Are you looking for inspiration for your kitchen? The kitchen is considered by many to be the heart of the home, it is where the majority of one’s time is spent.  Whether you are cooking, eating, doing homework or paying bills, the kitchen in your  home should be a multi-functional space.

A great kitchen renovation will also yield the greatest return on your investment in the real estate market. In today’s economy everyone is looking for ways to make a home more appealing for a potential buyer and one of the most important features in a home is the kitchen.

Take a look at some of our kitchens below to help you get inspired for your next remodel.

If you are looking for the kitchen of your dreams give Trilogy Partners in Breckenridge, Colorado a call at 970.453.2230 or visit us online at trilogybuilds.com.

Tuesday, July 12, The New York Times reported on the new law which supports green energy. The energy law was enacted. It was then repealed by Republicans. Because of a vote of 233 to 193, the repeal was recently defeated. Since Democrats are the minority in the House, the defeat of the repeal shows that people desire green reform.

The two stages of the new light bulb standards have exceptions for specialty lights, candelabra lamps, three-way bulbs, and black lights. Although the new light bulbs cost more than current light bulbs, the energy savings should lower energy bills and offset the price of the new bulbs. The yearly savings could total $50.

Stage 1:

Jan 1 – 2014

25 to 30 percent more efficient

Stage 2:

2015-2020

60 percent more efficient

Learn about Trilogy Partners green designs and advanced building technologies.

Image courtesy of fficial U.S. Navy Imagery via Flickr

If you’ve ever watched “Extreme Makeover Home Edition” on television you know that most of the homes they renovate or rebuild are for families with children. And most of the children end up with “theme rooms” based on questions from the crew of designers. For instance, if a child loves outer space, then he ends up with a bed that looks like a space capsule. A little over the top for sure, but it points out the importance of choosing “one thing” around which to build a room. You probably won’t be choosing “space” for your space, but certainly you can decide on something upon which to build.

Find something, anything, that reflects the chore characteristics of the “room to be.” Obviously, if you’re decorating a library, you might start with a desk. But you might also start with your library of books… line them up and study the colors as they blend together book after book. Maybe you have a favorite pillow, or an old coffee table. Once you find that one thing. Study it. Really study it for all it’s subtleties. Let it tell you how to decorate the rest of the room.

I recently helped a friend decorate a media room. He was at a loss. Should he go dark… light, bold, bright? He didn’t just want the room for watching movies he also wanted it to be a great place to hang out. He’d been spending months just looking at sofas unable to choose a color. My friend is also a collector of movie posters. He’s planning on hanging some of those posters in the media room. I asked him to choose his favorite poster, and he chose a vintage “Gone With The Wind” poster that was a cherished gift from his father-in-law. I asked him what he liked about the poster. He liked the movie he said. But he also liked the colors… the way they blended together.  “It’s got energy,” he said. Of course, he’s right. The entire background of reds and oranges is Atlanta in flames. But if you look at how Gable and Leigh stand out… the reds and whites in her dress and the greenish whites in his shirt, you end up with a pretty neat combination of colors. I suggested he concentrate on the colors worn by the two actors first. Suddenly a light went on in my friend’s eyes. Now he’s out shopping for couches and chairs and he’s decided on a wall color. I can’t wait to see what he comes up with.

I got to thinking the other day about whether we’ll be building very many bookshelves in the future. Seems most of the people I know are snatching up Kindles or iPads instead of real books. What would a home be like without books, bookshelves, and a comfy chair by the fire to settle into on a rainy day? I’ve got an electronic reader myself, but you know. There’s nothing like the feel, the smell, and the just plain look of a book. I love my e-reader. But I love my bookshelves as well and I don’t think a house is quite a home without real books on display.

Yes we can afford this!

