Sarah talked about her new showhouse in Libertyville, Ill., which feature both Integrity and Marvin windows. She shared some of her design tips with us. Here’s a sampling.

• Varied ceiling heights. This makes a room feel cozy instead of stark.
• Aligning the house so that the eye has something to be drawn towards. For instance, Sarah designed the entry of the Libertyville house with a recessed shelf that can hold some artwork or a vase of flowers. You see the focal point as soon as you enter in through the door.
• Walking towards light. As Sarah reminded us, human beings are drawn towards light, so when designing a home, it’s important that we are able to move towards light-filled spaces, whether that is a window, a door, or just a lighted area on a wall.
• Multi-use spaces. Sarah showed us a floor plan that could be switched around to include large gatherings. As she pointed out, in traditional home plans, there are often spaces that get used once or twice a year. Why not design homes to be as flexible as possible?

Learn more about Sarah and her Not So Big philosophy here.

Image courtesy of Susanka.com.

The Showhouse features all the hallmarks of Not So Big: quality and character, comfort and beauty, energy efficiency and sustainability. Gone are the unused formal rooms in favor of spaces that offer double-duty function, tailored to fit today’s more informal lifestyles.

The Showhouse features many of the principles of Not So Big design as described in Susanka’s eight residential architecture books including: Ceiling Height Variety, Light to Walk Toward, Reflecting Surfaces, Visual Weight and Interior Views. It is designed to meet the new, stricter proposed standards of Energy Star 3.0 and Indoor Air Plus by minimizing the energy required to heat and cool the house, while maximizing the efficiency of the heating and cooling system. The house is also prewired for the addition of photovoltaic solar panels and other renewable energy generation.

Oh, and did we mention it contains beautiful, energy efficient Integrity products? The home’s grand opening event — if you happen to be in the Libertyville, Ill., area — is Saturday, Nov. 19. Be sure to check it out!

You can read more about the house at www.notsobigshowhouse.com and make sure to watch this video about the house!

Eager homeowners are nothing new when it comes to remodeling projects. However, Loudon County, Va., resident Peter Burnett took that typical enthusiasm to a new level when his home burned down in 2009.

Amy Albert, senior editor at Builder Magazine, published a story on Tuesday about a homeowner who saw his misfortune as a great opportunity and didn’t hesitate to act:

“If you need a lesson in looking on the bright side, consider Peter Burnett. The same day his house, a rehabbed bank barn in Loudon County, Va., burned to the ground, Burnett got on the horn to architect Kevin Ruedisueli, asking him to start rebuilding — tomorrow. The way Burnett saw it, the tragedy was actually a golden opportunity: In bringing his home back from the ashes, he’d smooth out the accumulated wrinkles resulting from decades of piecemeal additions with limited resources.”

The result? A gorgeous bank barn that now includes a guest suite, a ballroom (that acts as an indoor volleyball court), an endless pool, a woodworking shop and an exercise space. Once cold and rugged, Burnett’s home is now a vibrant and welcoming with spaces perfect for entertaining guests. What’s more, the project was completed within nine months of the fire.

For his work, Ruedisueli’s project was named a winner in the 2011 Mid-Atlantic myMarvin Architect’s Challenge. With his positive attitude and astounding resilience, Burnett turned tragedy into the home of his dreams.

See more photos and read more about the home at BuilderOnline.com.

[Photo by Mary Parker]

Jesse Thompson of Kaplan Thompson Architects in Portland, Maine, designed a beautiful “Contemporary Outpost” in Sweden, Maine. On a quest to bring a little bit of Texas to their new home in Maine, the homeowners aimed to blend a modest home with their passion for horses.

This fascinatingly functional abode sits over a two-stall horse barn featuring a steeply pitched gable roof and double hung windows, along with cedar shingles and clapboard to fit within a classic Maine archetype.

