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With Halloween coming up, you may be wondering how to get that spooky vibe for the season. A go-to accessory for Halloween is, of course, witches. From tabletop dolls of cute, small child witches to ugly hags on the front lawn to those goofy flat hangings that make it look like a witch flew into your house, witches are completely synonymous with Halloween decor. So to get a perfect Halloween home, why not incorporate a witch or two? Below we’ll cover several fun ways to decorate with witches in your home this Halloween. Place a witch on a banister to make it look like she’s flying through the room. Image: Mackle Construction Co. Fun placement Perhaps one of the most enjoyable aspects of using a witch in your Halloween decor is the fun of finding places to put her. Since fantasy witches tend to fly on brooms, they can go just about anywhere. The photo above shows how placing a witch on the banister of a staircase makes it look like she’s flying through the home. You might also c

Making the decision to build instead of buying a home is the easy part. After that, the real work starts. Working with your builder to choose plans, finishes and overall budget can test your limits, but it’ll ultimately get you exactly what you want. Of course, what makes sense on paper doesn’t always work when it’s time to break ground. Unplanned setbacks, sudden changes and fluctuations in the building market can derail even the best-laid new build budget. If sticking to your new build budget is a concern, start planning before you ever spend a dime. A little creative budgeting and a lot of foresight ensures that you’re able to build your home without ending up in the poorhouse. Here’s how. Take stock of your major items to start. Image: Wyrick Residential Design 1. Start by categorizing One of the easiest ways to blow a budget is by simply failing to plan. Your contractor will assist you in working out your numbers, but educating yourself helps you stay in the ballpark. Sta

As Americans cram into ever-tighter urban living arrangements, a question has emerged: Isn’t there some better way to furnish a tiny apartment? Yes. The answer, of course, is robots. Inside a model studio apartment at the Eugene, an 844-unit building on Manhattan’s West Side, sits a blocky, Swiss Army-knife-like unit that looks a little like two-sided armoire with lots of compartments. It’s called Ori. Ori runs on a track and can be activated by voice command... Companies like Ori and Bumblebee Spaces are testing out robotic furniture in major cities where living space is limited. The Ori system, currently testing robotically-furnished apartments in Manhattan, operates through voice command or your smartphone app moving the modular unit along a floor track. Bumblebee Spaces, testing spaces in Seattle and San Francisco, takes interior robotics to the ceiling by moving furniture vertically from the floor to being stored above your head.  Hope Daley via Archinect - News http://bi

Kristen Gates and Thomas Nye were recently announced as the 2018 RAMSA Prize winners for their proposal, “Harmony of the Whole: Cities Beautiful in 20th Century India”. Separate from the  $10,000 RAMSA Travel Fellowship , the firm's partners grant the $5,000 RAMSA Prize to an employee or duo, as an opportunity for staff to engage in their own in-depth research abroad that can meaningfully inform their design work.  Gates and Nye's proposal focuses on Edwin Lutyens' 1912 plan for New Delhi and Le Corbusier's 1950 plan for Chandigarh, which are “two chronologically and geographically adjacent examples of the rare opportunity to design new cities with public and institutional buildings, monuments, residences, and furniture all at once, under the direction of a single architect.” The winners will travel abroad for two weeks. The prize jury — RAMSA Partners Paul L. Whalen, Gary L. Brewer, and Meghan L. McDermott — was intrigued by “the harmony of the proposal” and how it

The anticipated 2018  World Architecture Festival  is still a couple weeks away, but the competition is already heating up. Organizers behind the three-day event have just arrolled out the early winners of their WAFX prize , which distinguishes forward-thinking architectural concepts that identify key issues that architects must address over the next decade. Spanning categories like climate change, water, ageing and health, smart cities, and cultural identity, 10 projects were selected as winners which varied from innovative solar panel fields in The Netherlands, to urban green corridors in Bangkok, eco farms in rural Vietnam and river parks in Colombia. "We have been amazed by the standard of entries across this year’s future project categories and the prize winners in addressing some of humanities greatest concerns," said Paul Finch, Program Director of WAF. "Rather than being purely ‘pie in the sky’ conceptual work, each is firmly grounded in reality, presenting p

When working with paint , the finish you choose is almost as important as the color. Sheen has a direct impact on how a shade looks, how easy it is to clean and how well it hides imperfections on your walls. With that in mind, it’s crucial to know your options for paint finishes before you get started. Read on to get a sense of the different paint finishes that are available, as well as how to use them. A matte finish is the most common type for interior walls. Image: Martha O’Hara Interiors Matte paint Matte paint — sometimes also called flat paint — is the most common choice for interior walls and ceilings. It’s popular because it offers little to no shine, letting your other design choices have the focus. A matte finish goes well in just about any room in your home. Another benefit of matte paint is that it is very good at hiding imperfections like chips or cracks in the walls. For this reason, it’s particularly well-suited for use in older homes , which may have experienced

