Free Ground Shipping And $100 Instant Savings

We are happy to offer free ground shipping on house plan orders for a limited time!  You can also receive $100 instant savings by completing the survey on our home page.  Since 1985 when we began sketching floor plans and creating custom  blueprints for home buyers, it has been our mission to continually improve our home plan design products and our growing menu of services for both the consumer and the builder. You can search over 1000 house plans online at our website www.nelsondesigngroup.com, where your dream home is waiting!

New House Plan NDG-1281

New House Plan NDG-1281 features a beautiful brick exterior, with an entry foyer, 10’ Boxed Ceilings on several rooms, spacious master suite and master bath, kitchen with breakfast room, and my favorite a rear grilling porch.  This house also features a 22 x 24-10 front entry garage.

NDG Realtor Direct Program

Once you are our Realtor Direct Partner you will be listed as a Preferred Realtor on our national Find A Realtor section of our website.

Q: “How do I make money with the NDG Realtor Direct Program?”
A: Simply direct your customers to our home plan website, www.nelsondesigngroup.com which is extremely user-friendly. You or our staff can assist them in finding a home plan to suit their needs. Builders and Individuals preparing to build a home need a plan to suit their specific needs, and we have more than 900 to choose from. We’ll pay you a $100 referral fee for each home plan sale that comes from your efforts. It’s that simple.

So for example, you send a client to our website, they find and purchase a set of house plan blueprints for $800, and we send you a check for $100.

New House Plan NDG-1271

New house plan NDG-1271 is an amazing walk-out basement plan in our new Rustic Ridge Collection.  The lower floor features an In-Laws Suite, a home theater room, and a game room.  The main floor has everything you could want including a large rear grilling porch, large kitchen with breakfast area, master bath with whirlpool tub, and much more.

Do you need to organize your pantry?

I needed something just didn’t know what. Each time I walked into my pantry, I all but growled. I needed to utilize wall space but didn’t know how what to use or how to make it work without looking hodgepodge. My husband racked up some big brownie points last Saturday. 

We initially decided that we’d have to cut some MDF board to size, glue and nail in place and then go to the trouble of painting the new shelving. I was already dreading the sawdust! Off to Home Depot we went, to purchase the board. Wah-lah! We just  happened into the storage area and found exactly what we needed for a fraction of the cost of board shelving. Thank you Lord! We ended up choosing ClosetMaid wall racks  perfect for a limited space such as ours. Installation was easy and went quickly, so he said. Just kidding, I was there to help the entire time and had everything ready to fill up the wall racks by the time he had them hung.

Because these particular wall units are nice and shallow, they worked out perfectly for my gazillion spices, canned goods, oils, etc. -  most everything but large packages and cereal boxes. We even purchased some little hanging baskets perfect for seasoning packets and snack bars. Making this addition, freed up one full upper cabinet in the kitchen and allowed us to seriously organize our dishes and cooking utensils.

I’m a neat freak and love love love to cook, so my attitude in the kitchen has changed -  all due to some simple storage racks in my pantry.

Remember the feeling when you got your first car? Well, not to sound ridiculous but this change in my pantry is almost as good.

My master closet is next. Oh honey, where are you?

Are your teens computers in a common area?

Be sure to keep all home computers in a common area to help manage internet usage. It’s worth the fight – I can assure you. Don’t let the world wide web educate our children and steal their innocence. There’s nothing more important than family and it’s our responsibility as parents to know what are children are doing, who they’re involved with and what they view and listen to. If you are remodeling than consider using a hall closet as a computer center. If you are planning to build then be sure to choose a home plan that has special areas such as study centers and kid’s nooks.

Many of our Nelson Design Group home plans have computer centers that are strategically placed in areas such as a main living area hallway (link to plan NDG 314, cluster bedroom hallway (NDG 918)  breakfast rooms and kitchens and living rooms (NDG 309).

contributed by Steph Nelson.

Replace your light bulbs ASAP!

We all need to save energy wherever we can and energy savings translates into saved dollars – right? Therefore, I urge you to waste no time and go purchase GE Energy Smart CFL Bulbs to replace your standard bulbs. If you can only replace a few at a time then begin with frequently used fixtures such as reading chair and bedside lamps and any floor standing or buffet lamps. I use these CFL bulbs in all of my overhead fixtures such as pendant lights over my kitchen bar area. You’ll save hundreds of dollars with the same soft pleasing light and less heat output. The GE Daylight 60 compact fluorescent spiral light bulb saves energy and lasts for years. This light bulb uses just 13 watts to produce the same amount of light as a 60-watt soft white light bulb for a savings of up to 75%. The daylight color produces a cool, natural light. Average energy savings per year for six bulbs is $41. Each bulb is guaranteed to last five years when used an average of four hours per day.

