Textured or metallic paint
• Decorative vanity sinks in alternative materials, like wood, metal, stone, or glass
• Glass tile accents in the kitchen and bath
• Vessel sinks (those that sit on top of a vanity like a bowl)
• Custom front doors with ironwork
• Decorative windows with beveled glass
• Integrated refrigerators that match the cabinetry
