Luxury Housing Trends & Home Improvement Ideas

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

If mixing cocktails is a part of your home entertaining agenda, you can impress guests with more than your drinks. Whip out one of these cocktail shakers for a great conversation piece at your home bar:

Nambé Twist 10-Inch Cocktail Shaker

This stunning Twist cocktail shaker was designed for Nambé by Fred Bould, whose creations interweave his love of water, motion, and the spiraling helix shape. The twisted, sculpted sides of the shaker increase the ease of handling the shaker when moist, and beautifully flow into the pointed, cone-shaped top. Made of sand-cast metal and polished to a bright mirror finish, the shaker retains cold remarkably well and can be thoroughly chilled in a freezer before filling with martini ingredients. A thin black rubber ring is integral in the lid and in the removable strainer, to make the press fit nice and snug. With a 16-ounce capacity and height of 10 inches, the shaker comes gift-boxed and ready to impress a favorite cocktail maker.

Norpro Pete the Penguin Cocktail Shaker

Pete the Penguin is stainless steel, comes with a strainer, and holds 24 ounces of fluid.

Metrokane Bullet Cocktail Shaker

The 28-ounce Metrokane Bullet cocktail shaker won’t necessarily make people better bartenders, but it certainly helps them look the part. The art-deco-style Bullet is made of polished 18/8 stainless steel, with smooth lines and a gleaming surface that give any kitchen or den an air of sleek sophistication (think 007). The drip-free spout ensures a minimum of spilling, and the entire unit–which comes packaged in a clear gift box–is dishwasher-safe.

Zebra Striped Glass Cocktail Shaker

Heed the call of the wild and pour up your next exotic cocktail with this bold, hand-blown zebra striped martini shaker. Featuring a unique double-wall, insulated glass design, this sleek cocktail shaker holds up to thirty ounces.

If you love entertaining (and that entertaining involves imbibing beer), but you feel it’s a little too frat-boy to roll an entire keg out to your back porch, perhaps a smaller and more compact beer-dispensing solution is in order.

Avanti’s “Portable Party Pub” CB350S is ready to help you out.

It chills and serves beer from its two 5-liter kegs. A see-through window with interior LED light displays the beverage that’s being dispensed, and a handy shelf gives you a place to store (and chill) your favorite mugs. A digital temperature control and display takes the guesswork out of achieving just the right level of drink coolness.

Perhaps the best feature of the party pub is its compact size and sleek stainless steel design. Your significant other shouldn’t object to having this baby on the counter (whereas a huge keg may be another story!).

Grab it for $250 at the Beverage Factory.

If you love entertaining, and serving up beer is part of that entertaining, you may get a kick out of the Mobile Bongos Beer Bar from Alpina Grills.

As the name suggests, this sleek stainless steel bar comes with four sturdy wheels, so you can move it about on decks, tile, carpets, etc. The specially designed refrigeration system will keep your beer supply at its ideal temperature for several hours, even if you’ve unplugged the unit, so feel free to push the bar out to the pool or other places where electricity isn’t handy.

“Other features include changeable side tops with an optional 31,000 BTU cooking top, 8Kg of ice storage, a gas cylinder compartment which can be used to house a spare keg if the cook top isn’t in place, and an integrated tap system with compressor, CO2 cylinder, drip tray, and tap.”

Yours for a mere $11,000.

More information at Alpina Grills
via Uncrate

Got someone in the house who loves throwing parties and also understands everything the characters say on The Big Bang Theory? This cocktail set was made with the drink-making geek in mind:

Bring a scientific method to your alcohol…

If you can live by these rules, then you can be a certified scientific mixologist: one who is capable of using their immense intelligence to create astonishingly awesome alcoholic beverages. We’ve got your starter set of glassware right here. Beakers, vials and lab-stand right out of a mad-scientist’s laboratory.

$35 at Think Geek (where else?)

If you want to entertain in the backyard, music is a must. We’ve looked at a variety of outdoor speakers that are hidden in the ground or are disguised as a rock or tree stump, but what if you want a unit you can move around and use anywhere?

