Michael Abel, an architect and contractor from California, and his Israeli-born wife Nava, built and decorated this 1,800-square-foot, five-bedroom, three-bathroom home in the town of Zichron Yaacov, Israel, which overlooks the Mediterranean. This is from an article in the New York Times. The article says that many of the building materials, including interior doors, were…
To be honest, I don’t go to McDonald’s for healthy food. But, I might go to a certain McDonald’s for a healthy environment (and maybe to get some design tips for my own home). That McDonald’s is in Hacienda Heights and its owner, Mark Brownstein, wanted to redesign the store to deal with slumping sales.…
After visiting Susan Rose at her 1933 Eagle Rock home, I wondered how I would have handled the dilemma she faced with her fireplace. The problem stemmed from the fact that Susan wanted to add a new bedroom onto the side of the house where the fireplace already existed. (The other side of the living…
I do some writing for a Better Homes & Gardens magazine and when I present my editor with a great remodel in a galley kitchen she tells me they can’t use galley kitchens because they are too difficult to photograph. And I’m like, well most people have galley kitchens. And she’s like, we still can’t…
If you were born prior to 1984, you may recall how frightened some of us were of that year on account of George Orwell’s 1949 book, "1984," that foretold a bleak vision of a future with a Big Brother state of government and a band of thought police. However, in terms of the New American…
In the beginning, there was the bare bulb. And then there came to pass the light fixture. Soon upon the land, dropped ceilings and fluorescent lights spread. As humans progressed, recessed lighting became the rage. And then pendant lights became the queen of cool. So the trouble is, how do you go from a recessed…
Some kitchen layouts are awkward. Some without grace. But this one, in a Corona tract house, was flat-out stupid. You can see, in the top photo, the kitchen after the $7,000 DIY remodel. It is truly wonderful. But in the next photo you see the kitchen as it was originally laid out. The rough sketch…
I was reading a story about a $100,000, three-year kitchen remodel in the San Francisco Chronicle this morning when I came across this photo. It’s a handsome kitchen, no doubt about it. But I was struck by the pan drawer underneath the cooktop. Of course you have to put something under a cooktop. It can’t…
The real reason I’m so dismissive of trends is that I’m lousy at spotting them until they’re nearly over. Those in the know have been using subway tile for a few years, and I wonder: Is it still trendy or over? Should I make this economical choice for my own remodel? In the top left…
I’ve been especially enchanted with several house photos in my collection, and I finally realized what they have in common: All of the homes use natural light to make the journeys from room to room more pleasant. The top photo shows Claire Gunning, 8, walking down the stairway in her family’s Hermosa Beach home, which…