interior design ideas: November 2009

Modern Pendants from Lights Up

If you are a regular reader of this blog, you'll know that we have a soft spot for pretty, colorful things. We love decor that is fun, happy, and bright.

Our sales rep emailed us yesterday about Lights Up, a lighting company based out of New York. We love the line and thought we should share it with you. They make pretty, colorful pendants, which are really inexpensive and really fun. Lightsup's lead time is 10 days. The fabric can be customized.

Here are some of our favorites:

The fabric selection is adorable. Here are a few (you can see the rest on the site).

These pendants, as we mentioned previously, are totally inexpensive. They run between $200-$400.

To see the complete line, check out Lights Up web site. We'll be putting them up on our lighting section soon, so check our site in a few days...

Prevent Mold in Your New Green Home

Mold and mildew can not only cause structural problems in a home, they are the cause of many illnesses and allergies – making them one of your home’s worst enemies. Cleaning and getting rid of mold can be a very difficult, expensive, and time consuming project. If you’re building a new energy efficient home, an important consideration in its construction is controlling moisture to prevent mold and mildew buildup.

There are two types of moisture that can enter a home: bulk moisture and vapor moisture. Bulk moisture can get into a home around windows, doors, and leaks in the roof, as well as from condensation from pipes and ducts. Vapor moisture forms as a result of cooking, showering (yes, those long, hot showers), laundry, changes to the humidity level in the home, and just general living.

How do green homes manage moisture? A few ways are by having:

A well-designed floor plan and careful placement and orientation of the home on the lot to take advantage of solar access and shading;

Energy efficient insulation system to keep the house warm in winter and cool in summer which heps reduce condensation and mold growth;

Well-sealed, energy efficient windows and doors;

Good ventilation with heat recovery ventilation (HRV) units and extraction fans in the kitchen and bathrooms.

Moisture control starts with the green home design. Talk to an architect about your plans to build a healthy, energy efficient home for your family and build a new home that manages moisture and prevents mold!

About Us

The year was 2001. We were working in sales for one of those high-tech software companies in Silicon Valley. This was the year of the dot-com boom. The Internet was taking off and people were making money left and right.

We had a little money to play with and decided to decorate our own house. Mind you, we knew nothing about decorating then. We proceeded to waste a lot of money from overpaying for furniture, hiring worthless interiors designers (note: not all interiors designers are worthless, just ours) and whatever else. It was a complete disaster.

So we proceeded to find our own sources for decorating, and in the process, found some amazing places where you can get good stuff for cheap.

It was in one of those boring ass, trying-to-make-some-sales trips that we decided that maybe we could turn what we learned into a viable business. We quit our jobs.

Little did we know, it's a hard, hard business. Especially if you try to run a retail store. Especially after 9/11. Especially if you don't have any clue on how to run a business.

We started out as an online store only; then had this brilliant idea of opening a retail store, which we had no business doing. It almost undid us. Physically. Mentally. Financially.

So we got back to our core business a few years ago, which is to create an e-commerce site for home furnishing products that are pretty and affordable.

This turns out to be the best business decision we ever made.

We now operate two online stores. Inside Avenue is our main store and carries mostly furniture and accessories. Inside Fabric is our first niche store, carrying only upholstery fabrics and wallpapers. We plan to add more niche stores in the future- time and money permitting.

This blog is born out of our love for decorating. We love finding new things and tell you about it.

We love discovering new vendors, especially the small and emerging ones, and write about them.

As we find new resources that are interesting or useful, we share them with you. They are not all neccessarily about decorating. Sometimes we write about food,travel and fashion too.

We hope you enjoy our blog. Thank you for reading.

P.S. Your thoughtful comments are always appreciated (note we said "thoughtful"-read into that as it was intended).

Magnetic Legs - Man

microfiber ties

Magic Paint Bucket of PS,

Cassette Tapes Floor Lamp by ooo my design

Three Very Glamorous Chandeliers

You probably think that we are being lazy when there are only "three" items on our list instead of ten. What is it about lists that always have to have ten items in it anyway?

