Luxury Housing Trends & Home Improvement Ideas

If you love a clean and shiny car, but don’t love the prices you have to pay to run your vehicle through the car wash all the time, then you may prefer washing it and waxing it from home (and if that’s true, stop on by sometime, because I’d love to have you work on my ride!).

Of course, it’s hard to get that professional glint when you’re just wiping on wax with a rag (and if you’ve got the kids doing it for you, you’re even less likely to see a professional look). However, a home buffer and polisher might help things out (and it’d be more fun to work with than a boring old rag).

This Orbital car buffer & polisher is supposed to be good for experienced pros (not me) and first-time users (there we go), and includes buffing and finishing pads. It can also be used on boats, RVs, and airplanes (just in case you want a real waxing workout).

$30 through Amazon:

Orbital Car Buffer / Polisher

Remember ye olden days when refrigerators only had two sections? One single refrigerator and one lonely freezer? They might be side-by-side or one on top of the other, but that was about it for options. How did we ever survive with so few refrigerator and freezer bins to peer and poke into during midnight snack runs?

Fortunately there are more options today. Check out the GE Profile Double Drawer Bottom-Freezer Refrigerator. Four doors (well, actually two doors and two drawers if you want to be technical) to raid at midnight.

The double-door refrigerator section is supposed to allow for easy visibility and access, while the two bottom freezer drawers makes it easier to keep track of frozen items. The deep bottom drawer is still big enough to handle a whole turkey, and the shallow upper drawer can handle smaller, more frequently used items, such as frozen pizzas and ice cream sandwiches. The GE Profile is finished in stainless steel and comes in standard or counter-depth models, with or without an exterior door water dispenser.

Price $2549-$3049 (depending on style and options)

GE

I’ve been looking for a new couch for my living room for quite some time, and my web surfing has taken me to many interesting furniture destinations. I recently stumbled upon my first car sofa though. It’s not really my style, but if you need a gift (a rather large gift) for someone who loves vintage cars, this could be fun.

The Cadillac Sofa: “Comfy vinyl seats with a Cadillac’s side wings, complete with grille and illuminating orange and transparent lights. The wacky resin creations are molded from a real classic 1959 Coupe de Ville Cadillac, truly as much an icon of its age as James Dean and Marilyn Monroe.”

Available colors are pink, black, and red, and there’s also a unique Salvadore Dali inspired design.

The only question is what kind of coffee table do you get to go with a couch like this?

From Drink Stuff

Traditionally, wood cabinets have been the most popular material for residential kitchens, since they are warm and attractive. However, there are more options than ever today, and for some homeowners, the clean lines of stainless steel cabinets are appealing. This is especially true for those who love cooking and want the professional look in the kitchen.

Stainless steel has long been popular in commercial kitchens because of its extreme durability. Unlike wood, it can take a beating without dinging or denting, and scratches just lend character. It’s also very easy to keep clean. Splatters wipe off simply, and stainless steel resists stains. This material is the ultimate in practicality.

But is it for you? That will depend on your tastes. As you can see from the picture, stainless steel cabinets and countertops offer clean and simple lines that lend themselves to a modern style, but many consider the look and feel too cold for a home.

The stainless steel cabinets shown here are available through CraftMetal

If you’re remodeling your bathroom and looking for cool faucets, it can be challenging to find the perfect sink set. Perhaps you like the spout on that one but not the handles. Or the set you like just isn’t available in your preferred finish. Fortunately, there are companies out there that will let you mix and match and customize their bathroom hardware, so you can get exactly what you want.

The faucet and handle set shown here is something I whipped up with the “design your own faucet” wizard at California Faucets. (Yes, it’s obvious from the design that I have… no knack for design, but you can tinker around with it and see what kind of artistic pieces you can come up with.)

Their website wizard only lets you choose from one faucet and a few handles, but if you are serious about getting a set custom-done, you can call their customer service people, and they’ll work with you. Just be prepared to spend a little more than you would for an out-of-the-box set at the local home and garden store. Prices run about $429 to $900, depending on style and finish.

California Faucets

Looking for some landscaping ideas? Want to avoid the boring and ho hum that all your neighbors are sporting in their yards? Perhaps a creative walkway is in your future.

Sure, you can go with something safe like a brick path, but there’s no limit to what you can do with steppers, stones, pebbles, or–as in the case shown here–all of those materials.

This natural-looking walkway was created to simulate a dry stream bed running through the home owner’s yard. Installed by Patio Town, the path uses Rocky Mountain red steppers, river rock boulders, and “rip rap” (I think that’s landscaping code for pebbles).

You’ve seen tacks and you’ve seen magnets, but have you ever seen the two combined?

This looks like a nifty way to give your bulletin board a little more storage power. Stick memos and business cards to the cork, as you normally would, but then take advantage of the magnetic tops too. The magnet tacks are strong enough to accept keys, sunglasses, paper clips, pens, and other small tools with metal parts.

$19 gets you a 3-pack from DWR.

If you’ve got a new car, or just like to take good car of an old favorite, then you may cringe every time the door opens and bangs against something. This can be a particular hazard in the garage, where there are often poles. Sure, those poles are handy for holding the house up, but they sit there eternally, inviting door bangings.

Well, here’s a possible solution: Banguard.

The peel-and-stick vehicle door protector wraps around those awkwardly placed posts, so you can make the most of your garage space (if you can park closer to the post without worrying about dinging up your car, you free up more floor space on the other side). It’s supposed to be thick enough to cushion the heaviest vehicle doors, including those of trucks and SUVs.

$18 from Garage Toys

If you’ve got natural gas heating your home, powering your stove, or creating the flames in a gas fireplace, then you’ve got a gas meter. It’s a foregone conclusion that utility companies weren’t thinking curb appeal when they designed their meters either. Fortunately, there are ways to cover these blemishes on the side of your house up.

For example, GasCov not only covers up your gas meter with a more attractive facade, but it also protects the equipment from corrosion from the weather (sprinkler system, neighbor dogs lifting their legs, etc. etc.).

It’s supposed to be quick and simple to install, and yet it’s still easy for the gas man to access the meter if necessary.

http://www.gascov.com

If you like the look of freshly ironed clothes but wielding your little hand iron is too much of a chore (and you always feel dry cleaning is a bit expensive), then here’s a laundry tool for you:

The Tailors Steam Press is a “the professional-grade digital steam press with a pressing surface that is more than seven times larger than most handheld irons.” Not only is this bad boy bigger, it cuts your ironing time in half. Apparently you don’t have to be a pro at ironing or dry cleaning either, since the pressing is controlled by an automatic digital monitoring system to “ensure consistent results based on the kind of fabric (nylon, silk, rayon, wool, cotton, or linen)”. With digital monitoring, there shouldn’t be any chance of catching your clothes on fire either.

I guess that means you can toss your old iron to the curb for the garbage collector.

$250 from Hammacher Shclemmer:

The Tailor’s Steam Press.