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Other special features. “A full-height quartzite (Patagonia Green) backsplash with dramatic veining creates a stunning backdrop, tying the whole room together with elegance and ease,” Harrison says. “Designed with a family of enthusiastic home cooks in mind, the kitchen features multiple work zones, dual sinks and generous counter space, making it easy for everyone to cook, prep and clean up together.”
“Uh-oh” moment. “We were set on using Patagonia quartzite for both the countertops and the full-height backsplash, but with such a bold, dynamic stone, matching the patterns across multiple surfaces was no small feat,” Harrison says. “The veining is incredibly distinctive, and we knew any mismatch would be obvious. We ended up securing five slabs to give us the flexibility we needed for a cohesive layout. Even with that, templating was a challenge. It took careful planning and layout work to ensure the most dramatic sections aligned perfectly across the island and backsplash. The result is seamless and showstopping, but there was definitely a moment of, ‘How are we going to pull this off?’ in the middle of it all.”
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This Minneapolis couple and their three kids love cooking and baking together. But the cramped U-shaped kitchen in their 1904 home didn’t exactly feel family-friendly. To help them create a larger, more functional kitchen with improved storage, workspace and a personalized style, they hired designer Kate Roos to spearhead a major remodel.
Roos took over a mudroom to expand the kitchen, adding 45 square feet and freeing up room for an island with seating. A nifty rolling baking cart can tuck away into the island. The walnut island coordinates with a focal point range hood and red oak flooring to add warmth to the light gray perimeter cabinets and white tile. A colorful handmade backsplash design over the range punches up the space with playful personality.
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8. Skimping on Borders
“Many clients understandably don’t want a high-maintenance [yard] and this seems to manifest in them asking for narrow flower beds, as these will require less work — right?” Reader says. “Actually, this is wrong.”
Solution: Use shrubs. “The best low-maintenance plants are shrubs,” Reader says. “They last many years, don’t require a lot of looking after and can deliver interesting structure, flowers, berries and autumn leaf color — and many of them are evergreen, so look good in winter too.
“The thing about shrubs, though, is many of them will get quite big,” he continues. “So if you put them in a narrow bed, you’ll fairly quickly be having to cut them back frequently, as they’ll overhang the lawn or paths. This destroys the beauty of their natural shape, creates woody holes in the foliage canopy and creates maintenance.
“By having a wider bed to start with, the shrubs can be gently pruned as they reach their mature size every three to five years and be kept looking beautiful,” he says.
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Everyone’s dream home looks different. But there are certain elements most people would agree belong in the perfect house. Browsing photos from the Best of Houzz 2025 award winners offers plenty of inspiration for home features that will remain stylish and functional for years to come.
When a homeowner saves photos to Houzz ideabooks, it helps pros earn a Best of Houzz Design award, giving them recognition for their compelling designs. When homeowners leave reviews on a pro’s Houzz profile, it helps that pro earn a Best of Houzz Service award. There’s also a new category this year: the Innovator award. Pros earning a badge in this category have won a service award this year, use Houzz Pro software and are Houzz Pro certified. So if you see a Best of Houzz badge on a pro’s profile, you know their work is popular among homeowners, their customer service is well-liked, they are using the latest software tools to streamline the design and construction process for their clients, or all of the above.
Here, we highlight 15 enduring design ideas from photos that won a Best of Houzz Design award. In some cases, the pro also won a Best of Houzz Service award or a Best of Houzz Innovator award. Strive for some or even all of these home design ideas and you’re bound to end up with a home that will never go out of style.
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Curatio space by Thomas Haarmann. Photo by Anne-Emmanuelle Thion
Surrealism on Display
Exhibitors at the event aced the surrealist theme with lots of enchanting designs.
“The guiding principle for this show is an utterly wild and colorful theme that encourages us to break the rules,” said interior architect Harmonie Henrio during a Formae/Archistorm discussion. “It makes me think of the mood of Poor Things with Emma Stone and also the images created using [AI design tool] Midjourney. You see a mix and match of objects and environments, as Thomas Haarmann did by bringing together different artists, materials, scales and eras in his Curatio space (pictured) and making them interact, which also invites us to free ourselves from established conventions.”
