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The holidays are the perfect opportunity to decorate your home! Good decorations spread warmth and feelings of joy and make your home feel like the place to be during the holidays. Decorating is fun and challenging, so here’s what you need to know to decorate your home this holiday season.

Fill The House With Light

The holidays coincide with a lot of natural darkness inside and outside the home. The days are short at this time of year, and winter is just too cold. When guests come, lights make your home feel more welcoming. Decorate your home with light during the holidays!

Place candles on surfaces like tables, counters, and the mantel. If you’re worried about fire hazards, use battery-powered candles. They’re very realistic and have a reassuring glow.

String twinkle lights across the mantel, over your kitchen cabinets, around the kitchen window, and through the centerpiece on your dining room table. If you’re worried about extension cords ruining the effect, buy a battery-powered string of twinkle lights and hide the battery pack.

Keep a fire lit in your fireplace whenever family or friends come over for a holiday celebration. Keep a stack of wood near the fireplace to add to the rustic beauty of your hearth. Invest in a tabletop candelabra for your dining room table centerpiece, or place a candelabra on your mantel.

Add Touches Of Greenery

At this wintery time of year, many homeowners decorate their house with touches of greenery. Wind live or artificial greenery around your staircase railing, doorways, windows, over the mantel, and in your dining room centerpiece.

Keep all greenery away from open flames. This is especially important around the mantel and any candles that you light in your home.

Decorate Your Home With Winter Weather Squash

Squash is a very popular fall decoration, but it’s a winter decoration as well. Look for squash that’s green, white, and other cool winter colors. White pumpkins, in particular, are a symbol of the season and can be combined with other symbols of nature like red berries, holly, and greenery. Use squash as a focal point in rooms like your kitchen or other gathering spaces.

Hang Laurel Leaf Garland

Clip laurel leaves and dry them in your garage or on a craft table. Once they’re dry, paint them with gold spray paint and string them together to form a garland. Golden laurel leaf garland decorates your coffee table, end tables, and the spaces over windows and entryways. Gold spray paint gives laurel leaves a festive look that you’ll love.

Use Holiday Floral Arrangements

Holiday floral arrangements are the perfect addition to any gathering spaces for guests during a holiday celebration. Live flowers are best because of their fragrance and beauty.

Place floral arrangements in the center of your dining room table or on the mantel. Keep the flowers properly watered to ensure that they look their best for guests. Replace or get rid of the flowers as soon as they wilt.

Force Holiday Bulb Flowers

The holidays are a time when many flowers won’t grow in the garden. However, bulbs grow indoors in humid, warm environments like the bathroom. Put bulb flowers like paperwhites in a pot, and then place the pot in a sunny location like a windowsill. Paperwhites and other bulb flowers make your bathroom look festive and joyful over the holidays.

Place Stained Glass In Your Windows

Stained glass is festive and has a sacred quality that’s perfect for holiday celebrations. Place stained glass in windows that get a lot of light. Stained glass bounces light around your room and make your home more festive.

Avoid placing stained glass in windows that are dark (namely, windows with a northern or eastern exposure). Stained glass is less effective in dark windows and also blocks natural light in rooms that need it badly.

Remodel

Now’s the time of year to repaint walls, refinish cabinets, and brighten your home for festivities. If you’re ready to begin a home remodel project, contact Moss Building & Design at 703-961-7707 or email us at Hello@MossBuildingandDesign.com.

Your home should be designed for living and enjoyment. The best way to do this is by creating different types of gathering spaces in your home, so everyone can be together and spend more time together!

Whether your goal is to create a space for your family or to look for spaces for family and friends to come together, these are some great ideas to get you started. Help everyone spend quality time together!

Family Room

A family room is a great space to really bring people together. It’s a space for everyone to enjoy!

Keep it simple by adding a television or stacking up old-fashioned board or card games for everyone to play. It’s even versatile enough to change with the seasons using different decor throughout the year. Add a string of hearts across the mantle for Valentine’s Day, or include a few floral accents for the spring. There are a lot of possibilities for a family room!

Game Room/Playroom

Everyone loves a game room or a playroom. This is a spot to enjoy with your competitive family and friends. In this room, place retro video games, foosball, or ping-pong.

You can turn any room in your home into a game room or playroom, but one of the most common rooms that people turn into a game room or playroom is the basement. Of course, you’re limited here, so choose the right space that makes sense for your overall design idea and the space available in your home!

This MOSS design idea on Houzz showcases the ultimate basement game room with a nice pool table.

