Are you working on the finer points of your custom home design? Adding a fireplace or two could enhance your quality of life in numerous ways. Explore eight advantages of having a fireplace in your home.

  1. Keep comfortable: Fireplaces provide cozy warmth that no other heat source can match. Whether you have a traditional wood-burning fireplace, a modern gas fireplace, or a stylish electric fireplace, this custom home feature radiates warmth to banish the chill from the room.
  2. Save on energy bills: Heating with gas and electric fireplaces can be cost-effective. The zoned heating provided by multiple fireplaces throughout your home reduces the dependence on your furnace. It also allows you to heat rooms only as needed instead of paying to heat your entire home day and night.
  3. Add visual appeal: Fireplaces come in various styles and designs, from classic stone hearths and wood mantels to sleek, modern frames. The visual warmth of a glowing fireplace adds to the overall ambiance, easing your stress level at the end of a long day and inviting you to relax with your family and friends.
  4. Boost home value: Including a fireplace in your custom design increases home value. Interested buyers often consider fireplaces a desirable feature, making your home more competitive in the real estate market. This increased home value makes investing in a fireplace a wise decision for the future.
  5. Enjoy instant heat with a gas fireplace: Gas fireplaces offer the convenience of instant flames at the push of a button. Unlike wood-burning fireplaces, which require preparation and maintenance, gas fireplaces are a hassle-free way to enjoy a cozy fire. Models often come with remote controls and thermostats, allowing you to easily adjust the temperature and flame intensity.
  6. Use an electric fireplace year-round: Electric fireplaces can be used any time of year because they operate with or without heat. This means you can enjoy the ambiance of a fire regardless of the season.
  7. Stay warm during emergencies with a wood-burning fireplace: A classic wood-burning fireplace is a crucial heat source during power outages. Having this feature in your home ensures you always have a reliable way to keep warm and even cook food when electric or gas heating methods fail.
  8. Warm your patio with an outdoor fireplace: Outdoor fireplaces extend the comfort and usability of your outdoor space. Designing a porch or patio with a cozy fireplace makes it perfect for entertaining guests, enjoying family time, or simply relaxing outside during cooler evenings.

Deciding whether to include a fireplace is one decision out of hundreds you must make when designing a custom home in Oklahoma City. Landmark Fine Homes would be happy to help you make the right choices for your family’s needs and lifestyle. Serving Oklahoma City since 2000, our family-run business proudly provides reliable design services and high-quality materials, finishes, and fixtures. If you’re considering adding a fireplace or other custom features to your home, our knowledgeable professionals can answer any questions you may have. Contact us at 405.400.8616 today to make your next house the home of your dreams.

If you work remotely, a pocket office could be a game-changer for your work-from-home setup. This trend focuses on creating a compact, functional home workspace, emphasizing productivity without taking up much room. Learn all about the modern pocket office trend, its many benefits, and some design ideas to maximize functionality.

What is a Pocket Office?

A pocket office is a small area in your home dedicated to work-related tasks, typically about a quarter to half the size of a traditional office. A compact workspace could be perfect if you want the privacy of a home office without taking up too much square footage.

Pocket Office Benefits

Why would you design a small home office in your custom home? Consider four reasons why it’s a growing trend:

Pocket Office Design Ideas

Creating a functional and aesthetically pleasing pocket office requires thoughtful design choices. Here are some ideas to get you started:

Embrace the Pocket Office Trend in Your Custom Home Design

If you want to add the latest trends to your custom home, consult Landmark Fine Homes to learn more about your options. We are a custom home builder serving the Oklahoma City area since 2000, so we understand the importance of creating spaces that enhance your lifestyle. Our family-run business is known for offering excellent customer service and building quality, energy-efficient homes. Let us help you design the perfect pocket office in your dream home—call us at 405.400.8616 to experience the Landmark Difference for yourself.