Be sure to enter in the GE Energy Smart Sweepstakes before June 30^th!

Sam’s Wholesale Club is a great resource for purchasing these EnergyStar rated light bulbs in bulk – saving you even more green!

Let Natural Light Save You Green

Natural lighting can be a real plus even in the summer months. Master bathrooms and kitchens are the best locations for skylights and strategically placed mirrors can help carry the natural light across a room, hallway, master bedroom or bathroom. If searching for a home plan, be sure to choose plans with slightly higher ceiling and window transoms which combined with a deep overhang (like NDG1145) or covered porch (NDG139) can give you great indirect light.

Contributed by Steph Nelson

Water Heater Blankets

We as a nation are becoming more aware of our impact on the environment and on our energy consumption. The increasing cost of petro products are a factor in this awareness, but our increasing knowledge of global warming and the subsequent  melting of polar ice caps  and  other factors  are also pushing that awareness to the forefront.  A $15 dollar water heater blanket could save you an average of $8.35 per month by reducing your energy use.  This is a small amount of money, but it is an investment that would normally pay for itself within 2 months, and could be done by most anyone in an hour or less.

The only important thing you should know when installing a water heater blanket is to make sure you have cutouts that keep the safety information and specifications visible (you can void your warranty if you don’t do this).  By doing this, plumbers and others can get to important data, and the manufacturer’s warranty will remain intact.

House Fires

Few things are more devastating than standing by helplessly while all your memories, keepsakes, and valuables go up in flames.  I can tell you from personal experience that its something that changes your life.  There are many different causes of house fires, from cooking mishaps to candles to natural causes like lightning, wildfires, tornadoes, and earthquakes.

Prevention methods are often simple, but the effects can be amazing.  This article illustrates some of the benefits of simple brush clearing.

By Jessica Gresko
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

July 17, 2005

Don Crocker’s home in Rolling Hills burned to the ground on a windy summer day in 1973.

So when another fire raced up the same coastal hillside last week, his wife worriedly packed the car.

But this fire turned out to be much different. While it swept up the canyon, firefighters were able to stop the blaze before it reached the first row of ocean-view houses below Crocker’s.

“I was thinking — it’s so much different this time than last time,” he said.

The 1973 fire, which burned about a dozen homes in Rolling Hills and Rancho Palos Verdes, marked the beginnings of a fire-preparedness revolution in the two communities and the rest of Los Angeles County.

The two communities became among the first in the region to aggressively enforce brush-clearing regulations, a model later copied by the county Fire Department.

Firefighters credit brush clearance with preventing a major loss of homes during Wednesday’s blaze, which at one point threatened 400 residences and burned more than 200 acres. No houses were damaged.

“Everything was basically the same as it was in ‘73 when we showed up,” said county fire Battalion Chief Al Schriver, who, as a Rolling Hills firefighter, battled that blaze and who coordinated efforts Wednesday. “I think it’s a lesson to people. It could have had the same results. It’s very stark evidence that what we’re doing works.”

Firefighters said the Palos Verdes Peninsula blaze offers an example to the rest of Southern California as the summer fire season unfolds. Some officials are predicting a potentially dangerous season because the near-record rainfall this winter produced extensive plant growth.

Although most brush fires start on remote or undeveloped hillsides, brush clearance is considered a crucial barrier when flames reach developed areas.

A Times analysis of the 2003 wildfires in San Diego County — which destroyed more than 2,300 structures — found that brush clearance was the single biggest factor in whether a home burned or survived. Many of the destroyed houses had flammable vegetation within 30 feet, the analysis found.

“Every time we have one of these fires, the first thing out of the public information officer’s mouth is that brush clearance helped,” said Assistant Fire Chief John Todd of the Los Angeles County Fire Department’s Forestry Division. “I think it’s sunk in with people. They’ve seen the results.”

Other prevention methods include paint additives and  other types of coatings that can greatly reduce the flammability of a home’s exterior.  Internal sprinkler systems, fire extinguishers, smoke detectors and other products can also help prevent fires and minimize damage once they start.

It is also important to know how to turn off the electricity to your home and how to turn off any gas lines that you might have coming into your home as well.  During natural disasters like flooding, hurricanes, tornadoes, and earthquakes you might not even consider a house fire happening, but these are exactly the types of situations where rogue electrical wires  and ruptured natural gas lines can start major fires at times when emergency workers are already working at full force.

Your home can be replaced, but your loved ones can not.  Make sure everyone knows how to get out of the house and where to meet at once they do.  This is especially important for children.  There are many in depth documents and videos on how to do this properly.