This project won in the 2013 Builders Association of Metropolitan Pittsburgh Housing Excellence Award for Best Urban Renewal Renovation Project. The glass bowl was made in the glass studio owned by the owner which is adjacent to the residence. The mirror is a repurposed window. The door is repurposed from a boarding house. George Mendel

Photo: Caela McKeever © 2015 Houzz
Photo of an asian landscaping in Seattle.

Beach style dark wood floor home office photo

Inspiration for a rustic brown one-story wood gable roof remodel in Seattle

Keeping It Green http://keepingitgreenoutdoors.com 2014 PLNA Awards for Landscape Excellence Winner Category: Residential $0-$15,000 Award Level: Honorable Mention Project Description: The objective of this project was to match the surrounding natural woodland setting with the new landscaping and outdoor area. The homeowners enjoy being outside and wanted an extension of their house that they could enjoy with family and friends. After returning from vacations in their cabin, they wanted to re-create the same feeling at their home. To complete their new cabin feel they wanted somewhere to have a camp fire with good company. I wanted to create flow from each area, and maximize space in a very limited area. The overall look of the project needed to blend with the natural environment and appear as though is has been there for years. The clients were very open minded and great to work with through the design process and we were able to achieve everything we needed while working with budgets and preferences. The area was shaded with very poor drainage, which created a unusable space full of mud. The wet area made an already tight area with difficult access more challenging. It was also important to place the fire-pit at a safe distance from the house, and the tree canopy. The area was regarded to allow for better drainage and the downspouts were buried. A decorative river stone was selected to aide with drainage. All plant material needed to be shade tolerant and provide color. As a result, I chose plants with terrific foliage color, and texture; Aucuba, Heuchera, Athyrium and Hosta. The construction materials to build the steps, walls and fire-pit needed to be a stone that would match the existing stone and environment. For this I chose PA flagstone and fieldstone of varying sizes for interest and to create a more natural look. This project is special because of the limited space that needed to have its potential discovered and created. With the strong wooded environment the new outdoor area had to blend into that while working with the house and existing concrete patio. We exceeded our clients expectations by creating a new area that looked like it had been there forever. Plant List: 5 Astilbe chinensis ‘Vision in Pink’ 6 Heuchera x villosa ‘Citronella’ 6 Hosta x ‘Sum and Substance’ 2 Hydrangea macrophylla ‘Endless Summer 5 Buxus x ‘Green Velvet’ 1 Leucothoe fontsiana ‘Rainbow’ 4 Rhododendron ‘PJM’ 2 Chamaecyparis obtusa ‘Aurea Nana’ 1 Aucuba japonica ‘Variegata’ 3 Athyrium filix-femina 24 Pachysandra terminalis 16 Torenia fournieri Photo Credit: Keeping It Green

Keeping It Green http://keepingitgreenoutdoors.com 2014 PLNA Awards for Landscape Excellence Winner Category: Residential $0-$15,000 Award Level: Honorable Mention Project Description: The objective of this project was to match the surrounding natural woodland setting with the new landscaping and outdoor area. The homeowners enjoy being outside and wanted an extension of their house that they could enjoy with family and friends. After returning from vacations in their cabin, they wanted to re-create the same feeling at their home. To complete their new cabin feel they wanted somewhere to have a camp fire with good company. I wanted to create flow from each area, and maximize space in a very limited area. The overall look of the project needed to blend with the natural environment and appear as though is has been there for years. The clients were very open minded and great to work with through the design process and we were able to achieve everything we needed while working with budgets and preferences. The area was shaded with very poor drainage, which created a unusable space full of mud. The wet area made an already tight area with difficult access more challenging. It was also important to place the fire-pit at a safe distance from the house, and the tree canopy. The area was regarded to allow for better drainage and the downspouts were buried. A decorative river stone was selected to aide with drainage. All plant material needed to be shade tolerant and provide color. As a result, I chose plants with terrific foliage color, and texture; Aucuba, Heuchera, Athyrium and Hosta. The construction materials to build the steps, walls and fire-pit needed to be a stone that would match the existing stone and environment. For this I chose PA flagstone and fieldstone of varying sizes for interest and to create a more natural look. This project is special because of the limited space that needed to have its potential discovered and created. With the strong wooded environment the new outdoor area had to blend into that while working with the house and existing concrete patio. We exceeded our clients expectations by creating a new area that looked like it had been there forever. Plant List: 5 Astilbe chinensis ‘Vision in Pink’ 6 Heuchera x villosa ‘Citronella’ 6 Hosta x ‘Sum and Substance’ 2 Hydrangea macrophylla ‘Endless Summer 5 Buxus x ‘Green Velvet’ 1 Leucothoe fontsiana ‘Rainbow’ 4 Rhododendron ‘PJM’ 2 Chamaecyparis obtusa ‘Aurea Nana’ 1 Aucuba japonica ‘Variegata’ 3 Athyrium filix-femina 24 Pachysandra terminalis 16 Torenia fournieri Photo Credit: Keeping It Green

Example of a mid-sized transitional freestanding desk dark wood floor and brown floor study room design in New York with beige walls and no fireplace

Latch hardware in upper cabinets.
Inspiration for a mid-sized craftsman u-shaped medium tone wood floor eat-in kitchen remodel in San Francisco with a single-bowl sink, shaker cabinets, white cabinets, quartz countertops, green backsplash, ceramic backsplash, stainless steel appliances and a peninsula

Master Bedroom with Red Bed Frame and custom drapery and bedding.
Bedroom - traditional master light wood floor bedroom idea in Charlotte

Small elegant gray one-story mixed siding gable roof photo in Charleston

Concrete can be made to look like any substance. Tile, stone, wood, brick, etc. With unlimited color options, Ky-Kan Coatings can transform any room in your home or business using lightweight, beautiful concrete.

