BUILDING TRENDS New rooms, new designs

Designers have tips on how to decorate those spaces to boost their functions and look good.
By MEGAN SEXTON
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
COLUMBIA, S.C. -- Gathering rooms off kitchens, home office nooks, expansive laundry rooms, mud rooms. They aren't the rooms that got our attention a few years ago.
Some weren't even in our vocabularies.
Changes in lifestyle cause changes in home design. The next step is deciding how to decorate these new spaces.
We asked designers and homeowners for decorating ideas for some of these rooms. Here's what they suggest:
LAUNDRY ROOMS
The days of a washer and dryer tucked into a closet with bifold doors are over -- at least in many of today's new homes.
According to Lowe's, Americans wash 35 billion loads of laundry -- 100 million tons annually. So why not make the room a little nicer spot?
Today's laundry rooms are bigger, and the extra space can accommodate appliances, a sink, cabinets and drawers, a broom closet, fold-down counters and ironing areas.
With that space comes the desire to decorate it.
"A lot are actually decorating their laundry room as opposed to painting it white and having it look sterile," said interior designer Bonne Younginer of Cobb/Younginer Interiors.
Younginer said she's seeing a lot of bright colors in laundry rooms, along with wallpaper borders, giving the rooms cheery and feminine looks.
"Every one I've done in the past year, we've done something in the laundry room that's not so much whimsical but attractive and lively," she said.
A client, Patti Cooper has one of those laundry rooms.
The room opens to the outdoors, and includes counter space, two closets for hanging clothes and shelving space.
What they want
"I spend a lot of time in the laundry room," Cooper said. "I wanted convenience, space, places -- to put clothes to fold, places to put clothes to sort, an area for hanging things to iron and to drip dry, and storage."
She got it all in the laundry room, along with a floral wallpaper border to give the room an attractive look.
Younger said that in new construction many clients are asking for windows in their laundry rooms. Plus, some put televisions in their laundry rooms, along with incorporating storage.
"What normally went in the pantry, like broom closets, are now going in the laundry room." Also, laundry room closets are perfect spots to hang table linens just back from the dry cleaner.
Joan Goodwin of Verandah Interiors in Columbia suggests integrating the design for the kitchen, laundry room and half-bath when the three are in the same area. That's often the case in new homes.
"You can work with the same color scheme and make those three rooms work well together," Goodwin said.
She's had clients put window treatments on the door and windows of the laundry room to match or coordinate with the nearby kitchen fabrics.
Cheryl Schlensker of Cheryl Lynn Designs suggests making the laundry rooms serve "double duty."
If space allows, include a sewing area or craft center in the room, Schlensker said.
Designers for Lowe's suggest adding plants on counters and art to the walls, and installing track lighting fixtures to direct light where you need it.
KEEPING OR GATHERING ROOMS
These small rooms are extensions of the kitchen -- offering a warm spot to gather in what typically is the heart of the home.
"They're everywhere," Younginer said. "Every new house you do and every renovation you do, people want to take out a kitchen wall to open it up to a family room."
These keeping or gathering rooms typically are smaller than a house's great room or family room.
For furnishing, the rooms should be able to seat at least four people.
Younginer said she has decorated them with four chairs and a shared ottoman, allowing seating for four. Younger kids can pull up a stool to use the ottoman as a work or play surface.
Coordination
For colors, most people try to coordinate the kitchen and gathering room. For example, fabric used on kitchen barstools can be matched with colors and fabrics in the gathering room.
Goodwin said the first consideration in gathering rooms should be comfort.
"I'm thinking of relaxed, slip-covered style furnishings," Goodwin said.
For fabrics, choose heavy upholstery, such as chenilles, heavy washable cotton, even leather. Stay away from chintzes or other lightweight fabric.
"I would think you'd tend to put deeper colors on the upholstery since that's an area where one might eat," Goodwin said. "And you might do some light entertaining in that area as well."
She suggested a game table -- something to allow the family to relax and gather.
In the Coopers' house, the blue-and-yellow kitchen opens to the family gathering room, done in the same shades. "It's the only place we gather as a family except around the table," Cooper said. "I wanted a place we could flop and be comfortable and watch TV, and I wanted it to be open to the kitchen."
Tying it in
She and Younginer tied the colors of the kitchen and gathering room together, using a blue low-pile chenille fabric on the sofas, a blue-checked wallpaper and blue-and-yellow toile fabric for the window treatments in both rooms.
The kitchen cabinets are white, with the island cabinet painted the same blue as the wallpaper, again integrating the two rooms.
The cooktop on the kitchen island faces the family room.
"I hate it when everyone's watching TV and I'm in the kitchen cooking," Cooper said. "This makes me feel a part of everything."
MUD ROOMS
With storage and organization key goals in most houses, mud rooms are a good place to start.
These small rooms or entrance halls, usually at the back door off the kitchen, are gaining popularity in new homes.
They offer a spot to dump shoes, skates, cleats, hats, jackets, backpacks, outdoor toys, soccer balls and all of the rest of the paraphernalia that makes its way from the outdoors in.
Designers say the key here is organization, starting with a built-in or a bench, cubbies and hooks.
"I've found that with hooks instead of hangers, you get more cooperation," Younginer said.
Shelves go at the top for the grownups, cubbies at the bottom for kids' book bags and sports equipment. If there's space, a corkboard with a calendar helps keep a handle on family activities.
Another key is to consider the flooring, so water and mud won't damage it and it cleans up easily. Linoleum, ceramic tile or hardwood -- something you can easily clean up with a damp mop.
Schlensker suggests adding a bench with a lift top for storage, some accessories, greenery and coat hooks on the wall. Try adding a fun animal-shaped shoe scraper and a shoe tray.
KITCHEN OFFICE NOOKS
Small offices off the kitchen, in addition to a home office but beyond counter space for a computer, are finding their way into more new homes.
"I wish architects would incorporate that even more," Younginer said. "People ask for that."
In many houses, the office nooks are built right as you enter the kitchen or off to the side. They include more than desks. Each includes a way to close off the work station from the rest of the room. They're typically 5 to 8 feet wide, depending on the size of the house.
Along with home paper work, people often store warranties and cookbooks there, especially in an age where recipes are often being downloaded off the Internet.
"When you look at it, it looks like it's part of the kitchen cabinet, but it's a work station," Younginer said.