By Kaitlin Candelaria
Kay Green has added her touch of gray — and a lot of it — to Mt Laurel’s Designer Showcase Model Home.
Green, an award-winning interior designer based in Orlando, Fla., relied on current trends and the inspiration she drew from the Mt Laurel community to decorate the new model home. The house at 110 Burnham Street will be featured in this year’s Parade of Homes and will also serve as a model house for those interested in the Mt Laurel community for the next 18 months.
When drawing inspiration for the five-bedroom, four-bath home, Green imagined a family based off Mt Laurel’s demographics. Her fictional family consists of a couple in their early 40s with two children and a dog. The house is decorated to fit their needs.
“I think the architectural style in this community has a lot to do with who this community is and what it is,” Green said. “We took that into account. We travel a lot to different areas, so we always try to take in geographic considerations as well as the demographic considerations.”
One thing that sets this house apart from others is its spacious feel, Green said.
“It feels like a 4,000- or 5,000-square-foot house, but it’s not,” Green said. “It’s a lot smaller than it appears to be. There’s a lot of little touches about this house that make it special.”
Some of those touches include private bathrooms for the secondary bedrooms, unique light fixtures, a variety of uncommon tiles throughout the home, and enclosed and open outdoor spaces on the back of the house for entertaining guests.
“I can’t think of a room in the house that I don’t like,” Green said. “We pay attention to every little thing. My style is everywhere.”
Gray Anatomy
The biggest trend in home décor currently is black, white and somewhere in between, Green said.
“Gray is a big, big, big color right now, all different shades of gray,” Green said. “We’re pairing gray with a lot of other colors. In this house, we’ve paired it with black as an accent and then the camel color and white.”
Different shades of gray paint can be found on walls throughout the house. Green uses black accents such as curtains and cushions to accessorize the kitchen and great room, while camel-colored dining room chairs and white cabinets make the room pop. The white cabinets are a Birmingham trademark, Green said.
“Birmingham is very sophisticated, so we wanted this house to have a sophisticated look,” Green said. “On a national level, the two popular cabinet colors right now are white and then the really dark cabinets. In Birmingham in particular, I’d never use anything but white on cabinets.”
Green also uses simple accessories and clean lines to create an open space.
“The trends are becoming really simple,” Green said. “They aren’t using the real traditional stuff that we’ve used in the past. There’s no silk plants on top of the cabinets. Things like that that used to be really important are out.”
Because the home will serve as Mt Laurel’s model home, Green felt the need to create a look that would give people décor ideas, she said. She did this by using simple tricks to create textures throughout the house.
In the master bedroom, she replicated judges paneling by simply nailing molding to the wall and then painting over it, giving the bedroom a fresh and textured look.
Green continued her textured trend in the half bath by putting up tile between strips of trim to divide the room and adding paint detail to create a unique but cost-efficient surface.
In the great room, Green relied on the stone fireplace to provide dimension to the room. She then dressed up the rest of the room with fabrics to create an all-around interesting look.
Pet Friendly
Green’s hypothetical family members are dog lovers, as evidenced by dog-related touches throughout the house. Green is a dog owner herself and said she included these touches based on the families already living in Mt Laurel.
The bonus room upstairs was converted into a “doggy headquarters” with seating, two built-in desks and of course, a built-in doggy bed.
“We see that as the area where the dog hangs out and gets fed,” Green said.
She also extended the doggy mania to the girl’s room, decorating with artwork depicting dogs and other dog-related accessories.
For the boy’s room, Green once again drew inspiration from her surroundings — specifically, the lake at Mt Laurel. The room has a nautical theme, with décor such as paddles and wooden fish. According to Mt Laurel official Julianna Vance, the young man was envisioned to be someone who would enjoy the lake at Mt Laurel frequently through activities such as canoeing and fishing.
The Parade of Homes starts May 9 and is free to the public. For more information, visit www.birminghambuilder.com.
