Home Decor Ideas

Studio 103 completed the transformation of this old warehouse into a collaborative design studio. The building, located in Abbotsford, Australia, also contains a colorful history. It served as a manufacturing venue beginning in the 1940s.

“We set out to create a unique, functional space which retains its original industrial charm, utilizing the existing architectural features as a foundation,” the architects said. The project also aims to strengthen the connection between Studio 103 and their building partners, McCormack Property Services, who reside in the neighboring building.The interiors boasts minimalist arrangements and industrial designs. The exposed timber trusses and industrial shelving also add to the personality of the space. The concrete flooring, black-framed windows and the original red brick wall create a powerful contrast. The new studio accommodates a series of working offices. They’re split by a glass meeting room, an open kitchen and plenty of greenery. The design studio also includes a gym!

“The build was a mutual effort between Studio 103 and McCormack Property Services to establish a foothold at the pinnacle of design and construction. Together, we have repurposed a tired warehouse and transformed it into a sleek, sophisticated workspace for the purpose of collaboration and business growth.,” the design team added. Information provided by Studio 103; photography by Jack Lovel

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Etsy recently released its trend report for 2019 — and their trends are refreshing, as usual. Their unique take on style is one of the reasons that, according to a business statistic website, Etsy has nearly 36 million active buyers (and growing). We think you’ll be seeing these Etsy 2019 home trends all year and into 2020.

According to Dayna Isom Johnson, Etsy’s resident trend expert, “Idealism is out and reality is in.” The most popular searches in 2018 were magical motifs and pastels to escape from the news and politics. Isom Johnson says, “Shoppers are about to ‘get real’ — so we are officially declaring 2019 the year of Being Real, which includes using all-natural products, focusing on sustainability and being realistic when it comes to decorating and living.”

1. Etsy’s 2019 Color Of The Year: Burnt Orange

Images/products from left to right: Lovely Home Idea Linen Duvet Cover, $116 and up | Mill Brook Co Orange Linen Mid Century Pillow, $27 | ZOA Concept Natural Soy Candle, $26 |

Going against the trend of millennial pink and Pantone’s Ultraviolet, Etsy shoppers and sellers have chosen a warm, earthy color. Burnt orange combines well with popular cool tones like grey and ink, as well as popular pastels like pink.

2. Maximalism

Milky Way Decor Removable Wallpaper, $39 and up

Get ready for visual overload — in a good way. Etsy designers and shoppers are gravitating towards texture, whimsy and color — all at once. Don’t be afraid to mix and match competing colors, patterns and prints.

3. Herbariums and Pressed Flowers

Julivani Pressed Lavender Flower Frame, $32 and up

Terrariums, hanging plants and floral prints have been popular for a while as people add a botanical feel to their homes. The herbarium/pressed flower look requires no maintenance and has a Japanese Zen feel. Prepare to see more “collections of flowers and herbs ranging from floating foliage to pressed posies.”

4. Southwestern Style

From left to right: Bonham Home Southwestern Style Rug Made From Recycled Plastic Bottles, $246 | MacKenzie Bryant Co Natural & Rust Hand Woven Basket, $31 | Pottery By Osa Pair of Ceramic Bowls, $75 |

Since natural materials, burnt oranges and a more grounded, earthy home environment will be big Etsy 2019 home trends, it’s only logical that Southwestern style would also be sought after. Handmade pottery, roughly woven fabrics and rugs and natural materials will be popular.

It’s time to get back to basics and reconnect with natural materials that help you express yourself as boldly and loudly as you’d like. What do you think of the Etsy 2019 home trends?

The post Here’s What Etsy Says Will Be Hot For 2019 (and It’s Different From Other Trend Reports) appeared first on Freshome.com.

Does Home Chef make it easier to get dinner on the table? Let’s find out. Image courtesy of Home Chef.

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Ah, the joy of cooking. If Julia Child taught us anything, it’s that there is pleasure in putting together a well-crafted, delectable meal. At least, in theory. But anyone who’s ever run out of an ingredient, nicked a finger while dicing or overcooked the shrimp knows that not every meal preparation experience is a delightful one. And with the busyness of daily life, grocery shopping for the necessary ingredients and getting dinner on the table can feel overwhelming. That’s where Home Chef comes in.