Living Room

The living room is a lot like the family room. People tend to naturally gather here because it’s typically the biggest space. Make this space even more welcoming with the right design components. Set out comfortable blankets, pillows, and various seating options.

This room is also a lot like the family room in that you can change your overall design throughout the year with small home decor changes or additions, like pumpkins in the fall or small Christmas trees in the winter.

Dining Room

The dining room is a place that people always gather in when you have food on the table. Who doesn’t love a nice meal that’s warm and ready to eat? Bring the two ideas together by creating a welcoming room and making sure that your family eats there as much as possible.

In a world where we’re constantly moving, this is a refreshing concept – and one that should be focused on as a gathering space. Check out this beautiful dining room in Northern Virginia for traditional design ideas.

Sunroom

No matter the time of the year, spending time in a sunroom provides added light to your life and those that you love. No matter what the season is, you can enjoy the change in the weather from the comfort of your own home.

With the right design aspect and idea, everyone will gather here in no time. To get started, add comfortable chairs or an outdoor couch. Consider a small indoor fire pit or a vertical garden to add natural elements and bring the outside inside.

Home Addition

If you don’t have the ideal space already in your home, you can always add exactly what you want with a home addition. This is especially true if you’re running out of existing space in your home and are looking for just a bit more space to accommodate your growing family and friends. Make this space exactly what you want and need it to be by letting MOSS help you.

Media Room

A media room is an ideal space because you can bring people together for a movie, TV show, sporting event, or streaming option. Complete the room with cozy chairs and a snack and drink area. If you’re looking for a great design idea, check out this at-home theater from MOSS.

Not only that, but you can use the space to get people together before and after you finish with the big screen. Set out a popcorn buffet before binge-watching, or play a post-movie quiz game to see who found the most hidden Easter eggs.

These are just a few ideas to get you started for your home design plans for gathering spaces. You can start with one room, and then build from there to create more gathering spaces to entertain.

If you’re looking for more ideas and help with your gathering spaces, contact Moss Building & Design at 703-961-7707 or email us at Hello@MossBuildingandDesign.com.

If your family is anything like mine, you love fall. The changing season brings with it so many things to love: crisp air, crunchy leaves, warm apple cider, and football – just to name a few. It’s also a great season to get design inspiration. Here are some ways to have that fall feeling all year long in your kitchen.

Introduce Fall Colors

The easiest way to remind yourself of fall is to infuse your kitchen with colors reminiscent of the season. The fall decorations you add, like gourds, leaf wreaths, and cornucopia arrangements, are quick home design ideas for that burst of color.

Changing out candle decorations is also an easy way to update a room every season. For fall, choose white pillar candles surrounded by acorns or crabapples as a way to “bring the outdoors in,” then simply swap out the candles for red ones come December. You’re instantly ready for the next holiday.

Check out our Thanksgiving Pinterest board for more design inspiration.

Forest greens, burnt oranges, deep burgundy, and caramel paint colors are also great choices for designing your kitchen with a fall theme. Benjamin Moore has nice fall color palettes to help you choose the right combination for your space.

This Moss Building & Design kitchen in Centreville, Virginia, features beautiful, bold red accent walls, brilliant stonework, and hardwood for an iconic country cabin look with a modern, refreshed flair.

Choose Rustic Accents

It’s no secret that rustic remodels are trendy in the home design department. (Just read our recent blog on Rustic Remodels to learn how to feature the trend throughout your home.) For your kitchen, add a sliding barn door to hide your cupboard or pantry, create a stone accent wall, or use luxury wood or vinyl flooring options to create a country look.

Don’t Be Afraid Of Wicker

Wicker furniture pieces may not be at the top of your wishlist since it’s no longer the 1980s, but wicker is slowly coming back again in interior design style guides. It’s particularly popular in kitchens designed with a fall or country-chic feel in mind. Add wicker baskets or centerpieces to your fall decorations.

This Moss kitchen in Great Falls, Virginia, for example, employs this interior design idea in its bar chairs.

When updating your furniture in the kitchen or adjoining dining room, think about adding a wicker rocking chair or leather upholstered chairs and stools. Don’t forget to drape throw blankets over your rocking or dining room chairs to further enhance the cozy fall feel. Guests will want to wrap up around a fire in no time. Give the fall feel an extra boost if you have flannel blankets.

Are you looking for help designing the kitchen of your dreams? Don’t hesitate to contact us at 703.961.7707 or email us at Hello@mossbuildinganddesign.com.