So we are going to buck the trend by only have three items in our list. Mainly because right now there are only three chandeliers that we think are worth mentioning, and the other reason is, well, we really are lazy today. It's been a long week.

We promise to bring it to ten eventually.

Here are our three favorite chandeliers this week. We like them because they make such a statement without being too expensive (they run about $1500-$1800).

This one is from Oly Studio. It's called Flower Fall Chandelier.

This one is from a small designer in Los Angeles called Marjorie Skouras. We saw this in High Point and it is lovely indeed.

This one is from Made Goods, one of our new favorite vendors.

Colorful Upholstery Furniture from CR Laine

One of our biggest complaints about American furniture manufacturers is how BORING their furniture can be. Year after year you see this same old stuff--they call it classic but we think they are just unimaginative. We're talking about brown, dark wood furniture, heavy upholstery in taupe and cream, plain styling. The sad thing is, 80% of households have this stuff. Why? Because we don't have lots of choices.

So we were really happy to see some colors this seasons from some of the old-school uphoslterers. They are finally getting it! Who wants to be surrounded by drab all the time! Give us some vibrancy and happiness! Give us colors!

Here are some from CR Laine that we kinda like. This company makes great upholstery furniture. Most of their stuff is fairly standard (as you will see from the web site), but here are some jewels:

To see the complete product line, visit to CR Laine web site.

Designed by Florian Schärfer

Alarm Clock the Size of Your Bed

Subversive architecture

AIA Architects: Billings Index Sending Positive Signals

A new press release generated by the American Institute of Architects reports a positive change in the number of inquiries for possible new projects, calling this “an early signal towards a recovery for the design and construction industry”.

The AIA uses its Architecture Billings Index (ABI), a leading economic indicator that provides an approximate nine to twelve month lag time between architecture billings and construction spending, as a means of gauging an increase or demand for design services.

The October ABI new projects inquiry score was 58.5, following the 59.1 mark in September (any score above 50 indicates an increase). The October ABI rating was 46.1, up sharply from 43.1 in September. This score, however, indicates a continued decline in demand for design services and the AIA remains cautious, saying “it is far too early to think we are out of the woods.”

Using our very accurate BA&A index, we can report a significant increase in new project inquiries for new home construction and green building, especially from people building in Connecticut, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire.

If you are thinking about building an energy efficient home, visit our website to learn about our Design Services and Architectural Fees (yes, our fees are listed on our website!).

Tape Watch

Designer: Alexandros Stasinopoulos

Virtual Laser Keyboard

About the size of a small cellular phone, (90 x 34 x 24 mm), the VKB enables users to type texts or e-mails as easily as with a ordinary keyboard. Imagine how easy it would be, if you had a proper mobile phone keyboard that fits in your pocket...

The I-Tech Virtual Keyboard uses a light projection of a full-sized computer keyboard on almost any surface. Used with PDA's and Smart Phones, the Virtual Keyboard provides a practical way to do e-mail, word processing and spreadsheet tasks, enabling users to leave laptops and computers at home.
VKB's adaptable technology studies the user's finger movements to interpret and record keystrokes. Because the virtual keyboard is an image projected by light, it disappears completely when not in use.

When using the VKB settings can be changed either via your laptop, your PC or your compatible Smartphone and PDA:

# Sound: controllable Virtual Keyboard sound effects (keyclicks)
# Connection: Connection to the appropriate Laptop/PC port
# Intensity: Intensity of the projected Virtual Keyboard
# Timeouts: coordinated timeouts to conserve the Virtual Keyboard's battery life
# Sensitivity: adjustable sensitivity of the Virtual Keyboard
# Auto-repeat: Allows the VKB to automatically repeat a key based on prescribed parameters
Virtual Laser Keyboard

Cara Tepat Teknik Pengecoran Beton

Concrete is a mixture of sand and cement krikil (split), which is a construction sala very important in building the structure, function of the concrete is urged to hold power, so in making concrete work should be considered carefully, in order to achieve the quality of concrete in accordance with expected.