Over the past several years, open-concept living areas have taken over the home design world, becoming a favorite among homeowners and builders alike. This floor plan design, often called a “great room,” eliminates walls between the kitchen, living room, and dining area. The resulting open space is vast and welcoming, offering numerous benefits for modern families. Explore the top five reasons why this design choice is a staple of most custom homes in Oklahoma City.

Entertainment Value

The seamless transition between living, dining, and kitchen areas makes open-concept living ideal for entertaining guests. It allows the host to prepare food without missing out on the fun and conversations in the living or dining room. Without walls in the way, you can effectively be in three places at once, making gatherings more social, inclusive, and engaging for everyone.

Natural Light

One of the most appealing aspects of open-concept designs is the abundance of natural light. With fewer walls, sunlight can flow freely throughout the living space, creating a brighter, more inviting atmosphere. This effect enhances the aesthetic appeal of your home and delivers positive effects associated with natural light, such as improved mood, increased productivity, and a healthier circadian rhythm. When planning your home’s layout and window placement, consider how lighting at different times of the day will affect your enjoyment of the great room.

Better Traffic Flow

Open-concept living areas promote a smoother flow throughout the house. Without the interruption of doors and walls, navigating between living spaces becomes more intuitive and less restrictive. You can even keep an eye on your kids playing in the living room while you prepare dinner in the kitchen. A great room configuration is especially beneficial in homes where the kitchen is the central hub, allowing easier access for everyone and creating a more cohesive living experience.

Spacious and Modern Feel

Open floor plans allow sightlines to extend from one end of the house to the other, creating the illusion of a larger interior. This design choice is integral to modern architecture because it offers a spacious, airy feeling that many homeowners desire. Also, eliminating hallways and dividing walls is a more effective use of space, letting you make the most of every square foot.

Improved Energy Efficiency

The improved airflow of an open-concept living area makes your home more energy-efficient and easier to heat and cool uniformly. This layout leads to utility savings and a more comfortable environment. Plus, strategic window placement maximizes natural light, reducing the need for artificial lighting during the day and furthering your energy savings.

Build a Home with an Open-Concept Living Area

When it comes time to design a floor plan for your custom home, an open-concept living area could be exactly what you’re looking for. Landmark Fine Homes has the knowledge and experience to meet your modern family’s needs. Serving Oklahoma City since 2000, our dedication to building great homes for great people set us apart. Our caring team loves building strong customer relationships by bringing a personal touch to every project we complete. Contact us at (405) 292-5263 to make your next house the home of your dreams.

Natural light is a crucial yet often overlooked element of custom home design. Today’s modern homes embrace natural light for its ability to highlight design elements, connect indoor and outdoor spaces, improve mood, and boost energy efficiency. Here’s a closer look at the benefits of natural light and tips to harness natural lighting in your custom-built home.

The Advantages of Using Natural Light

Humans have long relied on natural light for functional and aesthetic purposes. One benefit is that it brightens interiors, making rooms feel more spacious and inviting. Natural light also regulates your circadian rhythm, lifts your spirits when you feel sad, and increases productivity. Plus, strategically incorporating natural light into your custom home build reduces reliance on artificial lighting, lowering energy consumption and utility bills as a result.

Harness Natural Light with Windows, Skylights & Light Tubes

Glass elements are crucial for letting natural light into your home. Floor-to-ceiling windows and skylights blur the line between indoors and outside. Then, tubular skylights are a clever way to illuminate interior rooms. They reflect sunlight down through a mirrored tube, so even bathrooms and basements can benefit from natural light.

Large windows and skylights invite abundant daylight to enter while providing stunning views that change with the seasons. When you build a home from the ground up, you get to select the placement of these glass features to maximize light intake while still accounting for privacy, energy efficiency, and glare.

Think About Home Orientation and Layout

Understanding the path of natural light throughout the day is important when planning your custom home’s orientation and layout. You may want to position living areas on the south side, where they can receive ample daylight. Then, face the kitchen, home office, and bedrooms to the north or east to minimize heat gain in the late afternoon. Thoughtful orientation optimizes light and temperature regulation, contributing to a more sustainable home environment.

