You’d be surprised how useful beautiful built-in cabinetry, including cupboards, drawers, shelving and more, can be in almost any room of your home. Sure, built-ins can always be created after the fact, but they often scream of afterthought.
If you are already hiring skilled custom home builders to create your ideal house, think through your needs for each space and plan right from the start for any and all functional, good-looking features that can be integrated as part of the original design, rather than squeezed in down the road. Great custom cabinetry should be high on the list.
Efficiency and Elegance Go Hand in Hand
Who do you know who can claim they have sufficient storage space and wouldn’t appreciate the benefits of a number of attractive built-in systems that more than Continue Reading…
We live in a region with mountains and hillsides so building a custom home on a hill isn’t out of the question.
Building our homes on those hills give us an unparalleled viewpoint to look out from, often with beautiful vistas.
Not the first, but maybe the most famous house on a hillside is Frank Lloyd Wright’s design of a home named Falling Water, for the Kaufmann family. Precariously balanced on a hillside in Mill Run, Pennsylvania, it is not only on the hill, but is built directly over a waterfall.
We don’t all have waterfalls in our backyards, but we still may be able to take advantage of what geographical opportunities our properties afford us.
Here Are Five Things to Consider When Building YOUR Custom Home on a Hill
1) FLOOR PLAN
- Think like Mr. Wright did and consider making your home part of the land, not just built on it. Set your home into the landscape to take best advantage of its properties.
- Include your living space, where you spend most your time, on the Continue Reading…
Preparing to consult with new home builders about creating your vision of the perfect living space is an exciting experience, but also one filled with uncertainty. If you’ve been browsing through architectural magazines and online design sites, you may have finally found what seems like the ideal floor plan for your needs. Flooded with relief, you come prepared to the first meeting and unveil the specifications you want them to duplicate.
More often than not, however, you can’t just take an established design and recreate it in any location. If that’s disappointing news, there is a bright side.
New Home Builders Expertly Guide Design Decisions
Beware of finding a home design that you absolutely love, determined to clone it nail for nail. It may look great on glossy paper or your laptop screen, but do you have the know-how to Continue Reading…
When it comes to kitchen renovations, plenty of factors contribute to the final wow factor. Something as seemingly basic as the choice of kitchen faucet will affect the overall look and feel of the project.
One of the most practical items is also a striking accent piece that can make or break the look for a discerning kitchen designer. Whether cleaning up after a meal, running the garb or filling a pot to make pasta, you use your faucet frequently and in addition to great esthetics, will want to select one that stands up to the demands.
Consider each of these factors when choosing a kitchen faucet:
- Single-handle or two-handle?
- Special features and add-ons
Faucets and the Big Finish
Kitchen faucets come in an impressive range of styles and finishes. Handle designs include solid levers, crosses, loops and knobs, and spouts vary from high arc to low arc with pullout spray wands. Note that more spout designs are available among two-handle faucets, as the spout is unrestricted by temperature adjustment controls.
While it’s easy to assume that kitchen faucets are limited to the functionality of stainless steel, there are more faucet finishes to choose from, including: Continue Reading…
When planning for home renovations, excitement takes hold and it’s so easy to get carried away by the vision of what you want. There’s nothing wrong with imaginative ideas or dreaming of a great end result. But the planning must also keep its proverbial feet on the ground and go hand in hand with establishing the project’s achievability.
A huge part of the initial planning stage that many homeowners fail to consider is a feasibility study. In a sense, this is where dreams meet reality, so that even apparently minor plans and larger, lofty concepts can be looked at carefully for their viability before anyone even swings a crowbar or lifts a hammer.
Dreams vs. Reality: Make Sure You’re on Track
You may be looking to extend the footprint of the house or create another story for your growing family. Maybe it’s something as seemingly simple as adding a back deck or Continue Reading…
Thinking of how to renovate for more space in your home?
Maybe you have a growing family, or maybe you just need some breathing space.
You need additional bedrooms, or you want to create that luxury ‘great room’ and you just don’t have the space.
Wait!
Maybe you do!
Call in your professional design + build team and they will walk you through the 5 things to consider when you need more space. For the items listed here, City regulations and by-laws will need to be reviewed, please talk to your design + build partner.
1. Basement Renovation
- Reclaim your basement! It’s most likely the same square footage of your main floor foot-print and therefore has a lot to offer
- Create additional bedrooms for a growing family, or for added privacy that a teenager wants; or for guests. Remember that you will need to include a window which acts as a means of egress
- Do you have a sloping property? You may be able to create a basement walk-out to your backyard. Perhaps a newly renovated rec-room including a kitchenette and direct access to Continue Reading…
Though many people use the terms “interior design” and “interior decorating” to refer to the results of one and the same profession, there are definite differences worth knowing about, especially if you’re in the market to involve one or the other in your home design process. Most good custom home builders will have at least one kind of skilled and creative designer working as part of their team.
A Closer Look at Design and Decoration
Interior Designer
Schooling & credentials:
- Interior design profession requires specific schooling and formal training
- Work usually includes CAD (computer-aided design) training, drawing, space planning and architecture
- Graduates often apprentice with established registered interior designer before working on an independent basis
- Most states and provinces require interior professionals to Continue Reading…
If you are embarking on a kitchen renovation you need to consider these ‘top 10 kitchen renovation must haves’ when planning your kitchen to be not only good, but great!
Timeless Design
Consider your house as a whole. What year was it built? What is the overall style? Ideally your home should flow from room to room, so placing a modern kitchen in a traditional home might not work.
Once you have the style nailed down, the process of selecting fixtures and finishes is easier. Keep in mind the most expensive items … cabinets, counters and appliances should be timeless. Items like paint and accessories are easy to change with trends and your mood.
Layout and Flow
This is crucial. There are tried and true ‘work triangle’ options. Attention should be placed on appliance doors to ensure they are out of traffic patterns and don’t open into each other. Study the house as a whole to decide if opening a wall or creating an addition is an option.
Storage Areas in Your Kitchen Renovation
Here is where you need to think creatively and efficiently.
One key is to go UP to maximize storage. Many older kitchens were designed with Continue Reading…
A House Lift Home Renovation For a Custom Home in West Vancouver
Do you live in an older or heritage home? Are you considering a home renovation? Do you need more space for your family?
West Vancouver is a beautiful area filled with architecturally stunning heritage homes. There are several options available to you to find that space you need, while maintaining your homes’ beautiful heritage appeal.
Consider a house lift renovation – lifting your home for more space – plus, you can add in all of the other renovation touches that you want.
Here are a few things to think about in considering a house lift renovation:
First: determine if your home is classified as ‘heritage’. You can do this online by visiting your local city hall building department webpage.
Second: Contact a design /build team to walk you through Continue Reading…
In the interest of keeping up to date with the latest possibilities on the Vancouver laneway housing scene, it’s important to note, especially if you’re considering having one constructed on your property, that some changes to the regulations have recently been proposed. Supporters of laneway homes are optimistic.
The potential changes aim to both:
- fast-track processes of approval for one-storey coach houses
- expand zoning to allow them in all single-family residential zones.
The city estimates that through the suggested changes in zoning, another approximately 2,800 lots would be made available for the development of laneway homes, and that since the recommended new regulations would allow for the building of 644-square-foot houses on 33-foot lots, the resulting home would be made even “more liveable.”
Laneway Homes Bring Multiple Advantages
Ultimately, the City of Vancouver’s admirable aim is to give rise to more sustainable, single-family, residential communities, in turn providing more Continue Reading…
