Writer & Photographer / Pat Carlini
This year’s Home-A-Rama, held September 17 to October 4, featured five fully decorated and landscaped homes in the Sagamore subdivision of Noblesville. The homes this year were a little smaller than in the years past, including two ranch style homes with empty nesters in mind.
If you didn’t get a chance to visit the show, here are a few trends to take away from this year’s event.
Interior designer Wendy Prather decorated the “Distinguished Cottage” by Gradison Design Build and says visitors this year seemed to enjoy the open concept floor plan of the home.
“The less is more motto is popular now,” says Wendy. “There’s fewer rooms – the kitchen, sitting area and family room are all side by side, separated only by the dining room table for an open, airy feel in the home.”
Wendy says gray is still a popular color for walls and kitchen cabinets (Sherwin Williams Worldly Gray, Amazing Gray and Gray By Me), but she added some pops of color such as a teal office and a powder room with butterfly wallpaper on the ceiling.
The basement had an aqua stained concrete floor. In fact, the concrete stained floors were popular in many of the homes this year. “They are low maintenance, and you can color them any way you want,” says Wendy.
Another trend shown in one of the homes was suede granite countertops – which is not as hard and glossy smooth as regular granite but still considered very durable.
The homes built with the empty nesters in mind were very popular with visitors this year. They featured great views of the golf course, plenty of garage space and overall plenty of one level living space with fewer steps to deal with.
Outdoor living areas were very popular this year with no end to outdoor seating areas, outdoor fireplaces, fire pits and fire pit tables along with the outdoor cooking areas.
Most of the lower levels of the homes were set up for entertaining with a bar, pool table, shuffle boards and big screen TVs, but there was a noticeable shift to more open casual viewing areas in place of the more formal theater rooms.
As one visitor said after touring the homes, “10 years ago, it was all about the theatre room. Now you have to be able to live outdoors!”
There was also a second home show held downtown this year, Oct. 15-18 and 22-25.
