Mood Makers: Boost Your Home's Usefulness and Beauty

sarah waldin great ideas thank you!

cvsharkey I'd love to see an article on stairway storage specifically. I've seen a couple and they are intriguing.

Kristie Barnett, The Decorologist Yes, CV - there are lots of cool ideas out there for stairway storage. I recently had a reader on my blog comment about the playspace they carved out underneath the stairs for their grandchild - they outfitted it with a twin sized mattress and shelves for books and toys!

ruffslitch Does Houzz write articles for broke-azz people? I'd like to see more articles featuring things that are within reach of people who don't have the budget of a Hollywood writer. And where did the old saying "starving artist" come from? There seems to be an awful lot of artists rich enough to afford island get-aways in Puget Sound or on top of mountains in Houzz articles. Pretty tchotchkes make good print but, honestly, it's enough to make me unsubscribe because I get so depressed when I look at so many unobtainable things!

Kimberly Anne I'd love to see image of between studs coat/shoe storage for stairway space. We have a small landing and stairway entrance from carport. This is next to crawlspace and I think bumping out between studs and forming a boxed area would be a good solution to coat/shoe storage. If I've thought of it someones done it. I'd like to see some finished photos where it's been done.

ekpam In the second photo of the non "built in" - do you happen to know where that came from?

mmsalg love the custom built in at the bottom of the stairs.

marcie
http://custm.co/hz/56

Kristie Barnett, The Decorologist For the person who wrote the comment about brokeazz decorating, you really should go read my blog. Most of my clients are on a budget, and I feel like I'm always coming up with ideas for the brokeazz. Just sayin': http://thedecorologist.com

Kristie Barnett, The Decorologist ekpam: the homeowner's husband built it. these are the specifications if you are interested:

It was made into 2 pieces. It is custom that specific space so the measurements can be adjusted to your needs.

bottom half: 74 x 19 x 19
top half: 72 x 72 x 12

tcufrog Double ovens sound nice but I know very few people who use both at the same time except during the holidays. The family who built our house put in two full size dishwashers. We use both of those everyday in between lunchboxes, pots and pans, etc. that pile up in a household full of 3 adults and two kids (my mother-in-law lives with us half of the year.) It's one of the favorite parts of our kitchen.

Kristie Barnett, The Decorologist 2 dishwashers??? wow, that sounds like a dream!!

Lorrie Ney I agree on the two dishwashers, and also two refrigerators, or space for a vertical deep freezer. Families today need to preserve food, buy ahead, etc. And kitchens with extra refrigeration space, and freezer storage make more sense to me than wine fridges or keg coolers, etc. Local friends here are cabinet makers, and they specialize in hidden pantries, hidden refriferators, etc. And I've been told of one cooool kitchen! where a hidden pantry enclosed a deep freeze space as well.

sclawson I second the usefulness of double ovens. But you don't have to go built-in. There are lots of models where double ovens are part of the design of a free-standing range. We upgraded to one last summer, and we love it.

Michael Very charming ideas!

Mackin Drafting & Design Kristie, a lot of great ideas for all budgets. I particulaly enjoyed seeing the second picture of the mudroom, something most people could envision in their home.