June 15, 2010

Renovating to Add Value


Homes

Last week, I had the opportunity to speak to Armando Montelongo, a real estate professional and the exuberant host of the A&E television show Flip This House, about the long- and short-term value of making certain home improvements to your home. After a briefly chatting with him about the plans I have for my own home, he told me I was a sea urchin. It wasn’t about name-calling. It’s just the way Armando sized me up based on my personality type, which he says influences how I make important investment decisions, like buying or renovating a home. Since Armando dedicates … Read Post

June 14, 2010

Renovate Your Kitchen to Suit Your Style


Homes

If you’re planning to renovate your kitchen, as I am, then reading Gale Steves’ new book, Right-Sizing Your Home (Northwest Arm Press), is a great place to start. Most of the book is divided into chapters that analyze, room by room, the public and private areas in a home and offer essential advice on crafting spaces to suit the scale of your home—and your lifestyle. One of the most intriguing components of each chapter is a Style Audit that helps you define your lifestyle approach toward any given room and provides design ideas that will support how you actually live … Read Post

May 25, 2010

Silver Linings


Homes

As I was preparing for my weekend cleaning projects this past Saturday, I encountered a most unpleasant surprise en route to the closet where we keep our cleaning supplies: The hand-woven runner next to the closet was drenched! At first I thought a bottle of cleaning fluid had tipped on its side and spilled all over the floor. But when I opened the closet door, I noticed water dripping from a pipe at the top of the closet and realized it was coming from the washing machine in the guest room on the upper level of our apartment. I went … Read Post