What would you choose to design your home?

United States
February 14, 2011 8:35am CST
I will be building my own house in two years. I have been watching tv shows about different design and decorating. I really want to combine vintage with modern. I don't have much money after I build the house so I want to find out how I can make the interior look good but on a budget. Like I say I love old things but would like a little modern throw in. I want it to go good together but have a good flow to everything. Are there any ideas you may have or some thing you have done in your home? Thanks for the help.
6 responses
@veganbliss (3895)
• Adelaide, Australia
15 Feb 11
You've seen the TV shows, now it's time to get on the forums for people building the latest in eco-friendly housing all over the world. At Shemco there is a huge amount of information for not just building on a budget & saving money upfront, but saving money on a daily basis. There are endless benefits to having your house designed right in the first place. Have your house cool in the Summertime & warm in the wintertime without the need for & expense of heaters & air conditioners. Our energy costs & your energy bills are set to skyrocket in the next couple of years, so prepare for it now. You can use it to harvest your own rain water & store it so you can run your house off it & never have to pay a water bill again. You can build systems in to generate & store your own electricity if you wish. You can set up systems to allow you to get things done for free that you currently have to pay through the nose for on a frequent basis. You can live more simply with less clutter & more peacefulness & still have enough left over to hire someone who can co-ordinate your vintage-modern look for your home in a way that is suited to the building & local area & your exact tastes. I've been renovating here for the past couple of years already & am nearly ready to move interstate.
• United States
15 Feb 11
Wow! So I was looking into doing green but it's all new to me. I have really over looked it so far. I am going to check out the website. I know I am going with some solar and I know laying stone down where windows or sun comes through is good because it soaks in the heat. I just didn't know there was that much I could do. I need to really research this more. Thank you for your time and information.
• Adelaide, Australia
15 Feb 11
Oopps! Nearly forgot to add the website... http://www.shemco.com/sustainable-green-living/
• Adelaide, Australia
15 Feb 11
Good onya, mate. We need more green-conscious home designers. There's so much out there on it. The more you know, the more you seem to find more! I neglected to mention that it's better & cheaper to build with locally sourced building materials like the rammed earth walls you've just mentioned. Certain types of timber are naturally termite-resistant too. I'm unconvinced about solar cells (photovoltaic) for energy generation. Solar hot water is an excellent idea still. Photovoltaic cells are a huge financial outlay & will take about 25 years to recover your costs (break-even). There are much better & much, much cheaper alternatives that are also much more environmentally friendly & output tons more power in all weather conditions extremely efficiently. I've posted on this in my other discussions.
@semus9x (47)
• Vietnam
15 Feb 11
The design a house is a hard work. But if you are a graphic designer, this thing is very easy. if not, you can find in the internet to available designer and do the instruction.
• United States
15 Feb 11
I have a friend who went to school to be a designer. She will be helping me when time comes to built. I just need as much information and help I can't get. Love new ideas.
• United States
14 Feb 11
I like Chabby Shic stuff. Very girl i guess you can say. In a room for istance you would have a little chandelier instead of a fan and things like that. I like that look more and its just a cute thing to do. I do like the modern look as well and old couches and things from the 60s are a big thing now and its all pretty cool looking if you know what you are doing and can get them all to look right in your room you are decorating. Another thing i like is palm trees and the greens and blues of the beach. I believe this is just relaxing and just so vacation like. I think that is a great way to decorate a room. If i could have someone do artwork on a wall of a beach theme that would be amazing and really nice. Of course these are my opinions but by all means do what you want.
• United States
15 Feb 11
I have always gone to the beach in Florida in summer months. I love the shades of the ocean. I want to put mirrors in rooms to get the reflective feel of the waves. Thanks for your imput.
• Philippines
20 Feb 11
I would love to have vintage pieces in my home,like a vintage cabinet or bench that can be used as a table.I want a minimalist setting.I also love my furniture to be double purpose,like a sofa that can be folded into a bed.I also love my collection of character figures,so they'll be all over the house.
@toniganzon (72279)
• Philippines
15 Feb 11
A little vintage with a modern touch to it is a great idea i think. Vintage windows would look good and you can buy them at a cheap thrift shop friend. But if you can consult an architect and engineer for that, it would help you very much and won't cost too much time and money too. If we do it on our own sometimes our idea get mixed up and we tend to combine all of them, we become inefficient and the end result would cost us more money.
• United States
15 Feb 11
I am a big fan of old windows. I have gathered over the years different windows. Many still have the old panes of glass in them. You can't see out the glass because of all the bubbles and thickness of the glass. I do want to try and put some in my house or figure out something eles to do with them. Thanks.
• Chennai, India
23 Aug 13
It's really a nice idea to build your own house instead of buying an existing one. But it involves a lot of things. From my experience its really difficult to handle all the tasks and supervise the construction on yourself. You can consult any experienced home builders around your neighborhood. You can get a perfect design on an estimated budget from them. This is the home builder who built my house recently with the a limited budget. you can take a look if you want:
Local Toowoomba builders, 25 years experience building high quality new homes designs, house and land packages Toowoomba, visit our display homes Toowoomba today.