Hugging the tree line along the edge of an idyllic pasture, there’s plenty of room to graze animals and respect the traditional settlement patterns of rural New England, while claiming dramatic views of New Hampshire’s Mt. Washington to the west.

The building plan allowed for extensive use of local woods and high quality thermal insulation (R-30 to R-60 values on all surfaces) to make it a durable, and sustainable home within a modest budget.

Integrity windows were the perfect balance of aesthetics, energy performance and durability for this project. And its affordability allowed for economizing the heating system against the region’s harsh winters.

INTEGRITY PRODUCTS USED:

Integrity Double Hung Windows
Integrity Casement Windows
Integrity Awning Windows
Integrity Inswing French Doors

Photography by Trent Bell.

Lens Masters: Do you hire professionals to shoot your projects?
Daily 5 Remodel
“We are all photographers, or at least photo-takers, these days. For remodelers, the development is helpful: It’s easier than every to document projects before, during and after construction. But does amateur photography come with a risk to remodelers?”

Can Architecture Help the Elderly Age Gracefully?
Fast Company
“Architecture and aging. It seems like the only connection between the two would be some vague master’s thesis. But a multidisciplinary field involving sociologists, urban planners, and psychologists has sprung up to answer questions of whether architecture can aid the elderly, one of the fastest growing demographics in the developed world.”

FourPlans: Best Sellers Under 2,000 Square Feet
Builder Magazine
“The ongoing popularity of small floor plans is evidence that small is the new big. In response, here are four of today’s bestsellers. Small enough to sell, eye-catching enough to garner major attention, these plans shouldn’t be underestimated.”

We’ve long been a fan of architect Sarah Susanka and her “Not So Big House” philosophy, and it seems we keep seeing more evidence that a significant number of American homeowners are more interested in craftsmanship, quality and fine design than they are in raw square footage.

Affluent, mature homeowners especially fit this profile. The more money older homeowners have, the less they demand maximum square footage. Among Americans age 45 and up planning to spend $400,000 or more on a home, only 28 percent say they want as much space as their money will buy. By contrast, 46 percent of those planning to spend less than $150,000 say they want maximum square footage for the money.

That information comes from Margaret A. Wylde’s useful and insightful book, “Right House, Right Place, Right Time,” which looks at trends in the over-45 housing market.

It’s just one more indication that many affluent, mature Americans are interested in quality design and features, not just raw space.

Integrity can help builders meet the needs of these  customers with tough, yet beautiful products like the All Ultrex Round Top. How do you help your customers get the best products? Let us know in the comments!

Marvin's innovative Ultimate Replacement Casement

Remodeling has been a bright spot in the homebuilding and design industry, and a recent report by the Harvard Center for Joint Housing Studies suggests that the long-term trend will continue to be favorable.

Several factors are converging to produce the positive outlook. First, as Baby Boomers age, the turnover of their homes will generate remodeling activity. About three-quarters of home sales by people over 55 are made to people under 55. The homes of older sellers are generally older and generate immediate and significant spending on renovation.

A younger person buying from an older seller can be expected to spend about $5,000 annually on renovation, the report concludes. In addition, the median age of the existing U.S. housing stock grew from 29 years in 1997 to 32 years in 2007 — also indicating that future renovation and remodeling are more likely.

These and other factors cited in the report suggest that the long-term prospects for the remodeling market are favorable for architects and others in the building industry.

Come visit Integrity at Booth 1453 at the AIA Convention in New Orleans to see all the latest products that will help you give your remodeling clients the home of their dreams.

22 Markets to Watch: The 2011 BUILDER Market Health Index
Builder Online
“The 22 markets profiled here provide a fascinating snapshot of an industry attempting to pick itself up off the ground. Some witnessed big permit increases last year, even though their economic metrics are poor. It’s as if builders there called the bottom and are preparing for an upturn. Others are bracing for a double-dip. New foreclosure tremors, the outgrowth of the economic recession this time and not the housing bust, have shaken their metrics, raising questions about when they will recover. Still others stand out for their continued, obstinate weakness. It’s hard to mount much of a housing recovery when people are still abandoning a metro market, unemployment is rising, or incomes are dropping.”