PREPARATION

Before making concrete begins, all equipment and transporter mixing concrete should be clean, before the concrete casted in locations to cast dirt must be cleaned of dirt.

Stirring

Mixing concrete on the quality of concrete, but the quality of Bo, should be done with a mixing machine, in order to perfect mixing, during mixing progresses, the thickness of the concrete mixture should be kept, whether the amount of water is quite appropriate pencapur, the stirring time depends on the capacity of the beater, but in general while stirring taken at least 1.5 minutes after all materials entered into the drum mixer, the perfect note when mixing mortar results have the same color.

TRANSPORT

Transporting concrete mixture from the mixing place should be conducted casting happens not to separation and loss of material, if the transport distance away and take time, typically a concrete mixture should be casted within 1 hour after mixing with water, and if necessary a long transport time, the period it can be extended 2 hours but the concrete mixture should be driven mechanically continuous, if it took even longer then needed materials binding inhibitors.

FOUNDRY and compaction

Concrete should be casted as close as close to the final goal to prevent the separation of materials due to the transfer of mixture in the molds, since the casting started, the work should be continued without stopping until it reaches a specified location. To prevent cavities and nest cavity nests empty gravel, concrete mixture should be solidified during casting, compaction can be done with mortar or grind numbuk by hitting hit print, but it is recommended to use a mechanical compactor (vibrator)

Home Builders Applaud Congress on Extending Home Buyer Tax Credit

November 5, 2009 - The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) today applauded Congress for passing legislation that will extend and expand the $8,000 first-time home buyer tax credit, stating that this will provide a much-needed boost to the fragile housing market and economy.

“We commend lawmakers for acting in a bipartisan manner to extend the first-time home buyer tax credit beyond its Nov. 30 deadline and expand it to a wider group of home buyers,” said NAHB Chairman Joe Robson, a home builder from Tulsa, Okla. “The tax credit has proven to be a powerful economic incentive. Today’s action by Congress will further stabilize housing and the economy by creating new jobs, stimulating home sales, reducing foreclosures, cutting excess inventories and stabilizing home prices.”

The new law will extend the $8,000 credit for first-time home buyers for sales contracts entered into by April 30, 2010 and closed by June 30. Further, it has been expanded to include a new $6,500 credit for owners of existing homes who are purchasing a new home as a principal residence. An existing home owner can claim the $6,500 tax credit if they have been residing in their principal residence for five consecutive years out of the last eight. Additionally, the income eligibility limits to claim the full credit amount for both groups of home buyers have been raised to $125,000 for individuals and $225,000 for married couples.

NAHB estimates that the extended and expanded home buyer tax credit will create 211,000 jobs and generate 180,000 additional home sales in the coming year. It is also expected to generate $9.6 billion in wage income and $6.9 billion in federal, state and local taxes.

The legislation, which also extends unemployment insurance benefits and offers relief to cash-strapped firms by providing broader tax benefits for businesses with net operating losses (NOLs), is expected to be signed into law shortly by President Obama.

“The new NOL rules will throw a lifeline to struggling businesses, allowing them to continue making payrolls, paying business loans and otherwise keep their doors open until the economic recovery takes hold,” said Robson.

Source: http://www.nahb.org

Home Design Specific to Your Location

Building in different localities means addressing issues specific to your site location. Here are some design issues to consider when building a home…

On a mountaintop:
Views
Terrain and slope
Solar gain
Prevailing winds

On a lake:
Views
Solar gain

Drainage
Comprehensive Shoreland Protection Act or applicable guidelines and restrictions

In the suburbs:
Views
Solar gain and shading

Slope
Architectural Review Board guidelines and regulations

One of our clients is building an energy efficient home on top of a mountain in southwestern New Hampshire (Jaffrey). The 73-acre property faces east and runs from hilltop to the bottom with a fantastic 180-degree view from Mt. Monadnock due north, to Temple, Kidder, and Barrett Mountains to the east, to Mt. Watatic and even Wachusett to the south.

