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Accent Homes and Jim Kuiken’s fresh take on home design garner another win at the 2012 Parade of Homes Gala
Once again, Accent Homes, Inc., Ham Lake, Mn has won the most coveted awards in the local homebuilding industry, the Reggie and Trillium Awards, sponsored by the Builders Association of the Twin Cities’ Parade of Homes. Jim Kuiken, who has helped garner multiple awards for Accent Homes in the past few years, designed the company’s Fall 2012 entry in the Parade of Homes.The Accent Homes entry in Blaine, Mn, won a Reggie and Trillium Award. These honors recognize high achievement in the design, quality and value of their home as judged by homebuilder peers and therefore the harshest judges by builders and professionals in the industry.
Accent’s winning rambler designed home showcases Jim Kuiken’s signature approach to style with function. Keynotes of this style also include rich architectural detail and stunning use of natural light, materials and colors. The home is influenced by Prairie and California design with horizontal sight lines and defining space, and blends sleek sophistication with warmth.
Accent Homes’ sterling reputation is built on over four decades of skilled and detailed homebuilding experience. Visit www.accenthomesinc.com
2012 Fall Parade of Homes
Tour hundreds of Twin Cities new homes during the Fall Parade of Homes beginning September 8th thru the 30th. A complete guidebook is available at all Holiday Gas Stations and is packed with some very fun and educational events.
Jim Kuiken Design & Houzz ‘Best of 2012’
Jim Kuiken Design of Minneapolis, MN Receives
Houzz’s 2012 ‘Best Of Design And Remodeling’ Award
1.2 Million Members Reveals Top-Rated Professionals and
Current Design Trends from Across the Country
Minneapolis, MN — May 01, 2012 – Jim Kuiken Design of Minneapolis, MN has been awarded “Best Of Design and Remodeling” 2012 by Houzz, the leading online platform for residential remodeling and design. The design firm of Jim Kuiken Design reflects a sophistication of line, material and functional space that radiates a new simplicity and warmth, was chosen by the more than 1.2 million registered members of the Houzz community.
The Houzz “Best Of Design and Remodeling” award for 2012 is given in two categories: Customer Satisfaction and Design. Customer Satisfaction award winners are based on homeowner members who rated their experience working with remodeling professionals in 12 categories ranging from architects, and interior designers to contractors and other residential remodeling professionals. Design award winners’ work was the most popular among the 1.2 million members, also known as “Houzzers,” who saved more than 16.5 million professional images to their personal ideabooks via the Houzz site and iPad/iPhone app.
‘We are thrilled to receive this recognition and thank Houzz for a tremendous opportunity to share our work with you’. Thank you!
“With 3.5 million monthly unique users and 80 million monthly page views, Houzz has rapidly become the largest community of active remodelers, providing homeowners and design enthusiasts with first-hand advice from Houzzers who have been through the renovating and decorating process,” said Liza Hausman, vice president of marketing for Houzz. “This is a real stamp of approval for Jim Kuiken Design from the Houzz community and we’re thrilled to welcome them to this elite group of ‘Best Of’ winners.”
About Jim Kuiken Design
Taking a fresh approach to home design, Jim Kuiken has become a vital conduit between builder and clients in expressing just how they want to live in their homes. Hallmarks of a Kuiken design reflect a sophistication of line, material and functional space that radiates a new simplicity and warmth and a home that resonates within the landscape.
Cliff May Architecture
Indoor-Outdoor Living
First and foremost, Cliff May homes are unique in their relationship to the outdoors. They are Californian, built for individuals who want to erase the lines between indoors and outdoors and embrace the spectacular Southern California climate. And in an environment where the sun shines 300 plus days a year and the average high temperature is 75 degrees, why would anyone want to live differently?
It is not uncommon in Cliff May homes to find that every room in the house has a connection to the outdoors. Floor-to-ceiling glass takes the place of walls to bring light and nature in, creating a relationship to the outdoors that is as much a part of the home as the decor. Perhaps the San Diego Union put it best when it featured an original Cliff May design under the heading: “Home with a Garden in Every Room.”
Builder and Pioneer
In the early 1930s Cliff May was designing homes in San Diego and Los Angeles. Then, and throughout his career, he was building homes for the Southern California climate and for people who wanted to enjoy it. He was a builder and a promoter and he pioneered a style—the California ranch house. In an interview in 1936, May explained: “ The early Californians had the right idea. They built for the seclusion and comfort of their families, for the enjoyment of relaxation in their homes. We want to perpetuate these ideas of home building.”
What made Cliff May exciting to anyone interested in home design was his drive to perpetuate ideas of livability rather than façade. His passion was designing homes that were in harmony with the way people wanted to live. He watched families use his houses—watched them give parties, prepare meals, use the patio for entertaining . Each idea that brought pleasure to home owners was worked over and improved in the next house he built. No new idea in planning, no new material, escaped May’s attention. Large expanses of glass and sliding glass doors, for example, came into his designs the month they were available.
The Father of the California Ranch Home
May loved wide open spaces. No wonder. A descendant of an early California Spanish family, he was raised on a San Diego ranch. Considered by many to be the father of the California ranch-style house, May is noted for combining the western ranch house and Hispanic hacienda styles with elements of modernism. His approach called for houses to be built out instead of up, with the continual goal of bringing the outdoors in.
May studied business and accounting at San Diego State for a couple of years but left school around the time the stock market crashed in 1929. While still a student he made furniture, which he sold in a model home. That led him to home building after leaving school, and he built and designed his first house in San Diego when he was just 23.
Still, May never became a member of the American Institute of Architects with the designation of AIA, but rather, spent most of his career as a licensed building designer. “I was proud that I got where I did and wasn’t an architect,” he said in an interview with the Los Angeles Times at the age of 79. Cliff May was ultimately given the designation of licensed architect when the State of California, under Governor George Deukmejian, did away with the agency overseeing building designers.
Jim Kuiken Design 