Choose Materials and Colors That Reflect Light

The building materials and color scheme you choose for your home impact how light is absorbed or reflected in different rooms. Light-colored walls, ceilings, and floors help bounce daylight deeper into your home so every room appears bright and open. Incorporating reflective surfaces, such as mirrors or glossy furniture finishes, also enhances light distribution. In comparison, darker paint colors and matte surfaces absorb light, a technique you can use strategically to create cozy, intimate spaces where desired.

Build a Custom Home Full of Natural Light

Ready to put the transformative power of natural lighting to use in your custom-built home? Landmark Fine Homes can make it happen! We have over 20 years of experience building great homes for great people in Oklahoma City, OK. Our family-run business leverages industry knowledge, integrity, and a customer-focused approach to design homes that reflect our clients’ unique lifestyles. We’re eager to make your next house the home of your dreams—contact us at (405) 292-5263 today to start your journey!

Do you love watching movies and TV shows or playing video games with your kids? If so, you need a dedicated room in your home for these activities, allowing you to relax, entertain, and enjoy quality time with friends and family like never before.

Going beyond the concept of a typical home theater, a media room combines high-tech sound and screen upgrades with the comfort and sociability of a living room. This multi-use space offers a flexible environment where you can watch, stream, or play your favorite content to the fullest. If you’re thinking of building a custom home in Oklahoma City, explore three reasons to incorporate a media room into the design.

Versatility

The standout feature of a media room is its flexibility. Unlike home theaters specifically designed for watching movies in a dark, theater-like setting, media rooms cater to a variety of activities. From hosting movie nights to playing interactive video games to using immersive home golf simulators, a media room adapts to your lifestyle. A flexible design supports different seating arrangements and activities, making it an ideal space for entertainment and relaxation.

Enhanced Home Value

When building a custom home, every design choice impacts your property’s future resale value. Thanks to its broad appeal and functional versatility, media rooms have plenty to offer potential buyers. Consider that incorporating a media room enhances your home’s marketability and value, especially if integrated into otherwise unused spaces, like the basement or spare bedroom. This makes a media room a smart investment if your goal is to promote long-term home value.

Social Hub of the Home

A strategically designed media room serves as a social space where talking, interaction, and enjoyment are encouraged. It’s the perfect setting for your children’s play dates, sports-watching parties, and family gatherings, so you know the space will get plenty of use. This aspect of media rooms makes them a valuable part of any custom home, promoting socialization and entertainment in a comfortable setting.

Why Professional Media Room Design Matters

Working with a professional designer to create your media room, not to mention the rest of your custom home, ensures stunning results. A design team can guarantee seamless integration with the overall style of your home while suggesting design choices that enhance usability and enjoyment.

Professionals can also navigate the technical aspects of setting up high-quality audiovisual systems for the optimal media experience. In short, having the complete support of a professional custom home builder turns your vision into reality, leaving you with a media room that exceeds expectations in every way.

Build a Custom Home with a Media Room

With over 20 years of experience serving Oklahoma City, OK, Landmark Fine Homes understands the importance of creating spaces that cater to our clients’ diverse needs. Our family-run business prioritizes quality, integrity, and customer relationships above all. A versatile media room is just one example of how we can customize your dream home to suit your lifestyle. To begin discussing your vision, please contact us at (405) 292-5263 for a consultation.

When you choose to build a home, you get to pick the design for the exterior and interior of your new home. Before the home can be built, the lot must be cleared, which means you also must have a clean slate on which to create your landscaping. Do you know how to landscape a new construction home? We’ve got some helpful tips.

Tips for Landscaping Your New Home

Your Dream Home, Designed Just for You

Landscaping your new home is just one part of creating the perfect space to build a life and create memories, in the home of your dreams. When you’re ready to build your dream home, Landmark Fine Homes has beautiful new and custom-built homes in a variety of sizes and floorplans, just waiting to become yours. Our homes are not only energy efficient but also built with the utmost attention to detail. Some are located in active adult communities where you’ll find plenty to do. Make your next house the home of your dreams by contacting Landmark Fine Homes today!

