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5. Cortney Bishop x Amadi
Charleston, South Carolina, designer Cortney Bishop has long partnered with Amadi Carpets to create luxurious custom rugs for clients. This fall, she brought that collaboration to a broader audience with her first official collection for the brand, unveiled at Verellen during High Point Market.
The line includes 14 hand-woven rug styles, including graphic geometric patterns inspired by vintage Swedish textiles and abstract interpretations of flora and fauna. The rugs are crafted in Afghanistan by Amadi’s artisans using hand-dyed wool and wool-silk blends and feature a warm, earthy palette of green, brown, golden and peach tones. Bishop poses here with the beautiful Tilde, a design reminiscent of a vintage Swedish flat-weave (röllakan) rug, beneath her feet.
This article was originally published by a www.houzz.com . Read the Original article here. .
8. Jewel Box
Window boxes offer another opportunity to bring fall color up close. In this festive design by Garden Stories, a mix of brightly colored perennials, strappy grasses and interesting dried elements looks lovely from both inside and outside the house. Plants and dried ingredients include ‘Indian Summer’ rudbeckia (Rudbeckia hirta ‘Indian Summer’, zones 3 to 7), Japanese forest grass (Hakonechloa macra, zones 5 to 9), ‘Red Rooster’ leatherleaf sedge (Carex buchananii ‘Red Rooster’, zones 6 to 9), ‘Sombrero Hot Coral’ echinacea (Echinacea x hybrida ‘Sombrero Hot Coral’, zones 4 to 9), croton (Codiaeum variegatum, zones 9 to 12), sugar pine cones and miniature lotus pods.
Water requirement: Regular
Light requirement: Full sun
This article was originally published by a www.houzz.com . Read the Original article here. .
As fall settles in, our homes and gardens take on a new character — inviting us to enjoy them in fresh ways. A vibrant pot of chrysanthemums can brighten an overlooked part of your porch, while outdoor lighting or a patio heater can make it feel cozy to linger outside on fall evenings. With just a few thoughtful updates, you can extend the beauty and comfort of your outdoor spaces for the season. Read on for simple, high-impact ideas to make the most of your yard.
1. Refresh Container Gardens
Container gardens are an easy way to bring color and seasonal interest to your outdoor spaces. Rework summer containers with fall perennials that are just coming into their own, such as chrysanthemums (Chrysanthemum spp.,USDA zones 5 to 9; find your zone) coneflowers (Echinacea spp., zones 3 to 9), ‘Autumn Joy’ stonecrop (Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’, zones 3 to 8) and ornamental grasses. These hardy selections add color and texture, ensuring containers remain vibrant well into fall.
9 Ways to Refresh Your Summer Container Gardens for Fall
2. Plant a Fruit Tree
For a fall harvest you’ll enjoy for years to come, consider planting an apple, pear, pomegrante or persimmon tree. September and October are the best months to plant fruit trees in mild climates. (Cold-winter climates should wait until late winter or spring.) Soils are still warm, rain is more frequent and trees can settle in over the winter, establishing strong root systems that will fuel growth next spring.
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3. Update Entry Lighting
As the days grow shorter, exterior lighting can transform your home’s entry from dark and shadowy to warm and welcoming. Focus on your front entrance, where the impact is greatest. Lighting options include wall-mounted sconces, pendant lights, recessed fixtures, pathway lighting or a layered combination of several sources. If your current lighting setup is effective, fall is a good time to replace bulbs, clean fixtures and ensure everything shines its brightest.
What to Know About Adding Outdoor Lighting
4. Rethink Outdoor Dining
With a few additions for comfort, your patio or deck can be a welcoming spot for meals and fall gatherings. Layer warm textiles to make seating cozy and inviting, and add soft lighting with string lights or lanterns to create ambiance as dusk falls. Bring in seasonal table settings with gourds, branches and fall colors. If your outdoor table is on an exposed deck or patio, you may want to consider moving it under the covering of a porch or solid-roof shade structure to provide more shelter.
10 Ideas for Styling Your Patio for Outdoor Dining This Fall
5. Heat Your Deck or Patio
The addition of outdoor heaters can help extend your enjoyment of outdoor spaces as temperatures dip. Freestanding propane-fueled outdoor heaters (as pictured here) can provide an area of warmth 10 to 12 feet in diameter. You’ll need one heater for a small table or seating area and two to cover an eight-person table.