Home Chef, like many of the other meal subscription services cropping up today, purports to deliver “home cooking made simple.” Does it? I got a week of meals delivered to my door to put it to the test.

The ingredients for each Home Chef meal come conveniently packed in their own bag. Image provided by Kacie Goff.

The Home Chef delivery: neatly packaged, nicely done

Remember what we were saying about how life gets busy? That was underscored for me as I boarded a plane to Colorado the day I had scheduled my Home Chef delivery. Not ideal. I was only going to be gone for a few days, but that meant it fell to my husband to make sure everything was put away so that it would keep. And I had to wonder, after already being exposed to who-knows-what during the shipping process, would the produce still be fresh upon my return? What about the shrimp-based meal I so boldly ordered?

I’m happy to report that Home Chef makes every step of the process, including storing food until you’re ready to prepare it, a no-brainer. One of my least favorite things in the world is putting away groceries. Home Chef takes the legwork out of it for you. Each meal comes packed in a convenient zip-top bag. All my trusty partner had to do was load our three bags into the fridge and — bam! — he was done.

And the simplicity of the system is brilliant on both ends. It means it takes seconds to put your Home Chef meals away, and it also means that when you’re ready to cook, you literally just need to grab a bag and go. That is, in my opinion, genius.

Home Chef Pricing

Unlike other meal delivery services (e.g. HelloFresh, Blue Apron), Home Chef doesn’t have set meal plan pricing. Instead, you pay per meal based on the recipe you choose. Their standard meals are priced at $20 for two servings or $40 for four. For premium meals, you’ll pay market price.

Here’s a look at all the ingredients one of my meal bags contained. Image provided by Kacie Goff.

The Home Chef meals: delicious and delightfully simple to prepare

Okay, moment of honesty here: I don’t love cooking. I don’t hate it, necessarily, but after a full day of work, I’d rather be in the bath with a big glass of wine than standing over the stove. Some people truly find joy in preparing a meal, but I’m not one of those people. I cook out of necessity. And, occasionally, I like the end result enough that I retroactively decide I had a nice time preparing a specific meal.

We received three meals in our Home Chef shipment and I went three for three on actually enjoying the creation of them. Not bad!

It’s also worth noting that I’m a pescatarian so all of my meals will be mostly plant and fish-based. Now, let’s talk details.

From bag to table in under 30 minutes! Image provided by Kacie Goff.

Meal #1: Avocado & Beet Poke Bowl

First up, I made the Avocado & Beet Poke Bowl. I figured that after a few days of sitting around in my fridge, this mostly produce-based meal might leave a little something to desire. But everything was so cleverly packaged that the whole meal shone. The carrots were crisp, the avocado was perfectly ripe and the edamame and beets were delicious. Home Chef nailed it with the sauce, which was easy to customize for my picky husband. After a stint of quick-but-exhausting travel, this meal felt as nourishing as it was flavorful.

The recipes are easy to follow and have pictures to guide you. Image courtesy of Kacie Goff.

Meal #2: Baja Shrimp Bowl

I love eating shrimp, but I hate cooking them. The cook time is just so short that I feel like I’m always tiptoeing the line between raw and overdone. But, with the help of my Home Chef recipe, I nailed it in their Baja Shrimp Bowl.

This is a perfect time to talk about these recipes because, while I prepared the shrimp, my husband did the rest of the meal. And he really hates to cook, so I tip my cap to both him and Home Chef. Their recipes have pictures to guide you at every turn (very helpful for amateur cooks) and the steps are broken down so you never feel rushed. Plus, Home Chef makes it super easy by doing a lot of the legwork — like tailing the shrimp or making the sauce — for you.

Oh, and as for the meal itself? It was so good we forgot to take a picture. Oops!

