Our Favorite Design Features for Holiday Entertaining

Tis the season for holiday entertaining. Do you love to host family and friends? At Pratt Home Builders, we have options that are perfect for cooking, gathering, gaming, and relaxing at home.

Open Kitchen

It is said that the kitchen is the heart of the home and for good reason. They’re an inherently natural place to gather, but depending on your layout, that may or may not be ideal. Spacious open-concept kitchens that feature an island and a breakfast nook or dining area are a popular choice for many homebuyers. With all the room to cook and move around, it’s easy to understand why the combo has become so in-demand.

Powder Room

Let’s face it: Restroom accommodations can make a huge difference to guests’ comfort. When hosting a gathering, it’s important to have a conveniently located restroom that’s accessible. A first-floor half bath ensures your visitors can pop in to use the restroom, wash their hands or check the mirror if needed, without having to go through anyone’s personal space.

Sunroom

Maybe you’re popular with friends or have a large family and need multiple spaces that offer some separation but still foster a feeling of togetherness. Options such as this sunroom (in this case, right off the owners kitchen and living area) offer additional square footage and can be multipurpose. Explore our interactive home plans to see more options like this.

Open Layout

The Riverbirch home plan featured below is one example of a plan that has both an open, eat-in kitchen with a breakfast nook and an open dining room. While we also have plans with separate dining room options, around the holidays, open dining spaces are very conducive to sitting down large dishes and getting around the table to give out hugs.

Second Living Area

After the tryptophan kicks in and watching football games or Christmas movies commences, having multiple living spaces can be nice to offer ways to enjoy time together. The possibilities are endless for how to utilize two living spaces.

Outdoor Amenities

A belly full of food and a house full of people may eventually foster the urge to get out for some exercise and fresh air. Many communities have sidewalks and onsite amenities that make it easy to keep the fun going in a way that’s positive and accommodating to a variety of ages and personalities.

If you’re ready to learn more about any of these features, get in touch at prattliving.com or by callling 423-757-7687. We’d love the opportunity to help you love where you live, and how you live.

Our Favorite Design Features for Holiday Entertaininggmwebservices2025-07-31T16:43:59+00:00

The Secret to Maximizing Your Open Concept Home Plan

Guest blog by Interior Design Coordinator, Lauren Miller | Published by Pratt Home Builders

One of the most common questions customers moving from an older home into a new construction home is, “Where do I put my furniture in an open concept plan?”

While an open concept floor plan may be ideal for entertaining, it can feel challenging to determine furniture placement. It may be tricky to define the space the way you’d like to, while still keeping the design of the home feeling natural. With open concept plans, it’s best to define which activates you’d like to accommodate in your given space, then furnish it accordingly. To really get in the mindset of a designer, you’ll need to keep your daily events in mind, too.

For example, let’s dissect a dining room or breakfast nook. Do you often need extra chairs for seating? If so, you may need to consider space for storing chairs or opt for a larger table with more seating to better fill up the room (but don’t lose your 36” of clearance for ease of flow!) Does your dining space provide any other function than being a place to eat? Maybe your children use that space for their homework area, or maybe that’s the first place you drop the mail? In a situation like so, it would be ideal to have a storage piece that can accommodate miscellaneous items. These types of studies will help you really dig into each space and decide what furniture pieces will be needed, first and foremost. Tip: always pay attention to the dimensions.

Once you’ve determined the activities for each of your “open” spaces and have selected some furniture pieces, it’s best to use natural focal points and your starting point in defining your spaces (i.e. fireplaces, large windows, or an accent wall). Rugs are also a great way to anchor your furniture without overdoing it. Lets say your dining room and living room are essentially one room – how do you provide a natural definition without overcrowding and squaring off your spaces? Start with placing your furniture focusing on your architectural features, then add an appropriate sized rug to anchor those pieces. Stools, ottomans, and accent chairs can also act as a divider without feeling heavy with too many sofas or tables.

Above all else, make sure your home is comfortable and suitable for your needs! All families are different, so don’t be afraid to tweak these tips to your requirements. Happy designing from Pratt Homes!

The Secret to Maximizing Your Open Concept Home Plangmwebservices2026-02-04T18:48:13+00:00

Stop Thinking Trendy and Start Thinking Timeless

Timeless design has staying power- it was not meant to be temporary.

When designing a space that’s geared toward trends, odds are it will already be outdated once the project is finished. My job is to share a few tips and tricks that will save you from hating your trendy home in 3 years.

Think “Classic.”

When designing your home, the best route to go is “classic.” Have you ever entered a space and just thought, “Wow, this is beautiful”? Most of the time that occurs when the space is classic and elegant, rather than decorated from the trend of the year. To achieve this classic style, you may want to draw inspiration from Greek Architecture: Moldings, columns, stripes or bold solid colors.

Your timeless home will play upon these details. Also, incorporate natural resources and fibers such as woods, stones, brick. Mixing materials and colors is what brings interest in.

Think Color.

Neutrals are key to a timeless design. They set a perfect backdrop for art and furniture, without overdoing it. Beiges, grays, and soft blues have a strong presence in timeless homes, often accented by crisp, bright whites of moldings in ceilings, arches, and doorways. But not all timeless homes are painted in neutrals. You can try classic colors such as black, navy blues, and dark greens that are often complemented by these neutrals. My word of advice: When in doubt, aim for simplicity, maturity, and elegance.

Think Accents.

If you can’t get over a particular trendy accent, however, use it! After all, this is your home and you’re going to have to love it. But with that being said, trendy patterned furniture may be a risky move. Accents are much more suitable to design with, for they are easily replaceable as trends change. It’s all about balance.

Stop Thinking Trendy and Start Thinking Timelessgmwebservices2025-11-25T13:29:51+00:00

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