In the story of The Three Little Pigs, the straw house went down quickly, courtesy of the big bad wolf. In real life, straw is a unusual building material that can lead to some great-looking houses. Courtesy of MSN Real Estate, here are some straw houses. Who knows, they may even inspire you to use straw instead of brick in your next house! Check out the rest of the homes here.

Images courtesy of MSN Real Estate.

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If you want to know where to start with a kitchen remodeling project, we’d suggest this: kitchen design trends for 2010 and beyond from Susan Serra, a certified kitchen designer. Among them: people trending toward more open layouts and creating “the social kitchen.”

She writes:

More than ever before, we want our kitchens to be social. So social, that I see islands becoming larger as walls continue to come down, even taking center stage to include a sink and a cooking appliance, and seating. I see soft furnishings (the kitchen sofa for example, a concept that I strongly believe in, which is raised to meet the breakfast room table) in the kitchen and is all about comfort. I see finishes and colors which do not match, but blend. Fireplaces and larger windows in width and height create an open feel and add architectural interest as they do in surrounding rooms. … Multiple work stations providing optimal function for various social lifestyle situations will be designed into the space. A desire for real comfort is strongly connected to the social kitchen trend.

Susan also writes, on Houzz.com (she’s prolific!), about the usefulness of a good kitchen window, saying they’re “one of the most important features in our kitchens! … [T]hey provide light, a connection to the outdoors, a green catalyst to control temperature in the kitchen, depending on the window’s directional exposure, and of course, great architectural interest in terms of proportion and style.”

The bloggers at CalFinder identified a few of their own kitchen design trends, including custom cabinets and hardware, designer and built-in appliances, and even unique features like warming drawers. But it’s not all modern flashiness: CalFinder also found a wealth of awesome retro kitchen appliances and furnishings.

As you get set to embark on your kitchen remodeling project, consider these tips from Home Design Find and these nice before-and-after shots.

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Home and interior design inspiration comes from many sources. An oft-repeated piece of advice is to keep some sort of a file with inspiring images–pages ripped from magazines or photos you took of a house in a nearby neighborhood that speaks to you. Inspiration comes from many places though. And if you are a movie buff, why not mine those depths for your perfect home look?

Design*Sponge has an amazing recurring feature called “Living In” where they do just that. They take a film and based on scenes and the overall “feel” they come up with home objects (and the occasional clothing) that evoke the movie. Whether it’s the sunny Greek isle of Mamma Mia!, the New York of Annie Hall or even the fantastical Labyrinth, you’ll be amazed at how you can style your home to evoke your favorite movie.

Check it out and make sure to think about how your favorite films can influence your home design and inspiration. Don’t forget the popcorn!

Image courtesy of Vlastula on Flickr.

Many people interested in interior design and home decor are familiar with the cool, modern style depicted in the photos you find in the likes of Dwell magazine. They often show off gorgeous, stunning examples of home design, but they don’t often reflect the reality of a kid-filled household.

The DIY Maven at Curbly explains the opposite problem: a home taken over by kids.

Is kid stuff taking over your place? Do you feel as if you’re living in the middle of a Toys R’ Us? Does it look as if your decorator is a seven foot tall yellow bird? If you answered ‘yes’ to any of these questions, you might want to check out these very inspiring interiors from Design is Mine. They’re proof that you CAN keep your stylish sensibilities while living the kid-centric life.

Neither extreme — a potential kid-unfriendly ultramodern home or a messy kid-overrun home — is desirable. These tips might help you balance your desire to make your home (or at least the kid-oriented parts of it) fun, safe and stylish for your children.

For starters, consider this article on basic principles for kid-friendly design from Home re-Design Kaleidoscope, including this interesting observation:

Furniture for young children should be interesting for them. Their furniture should be safe, stable and relatively light to provide the opportunity for kids to perform various manipulations and transformations. For example, chairs can be transformed into cars and a bed can become a boat, etc. Easily transformed furniture helps develop kids’ imagination.  Kids like to dream of space voyages and adventurous driving trips.

The article also suggests leaving an “open corner” in a child’s room to allow plenty of comfortable, uncrowded space for playing with toys and giving school-age children a quiet space to read and do their homework.

Beyond the function of a space, designing for kids opens up a whole new world in terms of style. Consider a child’s room an opportunity to play with bright and bold colors you might not try elsewhere in your home. You could even add some home-grown design elements — perhaps something like the cardboard playhouse shown in the photo above. And the photo below reminds us that there’s no need to sacrifice true style in the interest of creating a perfect kid’s room.

As a parting note, we’ll leave you with the sentiment of designer Debbie Wiener, who advocates “enduring design” that will hold up to just about anything your kids might throw at it:

A glass door links the kitchen to the family room, which is turned out in a similar ready-to-rumble fashion. “We wanted a kid-friendly room with space to play and furniture and carpeting that’s basically indestructible,” Amy Mauser says. As with many of her projects, Wiener opted for a stain-resistant nylon rug and — her object of obsession — Crypton, an antimicrobial, stain-repellent fabric originally engineered for the health-care industry. “With over 20,000 [choices], ranging from velvet and chenille to damasks and Ultrasuedes, why would I source anything else when budget is a factor?” she asks.

