Martin Cooper

MB Architecture  completed the design of House in the Lanes , a 7,300 square foot contemporary residence with an inspiring layout in Amagansett, NY. The clients requested a maintenance-free house that would last for decades to come. Builders used materials and finishes such as charred cypress, raw concrete and zinc for their ability to weather naturally over time. “The lanes in Amagansett, New York are a set of walkable streets perpendicular to Main Street, dotted with a diverse range of houses and styles, that are walking distance to the ocean,” the architects explained. “In a departure from recent additions to the area, where houses extend from side to side on a given parcel, often choking it, we opted to let the side facade, the narrow end, be the street-front. By doing so, we were able to let the longer side of the house face south and direct sun, while maintaining a suitable distance to the neighbors.” “A sunken courtyard on the south side of the house and a generous light-well

My hubby and I live in 300 sq. ft. home. While he walked the 200 mile Camino Primitivo in Spain, I designed and built a small space storage unit to fill a 6 x 16″ niche in our “living room”. On the far right appears a floor to ceiling custom built-in shelving unit. On the left, an efficiency kitchen and laundry room I built from a SUNNERSTA KITCHEN and CART in a 5 x 3 ft. former laundry closet). I built and installed this in one day. It cost about $100 USD for the following materials: 6 DYNAN wall shelves 6 deep, fat-headed screws for studs 2 VARIERA shelf inserts 11” depth Six DYNAN wall shelf units were stacked, bolted together following the IKEA instructions, and each unit also anchored to a stud in the back wall. Although not designed to stack this high, given it is rammed between three walls and anchored to a stud, it has already survived a 3.8 California earthquake without budging! The only real hack is cantilevering the shelf out using 11″ deep VARIERA shelving inse

Choosing to live in a rental property offers a lot of freedom from repairs and maintenance. Typically, tenants are not responsible for tasks like cutting the grass and fixing plumbing problems. Perhaps that’s why more than 111 million Americans have chosen renting over home ownership, according to the National Multifamily Housing Council . Renting provides convenience and independence, but there are limits to what you can do in a rental property. While specifics may vary from landlord to landlord, these are some of the general do’s and don’ts of renting a property. Some of the biggest do’s and don’ts of renting involve painting projects. Image: Vertebrae Architecture Don’t go paint crazy “Tenants like to say, ‘I’m leaving the place better than I got it,’ and some tenants might think that blood-red accent wall they painted is much better,” says Diana Valin, CPM, owner/broker at The Rental Xperts in San Diego, CA. However, Valin tells Freshome that this is rarely the case – at le

CNET , one of the biggest and most trusted tech review websites, was way ahead of its time in 2015 when it announced that we’d all eventually live in smart homes. They were right: According to Report Linker , 41% of US homes now own at least one smart home device. And that number is growing, partially thanks to efforts like the CNET Smart Home. CNET just launched the Xfinity CNET Smart Home in San Francisco.  Williams Sonoma  designed the interior of the 2,952-square-foot house with three bedrooms, a two-car garage and a backyard. In addition to the interior furnishings, Williams Sonoma provided smart kitchen products . The home will serve as a lab for the latest home tech product tests and reviews, which will be shared online at CNET’s  Guide to Smart Living.  CNET’s goal is to help consumers use smart home tech to make the most of their lives and homes. Among the vintage items on the bookcase of the CNET Smart Home is the sleek, modern Google Home device. CNET has created a compr

I am thinking of purchasing a PAX wardrobe to fit on a little corner on my entry room. I really like the new design of PAX for the corner wardrobe, the problem is that the corner unit is very similar to a regular unit but almost 3 times the price! ( at least in Spain ) Do you know if it is possible to hack a regular unit to act as corner unit? My guess is that making space to open the doors correctly is the tricky part. Thank you for your help! ~ by Yolanda from Spain All photos from IKEA.com The post Hackers Help: Can I turn regular PAX units into a corner wardrobe? appeared first on IKEA Hackers .

Most homebuyers have a laundry list of “must-have” items before signing on the dotted line, ranging from hardwood floors to stainless steel appliances to open floorplans. But there’s one thing they don’t want in a new house: pests . And for good reason. According to Cindy Mannes, vice president of public affairs for the National Pest Management Association , “Termites cause more than $5 billion in property damage each year – a cost that is typically not covered by homeowners’ insurance.” Pests aren’t just unsightly; they also cause costly property damage. Image: DeForest Architects These particular insects are insidious – Mannes tells Freshome that termites chew through wood, flooring and wallpaper without being detected by the human eye. “Termites are known as ‘silent destroyers’ because they can compromise the structural stability of a home without anyone even knowing until the damage is severe,” she explains. However, termites aren’t the only pests that potential buyers should

Let these fresh pendant light ideas inspire your next design. Image: Earle & Ginger Kitchens Pendant lights have been around for a while, but that doesn’t mean there’s only one way to use them. In fact, far from it. Occasionally you need to shake things up by combining traditional design elements with new pendant light ideas. Often the results turn out better than you ever could have imagined. With that in mind, we present you with 16 fresh pendant light ideas. Read them over and consider how you can bring some of these lighting design twists into your own home. After all, sometimes even the classics benefit from a little makeover. Pendant light ideas for the kitchen Consider grouping your pendant lights to create a faux-chandelier look. Image: Certified Luxury Builders – Dallas/Fort Worth A polished finish gives your metal pendant lights a fresh, modern touch. Image: Linda McDougald Design | Postcard from Paris Home Shake up your design by using two different lightin

I wanted a full length selfie mirror and hacking one off an IKEA mirror was less expensive and time-consuming. It would also be a better finish than purchasing a raw mirror and building a frame. There is no way I would have done this without the MONGSTAD mirror and outdoor string lights. The time, safety and sheer weight of a self-built mirror that large would have made the project not feasible. This selfie mirror requires very little to no electrical and carpentry skills to finish this project. The hardest part of this hack was making sure the holes were equally spaced. All those times you thought you would never use what you learned in Math… this project will make you wish you never said that. For best results, before drilling double check your pilot hole spacing calculations from both directions to make sure they are accurate. Make sure pilot holes along left and right frames are aligned perfectly. You don’t get a second chance once you begin drilling. To reduce weight, the top