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Residential construction and design professionals have an optimistic outlook for 2025, with more than 3 in 5 firms reporting positive expectations for overall business performance, according to the just-released 2025 U.S. Houzz State of the Industry report. Businesses across industry sectors anticipate high revenue growth rates, heightened demand for their services and improved local and national economies, even as they brace for rising costs and worsening labor shortages. This widespread optimism follows a year marked by unexpected revenue and profitability declines industrywide.
“Home professionals are entering 2025 with renewed confidence and expectations for growth in both revenue and profitability after navigating two difficult years,” Houzz staff economist Marine Sargsyan says. “Pros report that they’ve implemented new processes for operational efficiency and client communication and made strategic investments in technology to address the challenges they faced last year. This will better position them for an anticipated increase in demand, enhance their resilience amidst potential tariffs and leverage expected improvements in both local and national economic conditions.”
Here’s what the report reveals about firms’ expectations for 2025 and performances in 2024.
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16. Organic Modern Style
Pros are excited about a rising interest in organic modern style, which happens to embody a trend toward warm and welcoming colors. As the name implies, this style encompasses natural (organic) materials, colors and shapes used in a modern way. Think natural stone and wood, creamy off-white tones, natural upholstery such as linen and rounded shapes like arches and curves.
This combination creates a warm and welcoming look that feels comfortable and relaxed. In 2024 on Houzz, many search terms associated with this style increased year over year, including “organic modern bedroom” (up 245%), “organic modern dining room” (146%) and “organic modern kitchen” (97%).
This Austin, Texas, living room by Cedar & Oak embraces an organic modern look with curved architectural details, rounded furniture forms and organic colors and materials. Searches for “organic modern living room” were up 66%.
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Successfully planning a kitchen that will work beautifully for you and other family members well into later life comes down to a number of factors. Considerations include safety, functionality, ease of use — and sustainability, because you’ll be building something that will last.
“We are frequently considering how things will work in 20 years’ time and all that’s in between,” says designer Steve Root of Roots Kitchens, Bedrooms and Bathrooms. “That means thinking about how the homeowners’ needs might change, how lifestyles may develop, how things will wear and break and, thus, how they can be maintained.”
But that doesn’t means a kitchen without character. Because when form and function work hand in hand, you’re winning at design.
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7. Multiple Seating Areas and Furniture Pieces
Giving guests options for gathering and relaxing is important for facilitating an engaging party atmosphere. So pros recommend creating multiple seating areas that allow for intimate conversations or larger chats, both inside and out.
Mixing seating pieces like sofas, love seats, chaise lounges, accent chairs, swivel chairs and movable footstools can make numerous arrangements possible.
“We like to provide multifunctional pieces to our clients who love to entertain,” designer Robin Violandi of Violandi + Warner Interiors says. “It might be occasional chairs or upholstered cubes that are easy to move to different rooms to provide additional seating. Multiple small side tables are great for providing a place to put a drink or a small tray for guests. All of these items are easy to move from room to room and can serve double duty.”
This Dallas living room by Delaney’s Design is a great example. It features a casual seating area near a limestone fireplace with a sofa and two armchairs. The armchairs can swivel around to face a second seating area with a sectional sofa and two movable ottomans in front of a large-screen TV.
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It’s understandable to be dazzled by the performance or look of a smart new kitchen appliance, but Eva Byrne of Houseology suggests that you also consider potential purchases with a view to keeping them clean.
“Choose a [range] that’s fuss-free and easy to wipe down without needing any exotic lotions or solutions,” Byrne says. “Have a good look at details, such as the knobs on your oven, to make sure there are no hard-to-get-at nooks. Knobs that are too close together mean you can’t get a cloth between them, for example.”
Designer Nicolle Whyte agrees and suggests choosing an induction cooktop, “as it’s flat, easy and safe to clean.”
Furthermore, Louise Delaney, design manager at Cameron Interiors, says, induction cooktops save you from having to clean the grates and other parts found on gas cooktops.“We recommend choosing appliances with cleaning programs included. Let your appliance do the cleaning for you!” She suggests choosing ovens with pyrolytic cleaning functions (which heat the oven to high temperatures to burn off residue), steam ovens with automatic steam cleaning and drying programs, and coffee machines with automatic cleaning.
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