The luxury vinyl flooring available today is not the same vinyl from years ago.
You can easily differentiate between the high-quality luxury vinyl flooring from the inexpensive ones.
If you’re not familiar with vinyl plank flooring, then you have come to the right place. We have highlighted some of the things to consider when choosing your luxury vinyl flooring.
What to Look for When Buying Luxury Plank Flooring?
Here are some of the things to consider when purchasing vinyl plank floors.
Comfort
Many people prefer vinyl plank floors due to their convenient comfort instead of tiles and stone. Vinyl plank floors are ideal for areas where you do a lot of standing.
The addition of underlayment makes the floor even less stressful to your feet.
Durability
Luxury Vinyl Flooring is extremely durable. It is waterproof and can withstand pets and children.
You care for Luxury Vinyl Flooring just as you would tile, so you can mop or vacuum with ease.
Cost of Maintenance
All types of floors need care and maintenance. Some floors are more inexpensive and straightforward to maintain than others.
The good news is that vinyl plank flooring is more resistant to stains, bacteria, and mold by merely mopping.
There is no need to worry about re-sanding, resurfacing, and refinishing.
Sustainability
Installing a sustainable floor is key when considering building or remodeling your home.
According to research, high-quality vinyl plank floors can last about three decades when compared to tiles and hard stones.
Lauren Lerner is the founder and principal designer of Living with Lolo, Scottsdale’s luxury interior design and licensed design-build firm. Voted PHOENIX magazine’s Readers’ Choice winner for Interior Design four consecutive years, Lauren leads projects from concept through construction for high-end homes in Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, and Phoenix.
Looking for a review showing you the different types of countertops but keep finding information that doesn’t address your needs? Well, we’ve got back here.
We have compiled a list of the Top 4 Different Countertops with their advantages and disadvantages so that you can easily make an informed decision when buying. Let’s dive in.
1. Quartz Countertop
Guess what?
The countertop is an engineered stone that contains more quartz particles than other minerals. The stone is shaped into slabs and fixed with resin.
That’s not all.
The engineered stone has a non-porous surface that resists both scratching and staining. Besides that, it occurs in a vast number of colors to suit the taste and preferences of different people.
Lastly, a quartz countertop is more adaptable and offers high performance when compared to other materials used to make countertops.
Pros
Highly durable
Easy and simple to install
Resistant to staining and scratching
Result in uniform slabs after installation.
Easy to clean with a damp cloth
Cons
Tend to be quite expensive
The countertop is heavy
Not immune to heat and direct sunlight
2. Marble Countertop
Are you thinking of installing a countertop in the kitchen or bathroom? It is only fair to ask if you could get a marble countertop.
The sheets of marble tend to be unique, which can help bring out the luxurious outlook in the kitchen or bathroom.
However, they cannot be used in the whole kitchen since they are pretty expensive and not resistant to staining as well as scratching.
Besides that, the marble tends to vary in size of the grains and the amount of veining. This is the reason behind the unique appearance.
Pros
Offers a luxurious outlook
Tend to be waterproof
Excellent resistance to heat
Highly durable when cared for properly
Broad-spectrum of colors and veining
Cons
Too costly
Installation tends to be quite difficult
Prone to staining and scratching
3. Granite Countertop
Granite is a popular material for making countertops since they are pretty affordable. If you have a low budget, this is the perfect choice.
The most beautiful thing is that it real helps to bring out the elegance in the kitchen, which is why it can perfectly fit in any kitchen design layout.
Granite is composed of different minerals; hence too abundant in the spectrum of colors that help to foster an attractive appearance after installation.
Pros
Help to beautify countertops
Eco-friendly countertop since it is extracted from natural materials
Quite durable and robust
Easy to clean with a damp cloth
Resistant to heat, stain, and scratches
Cons
Slabs tend to have imperfections after some time
Make knives to become blunt when cutting through it
Not ideal for DIY installation
Corners are prone to breakage when something heavy fall on it
4. Soapstone Countertop
Another excellent material for countertops which is eco-friendly since it is extracted from natural materials.
