Luxury Housing Trends & Home Improvement Ideas

I must say this is one of those now-I’ve-seen-everything products. The VacnSeal is a food preserver for central vacuum systems. It’s not that food preservers are odd, and I’ve seen plenty of central vacs… it’s just that I haven’t ever associated one with the other. (What was I thinking?)

The VacnSeal installs out of the way in a kitchen cabinet. It looks like the device uses your vacuum’s suck power, except instead of sucking up dirt and debris, it’s sucking air out of a bag of food (which should extend the shelf life, whether it’s dry food or something stored in the refrigerator/freezer). The VacnSeal can be installed with new central vacuums or you can retrofit your current system to make use of it. Prices start at $60, which could be a pretty good deal if you regularly throw away food that spoiled before it was eaten.

http://www.vacnseal.com/

The Kohler Wellspring is a tall, slender, and “touchless” kitchen faucet. Although we usually see these no-touch faucets in public bathrooms, it makes a lot of sense in a residential kitchen.

If you’re handling raw meat, you probably don’t want to get chicken salmonella (or just that unpleasant meat slime that coats raw stuff) all over the faucet handles when you need to wash your hands. So you end up trying to nudge the water on with your forearm or elbow or something equally awkward. This way, you don’t have to worry about be-sliming the knobs and having to disinfect them later. A no-touch faucet can also be a handy idea if you, or someone in the house, is dealing with arthritis pain–no more struggling to turn too-tight knobs.

http://www.us.kohler.com

Though stainless steel and granite countertops are very trendy right now, they’re not for everyone. If you want a little more warmth in the kitchen, you might consider wood counters. Even a wood island can add warmth amongst the surrounding granite.

We’ve talked about wood countertops before, but if you’re interested in something more unique than standard hardwoods, you might want to browse Aussiewood America or another site that specializes in exotic hardwoods. They import lumber from Australia, tree species that you’re not going to find at the local home improvement store. Examples include river redgum, jarrah, brushbox, rosewood, and Tasmanian blackwood. Even the names sound exotic, don’t they? The company custom-builds countertops up to 18 feet in length, 3 feet in width, and 1 1/2″ or 1 3/8″ in thickness.

http://www.aussiewood.us

Ah, there’s nothing like an ice cold can of soda (beer, iced tea, or your other favorite canned beverage), right out of the refrigerator. The only problem is that it warms up quickly if you don’t drink it all right away. The answer? It might be a can koozie.

These little mini can coolers are designed to keep your drink nice and cold for hours after you take it out of the fridge. You can even get a personalized koozie as a Christmas gift for a friend. An added bonus is this thing looks like it would protect your coffee table from soda sweat rings (assuming you haven’t got the whole family trained to use coasters). The personalized koozie is available for $20 from Gifts and Otherwise.

Do your cats entertain themselves by shredding your toilet paper rolls? Do your young children toddle in and randomly unwind huge streams of TP? If either of these scenarios sound familiar, maybe what you need is a hidden toilet paper holder. This 10″ x 8″ plastic holder insets into the wall (like a recessed cabinet) and has a little lid on hinges that snaps up to hide and protect the toilet paper. It comes in off-white, but it can be painted to match your decor. The downside is that you have to cut a hole into your wall to install it, and at $20 it’s not the most upscale bathroom accessory. Still, it might be worth considering if your pets wont leave the TP alone…

Metro Products

If you’ve got a bathroom window that looks out onto… your neighbor’s bathroom window (as so often seems to be the case in new housing developments with postage-stamp sized yards), you’re going to need to do something to give yourself a little privacy. Curtains are an option, but they block out sunlight. A more aesthetically pleasing alternative could be carved glass windows. You can get carved glass tailored to your tastes from companies that specialize in custom windows.

This picture is from Everett, WA based Covenant Art Glass. They do stained glass, textured glass, beveled glass, and other types of windows to suit their customers’ preferences. A carved glass window such as this one is created by sculpting into the glass with a high-pressure sandblaster. This removes the surface one thin layer at a time. Aside from the beauty of this type of window is the practical advantage: it lets in natural light while providing privacy. So, if it suits your fancy, go ahead and buy that house that’s right next to the neighbor’s. Just be prepared to employ some creativity in making it private.

http://www.covenantartglass.com

Shopping for a new screen door, or perhaps a storm door? You should consider the era and style of your house when making your decision. If you’ve got an older house and you want to remain true to the time period, you don’t want to put some shiny new aluminum screen door or storm door onto the front of the house. There’s something about sun-reflecting, rust-gathering, burn-you-if-you-touch-it-when-it’s-hot metal that doesn’t feel quite authentic on an older home. That’s why I like these storm and screen doors from Cumberland Woodcraft. Though they’re made from modern materials, they look like they’re made from wood and then painted white, as they would have been in the Victorian era. Yet of course they match all of today’s building standards.

http://www.cumberlandwoodcraft.com

Despite the fact that lofts tend to be expensive, they sometimes come as simple shells. This means you have to decide everything from where walls are going to be (if there are going to be walls) to what types of counters and cabinets will go in the bathrooms and kitchen and how they’ll be laid out. If you’re buying an industrial style loft, you’ll of course want a kitchen that matches. Pieces like this island with integrated sink, shelves, and pot rack are specifically designed to suit the industrial feel of a modern loft. In fact, this is part of designer Michael S. Smith’s “for Loft” series over at Kallista.

http://www.kallista.com

Need a new kitchen sink? Hate devoting counter space to knife blocks? Well, here’s the all-in-one solution to those two problems. The 0400 Worktop Sink from Julien’s Classic Collection comes with an integrated 5″ tall backsplash that includes a wooden storage block for your knives and 2 utensil wells for spoons, spatulas, and the link. And, of course, the sink has your typical soap dispenser built in too. The large and deep top-mount unit sports an off-center drain in its single bowl in order to maximize work space. This piece is available in several different sizes to work with your existing sink opening.

http://www.julien.ca

The sleek industrial feel of metal has become increasingly popular in high-end kitchens. Many homeowners want the look and functionality of a professional kitchen. This might mean stainless steel countertops and appliances, but the use of metal can go even further, right into the cabinets.

Aluminum cabinets can offer the ultimate in clean, sleek kitchen design. A sample from SieMatic’s SC51 cabinet line is shown here with a Hibiscus Red gloss. The drawers operate soundlessly and are available with options such as wood inserts for cutlery and wire racks to make efficient use of storage space. Here the countertops are stainless steel, but you can also go with granite if you don’t want an entirely metal theme dominating the kitchen.

http://www.siematic.com/