10 Exceptional Products in The New American Home 2021

Top photo courtesy of Jeffrey A. Davis and Pro Builder Media.

Ten outstanding products that make this home truly remarkable. From an atmospheric water-generating device to a steam clothing care system to a fully integrated whole-house air quality system, this home has it all and more!

The New American Home® 2021 (TNAH) was unveiled virtually this week, as part of the 2021 Kitchen and Bath Industry Show (KBIS, pronounced “Kay-Bis”). The annually promoted home showcases the current state of home building best practices across design, products, and construction techniques, while keeping a focus on energy efficiency, sustainability and wellness.

Though the primary purpose of TNAH is to inspire and educate industry professionals on current possibilities for their own projects, we present these observations and learnings with homeowners in mind. We hope that you come across something of which you were unaware, that compels you to start envisioning changes for your own home!

To set expectations, this is a cursory, limited view, as the home involves too many interesting concepts and products to cover in just one pass! At the end of this article is a stellar video tour created by NAHB, SGC Horizon LLC and Structure Productions, which goes into terrific detail on all aspects of the design, construction and final results.

We strongly recommend visiting the TNAH website, as well, as the team did an excellent job of documenting everything about the project making it easy to learn more on all products, suppliers, and technolgoies used. Enjoy!

TNAH 2021’s Unique Design

Designed and built by Phil Kean, the showcase property sits on a 0.12 acre lot and is a 3-story single family home with 4,397 sq. ft. of living space. Located in Winter Park, Florida (5 miles NE of Orlando), TNAH 2021 features a plethora of trending design concepts, efficient construction methods and advanced, innovative residential products with the comfort and security of today’s homeowner in mind.

One of TNAH’s distinct features is the unique floorplan design. Instead of building bedrooms on the upper floors and living spaces on lower floors, Kean designed the home to take advantage of the light and views of the property as you ascend to the higher floors. This inverted design allows the homeowners to take advantage of the fireworks displays of the various nearby theme parks, as well as views of treetops and the surrounding downtown area of Winter Park.

Originally a commercial building, TNAH 2021 is the result of combining two “townhome-like” units to create a large residential, urban oasis, replete with amenities designed to calm and comfort its inhabitants, while giving detailed attention to interior space usage and efficiency. Kean shared that his original design was to incorporate 4 bedrooms, but it soon evolved to turn one room into a home office, and another into a multipurpose fitness room.

Green building products and methods are incorporated throughout the property, both internal and external, allowing the building to qualify for Emerald status under the National Green Building Standard (NGBS) green building certification program. The program rates buildings based on six areas: Energy Efficiency, Water Efficiency, Resource Efficiency, Lot Development Operations & Maintenance and Indoor Air Quality. Ratings are Bronze, Silver, Gold and Emerald, with the latter being the highest mark of a commitment to improving the planet.

Based on historical averages of TNAH sales, this home, though not currently listed, likely would be in the $3M to $5M range. For example, a hypothetical cost per square foot of $750, would put this home’s value at $3.3M.

Outstanding Features & Products that Make this Home Remarkable

As you browse the highlighted products, keep in mind that even the best, most-seasoned industry pros find it challenging to stay abreast of all of the emerging products and technologies. This is where strategic partnerships can help bridge knowledge and capability gaps. Manufacturers can also help you, your builder or your general contractor find a qualified partner when deciding to go into somewhat “unchartered waters”, like a state-of-the-art air quality system integrated with your HVAC system.

For convenience, we grouped these products into the following home benefits, though some products clearly deliver benefits in more than one category:

Curb Appeal
Flexibility & Convenience
Wellness

Curb Appeal

Clopay Canyon Ridge Modern Tempered Glass Garage Doors

The Clopay Canyon Ridge Modern garage doors provide complimentary aesthetics to the front façade of the home that adds striking character to the side of the home, as well. The tempered glass panels allows natural light during the day, while providing illumination at night when the indoor garage lights are on. This is another reminder of how stylish garage doors will virtually always improve the curb appeal of any home. Unique to this garage space is that the interior was made shorter to allow more outside space to get in and out of the garage. The floors above were made longer and overhang the space below, making the side visually more interesting.