Question Small but Funtional Laundry Room
We have made a move to DOWNSIZE our life. And one of the hardest to do was my laundry room. We are a busy, stinky, dirty family of Five that has tons of laundry n a daily bases. So when we moved in to our new home and the laundry room was pint size I have to make some alterations!
First Thing we did was to take down the useless above laundry cabinets. Then we painted it all nice and pretty. They we added a shelf where we could put baskets to sort each family members small items. We made sure the shelf could also accommodate hangers. So now all laundry that comes out of the dryer is either hung up and sorted on the hanging part of the shelf or it is sorted in the baskets. Each day (in an ideal world) my family gets "their" folded and hung clean cloths and takes them to their room. Also I got a "over the door" shoe organizer that I sort each persons socks! If you have any organizing ideas I would love to hear them.
Answer Response
It sounds like you have already done a lot of the right things. At KDH Residential Designs we have been helping people downsize from a larger home to a smaller more sustainable home recently. When we can design for this from scratch we can design to take advantage of every inch of space. We also get involved with remodeling projects and quite often see your exact situation. Staying organized in a confined space is key. The use of the short hanging and basket storage that you have could possibly be more efficient if you were able to run a wooden shelf and rod a little higher than your existing shelf and left a center section for full taller hanging and built simple open faced cubbies on either side. The shelf can be near the ceiling because we aren't trying to access anything on top of it. The cubbies would be down lower and more accessible than the baskets you have now. I don't know the layout of your home but I know that quite often a laundry closet is near an attic or second floor stair. Locating this small area under a stair is useful for easy storage with minimal remodeling. With front load washers a counter top can be installed above the machines and provide you a much needed workspace or folding space also. Our company tag line when designing custom homes and remodels is "Unlock Your Imagination" and sometimes that relates to how you make your existing space work for you. Good Luck, I hope some of this helps. Kevin Holdridge - KDH Residential Designs.
If you have any similar questions that you need answered about how to better utilize space please feel free to drop us a line and we will try to help in any way we can.
Friday, November 19, 2010
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Evolved Home Collection Launch
The launch of our Evolved Home Plan prototype at the Southern Ideal Home Show was a huge success. We won the People's Choice Award and the live model home was toured and admired by thousands of attendees. Furthering the momentum of the Home Show prototype, in October we are launching the second home design in this collection, Evolved Home Plan 2000. Follow this link to veiw all of the homes in the Evolved Home Collection
The Evolved Home Collection brings to life the passion Cobalt DBS has to provide affordable, sustainable housing that never compromises on style. Our designer, Kevin Holdridge at KDH Residential Home Designs
brings a unique vision to the partnership.
KDH Residential Designs and builder Cobalt DBS have team together to create a series of homes that are sustainable, green certified ready and affordable. If you or any of your clients are looking for land or currently own land and are looking to build an energy efficient green home, please check out these sustainable house plans from 1,000 sf to 2,500 sf. These plans are perfect for small infill lots. The feedback that we have received from the Southern Ideal Home Show proved that we reached a large demographic from empty nesters to first time home buyers. These are high performing homes with a tremendous amount of green features designed into the plans and specifications. Designing the home to use less material and have less waste is important but working with a builder to pull everything together is key. Cobalt DBS has teamed up with our firm to come up with a specification level that addresses water efficiency, indoor air quality, high performance windows, high perforamnce HVAC and insulation systems and the use of low maintenance veneers while staying on a very strict budget.
As a mainly custom home design firm, we can also offer any of these green design features to our custom clients that have specific needs. Please feel free to contact KDH Residential Designs at 704.909.2755 or Cobalt DBS at 704.365.3038 if you have any specific needs, comments or questions.
The Evolved Home Collection brings to life the passion Cobalt DBS has to provide affordable, sustainable housing that never compromises on style. Our designer, Kevin Holdridge at KDH Residential Home Designs
brings a unique vision to the partnership.
KDH Residential Designs and builder Cobalt DBS have team together to create a series of homes that are sustainable, green certified ready and affordable. If you or any of your clients are looking for land or currently own land and are looking to build an energy efficient green home, please check out these sustainable house plans from 1,000 sf to 2,500 sf. These plans are perfect for small infill lots. The feedback that we have received from the Southern Ideal Home Show proved that we reached a large demographic from empty nesters to first time home buyers. These are high performing homes with a tremendous amount of green features designed into the plans and specifications. Designing the home to use less material and have less waste is important but working with a builder to pull everything together is key. Cobalt DBS has teamed up with our firm to come up with a specification level that addresses water efficiency, indoor air quality, high performance windows, high perforamnce HVAC and insulation systems and the use of low maintenance veneers while staying on a very strict budget.
