This is the season for revamping and remodeling. Out with the old, worn out looks of yesterday and bring in the fresh new colors, textures, and patterns of today! What better way to visualize your space in a new light than to visit your city’s Parade of Homes event.
What is the Parade of Homes?
The Building Contractors Association of Southwestern Idaho holds spring and fall Parade of Homes events, allowing anyone tour the select, newly-constructed, model homes presented by local builders and realtors. These events are golden opportunities to see just how modern design techniques and innovative products are being used in today’s home.
This year, Boise’s spring 2015 Parade of Homes is open from Saturday, May 2nd to Sunday, May 17th. If you haven’t already made it out to the new model homes from some of the best builders in the Treasure Valley, there’s still time to tour these gorgeous new homes and get inspired!
If you don’t live in the Boise area, don’t worry. There may be a Parade of Homes event near to you. We’ve included a list of several other Parade of Homes events similar to the one in Boise below.
The Boise Parade of Homes
The DzineSteps team has already been out to several of the Parade homes and has found great examples of design and texture that is sure to inspire.
Here are a few pictures we took during our tours with a little description of what we liked about each space:
 Brighton Homes — The open living space is warm and welcoming with built in shelves and a modern fireplace. The stone of the fireplace is a blend of warm and cool colors making it versatile to any color palette. |
 Brighton Homes — The unique tile pattern backsplash provides accent to the open kitchen, breaking away from the current white tile trend. |
 Brighton Homes — A central sitting/playroom with a fantastic color scheme using blues and golds. |
 James Clyde Custom Homes — The open living area featured built in shelves and a beautiful central fireplace. The interior design of this home really showcased how gorgeous this living space could be with both large focal points and subtle details. |
 Biltmore Company — This enormous home, just shy of 5,000 sq. ft., had gorgeous wood flooring throughout and modern yet tastefully simple design pieces. |
 Hammett Homes — The kitchen design blended cherry wood, maroon, and cream colors in everything from the granite countertops to the tile backsplash and cabinets, giving the space a warm, welcoming feeling. |
 Blackstead — The entryway into this home is stunning. The arched ceiling creatively uses wood planks and inset light fixtures, warming the welcome of all visitors. |
 Legacy Homes — This master bathroom showcases wood-look, tile flooring in a versatile cream color. It works well with the darker cabinets of the bathroom and would be great with any paint color or decor. |
 Blackstead — The master bathroom was a masterpiece of stone and tile. The shower consists of grey porcelain tile while the wall dividing the shower from the bathtub is a wood-look tile, creating nice contrast and adding depth to the already giant room. The walls dividing the sinks from the bathing area were a rough-hewn rock that gave the bathroom texture and a bit of a romantic feel. |
Sample Dzines Inspired by the Boise Parade of Homes
While these new, model homes boast the latest and greatest in home design, we at DzineSteps still like to look for ways to make our space unique. Here are a few pictures we took on our tour that we made Dzines with, adding color to the walls or changing the flooring texture.
The Living Room Dzine above simply changed the rug from a neutral tone to a fun pattern to add a little flair to this Hubble Homes living area.
This bedroom Dzine incorporated changes to the flooring and the wall of this Hubble Homes master bedroom. The flooring we used was a wood texture sample, available in our flooring Dzine products. The wall color was inspired by and sampled from another house we visited during the Parade of Homes by Coleman Homes.
This bathroom Dzine also incorporated changes to both the flooring and the wall of this James Clyde master bathroom. For the wall, we simply chose a light, cheerful color and, for the floor, we chose a pattern that included some yellow and brown hues to keep with the bathroom color scheme we were creating.
For a European touch visit the home by CK Rogers. Designer Laura Attolini explains how she embraces the clean, open and clear lines look that this home shows.
Similar Parade of Homes in Other Locations
The follow is a short list of Parade of Homes events in other cities and states. This list is not comprehensive. If you don’t see your city or state on this list, please search the web using your city and state name along with “parade of homes” or “home builders association.” In larger cities, there won’t be any parade of homes for newly built houses but there are, oftentimes, remodeled home tours that showcase professionally remodeled homes opened to the public for a limited time.
Oregon Home Builders – http://www.oregonhomebuilders.com
Seattle’s Remodeled Homes Tour – http://www.remodeltour.com
South Carolina – http://www.hbahh.com/parade-of-homes-tour
Salt Lake City – http://saltlakeparade.com/
Austin, Texas – http://paradeofhomesaustin.com/
Florida – http://www.paradeofhomesinfo.com/
Minnesota – http://www.paradeofhomes.org/home/hanson-builders-inc/2015-spring-parade-homes-96
Tips for Visiting a Parade of Homes Event
Look for a trip guide on your local Parade of Homes website to easily map out and plan your visits. Some Parades require purchasing tickets, so be sure to check their website for the rules and costs.
We highly recommend looking over the rules for your town’s event and prepare accordingly. For instance, you’ll want to wear shoes that are easy to slip on and off while touring the homes in the Parade. This is because you won’t be allowed to wear shoes inside the model homes or you’ll be asked to put booties over your shoes and, sometimes, your bare feet.
Prepare to take notes on what design features you like and ask questions of the real estate agent or building contractor’s representative. Don’t be afraid to ask how you might be able to do the same thing in your home. It’s a great way to not only get inspired but also find resources for doing your remodeling project right.
Don’t forget to use DzineSteps when visualizing how to bring those great new design elements into your home, too. Just take a picture of the flooring pattern or wall color and create a Dzine to see how it will look in your home.