Post-pandemic, more and more people are embracing a work-from-home lifestyle. If you’re one of them, do you have a home office that helps you succeed? The right home office design layout and décor can have a big impact on your productivity, so it’s smart to incorporate some ideas from the experts. Here, we offer some home office design ideas to help you create the perfect space for working from home.

Five Top Tips For Productive Home Office Design

  1. Minimize Clutter. The best home office space is one that is free from distractions, so that you can truly focus on what you’re doing. Make sure you have ample storage space to tuck away things you are not using, and embrace a minimalist aesthetic in your home office.
  2. Make good use of color. While you might like a moody, cozy color scheme in your home office, some unexpected color choices can be energizing. Put in pops of orange and green, to boost energy and concentration. If some of that color comes from plants, that’s even better, because plants can also help improve productivity.
  3. Bring in plenty of light. An office that’s bright and light is the perfect place to be productive. Make the most of natural light. Make lighting fixtures a priority, incorporating both ambiance and functional lighting.
  4. Incorporate your personality. For a home office to be a place where you’re comfortable and productive, it needs to reflect who you are. Bring in books, artwork, and objects that inspire you. You’ll find yourself working more effectively.
  5. Invest in comfortable furnishings. You might be working from a multipurpose space, or at your dining room table, but whatever space you choose for your office, it’s worth investing in the tools you need to work productively. Choose an ergonomic chair, make sure your desktop has room to spread out, and choose furniture that’s comfortable and functional. If you have dedicated office space, consider incorporating some pieces solely for taking breaks, like a cozy armchair or a stunning chaise. If you are limited on space, look for multi-functional pieces that can serve as storage, workspace, and more.

Design Your Perfect Office in Your Dream Home

Designing your perfect office is easier when you’re putting it into your perfect home. When you’re ready to build your dream home, Landmark Fine Homes has beautiful new and custom-built homes in a variety of sizes and floorplans, just waiting to become yours. We will even help you design your perfect space, with our in-home design center. See colors, feel textures, and visualize your selections in each room of your beautiful new home. Landmark Fine Homes houses are energy efficient and built with the utmost attention to detail. Some are located in active adult communities where you’ll find plenty to do. Make your next house the home of your dreams by contacting Landmark Fine Homes today!

Homeownership is a big step. When you are building a home, location is extremely important. You may know the general area in which you want to live, and you may even have chosen a home builder; but one of the biggest decisions you’ll have to make is whether to live in the country or the city.

The lifestyle each area affords is very distinct, shaped by the population density, community dynamics, and infrastructure. The decision you make will greatly affect your experience. There’s no wrong answer but finding what best suits your needs and fits your lifestyle will make all the difference in your overall happiness and wellbeing. Do you prefer the peace and natural surroundings in the country? Or the vibrant bustle of urban life?

Pros and Cons of Rural Living

Living in the country offers wide open spaces and a chance to connect more closely with nature. When you think about a rural location, you may picture rolling hills, quaint farms, and small, friendly towns. However, rural may just refer to a community that is outside of a city; not necessarily a traditional “country” setting.

Pros and Cons of Urban Life

City life offers proximity to amenities, plenty to do, and connection with a vibrant, bustling community. There’s always activity and can be very exciting. However, you should think carefully about whether living in the city is right for you. Consider these factors before deciding.

Deciding Which Lifestyle is Right for You

How do you choose between the two lifestyles? First, think about your lifestyle. Preferences in terms of pace of life, social connections, and proximity to amenities. Do you prefer big city excitement? Do you prefer the tranquillity of the country? Consider the factors that matter most to you, and visit different areas. Research both urban and rural locations to gain first-hand experience of each. Picture your future and think about how you want your life to be in the long term. What are your goals? Which location will best support them?

Finally, talk to people who have experience living in the areas you’re considering to gain perspective that will help inform your decision.

