I have always dreamed of renovating an older commercial building into living space. However, Klein Kitchen is correct.......the first thing that you must do is check with the city to see if they will allow you to use the space as a residence. If it is zoned exclusively for commercial use, then you would not be allowed to renovate it into a house. Hopefully the neighborhood is zoned for both uses.......... Keep us posted on what you do with this project because I am sure that there are some excellent ideas that we all can share with you once you have made the commitment to go ahead...............

Laughter is the best medicine. A person who laughs suffers from less anxiety and feels better all-round. Although scientists still don’t know exactly why we laugh, there’s lots of evidence that it has a beneficial effect. To take just one example: children who laugh a lot develop faster and better than their peers. We move 18 different muscles when we laugh. And while we’re laughing, our diaphragm massages our abdominal organs and supplies fresh oxygen to the brain. Applying this principle to interior design, we can say that décor that makes us smile also keeps us healthy. Here are a few amusing ideas that will bring more humour and individuality to your home. For men with a sense of fun Did you know that men with a sense of humour are more attractive to women? Studies by psychologists have found that women looking for a potential partner prefer men with a sense of humour because it is an indication of an active and healthy brain. Strangely enough, the opposite is not true: men don’t prefer witty women as partners. For a man, it seems to be more important that a woman can laugh at his jokes. In light of this, men (and especially those still looking for an ideal partner) would be well advised to furnish their homes with a few humorous extras. Why not opt for a white shark that leaps out of the living room wall, or a fitted sheet that turns the bed into a building site? Funny sayings as wall tattoos can also make women laugh. Why not give it a try! It’s important, of course, that you also think the decorations are funny. In fact, this is one of the few rules governing humorous home furnishings: it needs to be something you can laugh about as well. The unexpected What makes us laugh? On most occasions it’s something unusual or even impossible that tickles our funny bone. Most jokes are constructed to do exactly this, making a punchline out of something we didn’t anticipate. There might also be a touch of „schadenfreude“. Similarly, humorous interior accessories also aim to be something out of the ordinary: the lasso, for example, that appears to defy gravity by holding a wine bottle, or the table that only has two legs. The soap dispenser in the form of a giant nose is also something completely unexpected, just like the emergency release panel that contains an emergency bar of chocolate instead of a lever. Childhood memories These things don’t always need to elicit gales of laughter: just a smile is often enough to keep us feeling more cheerful. The trigger could be objects that remind us of pleasant things from our past – such as the light that resembles the Tetris game we used to play as teenagers, or the smiley floor lamp, or the giant yo-yo from the ’80s. Simply funny! Laughter researchers claim that we model our sense of humour on that of our parents. Depending on how its parents react, even a six-month old baby knows what’s funny and what is not. And this is probably also the reason why the Japanese, for example, laugh about different things than Europeans. Within a certain cultural group, however, most people tend to find the same type of things funny. When furnishing your house or flat with amusing accessories, then, you can’t really go far wrong. So let’s start bringing a little humour into our homes! Source: Humorous Home Décor | HARO Flooring New Zealand

Hey there NZ Houzzer, Is your home smaller than the average size of homes in your area? Please take our Houzz survey for a chance to win a $300 Brosa voucher! The survey takes less than five minutes to complete and your responses are kept anonymous and confidential. Click here to take the survey >> Your individual responses are completely anonymous and confidential.

Hi Houzzer! Are you planning, working on or recently completed a home project with your children in mind? If your answer is YES, please take 5 minutes to respond to this Houzz survey. Your responses are kept anonymous and confidential. We will share the findings with the Houzz community later this year. The Houzz team looks forward to hearing from you.