Luxury Housing Trends & Home Improvement Ideas

Looking for a unique material for your kitchen backsplash? How about glass?

You could do a mosaic with glass tiles, or you could take it a step further and commission a custom piece from a company that specializes in glass working.

The whales swimming in a sea of blue across this backsplash were done by an Australian company called Creations in Glass. If you browse their site, you can find examples of their work (everything from kitchen backsplashes to railings to windows and doors) and maybe get some ideas for your own remodeling projects.

http://www.creationsinglass.com.au

Water features are popular backyard additions, and you can get fountains or pond kits at many home and garden stores, but if you want something truly unique (and in this case big), you might want to seek out a specialist.

The 2.4 meter high “Water Spheres” sculpture here will certainly impress anyone who sees it. “By day, the stainless steel vanes create ever-changing reflections of nature; by night David’s sophisticated lighting design complements the existing lighting scheme.”

The fancy water feature is the work of David Harber, who specializes in water features, garden sculptures, and sundials. David likes to incorporate light and water and reflections to create memorable illusions.

David Harber

Summer is here, and for many of us, this is the season for buying new lawn and garden tools. Wondering what your neighbors are buying? Here’s a list of the top 10 bestselling tools over at Amazon (listed in reverse order for extra drama!):

10. Johnson Level 86481 BigX 48-Inch Aluminum Box Beam Level — Everybody who wants to build anything (or just hang a picture evenly) should have a level. And apparently everybody is buying oversized ones this year. The Johnson level is 48 inches long, so you can make sure your deck is level–or your house.

9. Above All Company Forearm Forklift Lifting Straps — I’ve seen people using these for moving appliances and furniture on the Home & Garden Channel, and they seem like a good idea for anyone who has to move heavy things regularly. Use the straps and spare your back.

8. DEWALT DC9091 XRP 14.4-Volt Ni-Cad Battery — Tired of the battery running out on your power tools halfway through the job? “This high-capacity NiCad (nickel cadmium) battery delivers 40 percent more run time than standard NiCads. That means you can work longer—drive more screws, bore more holes—and spend less time swapping out and recharging batteries.” Looks like it’s just for use with Dewalt tools though.

7. Worx GT 10-Inch 18-Volt Cordless Line Trimmer/Edger — Got grass you can’t get to with your mower? It looks like everyone else has the same problem. This trimmer has a telescoping shaft and a head that tilts to fit in tight spaces or cut a sloped landscape.

6. Black & Decker 200-Watt Inverter — This tool converts your vehicle’s 12-volt DC power into 115 AC power for your house. In other words, if you want to run your laptop while you’re on the road, this is the way to do it.

5. Scotts 20-Inch Push Reel Mower — It surprises me a bit to find a push mower in the top of the list, especially in our modern gasoline- and electricity-powered age. I guess more folks are realizing that the only exercise they’re going to get this weekend will be to mow the lawn–might as well make it a workout!

4. Contech Electronics Scarecrow Motion-Activated Sprinkler — It seems that more people are dealing with pest birds, rodents, dogs and other yard intruders than you might think. This motion-activated sprinkler will automatically turn on and squirt anyone or anything that is making a beeline for your vegetable garden.

3. Black & Decker AAW100 8-Inch Auto Wrench — Black & Decker seems to dominate our list, and bestselling tool #3 is no exception. This battery-powered wrench means no more adjusting your wrenches manually. Sounds like a time saver to me.

2. Black & Decker FSMVC 9.6-Volt to 18-Volt Fast Charger — The second most popular purchase in the tools category is actually a charger for all your power tools. “This cleverly designed plug-in charger accepts a wide range of nicad batteries, including 9.6, 12, 14.4, and 18-volt packs. And it will recharge a battery in less than 90 minutes, as compared to the average three-hour recharge time of the chargers that came with the tools.”

