Build Your House Yourself University

Soffits and Fascia are parts of the house that don’t often get a lot of thought or attention from homeowners planning to build their dream homes.  But they’re important not only as design elements for your home but also because they protect your house.   And choosing the right materials for your fascia and soffits can reduce the required maintenance for your home. This week we’ll briefly talk about soffit and fascia options so you can make the best choice for your home.  Let’s start by establishing exactly what and where soffits and fascia are.

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The High Point Market is the largest furniture trade show for design professionals in the world. Twice a year more than 75,000 designers, furniture buyers, retail store owners, and architects go to High Point, North Carolina to see what’s trending in furnishings. Unfortunately, the show is not open to the general public, but many designers report on what they see each year at High point. If you didn’t know, North Carolina is known as the furniture-making capital of the United States. It’s where most quality furniture manufactured in American is made.

In today’s episode, we’ll go over some of the most popular design trends spotted at the recent spring 2022 High Point Market. The information in this show comes from a couple of articles at Houzz.com.

Most of the designs features have been around for 2-3 years and are still trending. Others are emerging trends. As we go through the list, remember, you don’t have to incorporate all of these or frankly any of these features into our new house, but it’s always nice to stay on top of what’s currently in style.

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From large things like garage doors to the small things like electronic chips that go into TVs and appliances, the materials that we need to build and furnish our homes are still hard to get.  More than two years after the start of the pandemic, supply chain issues continue to cause significant construction slowdowns and above-average pricing in homebuilding.

So when will supply chain issues end?  That’s the million-dollar question, and the truth is, no one really knows. But there are opinions out there and that’s what we’ll talk about in this episode. As you probably realize, the answer to “When will things get back to normal?” is relevant to anyone who’s building or remodeling a house.  Because as long as there are interruptions and delays in the supply chain, there will also be interruptions and delays in construction.  Your new build or remodeling project is likely to cost you more time and money than it would if the supply chain weren’t having so many challenges.    Let’s talk about exactly what the supply chain is and when experts are predicting a return to normalcy.

SHOW NOTES at BYHYU.com

Like we did last year, my husband and I took a day trip to the Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas area to visit the 3 high-end show homes at Fort Worth’s annual Dream Street event. I enjoy going to show homes like these so I can see the features that are most popular with area designers.  Now, to be clear, these are multimillion-dollar homes and not all of the elements showcased will fit into every budget. But to me, it’s helpful to see what’s fresh and new, and what continues to be relevant in decor, appliances, and amenities, even if we don’t include the exact finishes and brands showcased. Homes like these can serve as inspiration for those of us who are building.

SHOW NOTES AT BYHYU.com

In addition to knowing about the different types of drywall that are best for different areas of your home, it’s good to think ahead of time the style and finishes you want for your walls so you’re not stumped when your builder or drywaller ask you if you want a Level 4 or level 5 drywall finish. Or whether you want any texture on your wall, straight square corners, or bullnose? In today’s episode, I’ll briefly cover whether smooth or textured walls are more popular for today’s new builds and if curved bullnose corners are still in style. We’ll also cover the basics of drywall finish levels so you can confidently tell your contractor what you prefer.

Show notes at BYHYU.com

It’s honestly pretty hard to get excited about drywall.  Drywall is a  subject that’s kinda, well…dry. But drywall is a material that goes in just about every space of the house, so we want to be able to make informed decisions about what type of drywall we should request to make our walls last longer and perform better.  I won’t go into too much boring detail, but I’m hoping to give you enough information so you can have an intelligent conversation with your builder or drywall contractor, so you will know the best types of drywall for different areas of your house.  Despite what you might think, all drywall isn’t the same. 

SHOW NOTES AT BYHYU.com

This week we’ll cover part 2 of a recent article from Houzz.com called “40 Home Design Trends That Will Shape 2022.”  Houzz compiled the list of trends based on the thousands of popular photos people uploaded to their site and information they got from speaking with dozens of home design professionals.  They also analyzed the searches that people did on their website for different furniture pieces, colors, materials, and other design elements.

Show notes at BYHYU.com

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Happy New Year. In this episode, we’ll cover a recent article from houzz.com called “40 Home Design Trends That Will Shape 2022. “ 

I think it’s important for us to be aware of what’s trending in home design, but we probably shouldn’t be too interested in fads.  We’ll be talking about trends.  There’s a difference. A fad is short-lived.  It comes and goes quickly.  A Fad is a style that suddenly becomes popular and is embraced with exaggerated zeal. But fads usually don’t stay popular very long and can seriously date your house.  Think sponge-painted walls of the 90s. 

A trend, on the other hand, is a general direction in which something is going.  Trends are popular in a particular season and they last longer than fads. Some trends can stay in style for many years or even decades and some trends can actually become timeless classics.  Many trends are current and classic and those are the best ones to follow, if you like them, because they won’t date your house.  A white kitchen, for example, is on-trend today, but is also a timeless classic.  A white kitchen looked great 10 years ago (and even 100 years).  A white kitchen also looks great today and probably be on-trend 10-100 years from now.

To come up with today’s list of trends, Houzz browsed thousands of their popular photos and spoke with dozens of home design and remodeling professionals.  They also studied the latest Houzz data and research and looked at lots of past articles to come up with this collection of home design trends that they think will be popular in the months to come.

Show notes at BYHYU.com

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Hope you had a great Christmas and I’m wishing you a happy new year. I want to sincerely thank you for continuing to listen to and share this podcast.  I realize that there is a ton of content out here so I’m grateful that you take time out of your schedule to support BYHYU.    An extra thank you goes to those of you who have given positive feedback to me either through emails or reviews.  And to those who have shared your favorite episodes through text, email or on your social media platforms. It’s so helpful when you become an ambassador for the show and encourage others to listen.  I appreciate you very much for that.

Okay, let’s go to a show that was published a few years ago that contains information that’s still relevant today.   Since 99% have some degree of budgetary limitations during our builds, we’ll have decided where to save and where to splurge.  This show gives you some suggestions.  Let’s get right to it.

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In the last episode, we discussed aging in place features that we can add to our homes that will allow us to live in them comfortably even if we develop challenges with mobility and coordination as we age.  I referred to some designs detailed in this week’s repeat episode called Designing A Forever Home. I wanted to release this show on the heels of the Aging in Place podcast to sort of tie everything together.  If you’ve listened to this before, I encourage you to take another listen to remind of some information you may have forgotten or to simply solidify some concepts that you’ve already learned. 

Show notes at BYHYU.com