Soapstone material is ordinarily dark gray, that offers an excellent alternative for those people who want a smooth and silky feel.
The antique-like patina feature tends to make the kitchen quite attractive regardless of the design style. Besides that, soapstone can also be used as a sink material.
One thing that tends to blow the mind of people is the ability to resist stains and the strength that enhances durability.
Unfortunately, the antique-like characteristics are non-resistant to scratches, and this is the reason why you need to be extra careful when using the countertop.
Lauren Lerner is the founder and principal designer of Living with Lolo, Scottsdale’s luxury interior design and licensed design-build firm. Voted PHOENIX magazine’s Readers’ Choice winner for Interior Design four consecutive years, Lauren leads projects from concept through construction for high-end homes in Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, and Phoenix.
A powder room can often be a forgotten space, however, it is a great opportunity to have some fun with design, adding a low commitment, whimsical or bold touch.
Here are some easy and creative ways to spruce up your powder room:
Wallpaper: Because a powder room is generally a smaller space, an investment in beautiful wallpaper is cost-effective, so splurging is a must. For example:
Our ‘Fresh, Fantastic and Fun on 1st Street’ powder room, golden-patterned wallpaper by Hygge and West adds a Hollywood Glam / Art Deco feel to a pint-sized powder room, complemented by brass accents in the light fixture and oversized, round mirror by Anthropologie.
Tiles:
Have fun with tiles! A fully tiled backsplash in unexpected colors and patterns adds a breath of fresh air to what could be an otherwise bland space. We absolutely love this Complementto bathroom with a delightful, large lilac scale pattern accented by sharp black hardware and a clean, light wood countertop.
Hardware:
Brightly colored bathroom hardware adds a quirky, retro, touch – such as these multi-colored, 1970s style faucets in a bathroom by Freunden von Freunden.
For additional colored bathroom faucet inspiration, check out this article by Apartment Therapy.
The most important thing to remember when designing or renovating a powder room is that it’s a perfect opportunity to branch out of your comfort zone, in a low stake but super impactful way! So GO FOR IT!
This is a guest post written by JMorris Design, a bespoke interior design studio specializing in creating signature spaces imbued with clean lines and stunning decorative personality, based in Park Slope, Brooklyn, serving the greater New York City area and beyond.
Lauren Lerner is the founder and principal designer of Living with Lolo, Scottsdale’s luxury interior design and licensed design-build firm. Voted PHOENIX magazine’s Readers’ Choice winner for Interior Design four consecutive years, Lauren leads projects from concept through construction for high-end homes in Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, and Phoenix.
We can’t get enough of the remodel we did in Grayhawk and neither can you based on the responses we have has on our Instagram posts from this project!
This client is an avid baker and has a small bakery business out of her home so the kitchen was the biggest priority in the space and the rest was designed around that. She wanted to refinish her cabinets but didn’t want white so we picked a beautiful neutral gray. The backsplash + her island lighting were picked out at the very start of the project when she fell in love with them. The cement tile backsplash gives her kitchen a pop and is a strong focal point. The oversized pendant lights give the kitchen some height and interest as your eyes move up.
We chose to use a quartz countertop for its durability. You get the look of marble without the hassle of taking care of marble. It holds up to heat well + it takes the luxury feel of this kitchen up a notch.
Our client had a built-in desk and wanted to make it more unique and space she truly loved for her cookbooks and for recipe research. We added some floating shelves to display her cookbooks and we all just love how it turned out!
Lauren Lerner is the founder and principal designer of Living with Lolo, Scottsdale’s luxury interior design and licensed design-build firm. Voted PHOENIX magazine’s Readers’ Choice winner for Interior Design four consecutive years, Lauren leads projects from concept through construction for high-end homes in Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, and Phoenix.
This project was so fun for us! We loved working with this family to transform an unused formal living room into a game room that they all love. We had several requirements: To make this the coolest game room around but also a space that the mom was proud to have at the front of her home that didn’t scream game room.
