A citrus and spice infused natural cleanser is a simple and healthy way to keep your house clean this holiday season. Get away from harsh cleaners and bleach smells. Fill your space with natural products good for even the messiest of people. Follow this step by step guide to make your own cleaner from citrus, cinnamon and cloves.

Key Takeaways:

• Sometimes I think making a mess actually makes me feel better.
• While I do like the results of vinegar, I don’t necessarily want my house to smell like Easter eggs (PAAS anyone?), which is why I infuse these very simple recipes with citrus.
• Truly one of the easiest recipes to follow, and the cleaner works just as well as some of the chemically ones I used to use.

“While I do prefer things to have their place, it goes against every atom in my being to be “neat and tidy.””

http://witanddelight.com/2016/12/diy-natural-citrus-infused-cleaners-ode-messy-people/

Recreate a clean, industrial kitchen from a Brooklyn Italianate building in your own home. A wall of steel-framed windows lets in the light, and a built-in wood-burning grill brings the smells and flavors of Italy right into the home. Find where to purchase the materials, appliances, hardware, fixtures and accessories that make this kitchen such a good look to steal.

Key Takeaways:

• The gut renovation in the kitchen included opening the back wall, converting a fireplace into a grill, and installing a vent in the kitchen island.
• The kitchen was designed with views in mind: Working at the sink and back counter offers views into the garden while working at the island looks out onto the living room.
• A fireplace was converted with an industrial wood-burning grill and tiled wall.

“The gut renovation in the kitchen included opening the back wall, converting a fireplace into a grill, and installing a vent in the kitchen island.”

http://www.remodelista.com/posts/steal-this-look-industrial-kitchen-brooklyn-townhouse-elizabeth-roberts-ensemble-architecture/

A couple that moved into a house fell in love with a house they purchased but missed the one thing that they thought would make it perfect, a homemade tile flooring in their bathroom. They tracked down the contractor who created the flooring and paid to have their bathroom refinished. The article shows the contractor going through the process of creating the floor pattern, installing it, and the result of its installation.

Key Takeaways:

• When our friend photographer Aya Brackett and her family moved into a house just across a shared courtyard from their former place in Oakland, California, they gained more space.
• A West Marin, California, artist and art teacher who grew up in Northern England—and has a masters in painting and drawing from Ohio State—Myers specializes in the ancient art of mosaic.
• The herringbone pattern is composed entirely of white opal glass tiles that, once laid on a mortar bed, present a dazzling range of shades varying from translucent to opaque and many points in between.

“Myers does most of the tile work in her studio in Inverness.”

http://www.remodelista.com/posts/bathroom-of-the-week-handmade-glass-mosaic-tile-floor-start-to-finish/

Are you thinking about renovating your kitchen? Doing research on countertop materials? If so, then our Countertop Spotlight series will help you. Today we look at lava stone countertops: Lava countertops are uniquely beautiful and highly functional. Lava countertops are attractive, durable, extremely heat resistant – they’re lava after all – and easy to care for.

Key Takeaways:

• The fact that it’s volcanic lends it a toughness: Lava stone can withstand high temperatures, offers even heat distribution, and can be glazed, which sets it apart from other stone counter-tops.
• Lava stone is sourced primarily from quarries in France (from the crater of an inactive volcano in Auvergne) and Italy (at the foot of the active volcano Mount Etna in Sicily).
• Lava stone’s surface is typically patterned with crazing—a web of lines and cracks—that appears in the glazing during the cooling process and, according to fans, lends character.

“Lava stone is a natural volcanic rock that is quarried, cut into slabs, topped with an enamel glaze, and fired at a very high heat.”

http://www.remodelista.com/posts/remodeling-101-lava-stone-countertops-pros-and-cons/

Taking your time to relax and reduce stress can make you feel good about yourself. A warm bath can help tensed muscles and improve your health and potentially your mental well-being too! These steps will help you to relax and feel great. Make sure your bathroom is clean and warm, so that you feel comfortable when you bathe. Also put your nightwear on the radiator so they’re nice and toasty for when you get out.

Key Takeaways:

• We recently caught up with Waterworks founder, Barbara Sallick, over breakfast at SF social club, The Battery, to take a closer look at her new book.
• It’s packed with advice on floor plans, fixtures, color palettes, and more; if you have a bathroom redesign in your future, Sallick’s decades’ worth of advice will steer you in the right direction.
• In the 1970s, faucets with acrylic handles were popular, as was an avocado and gold color scheme. Today, there’s no question we are in the era of the white bath, but people are now softening the look with art and more natural textures.

“I’ve been doing this for nearly 40 years and when we started, the bath was just a funky space in the house with a tub and toilet—not a space on which anyone building a new house would spend any time or money.”

http://www.remodelista.com/posts/expert-advice-how-to-create-the-perfect-bath-from-waterworks-barbara-sallick/

With low maintenance, high durability and endless color choices, engineered quartz offers a tempting alternative to natural stone countertops. Boasting the best qualities of laminate and stone (along with its own special features), quartz began appearing in U.S. homes just a few years ago after gaining popularity in Europe for the past decade. Today, quartz countertops are exploding in popularity, with U.S. sales increasing 60 percent in 2004.

Key Takeaways:

• One of the appealing features of engineered quartz is its wide variety of colors, patterns, and textures.
• The surface of manufactured quartz depends on how the quartz is ground: Coarsely ground stone produces a flecked appearance, while finely ground has a smooth look.
• That said, it shouldn’t be used as flooring over radiant heat because of possible damage from long-term exposure to heat.

“Engineered quartz not to be confused with Quartz, another appealing natural stone used as counters is a man made product created mostly from natural materials. It’s made of 90 to 94 percent ground quartz and 6 to 10 percent resins and pigments that are combined into durable and nonporous slabs.”

http://www.remodelista.com/posts/remodeling-101-engineered-quartz-countertops/

Anyone enamored with the desert be warned: This place might require what’s left of your vacation days. Sara and Rich Combs, designers and owners of The Joshua Tree House, are delighting us once again with a new rental. (Meaning, you can do way more than just pin this house–you can stay there)! The Casita is a smaller rental, also in Joshua Tree, fit for four guests in search of a well-styled, breathtakingly beautiful getaway. And yes, there really is a hot tub under the stars, meaning we’d likely spend far more time outdoors than in.

Key Takeaways:

• Despite the fact that their home base and Web design business are in San Francisco—an eight-hour drive up the length of the state—the newly minted remodelers embarked on a total overhaul of the place themselves, working over much of a summer.
• That became the Joshua Tree House, their first Airbnb property.
• They’ve since succumbed, entirely unplanned they say, to a second too-good-to-pass up house that required, among other things, a new kitchen and bath.

“Despite the fact that their home base and Web design business are in San Francisco—an eight-hour drive up the length of the state—the newly minted remodelers embarked on a total overhaul of the place themselves, working over much of a summer.”

http://www.remodelista.com/posts/the-joshua-tree-airbnb-by-kate-sears/