Advice

Alts Design Office replaced all the old insulation materials and moved the living room from the first floor to the second floor.

Hiring a general contractor (GC) may not be as exciting as picking an architect, but it’s definitely as important. After all, this is the person who will determine whether you’re sleeping in a beautiful new bedroom or a motel when your projected move-in date rolls around.

Finnish-American architect Eero Saarinen designed the Gateway Arch monument, completed in St. Louis in 1965 (it opened to the public in 1967). The world's largest arch, the iconic, 632-foot tall structure was built as a monument to westward expansion in the United States. Here, he's shown alongside models of the arch. Credit: Yale University Library, Manuscripts and Archives; © St. Louis Post-Dispatch

It can be a challenge to sift through the trendy mattress companies popping up today—luckily for you, we’ve looked into the most reputable mattresses you can buy without breaking the bank.

A connected camera, like the Netatmo Welcome, can be unobtrusively placed in your home for security and family communication.

Christmas day!

Making the decision to buy a home is never easy; it’s hard to know what life will look like five or ten years down the line. But on the bright side, buying a home is exciting. The responsibility can be invigorating.

By scouring shops, sales, and auctions, George Marrone amassed a giant trove of postwar furniture. He and his partner, Michael Nocera, applied that same work ethic to a 1959 home in Wilmington, Delaware, which they patched up over two years. The couple’s bulldogs stand guard at the flagstone entrance. The door, still with its Space Age knobs, is painted Flaming Torch by Behr. The brass wallhanging above the landing is by C. Jeré.

The thrill of a home renovation can quickly be diminished by unforeseen circumstances, stretched budgets, and other unexpected issues. The good news is that most of the time these problems can be mitigated, if not avoided entirely, by keeping an eye out for warning signals. Read on as we go through essential home renovation tips to consider before kicking off your own revamp.

5. "What are the top 10 most important things I must have in a home?" "If there are two people buying the home, write your answers down separately, starting with your absolute must-haves," Hoffman explains. “Putting together a list separately can give both parties and the realtor a clear picture of what the perfect home will have for both of you."

To create a clean and minimalist aesthetic, only treated pine plywood and concrete was used in the interiors.

Be selective about splurging. One of the hardest, yet potentially most satisfying, parts of staying on budget is learning where to save and where to splurge. There are certain items or pieces that are worthy of spending more on, whether it’s a sofa that will last you a decade or kitchen countertops that will really help improve the value of your home. Your contractor or other design professional can advise you on locations or pieces where a higher-quality product is important versus something more basic.

Deciding to buy a home comes with its own unique set of pressures. Oftentimes, it’s seen as a seal of adulthood, an acceptance of permanence, and perhaps most importantly, it also means that you’re about to spend a large sum of money; it makes sense that no one wants to go about it in a casual way.

San Francisco–based architect Cary Bernstein has designed countless residential projects and worked with dozens of contractors. She knows well the difficulties of architect-contractor-client relationships, and she’s developed a pretty good system for making them work.

Resident Brian Whitlock saved some serious cash by taking on much of the construction and electrical work himself.

The house was built on piers (save for the lower-level bedroom) so that little of the natural landscape would be disturbed.