By: The MOSS Team

The holidays are a time when the kitchen is being used constantly. With guests coming to visit, cookies being made, and big feasts being prepared, your kitchen becomes the center of activity in your home.

Decorating your kitchen for the holidays makes this space seem even more special and heartwarming at this enjoyable time of year.

Add Touches Of Rustic Beauty

Rustic beauty and the holidays go hand in hand. Whether you’re arranging squash on a table or scattering glittering pine cones on the windowsill above the kitchen sink, adding touches of rustic beauty makes your kitchen more festive.

Change out your ordinary dish towels for special holiday dish towels made from cotton or other natural materials. Switch them periodically with other seasonal towels to keep your kitchen looking beautiful.

Paint Your Kitchen White To Make Decorations Pop

White walls give your kitchen a cleanliness and brightness that makes holiday decorations stand out. Paint your cabinets to make holiday decorations even more prominent. Work with a certified remodeler like MOSS to ensure that this is done properly. Using the right paint and choosing the right shade of white is important!

Hang A Garland Of Gingerbread Men

You’ve probably made gingerbread men in the past. Now, you can make a garland of gingerbread men. To do this, make several cookies and poke two holes through the middle of each. String a ribbon through the two holes to attach each gingerbread man to the garland.

When selecting a ribbon, choose a strong one that matches your kitchen’s decor and colors. Hang the garland on the wall, from a cabinet, or over a doorway.

Place Twinkle Lights Over Cabinets

Twinkle lights are staple symbols of the season. Arrange twinkle lights above your kitchen cabinets to turn on over dark evenings. Your kitchen will always have a warm glow with twinkle lights on overhead.

Hang An Inspirational Message

Hang an inspirational message over your kitchen window. Choose the sign that works best in your kitchen, whether that’s a short phrase painted on a piece of wood or individual letters that form a word relating to the holiday season. Think NOEL, JOY, or GIVE. Pick a sign that has meaning for you.

Place Flowers Or Berries In A Pitcher

Berries are a common decoration during the holidays because they’re available in nature. Place a pitcher on your kitchen table, then fill the pitcher with berry branches from your yard or a local florist.

A key tip is to avoid berries that are toxic, as small children or pets may help themselves to this attractive looking form of holiday decor.

Make A Cookie-Cutter Wreath

Wire metal cookie cutters together in a circular shape to create a wreath, then attach a ribbon to the bottom of the wreath to give it a festive flair. Hang this wreath from your kitchen cabinets. If possible, use antique cookie cutters to give this decoration a vintage flair.

Place Snowflake Decals On The Cabinets

Once you paint your walls and cabinets white, place snowflake decals on the cabinets. Use decals that are designed to be safely removed from the walls, and pick decals in colors that fit your kitchen. You don’t need to use snowflake decals that are blue (to imply cold) or white (to mimic the color of snow). Choose whatever color looks best in your kitchen!

Fill Your Kitchen With Holiday Citrus

Citrus adds spice and delicious aroma to meals and beverages around the holidays. To celebrate further, place a ceramic or metal bowl on your kitchen table or counter, then fill it with citrus.

Refill the citrus as guests eat the food. Bowls of fruit or vegetables symbolize bounty, wealth, good fortune, and the spirit of the holiday season.

Place Items In Lighted Cabinets

Lighted cabinets with windows that allow you to see in are the perfect place to stash holiday decorations. Place holiday knickknacks, seasonal cups, and beautiful dishes inside your cabinets on display for holiday guests. Keep the lights on throughout holiday events to draw attention to your decorations and to make the room lighter.

Remodel Your Home With Moss Building & Design

At Moss Building & Design, we’re full of ideas to help you make your home a more beautiful place during the holidays. Contact Moss Building & Design at 703-961-7707 or email us at Hello@MossBuildingandDesign.com to get started with a home remodel.

You can also download our guide to prepping your home for the holiday season. Click on the button below to get started: Download The Holiday Home Style Guide

‘Tis the season for the family invasion. Is your home and gathering space ready to host for Thanksgiving? The Moss Building & Design team is here to help! 

Check out our tips for quick ideas to help you survive and thrive this holiday season.

MOSS Designers Focus On Room Decor

Our designers focus on small touches, like seasonal candles and DIY centerpiece projects, to make your home and holiday table warm and welcoming this season.

An Easy Way To Add Menu Flair

Moss Building & Design Supply Chain Manager Jodi Jameson has tried-and-true tips for making your stuffing, mashed potatoes, and gravy stand out.

