Luxury Housing Trends & Home Improvement Ideas

I’m thinking of adding a small pond to the back of my lot this year (just have to figure out a way to get water way back there that doesn’t involve me toting buckets), so I’ve been reading up on kits, liners, and (more fun) decorations.

Pond spitters fall into the latter category, but they have a function as well: they help aerate your water, which is especially helpful during the hot summer months.

You need a pump to power pond spitters, but today you can find solar-powered pumps that will do the job for aerating a small pond.

Here are a few decorative pond spitters from around the Internet. The links are under the pictures in case any appeal to you, and you have the sudden urge to order pond paraphernalia.

Dancing Frog pond spitters are only recommended for those who don’t take their water gardens (or themselves) very seriously. This one is from GI Designs.

The Double Dolphin pond spitter is from Kinetic Fountains.

I found a lot of turtle pond spitters around the web. At $480, this may very well be the most expensive. Hey you’re paying for not one but two turtles. It’s from Puddle and Pond Lawn Design.

As much as I like dancing and leaping creatures, I think these bamboo pond spitters are a little more style. They’re available at Doctors Foster & Smith.

Cork floors have a lot of cool features. For starters, cork is eco-friendly since it’s made from the bark of the Cork Oak tree and removing it doesn’t harm the tree at all. During each harvest, no more than 50% of the bark is removed, and this leaves the tree enough of a skin to protect itself.

Other benefits of cork floors include sound absorption, “give” underfoot (cork isn’t as hard to walk or stand on as wood), and a warm and natural look and feel for your home.

Cork floor tiles, such as the ones shown below, can often be installed as a “floating floor,” meaning you can place them over concrete, vinyl, laminate, etc. without ripping up the old flooring.

The Vallarex tiles from Expanko are glueless as well; they have notches on the sides and fit together like puzzle pieces.

Whether you’re watering pine trees or citrus trees or anything in between, it can be a bit tedious to drag the hose across your yard and thoroughly dampen those roots.  And if your trees aren’t within hose distance of your spigot, well, it’s even more of a pain.

Treegator is a portable tree watering solution you can check into if you are looking for an easy way to supply your trees with a year round supply of water without installing a whole drip irrigation system.

Available in 15- and 20-gallon “bags,” the portable irrigation system delivers “a high volume of water directly to the root system of a newly planted tree with no run-off or evaporation.”

The TreeGator bags come with two small valves on the bottom that slowly release the water, emptying in 6-20 hours, according to one review at Amazon.  Then you simply refill the bags once a week for new trees, instead of standing outside every evening in the summer, watering with your hose.

Prices run about $20-$30, depending on the size ‘Gator you get:

Treegator Original Landscaper

If you’ve got shower doors, you’ve probably got a knob or some sort of hardware that lets you slide or pull the door open.  And if your door hardware is as unexciting as most, you’ve probably never considered it as a design element.

Well it could be…

These cheerful art glass shower door knobs can add a whimsical touch to the bathroom.

Simple to install, the knobs are an easy way to insert some personality into your bath life.  They don’t cost much either.  Visit the Out of the Blue Design Studio to see more of the knobs they make and get a list of stores where you can find them in your area.

The company also makes art glass knobs for cabinets and regular doors.

While a “wire mesh” shower curtain may sound like something you’d only find in an industrial loft style home, there are a number of reasons you might want to consider this for the bathroom. These shower curtains are…

• durable and long-lasting (when was the last time you had metal mesh rip?)
• easy to keep clean (mildew won’t grow on this puppy)
• light and open (illumination comes in through the gaps in the mesh; air flows through as well–nice for warm climates)
• lightweight and easy to install

The wire mesh shower curtain shown here is from Cascade Coil Drapery, Inc.

“Sexy and elegant, a Cascade Coil shower curtain provides a stunning contrast to natural elements found in today’s high-end bathrooms and home spas. Cascade Coil fabric is made of interlocking coils of round wire. The fabric flexes in one direction allowing it to gather as it is pulled to the side… Cascade Coil curtains are also available in stainless steel, anodized aluminum, special colors, and in custom sizes. ”

Prices start at $395.  A hefty price for a shower curtain, but it’s probably the last one you’ll ever need to buy (and remember… no scrubbing mildew).

A glass deck railing is often used when homeowners have a good view from their deck and don’t want to obscure it with wood bars and rails. Glass allows lots of light to beam onto the deck area too.

But what if you want the sunlight and the view, but a bit of privacy as well? Maybe you’ve got a great view if you look straight out from your deck or balcony, but to the sides, the decks of nearby neighbors are a little too close for comfort.

You can have etched glass deck railings custom made.

Try clear glass for the side that looks out over your view, and then choose the privacy of etched on the sides facing your neighbors’ decks.

Etched glass is also an option if you just have a cool design in mind that you’d enjoy seeing brought to life on your deck.

The custom etched railings in this picture were done by AccuRailing.

Nope, these aren’t your grandparents’ or even parents’ table lamps.

The Lisa table lamp from Plug Lighting is made from mirrored blown glass featuring a “bark like” effect.

You can choose from the three colors shown here and get a white or black lamp shade.

The Lisa table lamps stand 12″ wide and 29″ high and take a 100 Watt bulb.

The company has a lot of other unique lighting options, so take a peek at their site if you like what you see. Los Angeles-based Plug has “earned its reputation by providing products by the most creative artists and companies using the most cutting edge materials and technologies available today.”

Looking for a place to hang your coat when you walk into the entry hall? How about on these wall lights that double as storage hooks?

The “Alone” coat hooks feature an illuminated circular outline that “casts an eye at the concept of a wall light.

“Its clear-cut, linear design is enhanced at the rear by an opal finish ring that fills with white light creating a bright halo focusing on the hanging garment. Alone can be used in various ways – on its own, in a row or randomly scattered – contributing with its light to outlining visual and functional paths, while furnishing and enhancing also the narrowest and dimmest corners on the home.”

I just like them because I dig multi-purpose furnishings (and usually if you throw your coat on a lamp, you have to worry about starting a house fire).

From Pallucco

If you’re tired of scaring the cats, dogs, hamsters, and sleeping spouses every time you turn on the vacuum, you could invest in a quieter model.

The UltraSilencer Vacuum Cleaners from Electrolux are supposed to have all the power (9 amps) of a traditional canister vacuum without all the noise.

Other features include a bag change indicator, variable speed control (apparently more power isn’t always better), a telescoping wand for those hard to reach places, and on-board cleaning tools such as a crevice attachment and an upholstery cleaning brush.

The canister vacuum is simple in design and available in a variety of snazzy colors such as this cheery green.

MSRP = $299.

Electrolux

By now you’ve heard that compact fluorescent light bulbs save energy (and therefore save you money), but they’re kind of funky looking aren’t they?

If you’ve tried to insert them into your existing lamps and light fixtures, you may have oddly shaped bulbs sticking out of the ends.

Well here’s an excuse to go shopping for new lighting: you can buy lamps that are specifically designed to hide these goofy looking bulbs.

For example, these mono-point glass pendant lamps have shades designed to hide compact fluorescent bulbs. Several colors and styles are available, so you can get an attractive modern look… without oddly shaped bulbs sticking out of the end.

From Con-Tech Lighting