We used: Custom cherry cabinetry in Arts & Crafts Shaker style by Kabinart in Boulder and Espresso stains. Liberty Hardware Venetian bronze 1-1/2" cabinet knobs. KitchenAid Architect II Series 22 CF counter-depth French door refrigerator. KitchenAid Architect Series II 27" convection single wall oven. KitchenAid 36" 6-burner dual fuel freestanding commercial-style range. KitchenAid Architect II Series 24" dishwasher. Sharp Insight Pro Series 24" built-in microwave drawer (Model #KB6524PS). Crystorama Solaris 12" wide pendant lights in English bronze. Granite countertops in Brown Fantasy. 3"x6" polished marble backsplash. Paint colors: Walls: Glidden Silver Cloud 30YY 63/024 Ceilings/Trims/Doors: Glidden Swan White GLC23 Robert B. Narod Photography

Gorgeous master bath with dramatic retro "wave" tile. Peak Photography
Example of a 1950s bathroom design in Los Angeles

Inspiration for a contemporary home design remodel in London

Nobody would be foolish enough to knowingly purchase PIZZA using a third party call-center middleman.But every day, thousands of people do exactly that when they purchase flowers for delivery! That’s because a NEW TYPE of “florist” has appeared on the scene. And that means most flower buyers pay as much as 50% MORE than they should pay! Finding A Floral Supplier When a prospective flower buyer wants to buy flowers, his first stop is usually the internet. The author’s flower shop is in Charlotte, NC and the two most widely used search terms in this area are: “Charlotte flowers” and “Charlotte florist.” When the customer searches for either of these terms, he will get a list of results. Paid results (advertising) are usually shown first. Organic (website) results come after the advertisements. When a customer clicks on an advertisement, he is usually taken to a beautiful website owned by a call-center floral middleman offering beautiful flowers, hand-delivered by a LOCAL florist. And the products are sales TAX FREE. But what is not revealed is that the middle man does not actually have a flower shop in Charlotte! The Difference Between Toasters and Flowers With “durable” products like toasters and sweaters, the location of the seller isn’t terribly important. That’s because the products will be shipped from a warehousevia USPS, UPS or FedEx. But flower arrangements are *fragile* and cannot be shipped that way! Instead, they must be locally custom-hand-crafted and hand-delivered! And this means that if a customer orders from a middleman’s website, the order must – somehow – be passed from the middleman’s company to a REAL local florist in, for example, Charlotte, NC. This “order transfer” is done by one of the three florist-to-florist networks: FTD, Teleflora and Bloomnet (1-800-Flowers). Too Many FEES and COMMISSIONS Membership in these networks is not free, so the middleman always adds a “handling charge” – typically about $15 -- to the customer’s bill to help pay for hiscosts to access to the network. Please note that the $15 handling charge usually far exceedsany TAX FREE “savings!” But the “handling charge” only helps pay for *access* to the network. The florist-to-florist network also takes a 7% commission, and also credits a 20% selling commission back to the middleman! What this means is that, for a typical online floral purchase, just under HALF of the customer’s money vanishes in unnecessary FEES and COMMISSIONS. By comparison, when a customer buys a toaster from an independent business listing it on Amazon, only a few percent of the purchase price goes to fees and commissions. With this huge profit potential available to third party floral marketers, it is not surprising that these middlemen spend huge sums on advertising and sales promotion. A few years back, one even took an ad during the Super Bowl! Buy Direct For Better Value Clearly, the consumer will always get His Best Floral Value by placing his floral order DIRECT with a Real Florist n the City where the flowers will be delivered. Sometimes it may be difficult to tell whether a Flower Supplier is located “in town.”Here are three easy ways to separate a “real” florist from a floral middleman: 1. Look for the street address, city and state on the website. Often this will be found on a tab labeled “About Us” or “Contact Us.” If you cannot find an address at all, then this is almost certainly a middleman! 2. Look at the telephone number. If the only number on the website is a TOLL FREE “800” number, then the floral supplier is probably not local. 3. Look at the invoice (before you click the BUY NOW button!) for any “Handling” or “Service” charges. A REAL florist will never add these charges to your bill! For more information about Charlotte Flowers and Charlotte Florist, please visit the author’s Flower Hut website at http://flowerhut.com. BUT, if you do not want flowers delivered to Charlotte, Matthews, Mint Hill or Pineville, NC, please do NOT order from us! Take the time to find a REAL florist in the town where you need flowers delivered. You’ll be glad you did!

Two Birds Photography
Kids' room - transitional kids' room idea in Chicago

Example of a minimalist u-shaped concrete floor home design design in New York with an integrated sink, flat-panel cabinets, dark wood cabinets, quartzite countertops, stainless steel appliances and an island

This bedroom and full bathroom are part of an adventuresome project my wife and I embarked upon to create a complete apartment in the basement of our townhouse. We designed a floor plan that creatively and efficiently used all of the 385-square-foot-space, without sacrificing beauty, comfort or function – and all without breaking the bank! To maximize our budget, we did the work ourselves and added everything from thrift store finds to DIY wall art to bring it all together. A partial double closet bar adds a little extra space while still leaving room for longer hanging clothes.

Budget Blinds blackout roller shades, photo credit installer Adam Brannick
Example of a mid-sized transitional guest bedroom design in Cedar Rapids with gray walls and no fireplace