The designer’s hand: The value of designing by hand
Architect Magazine
“Is there a place in the modern architecture practice for handmade design drawings? Peter Pennoyer—who leads an eponymously named New York firm that produces classically inspired designs for houses and apartments, as well as institutional and commercial projects—believes so.”

Colors that clients want
Qualified Remodeler
“What’s the hot new color? What’s the latest trend in home products and interiors? As a remodeler, you hear these questions constantly. As you know, having the right answers for your clients can translate into quicker sales and more satisfied buyers. Knowing what is hot in the marketplace will set you apart from your competitors. The one true font of knowledge on this subject is an organization called Color Marketing Group, the international organization that forecasts and tracks color trends. Its purpose is summed up in its tag line: Color sells and the right color sells better.”

Pending Home Sales Rose 10.4% in October
New York Times
“The National Association of Realtors said Thursday that its index of sales agreements for previously occupied homes rose 10.4 percent in October. Contract signings were up in every region of the country except the West.”

40 Perspectives on the Decade Ahead
Qualified Remodeler
“Qualified Remodeler queried readers about what has changed and what hasn’t. The results presented here paint a picture of remodelers adapting to change — as they have always done. Interestingly some basics haven’t changed; tried-and-true methods and strategies are still favored in many cases, but other methods seem to have fallen by the wayside, their effectiveness diminished by changing lifestyles and economic realities.”

Housing Still Awaits Its Happy Ending
Wall Street Journal
“Housing is a different story. October new-home sales sank 8.1% to a seasonally adjusted annual pace of only 283,000, just off record lows, while existing-home sales slid 2.2% in October to a 4.43 million annual rate.”

Sub-Zero/Wolf Shares Kitchen Design Trends
Residential Architect
“Kitchen appliance manufacturers Sub-Zero and Wolf have collaborated with three notable designers to identify current kitchen design trends and predict future directions for the space that has become the heart of the home. New York–based interior designer Jamie Drake, Chicago-based kitchen designer Mick De Giulio, and Atlanta-based kitchen designer Matthew Quinn joined together to analyze kitchen designs entered into Sub-Zero and Wolf’s biennial Kitchen Design Contest, track the design trends illustrated therein, as well as through their own practices, and pinpoint potential evolutionary developments that may yield future trends in kitchen design.”

Socially Connected Remodelers
Daily 5 Remodel
Remodeling professionals talk about their experiences with social media.

Can We Build in a Brighter Shade of Green?
New York Times
“A so-called passive home like the one the Landaus are now building is so purposefully designed and built — from its orientation toward the sun and superthick insulation to its algorithmic design and virtually unbroken air envelope — that it requires minimal heating, even in chilly New England. Contrary to some naysayers’ concerns, the Landaus’ timber-frame home will be neither stuffy nor, at 2,000 square feet, oppressively small.”

Product Pros and Cons: Asphalt Roofing vs. Metal
BUILDER
“The roof is arguably the most important surface in a home, perhaps even more essential than the exterior walls. As the most exposed plane, the roof has a mammoth task. It’s under constant assault from the sun and rain, and, if leaky, could result in thousands of dollars worth of direct repair as well as ancillary damage. Still, a roof is one of those things that many consumers don’t think about until there is a blizzard, hail storm, or rainstorm.”

Right-sizing Your Price: How Architects Are Tweaking Fee Structures in a Touch-and-Go Economy
Residential Architect
“To sustain their businesses during what likely will be a long, slow recovery, some firms also are getting creative with their pricing, without cutting too deeply into their profit margins. Call it phase two in the survival of the fittest: When overhead is cut to the bone, the only thing left to flex is the fee.”