Living in an urban environment sometimes means sacrificing some personal space. Houses are closer together, square footage is minimal, and neighbors dont have to work very hard to be nosy with their windows practically lining up with yours. Privacy fences can be hard to squeeze into the breezeways between homes, can be very costly, and may not even be permissible by local codes. So whats an urban home-dweller to do? Why, build a wall of lattice, of course!

My husband and I embarked on this weekend long project over the Fourth to help create some privacy for one side of our house. Our master bedroom and bathroom (to be) windows face out to what was once a vacant property, but now is in the process of being renovated as a rental property.

We were getting pretty tired of feeling like we could never open our blinds on that side of the house lest we show off all our bedroom has to offer (which is the number one target of home burglaries, FYI), and with new tenants on the horizon, we wanted a buffer between our home and the one next door.
The great thing about the lattice wall is what a simple, yet great solution it was to our issue.

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Readers who frequent Gizmag’s architecture pages will almost certainly recall the unusual D-Dynamic concept house we looked at last November. Based on the Haberdasher’s Puzzle, the house would transform from a triangular to a square plan, and any number of configurations between, thanks to its system of hinges and rails.

Now its creator, the D-Haus Company, has launched a Kickstarter campaign to make a table (named D-Table, naturally) based on the same idea.

Exactly like the D-Dynamic house, the D-Table is a line of four differently shaped bits, each joined to the next by hinges.

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Heres a quick look at some cool new products I saw at the 2013 International Builders Show that might interest the DIY Homeowner.

The Extreme How-To staff shared our IBS exhibition booth with Simonton Windows and TG Tools. Simonton makes top-quality, energy-efficiency vinyl windows that reduce your energy bills and spare you tons of maintenance headaches. TG Tools makes drill bits that drill faster and last longer than the ones you currently have—and they can drill at a curve! You should get to know both of these companies.

The Brew Cave is a commercial-grade beer cooler. From the U.S. Cooler website: The Brew Cave is the largest kegerator on the residential market. With shelving, it can hold over 30 cases of beer, plus 6 or more kegs.

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Easter means many things to me: spring, pastels, and family fun. The best place for a special Easter is in your home. As a child, the Easter Bunny would hide small candy eggs or M&M’s around the downstairs of our home. My brother, sister, and I would grab our (already loaded) Easter baskets and run around the house like maniacs hunting for our Easter treasures left behind by the bunny with a fluffy tail.

That may sound like a terrible time to parents of young children or grandparents of young grandkids, but what made it special was family tradition. We expected it every year—even as teenagers! This year, try something different. Set some new family traditions that will create memories that will last a lifetime. Hooker Furniture has all the great furniture pieces to make a home comfortable for those silly family traditions.

In-home Easter Egg Hunt

Hide Easter eggs in the Rhapsody double bookcase.

The Rhapsody double bookcase is a great hiding spot for an Easter egg hunt!

Serve Easter Brunch

Host an Easter brunch for family and friends.

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NV01 is a prototype shelving system that can be extended and adapted to fit the available space in any room – in terms of both width and height – by assembling the identical modules in different configurations.

The NV01 system is the work of Paris-based Noir Vif, a design studio founded by André Fontes and Guillaume Lehoux. The corner joints of each module, which allow each to be slotted into place like a jigsaw, are the key to the design.

Lehoux explained in an interview with Gizmag that the concept emerged from the wish to make furniture that can fit almost any kind of housing, is simple and cheap to manufacture, and provides playful and creative options for the user.

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Our friends and relatives are our close ones and are a part of our lives in every happy and sad occasion. We invite them in any occasion, festivals or parties that we arrange in our homes. It is very important to make them feel warm and invited. Normally, we arrange for a dinner or lunch when we invite our close ones to our homes. In such a situation, it’s very important to have a good dining set according to the look and decor of our house.

A nice dining set will make your kitchen look warm and cosy. Before buying a dining set, you should shop around the market to check out dining sets and breakfast nooks that will enhance the beauty of your kitchen. If you are looking for a dining set or a breakfast nook of your favourite brand and cannot find a shop locally, then you can even go for online shopping. Not only this, if you go for online shopping, you will also be able to get a variety of brands and in a variety of styles and sizes. Read more…