Meal #3: Umami Miso-Mushroom-Cream Gemelli Pasta

Ever since we gave up meat, mushrooms have become a staple in our house. Their earthy, meaty texture can really take a meal to the next level — when they’re used properly. Or they can just be weird brown-grey masses in your dish. I’m very happy to report that the Umami Miso-Mushroom-Cream Gemelli Pasta definitely landed in the realm of the former. This meal felt decadent without leaving us weighed down. And as a lover of umami, earthy flavors, this one definitely hit home with me. Plus, how cute is that little round pat of butter?

Here’s what you should know about Home Chef before you order your first box. Image courtesy of Home Chef.

Home Chef pros and cons

All in all, I was really thrilled with every meal I got from Home Chef. Here are my key takeaways.

Home Chef pros:

• Easy and quick to prepare (everything took us 30 minutes or fewer)
• Good portion size
• Convenient packaging
• Creative meals
• Free shipping on orders over $45
• Competitively priced (everything I tried was about $10 per serving)

Home Chef cons:

• Lots of plastic packaging (some is recyclable)
• Pre-made items (e.g. sauces) could feel limiting to someone who wants to learn to cook from scratch

Would I order another week of Home Chef meals? Absolutely. While $10 a serving might feel comparable to delivery, you’re getting a fresh, flavorful meal and you control the ingredients. Plus, the time it saves in menu planning and grocery shopping offsets some of the cost in my mind because I dislike both of those activities.

Want to try Home Chef for yourself?

If you’re interested in checking out Home Chef, we’ve got you covered. Get 3 plates for free with our code “3platesoff” — just head here and get started.

You don’t have to be a gourmet chef to live a gourmand life. I’d definitely recommend taking Home Chef for a spin.

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In 2017, U.S. fire departments responded to 1,319,500 fires. In fact, according to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), a U.S. fire department responded to a fire every 24 seconds. There were 499,000 structure fires, and 72 percent of those structure fires occurred in home structures. Also, of the 3,400 civilian fire deaths in 2017, 77 percent occurred in home structures.

Could fire-rated doors help reduce the loss of life and property in residential settings? Here’s what you need to know about them.

What is a fire-rated door?

A fire-rated door can provide beauty and safety. 20- 90-minute fire-rated MDF door, style 9244. Image courtesy of Simpson Door Company

A fire-rated door — or fire-resistant door — is specially constructed to slow or prevent the spread of fire and smoke, according to Ken Canziani, Senior Fire Investigator at EFI Global in Sacramento, CA.

“A fire-rated door is a very heavy door made of materials like metal or gypsum,” Canziani explains. “The term ‘fire-rated’ means that the door, when installed properly, is not supposed to combust during a certain time frame in the average fire.” While time ratings vary, he says standard ratings include 20- to 90-minute doors.

Fire-rated doors are more common in commercial buildings than in residential structures. “Fire-rated doors are often installed in public buildings, in office buildings and in places like dormitories,” Canziani says.

Typical residential applications include installation in entryways, garages and multi-family homes.

How can a fire-rated door help during a fire?

A fire-rated door could buy you some additional time. Image: Monalyn Gracia-Corbis-VCG – Getty

Fire-rated doors can help slow or prevent the spread of fire and smoke, but Canziani warns that they are not designed to be completely fireproof. “These doors are made of combustible materials and will eventually burn through in a fire. However, they will resist the penetration of heat and flames to slow the fire for a specified time period.”

And by containing the fire and smoke, they provide additional time for you to exit the structure.  Most people focus on the element of fire, and they don’t underestimate the significance of reducing smoke inhalation. However, the majority of people who die in residential fires do so as a result of smoke inhalation.

“Fire-rated doors may also help to protect property and personal assets while firefighters work to extinguish the fire,” Canziani adds.

Types of fire-rated doors

Fire-rated doors should never be propped open. 20-minute fire-rated wood door, style 8212. Image courtesy of Simpson Door Company.

While fire-rated doors are more common in commercial settings, there are many companies that sell residential fire-rated doors.