The home was beautiful but it had the typical Arizona brown finishes + travertine floors. Before we started on the furniture design, we gave the space a facelift with a fresh coat of paint and custom drapery. The high ceilings begged for beautiful panels all the way to the ceiling and boy did they make the space!
We created two main areas of the room, a seating area to watch games and play shuffleboard and a place to hang out and play some pool. The seating area features some updated modern traditional chairs that look as cool as they are comfy and also a Samsung picture frame tv. How cool is it that you can display art on your tv when it is not being used!?
We finished off the space by also updating and designing the entryway. We wanted to be sure to set the tone for the home when you first walk in + we love how it turned out.
Lauren Lerner is the founder and principal designer of Living with Lolo, Scottsdale’s luxury interior design and licensed design-build firm. Voted PHOENIX magazine’s Readers’ Choice winner for Interior Design four consecutive years, Lauren leads projects from concept through construction for high-end homes in Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, and Phoenix.
When I first connected with this client, I knew it would be a special project! We had so many similarities including her kids going to summer camp in Malibu where I grew up going to summer camp! The family was relocating to Scottsdale for her husband’s job and aside from one meeting together at the new home, the entire design, presentation, and approval process would be done remotely.
The entire home was beautiful, to begin with, but it was a completely different style, very contemporary + cold and not what my clients wanted. They wanted to create a modern home with touches of soft contemporary + ensure it was approachable + a place where they could entertain family and friends for years to come. They were not afraid of color which was music to my ears! They trusted me throughout the entire process and stepped outside their comfort zone which resulted in a magnificent result. The house is a showstopper!
Lauren Lerner is the founder and principal designer of Living with Lolo, Scottsdale’s luxury interior design and licensed design-build firm. Voted PHOENIX magazine’s Readers’ Choice winner for Interior Design four consecutive years, Lauren leads projects from concept through construction for high-end homes in Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, and Phoenix.
Lauren Lerner is the founder and principal designer of Living with Lolo, Scottsdale’s luxury interior design and licensed design-build firm. Voted PHOENIX magazine’s Readers’ Choice winner for Interior Design four consecutive years, Lauren leads projects from concept through construction for high-end homes in Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, and Phoenix.
Grayhawk is a charming community in North Scottsdale. Our client’s love living here because of the family-friendly neighborhoods, the fabulous golf courses, and the lush green common areas. Some of our favorite interior design projects have been in the Grayhawk community. Many of these homes have dated finishes and we excel at helping our clients complete modern kitchen and bathroom remodels to their homes.
Some of our recent modern interior design projects in Grayhawk:
Lauren Lerner is the founder and principal designer of Living with Lolo, Scottsdale’s luxury interior design and licensed design-build firm. Voted PHOENIX magazine’s Readers’ Choice winner for Interior Design four consecutive years, Lauren leads projects from concept through construction for high-end homes in Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, and Phoenix.
DC Ranch is one of our favorite luxury real estate areas in North Scottsdale. We have completed many residential interior design projects in DC Ranch and we love the different home styles within this community and customizing our interior design projects to unique styles of our clients.
Some of our recent modern interior design projects in DC Ranch:
Lauren Lerner is the founder and principal designer of Living with Lolo, Scottsdale’s luxury interior design and licensed design-build firm. Voted PHOENIX magazine’s Readers’ Choice winner for Interior Design four consecutive years, Lauren leads projects from concept through construction for high-end homes in Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, and Phoenix.
Welcome to our Cave Creek, Arizona home! Now that you’re here, come in and stay awhile! This spot is our guests’ first impression of our home and it was important that it accurately set the entire tone for the rest of our house. Being an interior designer, I am always shopping for my client’s and while I was, months before our home was done, I saw this rug & knew I needed to have it in our entry! The bright jewel tones, the faux vintage look, and the all-around style factor had me at hello! It has a low pile which is great for standing up to everyday vacuuming which is a must with my two furry friends.
