Archive for April 2013
Let’s Discuss Construction Cost per Square Foot
Let’s talk about the mythical, mystical construction cost per square foot for building a new house or addition. Somewhere in your early planning, you will want to know what your house or addition might cost. This is important information to know since the cost of your project will certainly affect your decisions while creating the…
Read MoreDesign-Build One Stop Shopping for House Design and Construction
You’ve probably heard about something called design-build. Wouldn’t that be a good way for me to save money? The answer is “yes and no.” It all depends on the particular company you work with. This building method is essentially one-stop shopping for a house or addition. The concept is undeniably appealing and can be effective…
Read MoreThe Best House Design Comes from the Right Process
People approach the job of choosing or creating a house design from several directions. First are the people who turn to house plan books that contain thousand’s of House Floor Plans and they start flipping pages, hoping to find the perfect dream home. As you might imagine, this is a frustrating process. You would think…
Read MorePassive Solar House Design Can Be a Part of Any House
Simply put, a passive solar house is a house that heats and cools itself without the aid of a furnace or air conditioner and has no solar electric system. Think of a frigid, but sunny, day when your car had been parked in the sun and when you got in you were pleasantly surprised that…
Read MoreHome Remodeling Turn Your Old Home into Your Dream Home
Sometimes, a home remodeling project can make more sense than building a new home. It can be a better investment and it can also be a better lifestyle choice. Instead of selling what you have and building your dream home, why not turn your house into that very dream house. If you’ve out-grown your current…
Read MoreHow to Design a Kitchen That Is Efficient and Beautiful
People who know how to design a kitchen are keenly aware that the first goal is to make the kitchen functional and efficient. Naturally, you want your kitchen to be attractive. After all, we spend a lot of time in our kitchens. But first and foremost, your kitchen needs to fulfill its purpose of being…
Read MoreSmall Kitchen Design is a Puzzle Waiting to Be Solved
A small kitchen design is a tough challenge. The kitchen is the most complicated room in any house. Small kitchens should still follow the planning principles of any good kitchen design. They must hold many different items, such as appliances, sinks, work surfaces, eating areas, and storage cabinets. They need to be workable and facilitate…
Read MoreGood Kitchen Design is Critical, It’s the Heart of Your Home
A good kitchen design can mean the difference between an average house and a really great house. The kitchen is often the center of family life. It’s probably the room that’s most commonly Remodeled and updated. It’s the most expensive room, square foot for square foot, in the entire house. And it is also the…
Read MoreGood House Planning It’s the First Step toward Designing a Great House
House planning is the most important part of the design process whether you’re designing a new home or designing a remodeling or addition. It’s a fool’s game to try to design your house without having a clear idea of what you want to achieve. I compare it to driving off for your family vacation without…
Read MoreWindow Grids Are Important to the Style of Your House
Window grids, more properly called muntins, are the slender bars that divide a large window into smaller panes, or lites. In the UK these grids are called glazing bars and they’re called astragals in Scotland. The small strips of metal that join glass in leaded glass windows are known as the caming. By whatever name…
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