Nearly everyone in Chicago is in favor of establishing the Obama library on the South Side. But now, “There’ll be more room for dissent, and more people in Chicago generally willing to speak their mind without fearing the Emanuel administration,” said Juanita Irizarry, executive director of Friends of the Parks, which has opposed the seizure of parkland. [...] Emanuel’s departure also gives hope to critics pushing for a more open process. In the ongoing controversy about the  Obama Presidential Center 's proposed site on Jackson Park, design journalist Zach Mortice writes about how critics of the library might have more opportunities to argue their case for a community benefits agreement (CBA) and transparency on the project planning process, once Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel — who decided to not run for a third term — steps down. Justine Testado via Archinect - News http://bit.ly/2N91DrL

We get it. It can get a little overwhelming keeping up with the dozens of new  architecture competitions  launching worldwide on any given week — let alone having to stay on top of the multiple deadlines for each and every one. That's why  Bustler  is here to help! At the end of every week, we'll share a quick selection of our newest design  competition submissions  that we think are worth a look, as well as some ongoing ones you might have missed the first time. Check out our latest competition recommendations below. Bustler Editors via Archinect - News http://bit.ly/2DBDCKf

Architects: Find the perfect products for your next project through  Architizer . Manufacturers:  Sign up now  to learn how you can get seen by the world’s top architecture firms. Evolving behavioral trends in workplaces around the world have spurred a demand for increasingly flexible, dynamic office spaces. As a consequence, modular design has never been more popular. Product sets that can transform and grow according to the changing needs of the user are being harnessed more and more by both architects and manufacturers, particularly for commercial needs. With modular design, it’s almost like a collaborative process, with the designer creating a system and the consumer implementing it to suit their needs. Similar to wooden building blocks, the individual units are simple: a square, a rectangle, a tube — a table or chair. In combination, the modules become increasingly complex and customizable, changing to fit the situation. Here, we take a look at 10 contemporary examples that e

It’s about that time to start planning how you’d like your home to look for Halloween. And one of the most fun ways to get into the Halloween spirit is to create a haunted garden. With so many creative outdoor Halloween decorations, it’s a great way to add some seasonal fun to your yard. You can use a haunted garden in a few different ways. If you have a garden space at the front of your house, use it to greet trick-or-treaters. If you have an extensive backyard garden, you might also think about converting it for an outdoor Halloween party if the weather isn’t too cold. Look like you’re on a spooky burial ground with these accents. Image: Grandin Road Skeletal hands One of the easiest ways to get a haunted garden is to go for these skeletal hands. They’re an easy design you simply place on the ground. They instantly make your garden look like it’s actually a graveyard and that the skeletons are coming back to life. Something like this is more subtle and doesn’t take up much sp

Think about the artists who have put out too much work. How many lame Eddie Murphy or Adam Sandler movies must we suffer? What about Eminem’s cringeworthy new album? Or the last couple from U2, Coldplay, and Madonna? When was the last time a James Patterson novel was actually good? Anthony Morey via Archinect - News http://bit.ly/2xZ3IRl

The central disappointment of these spaces is not that they are so narcissistic, but rather that they seem to have such a low view of the people who visit them. Observing a work of art or climbing a mountain actually invites us to create meaning in our lives. But in these spaces, the idea of “interacting” with the world is made so slickly transactional that our role is hugely diminished. Stalking through the colorful hallways of New York’s “experiences,” I felt like a shell of a person. In this snarky piece, New York Times critic-at-large Amanda Hess recounts what it was like visiting as many of these hyped-up  Instagrammable "museums" that have popped up around the U.S. in recent years. “What began as a kicky story idea became a masochistic march through voids of meaning. I found myself sleepwalking through them, fantasizing about going to a real museum. Or watching television. Or being on Twitter,” Hess writes. Justine Testado via Archinect - News http://bit.ly/2xY4

If you have 24 hours and $4K to $10K to spend, you can print out the custom home of your dreams. Several companies have been playing around with the idea of printing up a house using the latest 3D printing tech — and that dream is now a reality. Check out these six innovative 3D-printed houses: Built in March 2018, the first permitted 3D-printed home in America features two bedrooms and one bath. Image:  Icon 1. 3D-printed house in Austin, TX by Icon Icon has partnered with New Story , a charity dedicated to ending homelessness by providing shelter in distressed and poor communities, to print 800-square-foot houses in under a day for roughly $4,000. How they did it:  The Vulcan, a large 3D printer, uses digital blueprints created by engineers to print 3⁄4-inch-thick layers of concrete in layered “slices.” Insulation keeps this sunny yellow home warm in any environment. Image:  Apis Cor The interior of the round 3D-printed tiny home is light and airy. Image:  Apis Cor 2.