Decided to get on board with the movement towards outdoor living spaces? While designing your outdoor environment, keep this in mind: Sun is not always fun.

The next time you walk into a department store, or model home for that matter, pay close attention to how the room is lit. You just may get a peek into the future.

Homeownership and green improvements will be more affordable for more Americans in 2009, thanks to several provisions in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The changes will put more money in taxpayers’ pockets and allow homeowners to save thousands of dollars over the next several years.

It’s true. The U.S. federal government is so in favor of reducing energy consumption, they’ve created incentives to encourage Americans to replace leaky old windows and doors with more energy-efficient options.

Walls that look like stacked ice cubes, staircases you can see through and bathrooms with tiles in all the colors of the rainbow. The use of glass in interior design and architecture has evolved in the past century with more and more designs featuring glittering, mirrored, frosted and colored glass. Here are the top trends designers are implementing.

With the price of just about everything going up you might think your budget for cabinetry has to go down. While your cabinetry budget may fall, you won’t have to sacrifice style, if you consider jazzing up stock cabinetry with stylish, yet affordable upgrades.

Real estate pros often coach their clients on the value of making “curb appeal” improvements to help sell their homes. Outside painting and minor repairs signal that the house has been well cared for. That’s a great marketing tactic, but an even better advantage is offering multiple bathrooms.