I admit it. I’m a designer for Trilogy Partners, well known for highest quality design and build, and I just spent the entire day at a nationwide home improvement discount center sourcing product for a remodel project. No, this is not a plug for Home Depot, or any of the big box home improvement centers. But in these days of belt tightening, the major home suppliers are a great place to start if you want to know the answer to the question “how much can I really get done with the money I have?” Here’s an example. I found a beige 18×18 Travertine tile for $1.99 a square foot. With the client’s rather tight budget, it seemed that we’d be restricted to the cheapest (and often nastiest looking) of the ceramic tiles for our two bathroom upgrades. Now I can tell my client, if you want stone tile, we can do that on the cheap and here are some tile patterns and designs you should consider. What else did I check out? Affordable light fixtures that look just like the ones at the specialty lighting store for hundreds less. Energy Star rated appliances that mimic those super high end stainless models. And solid bamboo wood flooring for a fraction of the cost of other solid wood products. Will I be purchasing design materials from the big box guys? Well, I may be mighty loyal to the specialty suppliers that I’ve been doing business with for years. But ultimately, the answer to that question depends on the client. Because I do know this: if you have a constrained budget and your interior designer isn’t looking at all the value options including the Lowes of the world, then no matter how creative they are, they aren’t acting in your best interest.

Congratulations to our client and dear friend, Trey Parker, on his triumphant Broadway debut as writer, director, and producer of Broadway’s newest musical hit, The Book Of Mormon. Recently nominated for 14 Tony Awards, more than any play this season, Parker joined with long time South Park co-creator Matt Stone and Avenue Q writer Robert Lopez to tell the story of two Morman missionaries who are assigned to spread the Mormon gospel in Uganda. Book of Mormon tickets have become almost impossible to come by as the public can’t seem to get enough of the guys behind the irreverent South Park Cartoon Series. We’re proud to have worked with Trey to co-create and build two of his favorite places on earth, one in Steamboat Springs (and featured in Architectural Digest), and the other on Kauai. We always knew that South Park was just the tip of the iceberg, because not only is Trey an incredible writer and satirist, he’s also a brilliant designer with a truly classic and timeless sense of taste. We look forward to joining forces with Trey again soon.

Whether you are living in a large home or smaller apartment with modern interior decor, you should consider adding chic and stylish 21st century modern rugs for display in your living room, dining area, bedrooms, kitchen, patios and bathrooms. Modern rugs have become the accessories of choice suitable for all styles of contemporary home settings. Rug manufacturers and rug designers have come up with all types, shapes, sizes, styles, textures, colors and designs to match and complement whatever theme or motif and budget you have. You can choose from a vast array of hand-knotted, hand-tufted, machine-made or flat weaves in a variety of textures, colors and patterns that will add inspiration and style to every space in your home.

Luxury homes of the rich and famous are adorned with the best and most expensive handmade natural silk and wool customized designer rugs. When you reach this status in life to afford these uniquely braided designed and handcrafted expensive avant-garde rugs, they become necessities and worth their prices for their top quality and longevity.

If you prefer handmade rugs, you need to know the many new and innovative techniques being implemented by handcrafters from different countries. New spins, old designs in more artistic vibrant colors, and creative new designs are revolutionizing the modern rug industry. For instance, you can opt for a silver shag which would complement a silver bathroom mirror and silver bath curtains.

Other types of rugs are fabulous modern Persian, Tibetan, and Gabbeh rugs with an almost infinite variety of textures, patterns, swirls, geometric shapes, subtle, soft and bold designs. There are also less expensive rugs available if you search the websites of modern rug suppliers. Synthetic rugs are a viable option and are still capable of  transforming a  dull looking space into an alive and radiant atmosphere. Rugs can be manufactured from the sturdy polypropylene or cheaper, wool-like acrylic in soft and comfortable textures. A huge selection is available online and many stores offer special promo sales and substantial discounts up to 60% with free shipping.

At the end of the day, you can be confident that your family and friends will adore the sleek, fresh and new look created by the modern rugs in your home.

Please visit http://www.braidedovalrug.com to learn more about the different types of rugs that will best fit your needs and budget!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Fem_Mascenon

No, no, I´m not talking about haunted houses. I´m referring to what author Alain de Botton says in his book The architecture of happiness. According to him, there is a language buildings and objects speak when we look at them, and our fondness or distaste of them comes from the relationship we establish between those buildings and human beings whom we like or do not like. In other words, they remind us of people we´ve encountered in our life.

