Monthly Archives: September 2019

Open vs. Closed Kitchens — Which Style Works Best for You?

Open vs. Closed Kitchens — Which Style Works Best for You?

For centuries that the kitchen has been a workspace. Often tucked in the rear of the home, it had space for only the bare essentials. However, a peek at many new kitchens now shows a very different approach: the open-concept […]

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Another Independence Day: When Kids Can Do Their Laundry

Another Independence Day: When Kids Can Do Their Laundry

Here in the States we recently celebrated Independence Day. For our family, it is a day full of pleasure that begins with our local parade. When my kids were younger, I would dress them in some mix of red, blue […]

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Real Estate Escrow Final Checklist

Real Estate Escrow Final Checklist

In a California property transaction all parties involved give their closing directives to a chosen escrow company. It then becomes the escrow holder’s responsibility to ensure that no tools, money or property change hands until all instructions have been carried […]

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Here's Looking at You : A Mirror Personality Quiz

Here's Looking at You : A Mirror Personality Quiz

Next time you walk into the restroom at a friend’s home, seem hard at the mirror. I don’t mean at yourself. And no, I am not asking that you open it and look inside the cabinet to determine what’s on […]

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Tell a Story With Layout for a Meaningful Home

Tell a Story With Layout for a Meaningful Home

I just finished listening to the TED Radio Hour piece about storytelling. When it should not come as a surprise that books, poems, plays, paintings or music tell stories, many people do not realize that home layout can, and should, […]

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Look to the Sun for More Your Home's Lighting

Look to the Sun for More Your Home's Lighting

With the increasing costs of energy, the depletion of finite resources, and the projected long-term ramifications of emitting carbon to the atmosphere, with less energy for heating, cooling, ventilating and lighting a home is becoming vitally important. Passive daylighting — […]

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Get Creative With Your Bathroom Floor Tile

Get Creative With Your Bathroom Floor Tile

So much tile is installed only and in a running bond pattern, like brick, till it fills a room wall. But bathroom flooring tile has an chance to become so much more: It could be a means to split the […]

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'Great Gatsby' Style: 9 Inspiring Art Deco Escapes

'Great Gatsby' Style: 9 Inspiring Art Deco Escapes

In case you haven’t discovered, the 1920s are here around again. The young women in Downton Abbey are sporting drop waists and beads. Boardwalk Empire‘s set designers are quietly stocking up in art deco antiques shops. And yet another significant […]

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Flying Colors: Stained Glass Throughout the Ages to Now

Flying Colors: Stained Glass Throughout the Ages to Now

Stained glass whether really stained or painted, may do more than decorate. It also may tell us a story, hide an ugly view, bring in needed mild or even block out a lot of light. Regardless of its intention, stained […]

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Evoke a Japanese Tearoom's Beauty Using a 'Chabana' Flower Arrangement

Evoke a Japanese Tearoom's Beauty Using a 'Chabana' Flower Arrangement

The Japanese art of chabana, which literally translates to “tea flowers,” is an early kind of flower arranging used in traditional Japanese tea ceremonies. It’s a dazzling form of floral show with origins in the more recognizable kind of ikebana. […]

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