Prepare In Advance

From pre-planning a meal to being organized with decorations, planning ahead is always a good way to make your holiday season go smoothly. Check out these tips to give you more time to spend with family during the day-of celebration and make decorating a breeze.

BY: JULIA KILBERG

MOSS transformed this beautiful McLean, Virginia, home to encompass the homeowner’s love of timeless design with functional style and simple sophistication. The home had great bones but was in need of MOSS’ design team to deliver that “wow” factor.

While the kitchen remodel was a priority, other updates to the first-floor living room and second-floor master bathroom made the new updated design carry throughout the home.

The MOSS project managers, design team, and contractors adeptly communicated with the homeowners, who traveled internationally during the renovation, to surpass expectation on this marvelous Northern Virginia remodel.

McLean Kitchen Remodel

A kitchen remodel is one of the best investments you can make in your home – and one you can reap the benefits of daily. This McLean kitchen was originally dated by the light wood cabinetry, so the homeowner completely updated the room with a classic white design. The painted fine maple cabinetry from Landmark features soft close doors – a must-have in all new kitchen designs.

The white Carrara marble and grey Caesarstone countertops and island marry elegance with functionality for long-standing durability in this kitchen. Caesarstone is a great kitchen countertop choice versus granite because it doesn’t require any sealant to resist spills.

The darker wood flooring adds to the updated look and wonderfully complements the white cabinets and enlarged island.

Even though the homeowner kept the original stainless steel appliances and two hanging pendant lights above the island, the other renovations make the space look completely new.

Living Room Remodeling Upgrades

This living room needed a few touches to make the home renovation complete throughout the home. A simple stone masonry fireplace was transformed into a more modern white mantle and hearth that makes the space look fresh and new.

The same dark hardwood flooring from the kitchen is carried through to the open-concept living space for continuity. Finally, updated paint colors and new furniture finish off the space.

Master Bathroom Remodel

This home’s large master bathroom offered the MOSS team a lot of real estate to complete a stunning bathroom update. The original brown and white colors of the room are drab compared to the new updates to the vanity countertops and flooring. The gorgeous gray stone tile floor adds rich warmth to the room.

Framed mirrors are very trendy. They make the vanity area pop and add color and depth to walls. The large mirrors in this bathroom remodel look great with the darker frames to help them stand out from the white and gray cabinetry and countertops.

Italian marble from Mosaic Tile was placed in the walk-in shower and around the adjacent deep bathing tub. We love the square Kohler rainhead fixture as well, which makes any shower feel like a spa experience.

Check out more pictures of this stunning remodel in our Houzz photo album here.

Is it time to fall in love with your home all over again? Contact Moss Building & Design to help you bring your design concepts to life at 703.961.7707 or email us at Hello@MossBuildingandDesign.com.

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By: Jenn Zschunke

Laundry. There’s no avoiding it, but there are ways to make it easier and more streamlined for you and your family. Moss Building & Design, the premier home remodeler in Northern Virginia, helped many families renovate their laundry rooms over the years.

From small spaces that needed reconfiguration to large ones that needed a facelift, MOSS designed and renovated laundry rooms to be more functional and organized.

Baskets & Bins For Organization

One of the best ways to make the task of laundry better is to involve the entire family. Give each person a laundry basket in their room and have specific baskets for whites, colors, and delicates in the laundry room. This sorting helps the process flow better.

After the laundry is completed, individuals can take personal responsibility for putting their clothes to their rooms and away (folding clothes, too, depending on their age!).

Cabinets For Detergent & More

Wouldn’t it be nice to store the detergent, dryer sheets, and fabric softener away from the washer and dryer? Upper cabinetry or lower drawers for these items solves the problem! It takes care of clutter and is neater with less possibilities for spills. Built-in laundry room cabinets are the solution that many of us need!

Shelf Or Drying Rack For Spot Cleaning & Folding

Even in a small space, a tabletop or shelf for folding and organizing clothes is a wonderful laundry room addition. Using the space before laundry for spot-checking is also a great idea. The ability to iron clothes and either hang them up or fold them neatly is equally amazing. So many possibilities!

In any size laundry room, the mantra should be, “Everything has its place.” Families should be able to be a part of laundry activity from start to finish.

A functional and flowing process makes laundry a less arduous task for everyone! Let MOSS make the laundry room of your dreams a reality. Contact us at 703.961.7707 for a free estimate or email us at Hello@MossBuildingandDesign.com.

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By: Jenn Zschunke

Fall is beckoning! With this orange and yellow season comes Halloween, Thanksgiving, and other seasonal happenings.