That happened to me when I visited Brasília, the capital of Brazil, for the first time. I was very excited I was going to see the buildings I knew housed the big decisions in this country.The Congress, the Senate, the Alvorada palace. I was going to actually be there and experience the work of architect Oscar Niemeyer, the man who designed that city, built in the 1960´s, during the government of President Juscelino Kubitschek.I was finally going to have a glimpse of what these two men thought Brazil should look and be like.

I was very disappointed when I got there. As I tried to connect with the buildings, they didn´t even try to connect with me. They were mute. Concrete giants enclosed within themselves.

That´s when I began realizing what de Botton says. Those buildings, and Brasília as a whole, for the landscape is uniform, reminded me of what I find most obnoxious in certain people, especially when they are powerful: selfishness, lack of empathy and that attitute of owning the world. In a paradox, I felt suffocated in a place where empty spaces are abundant. There are no sidewalks, there are almost no trees ( in a country full of trees), the air is dry to the point of gasping. The only positive aspect of Brasília, for me, is the people: kind, friendly, warm. And that takes me to another realization about my country.

For many decades now, Brazil has been trying to be modern, developed, respected. And in some ways we´re reaching that. But the concept of modern in the minds of our past leaders (and some present ones, too) was linked to the idea of rupturing with the past at any cost. For thecountry of the future, anything that resembled our colonial past had to go.Wood, brick, clay, intricate shapes, bright colors either resembled Europe, or the jungle, or the slave quarters. In the anxiety of finding a face in the mirror that could match the idea of new, they chose concrete. Cold, mute concrete. Had they looked more closely, they´d have seen that´s not the Brazilian face. The Brazilian face is every face. And that´s where novelty is: in diversity. Instead of wasting time and money trying to build huge concrete structures to show up to the world, they should have tried to build a fair society first.

Source: bigthink.com

You think that look is new? I saw it in the ’80s

The Home Depot Foundationannounced the grantees of a new round of funding for their Partners in Sustainable Building (PSB) program last week.  More than 135 Habitat for Humanity affiliates across 42 states will receive grant money to help pay for sustainable homes.  Habitat will receive $3,000 for each home that is Energy Star certified, and $5,000 each for higher green home certifications.

The PSB program was launched by The Home Depot Foundation in 2009, and has already helped fund over 1,500 Habitat homes nationwide.   It is expected that this year’s grantees will build over 2,400 homes through the program.

“We believe that healthy homes are the building blocks for thriving, affordable and environmentally sound communities,” said Kelly Caffarelli, president of The Home Depot Foundation. “Through our partnership with Habitat for Humanity, we are focused on bringing the practical financial and health benefits of green building and maintenance to families of modest incomes. By showing that green building and efficient maintenance of a home can truly keep more money in a family’s wallet, we also hope this effort has a ripple effect on all homeowners nationwide.”

The homes save their residents money every month by drastically reducing energy costs.  Here are just a few examples of the savings:

• One PSB homeowner in Rushford, Minnesota reported that her heating bill averaged only $2.50 per day during January.
• In Fort Bend, a Texas homeowner who recently moved from his mobile home into a PSB home reported energy savings of $500 a month.
• After months of 100+ degree temperatures, a homeowner in Grayson County, Texas reported that her highest electric bill was only $100.
• In St. Louis, Missouri a homeowner saved so much in utility bills that she was able to purchase everything her children needed for the new school year, an annual expense she could not previously afford.

For Habitat, the partnership continues its commitment to quality, energy efficient housing for low-income families.  “Our collaboration with The Home Depot Foundation is providing Habitat affiliates with the resources to continue building energy-efficient homes in neighborhoods throughout the country,” said Jonathan Reckford, CEO, Habitat for Humanity International.   “At the end of our $30 million five-year effort, 5,000 families will have benefited from this partnership.”

Photo courtesy of The Home Depot Foundation.

Source: Greenbuildingelements.com by Dawn Killough