This portable indoor/outdoor speaker from Hammacher Schlemmer might do the trick:

In evaluations by The Hammacher Schlemmer Institute, this wireless all-weather speaker delivered “great clarity and quality sound,” surpassing all other models for audio quality and signal range… In tests for signal range, the speaker maintained a connection with the included iPod dock transmitter 450′ away when in line of sight outdoors–200′ further then the next closest model. The Best Speaker’s three-channel transmitter operates over the 2.4GHz radio band, instantly jumping to open channels to avoid interference from microwaves and household appliances that jammed other speakers’ signals.

The speaker’s rechargeable NiMH battery provides up to 10 hours of cordless power on a three-hour charge or it can be plugged into AC… Its weather-resistant white ABS cabinet will endure years of outdoor exposure. Transmitter plugs into AC and recharges a docked iPod’s battery.

$800.

If you love spending time in your outdoor living space, and you like to entertain, it’s natural to want a little music now and then. Sure, you can turn up the stereo in the house, so it’s audible out back…or you could put in outdoor speakers so the tunes come in loud and clear while you’re grilling or hanging out by the pool.

Nobody wants ugly speakers perched about the backyard, though, so why not go with something hidden?

The TIC GS-3 150-Watt Outdoor In-Ground Speaker goes straight into the earth, and you won’t even know it’s there unless it’s booming some music up from underfoot.

So far, all the reviews at Amazon (where you can grab the speakers for about $80 are positive):

“Saw these TIC speakers that cost more than my previous set. I was hesitant because of the price and wasnt sure it would be any better. I was glad I was proven wrong. They cost a bit more than some of the lost cost solutions, but the sound is excellent. My backyard is my entertainment area. The sound is amazing: full, rich. They are rather large and requires substantial burying, but the brochure within saw an excellent solution. Purchased a pot and buried them within the pot surround by plants. Wonderful!!!”

If you’re a fan of the rustic ski lodge look, then you might dig this custom “Lodgepool Burl” pool table from Aspen Rustic Billiards. This thing has heft! No need to worry about burglars breaking in and stealing it. (Of course, moving the furniture yourself might be difficult, but, hey, you’ve got people for that, right?)

“Our lodgepole Burl pool tables are made using logs from Colorado and Wyoming. A very unique table handcrafted here in the Roaring Fork Valley near Aspen, this billiard table is sure to capture attention in any rustic retreat.

Each and every angle offers a different view of this wood’s unique character. Lodgepole burl logs are harvested from the high mountains of Wyoming and Colorado. Each log is carefully selected, sanded and finished revealing great character and beauty. It’s sure to make any billiard room an amazing spot to gather.”

The company specializes in high-end custom pool tables, and they have a variety of woods and styles you can choose from, including reclaimed lumber for those eco-conscious billiards players.

Pool games, tennis and basketball can get boring over time, so it’s a good idea to spice up the outdoors with a new game. A game that will get the whole family together.

The Regulation Size Shuffle Board Court is made up of 575 10” x 10” tiles, which can be assembled via their interlocking sides within 45 minutes. These co-polymer tiles are designed for outdoor use, so they’re resistant to warping, fading and decay.

Keep your shuffle board court up during the summer, and be ready to play with family and friends. The tiles will stay 50% cooler, and you can always use a leaf blower to clean them off. Also included with this court are the tournament discs, disc carrier, disc wax, fiberglass cues, instructional DVD and rules.

Own a Harley Davidson? Then you appreciate the style and dependability that this brand of motorcycles has offered over the years. The famous orange and black motif that Davidson is known for can serve as great decor in your man cave or lounge area.

The Harley Davidson H-D Skull Billiard Ball Set is a contemporary collection of billiard balls that features rockin’ skulls. Switch out traditional billiard balls on your table for these rock star ones. Between the white and black and silver and black, they will add an edge to your billiard table.

Enjoy playing a competitive game of pool with friends and family, and create a Harley Davidson themed man cave that everyone will love. With plush, black leather couches and black and white carpeting, you can create a tough guy space.