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Basements Taken to a New Level
Specialty rooms, like this basement bar, can easly be yours with a smart basement or lower-level remodel.
The basement — once a place for storage, HVAC equipment and the laundry — is rapidly becoming a functional living space that only your dreams and budget can restrain.
High tech media rooms, home movie theaters, upscale wine cellars, commercial-quality bars and extra bedrooms, baths and even secondary kitchens are all becoming realties to today’s homeowners looking to transform once underutilized space in their homes.
New Home Addition: Up or Out?
When considering building a home addition onto an existing structure, check first with an architect or a structural engineer if the existing structure will support the weight of an additional level.
So you’re thinking of adding onto your home with an addition. Maybe it’s extra living space to accommodate a growing family. Perhaps your current home’s layout just never lived up to your needs. Or maybe you’ve always wanted a luxury master bedroom and bathroom suite, larger great room or additional bedrooms. Whatever the reason, when you’re adding to your home, you have two options — up or out.
Next Home Design Trend? The Return of the Library
Large windows, parque flooring, spacious seating areas and even floor-to-ceiling shelves are all typcial features of both traditional -- and today's -- home libraries.
Looking for a new trend in luxury home design? It’s the return of the library of today’s upscale homes. While many might dream of super-sized flat screen TVs, home automation or kitchens that Wolfgang Puck would feel at home in, today’s real “smart homes” have dedicated space for collecting, reading and displaying books and homeowner’s favorite collections of items.
Whether a peaceful inner sanctum or expansive room of two-story bookshelves, a custom-designed library adds a distinct level of sophistication to any home. These rooms are often clad in luxurious and sometimes exotic woods, feature intricate parques and frequently sitting areas, reading nooks, book bars and large, inviting fireplaces.
Even homes with a contemporary design can contain rooms exclusively for displaying and reading books. In cases like these, there tends to be a lack of the “heavier” woods like oak and mahogany, and more stand alone bookshelves and display cases with an open, airy feel.
Pros and Cons of Home Additions
A smartly-designed home addition increases livable space, can add value to your home and is designed by you, not a previous owner.
With the housing market the way it is currently, many homeowners looking for more living space for an expanding family or just those desiring a change might be discouraged when looking at what they can expect as a sale price for their current home. One alternative to certainly consider is an addition to rearrange living spaces, improve the path of traffic through your home, increase the amount of usable space and make existing rooms more modern and functional.
A home addition is not without its pros and cons, however, and today we’ll take a closer look at both so you can have a better idea of what a project of this size and scope entails.
Advantages of an addition
High cost to value ratio. According to an About.com report on the payback you can expect from various types of home remodeling and renovating projects, a mid-range two-story addition to an existing home tends to give a high resale value back to the home. Even additions such as bathrooms, remodeling of family rooms and kitchen should result in a moderate increase in the resale value of your home.
Planning the Ultimate Luxury Master Bath Retreat
Your new bathroom spa should be designed as a peaceful retreat -- you'll soon find it becoming your favorite area of your home.
Today’s consumers desire a getaway retreat within their home where they can do more than just shave and shower — they are often looking for a luxurious home spa. In fact, most remodeling projects involve a major re-do of the master bathroom, transforming it into an important component of a new master suite — a sanctuary to begin the day or an escape from daily stress.
One of the challenges of designing and creating a home bathroom spa is finding space in the home for the inevitable expansion of this new, larger room (or subset of smaller rooms). One solution is to steal space from a little-used closet or under-utilized bedroom. Another is to build an addition. In either case, careful planning is crucial to maximize the space gained.
