Home Building Trends | How to Customize a Shed for Work or Play

 

Home Building Trends | If you’ve been dreaming of an addition for your home but don’t have the space or the funds, we have a solution for you: a shed.

No, we don’t mean those prefab metal contraptions available in the parking lot of your neighborhood Home Depot. The modern take on backyard sheds is anything but a bare-bones storage solution for lawn equipment and bikes. Sheds can be used as outdoor bars, yoga studios, relaxation and mediation centers, private retreats, and office spaces. Some are even nicknamed “she sheds,” the feminine equivalent of the man caves. Compact and customizable, they can even be beautiful. And they’re a great way to make the most of your existing property.

Home Building Trends | Aging in Place

 

Home Building Trends | Bill and Betsy Owens recall the growing concerns they had about their house—built in 1876—in Powell, Ohio. They loved the 12-foot ceilings, the circular stairway and the formal parlor. But when the couple thought about the future, the home’s steep steps and narrow doorways meant “it wasn’t very livable,” says Mr. Owens, age 57.

So, three years ago, the Owens built an addition. Now there are no steps from the driveway into their new kitchen and great room. A control pad with smart technology turns lights on and off, and three-foot-wide doorways offer easy access for a grandchild in a stroller or, if the Owens should need it, a walker or wheelchair.

Home Building Trends | The Disadvantages of Popcorn Ceilings

 

Home Building Trends | Hey, remember when the popcorn ceiling was a-poppin’? The embarrassing, weird-memory-inducing, spray-on, paint-on style treatment was wildly popular from the late 1950s to the 1980s. Some called them acoustic or textured ceilings; a few devotees (and they’re not so easy to find these days) still euphemistically call them “stucco ceilings.” But here’s the thing: Even in the hallowed popcorn heyday, this was never a haute design statement—it had its merits as a quasi-solution born out of budget and convenience.

Home Building Trends | 7 Decorating Mistakes Rookie Homeowners Make

Home Building Trends | Like securing a mortgage, decorating your first home is a rite of passage. But not everyone always knows what they’re doing.

“When I first bought my house, I was totally into shabby chic, and then I bought a lot of those things only to realize that I actually hated them,” says Anna Sundman,. To this day, “my taste is still evolving.”

Yours truly has been there, too. After upgrading to a one-bedroom apartment in Manhattan, I quickly began bombarding my husband with links to pricey ceramics, West Elm furniture and whatever else I thought we “needed.” Turns out, I was just overwhelmed by seeing so much blank space.

Home Building Trends | 4 Furniture Shopping Tips

Home Building Trends | Buying furniture has always been a perilous, complex affair. You don’t buy a couch the way you buy a television or a laptop computer. You can’t carry the couch out of the store with you (most of the time). Heck, usually you don’t really have a great idea when the couch will get to your living room.

Like all businesses, the furniture industry is undergoing dramatic changes, thanks to the dual challenges of the digital age and the recession. That means both good and bad things for furniture shoppers. The good: There are more choices than ever, including buy-couches-from-home apps. It helps with comparison shopping, too. The bad: Many furniture stores are struggling, which means you are even more likely to encounter aggressive sales tactics and sneaky techniques for adding profits, like funky financing offers. I can’t tell you what color love seat will best match the carpet in your living room, but I can tell you four gotchas you should watch out for the next time you furniture shop.

Home Building Trends | Upcycling Your Garbage Into Something Great

Home Building Trends | Your garbage might pile up faster than you think. In 2013, Americans created 254 million tons of waste, an average of 4.4 pounds per person every day, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. While some of that refuse—1.51 pounds per person, per day—is recycled, the majority ends up in landfills, adding to an ever-growing ecological nightmare.

But there is an alternative: upcycling. It’s easy! It’s good for the environment! And it’s fun. Really.

OK, hear us out on this one: Converting your used or unwanted junk into newer and infinitely more awesome stuff is a truly rewarding way to spend a weekend. And you don’t even have to be all that crafty to pull it off!

Home Building Trends | Bathroom Terminology Defined

Home Building Trends | Bathrooms have come a long way over the years. The British word for the toilet, “loo,” comes from the French garde à l’eau, meaning “watch out for the water.” In medieval Europe, people would yell this phrase out the window before throwing the contents of their chamber pots onto the streets. At least they warned passers-by.