As a mainly custom home design firm, we can also offer any of these green design features to our custom clients that have specific needs. Please feel free to contact KDH Residential Designs at 704.909.2755 or Cobalt DBS at 704.365.3038 if you have any specific needs, comments or questions.
Friday, October 15, 2010
Team Building
In these times of slow to no development in the real estate market I have seen many of my Realtor contacts lose their positions or go into other forms of work. As one to Charlotte's premiere design firms we are all about team building and offering specials to like minded individuals. We have been running specials and referral fees with our builder clients that are members of the local HBA to build our business network. The one area that our company would like to focus on now is the Realtor market. Recently, I spoke to a few agents and asked them how I could help them sell lots in their subdivision. What we came up with was to design "phantom spec homes". They would give me their "trouble" lots that seemed to be less attractive to their prospective clients due to questions about how to use the site properly. I would design homes to fit these lots to show the clients what type of home could be build on the lot. Advertising the property with a vision of what could be built on the particular site helped the prospective clients to visulalize what their home could look like or how the current topography could be used. This has also worked for clients that need to fix up their homes or make small additions to make their property more desirable for re-sale. We will also create a quick sketch for a prospective client that is preparing to buy a current home but would like to make slight alterations after the purchase. When our Realtor associate hears that a certain client would buy the home if it had a screened porch or if the master bedroom was a little bigger, we can quickly go to the home and draw up what this addition could look like. From the design sketch the prospective buyer can figure into their budget the cost of said renovation and make an educated offer based on their findings. This is generally done by our associte taking a picture of the home and giving us a couple key dimensions. We offer this as a team building exercise right now at no cost to our Realtor associates. The effort is to build better business relationships and help boost new and old home sales. If you are interested about being part of the team please visit http://www.kdhdesign.com/ for our contact information and portfolio of work. Thank you and I look forward to meeting and building lasting relationships with some of our forward thinking associates. Also, I would love to hear if anyone has any other ideas about how our design firm could help you boost sales.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Evolved Home Collection
Friday, September 3, 2010
Green building - Eat what you need
In past years we would design homes so that the owner could live in the house for up to five years, accumulate some value in the property and sell the home for a profit only to start the cycle again. This cycle has slowed down if not stopped. To me this means we have to change our way of designing a home. Now we are designing a custom home for the long haul. Our clients don't plan on moving again. They want to be comfortable but they don't need 4,000-8,000 square feet anymore. Energy costs are going up fast and the larger inefficient homes aren't going to be desirable anymore. We are seeing a complete market shift forced by lifestyle changes. Will it cycle out? Maybe. But the recent economic downturn has taught us all how to make the dollar stretch a little more.
We also hear this term "Green" everywhere. Whether it's flooring, paints, windows, homes, cleaners, automobiles, newspapers, office buildings, etc. What does it really mean? It probably means something different to everyone. To some of my builder clients it's a scary new place that is untested and different from how they build things now. Scary and new means more expensive to consumers. Granted there is some merit in this because some of the new products on the market are priced a little higher than the lower end items that some builders use in their homes. I equate this to fast food vs. healthy food. Ever wonder why society as a whole is getting fatter and out of shape? It's our economic and lifestyle choices. We need to get home from work and take the kids to soccer practice so we only have time to stop in for a burger and fries. An extra value meal is only five dollars, so why not save time and money. Buying fruits and vegetables is expensive and you may not have time to actually cook a meal before they go bad. We eat quick unhealthy foods because the alternative is time consuming and expensive. This thought process has increased other costs in our lives. Now we need gym memberships or lengthily doctor visits to give us drugs that reduce the effects of our unhealthy lifestyles. It's easy to make bad choices on the fly but now that the dust has settled and the building market is slow, shouldn't we be looking at healthy choices instead of fast food choices. But how we can pay for these expensive healthy items when building a home? Let's try using square footage to our advantage. The initial cost of building a home is dwarfed by the energy costs the home will consume over its life span. Anything we can do to reduce the amount of maintenance and non-renewable consumption in a home is good thing. People will talk to you about pay backs and how some things don’t make sense financially. Most of the time these numbers are skewed because of the unknown cost of future utilities. Non-Renewable resources are named that for a reason. The more we use, the less there is and the less there is, the more it costs.