1. Black & Decker Grasshog 12-Inch 18-Volt Cordless String Trimmer/Edger — Well, looks like we’ve got another string trimmer. Hey, you didn’t think all the gorgeous green lawns in your neighborhood sprouted out of the ground that way, did ya? This Black & Decker string trimmer and edger is the most popular tool at Amazon right now. One must keep those stray blades of grass under control after all.

We’ve passed the summer solstice and from here on our days will only be getting shorter. There are plenty of good grilling months left though. If you expect to be out cooking for friends and family after dark, here’s a gadget that might help:

Flashlight Grill Tongs.

“Now you can increase your BBQ guru’s after-hours efficiency by taking the flashlight out of his mouth and putting it right where it’s needed—where he’s grilling.”

The extra-long stainless steel tongs run on 2 x AAA batteries and an LED flashlight. Now you can make sure that meat is done all the way through before you toss it on the plate, even after the sun has gone down.

$50 at RedEnvelope

Tile is a common material that’s used for shower enclosures, and sometimes people will forego a solid field and choose a pattern to add a bit of interest. You can go further than that though. The custom inlay on the bottom of this shower stall is certainly memorable.

If you’re remodeling your bathroom anyway, you could have fun adding a decorative element like this. Many tile companies will do custom work for you, working in house to come up with a design you like, or using their tiles to reproduce something in a picture you show them.

Hey, as long as you’re going to be standing in that shower every morning for the rest of your life (or at least as long as you live in the house), you might as well have something cool to look at while you’re in there.

Picture from Westwood Tile

I understand that peppermills are among the most basic projects that wood turning students will take on, but this exotic piece looks like some time and talent went into the creation.

The 10″ high peppermill is made from maple and walnut. It consists of 74 small pieces of wood glued together in a spiral pattern (which means the crafter has a lot more patience for gluing things together than I do).

The peppermill is coated with a durable food-safe finish and sports a stainless steel grinder that should hold up well over the years. $65 through Etsy.

Wall hooks can be an easy way to store keys, dog leashes, ID tags, etc. by the door so you can grab them on the way out. Sure, you can just get some of those generic white hooks from the store, but why not show a little personality?

These cute dog wall hooks would be great for pet lovers. What better place to hang your dog’s leash than on a dog’s tail?

The 4 3/4″ high hooks are made from soft rubber, so there are no sharp edges to bump against. They’re available for $2 from Ikea. No mounting hardware is included, though, so you’ll have to figure out how to stick them to your wall on your own.

Ikea

If you’re tired of tripping over stuffed animals and other toys every time you walk into your child’s bedroom or playroom, this jumbo toy hammock may be an easy-to-implement storage solution.

The nylon mesh hammock is designed to hang in a corner and offers plenty of room for stuffed animals and other toys. Since it hangs from the walls, it doesn’t take up any floor space, so you can put it above the bed, a dresser, or other piece of furniture. The stretchy hammock expands to up to 6 feet, so it might just be big enough to hold everything that’s currently on the floor in your kid’s bedroom.

$13 at Organize Everything

Here’s a fun gadget for the grill master in your family: the bottletop basting brush.

Screw it directly onto any bottle of barbecue sauce, salad dressing, or marinade, and eliminate a messy step in the dressing-the-meat process. Once it’s on, you simply turn the bottle upside down, and the liquid flows out slowly through the bristles.

The brush is dishwasher safe and can be used on plastic or glass bottles. The product blurb promises the brush is leak proof so it won’t drip on clothes, the grill, the deck, etc.

$3.99 from Organize Everything

If you’ve got trees in your yard, you could add some personality to them with tree faces.

Tree faces are just what they sound like: little faces (eyes, eyebrows, noses, mouths) that you nail to the trunk of a tree. “It’s easy to add character and personality to your trees with our Forest Faces. They can smile, frown and even blow you a kiss. Your trees will welcome your guests and add fun to your backyard.” They’re made from high density resin and textured and tinted to look like actual tree bark.

The fellow shown here is “Max” and is available in small or large versions. You can choose whichever works for the girth of your trunk. Prices start around $10 at Yardiac:

Max Tree Face