Archive for category Home Design
Living Room Designs For Small Homes
Posted on April 7, 2011 | Home Design, Living Room.
Nowadays there are so many people who lie in small apartments that are why great living room designs are vital to have a homely comfort. How can you convert a small studio into a living quarter with a living room, a bedroom and a kitchen in one? That is a tough job to do but once you know the secrets of great interior designing you will surely find it easy to start the job.
It is important that you make the full use of your small space in order to have a great look. Take for example you will pace a sofa, be sure that it will serve a double purpose already. It must be convertible into a bed or if you already have a bed it may serve as an extra bed for a guest or a family member. A dining table must be small enough to fit the room but huge enough for the plates and serving trays to fit in. Of course you don’t want to put your trays on the floor or eat on your couch so better make sure that a good dining table is in place. But as mentioned previously, be sure that it will serve a double function. It may be a study table at the same time.
There is also a design of a sofa wherein you can convert it into a dinner set. The table is long enough for the family to eat on it and the sofa is huddled close together for the members to sit on them as they eat. This will promote your binding moment together. But if you have a room and the living room is separate you must ensure that the sofa is not so huge as to occupy the whole space.
It does not mean that just because you want to have a functional room you will already sacrifice beauty in the process. Be careful with the designs that may convert your small space into a luxurious haven that even large homes do not possess. Take into account the design of your curtains. Check the intricate details of the fabric. Are they soft enough to touch and pleasing to the eyes? Will they reflect the softness of your character and the gentleness of your heart in welcoming people into your abode?
What about the paintings on the wall? If you don’t have a spacious wall for large paintings just bear with small pictures that have attractive features. It is not an issue anymore whether a certain photograph is costly or not. The real issue is the look that will be projected by the said photograph. This is so because even if you place the portrait made by a famous painter on the wall but it looks odd on it there will be no beauty on the canvass.
Green Home Designs
Posted on April 2, 2011 | Home Design.
Green design is not a new concept in building. It has been around since ancient times as our ancestors considered their natural surroundings and resources to build their homes. Green design is simply designing structures in an environmentally friendly fashion, taking into consideration the whole building as well as the occupants that will reside in it.
Three core goals of green, or sustainable design are energy efficiency, natural resources conservation, and indoor air quality. The aim is to make a positive difference in the world around us by reducing negative human impact on our planet due to poor construction methods. We hear so much of the bad plight of our environment from air pollution to land deforestation to depleting fossil fuels. Green designers have risen to the challenge to take a systematic approach of designing buildings from beginning to end with energy efficiency, indoor air quality, and materials selection first and foremost in mind.
With buildings contributing to more than 40 percent of total greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere, green designers aim to be as energy efficient as possible in the hopes of helping to reduce that percentage. Designers aim to reduce their carbon footprint by using renewable energy sources such as solar power when possible as well as utilizing recycled products. Solar hot water tanks are becoming more and more popular in new construction homes to reduce the amount of energy in heating our water for our homes.
Passive solar designs are also becoming more popular as designers educate potential builders of the benefits of such design. With this type of home design, heating costs can be cut between 30 and 50 percent. With this type of green design in mind, your home will be designed to face the south so that the sun can be used more efficiently to heat your home when needed. With energy efficient, south-facing windows, better insulation, and great design, you will be pleased to see your heating bills decrease.
Almost every resource that goes into your home can be environmentally friendly. Green design has come a long way in the past thirty years and many resources abound geared toward reducing your carbon footprint. A good designer will give you various options regarding materials to use in building or remodeling your home. Everything from roofs to recycled lumber to counter top and carpet can be environmentally friendly.
Indoor air quality is an important part of green design as well. Indoor air pollution has been a problem for many and the high rate of asthma alone in the U.S. has been blamed on poor indoor air quality. Green designers will take this into consideration and be sure to design proper ventilation for your home as well as use environmentally friendly products such as insulation, lumber, carpet, paint, and more.
If you are concerned about the environment and would like to make your home more environmentally friendly, hire a green designer or consultant to discuss how you can make changes to do so. Whether you simply want to reduce the carbon footprint of your current home, remodel, or build a new home, green design ought to be one of your main concerns and well worth the consultation.