This gets back to how we design for the long haul. We all want to age gracefully and the design of your home can attribute to that. Using products that require less maintenance, produce less allergens and that are easy to use is a must. As we age our vision gets darker. Things are not as bright and crisp as they once were. We need to bring more natural light into out homes. It becomes harder to get up and down stairs and to bend over as we age. This can be handled by designing most of our daily activities, if not all on one floor. We can also raise things to prevent excessive bending. Properly placed outlets, hose bibbs, and countertops. Air quality is a key in healthy living. Installing materials that reduce the amount of out-gasses in the air and installing and maintaining the proper filters on our air exchangers is high priority. Clutter becomes a problem the older we get, so having plenty of storage is going to help us avoid a cluttered home. Of course, the best thing we can do about clutter is not to have any. Find a way to repurpose or recycle some items that haven’t been touched in years. Keeping a clutter free home as we age also makes it easier for our family members visit and easier to tend to our possessions after we pass. This in turn will reduce the stress on our children and help keep a good relationship while we are still around.
Let's try thinking outside of the box a little. What happened during this economic downturn? Business owners trimmed the fat. We streamlined our companies to be smaller and more cost efficient by consuming less. Less energy, less rent, less payroll, less consumption. We can turn this same model to anything we make, especially houses. Homes can be built with less wood by increasing the stud spacing, stack framing and building with better products. Engineered lumber is a renewable resource and dimensional lumber continues to get weaker and weaker as the number of our old growth trees dwindle. Solar power and wind power both viable renewable resources that are being used today. High performance windows, water efficient fixtures, high insulation ratings, and HVAC system upgrades are important items to building an energy efficient home. The most important item that we always forget about when we are building a green home is the home owner. An uneducated home owner is the worst thing that anyone could ever put in a "Green Home". The home has a state of the art HVAC system, high performance windows, low flow water efficient fixtures and yet we still aren't seeing any savings. How could this be? Well our home owner continues to consume as much energy as possible without thinking of the consequences. The high efficiency HVAC system is running full blast while the high performance windows are open and the kids are all taking thirty minute showers.
Green is a lifestyle change not a gadget we can buy. Putting renewable, sustainable, low consumption items in our homes is only a piece of the puzzle. A great start. Going the extra mile to think about how you are effecting the consumption of non-renewable resources and teaching your children, your neighbor and your friends how to consume less is another piece of the puzzle. Education is the most important part of living green. One person might not make a difference but if we share our experiences with as many people as we can, maybe someday society will realize using less non-renewable resources is a healthy choice. The all you can eat mentality needs to be shifted. Eat what you need and leave some for someone else.
We also hear this term "Green" everywhere. Whether it's flooring, paints, windows, homes, cleaners, automobiles, newspapers, office buildings, etc. What does it really mean? It probably means something different to everyone. To some of my builder clients it's a scary new place that is untested and different from how they build things now. Scary and new means more expensive to consumers. Granted there is some merit in this because some of the new products on the market are priced a little higher than the lower end items that some builders use in their homes. I equate this to fast food vs. healthy food. Ever wonder why society as a whole is getting fatter and out of shape? It's our economic and lifestyle choices. We need to get home from work and take the kids to soccer practice so we only have time to stop in for a burger and fries. An extra value meal is only five dollars, so why not save time and money. Buying fruits and vegetables is expensive and you may not have time to actually cook a meal before they go bad. We eat quick unhealthy foods because the alternative is time consuming and expensive. This thought process has increased other costs in our lives. Now we need gym memberships or lengthily doctor visits to give us drugs that reduce the effects of our unhealthy lifestyles. It's easy to make bad choices on the fly but now that the dust has settled and the building market is slow, shouldn't we be looking at healthy choices instead of fast food choices. But how we can pay for these expensive healthy items when building a home? Let's try using square footage to our advantage. The initial cost of building a home is dwarfed by the energy costs the home will consume over its life span. Anything we can do to reduce the amount of maintenance and non-renewable consumption in a home is good thing. People will talk to you about pay backs and how some things don’t make sense financially. Most of the time these numbers are skewed because of the unknown cost of future utilities. Non-Renewable resources are named that for a reason. The more we use, the less there is and the less there is, the more it costs.
