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Wainscoting Paneling Adds Value and Style To Your Home

Adding wainscoting paneling to a room is a great way to increase your home's value and add classic good looks all at the same time.There are all sorts of wainscoting paneling kits on the market that can make the process much simpler, but when you come across wainscoting paneling that is built from sticks of lumber it's pretty cool to see it in process and admire the transformation and depth it gives a room.That is the subject of my post today.The photos that follow were taken in the Victorian … [Read more...]

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How To Create Window Seat Storage For Comfort and Utility

Well, the economy is currently in a tough spot and the housing market tanked, making this a bad time to move for many people. Or maybe the "less is more" mindset has always been a part of your life and you don't necessarily want to "move up" to a larger, more expensive home. But, like many others, you find you need just a bit more space to make your home more inviting and comfortable.How do you make better use of your current square footage? In my last post, I talked about … [Read more...]

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What You Need to Know to Have Custom Closets Installed In Your Home: DIY or Professional Installation

Creating and planning custom closets in your home is probably one of the best things you can do for yourselves as homeowners. Organization is key to reducing your stress level and having an organized closet is a HUGE step to meeting that goal. Where do you start when you want to plan to have custom closets installed in your home, either professionally installed or a DIY installation? Let's start with how much stuff you have stuffed in your closet. Obviously, custom closets aren't limited to … [Read more...]

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Pierced Brick Walls: A Classic Screen Alternative

Pierced brick walls are a great alternative to traditional screens, such as lattice or some type of natural hedge. Homeowners also use them strictly as walls around the borders of their property rather than screens . Brick walls are definitely more durable and they lend permanence to your landscape. A well-planned landscape with complimentary hardscapes combine to make an attractive garden. Pierced brick provides privacy and air flow while providing only a hint of what's in your garden by … [Read more...]

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The Makings Of A Mudroom

Just like laundry rooms, mudrooms are often times an afterthought by some builders. Obviously, there are house plans which do not incorporate mudrooms into the plan. I applaud the architects that incorporate a mudroom when drawing up the blueprints for a house. It just makes sense. It's one of those features that's really nice to have in a house because it gives the residents somewhere to store their gear and outerwear in an organized fashion upon entering their home, not to mention … [Read more...]

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Laundry Rooms Deserve Great Design

Laundry rooms come in all shapes and sizes. Some are built with convenient cabinets to keep everything out of sight and some with just a wire shelf, or two, to store your laundry essentials. Builders almost treat laundry rooms as afterthoughts, it would seem, in some cases. I just don't get it (shaking my head to and fro). Doing laundry is enough of a chore without having sufficient elbow room to fold laundry, hang up delicates and shirts, and all the other tasks that go along with it. I should … [Read more...]

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Ideas For Hidden Bookcase Doors For Use In Home Libraries (and throughout the home)

If you have a library in your home and shelf space is getting tight, or if you're about to become an empty-nester and want to remodel a bedroom into a library, then you might want to consider some of these options for bookcase doors. Bookcase doors provide an added dimension to any room as well as hide a secret room, home gym, wine cellar or hallway. You get the idea. Bookcase doors come in a variety of styles and shapes dependent upon varying factors such as door frame dimensions, … [Read more...]

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Vern Yip’s Dining Room Design at The Willcox

I've written a couple of articles about The Willcox hotel lobby and Roosevelt Suite located in Aiken, SC recently. As I stated in the first post on The Willcox, there is much history surrounding it, old and new. This post will cover something a little more recent, yet still spectacular. A Vern Yip designed Grand Dining Hall. photo credit via VernYip.com If you've watched any amount of HGTV  (think back to the highly successful Trading Spaces), then you know who Vern Yip is and how … [Read more...]

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Tristan’s Newest Hobby: Home Building Photographer

This blog is primarily about my (our) experiences when we visit new homes, mainly on our home turf, and all of the new and interesting things that home builders choose to do with these new homes. But I can't always make the spur of the moment trips that we make around the corner (and further...sometimes much further) to see the newest homes. That's where my 12 y.o. son, Tristan, comes in. He likes to go with my wife, Sandy, and I to look at houses for fun, too. His favorite thing to do when … [Read more...]

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Woody Ravenscraft’s Unusual, But Practical, Underground Home

Choosing to live in an underground home isn't for everybody. Some might say it's a little extreme! On the other hand, a certain percentage of homeowners may wish they had the opportunity to live in an underground home to save on the high cost of utilities these days. Woody and Wilma Ravenscraft of Greenfield, Ohio (between Cincinnati and Columbus) chose to design and build an underground home for a very simple reason that you might not have thought of. … [Read more...]

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