The Lifestylist® Blog
Your Life. Your Style. Your Way.
DalTile Listens
Jun 16th
There are days (actually most of them!) when I love being a Lifestylist®, and this week was a great one. I was able to work with the amazing team at Champion Homes of Texas and finish the XTreme Model Home Challenge, then I was invited to the corporate headquarters for DalTile to view some new products they are working on.
Honestly, I don’t know why more companies don’t ask for our help – being able to give input to DalTile helps all of us in the long run. They get to learn about what we need and haven’t been able to find, and by learning about what DalTile is working on I’m able to be sure that my clients know about these amazing new and current products so they can take advantage of them as well.
DalTile has always done an amazing job of understanding the needs of designers and builders and delivering beautiful products that are exactly what the homeowner is looking for. After spending a few days with their team, I think I know know how they achieve this – they listen. The innovative new products they will be launching that we got to see are obviously the product of really listening to and understanding the lifestyle of today’s buyer. With more people wanting the ease of maintenance that tile affords as well as it being so family and pet friendly, tile is going to become even more important in tomorrow’s homes. I can’t give everything away, but soon you will be seeing tile that is so simple to install even I could do it 
and they are using new technologies to produce glass and mixed materials into mosaics that are worthy of being hung in a museum, but you will be able to easily install them in your own home. It was like they could read my mind – things that I had only dreamed about being able to use in my homes will soon be a reality.
Tile can be very intimidating to a novice homeowner, and with so many beautiful choices it can be very hard to choose what is your favorite. DalTile has helped take some of the guesswork out of this by having an easy to use website full of ideas. They also have design centers around the country that are staffed with some of the most knowledgeable designers I’ve ever worked with, and they are full of inspirations on how you can use tile to create your own dream home. They were very helpful to me when I was working on the new Design Center for @home Builders that will be opening soon – if you have a chance to stop by you should. They also helped me design the great kitchen backsplash for the new model home that just opened at Frisco Ranch for American Custom Builders.
Now it’s my turn to listen. I would love to hear about how you have used tile in your home. Feel free to contact us at: answers@lifestylist.com and share your beautiful rooms with us!
Lifestylist Advisory at No Charge to You
Jun 8th
We are starting a new blog – Lifestylist® Advisory Services. As Lifestylists® we are out in the trenches every day finding new sources, great foodie destinations and traveling from coast to coast truly experiencing life and style. On our new blog we will share the best and the worst of customer experiences, and we already have some experiences that might surprise you. The best part is that all of this is at no charge to you – please just let the businesses that you learned about here know where you found out about them.
Have you had some experiences you would like to share with us? Email us at: answers@lifestylist.com and we’ll share the best ones on the Lifestylist® Advisory.
The XTreme Model Home Challenge
Jun 5th
I love a challenge, but when I got a call this week from Champion Homes of Texas I may have gotten one that is even more than I can take on.
They are introducing their new XTREME Home Value Series, and they are so excited about it they didn’t want to wait for the normal time it takes to put together a home show to introduce it to their buyers – they decided since these are factory built homes and they could get them built in a week, they would have a home show in a week! This means putting together 4 furnished model homes with Xtremely tight budgets in 7 days.
Can Lifestylist Design Inc. get this done? Check back in a week or so and find out how we did!
Shades of Green
Jun 1st
Tony Lucas, the designer for Palm Harbor Homes and I had a great conversation when we were in Las Vegas for the MHI Congress and Expo. We were talking about the green revolution and what consumers are willing to pay to “do the right thing” and Tony used a great term – Shades of Green. We all want to make a difference, we just do it in different shades.
Living and working in a 1942 factory helps you find out quickly how important energy efficiency is, and amazingly enough there were some ideas that were designed into my home that make a lot of sense today. I always wanted a concrete home, and the Idea Factory is made of cement blocks and stucco. It really helps with sound and it does tend to keep the heat in during the winter and the cool in during the summer. We had no insulation anywhere and with a flat roof it was hard to add but we did.
The Idea Factory came complete with a 1956 Carrier air condition that used water cooled freon – similar to what many commercial buildings still use. the water takes the heat away from the air by the freon, travels outside and is then cooled by traveling across fins that let the air cool off the water. The cooled water is then returned to the system and the process starts over again. This is a very amateur description of the process, but I knew nothing when I bought this place but after the first summer I quickly found this system was worth keeping.
Imagine doing the inspection of your new home and having the inspector see this wood, falling apart structure that is a main component of your air conditioner. Obviously they were not very excited – water and raw wood are not a great combination. I saw it as a Lifestylist® Designed challenge, signed all of the papers and it was mine! Fortunately I have great team members that are used to my ideas, and we came up with a new design sculpted out of concrete and metal that is not only functional but a work of art as well. With hard work, a lot of head scratching and even more creativity today we started it up and it is purring like a new machine!
This is my shade of green – incorporating form, function, elbow grease and paint to come up with a system that has cut my cooling bills by over 60%. Plus it looks great and I love the sound of it outside my kitchen window. I can’t wait to do more green projects to my home, but until I can afford more I am very conscious of how shade can help my bills and letting the trees overhang my roof, keeping the cooling up or heat down to save on utility bills when I’m not there, and turning off lights if I’m not in the room.
What is your shade of green?
