Living

While you break out the bikini tops and SPF, your home also needs to be prepared for the summertime. This little tour of your home will save you space and time, and help you tweak the little things can lead to a super summer.

The result of years of meticulous planning and coordination, this 6,600-sq.-ft. single-level realizes Mel and Peg Babcock’s retirement dreams for a sophisticated Spanish farmhouse-theme hacienda. Backed by the chiseled Superstition Mountains, where legend says German émigré Jacob Waltz once protected a fabulous gold mine, their Western desert refuge abuts the sixth fairway of the Prospector golf course at the 927-acre gated community in Gold Canyon.

If you are like most homeowners, your formal living room is useful for one primary thing: accumulating dust. Originally, formal living rooms were spaces in which special guests were entertained. However, as modern-day life has become more casual, so have our living spaces. Friends come in through the front door and are escorted to the family room, bypassing the formal living room all together.

Scottsdale-based Rosewood Homes has just won the prestigious 2010 Eliant Homebuyers’ Choice award for “Best Overall Purchase and Ownership Experience in America.” Rosewood Homes is Arizona’s first-ever builder to win. The award is a nod to the Rosewood Homes team for their exceptional customer service satisfaction. After all, the award is a result of happy homeowners.