Buying a home is a major financial investment, and as such, every homeowner wishes to have their home value appreciated. The good news is the prices of homes increase with time. However, this comes at a cost. The only way to increase your home value is through proper home maintenance and home improvement projects. From outdoor improvement to bathroom remodeling, here are five home improvement projects that add value to your home. Improve your home’s curb appeal The curb appeal of your home not only attra ..read more

SAOTA designed this stunning home for a Johannesburg family on the coast of South Africa. The idea was for single roof element that responded to the site’s slope, floating over a living space. Set in The Cove development at Pezula Estate outside Knysna, the property has extensive sea views downhill to the south east. The client’s brief was a home that could eventually be used as a family home but would initially be used for holidays. The roof is out of one’s line of sight from the back of the double height open living space as you enter. A gigantic triangular skylight in the roof re ..read more

Young and innovative architecture firm Tropical Space in Vietnam shake up all the assumptions about dowdy old brick. Termitary House in Da Nang City, Vietnam revolutionises how brick is used in buildings. On the ground floor, directly inside the street entrance is the open plan living, cooking and dining area. Leading out to a modest back courtyard, the brick is paired with generous bamboo french doors. Although right on the street, there is a sense of privacy. In their imaginative rethink, the architects envision brick knitted into a cooling screen for the ground floor living room. The ..read more

A three story home at Samosaguas on the outskirts of Madrid by A-cero Architects houses an art studio and pool on the top floor. Who would suspect there is a reservoir-like swimming pool hiding in plain sight here at this sculptural entry suggesting natural stratified rock formation. Yet almost the entire top floor, which also houses an art studio, is actually swimmable. The architectural textured concrete swoop that appears to be pure art also conceals the swimmers from the street. When lit from below, there is a hint of the very large scale of this body of water. Housing a second ..read more

Whether you’re looking to get some money for a home renovation or want to pad your retirement fund, you can get money from your home. You can either tap into the equity of your home in several ways or use your home itself to earn you extra money. Keep reading for six ways that you can get money from your home without selling it. Cash-out Refinance When you have a high percentage of equity in your home, you can do a cash-out refinance to pay off your current loan and give you a lower interest rate. You get cashback from the refinance because the new loan is above that of your previous payoff am ..read more

The Brown Residence designed by Lake|Flato Architects, in Scottsdale, Arizona has a mathematical rightness to it. Precise proportions prevail throughout, from the perfect firepit to the terraced levels up to the modular glazing. Elegant vertical hinging allows the slimmest of steel doors to swing wide. The glazing is designed to bring the winter desert sun far in to the interior. Every room gazes far out over the dry desert landscape of Arizona. A corten steel screen is like a work of art, perfectly offset by quirky cactus-like outdoor seating. The quietest beiges lap the sleeper in lux ..read more

Architecture firm ihrmk created this intriguingly transparent view-through home in the Japanese countryside after a summertime visit to the site. The house is made transparent from south to north on the first floor – but from east to west on the second floor. The east west windows bring in the beginning and the end of the day to meet the client’s brief  “we want to awake in the morning sunlight”, “we want to doze in the comfortable breeze” Sited right at the edge of the suburbs of Toyota, it maximises the connection with the paddy fields to the south and the west. To p ..read more

Swett House is a private home designed by Prado Arquitectos in Chiguayante. The site is at the bottom of a narrow valley surrounded by hills, and gets only short periods of sun exposure. So the conceptual idea of the project was to gain height to maximise the sun exposure into the home. A second story allows the brief exposure to the sun to warm the home for the maximum possible hours. The idea was to support the second story on a series of steel columns inside a glass enclosure. The horizontal fenestration, with continuous transparent planes is framed by the steel plates ..read more

Adding a bathroom to your home is one of the better home improvement projects you can tackle. Not only does it decrease traffic in your other bathrooms, but it raises the value of your home at the same time. Raising the value of a home should be a top priority for any homeowner and adding a bathroom is an excellent way to do this. However, adding a bathroom is also a complicated process with a lot of steps. To help make it a little easier, here are 5 tips you can use. Plan Out the Layout Early First, you should start thinking about the layout. Where in your home is the bathroom going to go and ..read more

Decorating your home is a highly subjective process that you need to always be honest about. There are things that you can do and things that you cannot do. There are also things that you can afford and things that you cannot. Fortunately, since it is your home, you can make many different changes that would make you happy about the space you live in. There are many different DIY home decorating ideas that can be mentioned. If you are good with your hands, you can make various modifications that are very cheap and that you can surely afford. You cannot do something really complex, like dealin ..read more