Stacey Freed

A round up celebrating nine "pockets of joy" from the 2020 Best in American Living Awards.

The best home builders, architects, and designers turn houses into homes by creating spaces that bring energy, positivity, or a sense of calm to their occupants. And they do it in any number of ways, using proportion, light, natural elements, sculptural details, or a dash of whimsy.

Texas storms vs. Passive House construction: And the winner is...

Architect Trey Farmer shows how his Certified Passive House stood up to the massive storms that hit Texas in early 2021.

This story was also picked up and reprinted by Green Build Media.

AKC Family Dog magazine
Canine blood donors can one day save your dog's life.

When Kevin Yost began working from home last spring due to the pandemic, he set himself up at his San Francisco area home's dining room table. But with sensitive material on his laptop, he needed more privacy from his wife, who often worked from home, and two teenage children. Yost discovered a solution in his own backyard.

Why “Hang 10” when hanging 16 is even better? With their low center of gravity, your dog can make for a great surfing or SUP boarding companion this summer.

Since March, the pandemic has changed the way we live in our homes. In this article I interviewed architects and designers, including Alaina Money-Garman, whose firm helped develop a post-COVID home design that will address issues of indoor air quality, health and wellness.

Diagnosed in 20% to 40% of dogs, separation anxiety can affect your pet far into the future. A new device has shown promise in helping dogs and their owners cope.

Extensive research went into this article. I contacted homeowners, realtors, mortgage appraisers, and several national organizations such as the US Green Building Council, Home Energy Labeling Information eXchange, Pearl Certification and others to determine whether investing in features that can make a home energy-efficient and sustainable will bring a premium at resale.

The farmhouse is being reinvented for modern times, and the results pack big appeal for buyer.

This article defines prefab housing and determines how it might be helpful to mitigate the housing shortage. I interviewed Sheri Koones, a writer and expert on prefab housing.

Ensuring business continuity in the era of climate change requires thinking ahead to potential worst-case weather scenarios, and budgeting accordingly.

If you were a business looking for a writer, would you hire Robin Flanigan or The Kinetic Pen? Holly Leber Simmons or Red Pen Editorial? Elna Cain or Innovative Ink?
Flanigan, Simmons, and Cain are all freelance writers whose business name is different from their own. Should you do the same?

While the idea that homes can be healthy places that nurture their inhabitants and promote wellness isn’t new, that idea is now being more sharply defined and codified in ways that could change building practices and further heighten consumer awareness—especially in light of the COVID-19 health crisis and people’s need to do more tasks at home.