How does color affect the mood of your home?
An interesting article on the freshome blog (a nominee in JDR’s 2012 Annual Industry Blogger Awards) reveals the ways room colors affect our moods. “Understand that colors behave in three basic ways : active, passive, and neutral , and you can easily match every room’s colors to your personal desires and taste and to the room’s purpose.” Read more here.

People often describe their moods in terms of color. One study found that people with depression or anxiety were more likely to associate their mood with the color gray, while happier people preferred yellow. Live Science has more on the subject here.

Choosing colors for your whole home remodel is one of the most fun parts of planning your design. Our design team brings expertise and experience to the imaginative process, helping you to express yourself in new ways with color!

• The Color Purple: Purple is showing up on fabrics, furniture and walls.
• Tango with Tangerine: Pantone’s 2012 Color of the Year and oranges of various hues are making a splash not just as an accent color, but for whole rooms.
• International Flavor: Designers are using subtle hints of international or “world market” visuals to lend warmth and a touch of the exotic to spaces.
• Rustic/Reclaimed: Rough woods and other materials you might find on a farm are being used in interesting contrast with modern elements for walls, floors and accent pieces.
• Playful Wallpaper: Wallpaper continues to make a comeback, particularly with nostalgic, bold, often floral patterns.
• Black and White: The classic combination of black and white was on the fashion runways last year and is now making its appearance in home design.
• Designing with Circles: Round tables and round mirrors are just two examples of how this shape is showing up in current home design.

As always, your home will be most beautiful if it is designed to align with your individual needs and point of view. Our designers inspire you to experiment with what you find most appealing in current trends, while staying true to what really works for you!

Thanksgiving Table Settings (Martha Stewart)

Glittering Fall Table Setting and Centerpiece Ideas (HGTV)

Natural Thanksgiving Style (Sunset Magazine)

Happy Thanksgiving from the Jackson Design and Remodeling team!

Types of Lighting

Halogen
Halogens are made of a much stronger glass than that used for standard incandescent light bulbs. They provide bright illumination and can be an efficient way to light a large area. Halogens are available in a variety of light spreads, including wide flood, narrow flood, and spot light.

Low Voltage Bulbs
Low voltage light bulbs are the most expensive on the market, but have a longer life expectancy than incandescent. They use less energy than other bulbs but must be used with a light fixture that has a transformer that lowers the 120V to 12V.

LED
LED light is similar to a 65-watt BR30 bulb while using only 14 watts of energy at 3000 Kelvin, producing a warm white light. The low wattage combined with an average lifespan of 50,000 hours provides energy savings year after year. Dimmer styles are available.

Energy efficiency is not only desirable for environmental reasons, it’s also the law in California. Title 24 requires that over 50% of the light in a kitchen must be energy efficient lighting.

Lighting Trim
Every detail matters when designing your whole home remodel. Once you begin to explore the options, you may be amazed by how much difference a detail like lighting trim can make in a room’s appearance.

Baffle Cone Trim
Baffle Cone Trim is the most cost-effective trim and typically comes in a white color to match a standard white ceiling. Baffle Trims have “grooves” on the trim surface and interior, which reduce the reflectivity of light and are more visually appealing. They usually come in black because the black is better at absorbing light, but are also available in white.

Reflector or Alzak Trim
Reflector or Alzak Trims have a white trim ring and a metallic black, gold, silver or haze interior reflector. These reflectors are capable of producing dramatic highlights. The trim features a highly reflective surface around the light bulb. This option works well for minimizing glare and is also quite effective at projecting light outward. It is an ideal trim for lighting large areas. Another benefit is that the light source in the ceiling is less noticeable, distracting less from the overall beauty of your space.

Lighting choices are essential to the overall aesthetics of your whole home remodel. Our expert team guides you toward the most functional and inspiring selections for your home.

