Posts Tagged ‘house design’
Your House Design Style Needs to Be Consistent
This Farmhouse Style House Design Fails Due to Inconsistent Elements and Details Some house designs start out in the right direction but manage to veer off the road and end up in a ditch. I noticed a house that once appeared on the HGTV Facebook page recently. The architect (or house designer) who designed this…
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 MoreHiring an Architect: Six Ways an Architect Can Help You and Save You Money
Okay, I admit it. I’m biased. As an architect, I naturally advocate hiring an architect for your House Design or Remodeling project. In my book, Designing Your Perfect House, I go into a lengthy description of the benefits you’ll receive when you do. Architects are trained and licensed to do what they do. They take…
Read MorePlan Your House to Meet Your Budget
Often when you look at a new home, or talk to a builder about the rough cost of building a house, you will hear the phrase “Square Footage” and they will talk in terms of “Cost per Square Foot.” This is the standard way of describing the size and cost of a house. But how…
Read MoreThe Television and Fireplace Location Dilemma
Your Family Room or Great Room may be difficult to design if you want to arrange furniture to view television and your fireplace at the same time. You are presented with what I call the Television and Fireplace Location Dilemma. Traditionally, fireplaces were placed in the center of the wall. The furniture was then grouped around it.…
Read MoreDesign A Flexible House
It’s the holiday season and that means your house must adapt to accommodate a different number of occupants than normal. When designing your new house or your remodeling project, consider making your house flexible by thinking through how your house will live during the holidays. I know that in our house, with four adult children…
Read MoreA Question about Refinishing Kitchen Cabinets
I received this question concerning changing the color on existing kitchen cabinets and I thought I would share it with everyone. I get a lot of questions regarding cabinet colors, wood flooring selections and how they should “work together.” The question was: I have new medium cherry cabinets in a new home that we have…
Read MoreA Wood Flooring Question
I’m very pleased to hear that my book, Designing Your Perfect House, is proving to be valuable to people who are building or remodeling. When I wrote it, I really hoped it would become an important resource for people and help them feel more “in control” of the building process. So it heartens me to receive…
Read MoreYikes! I have Gaps in My Hardwood Floors
It’s nearly winter. That means that your hardwood floors are about to show cracks between the boards. If you’ve moved into a new house, these cracks could cause alarm. How could your brand new hardwood floors crack? Gaps between boards, or cracks, if you will, are not the result of the wood floor failing or…
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