The terrain where the house will be sited is fairly level, which will save money in excavation costs.

The home will be situated with the main living areas (living room and master bedroom) facing east and south. The majority of windows is located on these elevations to take advantage of the fantastic views. Our clients will incorporate solar hot water and geothermal heating systems and are considering using a wind turbine to generate electricity. Click on the link for more photos and the floor plan for this energy efficient one-story house.

Decoration Ideas

Decorate idea : One of the most important decorating questions you might have run into is the interior point smartness for the quarters kids. There is no challenge on how hard you saw people difficult new decorations in quarters for kids. They forever appear to have the doors and windows stopped when links comes over. Decorating quarters for children or teens is typically fun, but when it comes to decorate kids' quarters, all the joy flies out of the display. So many people have tried to adorn their children's quarters in fun and imaginative habits, only to find their thoughts fall distant because children have such strapping dreams about how they want their own rooms decked. Their thoughts and the parents' ideas may not necessarily be compatible.

You can find conduct to keep everyone contented, and still not squander a fortune on decorating. A good idea is to have a few ideas that you like, and that coordinate the outcome's extent with the remainder of the house, and then let the baby collect out of those options. In this way, the toddler still feels he has a say in how his span is decorated, and you will have an extent that you like and that goes with the lean of the house. One of the most important considerations in decorating Decorate idea a kid's area is that it must be an area that is as unadorned as viable and relaxed to keep virtuous. This means the accessories should be reserved to a tiniest so that there is excluding to dust and vacuum. You should also try to keep the furniture at a least, since there will be excluding area for litter to gather.

Many parents like to adorn they're kids' rooms with a cute theme. This is possibly not a good idea except money is no oppose, since kids grow fast and tastes change. If you don't demur expenses a lot on a new theme every the existence, that's O.K., but most people can't or don't want to exhaust that kind of money. Better to have a neutral extent so where you don't have to hurl the old objects away constantly. Just look around at garage sales some day. You will see entire rooms of so-called "themes" departing for ten cents on the dough. Nevertheless garage sales are a great way to recognize your kid's area. Many well constructed substance of furniture or accessories are presented as kids grow, and you can take them and remake them into your own with a little paint and adding some other items. Let your toddler help pick the accessories and help with the painting; when a newborn is complex in this manage, he will have more of the brains of ownership and will keep the space cleaner Decorate idea.

Decorating ideas living rooms

Decorating ideas living rooms : There are the behavior to adorn your living scope. As this is typically the hole where a family entertains guests and spends time together, much thought usually goes into the devise. Sometimes, however, inspiration is hard to come by. Here are a the living scope decorating thoughts to help get your creative juices flowing. Determine your invent shape. Look through home decorating magazines and see what you like. You may have thought that you were a country gal, but find manually haggard to the unsoiled position of a current plan. Even if you like both styles, you can mix them to found an intend that is your own. You can decide country matter that had a more novel edge, and modern mean pieces with country aptitude. This way you can achieve a look that you love without settling on one method.

One living area Decorating ideas living rooms idea that is definite to zing up your space is to wish a bold enclose blush. Many people shy away from saturated insignia, but these are the very hues that can make a dramatic avowal about your personality. If you do not want to paint all the stockade in your living extent a bold shade, you can paint an accent enclose. These ramparts are great to make an impression without overwhelming the extent. You can then use accessories to tie the affect into the remainder of the span. Updating your opening treatments will also go a long way towards improving the atmosphere. Choose hangings or curtains that complement the design panache you have elected for the leftovers of your span. Using full looking fabrics on the windows will add a mood of luxury to your span, and help to earn all your living area decorating thoughts together.