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Style and comfort are two things pretty much any homeowner would like more of. Even the nicest, coziest home has a room or an area the homeowner isn’t terribly fond of or would like to improve.

In that spirit, we’ve found these two flooring products might help put more of that sought-after style and comfort under foot.

The Luxury Housing Trends blog uncovered these incredible interlocking puzzle-piece wood flooring tiles from Beckwith Interiors. The unique design is sure to stand out and start a conversation. They’re available in several designs and woods.

If you’re looking for something a little less out-there, try adding some comfort to your winter wonderland with heated rugs. You’ve heard of radiant-heat flooring, but Curbly.com’s DIY Maven points out a new product from Warmly Yours that works much like a traditional rug pad — with one big difference: “But these pads you plug in, giving you a pleasant case of toasty toes,” the maven writes.

What cool new products have you discovered recently?

I have been building and renovating homes for more than 20 years, and the comment I get a lot is how people are so surprised by how expensive remodeling can be. While this is true, the real spending comes after we builders leave and the decorating starts. The furniture, artwork, lamps and the piece de resistance: window treatments.

I would come back to a home that we had built and see these beautiful window treatments with custom valances, and layered shades that cost thousands of dollars. What always irked me was that we spent all the time building or renovating the home and the guy who put up the window treatments got all the glory. Well, that has changed over the last few years. Nice looking window treatments are now available to the do-it-yourselfer and at truly affordable prices.

Now, of course, the sky is the limit as to what you can do, so I narrowed it down to four of the most popular choices, which you can customize them any way you desire. You should consider three things when selecting window treatments:

1. Style: What’s the room’s general décor? Contemporary, traditional or something else?
2. Color and design: Will it blend with the room or become a focus?
3. Function: What kind of light control are you looking for? Do you have safety concerns or want more energy efficiency?

Here is what’s hot these days in window treatments:

Cellular shades. These are one of the most versatile treatments around. They come in a variety of colors, fabrics and cell sizes. These two-sided shades offer great accents to your rooms, or you can match the fabric to the room color to really get that custom look. These shades are also available in cordless setups, which are easy to operate and are a safe alternative in homes with children and pets.

Mini blinds. They continue to be a great choice but more interesting options have been available for quite some time. Larger slat wood blinds were the rage a few years ago but some issue occurred with the wood being exposed to all the sunlight and sometimes warping would occur. So faux wood blinds came along and look great and stay true under almost any condition. They can also be used in moist application like bathrooms.

Woven wood shades. Look in just about any home magazine and chances are you’ll see these window treatments being featured. A rise in popularity has occurred recently that accents textures both in the material and the light that is shown through. Many of these window treatments are actually made from real bamboo reeds and can come in a variety of patterns and colors.

Plantation shutters. This treatment definitely will be a focal point in your rooms. These custom fit units when sized correctly will be an extension of your trim-work and will change the look of your room. These by far are the most expensive window treatment and also expect a lead time of at least five weeks, but boy does it look sharp!

All of these do-it-yourself window treatments have one thing in common: You are the one doing the measuring. This is important because the size you give to whatever company you choose to do business with will be the size they send you. Here’s an overview of some key terms that will come up when measuring a window for new treatments:

Inside mounting: emphasizes the actual size of the window and allows the trim work to be visible; can make the size of the window seem smaller

Outside mounting: lengthens and widens windows and makes narrow windows look wider; might be necessary if buying a stock item that will not fit within the inside measurement or if the window is not deep enough to contain the mounting brackets

Here are some other items you will need to do it yourself and get it right:

• A good tape measure that will stay straight to give you exact measurements
• An electronic stud finder to locate framing behind the drywall or plaster to ensure a strong hold
• A level to make sure what you are installing is level to the rest of the house; laser levels do a great job if you are hanging multiple window treatments in one room, helping to keep them all consistent
• Quality hollow-wall anchors if finding the stud is not available; this is key because there is a lot of junk out there that claims it can do the job

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Snow and winter weather seem to be in the news a lot this week! We at MLuxe care about your health, safety and happiness, so here’s some information about how to stay safe and sane in the Snowpocalypse!

Charles and Hudson makes a good point in a recent posting: there’s a lot you can get done around the house during a snowstorm. Keep your pipes from freezing and check for drafts around the doors. You might be going stir-crazy around the house, so do some fun stuff like creating a patina on a mirror.

Of course, you’ll need to keep your driveway and sidewalks clear, so get prepared for some shoveling! Those of us from northern climates know the special exhaustion that comes after shoveling. CNN has a good run-through of the problems that come from shoveling and what to do to prevent injuries.

Stay safe and keep warm!

Photo courtesy of letmeFLYAWAY on Flickr.