For example, according to Amira Johnson at Emerald Doors in the UK, the company makes fully finished and unfinished exterior fire doors, in addition to custom-made and bespoke fire doors. Most of the company’s doors have a fire rating of 30 minutes, although some have a fire rating of 60 minutes. Their exterior fire doors are made of plywood or composite core. The company’s interior doors can either have solid panels, clear fire glass or obscure fire glass. Emerald Doors can also make custom fire doors so homeowners can decide which architectural details (raised moldings, etc.) they want in their door.

There’s a fire-rated door to match almost any design style. Image courtesy of Simpson Door Company.

Closer to home, Simpson Door Company in McCleary, WA, also makes fire-rated doors. Most of the wood doors have a 20-minute fire rating. However, the MDF (medium density fiberboard) doors are available in 20-minute, 45-minute, 60-minute, and 90-minute fire ratings.

Homeowners can choose from a variety of wood species and styles, to ensure that the fire-rated doors match the rest of the home’s styles.

Do you need a fire-rated door?

Gaps around the door will render it ineffective. Image: Michael Blann/Getty Images

A fire rating does not necessarily indicate the amount of time a door will withstand a fire. For example, a fire door rated 60 minutes does not guarantee that the door will withstand fire for 60 minutes. The rating means that in a controlled test environment, a brand-new door held up for 60 minutes. However, in a real-world application, other factors like heat intensity could greatly reduce this estimate.

“Although a fire-rated door is designed to prevent a fire from passing from room to room, let’s be honest. Even with the right door, a severe fire can melt steel,” says Abe Kozlik of the International Fireproof Door Company in Brooklyn, NY.

Also, a fire door won’t do you any good if the door is propped open or the closing mechanism is faulty. In addition, the door has to be properly installed to ensure that there are no gaps around it.

Fire doors can provide peace of mind. However, properly using your existing doors may be all that you need to do in a fire. “In a residential setting, the simple act of closing the door to a room will slow or can prevent the heat and smoke from entering the room and injuring occupants or destroying additional property within,” says Canziani. “If the fire originates within the room, the closed door may aid in slowing the spread of the fire to other parts of the residence, depending on the time the fire burns before being extinguished.”

In fact, Canziani says he’s personally observed residential fires in which closed doors resulted in significantly less fire and smoke damage compared to doors that were left open.

The post What is a Fire-Rated Door and Do You Need One? appeared first on Freshome.com.

Keep your bedroom ready for R&R by putting these bad bedroom cleaning habits to bed. Image: Cornish Interiors

Your bedroom is your sanctuary. It’s where you go to rest and get rejuvenated. It’s where you dream, plan and — if you’re like us — do a lot of your Netflix binging. This is a restorative space. At least, that’s the idea. But after you’ve cleaned all the other parts of your house that guests will actually see, keeping your bedroom tidy can feel like a low priority. That’s a problem, though. Bad bedroom cleaning habits can impact your mood and your sleep.

If you want to get better rest, feel more rejuvenated at the start of your day and enjoy those movie marathons in bed guilt-free, keeping your room clean is key. And we’re here to help. We’ve already talked about how to up your cleaning game in the bathroom and kitchen, but let’s not leave our sanctuaries shabby. Ditch these five bad bedroom cleaning habits to enjoy a better bedtime.

A platform bed that is flush with the floor can ensure the space under it stays clean. Image: Hsu McCullough

Ignoring the monsters under your bed

Let’s get one of the worst bad bedroom cleaning habits out of the way. Cleaning under your bed is a huge hassle, but it’s a whole lot better than sleeping over a huge pile of dust bunnies (hello, allergies!). First, pull every item out from under your bed. If you’re using that space to store stuff you never use, it might be time to part with it. Running the broom or vacuum under the bed is a whole lot simpler when you don’t have to navigate a pile of junk.

If you want a hack to make this chore a breeze, start with a bed skirt. It’s also known as a dust ruffle for good reason. This protective barrier doesn’t just make your bed cuter, it also minimizes the dirt and debris that accumulates underneath. Or, if you want to check off this to-do permanently, get a platform bed with solid edges that connect your mattress directly to the floor. You get bonus points if it has built-in storage.

Making/not making your bed

Mom was right. Making your bed every morning is actually pretty important, it turns out. Not only does it instantly make your room look cleaner, it can actually support your overall productivity and mental health. And, for real, it takes all of two minutes, so why not try it for a few weeks and see if you notice a difference?