Celebrating Summer
May 31st
Summer is definitely here, and I decided to celebrate this Memorial Day weekend by trying out my Lifestylist® skills making something I’ve been craving – homemade ice cream. Lucky for me JC Penney had a great sale on so I got a great deal on my new Cuisinart Flavor Duo and it’s exactly what I wanted – easy prep and cleanup and you don’t need a bunch of items that you already wouldn’t have around the house. No rock salt needed – this uses two freezer bowls that easily fit and can stay in your freezer. I LOVE that it has the two separate bowls so you can make two different flavors at the same time without making more than you can eat in a weekend.
For my test run I opted for a fresh peach ice cream using peaches grown at the wonderful Lemley Farms in Tyler. They have a stall at our local Farmers Market and I couldn’t pass them up. I like a custard style ice cream which means you have to do some cooking but it was well worth it. There are some recipes in the instruction manual for ice cream where you just add ingredients – no cooking necessary.
The entire process could not have been easier, and sitting on the porch eating fresh ice cream brought back such great memories of the times our family shared when we all got together of all of the holidays. Now I can’t wait for my grandkids to visit so I can make some ice cream and memories with them as well.
Buying Local
May 23rd
Today was a great day – I got a lot of work done on my gardens then we went to our local farmers market to pick up some goodies for the week.
The Home Idea Factory is in an area of Dallas called Oak Cliff and we are very fortunate because we are close to town but it’s an older established area that is really coming into it’s own. Some amazing restaurants have opened, I’ve heard there is now an organic coop and now we even have our own coffee company – Oak Cliff Coffee Roasters. So today we picked up some coffee, and sampled our way through the local farmer stalls at the Dallas Farmers Market. Local peaches were just coming into season and there also was a bounty of tomatoes, onions, squash and cucumbers. It’s going to be a healthy tasty week around here!
Some vendors are only there weekends and we discovered the Lucky Layla Farms which had amazing cheeses. I bought the Fresh Campesino which was perfect with my tomatoes, avocados and cucumbers for lunch. I’m going to make some homemade ice cream to use with the peaches for dessert.
One of the best things about being a Lifestylist is getting to explore what’s out there and figure out how to make it approachable and accessible. I was amazed how much I saved by buying at the farmers market vs. a typical grocery store – I got 5 huge beautiful tomatoes that were picked that morning for $1 each! My goodies helped me make a quick and healthy lunch for under $1.50 per serving.
We have got to support our local farmers and businesses. The Lemley family has been bring exceptional tomatoes, peaches and other produce to the farmer’s market for over 30 years. I know that a lot of the better restaurants in town also buy form them and I can’t imagine a summer without their goodies. It’s exciting to have all of these choices now and I plan on supported them so they are here for years to come.
Andrew Davis Signs with Bradley Braves
May 23rd
I am so proud of my nephew Andrew Davis – this week he signed with Division 1 team Bradley Braves to play college basketball on their team. I’ve known him since the beginning and I can honestly say not only is he a great basketball player but he’s also an amazing human being. Intelligent, funny, caring, and always a delight to be around. My grandchilden absolutely adore him and he always makes time for them, even when it involves Andrew being a human jungle jim!
If you haven’t seen Andrew play you should make a point this year to watch some of the Bradley games. I know one of the reasons he decided to go to Bradley was the quality and integrity of the coaching staff and I can’t wait to be front and center at some of his games. Go Braves! This Lifestylist® promises to be one of your biggest fans.
Cavco Industries Named Manufacturer of the Year
May 21st
Congratulations are in order for Cavco Industries that was just named 2010 Manufacturer of the Year by the Manufactured Housing Institute. Cavco recently acquired Fleetwood Homes and I’m excited to see what the blending of these two great companies will mean for our industry.
I’ve had the pleasure to work with General Manager Craig 
Calkins and the team at Cavco Homes of Texas – they build an amazing home that is a great value. Their show houses and decors last year were Lifestylist Designed and I couldn’t be more proud of what we were able to accomplish.
If you haven’t taken a look at what Cavco and Fleetwood have to offer, now might be a great time to do so – I think you will be pleasantly surprised.
Sneak Peek Sunday at Frisco Ranch
May 16th
American Custom Builders is inviting neighbors and interested buyers to it’s Sneak Peek Sunday today from 1-3pm. Take advantage of the opening to view our latest Lifestylist Designed home and see for yourself this fresh approach to home building and design. All of the furniture is from the local Ashley HomeStore and consumers can go and purchase almost everything they see in the homes themselves.
Lifestylist Designed Merchandising
May 4th
What a busy, busy month so far! Three models and a design center for three different clients in three different states – it looks like the Lifestylist Designed concept is gaining momentum.
Yesterday I was out working on the new model home for American Custom Builders in Frisco, TX and was fortunate enough to have the very talented Lisa Stewart of LAS Photo join me to take some preliminary photos. The home isn’t done yet but we wanted to get an idea of what it would like like in photos. This has ended up being one of the more difficult homes that I’ve done, but I think it is going to also be one of the most successful. Using the Lifestylist Designed philosophy we have merchandised this home with items that can be purchased at stores within 10 miles of the home or online – all being within the budget of what a prospective homebuyer might want to spend. Drapes and rods are JCPenney or Bed Bath and Beyond, all furniture is from the Ashley HomeStores, and a lot of the artwork and accessories is from Wisteria – a great catalog resource. Pottery Barn Kids helped the children’s rooms come to life, IKEA helped us stay in budget, and we even found a very cool resource here in Dallas – a consignment pool table company that got us an incredible deal on the pool table and they even picked it up and installed it for us!
American Custom Builders will now be working with the Ashley HomeStores so that their customers can go in and purchase what they see in the model, and we will be providing purchasing information on most of the items in the home. More information and photos to come – I’d love to have your feedback on what you think of the home and our concept.