Better Home And Garden

Archive for the ‘Home and Garden’ Category

The home you live in is a reflection of the individual that you are.  And yet home builders erect thousands of homes in a single neighborhood that all look the same.  This is what we have become accustomed to; but it doesn’t have to be this way everywhere.  If you are looking for an energy efficient alternative to the standard home design, you may be intrigued by the yurt.

The yurt has been around for centuries, and is most well-known as the cloth sided portable dwelling used by nomads who travelled through steppes bounded by mountainous peaks in all four seasons of the year.  The yurt dwelling is a roundhome that was developed to get these nomadic people through the harshest of conditions.  Although portable, their dwellings kept them warm and also paid tribute to their strong belief in the sacredness of nature and spirit as a whole.

This is actually one of the best things about the yurt:  its rich history.  The very shape of this roundhome is essential in acknowledging the connection between man and nature, and between all men in general.  While those living in round houses do not necessarily feel this acknowledgement on a conscious level day in and day out; it is there at all times, giving a relaxation and peace through its inherent nature.

The roundhome is a fairly new invention into modern culture, and yet it is catching on quite well because of the ‘green’ movement.  Living green means using less energy and building homes made from renewal or specially harvested resources.  The roundhome in and of itself is a huge energy saver thanks to its unique design.

Think living in a round house would limit your capabilities to live very comfortably?  Check out some of these design descriptions and see for yourself that a round house can actually treat you and your family to the ultimate living experience.

Some round house designs are small and ideal for a studio of some sort.  Measuring only a few hundred square feet, a wood sided yurt can be used in the backyard as a yoga studio, an art studio or even a reading room.  However, this is only just the beginning of the design options that are available with an energy efficient round house.

Although affordability is a big draw when it comes to owning this type of a home, that does not in any way mean that building a round home or purchasing a prefabricated round home does will be small and cramped.  No, round homes, even when prefabricated, feature everything you would expect from a custom built home.

For the growing or established family who needs more space, pre-designed round homes can feature up to 4 bedrooms and a few thousand square feet of overall living space.  Some of the family homes developed feature single stories with bedroom flanking a wide open living space.  Other homes feature bedrooms on one level and living space on another.  This type of design is one of the most popular, since it is so open and allows in so much light.

Living in a round home is different, that is for sure.  The options for design are wide open, and optional features vary in order to meet the needs of just about every family.  With just a little research, you can easily find out if yurt living is right for your family.

If a new custom home is in your future, consider doing at least the preliminary designs yourself.  Of course you have no doubt already looked at countless home designs in magazines, but none fit your bill – exactly.

With today’s technology, computer drawing software has been made extremely user friendly.  There are a number of design software options available that the complete novice can quickly manage.  And many of these programs are powerful enough for professional designers as well.

Simple and professional.  What could be better for your own do-it-yourself custom home design software?  Now you can take the best ideas of all of those plans that you have been browsing over and try to incorporate them into your special home.

Many of these software programs offer simple “drag-and-drop” features.  This speeds up the design process considerably and allows you more time to do the more important design tasks like bathroom designs and kitchen designs and closet designs…..

Now designers, architects and builders will do this work for – FOR A PRICE.  But it may take a few generations of drawings to get to your desired home design.  And we all know that time is money!

You will gain a great deal of insight into your home when you design it yourself.  You will look at space requirements and flows that you may otherwise disregard if designed by someone else.  And some of the small but important spaces – closet, linen storage, laundry, even kitchen cupboard spaces – will get the extra attention that you deem is required.

Having this kind of input into your special new home design will be exciting and self-satisfying as well.  Imagine having you friends over raving about a particular design feature and being able to say “That was MY design idea”.

Now you will likely still have to engage someone to produce the construction set of drawings, but the design is still YOURS.  And you will truly end up with a custom home designed especially for you.

Japan is a modern country as well as a traditional country, as the No. 2 economy great power in the world, Japan has created a economy miracle, who has a lofty level of modernization, while whose land area is just as small as one of Chinese provinces…

In recent years throughout Japan there raised a hot trend of home reconstruction, which is in the ascendant still.

In order to pursue a more comfortable and convenient living environment, in virtue of home design, Japanese try to take full advantages of spaces and setting modern appliances, furniture in their current narrow residential space.

In past time the demand rank of life in most Japan families was arranged according to food, clothing, transportation and living, now that has shifted to a new order as living first, transportation next, then clothing, and food last, which put the improvement of home living conditions to the first place.

Now in Japan, the space features and design ideas they pursued has following specific performances. ..

1. Purified, Abstract Design Style 

— to make the decoration style attain to a beauty purification realm

Famous post-modern architect Hans Hollein had been engaged in a lot of architectural designs and interior design works, whose work has broken traditional frame and very different from modernist architectural designs. His designs mainly used symbols, metaphor techniques, and applied to modern technique materials and combined with special colors and patterns, thus to create a purified particular ideal environment.

Hans Hollein’s design has put a considerable influence on the world, as extended to his design idea, many Japanese designers follows a step forward, they applied with implied functions and the same time emphasis on the simplicity and abstractness of design, they applied with geometric form elements and managed interlaced arrays of simple lines and surfaces to avoid pop out of objects and shapes, and try best to eliminate all excessive marks; they also adopted the restrained method of removing detailed decorations to embody the essence of space, and make the room space take on concise and lively modern effect.

Nordic think design is an integral part of their lives, Americans keep it as a money-making means, while Japanese believe that design is a important way for national survival….