http://www.americanstreetmortgage.com
click on FHA 203K- left side
Read about one client’s experience at:
http://streetsofwicker.blogspot.com/2010/01/adventures-in-spacelifting.html
If not immediately available, search for “spacelifting”- in January 2010 archives.
Use a whole-house fan to reduce your carbon footprint- and save utility costs! At night, they pull cool outside air from open windows on lower floors, expelling warmer air. You need a lot of CFM’s for a whole house- try one from Grainger or other commercial source. If you don’t have attic accessibility, install in window of laundry or other room ON THE TOP FLOOR. Don’t forget to close windows during the day to keep the cool air in/hot air out. Enjoy…
Grab bars have been considered a necessary evil- to be avoided if possible due to their ugly, utlilitarian design.
Ginger, the bath accessory company gingerco.com has changed all that. Now you can get grab bars that are the same design as your towel bars, etc- so you can prepare for the future without your bath looking like it’s wearing pocket protectors.
A great showroom for Ginger and all stuff plumbing related, is Crawford Supply, crawfordsupply.com. Martie runs the showroom and is very knowledgeable- and fun to work with!
Green seat for not-a-lotta-green
Perfect for dorm room or contemporary green home, these (comfy!) chairs assemble easily, could not be more recyclable, or cheap: $14.95!
Available at Green Home Chicago, www.ghcdesigncenter.com.
I write about Robern bath cabinets a lot, because they are so innovative. The newest is the Uplift- a door that moves up and down to open the cabinet, not from a side hinge like a normal cabinet.
What’s the big deal?
You can put the cabinet right behind your tall faucet, even all the way down to the counter.
You don’t have to worry about crashing into light fixtures, shower doors, spouses, etc, with the swing of the door.
Because the mirror can sit on the counter, you can sit down in front of the sink, for makeup application, instead of having a separate area. This will also benefit accessibility/ADA.
The mirror can be opened partially, so you have mirror AND access to contents at the same time.
Yes, you can get all the fun Robern features along with the Uplift, including an LCD TV mounted inside.
see them at: http://www.robern.com/press/release.rbn?articleId=uplift
Pebbles (smooth round stones set on mesh, often called river rocks) have been around awhile now- 4-5 years ago, they were fairly hard to find, and very limited selections were available.
There are a LOT more choices now, widely visible at Coverings. Some options: stones “standing”- set in vertical orientation, irregular edged stones, different varieties of the stones- with color variations or quartz in the stones for transparency, marble pebbles, and even squarer edged stones standing, so that they look like a miniature wall. There are also pebbles that have been shaved to create flat tops.
The best selection of pebbles (and other tile) I saw at the show was by Solistone, http://solistone.com/pebbles_tiles.shtml.
Nothing beats the foot-feel (massage-like!) of the traditional rounded pebbles set in a flat format, but with all these choices, pebbles can go anywhere- think backspash, listelli, fireplace surround, etc. The look is perfect for the very popular nature-inspired look, and real stones add dimension and texture that slab marble or granite cannot give.
I loved a shiny green, semi-precious looking stone that’s glass- Tavoos is what they call it: http://solistone.com/freeform_glass.shtml
Check out the metal pebbles, too- they take the look to a fab, fun, mid-century place: http://solistone.com/metal.shtml
American Restoration Tile makes the traditional tiles you need for your old house bath or foyer or kitch- but check out the colors!
http://restorationtile.com/colors.html
The chart has the dates for the times these colors were used, if you want to do an accurate reproduction of the period. BUT the man at the booth told me there are LOTS more colors in their palette, so think about using the colors in non-traditional arrangements, or bring in colors that update the traditional format!
Some photos of the traditional stuff:
http://restorationtile.com/installations.html But remember, there are no rules in remodeling- this is your house and you are the boss. Even for a historical, Secretary of the Interior renovation, my understanding is that there are no rules for color. Think outside the box.
They also do the 3×6 subway tile, including trims and accents, all WITH glaze- the colored ceramics for floor don’t have a glaze, and the color goes all the way thru, old-school.
One last thing- they make soap dishes and toothbrush holders to match the tile- so you really can get an original look. Enjoy.
One could write a blog only about William Morris. As you probably know, he was one of the greats of the Arts and Crafts movement. Here’s my favorite quote from him:
“Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.”
Here’s one source for William Morris-designed products:
