Showing posts with label
Uniqueness of Your Home's Design.
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Showing posts with label
Uniqueness of Your Home's Design.
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Home » Posts filed under Uniqueness of Your Home's Design
Tuesday, January 3, 2012Saturday, December 17, 2011Tuesday, November 8, 2011Saturday, October 15, 2011Thursday, September 22, 2011Tuesday, August 16, 2011Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Mass produced goods have overtaken the world, leaving little precious hand-made goods to be found. Mass production has also hit the housing market. Track homes litter the highways, filled with one-size-fits-all houses.
Unique handcrafted homes are becoming rare and often retain value better than their vanilla counterparts. Well-constructed custom home designs also tend to sell more quickly even in sluggish markets.
Many people shy away from custom home design due to the time and cost factor; however, many architects can be surprisingly affordable and can help you work within a strict budget, helping you choose the most cost-effective materials.
Custom home design doesn't just pertain to sprawling estates and mansions alone, small cabins, single-level homes, or even futuristic space savers can be created on a reasonable budget. Most architects are happy to work with you to plan whatever size or scope of project you need.
The benefits of choosing customized residences over existing houses are numerous. Besides retaining value better, you have the freedom to create a dwelling that works for you and your family's specific needs. This is especially useful if someone in your household has special needs, such as a difficulty walking.
So not only are you able to create a residence that is aesthetically pleasing, but it can be highly functional for the individual as well. Wheelchair ramps and wider doors can be added for the physically challenged. Cupboards and doors can even be made to suit people shorter than average in stature.
Custom home design also means that you will have ample opportunity to discuss your plans and vision one-on-one with the architects. You'll be closely involved in all aspects and be able to make last-minute decisions and alterations if necessary. You'll have ultimate control over the final outcome to make sure it fits your individual needs.
But with this comes great responsibility. It is important to communicate effectively with the architects and know when compromise is necessary. You want a style you'll love, but remember, you hired a professional architect for a reason. Careful budgeting is also necessary, because even the smallest changes can come with a high price.
If the tailored design is still out of reach price-wise, there are some reasonable alternatives available. Many architects can meet you halfway and offer semi-customized plans. In this instance, an architect will present you with a few different pre-planned designs that can then be further customized or slightly altered.
For example, like the very popular modular kitchens, you can choose cabinetry, flooring, tiles, and appliances as well as other options depending on the arrangement and budget constraints. This is also helpful in narrowing down options if you're feeling overwhelmed by the possibilities of a blank slate.
If you're thinking about a custom home design, many architects and building companies can offer consultations and guidance to help you get started. Setting a budget early on can help you narrow down your choices and have a clear idea of what is possible.
Your dream house may become a reality sooner than you think. Through customized designs, your home can be an original, standing out from the mass-produced crowd.
Tuesday, January 3, 2012Saturday, December 17, 2011Tuesday, November 8, 2011Saturday, October 15, 2011Thursday, September 22, 2011Tuesday, August 16, 2011Tuesday, June 14, 2011
There has been a growing trend among to-be homeowners that are interested in creating custom luxury mansions to celebrate their financial arrival-many are choosing historical estates designs that emulate the grand and majestic homes found in Europe or from American gentry of the mid 19th and 20th centuries. The homes of American entrepreneurs and like Andrew Carnegie, Andrew Mellon and Randall Hurst are being recreated across the country, and many buyers are including the architectural elements of Tuscan, Italian, and Spanish style homes into their home design.
As a buyer, how to you ensure that your luxury home, whether it is modeled after the homes of American aristocracy or designed to reflect exotic luxury, matches up to your expectations? It all comes down to the architectural firm you work with.
Here are 3 tips to help ensure you are working with the right architectural firm to create your dream home:
1. Architects need to be great listeners. It is their job to make your dream home a reality and a custom luxury home design should incorporate every design detail you have asked for. These are your home plans, not the architects!
2. A great architectural firm will remember that no matter how large or ornate your home design may be, it is still your home and needs to feel like one. Scale and space planning are important elements of luxury home design and a good architect will remember to add architectural details and focal points to rooms in order to warm up individual spaces. A homeowner should always feel at home in the space, no matter how grand the design.
3. Buyers should look to work with an architectural firm that has a thorough understanding and appreciation of historical architecture, allowing them to design new houses that replicate historical estates while still easily incorporating your modern-day lifestyle. It should be a firm's goal to maintain a balance between history and modern-day life in order to reinterpret the architectural styles you want your home to emulate. You don't have to live in a museum in order to live in a European home!
The most important thing to remembdr when choosing in architectural firm is that they have to be able to make your dream become a reality. It doesn't matter what they have done for other buyers in the past, it only matters what they can deliver for you! The beauty of custom home design is that you have the power to add, edit or completely remove any elements of the design you don't absolutely love. The right architectural firm should be able to seamlessly mesh various influence and requirements to create your own, custom architectural masterpiece.