What else comes along and into your house? Trampled leaves, muddy shoes, piles of kids’ sports equipment, wet boots, and more.

These messy fall situations call for a solution that works: A functional, organized, and attractive mudroom.

Moss Building & Design, Northern Virginia’s top remodeling contractor, has extensive experience. We work with our customers to create the mudrooms of their dreams. Here are some of our favorite mudroom design ideas:

Organized Cubbies And Hooks

This gorgeous Oakton, Virginia, mudroom keeps the whole family organized. It has cubbies for shoes, shelves for miscellaneous items, and hooks for jackets and bags. Other cold-weather items, such as gloves and hats, are higher up until winter comes.

Sliding Doors

If your entryway isn’t from the outdoors or the garage, it’s through the front door. No matter! You can have a mudroom that comes into play when you need it. This functional Oak Hill, Virginia, mudroom has sliding doors. These doors keep the family’s belongings out of sight when out of use.

Combining Laundry & Mudroom

What a glorious thought! All the dirty socks go into the washer. Shoes go on the mudroom shelves, drawers, or cubbies! Combining a mudroom with your laundry room is a great idea for keeping the dirt away.

This Oak Hill home is beautiful and brings the two rooms together to make life a lot easier for the entire family.

Make Your Mudroom Fun & Functional

A mudroom doesn’t have to be boring. A fun color or an interesting lighting fixture makes the mudroom a room that’s suitable to visitors and family. This Arlington, Virginia, mudroom is a perfect example of how this family uses it day in and day out. Yet, it keeps an element of fun and interest in the design style.

Add Seating Options

It’s more comfortable to take shoes on and off if you’re able to sit down. We love this comfortable bench in this mudroom. You can also keep the seats uncovered as another option. The interesting wallpaper and recessed lights also add an element of comfort and calm. This makes the entry into your home via the mudroom one of ease.

Feeling inspired? Don’t let mud, dirt and fall mess get into your home. A new or renovated mudroom is the answer! Contact MOSS at 703.961.7707 or atHello@MossBuildingandDesign.com for more information.

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By: Jenn Zschunke

Whether it’s a simple framed-out space or a necessary update, a basement remodel is overwhelming.

Consider the possibilities of your basement transformation. The final options include storage, a playroom, office, home gym, extra bed and bath, media room — or all of the above.

Approach a basement remodel with a good idea of what you’d like to achieve. Have a vision and (hopeful) end result, as well as a good grasp on your budget, basement features, and priorities. The cost to remodel a basement can vary, with these tips you can maximize your budget for transforming your existing space.

A broad range of possibilities are available for a basement remodel. A good contractor, like Northern Virginia’s premier basement remodelers, Moss Building & Design, is the best first step.

Here are a few important considerations when determining how much a basement renovation might cost:

Ceiling Height Of Your Basement

The International Residential Code requires that “…basement living space must have a clear floor-to-ceiling height of at least 7 feet.”

If your basement ceiling is shorter than 7 feet, consider how to reach that height, either by raising the ceiling or lowering the floor.

Plumbing

If you’re considering a basement bathroom, it’s important to understand the basement plumbing.

Is plumbing already available in the basement? If so, where is it?

If you want to add a bathroom away from the current plumbing lines, extend the pipes — and consider the cost.

If no plumbing is in your basement, it’ll have to be specially drilled and constructed. Having this knowledge ahead of time and working with your contractor saves you headaches down the road! It's important to try to estimate your basement bathroom cost before you begin the project.

Basement Flooring

If you’re walking around on concrete floor, it’s understandable to want something more comfortable. These days, the range in options (and costs) is great.

Consider carpeting, tile sheets, luxury vinyl tile, or hardwood. Before putting down new flooring, a basement floor must be level, which is an additional cost. Concrete settles easily, so it’s important to hire an expert to level the floor before any top flooring is placed. This avoid future cracks and unevenness. Ensure you know how much square footage needs to be modified to add flooring to ensure you are meeting your budget.

Basement Bedroom And Egress Window

Would you like to add a bedroom to your basement for guests and relatives? It’s a great idea, especially for privacy, but take these considerations into account.

For a bedroom to be in a basement, an egress window must allow for an escape in an emergency situation. An experienced contractor is able to share what this is and its costs for installation.

These are a few of the considerations to take into account before embarking on the basement remodel of your dreams.

Are you considering a basement remodel? Contact Moss Building & Design at 703-961-7707 or email us at Hello@MossBuildingandDesign.com.