Luxury Housing Trends & Home Improvement Ideas

Looking for ways to save energy in the home this summer? Who isn’t? Here are a few tips to help you on your way to lower energy bills:

1. Take showers instead of baths–even long showers use half the water.

2. Install Energy-Star rated appliances.
3. Check for leaks around doors, windows, and chimneys, then seal them.
4. Plant shade trees around the house (well-placed trees can reduce air conditioning costs by 25%).
5. Only wash full loads of clothes.
6. Install a programmable thermostat that automatically adjusts the temperature.
7. Install motion detectors, dimmers, and occupancy sensors so light is provided only when it’s needed.
8. Do a “home energy audit” to see if your home is wasting energy it doesn’t need to be (available at http://www.powerhousetv.com)

For more ways to save energy in the home, try reading 10-Minute Energy-Saving Secrets : 250 Ways to Save Big Bucks Year Round

Some people like cool austere kitchen cabinet hardware that reflects their sleek stainless steel appliances and granite countertops. Some people like a little whimsy. If you’re among the latter group, you might have fun browsing the cabinet hardware over at MNG. Their collections range from traditional to whimsical, such as their animal drawer and door pulls. These perky chickens come from the Farm Animals collection. Other series include Aquarium, Dinosaurs, Wilderness, Safari, and “Creatures,” which include butterflies, geckos, and the like. The farm animals are available in three finishes: brass, copper, and silver.

http://www.mngdesignerhardware.com

Did you know some dog breeds (especially big, deep-chested dogs) are prone to bloating and other digestive ailments? You can make it easier for Fido to eat comfortably by elevating the dog dish. This can also help with posture, putting less stress on the hips and shoulder area (from leaning forward). And, hey, it’s just a little more civilized than chowing down straight off the floor, right? If you’re ready to buy into this kind of canine pampering, you can get elevated dog bowls from many vendors, such as Pampered Dog Gifts. The “elegant raised wood diner” shown here will cost you $69.

Tired of those flimsy wire wine racks from Target? You know, the ones that tip over if you put too many bottles on one side? Sure, you can get built-ins, but that’s a bit of trouble unless you’re remodeling the kitchen anyway. If you’re interested in something a little more stable (yet still portable), check out this combination log wine rack and slate table top from Modern Rustics. Of course, logs won’t fit in with every decor, but if you have one of those ultra luxurious log homes perched on some mountain lake (or you just wish you did), then here’s a piece of furniture for you. The wine rack measures 36″ wide, 4′ tall, 16″ deep, and will cost you $400.

http://www.modernrustics.com/ via Richard’s Rambling’s

There are many grilling enthusiasts who sneer at the idea of a gas grill, claiming charcoal is the only true way to barbecue. Those charcoal grills often leave a lot to be desired in the design department however. A domed black kettle on three rusty old legs… sound familiar? Well, now you can have your trusty charcoal in a completely modern stainless steel grill. Made by Danish design firm, Eva Solo, this sleek grill (price: $560) is supposed to be just as functional as your old standby. You can pimp it out with matching grill tongs ($41), spatulas ($33), and a zip-up nylon cover ($51).

Unica Home via Forbes Life magazine

There’s just something about pineapples that makes people want to incorporate them into lighting, furniture, and yes even deck designs. Fortunately, this pineapple post cap is a little more elegant than some pineapple-inspired decorations I’ve seen (okay, most decorations I’ve seen). Available from Home Depot, the post caps are made from polystone and have a limestone finish. They stand 10.75″ high, measure 7.5″ wide, and will cost you $18 a piece. How about it? Ready to add a bit of the tropics to your backyard deck?

