Chute!! what a time saver.

While laundry chutes are a  real time saver some restictions my apply depending on your building officials requlations. Chute! 2 story homes, with the owner's suite on the main floor (sometimes referred to as 1½ story) and secondary bedrooms upstairs, present a natural dilemma-laundry.  You want the laundry facilities conveniently located on the main floor.  But retrieving dirty clothes from upstairs...well, that often leads to anguish over not having certain clothes clean! Consider a laundy chute! Laundry chutes are not a new idea, but they're not found in many new homes either.  Unless you are planning both an upstairs laundry for the kids plus a washer/dryer on the main floor, designing in a laundry chute may be an amenity you'll wonder how you would have ever lived without.  Just be sure to have a self-closing door on one end (for fire safety.) See some great laundry chute ideas.

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Multi purpose jetted sink

A new spin on delicates A reader recently shared one of her "must haves" with us - a jetted laundry sink for hand-wash items! Jentle Jet® Laundry Sink 110J MTI, a producer of tubs, showers, sinks and related bath furniture, offers two Jentle Jet® laundry sinks which, according to the manufacturer, offer an "innovative use of the power of micro-jets to thoroughly launder delicate washables."  Thanks T.B.! More about the Jentle Jet® Laundry Sink. Feel free to use and share HER Home Thought of the Day via facebook, Twitter and other social media venues! Her Home's Thought of the Day is derived from audience feedback as well as real-life experiences of the Her Home staff. In furthering our vision to help buyers make wise, informed decisions regarding their homes and the products that go into those homes, if you have a suggestion, topic, or story to share e-mail us!

All square feet are not created equal

All square feet are not created equal (part 1 of 2)  It may come as a surprise to you that there is no universal method for calculating a home's square footage. Discrepancies occur when including (or omitting) porches and screened-in decks, lower levels, attic spaces and garages. Should the square footage occupied by a staircase be counted once or twice, since it occupies space on both levels? Then there's the question of where the measurement is taken from. Some homes may only include the space inside the walls. More often, the calculation is based on taking measurements from outside of the exterior wall framing (which adds the square footage represented in the wall thickness.) Further increasing square footage calculations, some homes are measured from outside of exterior finish materials. If the home has brick siding, for example, measuring to the outside of the brick may add 50 or even 100 square feet to the home's overall size. This is one reason homes should not be compared solely on the basis of cost-per-square-foot.

Feel free to use and share HER Home Thought of the Day via facebook, Twitter and other social media venues! Her Home's Thought of the Day is derived from audience feedback as well as real-life experiences of the Her Home staff. In furthering our vision to help buyers make wise, informed decisions regarding their homes and the products that go into those homes, if you have a suggestion, topic, or story to share e-mail us!

Proper Cabinet Utilization

Store trays, baking pans or cutting boards in this easy-access Base Cabinet. Divided we stand?   Chances are you have a base cabinet where you keep cookiesheets, the pizza stone, cutting board, pie plates and other relatively thin, vertical accessories. That's a "win" for storage, but organization is often overlooked.    Tray dividers typically attach (screw in) to the cabinet base and separate the cabinet space into more usable sections. In particular, tray dividers can help keep items from leaning over and being in the way when you're trying to store or retrieve other items in that cabinet. Still another idea is to install a roll-out with tray dividers in that base cabinet to bring the needed item to you! RESOURCES  Kraftmaid Storage Solutions

Stairs the new location



Craig@CraigtheBuilder.com
319-553-1457

Today's Thought of the Day Where did they put the stairs? Perhaps when entering into the home via the front door was more common it made sense to have the staircase at or along the front entry.  Of course, that design philosophy shows best when elegant staircase balusters, spindles, railing and treads are used-which is expensive.   With today's reality that most of us primarily enter through the door from the garage, staircase placement options have opened up.   Often it is more convenient in terms of livability in the home to have the stairs located closer to the kitchen, whether it's heading upstairs after arriving home from a long day or coming down for breakfast in the morning.       Stairs located off the rear foyer   And, you can save money on staircase aesthetics in order to get something else you really want in your home!    Example floor plan 43064

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