If your bed is covered in a mountain of decorative pillows and throws, consider streamlining the design. While these fun accents can add flair to your space, they might be best used in a guest bedroom. If they’re keeping you from wanting to make your bed every day, they’re actually hurting the overall design of your space.

Now, all this said, don’t pop out of bed and make it first thing. Leave your sheets pulled back while you brush your teeth and make your coffee. This gives your bedding a chance to breathe and ensures you’re not trapping sweat and dust mites inside your sheets. And, on that topic, don’t forget to wash your sheets on a regular basis.

Leave the chairs in your room for sitting. Image: Coats Homes

Using “the chair”

Ah, the chair. It’s pretty much iconic. If TV is any indicator, every teen girl’s bedroom has this glorified closet replacement in one corner. But don’t fall prey! A chair is not a wardrobe and worn clothes shouldn’t be left there. It’s not a closet. It’s not a viable clothes storage option. Don’t let the chair stand between you and your best, most organized self.

If you’re a user of the chair, take some steps to break the habit. First, clean out your closet. (If you’re having trouble letting go of stuff, the KonMari method could help.) It’s a whole lot easier to hang an item back up if you’re not having to use several shoves to squish it back into place. More space for clothes storage makes organization easier.

Then, do something else with the chair. Set it up with pillows and a cozy throw for a reading nook. Put a potted plant on it for a couple weeks while you break the habit. Do whatever you need to do to force yourself to either put things away or put them in the hamper after you wear them. Once you break the habit, you’ll be surprised how easy it is to keep your room tidy.

Cleaning while you wash sheets

If this article is motivating you to do a big bedroom clean, kudos! But don’t start by stripping your bed. If you’re going to be dusting, leave your bedding on. Otherwise, you knock all that dust and debris onto your bare mattress, then cover over it when you put clean sheets back on your bed. And while you’ll probably never notice the difference, it’s not doing your bedroom hygiene any favors.

Don’t forget to clean under the sheets. Leaving your mattress as-is is one of the most common bad bedroom cleaning habits. Image: Thorp Design

Ignoring your mattress and pillows

Speaking of bedroom hygiene, let’s talk about the stuff that’s a little harder to throw into the washing machine. Your pillows and mattress are sort of protected by your sheets, but not entirely. They need to be cleaned and sanitized everyone once in a while, too.

And, good news, you actually can throw pillows in the washing machine, so that’s a pretty simple task. Add a few tennis balls into the dryer for extra fluffiness, and you’ll be glad you tackled this to-do.

The mattress, while daunting, is actually pretty simple to clean, too. It’s as easy as vacuuming your mattress, spot treating any stains, sprinkling it with baking soda to deodorize it, then vacuuming again! Ideally, leave the baking soda for 24 hours so it can do its best work.

Do you have any bad bedroom cleaning habits you’re ready to put to bed? Is this guide helpful? Tell us how you keep your room ready for relaxation in the comments below.

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The Mexican architectural firm SOA Soler Orozco Arquitectos designed the unconventional Casa Molina residence. This prefabricated house in Mexico offers a total living area of 1722 square feet (approximately 160 square meters). A contemporary prefabricated home, it includes a two-bedroom layout with two full bathrooms as well as a common terrace space.

According to the architects, they manufactured the structure in a workshop. This is also where they assembled the light covers, electrical, plumbing installations and floor finishes. The foundation was prepared to receive the structure on the site, were the modules were fit together. The final step of the process was to install the lighting fixtures, furniture and accessories to complete the residence.

The U-shaped prefabricated house in Mexico features an optimum indoor-outdoor connection.  It features alluring terraces and spaces for entertainment. By using wood and metal, the architects managed to create a home that is both functional and inviting. Casa Molina has two bedrooms, designed with peacefulness in mind. Large windows with views to the inner courtyard also increase the feeling of intimacy. Enjoy the virtual tour! Information provided by SOA Soler Orozco Arquitectos. Photography courtesy of César Béjar.

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