Love that White Kitchen

One of the strongest current trends is the “White Kitchen” with the “All White Kitchen” becoming the trendy standard for today’s contemporary homes. Let’s have a look at what the industry is doing and at some of the homes we have done in Cayman featuring versions of this trend.

A narrow space can become a very workable kitchen when an all-white minimalist approach is used.

A very small kitchen, as these all are by today’s standards, all look spacious and inviting. Imagine these spaces with the traditional dark wood cabinets of your parent’s era?

In this kitchen, which Phoenix built at Seagate in Grand Harbour, we used a between-cabinets window with a black glass backsplash to create contrast. There are still 5 lots left at Seagate so you too can have this kitchen!

The introduction of natural wood elements to the design soften and humanize the all-white look and transitions the kitchen to a more soft-contemporary look.

Here are two white-themed kitchen Phoenix built at different homes in Crystal Harbour. Adding traditional forms and fixtures allows you to have that all-white look without the stark minimalist look of the contemporary kitchen.

Kid’s rooms you wish YOU grew up in!

Kids’ lives are very different than they were when most 50+ year-olds were growing up and their personal spaces certainly reflect that as well! The Phoenix Group see a lot more planning and imagination going into these spaces – have a look at some of these great rooms.

Gold Nugget Winners Announced

In June, the Gold Nugget Awards program conferred honors to its 2015 winners at a gala celebration in San Diego. From over 630 U.S. and international entries, the judges selected a final round of Grand- and Merit-worthy projects in categories including single-family, multifamily, and custom residential, as well as mixed-use and commercial designs. The judges praised creative approaches to classic concepts and the depth of detail executed in the winning projects. Trends especially prominent in this year’s projects include integrated, open designs that favor unexpected materials, sophisticated lighting, and striking, thoughtful details.

The soaker tub has made an enormous comeback. Today’s selection of modern tubs, available at an amazing price range, have quickly become a ‘must have’ in Cayman’s high-end home market.

Complete integration between the indoors and outdoors is the single largest trend that we have seen in past few years. As the costs of these integrated door systems have come down due to international demand, the prevalence of them in Phoenix’s new home designs has risen dramatically.

As you see here and in many of the preceding images, the return of natural materials to the ceiling is a strong recent trend. As the interior lines of the homes become more streamlined and the color pallets move to white, the need to introduce natural materials to warm these spaces becomes the driving force for this trend.

The Gold Nugget 2015 winners were almost all contemporary designs, and that trend has accelerated incredibly quickly in both the US and Cayman markets. Will it last? We think so. More than 50%of the homes currently in design by The Phoenix Group fall into this category.

The Extraordinary Corner-less Room

Nothing quite beats the experience of opening a corner of the home to the outdoors – and in a design world where there is such a premium on integrating the indoors and outdoors, no single design feature delivers this kind of impact.

These three excellent examples from Nana Wall Doors illustrate well the breath-taking impact of the floating ceiling created by the Corner-less room.

This clever application uses a fireplace to provide the structural support required for a double Corner-less application.

This example shows the ‘inside corner’ application, creating a cozy and protected inside-outside room.

This example, from the 2011 Phoenix Showhome, is a local application at a very reasonable cost. The homeowner call this his ‘favourite feature of the home’.

The Sirocco Beach homes, being built by Phoenix in Colliers at the moment, feature stunning beach accesses derived from using this creative design tool.

In-Law Solutions

Every custom home that The Phoenix Group builds has some sort of accommodation for “The In-laws” or the long-stay guest. Having a waterfront home in the Cayman Islands certainly makes you a magnet for the extended visitor, and that can be a great thing if you have planned properly for it. There are many solutions – let’s take a look at a few:

This lovely space, which sits atop a garage, has all the comforts of home.

Another garage-top layout shows excellent use of space and can double as an additional recreation space when no guests are around.

This space, which sits off the pool, works well for an aging parent as everything is ADA compliant.

400 square feet is all that is really required to create a comfortable long-term residence annexed to the main home. Add a separate door to the outside and the space can serve a live-in helper, a family member, or even be rented to help cover the household bills.

These two solutions provide the ultimate in privacy for both the stay-over guest and the host. Prefab units are available on the market so that an inexpensive in-law suite can be added at any point in the future if it is considered when planning the lot layout.

Room of the Day: Luxe Hotel Look for an All-White Master Bath

Click on the image to see the renovation.

An Opportunity to get that Storage Thing Right

When we are talking about your new home and planning space and budgets we make sure that we don’t forget about all your “stuff”. We have had many clients opt for a single car garage because they don’t want one of the bays simply collecting “stuff”.  At Phoenix we believe in a more pro-active approach to life’s little problems – let’s look at the ways you might plan to use the garage more effectively, for a start! These systems, if properly planned for, can be cost effective and installed by our homebuilding crew as we are adding the final touches to the home.

This take on a conventional closet can be inexpensively built in to your garage and is designed to handle a wide selection of home and garden implements and products.

(Source of image: www.monkeybarstorage.com)

These two systems takes up almost no garage floor space and offer a huge amount of storage space – you might even allow for a little extra height in your garage if you plan for it early enough!

This proprietary hanging system allows you to add storage devices and move items around to best fit your needs – everything is so easy to find.

More suited to automotive enthusiasts, this setup really keeps things buttoned down and secure.

For the more serious home handyman this workbench/tool storage combination allows quick access to the power tool selection.

And finally, if you have no room or do not desire to store the tools in your garage, a simple tool shed can easily be included in your home plans – and you can have it handy to wherever it is you like to work. It is all in the planning – plan well!