This gets back to how we design for the long haul. We all want to age gracefully and the design of your home can attribute to that. Using products that require less maintenance, produce less allergens and that are easy to use is a must. As we age our vision gets darker. Things are not as bright and crisp as they once were. We need to bring more natural light into out homes. It becomes harder to get up and down stairs and to bend over as we age. This can be handled by designing most of our daily activities, if not all on one floor. We can also raise things to prevent excessive bending. Properly placed outlets, hose bibbs, and countertops. Air quality is a key in healthy living. Installing materials that reduce the amount of out-gasses in the air and installing and maintaining the proper filters on our air exchangers is high priority. Clutter becomes a problem the older we get, so having plenty of storage is going to help us avoid a cluttered home. Of course, the best thing we can do about clutter is not to have any. Find a way to repurpose or recycle some items that haven’t been touched in years. Keeping a clutter free home as we age also makes it easier for our family members visit and easier to tend to our possessions after we pass. This in turn will reduce the stress on our children and help keep a good relationship while we are still around.
Let's try thinking outside of the box a little. What happened during this economic downturn? Business owners trimmed the fat. We streamlined our companies to be smaller and more cost efficient by consuming less. Less energy, less rent, less payroll, less consumption. We can turn this same model to anything we make, especially houses. Homes can be built with less wood by increasing the stud spacing, stack framing and building with better products. Engineered lumber is a renewable resource and dimensional lumber continues to get weaker and weaker as the number of our old growth trees dwindle. Solar power and wind power both viable renewable resources that are being used today. High performance windows, water efficient fixtures, high insulation ratings, and HVAC system upgrades are important items to building an energy efficient home. The most important item that we always forget about when we are building a green home is the home owner. An uneducated home owner is the worst thing that anyone could ever put in a "Green Home". The home has a state of the art HVAC system, high performance windows, low flow water efficient fixtures and yet we still aren't seeing any savings. How could this be? Well our home owner continues to consume as much energy as possible without thinking of the consequences. The high efficiency HVAC system is running full blast while the high performance windows are open and the kids are all taking thirty minute showers.
Green is a lifestyle change not a gadget we can buy. Putting renewable, sustainable, low consumption items in our homes is only a piece of the puzzle. A great start. Going the extra mile to think about how you are effecting the consumption of non-renewable resources and teaching your children, your neighbor and your friends how to consume less is another piece of the puzzle. Education is the most important part of living green. One person might not make a difference but if we share our experiences with as many people as we can, maybe someday society will realize using less non-renewable resources is a healthy choice. The all you can eat mentality needs to be shifted. Eat what you need and leave some for someone else.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Southern Ideal Home Show
Kevin Holdridge at KDH Residential Designs has designed a 1000 sf house for the Southern Ideal Home Show. The homoe uses advanced framing techniques to reduce the amount of wood used during construction. The home is designed on a 24" grid system to reduce the amount of waste and was framed in 9 hours using these techniques. Scrap wood pieces were used as blocking and even for header supports to further reduce the amount of waste generated. The most expensive part of a home is the energy it consumes and the maintenance of the home. We have greatly exceeded the insulation values of this home and have used low maintenance products and sustainable products throughout the home. We have 2x6 exterior walls and the studs are all 24" on centers. This will allow us to install more insulation and by reducing the amount of studs we reduce the amount of cold spots. Wood has very little insulation value so taking wood out of the walls is the key to better insulating the walls. Many of the green features in this home will be on display this week-end Aug 27-29 in Charlotte NC at the Southern Ideal Home Show. After the show the home is designed to be taken apart in three modules and shipped to its final build site as a donation for low income housing. We have designed a fourth module to be added to the home at that time making it a three bedroom 1,200sf home.
http://www.wcnc.com/video?id=101295394&sec=552547
http://www.wcnc.com/video?id=101295394&sec=552547
Friday, July 30, 2010
Green Certified Home
Currently under construction. We are expecting a gold NAHB green certification on this house. It will feature advanced framing techniques, high levels of insulation, and high efficiency windows, HVAC and plumbing systems. It was designed on a 48" grid system to reduce the amount of waste during construction. We will also be using an site recycle program to reduce our on-site construction debris. This home is being built on an infill lot near uptown Charlotte and will become one of four house plans offered in a "Sustainable Home - Designer Series" to be unveiled at the Fall Home Show in August.
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