Inspired by George Nakashima of the American Arts and Crafts Movement, Gustav Stickley, Charles and Henry Greene, and Frank Lloyd Wright, Woodland Ventures in Boise, Idaho creates wood slab furniture as functional works of art. The company’s goal is to give trees a second life as objects of artistic beauty, rather than seeing them burned, chipped, or dumped in a landfill. Their process for creating wood slab furniture is complex and well-considered, with a deep respect for nature:

Tree & Log Selection
Domestic hardwood logs are acquired from professional arborists and tree services. The trees are mainly harvested from urban areas because of weather damage or safety concerns related to the tree’s maturity and eventual decay. The selection process focuses on the striking individual characteristics of each tree, such as giant logs with large limbs, knots, burls, or multiple trunks, that will result in an extraordinary piece of furniture with spectacular figuring or rare graining patterns.

Milling
Because different sawing methods have an effect on grain patterns, each log is carefully analyzed prior to sawing. Thickness, direction of the cut, and positioning of the log is determined in order to maximize the inherent beauty of each log’s figure and graining. Woodland Ventures has a mill capable of sawing up to 70 inch diameter logs, which produce truly exceptional, one-of-a-kind pieces.

Wood slab furniture adds natural charm and visual serenity to your environment. Working with a team of professional interior designers for your whole home remodel, this is just one of the ideas you can explore to express your personal style.

Why Choose Concrete?
Concrete can be transformed into virtually any shape and the potential for creative expression is unlimited. It can be grinded, polished, stamped, or stained. Some clients choose to embed meaningful objects within it. Concrete embodies an earthy permanence and looks good in both traditional and modern settings. Because of its adaptability, concrete can be used in any area of the home, especially in the kitchen and bath, but also in fireplaces, water features, or outdoors. Concrete countertops are relatively inexpensive, especially when considering their high level of durability.

Cheng Design creates their beautiful countertops in two types of concrete:

Geocrete: This reinforced pre-cast concrete product has a 5000+ psi strength rating and a “glass like” surface created with a proprietary finishing process. Countertops are available with unique accessory choices like integral drainboards, concrete sinks, and mosaics. Custom variations include aggregates and inlays, along with metal and wood accessories such as cutting boards and trivets.

Neomix: Lightweight and ultra strong, this pre-cast concrete product is made with Cheng Design’s Neomix reinforced concrete mix. Neomix has a 10,000+ psi strength rating, which is double that of Geocrete. Neomix is 1/2″ thick and can be made as long as 9 feet long without seams. Like Geocrete, this product is available as a simple slab or with a variety of customizations.

Both Geocrete and Neomix are sealed with a proprietary sealer which combines the protection of topical sealers with the look and feel of penetrating sealers. The sealer penetrates the concrete surface and provides surface protection, resisting acids, stains and cleaning products.

When planning your kitchen remodel, unexpected materials like a concrete countertop bring a sense of individuality to your environment. Our team helps you explore the many options available to you as you transform your home.

Get Discounted Tickets from JDR if You Respond by October 19th
Just give us a call at 866.953.7043.
Tickets are $25 each, but if you buy your tickets from JDR by 10/19, you pay only $15 per ticket. (All tickets to be picked up at JDR’s tour location.)

Tour sites are located in Point Loma, Bay Park, La Jolla, Del Mar, Cardiff, Carlsbad, Rancho Bernardo, Poway, Tierrasanta, Del Cerro, College area, Kensington, El Cajon and Jamul. Since kitchens are located throughout the county (along the coast and in East County) ticket holders can visit a few projects close to home or spend the whole day exploring the breadth of design taking place locally.

Tatiana Machado-Rosas, Jackson Design and Remodeling’s Design Department Head and Senior Interior Designer, is the Chair of the ASID Kitchen Tour 2011. Get your tickets today and meet Tatiana and other JDR staff in a casual setting as you experience the stunning transformation evidenced in the kitchen remodel and whole home remodel designed and built by the Jackson Design and Remodeling team.

Learn more about the American Society of Interior Designers Kitchen Tour 2011 here.

Our interior designers continually research and evaluate trends for color in kitchen remodeling, custom bathroom remodels and whole home remodels. One source we discovered, ColourFutures™, has some interesting observations about color transitions for 2012.

According to ColourFutures, the color mood for 2012 is “full of take charge optimism.” Their 5 Key trends for 2012 include:

Delicate Mix: Refined understated luxury is reflected in cool, elegant neutrals, luxurious warm camels, blushing coral and nude pinks, paired with nuances of forged iron, steel, polished concrete and anodised aluminium, wood, copper and oiled leathers.