Tuesday, January 3, 2012Saturday, December 17, 2011Tuesday, November 8, 2011Saturday, October 15, 2011Thursday, September 22, 2011Tuesday, August 16, 2011Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Signing on the dotted line for your new custom dream house can have a whole lot different meaning when you designed it yourself. The joy, pride, and sense of accomplishment that you can have in your new home are unbeatable. If that is not a good enough reason in itself, here are a few other reasons why you should custom design your own dream home.
1. It Is More Economical To Build Your Own House
Most people try to get top dollar when they are looking to sell their home. Of course, you cannot blame them for trying. You, on the other hand, do not need to pay top dollar for your new custom design home - whether it is a luxury home or a cottage home. It is your privilege to design and build your own custom home and not have to pay for someone else's equity.
2. Custom Home Designs Give You the Features You Want
Building your own home has its definite advantages. The greatest one is that you get to design and build your home - your way. Everything is designed to your own tastes and to your needs. You can put in walk-in closets where you want them, build a high-tech kitchen, put in spas and showers, a pool, add on a sunroom, and even finish the basement to your liking - with a game room.
3. Choose Your Own Custom Home Design and Style
Another thing that gives you a distinct advantage of designing your own home is that you can choose whatever style you like. Although you could go with a more traditional type of home, you could also select an alternate home design. This could include a straw bale home, a barn conversion home, an earthen home, geodesic, cordwood, or even one of your own design `nd style.
4. Avoid Other Peoples Headaches
Many other homes that you could buy are fine looking homes. They look great but there is always that uncertainty that something could be wrong and you just did not know about it. With your own custom design home, however, not only will your home be new, but it also will not have the same problems that an older home may have.
5. Custom Homes May Provide You with More Equity Up Front
It was already mentioned that when you buy an existing home that you are paying someone else's equity. You can save a whole lot of money, though, on your own custom design house if you help to build some of it yourself.
This way, not only do you save money, but you also have a higher equity in your own home - and not the next mans pocket. Not only that, but some of the alternative homes, such as the straw bale home, will actually enable you to save about 75% of the cost of a more traditional home. Yet it can still sell at a very good price - because this custom home lasts for a very long time.
By Tim Davis. You are invited to learn more from an experienced home draftsman of over 19 years who has drawn many hundreds of custom home plans for satisfied clients. Visit his Web site at Custom House Plans and learn more about how he can design your unique dream home for you.
Tuesday, January 3, 2012Saturday, December 17, 2011Tuesday, November 8, 2011Saturday, October 15, 2011Thursday, September 22, 2011Tuesday, August 16, 2011Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Although it was released way back in 2005, Your Custom Home still remains to be one of the best and most user-friendly software home design applications around. Designed and developed by ValuSoft, this easy-to-use program offers an exceptional room design feature that will definitely be a hit for beginner users. However, this particular program might not be as fit for serious designers, and those that actually do this for a living.
Tools and Features
What makes Your Custom Home unique is that the first step of designing involves picking the shape of one's room. That is, the user will need to decide whether he'd like to have a square, rectangular, or perhaps even a T-shaped room. After which, the user will have an option to easily resize the walls, but the program doesn't allow the alteration of the actual room shape.
One will need to restart the entire process if he realizes that he wants another shape for a particular room. The good news is that there is an additional feature on board that allows users to create their own shapes if they aren't able to find one that they like in the default selection menu.
However, one of the biggest issues with Your Custom Home is that it doesn't come with an integrated landscaping program. One will need to purchase a separate application if gardening is included in the remodeling process.
Ease of Use
As mentioned earlier, what sets this home design software apart is that it is very user friendly. Beginners will have a blast with this program as it provides a user-friendly alternative for those that do not have experience in design. Once users go through the extensive tutorials included in the program, designing and modeling one's own home should be as easy as pie. The tutorials provide step-by-step instructions of the program's major features. The layout and interface of the application are also quite intuitive, making it quite easy to master after a few hours of practice.
Final Word
Your Custom home is definitely one of the best options for those that are looking for a user friendly application that will be able to deliver usable results. At only $19.99, it also happens to be one of the cheapest in the business. However, serious users would be better off with other mor
Tuesday, January 3, 2012Saturday, December 17, 2011Tuesday, November 8, 2011Saturday, October 15, 2011Thursday, September 22, 2011Tuesday, August 16, 2011Tuesday, June 14, 2011
When planning the design of your home, choosing the right type of staircase is more important than you think. For one, it has to ensure the safety of everyone who treads on it - many household accidents have resulted from defective staircases. However you should also take into account the design, which leads us to the topic of custom stairs. Should you really invest time and money into customizing what may seem to be one of the most cut-and-dry parts of your home?
You probably should, because you would normally want your home to stand out in your neighborhood. You want visitors to leave your home with a good impression, especially if these visitors are important people such as family or maybe your own boss dropping by for dinner. And if you don't know where to start when it comes to custom stairs, you won't have any shortage of options.
Spiral stairs, for instance, are the best choice for smaller homes. These staircases allow you to save a lot of space without sacrificing any aesthetic qualities. Yes, a spiral staircase may sound conventional, but when the contractors arrive to start work on your staircase, you can always supervise the design process and input your own suggestions. If you want to be more adventurous, you can go for a staircase that has separate entry points from the top floor with one exit point at the ground floor of your home. This unique "Y" design works best for larger homes with more than one hallway on the top floor.
