The Importance of a Green Home Design

Posted by ste01153 | Home Design | Tuesday 6 September 2011 9:06 pm

When you create a green home design, you are contributing to preserving our planet’s natural resources. In addition, you are helping to eliminate greenhouse gases, which are the main cause of global warming. Besides improving the health of the planet, you can enjoy savings on your energy bills. This can be done by purchasing appliances that are energy efficient, selecting eco-friendly building materials and practicing energy saving measures.

Using recycled materials are the best way to achieve a green home design. Your builder, local home improvement store, or interior design websites have a wealth of information about instituting eco-friendly materials in every room of your house. For example, in the kitchen and bath, recycled counter tops made with paper stone are gaining in popularity over those made from granite.

The quickest road to a green home design is the use of energy efficient appliances, such as refrigerators, stoves, washers, dryers, televisions, air conditioners and small electrical items. Whenever purchasing small and large appliances, buy those with the Energy Star label. The seal of approval issued by the U.S. Department of Energy and the Department of Environmental Protection Agency means the appliance prevents global warming by reducing energy consumption.

A green home design extends to a home’s contents. One major area is the furniture, such as sofas, chairs, bureaus, tables and desks. Rather than buy new furnishings when they are outdated or when you redesign a room, consider whether the piece can be repainted, refinished, restained, or dressed in a slipcover. For worn out furniture pieces, determine whether it can be reupholstered or recycled.

There are various kinds of flooring that go hand in hand with a green home design. Cork and bamboo are two effective green offerings that provide additional benefits than traditional hard wood flooring. They come in a variety of color and style options, perform well in high traffic areas and look great.

A green home design should include dimmer switches. They can be easily installed in new homes under construction, as well as in existing homes. This simple switch can minimize energy consumption, which is a good thing for our planet. It can also put extra money in your pocket since you’re saving on energy use. That translates into a lower electric bill.

Complementing a green home design are other environmentally friendly measures that save our resources. They are the four Rs: recycling, reusing items in other ways instead of discarding them, restoring instead of buying new and reducing waste. Evaluate your home practices to see how you can enhance your go green pledge.

A green home design helps to preserve our natural resources and keeps our planet healthy. Going green doesn’t cost anything extra, especially when you consider the cost savings in the long run. Lighting changes, for example, instantly pays for itself. When you replace standard incandescent light bulbs with energy efficient luminescent ones, you conserve energy and realize a significant savings on your electric bill.

Modern Interior Home Design – Equal Clean Lines

Posted by ste01153 | Home Design | Friday 26 August 2011 7:41 am

Interior design is open to little bit of interpretation and it is an art and what a person thinks as rural or rustic might seem country for the other. But, we do have problems in understanding the current trend interior designs as most of them see this in the similar way. Clear lines without much messy look are the most accepted interpretations for current day home interior design and often it is seen or termed as contemporary too.

The invention of plasma TVs and flat screen LCD have worked wonders with respect to interior design for home theater. Since the current trend or look is contemporary and sleek with neat lines and no messy details and the perfect ones are the flat screens. To add up to the current look, you need have the Television mounted onto the wall, ensue it is in a wall stud or can even keep it over a anchored pedestal similar to an entertainment center manufactured out of steel, wood or glass.

You would not see any comfortable adjustable chair or a lumpy sofa in the interior design home of a living room. Rather you can find contoured furnishing in various angles, shapes, and materials such as chrome, metal sleek wood or glass.

You really have no limits to the various colors you can select when it pertains to interior home design used in your furniture but you might not find any patterns that seem to be fussy or busy or chintz. Bold and bright colors like lime green, red and orange can see be seen in a home with modern interior home design as similar to the much muted or dark colors like gray, black, purple or even dark brown. Though you have different patterns in the current look, these are neat pinstripes that are typical in nature or something which might not be interpreted as busy.

You also find big textures in modern home design for interiors and this can be found in the form of curtains, rugs and also the linen materials. In contrary to smooth and sleek can be identified in the contemporary or modern look hence you might also find sheets of satin paired along with nubby looking solid color, organic or a quilted rug or blanket.

Geometric shapes, glass and interesting contours are mostly found in the current day interior design for homes in opposite to boxy design and warm woods. Frosted glass for lamps, glass tables or even cabinets with glass do set off a specific interior design home look. Using a metal, like metal framing done for a glass table or glowing legs of a metal chair or the cabinet pulls made from chrome are examples of the other styles of contemporary decoration.

Pole Barn Home Design

Posted by ste01153 | Home Design | Saturday 16 July 2011 4:48 am

Pole Barn Home Design

Can a pole building be designed to be used as a home?

Yes, post frame buildingdesign can be used to build a home. This type of construction is prevalent in the mid west and east coast for homes and commercial typestructures. Post frame design is often muchmore cost effective, depending on the plan, greatly due to the lack of a foundation and often less materials are needed for framing. Much of the reason there are less materials needed for framing is because materials are used more efficiently in post frame design. Of course, the complexity of the design dictates the cost effectiveness. If the design has a roof other than a basic gable style(hips & valleys) or uses large spans between the posts on the eave wall side, the cost effectiveness is oftendiminished. Not to say tha a complex design can’t be done, its just not as cost effective. In many cases, a pole building can be designed to look like any other stick built home.

Post framed homes are becoming more and more popular all over the United States. So, if you’re looking at an economical and unique option for your next home, a pole building home may be for you!

Please note that in most jurisdictions, your post frame home plans must be designed and approved as a residential dwelling. Your design engineer should know of the building’s intended usage so it can be designed to comply with local building codes.

Small Home Design – Joining the Small Home Craze

Posted by ste01153 | Home Design | Saturday 2 July 2011 4:49 pm

Is it the economy? Is it the concern over the earth and our ecosystem? In case you haven’t heard, there is a movement … some would say a craze, but small is in when it comes to home designs and new home building.

Are you thinking of building a small home? Let’s talk about it.

Question: What are the advantages of a small home design?

Answer:

As I said, a lot of people are looking at smaller and smaller homes. And this isn’t just for second homes or vacation homes. The trend now is to care for the environment and building smaller homes, even if they are quality and luxurious homes, makes a lot of sense.

It is commonly believed that homes and buildings represent the biggest consumption of energy in the world today.

Small House Advantages

Why is a small house design something for you to consider? Let’s take a look at some of the advantages of using a small home design to build your home:

Small houses use less energy to operate
They take less energy and effort to build
Small homes need fewer building materials to build
They are less expensive to build
Small home designs require a smaller footprint on the earth
They are easier and cheaper to clean and maintain

Less energy means more savings each month for the homeowner. Fewer building materials means less pollution during manufacturing. A smaller footprint means more earth is left untouched and green.

Smaller Homes Require Better Design

So, if you don’t need the space, and especially if your house is designed to maximize the use of every square inch, a small home can be ideal. Just be sure not to shortchange yourself out of space you truly need.

Use experienced and creative professional designers like architects and residential designers to get the most of your small house design. Your home should be comfortable and convenient or you will resent what is missing and it won’t serve you well at all. Don’t build small for small’s sake alone.

Plan, strategize, get help, and keep learning!

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