I love my backyard. It’s enchanting. But no matter how large or small, I bet most of us thoroughly enjoy our backyards as it is where we can spend time simply relaxing or grilling out with friends. Whether it be on warm, sunny days or crisp, fall evenings, backyards are a special place.

Some backyards are lucky enough to have lush woods as a backdrop. If this is your scenario, you will agree it is a wonderful view that changes with the seasons and affords great privacy from the neighbors behind you. Other backyards can be on the small side, especially here at the beach, but it’s amazing what you can do with that space—squeeze a small splash or cocktail pool in them and you have your own tropical oasis.

In year’s past, during the dead of winter, my backyard was mostly dark by the time I get home from the office. Of course, I never seem to get up early enough on weekday mornings to thoroughly enjoy my backyard as I am always rushing off to work, trying not to be late. But now that daylight savings started, relaxing evenings in my backyard are more frequent. But even in the thick of winter, or when we stay outside past dusk on delightful summer evenings, there is a remedy to a dark backyard—landscape lighting!

If you have a pool, the pool lights can help brighten up the backyard at night and a fire pit can create flickering light—both of which are very nice, but are they enough? Or more importantly, are they creating the effect you are looking for? Turns out, they don’t always provide what you are looking for. Sometimes this light can completely overwhelm the rest of the yard. There is a fine line between too much light and light that creates a soothing ambience.

Over the holidays, we put up one string of soft white lights in the bushes. Nothing fancy, but it suddenly clicked. Or should I say, I saw the light! We could actually see the landscaping, and if you are lucky enough to have a pool, the reflections of these lights on the pool can be stunning.

So, recently we added low voltage landscape lights. WOW—they are transformational! I feel foolish for not doing this sooner.

We have lights shining up on our crepe myrtle trees. Even this time of year when they are sticks, they look interesting and very sculptural with the uplighting. I can’t wait to see them later this year when they are in full bloom.

We have lights shining on our privacy hedge, creating a perimeter. The greenscape enclosure is magical and comforting.

But my favorites lights are the ones lighting the woods behind our home. What once was a black abyss is now a charming and dramatic backdrop. As a bonus, the lighting makes nighttime putting possible! When inside, I can’t stop staring out the windows at my beautiful yard.

What an amazing transformation these lights offer when it comes to making the most of your backyard landscape. With spring upon us, I encourage you to add some uplighting, or even just a strand of lights on a tree—it is truly uplifting and will enhance those lovely evenings spent outside!

Adapted from Housing Design Matters Blog

When it comes to having enough storage in our homes—there is just never enough! And it seems that the problem of not enough storage has gotten worse since the pandemic. Apparently, Americans have become too good at ordering “stuff” on Amazon or other online retailers and not as good at throwing “stuff” away. These super-fast, convenient shopping experiences appear to be contributing to storage challenges. So the question becomes, where do you put all this stuff?

Holiday Décor

Finding places for holiday decorations used to be easy—limited to a couple of boxes for tree ornaments and outdoor lights. Not anymore! Decorating for Christmas has become a competitive sport! It’s all about who in the neighborhood has the best décor. But wait—competitive outdoor décor isn’t just limited to Christmas. Many folks go all out for Halloween too. Again, this adds to our storage dilemma.

Self-Storage Units

According to Yardi Matrix, there has been tremendous growth in the self-storage business since 2020. There are now more than 14.5 million people utilizing self-storage—which is up by close to a million in two years. Some believe the demand for self-storage is increasing because of housing affordability issues—especially in urban areas. Another factor is downsizing. The 55+ market is famous for wanting a smaller house but failing to adequately downsize the amount of stuff they keep.
It’s clear to me that our storage needs are only growing—so where can we expand our storage in the home?

Kitchen

Ever since we fell in love with the open concept floor plan, finding adequate upper cabinet storage in the kitchen has been more challenging. During the lockdown, the number of kitchen gadgets we “needed” increased. The result—we quickly ran out of storage and our kitchens became a disorganized mess. The once adequate corner pantry no longer provides enough storage. Large walk-in pantries are a better solution. Be sure to consider this if you plan to remodel your kitchen or are in the process of designing a new home.

Should space permit, the addition of the Messy Kitchen is another great storage solution. This area is especially helpful for our favorite kitchen gadgets like the juicer, blender, coffee maker, and toaster oven.

I also love the tall upper cabinets with the glass cabinets above the uppers. What a great place for the display of collectables that is safe and relatively dust free.