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6. Layer Cozy Throws and Textiles
If you’re not investing in outdoor heaters this season, bring out blankets and quilts for warmth. Tuck them into a basket near the door or drape them over chairs for family members and guests to enjoy. To further increase coziness in your outdoor seating area, consider adding a textured outdoor rug to define the space and create warmth underfoot.
New to home remodeling? Learn the basics
7. Keep the Fun Going Outdoors
The end of summer doesn’t mean outdoor fun has to come to a halt. Even as temperatures cool, kids of all ages need space to stay active, explore and burn off energy. Encourage them to get outside by including play and sports equipment in the backyard. Install a swing set, rig up a badminton net or soccer goal and establish a new routine for after school.
8. Fill Bare Spots in Garden Beds
Adding a few fall-blooming flowers, ornamental grasses or shrubs with colorful foliage or berries can help add interest for the season. Nurseries should be well stocked this time of year with plenty of seasonal options to choose from.
Don’t have the time for planting? A top dressing of fresh mulch can make garden beds look tidy and insulate bulbs and shallow roots over the winter. Choose a quality bark mulch (avoiding ones with dyes) and spread on garden beds about 2 to 3 inches thick, keeping mulch away from the trunks of trees and large shrubs.
20 Favorite Flowers for the Fall Landscape
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Pixa chair by Hugo Charlet
3. Uncurved Seating
Although chairs have been adopting comforting, wraparound shapes with domed curves for a few years, this fair saw the return of sharp, straight lines. That’s one of the things we noticed in creations by young designers, including Hugo Charlet, the young graduate selected by Paris Design Week Factory to showcase his designs for the first time.
The initiative chose to put the spotlight on his Pixa collection, a line of robust, rustic furniture designed for outdoor spaces. Their thick legs and oversized proportions are intriguing, but the manufacturing method also deserves attention. The collection is designed using a unique type of board made from pressure-treated pine for optimal resistance, making manufacturing as straightforward as possible while minimizing off-cuts and waste.
This article was originally published by a www.houzz.com . Read the Original article here. .
Housing permits continued a downhill trend for the fifth month in a row, pointing to a broader residential construction slowdown for 2025. This slowdown is attributed to factors like higher mortgage rates, tariff concerns, and challenges about future housing demand due to economic uncertainty.
Over the first five months of 2025, the total number of single-family permits issued year-to-date (YTD) nationwide reached 404,977. On a year-over-year (YoY) basis, this is a decline of 6.1% over the May 2024 level of 431,196. For multifamily, the total number of permits issued nationwide reached 195,561. This is essentially unchanged from the May 2024 level of 195,932.
Year-to-date ending in May, single-family permits were up in two out of the four regions. The Midwest and the Northeast posted small increases of 0.9% and 0.7% respectively. The South was down by 7.6% and the West was down by 7.4% in single-family permits during this time. For multifamily permits, three out of the four regions posted increases. The Midwest was up by 20.0%, the West was up by 5.2%, and the South was up by 3.5%, Meanwhile, the Northeast declined steeply by 31.2%, driven by the New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ MSA which declined by 42.0%.
Between May 2025 YTD and May 2024 YTD, 16 states posted an increase in single-family permits. The range of increases spanned 26.2% in Hawaii to 0.4% in Pennsylvania. The remaining 34 states and the District of Columbia reported declines in single-family permits with New Mexico reporting the steepest decline of 24.5%.
The ten states issuing the highest number of single-family permits combined accounted for 63.2% of the total single-family permits issued. Texas, the state with the highest number of single-family permits, issued 66,055 permits over the first five months of 2025; This is a decline of 8.7% compared to the same period last year. The second highest state, Florida, decreased by 12.2%, while the third highest, North Carolina, posted a decline of 3.9%.
Between May 2025 YTD and May 2024 YTD, 27 states recorded growth in multifamily permits, while 23 states and the District of Columbia recorded a decline. Iowa (+168.0%) led the way with a sharp rise in multifamily permits from 781 to 2,093, while Alabama had the biggest decline of 54.7% from 1,676 to 760.
The ten states issuing the highest number of multifamily permits combined accounted for 61.1% of the multifamily permits issued. Over the first five months of 2025, Florida, the state with the highest number of multifamily permits issued, experienced an increase of 14.5%. Texas, the second-highest state in multifamily permits, saw an increase of 12.7%. California, the third largest multifamily issuing state, increased by 1.1%.
At the local level, below are the top ten metro areas that issued the highest number of single-family permits.