But today, the once-humble lavatory has become a primary home oasis, often with some serious renovation dough behind it. In fact, bathroom remodeling requests have shot up 64% on HomeAdvisor, a marketplace for online home improvement services.

The bathroom is one of the rooms that prospective home buyers focus on most intently, and as such has been the focal point of a slew of innovation. So what do you call all the sexy features that are prized among homeowners today? Look no further than our Learning the Lingo series where, this week, we take a deep dive into the terminology of bidets, vanities, and more so you can navigate your choices for the best bathroom ever.

Home Building Trends | Using Shipping Pallets for DIY Projects

 

Home Building Trends | Home improvement can be expensive—even if you want the slightly battered reclaimed-wood look, be prepared to pay through the nose. Or you could get creative with shipping pallets, the bulky wood crates companies use to move goods.

No, really. Pallets are the perfect material for just about any home project, rustic or modern, you can imagine. And you might be able to get those pallets for free. Repurpose them as smaller décor pieces, furniture, or even remodeling material for your house.

Home Building Trends | 4 DIY Projects for Leftover Pieces of Marble

Home Building Trends | After you finish a big remodel, there’s a good chance you’ll find yourself tired, satisfied, suffused in pride—and swimming in an unwieldy pile of scraps left over from your various renovations. Don’t dump those quality remnants—and don’t even consider piling them haphazardly in a corner of your garage. In this new DIY series, we focus on ways to transform your construction leftovers into something special and beautiful.

This installment focuses on marble.

Whether you have a sheet of the stuff or smaller pieces in the form of tiles, there’s always something you can do to repurpose them brilliantly. If you need to cut your leftover marble into a specific shape, you can do it yourself with a circular saw (or, even better, a wet saw). What, you don’t have a circular saw?! It’s OK—most places where you can buy marble will also cut it for you.

Home Building Trends | What Does Your Living Room Say About You?

Home Building Trends | Your living room says more about you than any other room in your house—whether or not you want it to.

With most floor plans, it’s the first room guests are ushered into, and where they spend the most time schmoozing, hanging out, and generally soaking in your style. Some people are messy; others are obsessively organized. Some living rooms are closed off, others are open.

So what signals is your living room sending about you?

Home Building Trends | 6 Tricks That Will Supersize Your Small Bedroom

Home Building Trends | At the end of a long day, nothing is more relaxing than heading straight to your bedroom to unwind. To cuddle. To crash. To dream! If you have a tiny, cramped room, though, that space might feel more like a claustrophobe’s worst nightmare.

But it doesn’t have to: Making a few smart choices in terms of furniture, color, and lighting can make all the difference in transforming your constricted sleeping quarters into the true sanctuary it should be.

Just pay heed to these smart design tips for small bedrooms, and you’ll be on your way to resting easy.

Home Building Trends | Saving Money on Your Home in 2016

 
Home Building Trends | It’s New Year’s resolution time—when we vow to drop 18.5 pounds, start training for a triathlon, cut back on sodium, and maybe even give up our crippling HGTV addiction. What’s that you say? You want to make a resolution you might actually keep?  OK, try this on for size: Resolve to save buckets of cash by making simple changes around home, sweet home.

Whether you live in a mansion or a condo, homes consume a ton of expensive energy—whether in the form of electricity, water, or gas. The good news? You can lower these bills—freeing up cash for all kinds of other pursuits such as that new kitchen reno you’ve been dreaming of or even a vacation far from home. What’s more, these changes are far from painstaking; some are as simple as switching your lightbulbs or tweaking the settings on appliances.

Collectively these tiny changes can add up to huge savings. Try a few or all to reap the benefits of a fatter bank account in 2016—and beyond.

Home Building Trends | Kitchen Features Explained

 Home Building Trends | No area of a house seems to hold a homeowner’s fascination like the kitchen: Hands and potholders down, it remains one of the top areas to renovate. But while home listings are filled with mentions of consumer faves such as granite countertops and Sub-Zero fridges to entice buyers, not all of the nifty features or workhorses of the kitchen are household names. Like, what the heck is  a toe kick, anyway? We’re here to help you figure it out!

Whether you’re looking to buy a home or renovate the one you already own, here are the essential kitchen features you’ll be glad to know by name.

