Luxury Housing Trends & Home Improvement Ideas

In some circles, steampunk is all the rage. People are dressing in Victorian styles and creating gadgets that one might have found in the Age of Steam (had it lasted a little longer!).

These “macchine volanti” tiles bring to mind some of the creative mechanical constructs and airships from the fantasy genre.

Available in two- and four-piece sets, the various tiles are made with hand-applied decals on a matte white base or a glossy base.

The size runs 20×20 cm, and there are twenty-four decorations to choose from. Mix and match or just repeat the same theme on your wall.

From Ceramica Bardelli

Paint isn’t the only way to add interest to your walls. Three-dimensional panels can perk up a bland area and insert a little texture too.

“Inhabit’s Embossed Wall Flats are designed to expand in any direction. With an automatic pattern repeat, these wall tiles are simple, modern, versatile and goof-proof. You can cover an existing wall, help disguise a not-so-smooth wall or add a modern pattern to any room setting.

They are good for the environment too, because they are made from bamboo pulp, one of the world’s most renewable resources. No trees were harmed in the making of this product.

Customize them by rotating every other tile or row, mix-and-match patterns or paint them to coordinate with your decor. The rule is there are no rules and the important thing is to have fun with it. It’s low stress, low commitment and a big payoff in the way these tiles will impact a space.”

Several panel designs are available through Velocity Art and Design.

Some people like to show off their wine collections, while others want to keep their valuables safe, secure, and hidden from prying eyes. Hey, if you spent a fortune on those treasured vintages, you don’t want neighbors coming over and expecting you to share, right?

UK-based Spiral Cellars can help you stash a huge collection of bottles beneath a trapdoor in your floor. Whether you want your wine under the living room, your library, or even your garage, the company’s engineers will help you custom design a scenario that works for you.

For a smaller collection, you could have your bottle-filled spiral descend a couple of feet beneath the floor. For a larger collection, include a staircase all the way into the bowels of the earth. Have the trapdoor blend in with the floor to hide your valuable vintages or go for a clear model that lets people peep into your oh-so-cool storage space.

The price for a spiral wine cellar? Well, you didn’t expect it to be cheap, did you? Expect to pay $22,000 and up.

Cool gallery and more information on the company’s site.

Reclaimed wood is popular amongst homeowners looking to use eco-friendly materials in their construction or remodeling projects. The boards often come from old barns or fences that would have once simply been thrown in landfills. There’s still plenty of life left in the wood, and since it’s often from old-growth trees, in many ways its preferable to the new tree-farm stuff.

Reclaimed wood can be put to many uses in the home. Flooring is a popular one, but there are other places it can spruce up as house too. In the picture below, the homeowner is adding interest to a ceiling with old wood boards.

The boards are reclaimed from Wyoming snow fence:

“This product is radically different from barn wood or wood reclaimed from other old structures, in that snow fence has never been treated with any chemicals and has never had exposure to lead-based paints. Unlike other reclaimed wood that is treated, snow fence has no off-gassing and no VOC’s, improving indoor air quality. Wyoming’s arid wind naturally dries the snow fence for decades to produce intensely beautiful, perfectly dried reclaimed boards. This dimensional lumber is a mixture of douglas fir, ponderosa pine, lodgepole pine, and spruce.”

From Centennial Woods

If you’ve been wanting to harness the free energy of solar power, but you’re not quite ready for the investment of a roof full of solar panels, here’s a more affordable way to get started:

This Solar Attic Fan can reduce the cooling load (and your energy bills) required by your air conditioner, by getting rid of some of the hot air lurking in your attic. It doesn’t require any wiring or anything special for installation. It has a venting capacity of 1800 square feet of attic space per fan.

It’s made from aircraft grade aluminum and comes with a 25-year warranty. You can pick it up at Amazon:

Solar Attic Fan

If you’re planning a landscaping project to improve the look of your yard or outdoor entertaining area, you might work a fountain into the design. They make attractive focal points, and they can even cool things off with their mist — nice if you live in a dry desert climate.

From standing fountains to hanging ones to models built into the walls, you can work them into just about any design. It’s hard to give a cost estimate, since they can range from a hundred dollars for a small out-of-the-box model to thousands of dollars for custom models crafted by stone workers.

The pictures below can offer some ideas, and you can also check out books such as Fountains & Waterfalls: Design Ideas and Installation Techniques for Natural Looking Water Features and All About Building Waterfalls, Ponds, and Streams.

via Exalted Fountains

via Crystal Cove Pools

via Kinetic Fountains

Looking for a place to get away from the hustle and bustle of the family while not having to walk more than 10 yards from the main house? Perhaps you need a detached home office or studio. And perhaps you’d like to spend $40,000 for something rather unique. Such as the Inspiration Archipod.

Interesting features include:

– Access through a locking gull-wing door that raises and lowers assisted by an air piston.

– Double insulated, plastered, and painted walls, resulting in a seamless 12 1/2′ diameter x 8 1/4′ high interior space with no visible joints.

– A roof with a “6′ diameter polycarbonate dome [that] opens on a hinge to let in natural light and the invigorating scents of spring.”

– And don’t forget the snazzy Western Red Cedar shingles.

Available at Hammacher Schlemmer.

It’s hard to beat the look of natural stone, but the price can deter many folks from installing it, especially if they intend to cover a large area. We’ve looked at vinyl tiles made to mimic natural stone, but it’s tough to fool folks with vinyl. Porcelain is another story.

The handsome and sturdy Buenos Aires Mood tiles from Nemo just might do the job.

The rectified porcelain comes in four sumptuous tone-on-tone colors with quiet, fluid shading achieved via an innovative printing technology. The complementary colorways can be blended together to create lively installations; multiple sizes and textures allow for maximum design versatility. Suitable for interior walls, floors, and exterior walls in both residential and commercial and applications.

Cedar siding is beautiful–when it’s installed–but real wood weathers and fades with time and requires a lot of maintenance to keep it functional. In damp climates, such as the Pacific Northwest (especially maritime locations), it’s particularly high maintenance. An alternative is a synthetic material that’s designed to look like cedar shingles but doesn’t come with the hassle.

These Cedar Impressions® Double 7″ Staggered Perfection Shingles are an example.

“The authentic cedar woodgrain provides the appearance of real wood, while the staggered pattern creates an impression of cedar shingles that have been hand-sawn and individually applied.”

Some features include:

Double 7″ Staggered Perfection Shingles Offer:
— Patented PanelThermometer™ for precise installation
— Designed and tested to withstand hurricane force winds
— Virtually maintenance-free (no painting) injection-molded, durable polymer
— Lifetime limited warranty

Tile walls are popular choices in bathrooms, since they withstand dampness so well, and they’re also frequently used for kitchen backsplashes. To make solid tiles pop, you can add interesting borders, such as a row of these glass “agates” from Nemo Tile.

“Freeform curves give Agates the weathered look of river rocks washed ashore. Organic in appearance, the pleasing-to-the-touch pebbles are eco-friendly, too: mosaics are crafted from hand-blended glass comprised of 100-percent recycled content.

“Available in 20 soft pastels, the polished forms can be installed in a continuous swath or used as trims to throw a curve into a straightforward run of tile. Impervious to water and frostproof, Agates can be used to clad walls both indoors and out. ”

Don’t worry about installation–you don’t have to paste each agate to the wall by hand. You can get them in mesh sheets, sizes 3″ x 12″ and 6″ x 12″, or wall tiles sized 6″ x 6″ or 12″ x 12″.