Happy New Year! It's a new year and you might be considering a new remodeling or renovation project. If you are, you are probably planning, preparing and researching ways to make it more successful and tips to save money and get exactly what you want. If you want to be successful, (who doesn't) start with these five simple tips.

It’s January and that means that the kitchen design prognosticators are out in full force! Of course, many of the kitchen design trends you can expect to see in 2020 are already in evidence. And while the opinions of various designers often vary—or even contradict one another—here’s a look at 10 of the trends that already appearing in homes across the country.

Whether you’re thinking of the attractiveness of your home to potential buyers or its value to your family and your lifestyle, the kitchen sits near the top of the list of most important areas in a house. The number of possible upgrades is almost limitless, of course, so you need to think about what you really need, and why you’re upgrading your Portland-area home.

The master bathroom in your Portland, Oregon, home can be so much more than just a utilitarian space. When you plan the room’s remodel, think of it as a sanctuary where you can relax and refresh. Think luxury. Here are 14 features to consider working into your luxury bathroom design.

COOPER Design Builders took advantage of an acre of level, undeveloped land behind this home in the green Portland suburb of Lake Oswego to create an outdoor playground for all ages last year. Now the family is ready for a summer outdoors.

Maybe it’s a need to feel connected with busy family members who are away from home all day and seldom see each other, or perhaps it’s just a desire to make a small home feel larger, but people continue to seek out homes with open floor plans. What is an open floor plan? As it sounds, it’s a home with few walls breaking up a large open area. Usually, the openness comes in the main living area of kitchen, living room, family room, and dining area. So what’s so great about the open plan concept, and what are the drawbacks?

As Remodeling magazine’s annual Cost vs. Value Report shows, most home-renovation projects don’t pay back on resale as much as they cost to complete. So think twice before planning major upgrades right before you put your home on the market. But on the other hand, if you’re going to stay a while, there are plenty of projects that will help you live better in your home.

Improvements to increase your Portland-area home’s value generally fall into two categories: boosting the resale value and increasing the livability of the home for your own use. When you start the process of deciding what kinds of upgrades you will tackle, you’ll need decide which of those factors is your main motivator. The types of changes you make to your home will be driven by your motivation.

A home remodel or addition is a major endeavor with countless moving parts, and it just doesn’t make sense to launch into such a project without taking the time to think it through. Here are seven points to consider in the planning process.