Budgeting Your Project

Mortgage Elimination Programs

Should you own your home, chances are good your biggest monthly invoice is the mortgage payment. Imagine how much you could save monthly expenditures if you didn't have to make that payment anymore. Mortgage financing programs aim to get you there. What they all have in common is the practice of paying the principal amount of your loan sooner compared to amortization schedule requires. You can pay off your loan one year before or 10 years earlier–or any time schedule you select, depending on how far and when you pay down the principal. Biweekly Payment Strategy Many lenders and private companies offer a biweekly mortgage program, which works in one of two ways. If offered right by your creditor, it's probably your payment will go directly to reduce your loan every fourteen days. This causes the principal portion of your loan being paid sooner because one-half of your former payment…

Eclectic Homes

In Praise of Silliness

As I tossed and turned another night, worrying about whether to spring for a cowhide rug or stick with sisal, I couldn’t help but wonder: Why was I carrying my house so badly? Sure, decorating is expensive. But is therapy. Every now and then, it is necessary to cut loose — to engage your inner child and let your freak flag fly. I am not referring to painting your home in polka dots. I am referring to adding one thing that’s a little unexpected. Perhaps it’s an unusual accent shade or upholstery fabric, or a wall treatment. Or perhaps it’s a thing you’re showing from context — shifting something commonplace to some work of art. There is nothing really so disarming as a adult who knows how to be a child. I am not on my second youth yet, but I am working on it. After all, I purchased the…

Bedrooms

Dreaming in Color: 8 Enchanting Purple Bedrooms

Purported to be a relaxing color, purple is an excellent color choice for a bedroom. Darker, cooler purples may sense a bit heavy in a place, so that they will need to be offset with a fantastic number of natural or artificial light. You can warm up cooler purple colors with a healthy dose of light to medium wood tones. Hotter raspberry hues pair nicely with cool neutrals like grey, or metallic accents like stainless steel or brushed nickel. I’ve pulled together eight pulling purple bedrooms out of , along with my favourite purple paint colours that you may try in your own bedroom. Jennifer Ott Design Purple paint choices for bedrooms (clockwise from top left): 1. Purple Haze KM3065-1, Kelly-Moore2. Fragrant Lilac 4001-5B, Valspar3. Lavender Lining 006-4, Mythic Paint4. Violet Petal 1382, Benjamin Moore5. Painted Sunset 29-9, Pratt & Lambert6. Purple Rhapsody 244-6, Pittsburgh Paints7. Blueberry Popover 610D-5, Behr8….

Life

Kitchen Traditions: Tomato Season Meets a Family Legacy

September is a special month in my home. It is tomato season, and so a time to celebrate my family’s Sicilian heritage. My kitchen has been marked throughout the entire month with telltale signs of all the tomato sauce and pasta producing: tomato-streaked cabinets and flour-dappled floors. It all started eight decades ago when my dad started growing tomatoes in the yard. His return was so prolific, we didn’t understand how to consume all of it. “We should make Nona’s tomato sauce!” he exclaimed. The sparkle in his eye made me understand how much he loved his grandmother’s sauce, where he had been practically weaned. Nona, as her grandchildren and great-grandchildren called her, came to Ellis Island in the Old Country in 1920. She, with only the business of my toddler grandfather, made her way out to California to fulfill my great-grandfather, who’d found them a house. (This photograph is…

Windows

Storm Door Installation Tips

Installing storm window repair is one of those home fixes that you need to undertake before the cold and winter months come. It’s a very easy project to do which requires the use of basic tools that you may already have at home. Door Measurement and Orientation Using a tape measure, determine the width and height of the door opening. This is basically the space that’s defined by the inside portion of the casing. Although most storm window cleaning are reversible, you generally should install it in such a way that the hinges will be on the same side as the front portion. If the type of door that you have comes with a screen and glass and they are both removable, you should take them out now. This can help to lighten the load which makes the installation much easier. You can simply put the screen and the glass…

