This week we have part 2 of the interview with homeowner Matt S.  He talks more about his cool house, which is black by the way, and his homebuilding journey.  He was so generous in sharing his advice and resources.  Take a listen to this informative conversation.  Show notes at BYHYU.com

Matt went back to the neighborhood he grew up in and built a house perfect for entertaining.  In this first part of the interview, he talks about his very practical floor plan that has lots of space for hosting friends and family.  He tells us about some really unique design ideas and gives great advice about communicating with contractors.  This is a really helpful conversation.  Show notes at BYHYU.com

This week we have Part 2 of our interview with Rachel.  She’s a homeowner working with a general contractor and they’re finishing up a custom build in Ohio.  This week Rachel talks more about her homebuilding journey, what she would do differently if she were to build again, and the best thing about building a custom home.   If you or someone know would like to share your homebuilding experience on the podcast, please email me at [email protected] Show notes  at www.BYHYU.com

Homeowner Rachel D tells us about the challenges and triumphs she's had along her homebuilding journey.  She discusses how the pandemic has affected her build, what resources she's used to help her through the design-build process and where she's found some of her design inspiration and fixtures.   See photos of Rachel's home in the shownotes at BYHYU.com

Several weeks ago in episode 254 called Furniture Layout and Space Planning I gave some guidelines about furniture placement and how to best layout your rooms to achieve functional, aesthetically pleasing spaces that have good flow.  After listening back to that episode though, I realized, I didn’t talk much about bedrooms. So that’s what we’ll discuss in this episode— space planning and layout rules specifically for bedrooms. Show notes at BYHYU.com

This week’s episode is a replay of the one that I did years ago. The information is still relevant, but the pricing that I mentioned in the episode has likely changed given the current economy and today’s consumer demand for construction materials and supply chain challenges. I’ll discuss the 6 most popular types of roofing materials on the market, including my favorite, metal roofs. Make sure you follow the show so when I record my latest construction update and other new content, the show...

Given the heat wave that’s sweeping a lot of the country right now, I wanted to remind myself of some of the information from a previous episode called Keeping Your House Cool, Inside and Out.I thought it might also be helpful for you to revisit that mini-lesson too, to make sure you are considering some of those cooling solutions as you are planning your home design. But before we get into the show, I’ll share a bit of my first-hand experience with some of the products you’ll hear about in...

Even if you’re not a tub person you should strongly consider adding a bathtub somewhere in your new home.  You may never intend to use the tub yourself, but it’s nice having a tub available for bath-loving guests, for bathing children and grandchildren, and for grooming pets.    Many homeowners include a tub in their primary bathroom not only for practical, utilitarian reasons but also for aesthetics.  Freestanding tubs continue to be an extremely popular choice primarily because of...

Even if you haven’t started building your house yet, you should start thinking about your furniture layout.  Furniture placement is important because it will dictate how good a room looks, how well it functions, and how easily you can move in and through the space.   If your rooms have beautiful furniture pieces, but they’re arranged awkwardly, it will take away from the overall stylishness and functionality of your home.    Developing a good furniture layout early on will help you come up...

Soffits and Fascia are parts of the house that don’t often get a lot of thought or attention from homeowners planning to build their dream homes.  But they’re important not only as design elements for your home but also because they protect your house.   And choosing the right materials for your fascia and soffits can reduce the required maintenance for your home. This week we’ll briefly talk about soffit and fascia options so you can make the best choice for your home.  Let’s start by...

The High Point Market is the largest furniture trade show for design professionals in the world. Twice a year more than 75,000 designers, furniture buyers, retail store owners, and architects go to High Point, North Carolina to see what’s trending in furnishings. Unfortunately, the show is not open to the general public, but many designers report on what they see each year at High point. If you didn’t know, North Carolina is known as the furniture-making capital of the United States. It’s...

From large things like garage doors to the small things like electronic chips that go into TVs and appliances, the materials that we need to build and furnish our homes are still hard to get.  More than two years after the start of the pandemic, supply chain issues continue to cause significant construction slowdowns and above-average pricing in homebuilding. So when will supply chain issues end?  That’s the million-dollar question, and the truth is, no one really knows. But there are...