Home Building Trends | Ellen DeGeneres' Top Home Design Tips

 Home Building Trends | Who knew? Ellen DeGeneres isn’t just an affable talk-show host and beloved comedian. She’s also an extremely prolific home designer and house flipper, as shown in her new book, “Home.”

“I wanted to be an interior designer when I was 13,” DeGeneres admits in her book—which explains why, over the past 25 years, she has bought and renovated nearly a dozen homes. Each home was an adventure and an education, she recalls. Below, from her book, are a few lessons she’s learned, as well as gorgeous photos of her interiors that illustrate her points.

Neutral colors make the best palette

“I like neutral colors with stronger colors in art, pillows, or a nice throw. Big color statements on walls or furniture can be fun, but limit the possibility of changes.”

Home Building Trends | 10 Perfect Holiday Gifts for New Homeowners

 

Home Building Trends | When someone buys a new home, they barely know where to begin when it comes to stocking it with things they need—and now that there’s no landlord to take care of problems, they’ll probably need a lot. Plus, their budget is likely stretched tight. It’s a perfect gifting situation!

With the holiday shopping season in full swing, if you know anyone who might need some help on the home front, here’s a roundup of 10 of the best gifts we could find to fit their lists. Warning: Many of the items are so enticing, you might just need to pick up an extra for yourself—even if you’ve lived in your home for a while.

Home Building Trends | Set Up the Christmas Tree Without Destroying Your Home

 

Home Building Trends | OK, it’s officially time to set up the picture-perfect Christmas tree! But if the thought of wrestling a 7-foot-tall Norway spruce through the door, into a tree stand, and then decorating it to the nines sounds dicey, that’s because it is. One wrong move could wreak havoc on your home—and do serious damage to those warm and fuzzy holiday feels. So follow these Christmas tree setup tips so you can keep your home safe and yourself sane through this critical early stage of the holiday season.

Prepare the way

Before you set out to find this year’s tree, do yourself and your home a favor and take care of some small chores that will save you time and trouble later.

Home Building Trends | What Your Front Door Reveals About You?

 

Home Building Trends | Thinking about freshening up your front door? You probably know that it’s crucial to boosting your home’s value. But before you reach for the paint, know that your choice of color might tell perfect strangers quite a lot about who you are.

That’s according to an environmental psychologist. She took us on a tour of the color wheel to get her insights on what each shade might indicate about a homeowner’s characteristics. So in addition to deciding which shades work best with your exterior color palette, think about the statement you want your front door to make.

Home Building Trends | 6 Ways to Protect Your Home from Unexpected Dangers

Home Building Trends | Your home is likely your largest investment, and full of sentimental value. Unfortunately there are instances when your precious property will face unexpected dangers and risks. Some of these you can prevent by being proactive now.

1.) Have Your Home Inspected for Structural Damage

Maintaining your home is critically important to preventing expensive damage in the future. To do so, ensure you have a proper home inspection that points out any problem areas. Then, address any issues with professionals. Key areas to monitor on an ongoing basis include your roof, the home’s foundation, insulation, windows, and heating and cooling systems. Don’t let the value of your home drop because you are not providing preventative maintenance to these systems.

Home Building Trends | 5 Helpful Tips for Renting Out Your Home

Home Building Trends | 39 percent of homebuyers plan to rent out their last home rather than sell it. The report notes that people are choosing to become landlords for reasons both financial and practical. If you are renting your home, or are considering doing so, here are some tips and suggestions for making it a positive experience.

First, recognize that becoming a landlord is like starting a small business. You should set goals and realize that you are taking on financial and legal responsibility. You also need to spend time thinking about the relationship that you want to have with your customer (your tenant). To help you think through everything, here are the five components of a typical rental process:

Home Building Trends | The Importance of Lighting in Your Home

 

Home Building Trends | Before we start any rehab, Tarek and I always take a look at the area comps to see what we need to do to get a good market price on our property. Sometimes we see well-designed flips with a lot of beautiful rehabs, and sometimes we see houses that have barely had anything done to them at all. The biggest thing I notice that other flippers skimp on is lighting, and it’s kind of a big deal. Here’s why…

Good Lighting Changes Everything

First of all, think about the last time someone took your picture. In warm, natural light, you look younger and more beautiful. Under harsh fluorescents, you look washed-out and tired. If there’s not enough light, then the picture won’t come out well at all. So what does that have to do with the lighting in your flips? Everything.