Buying and selling a house are both exciting processes full of lots of emotions, both positive and negative. Attending open houses when you are a buyer can be fun, and for sellers open houses are a great way to get potential buyers to se themselves living there. But when people behave badly, open houses can be terrible. Hooked on Houses has a few etiquette tips for buyers. Here’s a few of them and our comments…

• Leave the kiddos at home. If you can that is! We understand that it might not be possible to hire a babysitter to attend an open house, and older children might be eager to view where they might be living, but younger children can be a distraction. If you bring them with, keep a close eye on them.
• “Don’t criticize things you don’t like about our house in front of us.” Yes, this would be rude normally but an open house is a business situation, not a social situation. Ideally, homeowners should leave for the open house so they don’t need to hear any criticism.
• “Don’t waste our time if you’re not a serious buyer.” It might be annoying the have the neighborhood busybodies coming through to get a look at your home, but that’s the risk of the open house. We say that you should expect some curious lookers. If you’re going to open your house up to the public, you’ll get the public–both lookers and buyers.
• There’s nothing wrong with flushing toilets and turning on water to see how they work. But if you use the bathroom, always flush. This is someone’s house!
• Remove your shoes. The owners have no doubt cleaned the floors and carpets in preparation for the open house. Even though you might not mean to, it is far too easy to drag dirt inside.

What are your tips for open houses?

Image courtesy of fables98 on Flickr.

You know what’s annoying about beach chairs? If you want to read on the beach, what do you do with your book or e-reader? Sure, you can prop the chair up and read, but what about if you want to lay down for some relaxing reading? You’re stuck with tired arms after holding the book up.

To the rescue comes the Ostrich 3-in-1 Patio Chaise Lounge Chair. It has a hole near the top (like a massage table) so that you can lie face down, put your book on the ground and read in comfort.

What do you think? Is this better living through design? Is this something you would find handy for summer? Let us know in the comments!

Image courtesy of Target.

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 staircase is one of the most practical elements to any multistory home, which is probably why it’s so often overlooked. For example, look at one of the great ongoing gags on the ABC sitcom Modern Family, where Phil Dumphy vows to “fix that step” every time he trips going up the staircase.

Let’s give the staircase some much-needed love, because in far too many homes, it’s a missed opportunity.

We wrote about high-end, architectural staircases yesterday, but today, we’re highlighting two fun and simple ideas for sprucing up the stairs from Gabrielle Blair at The Stir:

Painted runners. Carpet runners may be more traditional, but they can easily slip, which is a viable concern for aging homeowners or those who have kids. Painted runners (pictured above) can create depth and contrast, as well as hide nicks and blemishes if you have light-colored wood or white steps.

Staircase wallpaper. Talk about bold! Adding wallpaper to stair risers (seen below) is as simple as purchasing fresh wallpaper or perhaps using some leftovers used elsewhere in the home. For instance, if you have a hip washroom on the top floor, use the same wallpaper for the staircase to make it pop.

[Photos courtesy The Stir and The Haystack Needle]

Sometimes a staircase may be necessary to get from floor to floor. And sometimes it can be an architectural marvel. We found a round-up on MSN Real Estate that caught our fancy. Here are two of our favorites. Check out the rest here.

If you have an abundance of books and limited space to store them, why not include them in your stairs?

It can’t be denied that these stairs, seemingly supported by nothing, are chic and modern. Our concern would be safety–how do you prevent falls not only down the stairs but off the stairs?

What are the most interesting stairs you’ve ever seen? Let us know in the comments!

Images courtesy of MSN Real Estate.

Check your local movie listings and you would have a hard time finding a ticket for less than $10. Over the past few years, movie night has become absurdly expensive.

At the same time, media rooms are becoming more popular as home-theater systems have not only improved in quality but become easier to plan a room around. (Remember those bulky big-screen TVs from the late 1990s? Oy vey.)

Whether you’re finishing a basement or you’ve included a media room in your new home, planning includes more than a visit to your nearest home electronics retail store. Here’s a list of tips from Houzz to create the perfect media room for your home:

• Include storage and shelves for all of your favorite books and movies
• Have fun with the paint scheme. Go with a mural like a star-speckled sky or dark, rich colors to accommodate dim lighting
• Prioritize comfort when choosing furniture
• Create theater-like acoustics by using sound paneling or wall upholstery
• Include a bar or kitchenette to serve as your at-home concessions stand

Do you have a media room in your home? What’s your favorite feature?

[Photo from Deep River Partners]

Ceilings: they don’t matter until they do. People give much more attention to the ceiling’s flashier sister, the wall — so many choices for colors and decor! But the ceiling is just sort of… there.

Nonetheless, there’s a lot of room for a decorating statement on the ceiling and MSN Real Estate runs through various ceiling types. Here are our favorites:

• Panel ceiling: This wood ceiling might scream 70s basement, but with beautiful wood, it can give off a rustic woodsy vibe.
• Tin ceiling: These ceilings are gorgeous and intricate and add a lot of detail to a room. The downside is that they can cause extra noise.
• Cathedral ceiling: This soaring ceiling can add space and light to a room (it looks especially great with large windows!). If you’re going for a cozy look though, this might not be the best choice.

What kind of ceilings do you like?

Image courtesy of MSN Real Estate

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!

Real People, Real Kitchens: 15 Small Cool Kitchens You Won’t Want to Miss
The Kitchn
Check out The Kitchn’s roundup of little kitchens with big style.

Boulder Tiny House: Colo. Couple Build Simple, Sustainable 125 Square Foot Home
Huffington Post
“Could you live in only 125 square feet? That’s exactly what a Boulder, Colo. couple are doing now that they have completed building their brand new, tiny home from scratch.”

Death to the McMansion
Slate
“Add it all up, and the National Association of Realtors estimates that—today—56 percent of Americans want the attributes of this new American dream in their next housing purchase. Yet only 2 percent of new units being built today fit these attributes. That’s a massive pool of pent-up demand, locked away by federal policy still supporting suburban growth at the expense of all other types of communities. Change the policy—without having to spend a dime—and we’re off to the races with new jobs in construction and infrastructure, plus homes and communities that reflect the way we want to live today. And they happen to be good for the planet, reducing energy, water, and waste by at least one-third.”

How To Live Well in 1oo Square Feet
Apartment Therapy
“Recently, at SXSW 2012, we had the pleasure of hearing Jay Shafer of Tumbleweed Tiny House Company extol the virtues of living in a small space. While he admits that living in 100 square feet might not be for everyone, his talk contained plenty of tips that apply to anyone looking to live efficiently.”

If you enjoy the outdoors and communing with nature, and if you’ve ever desired to expand your outside bathroom repotoire beyond camping trips, this might be just the toilet for you!

Architect Sou Fujimoto created this glass toilet stall to take advantage of the beautiful rural landscape in Ichihara City. For use only by women, the toilet stall is, well, interesting to say the least.

What do you think: Interesting architecture or wacky use of space?

Image courtesy of CNet