Another key quantity in living extent decorating dreams is lighting. Make really your lighting is adequate, but not overpowering. Don’t use florescent lights as they are very harsh, and a living scope is all about mood. Use an efficient overhead game to give universal light, and a few lamps around the extent for duty lighting. Another lighting side that is often overlooked is the use of candles. Not only are they decorative, but they impart mood lighting as well. You can get candles and holders in all different colors and sizes to help achieving your living space decorating dreams. On thing not to neglect is putting art on your stockade. The helps to carry the room together and adds a private finger. You can want painted canvases that can look great all on their own, or a framed carry in shades that complement your influence design. Another great edge art idea photographs. These can be family films or perhaps a black and sallow landscape or city sky line. The key here is not to exceed it. Keep it unfussy and uncrowded. If your bulwark are too eventful, it will detract from the general atmosphere you are running to found Decorating ideas living rooms.

Unique decorating ideas

Unique decorating ideas : There is a lovely new elegance of decorating, called lodge elegance decorating which is actually not new at all. Many people have rediscovered how lovely the look of painless old fashioned cottages are and the type has come back into tailor. If you like a simple and simple decorating fashion, this is for you. Especially for small homes, or homes with children, chalet approach decorating is ultimate. A little nick or letdown that active teenager might make will not have a big effect on the decorating variety. Families and busy people darling chalet smartness decorating because it is so forgiving. The "used" look of the furniture makes it painless to just sit and relax without worrying about the furniture, as you might with a more strict mode. Children can play, adults can relax and put up their feet, all with no worries.

In days deceased by, a bungalow was the servants' quarters, or perhaps a single building to house occasional guests. The cottage may have been furnished with a large assortment of styles, scraps from the chief house that were the sinful flare or showed signs of hold and tear. Therefore, a few scratches are not only accepted, but accept in this look. The manner could indeed be called eclectic, because different decorating styles and eras may be represented, even in one span. This relaxed eclectic look has now been formalized in its own tailor called cottage panache decorating Unique decorating ideas Since you can mix and equal as you please, antiques and odds and trimmings furniture fit wholly and you can put almost any design into a home decked like this. An antique furniture parted, that was perhaps not as well cared for as it should have been, makes a whole addition to the cottage approach home.

Since something goes in this tailor of decorating, you can actually store a lot of money because you don't have to look for top worth in achieve state. As a theme of verity, some new furniture has been scratched and spoiled to be made to look old and beat up! Nevertheless you can get great bargains at flea markets and estate sales and the substance will still look in method long after a new exclusive decorating trend has left out of comfort. Another loss saving benefit of this type is the fabrics also do not have to tally. You can buy remnants and odd pieces instead of paying rounded cost for a bolt of fabric. And since the look of cottage sort is already a bit busy because of different styles and patterns, you don't want to have too many accent pieces placed around the space, so you bank money on these items as well Unique decorating ideas.

Cakes decorating ideas

Cakes decorating ideas : Special instance will forever call for singular cakes. Most celebrations are incomplete without a cake specially adorned to fit the chance. While there are bakeries for the objective, an organ of the family will clearly feel honored to make the cake specifically for that purpose. Fresh dreams may be needed in the decoration if you are assigned to make cakes. Here are several cake decorating dreams Characters: There are many known characters that can be used in cake decorating. Cakes can be made singular by sketch characters like Blues Clues or Dora the Explorer. Cutting up the cake to make it as the intact makeup is another choice.