Eclectic Homes

Breaking from the Kitchen Work Triangle

You might be knowledgeable about the kitchen work triangle and its emphasis on an efficient kitchen design. But did you know that this notion has been in use for more than a hundred decades? Initially developed in European kitchens, the conventional kitchen work triangle was fine-tuned from the 1950s, when kitchens were reconceived as one-person spaces separate from the rest of the home. Those kitchens usually included just a range, refrigerator and sink; the arrangement of these attributes shaped the work triangle. Today’s kitchens are extremely different, inspiring new designs, but they still assemble on the older logic of the efficient workspace. Rempe Construction Open concept. Putting the fridge at the entrance to the interior work place enables family members to get the fridge without interrupting the cook. Both the fridge and wall mount have a drop-off zone in immediate reach. Based upon the exact space between the sink and…

Eclectic Homes

A Wine Country Home, Reinvented Once Again

When remodeling a house, architects are tasked with fixing or altering a preceding architect’s layout. For Bill Willers that preceding architect turned out to be himself. In 2002 he completely renovated and added on to a 1966 Sea Ranch–fashion home in Sonoma, California, for a set of clients whose conventional style included granite countertops, distressed stone tile and Crafts–style light fixtures. Nearly a decade later, those clients moved out and the home’s new owners approached Willers to remodel the distance to their requirements. This time Willers and his clients chose finishes he hopes will last through design tendencies. “This way the insides have longevity and timelessness,” he says. “Light, openness, sense of distance — these things define really good architecture no matter what finishes are. If finishes help that, then it helps the whole thing endure.” at a GlanceWho resides: A investment banker and a potterLocation: Sonoma, CaliforniaSize: Around 3,200…

Eclectic Homes

Birdie's Nest: Storybook Style Makes for a Marvelous Playhouse

A woman nicknamed Birdie has her very own unique nest within an Ohio backyard. It’s a playhouse inspired by her favourite novels, the Beatrix Potter tales her parents really like to read to her. Constructed when Birdie was 3, the playhouse is modeled following the family’s home, right down into the implanted urns on the front porch. Interior designer Susan Lobalzo tricked out the home inside for tea parties, reading and much more kiddo fun. Come like a little playtime inside this dreamy little house. Playhouse at a GlanceWho performs here: BirdieLocation: Kent, OhioSize: 55 square feet and a loft Lobalzo Design Associates The playhouse was modeled following the principal house on the property, such as the lanterns along with the widow’s walk on the roof. Lobalzo Design Associates, Ltd The family believes the home an heirloom that generations will enjoy, and plans to take it upon any future proceeds….

Fireplaces

Great Design Plant: Red Bird-of-Paradise Soars With Color

When people first see that the vibrantly colored flowers of red bird-of-paradise, they literally stop in their tracks to stare at them. Flowers in shades appear with this tree in spring through summer. Red bird-of-paradise enjoys warm temperatures and lots of sunlight, which makes it perfect if you reside in the U.S. South or Southwest. Read more flowers by colour Noelle Johnson Landscape Consulting Botanical name: Caesalpinia pulcherrimaCommon names: Red bird-of-paradise, dwarf poinciana, peacock flower, pride-of-BarbadosResource: Native to the West Indies and MexicoWhere it can rise: Hardy to 10 degrees Fahrenheit (USDA zones 8 to 11); locate your zoneWater necessity: Moderatemoderate requirement: Full sunMature size: 6 to 10 feet tall and wideBenefits and tolerances: Drought tolerant once established, however it will best if watered once per week in spring through autumn; attracts butterflies and hummingbirdsSeasonal interest: Bright orange-red flowers appear in April through September. When to plant: Spring, summer or…

Patios

Patio of the Week: 3 Microclimates and Countless Blooms

” All I really wanted out of the entire deal was a fantastic porch swing. That is it!” Swears landscape architect Sean Papich about the redesign he did for his own backyard. Following an extensive renovation which transformed the home from a ranch that is ’50s to a traditional New England Cape, his lawn was a blank slate. He flattened a large slope, then designed covered open and semicovered living spaces along the back of the home in the kind of a screened-in porch, open patio and pergola-covered terrace. Patio at a GlanceWho lives here: Sean and Tami Papich and their 3 kids. Location: Hingham, MassachusettsSize: About26 feet by 27 feet Sean Papich Landscape Architecture The backyard faces south and has exposure to sunlight, so Papich created microclimates, providing varying levels of shade from sun to shade to partial shade. A tree on the left side of the porch offers…