Another day, another tiny house for us to enjoy. This one is built as a true retreat away from the world, with no running water or electricity. It’s in the middle of a clump of large redwoods, and designed to look as if it was built into the trees (it’s not).

“No water and no lights?” you might think. “Did the owner spend all the money on land and run out?” Rest assured, the owner is a former airline executive, and could probably well afford any number of luxuries. Sometimes a tiny house is beautiful for its on sake.

Images courtesy of Treehugger.

The sink is an simple way to provide a bathroom with a focal point — especially a smaller bath where space is tight. Tthe Kitchen & Bath Show is going on this week, and there have been a lot of new and beautiful sinks in the blogosphere. We especially love this one that Bob Vila found. It’s a real stand-out, made with copper and designed to be seen! Made by Premier Copper Products, it is hand-forged from recycled copper. Gorgeous and green!

Copper and wood are two of nature’s most beautiful materials. Tamasine Osher has used copper piping, along with wood, to create some gorgeous industrial-chic pieces. It’s a very innovative use of a material that might otherwise have been used for scrap! What do you think?

Images courtesy of DigsDigs.

Jim & Theresa’s House on the Venice Canal
Apartment Therapy
“The moment I spotted Jim and Theresa’s home on CA Home + Design online I knew it was unique. To my happy surprise their interior designer Erinn Valencich of Erinn V. Design Group happened to be a recent acquaintance of mine. Welcome to a lovely family home that sits right on the water of the Venice canals.”

Homes with Incredible Backyards
Forbes
Check out this roundup beautiful luxurious yards that Forbes put together.

Designers’ Homes on the Market
Architectural Digest
“To coincide with the April designers’ own homes issue, AD presents a portfolio of seven extraordinary estates for sale, all of which were conceived–and inhabited by–prominent architects and decorators.”

Builders’ Special
Dwell
“A resourceful sound mixer sources some local design talent, rolls up his sleeves, and builds small, green, and affordable in Bozeman, Montana.”

Here’s a new thing that can be recycled and re-purposed: stuffed animals! Tree Hugger tells the story of an artist, Augustina Woodgate, and her rugs made out of the “skins” of stuffed animals.

To make the rugs, she removes the animals’ heads and the stuffing from the bodies and uses the skins, together with other stuffed animals’ skins, to create a rug that looks almost like no other rug you’ve seen before. Its trippy look could work well in a family or living room (we’re picturing it in a mid-century home) or even a child’s room.

What do you think? Weirdest rug material ever or ingenious use of old materials to create usable art?

Photos courtesy of Tree Hugger.

Design-Savvy Kitchen Remodeling On the Rise
CalFinder Blog
“We’ve noticed a huge trend among homeowners lately—that design-savvy kitchen remodeling is on the rise. Whether they’re taking to the web for self-taught strategy, or consulting with budget-smart designers and kitchen contractors before construction begins, homeowners are increasingly involved in the design process. … Some of the trends that we have seen—and loved—include these three design styles.”

15 Posts on Decluttering and Organizing Your Home
Re-Nest
“What’s a better way to start off a new year than to to organize, declutter and simplify your home? Whether you’re looking to live with less or are simply rethinking your space, check out these tips to kick off an organized and clutter-free new year!”

Best of 2011: Before & After
Centsational Girl
Whether it’s decorating or painting or organizing or anything else related to making a house look like an elegant, comfortable home, this woman knows what she’s doing. Get some ideas from her round-up of some favorite projects from the past year.

20 Green Building Innovations of 2011
Jetson Green
“Our team had the great opportunity to report on hundreds of green building innovations in the form of new technologies and advanced materials. We see these innovations as contributors to a world where it’s important to reduce waste and resource consumption. I hope you enjoy this unordered review gathered from our archives of the last year.”

Why Window Replacement is Cheaper Than You Think
CalFinder Blog
“If your home’s heating isn’t running as efficiently as you’d like it to this winter, then you might consider window replacement. Inefficient windows can leak a huge percentage of heat from your home—as much as 30%—and cost you a lot of money every month. … But the idea of window replacement may seem daunting, complicated and expensive. The good news is that you can avoid all of those words by going through the window replacement process intelligently.”

Here’s an interesting story: a company is hoping to be build a new town in New Mexico. Only thing is, you can’t live there. It’s a ghost town.

The town (currently called the Center for Innovation, Testing and Evaluation) will have all the amenities that a real city would have, including houses and businesses. Everything would be fully functional with utilities. It would even have a mall (not filled with merchandise presumably)!

So why on earth is this town being built? For research of course! Pegasus Global Holdings will use the town to test energy efficient and green home innovations. MSN Real Estate gives an example of what might take place there:

If it all sounds too crazy, here’s a down-to-earth example: Say scientists want to see if a new kind of smart thermostat can make an entire neighborhood more energy-efficient. They could hand out the thermostats to homeowners in Albuquerque and check in on their meters for the next year. But the results would depend on a lot of factors out of the researchers’ control, such as how warm or cool individuals like their rooms to be or the houses’ insulation quality. And if the experimental system doesn’t work, the scientists would have disrupted people’s lives and maybe increased their utility bills.