Home Depot

You don’t see a lot of weathervanes decorating the roofs in the city (I guess our daily lives don’t depend a lot on which ways the winds are blowing), but they can give a little personality to an otherwise barren rooftop. This heavy copper eagle certainly won’t be missed. It’s designed to give an old world look to your rooftop. Measuring 28″ H x 27″ W x 15.5″ D, it’s big enough that you can see the arrow and the directional letters from the street (unless your house is set back far from the curb, that is). Available from Amazon, the weathervane will cost you $225: Copper Eagle Weathervane

Installing a full-fledged outdoor kitchen this year? Well, let’s make sure you’ve got all the cool meal-preparation stuff you’ll need. Big honkin’ power grill? Check. Outdoor refrigerator? Check. Sink? Check. Some place to put the trash? Er…

Fact of life: if you’re going to be preparing food outdoors, you’re going to create trash. Of course, you can simply drag up a trash can, but if you want, you can get a snazzy built-in trash unit for the counter in your backyard kitchen. The Deluxe Trash Center from Vintage Luxury Appliances is a stainless steel enclosure that is accessible from the top of the counter, where the waste chute is hidden beneath a sliding cutting board and a stainless steel cover (having the cutting board right over the trash would certainly make food prep easy).

http://vintageluxuryappliances.com

How do you save water at home without taking drastic steps (such as going to work with shampoo still in your hair or letting the dog’s tongue serve as the “dish washer”)? There are some simple home improvements you can make that will allow you to save money on water bills without inconveniencing you or your family.

1 — Dual-flush Toilets

Sometimes you do a big job… and sometimes you don’t. Most of the time you don’t need a major flush. Dual-flush toilets let you choose whether to use a normal flush (1.6 gallons) or a super-low flush (0.8 gallons).

2 — Low-flow Faucets and Showerheads

This is a simple (and inexpensive) home improvement that will significantly reduce your home’s water use. Low-flow kitchen and bathroom faucets use 2.5 gallons per minute (as compared to normal faucets, which waste 5 gpm). When shopping for a showerhead, find one that uses no more than 2.5 gpm–these can save you 20-25 gallons of water per shower.

3 — Hot Water Recirculating Pumps

You know that minute’s worth of water that goes down the drain while you wait for the shower to heat up? By installing a recirculating pump (a device that cycles hot water through the plumbing lines at certain programmed times of day), you can have instant hot water.

4 — Water-efficient Appliances

If you’ve been meaning to replace that leaking washer and that noisy dishwasher anyway, this can be the perfect excuse. Today’s appliances are likely to be more efficient than their predecessors, but make sure you look further than the Energy Star label (sometimes energy-efficient appliances aren’t all that water efficient; comparison shop to figure out which ones use the least water).

5 — Get Rid of the Grass

When was the last time you really enjoyed mowing the lawn? Would it make your life horrible if the grass just disappeared? Watering lawns is one of the biggest wasters of water that there is, and there are yard alternatives that look just as good. We’ve talked about no-maintenance, synthetic lawns before, but you can also look into xeriscaping. Especially popular in the Southwest, xeriscaping is landscaping to eliminate grass and replace it with hearty drought-tolerant plants, bark, rocks, etc. If you don’t want to get rid of the grass altogether, consider leaving a patch of grass for the kids to play on and xeriscaping the rest of the yard.

Source: July/August 2006 issue of Smart HomeOwner

Polarized media air cleaners… wassat? Basically, it’s a new technology in the world of air cleaners.

Whether you have allergies, asthma, young children, or you’re just concerned about indoor air pollution, you may have looked into air cleaners/air purifiers. Not all air purifiers work as well as we’d like them to, so it’s important to pay attention to what’s out there. Airborne particles are lumped into two groups: coarse (particles are larger than 2.5 microns in diameter) and fine (particles are smaller than 2.5 microns). Our body’s natural defense systems can’t filter out fine particles, because they’re too small. These are the ones that often pose problems for people with asthma and allergies. Unfortunately, not all air cleaners can capture the smallest particles. Fortunately, a newer technology is good at handling them.

Polarized-media air cleaners use electric charges to ‘polarize’ particles, so they attach to each other, making larger clumps that filters can capture more easily. Some older air purification technologies create ozone, which can cause health problems, but this new technology does not produce ozone. Polarized cleaners can help make the air in your home healthier to breathe without any side effects. Several companies make these air cleaners, such as New Jersey-based Dynamic Air Cleaners.