Tag: Home Improvement

Home Styles Defined
Plumbing Services

Home Styles Defined

- by Avery James

Home Styles DefinedMany home owners are taking advantage of extremely low mortgage rates and buying homes at incredible prices. Whether they are purchasing second homes or looking to move from renting to owning, these low mortgage rates are making a home purchase the financially savvy way to go.

Sometimes it’s just the process of finding your dream home that can be the challenge. You know what you want in style, room size or amenities, but when a listing describes a home’s style as Cape Cod or Bungalow, many homeowners are left scratching their heads.

This short list of home styles can help you with the process of finding a home that is perfect for you and your family.

Cape Cod

Cod cape houses are usually one-story houses – sometimes 1 A – which have steep roof lines, multi-panel windows, wooden siding and often have a dormer window for additional space. It has a symmetrical exterior, with a door that is often found directly in the middle. This style originated in the 17th century by British invaders who settled on the east coast.

Colonial

One of the most popular home styles, the colonial is a larger offshoot of the Cape Cod. These homes typically have 2 or 3 stories, large fireplaces and brick or wood facades. Like the Cape Cod the windows are arranged around the center door, with narrow side windows on either side. These rectangular, symmetrical homes have floor plans with the kitchen and family room on the first floor and the bedrooms on the second.

Victorian

There are several home styles that are included in Victorian home styles. These romantic and very detailed houses signify an era that lasted around 1860-1900. The typical Victorian home design features steep roofs, dominant gable roofs, large windows, decorative accents such as shingles or …

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Home Styles - How Well Do You Know Home Architecture?
Outdoor Tile

Home Styles – How Well Do You Know Home Architecture?

- by Avery James

Home Styles - How Well Do You Know Home Architecture?For building designers and architects, it is not surprising that many people mistakenly characterize the style of the home. Some if not most of you will give the term “catch-all”, traditionally. If asked, what characteristics make up traditional architecture, the answers given can vary greatly from others who have their own ideas about what is “Traditional”. Webster’s Dictionary defines words derived by, or according to tradition. The fact is, traditional is really not a style at all. However, there are many design professionals who use this term for good reason to promote and market their goods and services. This is understandable given the fact that many in the general public are familiar with the term.

Due to regional differences and our diverse populations, Residences in the US are presented in many architectural styles and sizes. Most residences can be categorized in one or more design styles. Home styles can be distinguished when they are aligned with known facts about design features. People in architecture usually call this “period style” because of the distinguished presentation and parallel existence with history.

Of the many design styles that are spread throughout the United States, only a few are original to the country. Perhaps the best known was popularized and developed by a group of Chicago Architects known as the Prairie School. From the professional group that created Prairie architecture, Frank Lloyd Wright is perhaps the most famous. Other original styles include American Craftsman, American Foursquare, Colonial, and many more. In terms of other architectural styles, the list is too long to mention. Thus, some of the styles favored by many people are French, Mediterranean, Tudor, Greek and Gothic Revival architecture.

If you are currently looking for home designs with a certain style, look for a Residential Designer who is familiar with the specific …

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How to Save Thermal Energy at Home
Home Decor

How to Save Thermal Energy at Home

- by Avery James

How to Save Thermal Energy at HomeHeating is one of the most important functions of our home energy. This is why the biggest proportion of energy bills is allocated to our heating. Just like other things in our homes, our ways of using heat can be improved to be more efficient for our homes and especially our money.

A major amount of things at home require quite a lot of funding to be made environmentally friendly and energy/money efficient – however, there is also a great number of things you can do to ensure the efficient use of your home energy that cost you absolutely nothing but a bit of time and patience. Why is it that our heating bills can be so much higher than, for example, our neighbors, even though our houses are roughly of the same size, and use the same amount of heat?

The answer to this is simple – bad insulation; unwanted heat escape. On the surface of things, it may seem that heating your home is nice and simple; that we turn on a switch and expect our home to be heated after a certain time. It escapes many of us that the amount of heat we actually need is usually much, much less than what we pay for, and this is normally due to 2 things: drafts (through cracks and holes) and poor insulation.

Let’s focus on each of these in a little more detail and look at how we can solve them. Research shows that cold air (drafts) coming into your home causes 20% of your heating to go to waste. From high-school physics, we know that heat travels from regions of higher temperature to regions of lower temperature – if your home’s walls have even the smallest of holes or cracks in them, you are automatically wasting …

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How To Get the Most From Your Interior Designer
Plumbing Services

How To Get the Most From Your Interior Designer

- by Avery James

How To Get the Most From Your Interior DesignerAs intuitive as one may be, it can often times be a challenge when trying to determine another’s taste and preferences. Interior designersAmay be half psychologist and half skilled professional but mind-readers, we are not.AThat’s why professional interior designers utilize specific tools at the beginning of a project with a new client, which support the communication and rapport-building process. Nonetheless, to get the most out of your experience with an interior designer, there are a few things that will make the process more successful and much more efficient.

Here’s a guide to help prepare yourself for the process of hiring an interior designer:

Where – Defining a space is a bit more difficult today than in years’ past. Open floor plans have created a dilemma with homeowners: where does one room end and another begin if there are no obvious boundaries?

What areas are being considered for remodel/re-design?

How are these areas used?

Who uses the areas? When? How often?

When – What is your timeline for the project?

If construction is necessary, how long can you manage theAupheaval?

Do you have an deadline in mind?

How soon do you wish to begin?

What –

What do you want to accomplish?

How do you wish the new space to feel and function?

What do you want the outcome to be?

Who – You must consider who will come into contact with the finished space. Everyone knows how pets and children can effect a rooms’ interior but you must also consider outside elements (natural sunlight), cooking smells, traffic patterns, etc.

Unless you can communicate with your designer exactly what your likes, dislikes and desires are, it’s unlikely they will be able assist you in accomplishing your goals. The best way to do this is with photos, whether from magazines or the …

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DID YOU OVERLOOK SOMETHING IN YOUR NEW HOME DESIGN?
Home Remodeling

Did You Overlook Something in Your New Home Design?

- by Avery James

DID YOU OVERLOOK SOMETHING IN YOUR NEW HOME DESIGN?There are quite a few details involved in designing a new house and it is very easy to overlook certain aspects of what will make that house a home. I have been a home designer for almost three decades now and have come up with a list of things that are often forgotten in the layout. Maybe that list can be of some help to you.

Number one on my list is storage space! Are you allowing for this? Chances are that if your home is cluttered now, you either have too much stuff accumulated or there is not enough storage space to store this stuff. If you overlook this in the design of your new home, you may be transferring one problem from your old dwelling to the new one.

The common lack of storage in homes are:

– Pantries for extra food stuffs like canned goods that would be overflowing from the kitchen cabinets.

– Clothes closets that are too small to handle the wardrobe of a family member for at least one season. Make sure they are large enough.

– Coat closets in the entryway of the home. When this omitted, the living room, kitchen or dining room starts becoming a catch all for winter coats.

– Linen closets are often overlooked also. This space is for sheets, pillow cases, washcloths, and towels. All too often, if a home does not have a linen closet, extra shelves have to be added to handle these.

– Attic or basement storage that is easily accessible to store Christmas lights and family keepsakes. When attic or basement storage is unavailable the garage fills up with all this stuff.

If the home is in an area that experiences more than usual rain or snow fall, is there a mud room for …

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