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Source: AJC Homefinder By Clare Morris
Designer envisions more European, modern styles
No matter how big the house, it always seems that they crowd winds up in the kitchen. So it’s no wonder that this room gets a lot of attention when it comes to design, styling, decor and function. If you’re looking to give an existing kitchen a face lift or are designing one for a new house, take some inspiration from the Europeans.
They’re on the cutting edge of the most popular kitchen styles these days, said Becky Sue Becker, a certified kitchen designer and president of the Georgia chapter of the National Kitchen and Bath Association. “The market right no is very inspired by what the Europeans are doing,” Becker said. “They’re using clean lines, and Americans have become more accepting of that, because it suits out busy lives. We have less time to maintain the fancier elements.”
The “clean” look means less detail in the cabinetry and sleek, flat-panel door fronts. It also includes simple counter supports and trim work that’s not extremely ornate. Yet adjectives such as “clean,” “sleek” and “contemporary” don’t seem to fit with Atlanta’s penchant for traditional, detailed styling.
“It’s true, Atlanta is predominantly a traditional market, but I’d say, in the last three years, I’ve gone from a business with 10 percent modern projects to doing more than 50 percent,” Becker said. “There’s also been a strong movement toward the mission or arts and crafts designs that are much more streamlined.”
No matter how sleek they’re getting, there’s no question that kitchens are getting better, Becker said.
“Today’s kitchen is easily 30 percent bigger than it was 10 years ago,” she said. “And they’re becoming so much more than just kitchens. Desks are coming back in. We had been taking them out, but, with the kitchen being the hub of the home, a command center there is coming back. It could be a place for the main computer for the home, where the kids can do their homework – a place that can handle more tasks than just holding the phone.”
While command centers are popular, keeping rooms may be on the way out, as families shift back to great rooms.
“People have realized that the keeping room is usually too small for a large family,” Becker said. “Now it’s the space that could be turned into the command center instead.”
Fitting up the fence sitters.
With the economy weakening, we’re unlikely to see today’s slow home sales pace pick up in the near future, but the picture isn’t uniformly bleak; sales have appeared to stabilize around a 5 million annualized sales pace, suggesting we might be seeing the formation of a bottom.
What’s more, there continues to be considerable pent-up demand for homes. Although job growth is slowing, with the pace of new jobs sinking to about 83,000 a month in the second half of last year, down from 189m000 a month in 2006, job growth has been vastly outperforming housing, with more than 4 million jobs created since the housing market peak in 2005. Aggregate household wealth is also up during that period, by some $1.4 trillion.
Historically, the housing market sees one new buyer for every two new jobs created, but this time around that hasn’t been the case.
So, although consumers have the wherewithal to buy – particularly since home prices nationally are down and interest rates remain low thanks to the Federal Reserve’s dramatic rate cut in January – many are sitting on the fence. It’s a fair guess that consumers are waiting for home prices and even interest rates to fall even further.
Clearly, housing continues to under perform. But as long as demand keeps growing, it’s just a matter of time before the housing market turns around and becomes an engine for, rather than a drag on, the economy.
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Jeanne Linden
Senior Vice President, Managing Broker
Cobb office
Source: Forbes.com
Atlanta recently placed number three in Forbes’ list of America’s Fastest-Growing Large and Small Metros
Projected total GMP growth, 2007-2012: 22.81%
The Atlanta metro area is a job magnet that epitomizes the economic boom of the Southeast. Companies with headquarters there include Coca-Cola, CNN and UPS. It’s also got the country’s busiest airport for passenger traffic. Atlanta’s population has doubled in the last 20 years; by 2012. it’s expected to grow another 11%. Personal income for Atlanta residents is forecast to grow by 6.3% annually during that time, according to Global Insight.