One Small Seed: Watery greens, rain clouds and pale, fresh pastels and neutrals set the mood, with dark soil and bright blossom colors as counterweights. Together they form an indoor garden of delight.

Living Scrapbook: Reflects the aesthetics of blogs and social media, and the quirkiness that is the product of highly personal tastes and predilections. There are hints of craft paper and cardboard and a lot of happy, yet mature pastels.

Different Worlds: Swings from the dreamy and surreal to the solid and super real. Lush, velvety bright blues, greens and reds are played off against ethereal and translucent pastels.

Rediscovered Heroes: Inspired by the down-to-earth qualities of our industrial heritage – denim blue, industrial neutrals, rusty metal tones, sewing machine green, the signal-bright hues of wire, metal doors and pipe work and last but not least, engine and concrete grays.

You can read more and see the color palettes in inspiring layouts here: http://www.colourfutures.com/

Sustainable glass from Glass2 is 99% recycled glass. Glass2 contains no resin or epoxy – it is pure glass. The material can be used for kitchen countertops, fireplace surroundings, floor or wall accents, bathroom vanities, shower stalls, tub surroundings, and much more. Working with a professional design team, you can discover all the exciting possibilities for using sustainable glass in your home.

Sustainable Glass2 Facts:

• 99% recycled glass, contains no resin
• Stain-resistant, bacteria-free, very low maintenance
• Virtually scratch-resistant and can be repaired if scratched
• Cold and heat resistant (can be used outdoors)
• Glass base contains no glue or chemicals
• Color is weather-resistant and will not change
• Wide selection of colors to choose from, the majority fully translucent

Sustainable glass brings unparalleled beauty to your surroundings. Our professional team can help you discover imaginative ways to use this innovative material as a beautiful and environmentally conscious feature in your home.

Hardwood Floors
Solid hardwood floors are timeless in style and can last a lifetime with proper care. They also provide better air quality in a home by trapping less allergens than other floor types. There are hundreds of woods to choose from, including Cherry, Walnut, Maple, Hickory, or Birch, along with many exotic species. Each hardwood floor will be distinct because of the variations found in nature. Unlike other wood flooring options, hardwood cannot be installed straight on concrete or on top of an existing floor. While initially a larger investment than some other flooring choices, hardwood floors add substantial resale value to your home.

Engineered Wood Floors
The top layer of an engineered wood floor is the same genuine hardwood as a solid hardwood floor. Giving the appearance of solid wood, an engineered wood floor is actually a thin wood layer over 3-12 layers of plywood, high density fiberboard, or hardwood. Engineered wood is more resistant to damage from moisture or humidity than solid hardwood flooring and is more adaptable in application, as it can be installed on top of existing concrete or a wood sub-floor. Just like hardwood, engineered wood is available in a vast array of wood species and has an excellent resale value in your home. When working with a budget, engineered wood is the middle ground between solid hardwood flooring and wood laminate flooring.

Luxury Vinyl Wood Floors
Design and technology combine in luxury vinyl wood flooring, presenting an alternative material that looks remarkably like hardwood. Authentic hardwood colors and textures are created in realistic plank lengths and widths, some featuring beveled edges and ends. Luxury vinyl is built to last with several layers. The top protective layer is made of an enhanced urethane that makes it easy to clean and resistant to scratches and scuffs. A protective clear film layer adds durability and helps protect against rips, tears and gouges. The printed design layer recreates the look of natural wood planks in very realistic detail. Luxury vinyl wood flooring is water-resistant, durable, easy to maintain and can be installed on any surface.

Wood Laminate Floors
Wood laminate flooring is a remarkable simulation of wood that provides the appearance of solid hardwood flooring at a much lower cost. This innovative alternative to hardwood flooring is composed of several layers of materials. The core layer is usually made of high density fiberboard. A decorative layer, which is a photograph of wood, is fused on top of the core. Wood laminate floors are easy to clean and durable, making them a popular choice in homes with pets  or children.

Which wood flooring is right for you? Our professional design team can guide you through your options as you select the floor that best expresses your personal vision for the kitchen remodel of your dreams.