For multifamily permits, below are the top ten local areas that issued the highest number of permits.
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Despite the brief retreat in mortgage rates and increased supply, existing home sales dropped to 7-month low in April, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). This unexpected decline suggests buyers’ activity continues to be constrained by economic uncertainty and ongoing affordability challenges even with improved market conditions.
While existing home inventory improved , the market faces headwinds as mortgage rates are expected to stay above 6% for longer due to an anticipated slower easing pace in 2025. These prolonged higher rates may continue to discourage homeowners from trading existing mortgages for new ones with higher rates, keeping supply tight and prices elevated. As such, sales are likely to remain limited in the coming months due to elevated mortgage rates and home prices.
Total existing home sales, including single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums, and co-ops, fell 0.5% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.00 million in April. On a year-over-year basis, sales were 2.0% lower than a year ago.
The first-time buyer share was 34% in April, up from 32% in March and 33% from a year ago.
The existing home inventory level was 1.45 million units in April, up 9.0% from March, and up 20.8% from a year ago. At the current sales rate, April unsold inventory sits at a 4.4-months’ supply, up from 4.0-months in March and 3.5-months in April 2024. This inventory level remains low compared to balanced market conditions (4.5 to 6 months’ supply), but it increases growing competition for home builders.
Homes stayed on the market for an average of 29 days in April, down from 36 days in March but up from 26 days in April 2024.
The April all-cash sales share was 25% of transactions, down from 26% in March and 28% a year ago. All-cash buyers are less affected by changes in interest rates.
The April median sales price of all existing homes was $414,000, up 1.8% from last year. This marked an all-time high for the month and the 22nd consecutive month of year-over-year increases. The median condominium/co-op price in April was up 1.4% from a year ago at $370,100. This rate of price growth will slow as inventory increases. Existing home sales in April were mixed across the four major regions. Sales fell in the West (-3.9%) and Northeast (-2.0%), rose in the Midwest (2.1%), and remained unchanged in the South. On a year-over-year basis, sales were down in the Midwest (-1.0%), South (-3.2%) and West (-1.3%), while remaining flat in the Northeast.
The Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI) is a forward-looking indicator based on signed contracts. The PHSI jumped from 72.1 to 76.5 in March, the largest monthly increase since December 2023. This increase suggests homebuyers are highly sensitive to even small changes in mortgage rates. On a year-over-year basis, pending sales were 0.6% lower than a year ago, per National Association of Realtors data.
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Consistent with soft sentiment data, the count of job openings for the overall economy and construction fell in March as employers slowed hiring plans amid a broader economic slowdown, per the March Bureau of Labor Statistics Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS).
The number of open jobs for the overall economy declined from 7.48 million in February to 7.19 million in March. This is notably smaller than the 8.09 million estimate reported a year ago and reflects a softened aggregate labor market. Previous NAHB analysis indicated that this number had to fall below 8 million on a sustained basis for the Federal Reserve move on interest rate reductions. With estimates remaining below 8 million for national job openings, the Fed, in theory, should be able to cut further despite a recent pause. However, tariff proposals may keep the Fed on pause in the coming quarters.
The number of open construction sector jobs fell from a revised 286,000 in February to 248,000 in March. This nonetheless marks a significant reduction of open, unfilled construction jobs than that registered a year ago (338,000) due to a slowing of construction activity. The chart below notes the recent decline for the construction job openings rate, which is now back to 2019 levels.
The construction job openings rate moved lower to 2.9% in March, significantly down year-over-year from 4%.
The layoff rate in construction stayed low (1.7%) in March. The quits rate declined to 1.8% in March.
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Consumer confidence fell for the fourth straight month amid growing concerns about the economic outlook and policy uncertainties, especially potential tariffs. Uncertainties continue to weigh on consumer sentiment as consumer confidence dropped to a 4-year low and expectations for the future economy fell to a 12-year low. The persistent decline in sentiment has raised recession concerns as consumers have grown pessimistic about economic conditions.
The Consumer Confidence Index, reported by the Conference Board, is a survey measuring how optimistic or pessimistic consumers feel about their financial situation. This index fell from 100 to 92.9 in March, the largest monthly decline since August 2021 and the lowest level since February 2021. The Consumer Confidence Index consists of two components: how consumers feel about their present situation and about their expected situation. The Present Situation Index decreased 3.6 points from 138.1 to 134.5, and the Expectation Situation Index dropped 9.6 points from 74.8 to 65.2, the lowest level since February 2013. This is the second consecutive month that the Expectation Index has been below 80, a threshold that often signals a recession within a year.
