Adam Pretorius Iowa City Luxury Real Estate

Adam Pretorius Iowa City Luxury Real Estate Hi! I’m Adam from Iowa City. Follow for design trends, staging tips and the latest luxury listings.

06/25/2026

19-foot ceilings. 🎬 Private theater. 🎱 Billiards room.

Now imagine flying a drone through it all.

📍 20 Cherry Lane, Iowa City
🏷️ $1,199,900

Small Room? Here’s How to Make it Feel BiggerMy kids rooms are small—at just 9’x10’, there are some design challenges. Y...
06/24/2026

Small Room? Here’s How to Make it Feel Bigger

My kids rooms are small—at just 9’x10’, there are some design challenges. Yet, making everything fit isn’t the only consideration. It’s also making the room feel larger because almost every room can feel larger. Here’s a few tricks that actually work:
👉 Hang curtains higher. Mount drapery closer to the ceiling rather than directly above the window. This draws the eye upward and makes the ceilings feel taller.
👉 Use larger furniture. This seems counter-intuitive but it works. A room packed with lots of small pieces often feels more cramped than one anchored by a few properly scaled pieces.
👉 Add mirrors. Of course I would suggest this (I love mirrors) but they reflect light, create depth, and can visually double the perceived size of a space.
👉 Let furniture breathe. Pulling furniture slightly away from walls can actually make a room feel more spacious than pushing everything tight against the permitter. Pushing furniture against the walls has the unintended effect of compacting the room by overemphasizing walls.
👉 Use light wisely. Multiple light sources—lamps, sconces, and overhead lighting—create depth and eliminate dark corners that can make a room feel smaller.
👉 Reduce visual clutter. The fastest way to shrink a room is to fill every surface with stuff. Storage is a design feature.
👉 Choose furniture with visible legs. Seeing more floor beneath furniture creates a greater sense of openness.
👉 Embrace patterns. Many believe busy patterns create claustrophobic quarters but the opposite effect occurs. Patterns visually enlarge the space by minimizing the angles of the room.

📸 1-2: We hung the curtains all the way to the ceiling and used larger-scale furniture to draw the eye upward and make the room feel more expansive.
📸 3-4: Layered lighting—including sconces, a floor lamp, table lamps (not pictured), picture lights, and a chandelier—eliminates dark corners.
📸 5-6: Furniture with exposed legs allows more of the floor to remain visible, creating a lighter, more open feel. Mirrors reflect both light and the room itself, while the plaid rug introduces pattern and visual movement.

Flooring Trend from this Year's Parade of Homes: Pattern Is BackWide-plank hardwood isn’t going anywhere. But if this ye...
06/23/2026

Flooring Trend from this Year's Parade of Homes: Pattern Is Back

Wide-plank hardwood isn’t going anywhere. But if this year’s Parade taught us anything, it’s that homeowners are craving a little more personality underfoot.

Herringbone. Checkered patterns. Even plaid-inspired layouts.

And perhaps the biggest comeback? Penny tile. More than 100 years old and still showing up in luxury homes. We saw it in bathrooms, showers, mudrooms, and laundry rooms throughout the Parade.

Great design doesn’t die...it just waits for its next comeback.

06/22/2026

More silly building codes...chandelier over a bathtub.

Hey, this isn't 1926. Modern lightingis safer, wiring is better, and if you're regularly swinging from your chandelier while taking a bath, we probably have bigger concerns than electrical code!

Dreaming of a chandelier above your soaking tub? I say go for it. Just...maybe wait until after the inspector leaves to hang it. ;)

One design choice you’ll find throughout my own home: mirrors instead of artwork. 🪞Don’t get me wrong—I love great art. ...
06/15/2026

One design choice you’ll find throughout my own home: mirrors instead of artwork. 🪞

Don’t get me wrong—I love great art. But finding the perfect piece for every wall...I am still trying to find enough hours in the day.

Mirrors have become one of my favorite design elements because they do more than decorate a space. They add depth, amplify natural light, make rooms feel larger...OH, and, they constantly change throughout the day as they reflect different colors, textures, and lighting conditions.

Unlike artwork, which stays the same no matter when you look at it, a mirror evolves with the room around it.

Quick game: How many mirrors can you spot in these photos? (bathroom mirrors are excluded from the count!)

06/13/2026

🚨 Last weekend for the Parade of Homes!

Need an excuse to visit Tommy Lane? I staged four of the homes there, so technically I’m emotionally invested in you stopping by.

06/12/2026

Flooring can make a home feel timeless…or instantly date it.

Here are my picks for flooring trends that went from must-have to must-replace.

06/11/2026

Have you seen West Village, Coralville’s newest neighborhood yet?

Just a few sales agents celebrating the start of something special. 🥂

06/11/2026

The Parade of Homes is an incredible undertaking for builders, designers, tradespeople, and everyone involved. After participating for eight consecutive years, I decided to take this year off and spend a little extra time with the family.

That said, I still love touring the homes, studying the trends, and sharing what stands out. If you’re planning to attend and need tickets, I’m always happy to help—just send me a DM!

🗓️ Parade of Homes
• Saturdays: 10 AM–5 PM
• Sundays: 12 PM–5 PM
• Tuesday & Thursday: 5:30 PM–8:30 PM

June 6, 7, 9, 11, 13 & 14

Presented by the The Greater Iowa City Area Home Builders Association

This isn’t really a political issue for me. It’s an economic one. It's also personal. A federal judge struck down the $1...
06/09/2026

This isn’t really a political issue for me. It’s an economic one. It's also personal.

A federal judge struck down the $100,000 fee that had been imposed on many H-1B visa applications. While that sounds like a national immigration story, its impact reaches all the way to Iowa City.

Our two largest employers are the University of Iowa and University of Iowa Health Care. Both recruit physicians, researchers, faculty, and highly specialized professionals from around the world. Many of those positions are filled through the H-1B program.

On a personal note, my wife came to the United States from Brazil through school and later employment on an H-1B visa. Her specialty—neonatal hemodynamics—is rare even among major academic medical centers. Programs like hers help make Iowa City a destination for world-class healthcare.

I often hear the argument that H-1B workers take jobs from Americans. While there have been abuses of the system, many of the positions filled through H-1B visas are highly specialized roles that employers struggle to fill. In recent years, I’ve worked with physician recruits—including neurologists and radiologists—who chose not to relocate here because of uncertainty surrounding the visa process.

When hospitals can’t recruit specialists, patients wait longer for care. When universities can’t recruit top researchers, innovation slows. When employers can’t attract talent, communities miss opportunities.

For a city built around a world-class university and hospital system, this ruling could have a meaningful impact far beyond immigration policy. After all, many of the people who come here for an opportunity don't just fill a job--they build careers, raise families, start businesses, and become part of our community.

Just like Adrianne.

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2346 Mormon Trek Boulevard
Iowa City, IA
52246

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