Primary Closet

Ask most folks about an adequate primary closet, and they will respond “it can’t be big enough.” While that’s not always feasible, oversized closets have great appeal. Nonetheless, a built-in closet system can go a long way in terms of storage space even in an average-sized walk-in closet.

Garage

For many, including my household, the garage becomes the catch-all for stuff. However, without a well-planned organization system, this space gets unruly and overcrowded. Eventually, disarray prevails. Capitalize on this space with wall hooks to hang bikes, fishing poles, etc. and cabinets/shelves to keep stuff organized.

Attic Storage

If you have attic space, easy access is imperative to make it practical. If you are subject to pull-down stairs, it can be dangerous when trying to retrieve big boxes. It generally requires 2 people, and all I can say is, be careful. If you are building a home, be sure to incorporate a walk-in attic area or one that offers a permanent staircase for ease of access. And if you want to make the most of this storage area, opt for spray-foam insulation so this space doesn’t experience extreme heat in the summer or get incredibly cold in the winter.

Under the Stairs Storage

Move over Harry Potter. This valuable, albeit small, storage space should not be overlooked as every inch of storage counts. Perhaps you can add an access door in your home to take advantage of this
space.

Yes – We have a problem!

So, is it a lack of storage that is the problem or too much stuff that is the problem? The reality is, most of us aren’t as organized as we’d like to be—why do you think Tidying Up with Marie Kondo was such a hit on HGTV? Even if we take her lessons to heart, we will have to be diligent about purging and keeping things organized.

Have you taken full advantage of storage possibilities in your home? If not, try mastering the art of organization—it is highly rewarding!

Adapted from Housing Design Matters Blog

Of course windows play an amazing role in the design, livability, and enjoyment of our homes as they let in natural light and help to expand the space. High glass brings in light without compromising privacy which is important here at the beach. But there are several nuances when it comes to high glass including where to use it and what size is appropriate.

Which rooms benefit the most from high glass?

For obvious reasons, bathrooms greatly benefit from high glass as it is a room that demands privacy. Perhaps you remember when it was common to show a large 4′ by 4′ window above the soaking tub in the primary bath. While it looked awesome and let in incredible light, it offered no privacy. To address this concern, frosted glass or glass block was installed. We’ve long since moved on from those faded fads, and found the perfect application for high glass.

Over The Shower

Although soaking tubs are still popular should your primary bath be large enough, many homeowners have switched to a spa-like shower. If your home has 10′ ceilings, then you have plenty of options to add high glass in the shower area.
If your home has a 9′ ceiling, you could sneak a piece of high glass up at an 8′ head height. A two-foot-tall piece of glass with a sill at 6′ adds a lot of light and still maintains privacy.

Over The Vanities

Another popular spot for high glass is over the vanities. Again, this is easy with 10′ ceilings. But as the ceilings get lower, the amount and size of glass gets compressed. Now you have to consider the top of the mirror. If your light fixtures are placed over mirrors, a good solution is to place high glass between the vanities and their corresponding mirrors.

Dining Rooms

Another popular place to add high glass is to the dining room. Oftentimes this is supplemental glass that acts as an accent/design element.
Many times the dining room is on the side of the house where we have another house about 10′ away. While dining rooms don’t require the same amount of privacy as a bathroom – no one wants to see their neighbor staring into their home while you host a dinner party.

The good news here is the size of the glass in the dining room isn’t constricted by mirrors. Adding three 2′ by 2′ pieces of glass along the dining room wall creates a great look. I recently visited a home where they added only two larger pieces of glass at 3′ by 3′. The result was a larger area of glass and less labor to install. Sounds like a win win!

High glass serves a crucial role in bringing natural light into spaces where we want to maintain privacy. Thoughtful sizing and placement will bring cheer to even the most challenging rooms in the home. So whether you are designing a new home, or remodeling an existing one, be sure to give high glass some careful consideration.

Adapted from Housing Design Matters Blog

The house I grew up in had a tub/shower combo in my bathroom. Inset in the tile wall was one soap dish. I guess the builders of my house wanted me to wash my hair with soap… Of course, my family used shampoo, which we ended up cramming into the corner of the tub. The truth is that today’s homes are well thought out and considerable attention is given to bathrooms. Whether you are building a new home or remodeling an older home, other than the kitchen, the primary bath is where to put your money.

