Are you thinking about buying or renting a townhouse in the near future? If so, listen up! This is a lesson that you don't want to learn the hard way. If you have a choice, choose to be above (higher altitude) the other tenants in the building rather than on the downslope.
Why?
Here's why...
Continue reading: Townhouse Water Leak
I've posted a gazillion photos of different styles of coffered ceilings in past posts (more here in the ever popular built in bookshelves post), but none quite as grand as the one I'm about to show you now.
This particular coffered ceiling looms a full 12 feet over the floor of the great room (aka, big family room) of this full-blown Victorian home. It is magnificent to see in person. You may not get that chance so here's your next best shot.
Continue reading: Grand Coffered Ceiling
Barrel vaulted ceilings are yet another ceiling style that typical builders don't attempt to incorporate into traditional homes. Custom homes are where you'll typically find them and I've got a couple of examples of barrel vault ceilings on tap...ready to show you right here and now.
If you have a keen interest in different ceiling styles for homes, stay tuned. I'll be putting up a few posts over the next couple of weeks showcasing varying styles from a couple of different homes but mostly from one home in particular that was custom built to mimic classic Victorian residential architecture.
Continue reading: Barrel Vaulted Ceilings
I've never personally seen an induction cooktop until just recently while at the 2008 Fall Atlanta Home Show. Induction cooktops are very expensive (approx. $3,600-$4,000+ for Viking brand 6 coil units, as pictured on the right), but they have an unmistakable cool factor to them, not to mention the technology involved is cutting edge and they are highly energy efficient cooking appliances.
The induction cooktop I saw was made by Viking but the induction coils are made for Viking by a company called Luxine (source). I'm not necessarily recommending Viking, it just happens to be the brand I saw at the home show.
So how does induction cooking technology work and why is this a better way to cook? I wondered these things myself so I started doing a little research and found out some very interesting facts and figures.
Continue reading: Magnetic Induction Cooktops
Have a viewing of this custom made glass tile mosaic kitchen backsplash. One thing is for sure...it is entirely unique.
It is the centerpiece above the soon-to-be-installed (humongous) gas range cooktop. There are a total of 940 1-inch square glass tile pieces. As you can plainly see, the colors are red, black, white and clear amber. Two of those colors happen to be the school colors of the new homeowner's alma mater, the University of Georgia School of Law. Not sure if that's by design or if it was simply chosen to coordinate with the adjoining grand family room...or both. Either way...it looks great and really injects a nice punch of vibrant color to liven things up.
Continue reading: Tile Backsplash
I was searching for some tips on selling your house in today's bloated real estate market. I'm not selling my house but I wanted to know just out of curiosity's sake. HGTV's new real estate website, FrontDoor.com , just happened to have a video slide show that consulted with some of their top real estate and homebuilding industry TV personalities and came up with the Top 9 Home Selling Dos & Don'ts.
What follows is the abbreviated version of their slide show.
Continue reading: Home Selling Tips
I saw some really cool looking outdoor LED lighting products at the 25th Annual Fall Atlanta Home Show recently.
The LED landscape lights (made by RedBird Industries) weren't the only cool thing we spotted at the show...by a long shot. There were all manner of innovative products and loads of really interesting ideas just begging to be noticed. We left the show with a bag full of literature on...well...you name it and I've probably got a pamphlet or business card on it.
The three main reasons that the RedBird LED Lighting booth caught my eye were:
unique LED lighting solutions
the sheer brightness of the lamps themselves
the LED lights on display practically covered the full color spectrum.
Continue reading: Unique Exterior LED Lighting
Undoubtedly one of the most overlooked features, or should I say building materials, used for this Victorian home is the smooth 3/4" solid cypress lap siding. One of the interesting things I found out several months ago after talking to Rhett Bonner was that true Victorian architecture calls for the lap siding to create deep shadow lines.
Remember...back when they were building Victorian homes, all siding being used was solid wood and it was not a mere 5/16", as is available today.
The owners of this home originally wanted fiber cement lap siding (Hardie plank). Hardiplank does not come in 3/4" planks, only 5/16". The Bonner Custom Home team was able to convince the owners to go with the cypress siding to aid in that full-blown Victorian home look...inside and out.
Continue reading: Cypress Lap Siding
The Fun Times Guide To Homebuilding reader (Deb) wrote in not long ago wondering if I had a few more interior photos of the Frank Betz Palmdale craftsman house plan that I mentioned in my March 2008 post featuring a subdivision named Summerlyn.
The answer, of course, is yes...lots of them.
Deb...sit back and gather some ideas for your homebuilding project. This post is with you in mind.
Continue reading: Frank Betz Craftsman Plan
I've begun to notice that more and more homeowners are putting the finishing touch on their landscapes by having concrete landscape curbing professionally installed. As you might imagine, I never see it installed in new homes...only homes that have mature or somewhat mature landscapes.
If you choose to have landscape curbing installed, it's a sign that you are fairly sure that you are happy with your landscaping end result and ready to end this chapter. Although...are you really ever sure that you're truly finished? That's a question that only you can decide.
Continue reading: Landscape Curbing Appeal
Built-In Bookshelves Add A Quality Touch To Custom Homes