Selecting interior trim for your house can be a challenging task. But there’s a good trick you can use to help you make the right choices.

Trim is known as “casing” and “crown molding” in the business of construction and architecture. It includes the pieces of wood around windows and doors, baseboards, chair-rails, and crown molding. Modern style houses usually have a minimum of casing or trim. But more traditional style homes might have quite a lot of casing and crown molding. Sooner or later, you will have to select and/or approve these items. (more…)

Are some of your bedrooms too hot or too cold? This is a common problem in new homes. Often the master bedroom will be fine, but the other rooms get too cold or too hot during the night. The culprit is not necessarily your Heating and Air Conditioning unit. The culprit is the closed door.

Your guests won’t tell you if you have a problem. They’re too polite. Your kids probably have their door open when they are small and don’t have a problem.  Your teenagers probably don’t talk to you much anyway. How can you know if there’s a problem? It’s a good idea to spend a night in each of the other bedrooms in your house, particularly the guest room, if you have one, to see how the temperature goes with the door closed for eight hours. And do this on a cold night and a hot night. You might be surprised at what you find. (more…)

As this cold winter wears on, we all think of ways to warm our chilly bones. One great way to do that is to spend some time in a sauna. Not only will you warm your body to the bone. You’ll enjoy the emotional and health benefits the dry heat can bring.

I have designed many houses that included a sauna. It can be an important part of a complete home spa experience. The easiest way to build one is to buy one of the prefabricated units, such as those offered by Finlandia Sauna or Cedarbrook Sauna. These are easily assembled and can sit in the corner of an existing room. They are great to have in your exercise room or as part of a nice luxury bathroom. (more…)

At this time of year, it seems everyone is making their predictions for 2010. Why should I be any different. But my predicitions come with some advice. So here goes.

First, the housing market will slowly recover, but it won’t feel like a recovery. It will be like suffering from a fever of 102 degrees and now it’s only 100 degrees. You feel a little better, but still feel poorly. Unfortunately, there is a lot of housing inventory still out there to be absorbed. That is going to take a while. (more…)

Your Family Room or Great Room may be difficult to design if you want to arrange furniture to view television and your fireplace at the same time. You are presented with what I call the Television and Fireplace Location Dilemma.

Traditionally, fireplaces were placed in the center of the wall. The furniture was then grouped around it. When television first entered the American home, the screens were small and the television was simply another piece of furniture. Today, television screens are large and arguably the most prominent feature in the room. Usually the television is placed on another wall, so it has enough space. But this means your furniture arrangement must “aim” at both the fireplace and television at the same time. This is pretty hard to do. One poor solution that often is presented is to place the television above the fireplace. This helps with the furniture arrangement, but placing the television at this height only works if you are lying in bed while watching. If you are seated in a sofa or a chair, this is too high and puts an uncomfortable strain on your neck. Are there any other solutions to this dilemma? (more…)

It’s the holiday season and that means your house must adapt to accommodate a different number of occupants than normal. When design your new house or design your remodeling project, consider making your house flexible by thinking through how your house will live during the holidays.

I know that in our house, with four adult children and their family and friends visiting, we often have a packed house. We wanted a house that was not too big, but would be able to adapt to different needs. We wanted a house that was flexible. (more…)

I’m very pleased to hear that my book, Designing Your Perfect House, is proving to be valuable to people who are building or remodeling. When I wrote it, I really hoped it would become an important resource for people and help them feel more “in control” of the building process. So it heartens me to receive questions like this one concerning the wood floors shown in the book photos.

We are starting to select the different materials around the house.  Your beautiful pictures have been a great inspiration…  I particularly like your wooden floors on pages 114

Page 114 Photo from "Designing Your Perfect House"

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 Joyce L. asked:

Thank you for the wonderful site! I am about to “redo” my kitchen. We will be installing light coloured tiles in the kitchen and have new oak floors in the rest of the house. The cabinets are of course the original goldish coloured, raised panel oak cabinets from the 80′s. The problem is that the finish on some of the cabinets almost looks new while other cabinet doors, especially those around the sink and stove area, are in dire need of refinishing. I’m afraid that if I try to refinish some of the cabinets they will not match the existing 30 year old wood/stain of the others. And refinishing all of the cabinets seems like too daunting a task. I’m almost afraid to ask this question but…I have heard that a grain filler can be applied to all the cabinets and then they could be …primed and painted (maybe white, I’m thinking country blue). There seems to be alot of controversy over painting wood, especially oak due to the pores. I would appreciate your advice.  (more…)

What are the current trends in house design when it comes to the design of luxury bathrooms? Well, bathrooms are not just a utilitarian room anymore. It’s all about the “spa” experience. Let me run through a few bathroom design and amenity requests I hear more and more.

This soaking tub set in a secluded alcove gives a spa feel to this luxury bathroom

The bath is now the oasis, the place to retreat from the hectic world. soaking tubs are still there, altough more people claim they don’t have time to use them. But those people who do like them to be an experience. Reading, meditating, and just zoning out are the attraction. Plus spa tubs add to the look of the room, giving you the sensation of being somewhere you could relax, even if you don’t have the time right now. (more…)

In today’s economy with the big downturn in homebuilding and construction hurting every builder, negotiating can be more effective than ever. But some methods of negotiating can be more effective than others.

Don’t overplay your hand. You might be holding all the cards right now, since every builder is very hungry for work. But pushing too hard can cause the builder to dig in and not want to negotiate no matter what. Effective negotiations should always leave both parties, the builder and yourself, feeling each came out well and didn’t have to give up too much. (more…)