This New Tech Turns Any Countertop into a Wireless Charger
FreePower for Countertop has swept awards for its innovation—and the company claims installing it is "as straightforward as cutting a sink"
Design
Designing, Building, and Installing a Luxury Custom Wine Cube
An 11-foot wine cube enveloping a pantry is the stand out feature of this customized New York penthouse
Products
Marvin Releases Switchable Privacy Glass Window
The privacy glass windows can be purchased from Marvin's Direct Glaze windows
Thought Leadership
Building A Small Projects Division from the Ground Up
Through hard work and careful strategy, Harth Home Services has seen big growth
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An Illuminating Idea
Several years ago, Jim and Ann McLaren watched a neighbor's house undergo an extensive renovation that included an addition. They liked what they saw, and when it came time to update their four-bedroom, three-bath, brick colonial home, the McLarens called Kirkwood, Mo.-based Riggs Design & Construction — the same company that had worked on the neighbor's project.
Starting from Scratch
"All I ask is that you make my wife happy, or I'll eat you for lunch." Those were the instructions given to Ryan Haas, vice president of Houston Structural Inc., by the homeowner — an attorney — of this 1950s ranch residence. "The owners had been working on this project more than eight years," Haas recalls.
Enhance the Environment
The owners of this 120-year-old house had a patio, gazebo and a small pond in the backyard, but they wanted to create an outdoor haven that would better integrate their active lifestyle with their pastoral environment in rural Pennsylvania. The space they envisioned would be more functional and also more architecturally distinctive.
Master Suite
Denver's older neighborhoods have what every city-dweller longs for: great parks, homes with timeless character, and easy access to a complete range of urban amenities. The only drawback: The homes are small, usually at or below 1,200 square feet, with little room to grow. Most are brick bungalows, Victorians or Denver squares with cramped rooms built for working-class families of the early 20t...
What's Old is New: A Little Girl's Dream House
It was an 80-year-old feeble house, but to its new owner, it was the house of her dreams. "Most would have considered it a tear-down," says Rick Stageberg, CGR, vice president of remodeling for VB Contractors Inc. "But she loved the house and grew up down the street from it." The home's location in Virginia Beach and views overlooking the Chesapeake Bay were both its greatest assets and greates...
What Have You Done for your Ceilings Lately?
Look up. What do you see? Chances are you are reading this magazine in a building of some sort — your home, your office, in the bedroom, in the bathroom. What does the ceiling look like? Is it flat, white and boring? Or is it bold and vibrant with moldings and color, maybe heavy beams and texture? How about the remodeling projects you are designing and building for your clients? Have you ...
Fine Wine: Balancing the Elements for the Connoisseur
A good wine collection requires more than a storage room with racks. As with the fine wines that it stores and displays, a wine cellar is a delicate balance of elements, all of which can affect the quality and preservation of the wine collection. That balance is often miscalculated, says Lee Zinser, owner of Cellarworks Inc.
Accessibility Update
Owners John and Chris Carmean built their home in the late 1970s after an automobile accident left John in a wheelchair. The house had some wide passageways and ramps, but none of the other features that qualify as universal or accessible design these days. "It was really not accessible," says remodeler Lori Bentley, CKBR.
Taking the Office to the Field
Scott Sevon, CGR, CAPS, GMB, a remodeler and custom home builder based in Palatine, Ill., uses his Palm Tungsten W handheld every day. The wireless device allows him to check his e-mail and the Internet from the road, and doubles as a cell phone. A longtime proponent of handheld devices, Sevon spent between $420 and $500 each to buy handhelds for all the employees of Sevvonco Inc.
Rebuild: A Lakeside Home Rises Above Restrictions
Chicago's North Shore is well known for teardowns, and this 1950s ranch home set on a bluff overlooking Lake Michigan seemed a perfect prospect. The roof leaked, windows needed replacing, mechanicals were out of date, and the house was about half the size of those surrounding it in the community of Glencoe.