Design Articles

Here are some articles you may find interesting


Trends
	Creating Intimacy in Open Floor Plans Over the last two decades, homes have become increasingly open. Improved building products now allow designers to eliminate walls previously needed to bear loads. The resulting floor plans feel considerably more spacious than older homes divided by additional walls. Read More
	Class with a Twist I have a girlfriend who always looks like a million bucks - even though she prides herself on her frugality. She buys most of her clothes on clearance racks and at used clothing consignment shops, but she has an eye for quality fabrics and great lines. Just as I admire Pam's ability to create a high couture look on a budget, I applaud people who pull off classy remodeling projects with limited finances. Read More
	Transitional Trends: The Best of Both Worlds "Right now, transitional design is probably hotter than contemporary," says Marshall Wallman, custom home designer for Design Basics Inc. "In transitional design, you take the stuffiness out of traditional style and the coldness out of contemporary style and mix them together. Read More
	Silence is Golden Your home is a factory. It has all the equipment and processes of almost any factory: fans, blowers, pumps, cleaning and laundering, waste disposal, heating and cooling, refreigeration, even accounting. Unlike a factory, your home should also be designed to provide a calm, livable environment... Read More
	Home is Where the Hearth Is Nothing says "welcome home" like a fire crackling in the fireplace. Today's homeowners are installing prefabricated fireplaces everywhere - kitchens, master baths, bedrooms and even home offices. Read More
	Today's Lighting Fixtures: Sparkling Jewelry for the Home In recent years, designers and homeowners have looked to lighting for far more than functional illumination. Using different applications, they layered light to create different moods and to focus attention on certain areas or items. Today, more often than not, the focus is on the lighting fixtures themselves. Read More
Color
	Exquisite Exteriors Tips for Choosing a Color Scheme Q: What are the most common mistakes homeowners make when choosing exterior paint colors? A: Assuming that a colorful and imaginative color scheme will cost a great deal more for product and labor. Unless the scheme has numerous colors, this is rarely the case. Read More
	Color Me Confused : Choosing the Right Paint Color for Every Room When it comes to interior paint colors, the choices are almost endless. Like a deer in the headlights, you stand before row after row of paint chips. Cornish blue, seawash green, ballerina pink, buttercup yellow and sand dollar tan. It would be enough to make you toss your paintbrush in the air and scream, "White!" - if only there weren't rows of different whites to choose from. Read More
Bath
	Good Morning: Start the Day Right in an Efficient Bath What does your bath look like on a typical morning? A place for everything and everything in its place? Or, a floor covered with wet towels and dirty clothes and a countertop cluttered with hair products, lotions, cosmetics and a tangle of cords? Read More
	Heat for the Feet: Radiant Floor Heating At the height of summer, your home heating system may be the farthest thing from your mind. But if you're planning a new home, it's not too early to think about the kind of system you want installed. And if comfort, efficiency and allergies are a concern, you'll want to look beyond a traditional forced air system. Read More
	More Than the Basics: BIGGER, Better Baths "The #1 trend in baths is that they're growing in size, "remarks Linda Reimer, Her Home publisher and president of Design Basics. "Master baths, in particular, are bigger in new home design. And in existing homes, owners frequently knock out walls to enlarge their master baths. "And because our clients expect more convenience, our newest plans include linen storage inside the bath, not just in the hall outside the bath." Read More
Kitchen
	Hard Working Kitchens that are Easy on You If there's one thing that's better than a spacious new kitchen packed with character, it's a spacious new kitchen that cleans itself. But until that hits the market, consider design solutions and durable products geared to keep the heart of your home easy to care for - and even easier to love. Read More
	Today's Kitchens Open floor plans continue to affect kitchen design in multiple ways. Because the great room and kitchen are often linked by an island or peninsula, we're seeing fewer upper cabinets. This results in a demand for larger pantries and maximizing the use of the base cabinets. With base cabinets doing extra duty, what's inside the cabinets has become as important as how they look on the outside. Read More
New Home Building
	The Paybacks of Energy Efficiency Totaling up the costs of building a new home can be intimidating. For most of us, it's one of the most expensive things we will do in our lifetime. Consequently, it's often necessary to scale back some dreams and make compromises along the way. But one of the places it's important not to cut corners is energy efficiency. That's an area where spending more up front can pay off in years of savings and higher resale value. Read More
	Builders Journal Oakland / Macomb Edition A new home is the pinnacle of the American Dream. Embracing the pride and aspirations of the home buyer, embarking on a new home project can be both exhilarating and intimidating. Read More
	Interior Decorating Tips Now that you're building a new home, what can you do to personalize your home to reflect your style? Here's some ideas and tips to get you started. Read More
	Planning Your New Home? Don't Wait to get Started. You've pre-qualified and know what your budget allows. You've scouted out a handful of lots, each potentially ideal. You've chosen a builder you trust and have gradually whittled down a selection of home designs to what appears to be a manageable pile. But now, it's time to decide exactly what to build, where to build it, and how you want it to look and live - inside and out - when it's finished. Read More
	Working with the Elements: Under One (Good) Roof You're about to make what is probably the biggest purchase of your lifetime - and then leave it outside, perpetually exposed to and weathered by the elements. A little time spent thinking about the roof of your new home is time well spent. Read More
Organization
	Organized Rear Foyers: Providing Hassle-Free Take Offs Her Home recently asked women what contributes stress to their daily lives at home. One of the most frequent replies was: "Getting my family out the door on time in the morning, with everything they need." Another common response was simply "Clutter." Thankfully, an organized rear foyer can de-stress take-offs and provide pleasant landings by eliminating clutter that may otherwise accumulate in the kitchen or family room. Read More
Outdoor Living and Landscaping
	Making the most of the Lay of the Land Becoming a homeowner also means becoming a landowner. Ever since the first American homes were built, having a piece of land to call one's own has been a sign of prosperity, a dream fulfilled. But the dream comes with responsibilites, because the decisions you make about the preparation of your lot and your landscaping will have a lasting impact on the durability of your home, the cost of its upkeep - and the environment. Read More
	Outdoor Living Takes a New Twist in 2007 From dinner on city rooftop gardens to watching football in suburban outdoor living rooms, Americans have once again fallen in love with the great outdoors. According to Susan McCoy, people are transforming their ordinary backyards into "specialty rooms" complete with kitchens, bars, TVs and even heaters for cool nights.Flowers, shrubs and trees are being used as accents, room dividers, carpets and curtains. Read More