Now that farmhouse tables have become the single piece of furniture that you must have that you actually won’t get sick of and changing styles won’t leave behind, you need to go the extra mile to get the right one. 1. Get the size right. A good rule of thumb is to have at least 3’ of space on all
“When people have a preconceived idea of cost per square foot ahead of time, it rarely translates to the actual home that they want,” offers Alan Looney, president of Castle Homes. Instead, Alan suggests that you start with a budget and work backwards. A good team of architect, builder and designer can take a budget and design to
Want to avoid mistakes? Spend money on a good architect. And don’t just get basic plans, the more detail, the better. Nothing is more expensive than change orders because they create a domino effect. To change one thing, you may have to redo two or three others, making that one change very expensive. By hiring a good architect and committing to
It’s tough to get cozy in a room that’s too big. Many builders have noticed a movement away from the McMansions to smaller homes designed for real living. The biggest waste of money is square footage that you don’t use. You either build to house your furniture and end up with what are basically storage rooms, or you
“Buying the wrong lot is such an easy mistake to avoid,” says Bernie Bloemer, of Bernie Bloemer Custom Homes. “Always take your builder with you when you’re looking for a lot. If you haven’t already chosen your builder, but you’ve narrowed the choice down, ask all of them to look at the lot individually.” If you already have some idea
Want your sheets to last longer? Do these three things. 1. Don’t sleep in polyester. It wears out cotton sheets much faster than if you wore a natural fiber nightgown like cotton or silk - or you can just go naked. 2. Overdrying your sheets taxes the fibers and decreases the life of your investment. In fact, if
The key to soft cotton is the length of the staple or strand. Different species of cotton produce staples of differing length. Shorter staples require more weaving together to form a long thread which results in a rougher fabric. Both Pima and Egyptian cotton have longer staples, but Egyptian is superior. In fact, a 200 thread count Egyptian cotton is
Not all thread counts are created equal. And shoppers who don’t know this are the first ones to be taken advantage of by swindler sheet manufacturers. In higher-end products, thread count is determined by counting only the warp threads; not the weft. So, a sheet with 600 warp threads and 600 weft threads would be considered a 600
For the best bedding advice around, we spoke with Linda Berry, owner of Bella Linea in Green Hills. Linda has been creating bedroom sanctuaries unlile any others for many years and as you’d expect, we learned a lot. The main mistakes people make are the following four. 1. Thinking you can buy fabric and make your own duvet cover.