Entryway Design Ideas in Scottsdale, AZ
A chandelier in the entryway is a must. Who’s with me? It’s a great place for a little bit of fancy & high impact! I found this piece at a local showroom & it immediately stood out from the rest. This pendant is the epitome of luxury & glamor while the modern shapes keep it from looking too gaudy. Confession- this showed up on my doorstep and each of the 146 crystals were individually wrapped and guess who unwrapped and hung everyone? Next time, I’ll be hiring someone to do this!
These mirrors are oldies but goodies! They were one of the first things I bought, over 10 years ago, to decorate my 1st condo. Don’t you just love when you have such good taste that the store you bought them at still sells them 10 years later?
The bench is an amazing find! Talk about a good deal! It’s the perfect spot for visitors to drop their purses when they stop by & it also doubles as a place for our UPS guy to leave our millions of Amazon packages. What did we even do before Amazon Prime?
This acrylic frame DIY turned out great & is a surprisingly easy way to frame a unique piece of art! More about how to DYI this in another post.
Thanks for stopping by & I hope that my Cave Creek, Arizona interior design style has inspired you to add a pop of color to your home.
Love, Lolo
SHOP THIS POST | SOME AFFILIATE LINKS USED AND SUBSTITUTIONS HAVE BEEN PROVIDED WHERE ITEM IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE:
For a full list of resources for this space please click HERE.
Lauren Lerner is the founder and principal designer of Living with Lolo, Scottsdale’s luxury interior design and licensed design-build firm. Voted PHOENIX magazine’s Readers’ Choice winner for Interior Design four consecutive years, Lauren leads projects from concept through construction for high-end homes in Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, and Phoenix.
Hi there & happy Friday! I hope you have big plans this weekend or no plans at all if that’s your thing! We are headed out to the happiest hour with some friends for some oysters & dirty martinis! In the meantime, I’m going to share my living room with you. Our living room & kitchen is a big open space so it was imperative that we created flow between both spaces yet allowed them to feel like they were their own spaces.
Our couches were an investment piece that we will have for a long time (I’ve linked a much more affordable version below) and the whole room was centered around them. Our living room is also our family room and we needed this space to be both functional and comfortable while looking stylish and pulled together. I have a rug obsession & when I saw this faux vintage rug on Life on Virginia Street during her office room reveal, I knew it was going to be perfect for our living room! Plus, when you see the price, you might just die. It’s an amazing price for the size of the rug!
I searched long and hard for the perfect coffee table. I wanted the wood to compliment our floating shelves and our bamboo shades but I also wanted one that had black metal on it to complement our barstools and window hardware. You guys, this coffee table is so ridiculously inexpensive I still can’t believe it! I love asking people how much they think the coffee table cost only to shock them with the actual price. You need to get one NOW because I’m pretty sure this price is a mistake and someone’s going to notice pretty soon!
Our TV wall houses a built-in cabinet in my most favorite navy, Hale Navy by Benjamin Moore and its finished with the cutest acrylic and brass knobs from Target! Target’s Threshold line is seriously killing it! I debated having our cabinet guy add shelving all the way to the top but instead opted for floating shelves. The wall behind the shelves & TV is a stacked quartz stone. I just love the texture it gives to the wall & it matches our pool feature wall that you can see from the living room windows.
This fiddle leaf fig tree is real & I’m happy to say it’s been alive for 8 months! I don’t have the best reputation for keeping plants alive & my husband won’t let me buy any more until I can prove I can keep this one alive. I think I’ve done it, don’t you?
I hope you enjoyed this post & the great finds that I found for this room! Don’t forget to leave a comment below!
Love,
Lolo
SHOP THIS POST | SOME AFFILIATE LINKS USED AND SUBSTITUTIONS HAVE BEEN PROVIDED WHERE ITEM IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE:
For a full list of resources for this space please click HERE.
