design

Who Wouldn’t Want to Use This?

by

Whatever happened to water fountains? Look at these beauties! You would feel like royalty using these. I did when I happened upon them at the Parkway Administration Building, a beautiful, LEED-certified building on the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina.

These are a perfect example of how great design and craftsmanship make life better, even on the seemingly mundane level of getting a drink of water, which we all take for granted in the U.S.

Bottled water is very wasteful. It costs more than gasoline. It puts millions of pounds of plastic into the landfills and the Pacific Gyre, where it kills animals. And plastic containers have also been linked to cancer in humans.

Businesses and other non-domestic buildings should bring back water fountains! Make them beautiful, and people will use them.

How to Get Started in This Business

by

While walking to the Philadelphia Home Show, Tamara took me into the AIA building one block away on Arch St. to look at their bookstore. I was more interested in the cute display they had set up highlighting children’s building blocks. Did you know these were first developed by Friedrich Froebel (best trampoline 1782-1852) the same man who came up with the Kindergarten concept?

The little exhibition has examples of playing blocks of many kinds. See if you can find blocks you played with as a child. There are three low-level play areas where children and their parents can play with blocks together. You can see the model of the city, also in this room, is also made of blocks!

What is an Air Switch?

by

Here is a photo of an air switch kit.

We use these all the time in our kitchens. These “air powered” switches use a puff of air to turn on your garbage disposal.

The black box and hoses are mounted and plugged in, under your sink in the cabinet. All you see from the sink side is the chrome button of the switch. A hole is cut in the stone to allow this to be mounted next to the kitchen faucet.

With this air switch, you never have to touch your electrical appliance (disposal) and water at the same time. Neither do you have to put your hand into a sink full of greasy dirty water, using the batch feed handle some disposals come with.

These list for about $140.00 plus installation. We’ve used cheaper in the past, but this brand is the best we’ve used.

Bad Renovations – A House Tour

by

Many folks have caught the “house as investment” bug. They might be homeowners, flippers, or investors. Some folks make money at it; many do not.

Many readers may not know that I do property investment and property-investment consulting, and I’m one of the ones who actually makes money doing it. Never trust an investment consultant who doesn’t profit from practicing what they preach.

Today, I did a walk-through on an interesting house. It was a large, impressive home on a nice lot overlooking a golf course in an affluent neighborhood. It’s been in real estate owned (REO) status for about 300 days, and is currently listed at $499K. That’s a great price, given the neighborhood, and it should have sold. But it didn’t. Why not?

Let’s take a look at the photo gallery of this house to find the answer. These pictures provide a good illustration of something I consistently tell homeowners: renovating without a good plan or a reasonable budget is a waste of money.

You can see from the images that this is a challenging house. It’s got a “Miami Vice” architect/designer thumbprint based primarily on what seems to be The Triangle. But don’t let an interesting design stump you. This house would have had an eager buyer/owner if the renovations made to it over the years were done properly.

Read more

Think You Need an Addition? Think Again.

by

We often receive phone calls from folks who think they need us to build them an addition for their home. I wanted to share my perspective as a design/build remodeler with you about this: you shouldn’t build that addition before you maximize the space you already have!

Now don’t get me wrong. We like nothing better than to build stuff. The bigger the home-remodeling project, the better!

Read more

After & Before – Chairs

by

Here are two chairs I recently had reupholstered for use in my sunny living room.

IMG_2448

IMG_2445

I got the two tatty blue, but underneath it all, very good chairs from my neighbors who were moving to Florida.

IMG_2012

IMG_2011

You can see that these were from the 1970’s. The fabric was a faded indigo velvet. We kept the welts and general tailored look but deleted the skirt.

I’m delighted with the results.

Welcome! A Great Entryway We Helped Create

by

Here is an example of a great entryway we helped create.

Myers_0043
Photo: Damon Landry

This used to be an open breezeway, unsuited for four season use. Now its a warm welcoming entryway with radiant heat in the slate flooring. These doors let in a lot of light but are super insulated.

A new life for your space. A better life for you.