Like we did last year, my husband and I took a day trip to the Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas area to visit the 3 high-end show homes at Fort Worth’s annual Dream Street event. I enjoy going to show homes like these so I can see the features that are most popular with area designers.  Now, to be clear, these are multimillion-dollar homes and not all of the elements showcased will fit into every budget. But to me, it’s helpful to see what’s fresh and new, and what continues to be relevant in decor,...

In addition to knowing about the different types of drywall that are best for different areas of your home, it’s good to think ahead of time the style and finishes you want for your walls so you’re not stumped when your builder or drywaller ask you if you want a Level 4 or level 5 drywall finish. Or whether you want any texture on your wall, straight square corners, or bullnose? In today’s episode, I’ll briefly cover whether smooth or textured walls are more popular for today’s new builds and...

It’s honestly pretty hard to get excited about drywall.  Drywall is a  subject that’s kinda, well…dry. But drywall is a material that goes in just about every space of the house, so we want to be able to make informed decisions about what type of drywall we should request to make our walls last longer and perform better.  I won’t go into too much boring detail, but I’m hoping to give you enough information so you can have an intelligent conversation with your builder or drywall contractor, so...

This week we’ll cover part 2 of a recent article from Houzz.com called “40 Home Design Trends That Will Shape 2022.”  Houzz compiled the list of trends based on the thousands of popular photos people uploaded to their site and information they got from speaking with dozens of home design professionals.  They also analyzed the searches that people did on their website for different furniture pieces, colors, materials, and other design elements. Show notes at BYHYU.com ...

Happy New Year. In this episode, we’ll cover a recent article from houzz.com called “40 Home Design Trends That Will Shape 2022. “  I think it’s important for us to be aware of what’s trending in home design, but we probably shouldn’t be too interested in fads.  We’ll be talking about trends.  There’s a difference. A fad is short-lived.  It comes and goes quickly.  A Fad is a style that suddenly becomes popular and is embraced with exaggerated zeal. But fads usually don’t stay popular very...

Hope you had a great Christmas and I’m wishing you a happy new year. I want to sincerely thank you for continuing to listen to and share this podcast.  I realize that there is a ton of content out here so I’m grateful that you take time out of your schedule to support BYHYU.    An extra thank you goes to those of you who have given positive feedback to me either through emails or reviews.  And to those who have shared your favorite episodes through text, email or on your social media...

In the last episode, we discussed aging in place features that we can add to our homes that will allow us to live in them comfortably even if we develop challenges with mobility and coordination as we age.  I referred to some designs detailed in this week’s repeat episode called Designing A Forever Home. I wanted to release this show on the heels of the Aging in Place podcast to sort of tie everything together.  If you’ve listened to this before, I encourage you to take another listen to...

Many of us are building our houses with the intention of staying there for the rest of our lives.  We’re building our forever homes.   And there are some fairly simple design choices we can make that will allow us to stay in our homes comfortably even as seniors. The aging-in-place features we’ll discuss in this episode will give us a greater level of safety, independence, and happiness in our homes— no matter what our age. Shownotes at BYHYU.com https://www.facebook.com/BYHYU

Open-plan homes with great rooms that combine the kitchen, dining room, and living room make smart use of space, increase natural light and make it easy for family and friends to be together. However, with few walls or defined borders and with clear sightlines from one space to another, open-plan rooms can be tricky to decorate.  It’s a challenge to strike a good balance between cohesiveness and separation. This week we’ll discuss some common mistakes people make when decorating open floor...

Will open concept homes become a thing of the past?  In the midst of the pandemic, lots of people have been talking about wanting more private space in their homes.  And many are wondering if open floor plans are on their way out. I give you my prediction in this episode. Show notes at BYHYU.com www.facebook.com/BYHYU/

As you probably know, a major part of doing our due diligence and vetting or investigating a contractor before hiring him or her is to contact some references.   Ask the contractors you’re considering for your project for ideally at least 3-4 references.  And make sure you actually contact those references.  Most people are very willing to help out by chatting about their homes and construction experiences.  Some people think contacting references is not very helpful because they think the...

In the last episode, we had a brief overview of the rough-in phase of construction, including what goes on during the electrical rough-in. This week I’ll give you some very basic information about your breaker box and where you should locate it.   Plus we’ll briefly cover when you’ll need a typical 120 volt electrical outlet versus a more powerful 240 volt outlet.  And we’ll end the mini-lesson with some talk about what size electrical service or the number of amps your house should have.  I...