Consumers’ assessment of current business conditions turned negative in March. The share of respondents rating business conditions “good” decreased by 1.4 percentage points to 17.7%, while those claiming business conditions as “bad” rose by 1.8 percentage points to 16.7%. However, consumers’ assessments of the labor market improved slightly. The share of respondents reporting that jobs were “plentiful” remained unchanged at 33.6%, and those who saw jobs as “hard to get” decreased by 0.3 percentage points to 15.7%.
Consumers were pessimistic about the short-term outlook. The share of respondents expecting business conditions to improve fell from 20.8% to 17.1%, while those expecting business conditions to deteriorate rose from 25.5% to 27.3%. Similarly, expectations of employment over the next six months were less positive. The share of respondents expecting “more jobs” decreased by 2.1 percentage points to 16.7%, and those anticipating “fewer jobs” climbed by 1.9 percentage points to 28.5%.
The Conference Board also reported the share of respondents planning to buy a home within six months. The share of respondents planning to buy a home rose slightly to 5.4% in March. Of those, respondents planning to buy a newly constructed home increased to 0.5%, and those planning to buy an existing home dropped to 2.3%. The remaining 2.6% were planning to buy a home but undecided between new or existing homes.
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Prices for inputs to new residential construction—excluding capital investment, labor, and imports—decreased 0.2% in October according to the most recent Producer Price Index (PPI) report published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Compared to a year ago, this index is up 0.3% in October after a decline of 0.1% in September.
The inputs to the new residential construction price index can be broken into two components—one for goods and another for services. The goods component increased 0.7% over the year, while services decreased 0.4%. For comparison, the total final demand index increased 2.4% over the year for October, with final demand with respect to goods up 0.2% and final demand for services up 3.5% over the year.
Input Goods
The goods component has a larger importance to the total residential construction inputs price index, representing around 60%. The price of input goods to new residential construction was up 0.3% in October from September. The input goods to residential construction index can be further broken down into two separate components, one measuring energy inputs with the other measuring goods less energy inputs. The latter of these two components simply represents building materials used in residential construction, which makes up around 93% of the goods index.
Prices for inputs to residential construction, goods less energy, were up 2.0% in October compared to a year ago. This year-over-year increase was larger than in September (1.4%) and was the first percentage point increase in the year-over-year rate since April. The growth rate in October 2023 was 0.8%. The index for inputs to residential construction for energy fell 13.1% year-over-year in October, the third straight yearly decline in input energy prices.
The graph below focuses on the data since the start of 2023 for residential goods inputs. Energy prices have continued to fall over the past year, with only two periods of growth in 2024.
At the individual commodity level, excluding energy, the five commodities with the highest importance for building materials to the new residential construction index were as follows: ready-mix concrete, general millwork, paving mixtures/ blocks, sheet metal products, and wood office furniture/store fixtures. Across these commodities, there was price growth across the board compared to last year. Ready-mix concrete was up 3.7%, wood office furniture/store fixtures up 3.6%, general millwork up 2.8%, paving mixtures/blocks up 2.4% and sheet metal products up 0.6%.
Input Services
Prices of inputs to residential construction for services fell 1.0% in October from September. The price index for service inputs to residential construction can be broken out into three separate components: a trade services component, a transportation and warehousing services component, and a services excluding trade, transportation and warehousing component. The most significant component is trade services (around 60%), followed by services less trade, transportation and warehousing (around 29%), and finally transportation and warehousing services (around 11%). The largest component, trade services, compared to last year was down 1.5% in October after increasing 0.6% in September. The decline in October was the first decline since August 2023, when the trade services index was down 1.2%.
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Charleston, South Carolina, designer Cortney Bishop has long partnered with Amadi Carpets to create luxurious custom rugs for clients. This fall, she brought that collaboration to a broader audience with her first official collection for the brand, unveiled at Verellen during High Point Market.
The line includes 14 hand-woven rug styles, including graphic geometric patterns inspired by vintage Swedish textiles and abstract interpretations of flora and fauna. The rugs are crafted in Afghanistan by Amadi’s artisans using hand-dyed wool and wool-silk blends and feature a warm, earthy palette of green, brown, golden and peach tones. Bishop poses here with the beautiful Tilde, a design reminiscent of a vintage Swedish flat-weave (röllakan) rug, beneath her feet.