Fog-Free Bath Mirrors
Call it a simple luxury. Clearly You is an electric defogging system that ensures the mirror in your bathroom will not fog up while you're bathing or showering. The benefit, of course, is that you can step right from the shower or tub and shave, apply makeup or just check your baby blues without you...
Green Restorations for Historic Homes
Whether it's a cozy urban bungalow or a rambling Georgian mansion, renovating old houses is one of the best things homeowners can do for the environment. Not only are they preserving the cultural heritage and craftsmanship of a bygone era, they're eliminating the environmental impact of construct...
Woodland Hall
From the outside, the Columbus, Ohio, home known as Woodland Hall looks like any other executive mansion, complete with extensive landscaping and a broad red-brick driveway that leads to the front door. Inside the 12,000-square-foot house are the types of amenities associated with homes in this c...
Beguiling Tiling
More than likely you wouldn't think of attaching a recycled glass bottle to the wall of your bathroom or the counter of your kitchen - unless it was in the form of a glass tile. Oceanside Glasstile, based in Carlsbad, Calif., turns recycled glass bottles and raw sand into small luxury glass tiles...
Designing an Efficient Kitchen
When building or remodeling a kitchen, many homeowners tend to focus on the aesthetics - picking out new cabinets, countertops and flooring, for instance, or choosing the color of paint and wallpaper. But when you're beginning any kitchen project, one of your first and foremost decisions should i...
Creative Countertops
When it comes to kitchen countertop materials, homeowners have a wide range of options from which to choose, including wood, butcher block, ceramic tile and laminates as well as marble, granite, quartz, engineered stone, soapstone, solid surface, concrete, stainless steel and recycled-glass terrazzo...
Securing The System
A major concern with a connected home is system crashes. Computers do crash, so how are you supposed to protect your home from crashing when it is run by a computer? This is a concern that Lifeware and Exceptional Innovation have addressed head on. # To reduce software con...
Appliances for Healthy Living
If participants in an international appliance design competition are right, our kitchens are about to help make us a lot healthier. The annual Electrolux Design Lab competition was established in 2003 to foster and promote the design of futuristic, innovative and ultra-functional appliances. For the...
High-Tech Bathrooms
Love it or hate it, technology arguably has become an integral part of our lives. Even the bathroom has gotten caught up in the age of technology. In an effort to conserve water, control energy consumption and make our homes healthier and more efficient, manufacturers have come through with a var...
Smart Wine Storage
It's becoming more and more common these days to install a small, built-in or freestanding wine cellar in the kitchen. Not only is a kitchen-based wine cellar considered a convenience by many homeowners, but it's also a great way to show off your wine collection. These stylish cellars can hold anywh...
Kitchen Appliances That Really Cook
If the kitchen is the heart of the home, then its life blood is its appliances - those busy, underappreciated workhorses that cook the roast, scour the dishes and keep the ice cream frozen. But if you're ready to pick out some new appliances, don't judge a refrigerator by its cover. Sure,...
On the Spot
The Thomas family of Lancaster, Pa., recently had a comfort conundrum. The family's residence sits on a large, nicely landscaped rural lot near farm fields and horse meadows. When the Thomases built the home six years ago, they decided that a bonus room over the three-bay garage would be used onl...
Hot Water With A Twist
Barbara Anzlovar of Dana Point, Calif., is one of a growing number of homeowners who has instant hot water at her fingertips. "I bought an instant hot water dispenser originally about four or five years ago because my sister-in-law had gotten one and raved about it," Anzlovar says. "Then we moved...
Glass That Stays Clear
One way to make a cramped bathroom look larger is to install a glass-encased shower, which will give the room a more spacious appearance. One problem, though: Over time, as the shower glass is subjected to soaps, shampoos and harsh cleaners, it can become cloudy. And as the residue hardens into a...
Breaking The Mold
The battle against mold in the home has recently entered a new phase. Driven by a growing knowledge among homeowners of the damage mold can cause, as well as by an increasing number of residential mold-related lawsuits, the homebuilding industry has stepped up its efforts to combat mold. ...