Vintage Kilam Rug | Rustic Wood Coffee Table | Velvet Chesterfield Sofa| Brushed Black Curtain Rod | Brushed Black Drapery Clip Rings | Brushed Gold Picture Frame | Brass Floor Lamp | Brass Chandelier | Faux Fiddle Leaf Fig Tree | Seagrass Basket | Gold Stool | Acrylic and Brass Knob | Wood Shelves | Poufs | Tray | David Hicks Pillow | Spotted Pillow | Washed Linen Pillow | Carved Wood Occasional Table | Abstract Artwork | Stone | Chair | Baskets Under Coffee Table
Cabinet Color:
Wall Color: Anew Gray by Sherman Williams
Location: Cave Creek, Arizona
You interested in an Interior Design Consultation, contact us below for more information!
Lauren Lerner is the founder and principal designer of Living with Lolo, Scottsdale’s luxury interior design and licensed design-build firm. Voted PHOENIX magazine’s Readers’ Choice winner for Interior Design four consecutive years, Lauren leads projects from concept through construction for high-end homes in Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, and Phoenix.
Hi & welcome to my kitchen! This post is a compilation of all the questions I always get about my kitchen, including sources! When we were designing our kitchen, having a big island was a must! I love cooking with my little one & we needed some space to spread out and get messy! Also, we LOVE to entertain & having a big island makes the most perfect spot to have appetizers when your friends come over.
Kitchen Design Scottsdale, AZ
I’ve always been a fan of Carrera marble in the kitchen, I love its bright white look. But, I don’t love that white marble is notorious for being tricky to take care of because let’s face it, I’m not the neatest in the kitchen & I’ve been known to spill a glass of wine or two. Also, everywhere you look you see Carrera. I wanted something different. I stumbled across this marble called brown fantasy at the stone yard and it took my breath away! It’s a marble but it’s one of the tougher marbles out there & it’s not totally white so it won’t show imperfections as things in life happen. 🙂 This slab of marble does not have any brown in it, but some of the brown fantasy slabs have a ton so you really just need to look for the perfect piece. Additionally, I had the fabricators do a satin finish on the marble so it is lightly textured vs smooth and shiny. I loved that it added a bit more texture to the stone and also that the finish makes it nearly impossible to see water spots.
When it came time to choose hardware and light fixtures for the kitchen, my heart was set on brass. Not just any brass, but the most perfect satin finish. I can’t tell you how many samples of hardware I ordered before I ended up with these bar pulls from Lew’s Hardware. Long ago I had fallen in love with the brass hardware from School House Electric, but I quickly realized with the number of cabinets we had that spending $34-$74 on a single pull was not where I wanted to spend our budget. Persistence paid off & I got the look of my dreams at a fraction of the cost.
Kitchen Lighting Ideas in Scottsdale, AZ
Let’s talk about lighting! I have forever been in love with Darlana and Suzanne Morris pendants from Visual Comfort and knew from the get go I was going to use them both in my kitchen. CONFESSION: During all of the shopping for the new house, I somehow ordered the wrong size Darlana Pendant! Imagine my surprise when it showed up & I’m not kidding you IT WAS HUGE! My first instinct was to exchange it but then the more I kept looking at it sitting on the floor I decided to have my handyman install it to see what it would look like up. The kitchen table space is pretty large and because the lantern is wide open it fits the space perfectly, & completely breaks every lighting rule you have ever heard! WE WENT BIG & We are staying home!
The kitchen table, chair, & rug concept was 100% inspired by Bree over at Z Design at Home. When I saw her kitchen table set up, it was perfect. exactly what I never knew I wanted! She was so sweet and gave me a bunch of helpful hints on how to recreate it. That table! Those chairs! And, the hidden rug! My husband thought he hated hiding rugs until he saw it styled this way! Our chairs are from Restoration Hardware & now discontinued but I’ve linked a much more affordable option below.
I hope you enjoyed our kitchen tour! Please let me know if you have any other questions about the kitchen and I’d be happy to answer them for you.
Love, Lolo
You interested in an Interior Design Consultation, contact us below for more information!
Lauren Lerner is the founder and principal designer of Living with Lolo, Scottsdale’s luxury interior design and licensed design-build firm. Voted PHOENIX magazine’s Readers’ Choice winner for Interior Design four consecutive years, Lauren leads projects from concept through construction for high-end homes in Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, and Phoenix.
