Luxury Housing Trends & Home Improvement Ideas

Fortunately, sewing a pant hem or replacing a button on a sweater doesn’t require too much talent. However, in order to accomplish small sewing tasks, you have to lug out your large sewing machine. If you don’t sew often, it’s probably collecting dust in a closet.

The Handheld Sewing Machine from Urban Outfitters is a solution to those snags and tears. You can purchase it in red or black, and it’s only $15. This is also nice to have when friends or family stay for long periods of time, because you can quickly fix their clothes and be deemed the world’s best hostest in their eyes.

Its dimensions are 7”W x 1”D x 2.5”H, and it can run by battery or AC adapter. The handheld sewing machine includes three steel bobbins, two sewing needles, one threader and an extra spool pin. Now if you’re rushing to work and notice your hem is loose, you can fix it up in a jiffy.

An enclosed porch off of your house is the perfect way to spend the fall and winter season. You can enjoy the snow falling without actually feeling the bite of Jack Frost. Although your porch might seem less romantic than having a dinner outside near your garden for two, you can spice things up a bit with an elegant lantern.

This Frosted Scroll Solar Lantern can be put right on your table-top as a fabulous centerpiece or extra decoration. The soft glow creates a relaxing or even romantic mood. The lanterns also come with stakes, so when the weather warms up again, you can put them in your garden.

Better yet is the fact that they are solar powered, so you don’t even need to waste your electricity. The frosted glass with scroll design will create an ambient atmosphere wherever you place it. This would make a great party decoration too.

The sofa is a place where you can put your feet up and forget about the worries of the day. Fortunately, for those couch potatoes out there, the Athena Sofa has an interesting take on convenience (a.k.a. laziness).

When you’re done working for the day or if it’s the weekend, it’s a pleasant feeling knowing that you can watch your favorite television shows in peace. Designer Wolfgang C. R. Mezger created the Athena Sofa with functionality in mind. This couch is priced at $15,000, and it has all of your entertainment needs built right into it. There are two LCD screens, a PC, a iPhone or iPod docking station, speakers and an 8” subwoofer. With this sofa, you can catch up on the news and be available for any phone calls without leaving your living room.

In addition, the upholstery of the sofa is weather-proof, so if you’re known to be messy, all of your spills can be easily wiped up.

There are so many types of baby foods available, and on top of choosing nutritious ingredients, you have to consider whether or not to buy organic or non-organic products. If you prefer to create quality and customized meals for your bundle of joy, why not start making homemade baby food? This is a wise idea if your baby has food allergies, because you can better control what he/she is exposed to.

The Beaba B2066 Babycook Baby Food Maker is BPA-free, and it can do all kinds of things such as steam, puree, defrost and re-heat. Within 15 minutes, your baby’s vegetables, fruits and meats can be steamed. An added plus is that you can freeze extra food and put it in the Babycook when you need it later in the week.

This model on Amazon comes with cute Dolphin and Heart Cube Trays too, which is an added plus.

How would you like your home to smell like Japanese cherry blossoms, fresh pomegranates or mandarin limes? When you’ve spent time cleaning the house all day or when you’re done working, it’s nice to have your home stay fresh and fragrant.

The SCENTBUG from Bath & Body Works is a modern take on home fragrance devices. These capsule like oil warmers come in black, green, pink, white and brown. What you do is place a fragrance oil pad inside the SCENTBUG and add your favorite scented oil. You can freshen bedrooms, bathrooms and hallways as long as you have a flat surface to place the device on.

Since it has a fan, your fragrance will be dispersed throughout your home. When you purchase the SCENTBUG, you get two AA batteries and three fragrance oil pads. Then you can choose a scents from their large collection, and you can even mix and match them for a more personalized experience.

Everyone can appreciate a lower electric bill, but what if you could lower yours by 30 percent with a chimney balloon? Although your flue is closed when your not using your fireplace, it’s still possible for air to get inside, but you can prevent any air from infiltrating your home.

This Chimney Balloon is designed to fit a 36” x 15” chimney, so it’s important to purchase one that properly fits your chimney. This device is meant to prevent cold air from getting in and warm air from getting out, so your house will stay warm and your electricity bill will stay down. So all you need to do is measure your flue, order the proper chimney balloon size and install it.

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, 14 percent of air infiltration get into people’s homes through the fireplace. Doesn’t plugging up your fireplace sound like a better idea now?

Camping requires the right equipment, so if you want to go out into the wild for a weekend, you need to take the time to prepare and plan. With school, work and other activities, planning a weekend camping trip for the family might not be possible. However, what if you just camp in your own backyard?

The Moontent is a unique way to camp right outside your home. If you have woods in your backyard, why not take advantage of the view and enjoy listening to the local wildlife? This tent is an instant pop-up two person unit, which is lightweight and weatherproof (except during torrential downpours). The tent also offers UPF 50 sun protection, and while you’re lying down, you can admire the stars through the tent’s “moon roof.” Its dimensions are 215 x 140 x 120 cm.

Camping in your backyard offers you the best of both worlds, because you can relax in nature and come indoors to use the restroom!

Watering your lawn costs money, so when it rains the same day that you had your sprinklers on, it defeats the purpose and wastes a valuable resource. The weather is challenging to predict, but there is a device that might be better informed than your local meteorologist.

The Intelligent Sprinkler Controller is equipped with an internal barometer, which can detect the pressure changes. As a result, it can tell 12 hours before it’s supposed to rain. Once it detects that rain is coming your way, it will automatically postpone the scheduled watering. The LCD screen makes it easy, so you can schedule the sprinkler to run on certain days and even times. It will turn on whenever you have scheduled it as long as the weather is permitting.

This gadget requires a 9-volt batter, and its dimensions are 6 1/3”H x 6 3/4”L x 4 1/3”W. Now your landscaping is less likely to get over watered.

Dread the pleasant days of fall simply because you know you have to do your outdoor work soon before these days are gone? Raking the leaves is the last way you want to spend a sunny, autumn weekend, but when all of your other neighbors are caught up, your yard should probably follow the leaders too.

The Flowtron LE-900 is a mulcher and electric leaf shredder, which can help you get your yard work completed without the mess or dozen of plastic bags. This mulcher can handle grass, thatch, leaves and even pine needles. It has a 5 amp motor, so it can turn eleven bags of leaves into one. Isn’t it easier to take one bag of garbage to the curb instead of eleven?

If you don’t want to throw out your mulched leaves, you can add them to your existing compost bin. Plus, by mulching the leaves, you reduce your use of plastic garbage bags.

After reading a few chapters from your captivating novel, you settle into bed, pull the covers over your shoulders and turn to your side to go to sleep. However, there’s one thing stopping you from going to sleep: the bedroom light. Now you have to get out of bed and turn it off, but what if you had a light switch right at your fingertips?

With the Instant Switch, you can turn off your bedroom light right from your bed. Installation is easy, because you don’t have to go through your drywall or pull wires. The switch contains a device that will control your light as long as it’s sitting in between the actual light switch and the lighting fixture. It has an on/off switch as well as a pop-in/out wall bracket. The Instant Switch can be 60 feet away from the lamp you want to control. So now you don’t have to get up to turn off the light when you’re already relaxed.