But nobody would live in the center’s buildings. Computerized systems would mimic human behavior such as turning thermostats up and down, switching lights off and on or flushing toilets, but they would do so under the scientists’ control. A research team could install the thermostats in a block of the center’s two-story suburban houses, then run multiple long-term scenarios, manipulating the imaginary residents’ behavior to see what the energy use is under different circumstances.

Oh, and since there will be researchers and scientists there to run things in the imaginary city, they’ll be staying in facilities underground.

Although building an entire city that no one lives in might seem odd, having this sort of research space might lead to all sorts of discoveries with energy efficiency in the home. What do you think?

Image courtesy of pascalbovet.com on Flickr.

Help this blogger out!

Last night, I had an unexpected visitor of the rodent variety. Unbeknownst to me, a mouse was running around my dining room floor, scurrying into the kitchen upon being noticed. After taking a moment to compose myself, I decided to figure out how to deal with this problem — sadly not uncommon in older apartments and houses, especially as the weather gets colder.

Although I want to rid myself of my mousy friend, I’d rather try some green repellent solutions first before resorting to poison and traps and dealing with mouse corpses.

I started by scrubbing the kitchen down (you could eat off my floor now!) and throwing out my store of paper and plastic bags — less places for the little critter to hide.

Today, after some Internet research, I purchased some Fresh Cab, the only EPA-approved botanical rodent solution (it smells like a Christmas tree!), as well as some devices you plug in that emit a high-pitched noise mice hate (humans can’t hear it).

I’ve also heard a lot about using peppermint essential oil as a mouse repellent; apparently mice can’t stand the smell, but it’s pleasant to people. There are recommendations of using peppermint to keep the rodents away, either by soaking cotton balls in the oil and placing it around your home, or mixing up a solution in a spray bottle of water and peppermint oil and spraying it wherever mice might be.

I hope my mouse will disappear (and my home will smell pleasantly minty), but what else should I be doing? What are some other green tips to drive the mice away without having to trap and dispose of them? Should I replace my lidless trash can under the sink with a lidded one? Does Borax work as a mouse repellent? Would anyone like to lend me a cat or a barn owl? Leave a suggestion in the comments!

Image courtesy of Brian_Kellet on Flickr

Karim Rashid & Soda Stream: A Bubbly Match
Shelter Pop
“The award-winning designer has a new kitchen device — and he’s giving his only US interview to ShelterPop! With the at-home soda craze in full swing, it’s only natural that SodaStream — maker of the DIY soda maker — would bring some design cred to their machines by teaming up with award-winning designer Karim Rashid. Together. they’ve created a fun and bubbly limited edition home soda maker that us seltzer-aholics here at ShelterPop are crazy about. So when he agreed to give his one US interview to us, we jumped at the chance to talk not only about the DIY soda trend, but inspiration and good design as well.”

3 Smart Ways to Pay for Your Home Remodel
CalFinder
“As you may have noticed, the remodels with the greatest return often come at the highest price tags. Window replacement, for instance, costs an average of $11,066, bathroom remodels go for $16,634, and minor kitchen renovations ring in at $21,695. If you lack the cash up-front to cover materials and labor, how can you afford the work your home needs this year?”

Rooftop Gardens
Design*Sponge
“Outdoor space is most New Yorkers’ ultimate real estate wish. We initially hunt for more light, bigger rooms and better locations, but even after you’ve found a great apartment, it’s impossible to not eventually hope for a place to plant a garden to sit outside. While the reality of an amazing rooftop garden feels about a hundred years away for me, for some New Yorkers, it’s sitting right in front of them.”

DIY: Make a Sewing Kit in a Mason Jar
Casa Sugar
A picture guide to keeping sewing equipment for clothing emergencies in an adorable mason jar.

Why You Should Get an Energy Audit
Old House Web
“The right place to start is with an energy audit, a top-to-bottom look at your house by a trained professional who can then make suggestions on which upgrades can do the most good.”

We ran across an article with some interesting tidbits about what homeowners want in 2011. Are any of these on your radar?

• Outdoor living areas: Are you paying more attention to things like porches and patios? An outdoor kitchen (from simple to grand) and a fireplace can add a whole new dimension. Who doesn’t love an extra room in the great outdoors?
• Green features: Green is hot right now, but homeowners are demanding practical things like energy efficient windows and water and electricity-saving appliances.
• Open kitchens: If the hearth is the heart of the home, it makes sense people want to be in it. Open kitchens allow that cozy feeling while allowing the cook some additional space to maneuver.
• Smaller homes: To go along with the green theme, smaller homes are easier to heat and cool, easier to clean and discourage the mindless filling of rooms.

Do you see these trends in your house hunting and remodeling plans?