Luxury Housing Trends & Home Improvement Ideas

A hand-held shower can be nice for getting at those hard-to-reach places, but they’re rarely sold in American showerhead kits.

Now you can have it all with the In2ition shower. Available in four- or five-spray options, the two-in-one head offers a three-way diverter that lets you use the entire head at once, the outer core, or the hand-held shower that rests in the center.

The hand shower features two massage options and an aerated “champagne spray” that’s designed to give you the spa treatment every time you bathe. The whole unit looks pretty sleek, too, so it should fit into your modern bathroom.

From Alsons.

If you’re tired of being tied to the grid, or just like the idea of saving some money down the road (when energy prices could be higher) by investing in an alternative energy source today, you could look into wind turbines. They can be an option in parts of the country where solar may not work as well. Windmills have been providing energy for ages, and modern technology is making turbines more efficient than ever. They’re even something you can look into if you live in the city or suburbs.

U.S. wind maps show the strongest and most dependable gusts are in the middle states, off the coasts, and near mountains. It takes 8-mph winds to kick an average turbine into gear and 15 mph for it to generate electricity. You can get residential wind turbines capable of generating 1 kW to 10 kW.  A 10-kW unit can completely power an average home during good wind conditions, and it might even make extra to sell back to the grid.

Wind Turbine Cost

According to Harnessing the Wind, an article over at Custom Home Magazine, “Most residential systems cost $15,000 to $20,000 installed, say turbine dealers. But the figure is dramatically reduced by federal tax credits, as well as state rebates and tax credits, low-interest loans, and utility incentives.”

If you’d like to work on your swing while you’re watching the kids play in the backyard, a golf net may be in order.

The eight-food-wide Callaway Quad Net lets you swing your heart out without leaving the deck. It features “super strong mesh” and is equipped with an “ultra quiet” hanging target in the center, so you won’t wake up the neighbors if you’re out there practicing at dawn. The net feeds the balls back to the front for easy retrieval.

It breaks down and stores in a nylon carry bag, so you needn’t leave it set up in the yard all the time.

About $200 at Amazon: Callaway Gold Net

Want to wow guests who stay for the evening? A fire pit is nice, but a fire pillar would be even more memorable.

This “Indoor Outdoor Fire Pillar” from Sharper Image “combines the drama of a medieval torch and the warm ambiance of an indoor fireplace in a sleek modern design.”

It’s made from carbon steel and tempered glass to showcase flames that can light up your patio or deck at night. (It can be used indoors, too, though that might make for a strange look in the living room!).

Available in chrome, black or white, the fire pillar can burn for up to 2.5 hours before needing refueling. Every pillar comes with a lighter, snuffer and a quart of fuel to give you a head start on the indoor fireplace atmosphere.

$280

If you like the entertain, and your current freezer isn’t keeping up with the demands of your thirsty guests, you can boost your cube output with an additional ice maker.

This countertop ice maker can crank out 18 1/2 pounds of ice in eight hours and only requires eight minutes to plop a 12-cube batch into your hands. It’s not a noisy behemoth either. Small enough to be tucked onto the counter with your other kitchen appliances, the ice maker “did not even register a reading on the decibel meter” during sound tests.

To use it, all you have to do is fill it with water, pick an ice cube size (three options), and push the start button. Easy peasy.

$250 at Hammacher Schlemmer:

The “Best Countertop Ice Maker”

While residential saunas don’t usually come standard in homes, lots of folks choose to add this upgrade. Just look online and you can find examples of the numerous health benefits one can receive from spending time in a sauna, and it can feel pretty good too!

We’ve looked at a few of these units before (the one-person 4×4 foot sauna, do-it-yourself sauna kits, and stand-alone outdoor saunas for example), but perhaps nothing so grand as these contemporary home saunas from Kung Sauna.

These luxury units would be a fabulous addition to any modern bathroom.

If you’re getting tired of the summer heat, but you’d still like to spend some time outside, you could add an outdoor fan to your deck or patio.

The Lasko 50″ Outdoor Fan looks more like an architectural element than some random noise-maker stuck in the middle of the area, and it includes a light as well, so you can find a use for it year round.

It has three speed settings, and the blowing air is supposed to keep mosquitoes out of the area. There’s a cover (additional) you can get for it if you want to keep it outdoors when the weather gets bad.

$275 at Amazon: Lasko Outdoor Fan

If you like the rustic look and love the idea of furniture made from reclaimed wood instead of new timber, then here’s a piece you can check out:

This douglas fir platform bed is sustainably hand-made using wood from old buildings found in the Los Angeles area. The boards are 12″ – 13″ wide and frame the queen-sized bed, replacing the need for side tables. “Substantial and airy at the same time, the clearing underneath the bed allows for tons of light to pass under.”

The bed is the work of Croft House, an Etsy seller with a number of reclaimed furnishings to offer. This particular piece will run you $1750.

There are lots of modern decking options these days, and we’ve looked at a few of them:

• Residential Steel Decking Offers Low Maintenance Alternative to Wood
• “Tropics” Composite Decking Looks Like Exotic Hardwood
• Eco-friendly Rubber Composite Decking Made from Recycled Tires
• Your Dream Deck Could be Made from… Rice

But, at the end of the day, many homeowners prefer good, old-fashioned wood.

Redwood is a popular choice since it’s attractive and holds up better than many other species, and maintenance requirements aren’t usually huge. “Sweeping and clearing the debris on top of and in between decking boards helps prevent mildew, fungus and algae growth. A further rinsing with a garden hose will remove the dirt and grime, while the stubborn build-up can be removed by scrubbing with a non-ferrous bristle brush and a solution of warm water and a mild detergent. Rinse afterward. Typically, this is enough to keep your deck in good order.”

Picture and information from the California Redwood Company.

Since the bathroom is small, at least compared to the rest of the house, it’s often a place where homeowners choose to go for the high-end luxury look and feel. It makes sense since this is the quiet getaway for many families, and a pleasant space can make for a home spa experience.

The beautiful natural stone and woods Bati Bali uses to create sinks, vanities, shower trays, and more is sure to fit in with the home spa concept. The company’s goal “is to provide the user with a series of harmonizing states of cleansing, washing and showering the entire body under spring water and with creatively combining stone and water.”

The Dita Vanity shown below is from their Coralia collection and is sure to offer a peaceful, zen feel in the bathroom.