If you're looking for home products and you're interested in sticking with the eco-conscious variety, then here's a website that will help you accomplish both of those goals and then some. EcoConsciousMarket.com is an online marketplace where the products are greener and up to 10% of each purchase is donated to a non-profit. You can browse through thousands of products, knowing that each one was made with a healthier planet in mind!

Add one more trendy home store to the list of options in Lincoln Park. Today, West Elm opened its doors for a grand opening at the home shopper-friendly intersection of North and Clybourn. The home style haven now occupies the space left by Whole Foods when they moved down the street and adds one more option in an area already populated by home accessory giants like Pottery Barn, Crate & Barrel and Restoration Hardware.

For those of us formerly relegated to catalogue orders, today's grand opening means more hands-on time with the furniture and accessories before we buy!

We're all busy, but one can never be too busy to update a room you're unhappy with. Afterall, your home is where you retreat to every night, so you should love it. If you don't, and if you're always on the run with no time for shopping, and if you don't have the expendable income to hire a designer...then you need to check this out.

IKEA has a virtual design program that you can download from the website which allows you to create your new kitchen, bedroom or office with the click of the mouse. Once you've perfected the room, you can just upload the design to the IKEA server and head to the store to pickup your gear. Perfect for the home owner on the go!

So you've just purchased a home and a month later (gasp!) the furnace breaks down, the roof starts to leak or the basement starts to flood...you're thinking you bought a lemon and the guy who was supposed to spot the problems in the first place - the home inspector - messed up bigtime. Sometimes that's the case...and sometimes it's just plain old bad luck.

Jack McGraw, owner of Jack's Home Services and longtime home inspector says it is possible for inspectors to miss something. And when that happens you do have options. He says "There's errors and ommissions insurance which basically states we're all human beings and can we make mistakes? Absolutely."

So, if you believe that a mistake has been made and a major home malfunction was missed in your home inspection, the first step is to make a phone call to the company that did the inspection. Give them a chance to come by to see what the problem is and review their original report to determine if they actually missed it, or if at the time of the inspection it didn't show any signs of a problem. McGraw says it's important to make this call before you have the problem fixed on your own - once you do that, there's no way for them to tell if it was actually their mistake in the first place.

In the end, if it is determined that your home inspector missed a sign of problems to come, then McGraw says any reputable inspection company will work with you to find a solution. But as tough as it is to swallow - sometimes the first sign of a problem is when something actually breaks down. Sometimes, it's just plain old bad luck.

Dear Rockford & South Bend,
Welcome to HomesPlus! Since you're new to CLTV, let me give you the skinny on our little home-show...

Consider HomesPlus your one-stop-shop for design ideas, tips on buying and selling real estate and - this might be the best part - getting a look inside some seriously amazing luxury homes around Chicagoland. You don't even have to open-house hop, pretending you're actually looking to buy - we do it for you and you just get to watch from your couch!

We hope you love the show as much as we love putting it together for you every week! But please let us know your ideas and opinions! We're excited to have you as viewers and would love to hear your thoughts.

Now, stay tuned this weekend when we check out a $10.9 million lakefront estate in Lake Bluff!

Sincerely,
The HomesPlus Team

HomesPlus has a new home - well, let's call it a vacation home - on WGN-TV! You can still see us every weekend on CLTV, but now you have another option to get your local fix of local million-dollar homes and design ideas. You can find us (in HD!) on WGN, Sunday mornings at 11:00a, starting this weekend!