Luxury Housing Trends & Home Improvement Ideas

Sometimes you need a big flush to wash everything down, and sometimes you don’t.

A dual flush toilet gives you the option, thus allowing you to conserve water by not using the maximum amount when you don’t need to. Many newer models come with the dual flush feature, but it doesn’t really make sense to replace a perfectly good toilet just to get it.

Brondell has come up with an alternative. The “Perfect Flush” lets you retrofit an existing toilet to get the big-flush/little-flush option.

The gadget can fit onto most toilets and can cut your water usage by up to 50%. It costs $149 and can be installed in less than a half hour.

It’ll be available this spring, so get ready to upgrade your commode:

Brondell

Here’s a handy gift for the man of the house: a fog-free shower mirror designed to make shaving easier.

The simple gadget means no more trying to (ineffectively) wipe the bathroom mirror down with a towel to see what you’re doing. Despite steam surrounding it, the mirror stays clear, and it’s designed to mount right inside the shower for your shaving convenience.

This particular mirror includes a 1-5X zoom mechanism at the push of a button. So even if you’re eyes aren’t as good as they used to be, you’ll still be able to see what you’re doing.

For an added bonus, the shaving mirror is supposed to be fairly indestructible: “Its unbreakable, polycarbonate mirror surface did not shatter or show any signs of damage after it was dropped five times onto a tile floor from 5′.”

Sounds like a good bet for those of us who are a tad groggy and klutzy in the morning.

From Hammacher Schlemmer:

5X Zoom Lighted Fog-Free Mirror

These LED paver lights can be integrated into patios, walkways, or even driveways to brighten up the area at night.

Designed to be scattered (or precisely and geometrically placed) amongst brick or stone pavers, the solar-powered lights lay flat, so you barely notice them in the day. But after the sun sets, you’ve got your own lighted driveways, and you’ll never trip walking the garbage down to the curb at night again.

The square paver lights can be used to accent patios, driveways, pool decks, plant beds, sidewalks, etc,. and if you like being different, you can even integrate them into brick walls.

The weather-resistant solar lights are available in red, blue, green, and white, and they measure 3 1/8th x 3 1/8th by 2 3/8th inches in depth.

As far as price goes, they’re more expensive than typical residential solar lights, because they incorporate capacitor technology to constantly cycle power, meaning there are no batteries to be replaced. Also, they’re sturdy enough to drive over, so you know they’re not going to be cheap. The paver lights come with a 10 year warranty, though, so they should stand up to the test of time.

From CCL, Inc

When spring comes along, lots of folks start thinking of ways to improve their lawns so they can acquire that oh-so-desirable flawless green grassy expanse. These days, though, some people are bucking the trend and turning their lawns into “edible estates.”

Lawns may look nice, but they’re actually a heavy consumer of labor, money, and chemicals. On the other hand, growing your own fruits and vegetables not only puts food on the table, but edible landscapes can be quite attractive if they’re well-cared for.

Raised garden beds can keep plants orderly, and many fruit bushes and trees have pretty leaves and flowers that make them look appealing even when the edible parts aren’t yet in season.

What you can grow will depend on your climate, but even in a small yard, you’d be amazed at how much food you can produce. If you want to learn how to get the most out of a tight space, check out Square Foot Gardening or Fresh Food from Small Spaces: The Square-Inch Gardener’s Guide to Year-Round Growing, Fermenting, and Sprouting.