So, I think it should go without saying that a single soap dish is no longer going to cut it. At a minimum, we need space for soap, shampoo, conditioner, and body wash. On top of that, men and women tend to have their own body wash – they may also want different shampoo. And then there’s the guys who like to shave in the shower. They need shaving cream.

Bottom line – it takes a lot of “stuff” to make us beautiful and fresh smelling! This means our showers need an adequate spot to house all these items.

Welcome the niche!

THE SHAMPOO NICHE

Fortunately, the plumbing industry understands this and has started including shampoo niches in their prefab tubs and showers. While some of the prefab shower enclosures of the past have been uninspiring (to put it mildly), the industry has stepped up their game.

You can find a tub enclosure that looks like tile, has a shampoo shelf running the entire length of the tub, and you can also add accent tile to the recess for a more custom look.

And speaking of a custom look, if you’re installing tile only to your shower or tub walls, you can get a prefabricated leak-proof shampoo niche ready for tile or accent tiles. Accenting the shampoo niche with contrasting tile is a great design concept. These extra touches confirm just how important a great shower experience is to kick off the day on a good note.

THE SHOWER SEAT

Of course, every shower must have a seat – right? The answer is, absolutely, if possible. However, most shower seats aren’t for sitting. Many are there to enable woman to shave their legs and all bathers to wash their feet and ankles…

If you have the room, consider a shower seat that runs the entire width of the shower.
Better yet – how about the entire length of the shower? Now we’re talking! This shower seat is multi-functional. Great for shaving your legs, large enough if you must sit down, and can hold body wash, shampoo, conditioner, shaving cream, razors – and even soap!

Of course, today’s showers are fabulous for a variety of other reasons. Incorporating elements like an elegant frameless enclosure, a transom window, making it zero-entry, adding a cool linear drain or a spa-like rainhead are but a few items that make today’s bathrooms shine. Gone are the days of the basic shower, here to stay is the luxury bathroom, which is not only beautiful to look at, but highly functional!

Adapted from Housing Design Matters Blog

The other day, I walked into my closet and hit the light switch. Nothing changed. No, the light wasn’t burnt out. There wasn’t an electrical problem either. My closet was simply too dark for my 55+ eyes.

As many of you know, the lens of our eyes thickens as we age. It starts in our thirties. As the lens thickens, it lets in less light. A sixty-year-old needs six times as much light as a twenty-year-old. This is a gradual process, and before you know it, you’re in a “romantically” dim restaurant and can’t read the menu without blinding other guests with your iPhone flashlight. In addition to emitting less light, the thickened lens can’t bend and flex like it used to, making it harder to focus on items up close.

But back to my closet. During the walk through of our home several years ago (please note–I was pre-50), my closet with white walls, white shelves, and lightly colored carpet was brightly lit. We thought we had made a smart lighting decision as we didn’t want one of those ugly fluorescent lights because we knew they didn’t provide full spectrum light. Full spectrum allows you to more accurately see color, helping you avoid wearing mismatched colors.

We also didn’t elect to hang a pretty pendant fixture in our closets, deciding to stay utilitarian with our closet lighting and save the decorative lighting for other rooms. Based upon its size, we installed two fixtures in my closet, each with two sixty-watt incandescent lights.

What could possibly go wrong? Five years older and a lot of shopping – that’s what. I happen to wear a lot of dark colors – especially black. These dark colors consume precious light to the point that my bright and airy closet was more like a cave. To make matters worse, the top row of clothes was blocking the light to the bottom row of clothes where all my black tops were hung. Once again, I would find myself bringing out flashlight feature on my phone just to be able to select a garment from the bottom row – always a humbling experience.

Of course, the best option for closet lighting is the LED rope light above each rod. However, this is not always easy to add after the fact! And adding a higher wattage incandescent bulb could work, but it also produces more heat than the fixture was designed for, creating a possible fire hazard. Fortunately, it isn’t difficult to find an LED fixture that fits the same size. This was my solution, swap the fixtures out and voila–there was good light in my closet again. The old sixty-watt incandescent bulb only gave off 800 lumens of light and were amber in color. My new LED fixture emits 2000 lumens resulting in more light, fuller spectrum, less heat and energy consumption.

Whether you are building a new home or remodeling an older one, adequate closet lighting is a must.

And while you are at, think about the configuration of your shelving and built-ins. Making the most of your primary bedroom closet will serve you well for years to come!

Adapted from Housing Design Matters Blog