Aside from the two above choices, you can opt for circular, floating, curved or double helix designs for your custom stairs. These are just a few of the alternatives you have, and regarding the type of material to use, there are different types of wood or metal that could be used for the stair parts. The decision is all yours - just be sure to hire a reliable and experienced contractor and be prepared with your creative ideas when they begin work and you should be set.
The cost of custom stairs would normally be about $10,000 or less, but that would depend on the materials used and the number of steps required for the staircase. You may end up paying more, however, if you have special design specifications. While you should not skimp when it comes to ensuring your design is creative and stylish, the choice of contractor would also matter if you want to get good bang for your buck.
Why settle for the conventional when custom stair designs are available? Your creativity and your budget would be your only limitations, so don't hesitate to go the extra mile.
Tuesday, January 3, 2012Saturday, December 17, 2011Tuesday, November 8, 2011Saturday, October 15, 2011Thursday, September 22, 2011Tuesday, August 16, 2011Tuesday, June 14, 2011
When you are creating custom home plans, the interior design is going to be one of the most important elements. Custom design ideas are not hard to find and you can get the perfect residence every time when you take the time to personalise your styles and explore the options that are available. There are many different areas where you can input your own style ideas into your home, including everything from colours and fixtures to flooring and furnishings. No matter what you have in mind, there are plenty of options to choose from.
The interior design ideas that you choose will reflect your own tastes and styles, including colours and finishes throughout the house. You can pick the entire colour palette for your custom home plans, allowing you to give every room the perfect look. You will also have your choice of finishes, including faux finishes and tiled walls that might be appropriate in some spaces. Doors and windows are yours for the choosing as well, and you can select the perfect doors for every room so that your house has the perfect appearance. Blinds and other window treatments will add a touch of comfort to your house and give you the privacy that you deserve.
Flooring is a big part of interior design with custom home plans. Whether you want hardwoods, tile, or carpeting throughout your house, you can take your pick. There are dozens of styles and products to choose from. This allows you to create the perfect unique look every single time. You can also choose your kitchen and bathroom bench tops, sinks and other features so that your kitchen and bath are unique and customised to your exact tastes. Pick every single detail of your home's interior design as you'd like it because this is your custom home.
From kitchen cabinets to your living room floor, there is so much to choose when you are designing your home's interior. Make sure that your custom home plans include all of the interior design features that you want to see so that you can create the style that you love. Whether you enjoy a country style, contemporary design, or even a modern eclectic style, there is something for just about everyone. Make sure that you get every last detail as you have always dreamed it because now is your chance to make your house everything that you have dreamed of and more.
Generation Homes is a multi-award winning home building company with locations across New Zealand.
Tuesday, January 3, 2012Saturday, December 17, 2011Tuesday, November 8, 2011Saturday, October 15, 2011Thursday, September 22, 2011Tuesday, August 16, 2011Tuesday, June 14, 2011
When you're having a custom home built, you're also building you dream home. While you want it to be timeless and have features that can survive trends, you also want it to be modern and up to par with current design trends (unless, of course, you're into vintage aesthetics).
Looking ahead to the rest of this year, here are design trends that experts expect to see continue in custom home building:
Hearth rooms/alcoves
Heath rooms and alcoves are especially popular in homes in areas where the winter especially hits. These areas are commonly centered on a fireplace, allowing families and friends to gather around when the weather gets chilly.
Sunrooms & screened-in porches
Who doesn't like to enjoy the splendors of nature from the comfort of their own home? More homeowners are opting to build a sunroom or screened-in porch, so they can sit and enjoy the great outdoors, while not having to deal with mosquitoes and other insects.
Room additions for parents/in-laws
More families are merging generations together in one home. Because of this, more homeowners are adding private suites for parents and in-laws, which feature separate entrances and restrooms so those moving in still have the availability of privacy.
A similar option, which is also trending, is to construct a dual suite. This floor plan gives privacy away from the home's shared living areas.
Lots of windows
Those who like to host guests and events are choosing the "wall of windows" addition, which provides homes with an impressive environment in which to entertain.
Exterior alterations
As times change, so do trends in home exteriors. And more homeowners are choosing to alter the outside of their home to their exact details.
Angled garages
Angled garages are often a decision of either concerns about space or as a unique design choice that sets one's garage apart from the rest of the neighborhood.
Bonus/extra room
Life changes, and with it changes our lifestyles and needs. A bonus or extra room is perfect for adapting to lifestyle changes. It also provides hobbyists and entertainers with extra space to take up their crafts.
Sitting rooms
Some design trends not only mean a new look for your home, but also turn into increased resale value. Because of this, many have opted to add a sitting room to their master living room, and give their home an additional touch of elegance.
Home theater
Why pay movie theater prices for tickets, popcorn and candy when you can enjoy the cinema from your home? Adding a home movie theater is big among movie buffs and football fans.