Remodeling Cost vs. Value Report
Remodeling Magazine
In this ongoing report, now updated for 2010, Remodeling Magazine digs into the approximate return on investment homeowners can expect for several common remodeling and home-improvement projects. For example, you can expect to spend about $10,634 to add a nice wood deck to your home, and data shows that will likely return about 80 percent of that value if you sell your home. The data is broken down by region and comes accompanied by a series of articles elaborating on the hard numbers.

25 Biggest Renovating Mistakes
HGTV.com
“From ignoring prep work and safety, to setting unrealistic budgets and selecting the wrong fixtures, this is a fearless exposé of the most common renovation mishaps. Find out how it happens, why people do it and, best of all, how to avoid making these mistakes in your own home.” The list includes everything from the small — excessive use of duct tape and inaccurate measurements — to the big — building a small bathroom and hiring the wrong contractor. Read up to help protect yourself.

Home Star: 5 answers about ‘Cash for Caulkers’
Professional Remodeler
“The Home Star program — or “Cash for Caulkers” as some have dubbed it — could provide a big boost to home energy efficiency through billions in tax credits and other incentives over two years. President Obama came out in favor of the program in December as part of the administration’s plan to drive job creation, but the final approval has to come from Congress.” Written for an audience of builders and remodelers, this article provides a good overview for anyone who’s interested in how “cash for caulkers” might help encourage energy efficiency and help homeowners save some money.

Energy for the future: Smart grid technology
Builder Blog
This introduction to smart grid technology — which generally refers to efforts to add computer and communications technology to the existing electricity grid, making it possible for the grid to operate more efficiently and reliably — is full of links and information about where the technology stands today and the benefits it offers homeowners.

Behind the Scenes of Shipping Container Architecture
Re-Nest
Perhaps you’ve seen photos (like the one here) showing modern, almost futuristic-looking homes, office buildings or other structures using massive shipping containers as the core of the structure. Well, if you’ve ever wondered how container architecture works, where the containers come from, or how they’re modified into livable structures, Re-Nest has some answers for you.

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Window replacement is a subject near and dear to MLuxe. There’s so much to love about new windows: They look great, perform better and are more energy efficient.

The old windows get recycled or discarded, but what if you have a creative side?

Calfinder gives some fun tips on what you can do with your old windows. Remember that not all windows will work for these creative uses. You might wish to consult with your building professional.

Windows among the flowers: Use old windows in the garden as a flowerbed divider or as a background for a window planter.

Windows as furniture: Need a new headboard? Your old window might just do the trick!

If you have a green thumb, you could use your old windows to start a small greenhouse, where light is essential for growing.

Visit Calfinder for more ideas about how to put old windows to good use.

Images courtesy of Calfinder

One of my favorite summer flowers is the old-fashioned, pompom shaped Hydrangea macrophylla. I can remember as a child being drawn to the cool shaded area on the north side of the house where my mother had a bank of blue hydrangeas planted. The giant blooms were as big as my head and such a clear, deep blue they seemed to belong in a velvet-lined jewel box rather than casually hanging about the garden.

Old-fashioned hydrangeas are easy to grow if you follow a few simple guidelines. Most varieties are cold hardy to zone 5, which means they will tolerate minimum winter temperatures between -10 and -20 degrees F.

Hydrangeas are traditionally known as shade garden plants, but too much shade can result in reduced bloom production. Ideally they should be situated in areas of light shade to partial sun. If you live in a cool climate you can even plant them in full sun.

Hydrangeas are woodland plants so they prefer to be in consistently moist, well-drained, humus rich soil. A generous application of mulch will help keep the roots cool and retain moisture. Little pruning is required with old-fashioned hydrangeas. In fact, improperly pruned bushes can result in bushes not producing any blooms. Old-fashioned hydrangeas set their flowers on previous year’s growth, or what is referred to as old wood. So, in late summer and early fall, your shrub is preparing blooms for next year.

In early spring you can tidy up the plant by removing any dead wood and old flowerheads.

Any severe cutting back should be done immediately after the flowers fade in the summer.

Other causes for lack of bloom include harsh winter temperatures, warm spells followed by cold weather, and late freezes. All can damage or kill tender flower buds. If you site your plants in a north or east facing area of your garden, you can reduce the chances of the buds opening during aberrant warm winter weather. These areas of the garden warm up slower than south or western exposures. Northern gardeners who know that they are in it for a long cold spell can wrap their hydrangeas in burlap for winter protection. Planting the shrubs near house foundations also offers some refuge from cold temperatures.

In my Mid-south garden I fertilize my hydrangeas twice during the summer with a slow release fertilizer, usually in June and then again in August. In cooler climates this can be done once, usually in June. Follow the directions indicated on the fertilizer package. Just remember that too much nitrogen will result in an abundance of lovely leaves at the expense of blooms.

Over the years I have broadened my selection of hydranges to include H. paniculata ‘Tardiva’, H. arborescens ‘Annabelle’, H. quercifolia (oakleaf), and H. paniculata ‘Limelight’, but I still treasure the old-fashion varieties for their ease of care and colorful long lasting flowers.