Houzz - Home Design & Remodel

We recently moved back to Texas to build a new home overlooking the Texas Hill Country in Canyon Lake; one of the fastest growing areas in Texas. I always look to Houzz to provide the inspiration for our new construction; carefully adding my own unique touches to already great designs showcased from homes featured by Houzz. By following trends and mixing in Texas heritage, we have created our own version of one-of-a-kind custom homes to include aging in place to child friendly spaces, telecommuting enhanced offices, low maintenance yards/splash pools and even spaces for four-legged for “spoiled pet” family members. We’re on our fourth new construction/remodeled home we call “livable/sellable” investment homes. We live in them and sell them roughly every five years for a profit; money we can’t make in the current stock market. None of our homes have remained on the market more than a week and all have made 20-30% profit (since we general contract the projects ourselves). Thanks to following the trends and research on Houzz; we’ve created a great source of income, a challenging yet rewarding hobby/career and we get to live in a well designed and comfortable stylish home we’re proud of.

I enjoy looking through Houzz to get ideas from the photos or solutions to problems on the different forums, however... 1) The search function is average at best. If you search for something like “basement laundry” you’ll see photos of that plus lots of unrelated pics. It seems the more specific your search, the more “off” the results are. 2) Lately and with increasing frequency, the attached information under “learn more” is for a different property, and probably one you looked at previously. Its like the previously viewed information won’t clear out. 3) Considering there are supposedly millions of photos posted, I keep seeing the same ones over and over. 4) I don’t know that I would ever dare to post a question on a board, as the people answering (pros and lay people alike) can be particularly snarky or unnecessarily harsh. A woman asked about thoughts on paint color for her kitchen, and was told by respondents that she had too much stuff on her counters, her word signs were awful, and her back splash didn’t properly coordinate with her counters. And it kept going even after she very graciously included a little background information about some of her design choices. It was a very nice kitchen by anyone’s standards, but the people replying (which included pros) were just rude. There seems to be no monitoring of the site at all.

This is the second review. The one below I apparently neglected to send a few years back. So now we have built a new house still on the island but on a small lake with a short walk to the beach. From the first concept of our custom home to the furnishings, plumbing fixtures, room ideas, accessories and furnishings, I have used HOUZZ on a daily basis. And now we are about to move in with a small punch list and finishing touches to be completed. We could not have accomplished all we did if it weren’t for your wonderful app. The idea books were my lifeline to keeping ideas and purchases in order. We collaborated with the builder and design team to convey our likes to them. It is so much easier to show a photo of your favorite kitchen than to give vague directives of what’s on your mind! This has been a lifesaver and a wonderful experience. Kudos for you great organization! I will send photos under separate cover. HOUZZ is the most wonderful design and resource app in the world! I have just completed renovating a home and it is beautiful! All the ideas I came up with for removing walls reworking size shape and function of rooms were possible and realized because I could visualize by looking at photos of similar designs just by search words. I also used discussions and polls when I couldn't make a decision. I kept a file in the app of ideas and inspirations. I purchased many items through HOUZZ. What is most amazing is I accomplished this home makeover long distance from 1200 miles away. With a talented builder and HOUZZ, my nightmare house purchase is now a most beautiful dream home! Thank you HOUZZ!