What's in vogue? Modern farmhouse, Craftsman styles both popular in Tuscarawas County
TUSCARAWAS COUNTY ‒ The demand for housing in Tuscarawas County has remained strong for the past several years, and local builders are putting up new homes on any available lots.
New Philadelphia added 13 new single-family homes in 2022. No new homes were built in Dover that year, but six have been built in 2023.
What are these new homebuyers looking for style wise?
Nationally, the trends include sustainable design choices, use of indestructible fabrics, listening rooms for music, craft rooms, muted colors on the walls, nostalgic design and unique window treatments, according to Better Homes and Gardens magazine.
Most popular exterior designs
But what are the trends locally?
When it comes to exterior design, the two most popular are modern farmhouse and Craftsman style, or a combination of the two, according to Bill Gibson, sales manager for Lawver Homes in Dover.
Modern farmhouse style blends a minimal contemporary style with what most know as a traditional country style. A Craftsman style home is a small to medium-sized, single-family home that usually is a square shape with two stories.
"There's an awful lot of overlap between those two. Modern farmhouse kind of does away with some of the more ornate features, and then throws in some more modern features," Gibson said.
A new housing development on the north end of Second Street NW in New Philadelphia has a nice mix of those designs. Most of the houses were built by Lawver Homes. Designed for empty-nesters, they average about 1,400 to 1,500 square feet in size.
He noted that both styles use vinyl siding, both use board and batten siding, which is vertical siding, both use cedar accents and both use stone accents.
When it comes to exterior colors, dark gray, black and white are in style now, Gibson said. White with black and some accents of stone and cedar are extremely popular. Brick is not in use much anymore, partially because of the cost involved.
Popular kitchen features
When it comes to the interior, granite or quartz countertops are in demand for kitchens, he said, along with open shelving to mix in with the cabinetry. Lawver gets its cabinets from Dutch Creek cabinetry near Fredericksburg. Every drawer and every door has a soft-close feature.
Carpet is popular for bedrooms and closets, but not for living spaces that get high use. There, homebuyers prefer a hard-surface floor.
"Laminated vinyl plank is hard to beat when it comes to durability and cost and holding up against kids and pets," Gibson said. "It's very easy to clean. It's less costly to install and doesn't require the maintenance of hardwood. Hardwood's very beautiful, but it's more expensive to buy. It's more expensive to install and it scratches and needs refinished. That's not to say (laminate) can't be scratched, but it's pretty durable."
Light tones are in style for interior walls. Grays, beige and earth tones are popular, or maybe a light pale green, he said.
Homes for families
His company is building some new houses on Ohio Avenue in Dover that are designed for families. They average around 2,100 square feet and come with four bedrooms. The master suite usually features a bathroom and a walk-in closet.
"Separating the shower and or the commode (in the bathroom) from the vanity sinks is popular. It just makes a lot of good sense for working families or working couples trying to get ready at the same time. There's still some privacy," he said.
Meeting the technological needs of a family is also an important consideration when building a new home.
"We don't typically run phone cable through homes anymore because nobody uses them," Gibson said. "Landline phones are on their way out. We'll run as much RG6 (coaxial cable) through the house as you might want for cable, and then we will run Cat 6 (cable for Ethernet) through your home as much as you might like for access points and internal home network."
Reach Jon at 330-364-8415 or at jon.baker@timesreporter.com.
This article originally appeared on The Times-Reporter: Modern farmhouse, Craftsman styles most popular in Tuscarawas County
