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Considering the time it takes to build a new home, keeping up with design trends can seem nearly impossible. To discuss national design trends, Donnie McGrath from GMD Design Group joins co-hosts Carol Morgan and Todd Schnick on today’s All About Real Estate segment of Atlanta Real Estate Forum Radio.
McGrath’s firm launched in 2009 and has offices in five cities around the country, but they are proud to house headquarters in Atlanta. He says in his experience, “residential housing design starts in the west” and makes its way east. When he started in the industry, the internet didn’t exist, so trends took longer to travel across the country. Now, though, he says those design changes happen as soon as they’re posted online. He noticed when he moved here from Southern California, that the homes were largely compartmentalized, whereas Californians responded to large, open kitchen and living spaces where the activity could sprawl. Of course, now we see these designs elements in Atlanta.
That said, there are still some regional building differences. For instance, in the west, stucco is and has always been a big design choice. In Texas, McGrath says masonry is huge. But the most important question home designers need to ask is “for whom am I designing?” In the west, homes are boxy, while in the east McGrath is seeing lots of narrow homes.
According to him, if “you’re building the same home you were building in 2005,” that home is outdated. Lifestyle and living preference research allows his firm to land on the crest of a trend before it arrives. Now that gourmet kitchens have become main stream, he says look for major bathroom upgrades. Giant showers with his and hers entries and massive space will be a feature buyers will notice in the future.
Listen to today’s segment to learn more about GMD Design Group and how they find coming trends.
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Atlanta Real Estate Forum Radio’s “All About Real Estate” segment from Denim Marketing and Marketing Relevance airs on Fridays and highlights the movers and shakers in the Atlanta real estate industry – the home builders, developers, Realtors and suppliers working to provide the American dream for Atlantans. For more information on how you can be featured as a guest, contact Atlanta Real Estate Forum via the contact form on this site.
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