A High-Quality Custom Home Builder No Matter Where You Want to Live

Whether you prefer the hustle and bustle of city life or the quint relaxing peace often found in rural areas; when you’re ready to build your dream home, Landmark Fine Homes has beautiful new and custom-built homes in a variety of sizes and floorplans, just waiting to become yours. Our homes are energy efficient and built with the utmost attention to detail. Some are located in active adult communities where you’ll find plenty to do. Make your next house the home of your dreams by contacting Landmark Fine Homes today!

What’s involved in site preparation for construction? Before a home can be built on a piece of land, the site must be cleared and graded. The soil must also be compacted. Why is site preparation so important? First, it ensures that the site is ready for construction to begin. It also helps minimize the impact of the work being done on the surrounding environment. Properly preparing a construction site makes for easier access and easier movement of materials within the site, which speeds the construction process. What are the factors you need to consider when you want to prepare a site and build a home?

How to Prepare Land for Building a Home

When you are preparing a construction site, you must consider the nature of the project. Whether it’s residential, commercial, or public infrastructure, and the size of the project. It’s also important to factor in the location of the project. Is it in a rural or urban setting? What’s the climate like in that location? Once you have considered these and other major factors, you can follow these steps to prepare your site for building.

Custom-Built Homes

Of course, you don’t have to worry about how to prepare land for building a home if you leave the building to the professionals. When you’re ready to build your dream home, Landmark Fine Homes has beautiful new and custom-built homes in a variety of sizes and floorplans, just waiting to become yours. Our homes are energy efficient and built with the utmost attention to detail. Some are located in active adult communities where you’ll find plenty to do. Make your next house the home of your dreams by contacting Landmark Fine Homes today!\

Buying a new home is your chance to find a property that perfectly fits your needs and preferences. Two popular new construction options include custom homes and spec homes. While they are both brand new, these types of homes differ significantly. Learn more about custom homes vs. spec homes to help you make an informed decision.

What are Custom Homes?

A custom home is designed and built at the behest of a specific buyer. The process begins by selecting a custom home builder to design and construct a home that meets your unique requirements. You may work with an architect or designer to create a floor plan from scratch or customize one of the builder’s existing floor plans. You can also choose between building on your land or in a safe, planned community. Either way, your builder helps you select the materials and finishes that best match your vision.

What are Spec Homes?

A spec home, short for speculative home, is built by a developer or builder without a specific buyer in mind. The builder may construct several spec homes in a new subdivision on the speculation that the design, finishes, and materials appeal to a broad range of buyers. Once the home is complete, or sometimes when it’s still under construction, the builder puts it up for sale.

Differences Between Custom Homes and Spec Homes

1.      Customization

With a custom home, you have complete control over the design. Whether you create a unique floor plan or customize an existing design, you get to choose the materials and finishes you like best.

Spec homes have pre-determined designs, finishes, and materials. You may be able to make minor changes, such as choosing the paint color or selecting from two cabinet styles, but the home’s overall design is already established.

2.      Cost

Custom homes tend to be more expensive because they offer unlimited customization. You must also pay for design services, land, materials, and labor. Of course, prices vary widely based on the home’s location, size, and finishes.

Spec homes are typically more affordable because the builder constructs several homes at once in a single development, reducing the cost of labor and materials. You also only pay for the finished product, with no additional design or customization expenses.

3.      Timeline

A custom home may take six months to a year or more to complete, depending on the design and the availability of materials and labor. You must also acquire permits and conduct inspections before construction begins, adding to the overall completion timeline.

Spec homes are usually completed much faster. Builders already have the necessary permits and inspections in place once you contact them, and they use economies of scale to speed up the construction process.

Build a Custom Home in Oklahoma City

If you think a custom home is right for you, turn to Landmark Fine Homes. We’re a premier builder with over 20 years of experience building great homes for great people. We also offer pre-built homes in numerous communities across the Oklahoma City metro area. To learn more about custom home building, please call 405.400.8616 or contact us online.

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