Themes Sport theme, underwater adventure, 50's or recent themes of 20's are some of the themes that you can use. Think about the recipient of the cake and the guests' feedback for the theme that you are considering. A masquerade accessory will gauzily go with the theme that you forecast. Motor Cakes: Most boys will forever be fascinated with motors like cars, trucks, fire engines, tractors, boats, airplanes or helicopters. The expertise that you have in cake decorating will help you make racing strip, firemen on the run, or a 3 dimensional tractor plowing in the farmhouse. Animals You can cut the cake to have a vision of animal as your theme. It could each be one animal or a location in a zoo featuring many kinds of mammals or birds. Food The preparation of the cake will also depend on the time that you are open to have. If it is about break of Italian restaurant, you can have a field where you can see a shop or a vision portraying a cook at work. Again you can cut the cake to signify foods like hot dog, taco or burgers. When it comes to food theme, the cake decorating dreams are infinite Cakes decorating ideas.

Holiday Themes Holidays are special and it will be a great time to show off your creativity. Bunnies will be good in Easter, hearts during Valentine's Day, or cloverleaf on the spread of St. Patrick. Your Own Creation A lot of tradition in cake decorating will give you elegance of your own designs. You can easily make any kinds of styles of cakes on any celebrations. The cake that you conceive will always be crux of attention during any celebration The satisfaction that you will get from the praises will be worth any of the power you put in. Spending time practicing will pay abounding dividends as your Cakes decorating ideas skills are convinced to recover. Ask friends and experts or hunt the web for ideas in cake decorating and use them to groom your creative skills.

Color decorating ideas

Color decorating ideas : When you are theme decorating the girls area, you should know that a good fence affect is the best foundation you can have. From that one blush lonely, you can boon choosing decorations that would fit. Nevertheless since you are most ready to found this while the kid is still a child then your object must be open through palettes of pastels right now. There's no question with that, however, your kid would most probable outgrow the light and you could end re-painting the full scope which can detriment quite a bit. Nevertheless if you are fine with that, then here are some great girls bedroom decorating dreams based on certain kinds of ensign and at the same time following the girls span theme.

The most public influence for a lass's scope is pink so we'll open with that. Pink can come in assorted hues from the light, crayon ones to the darker ones such as fuchsia and hot pink. Play with hues. You can onset from a trivial pallid pink paint and add niceties in darker hues. Such as children's sheet or a rug in hot pink. Of course, you would must to surplus this out with a the ashen furnishing just so the span won't end looking monotonous. Pink is definitely fit for a princess so if you are decorating a span around that theme, the tips above would work very well for you. The ordinary girls extent shade would be light unhappy. When one thinks of light navy, the sky and the sea immediately comes to heed thus making it a great shade for an underwater themed area. Now, just like in the pink area, you should also elect an immoral tint for the bulwark and then desire lighter or darker hues for the decoration. If you take a finicky shady down for the hedge, you should diverge that with very light dyed furnishings Color decorating ideas.

A light dejected bed paste, bed and closet would do perfectly. Of course, ashen should also be bestow and it could be as a rug, the shade of the extent's moldings as well as in the furnishings. Perhaps you are wondering why you should garland according to hue and not just mix and tally flag, well, you can mix and equal flag but sometimes that tends to look chaotic. While decorating with a sole shade of varying hues would give the span an uniformed but still comfortable ambiance. Plus, you won't have a hard time annoying to reach everything together. Color decorating can also be great help if you can't think of a pleasant theme for your girls room. The tint itself could become the theme which is not only easier when compared to have something like a French theme or a Princess theme. As I've said earlier, from one track color you can get plentiful ideas for decoration. Just play around with the different hues to give the room intensity. Never go for a separate hue when decorating a room because liability so would authority it even looking and too monotonous Color decorating ideas.

Six Great Decorating Web Sites

We love decorating web sites as much as some people love chocolate, perhaps even more so. It's an addiction, actually. A harmless one, but an addiction nonetheless.

Here are some fantastic decorating web sites we'd like to share with you. They serve as inspiration boards, ideas and sometimes, just decorating porn...

1) Light Locations

The web site itself is a photography agency for home & garden magazines, but you can get ideas from their beautiful images.

2) Remodelista

This is great blog for resources, product ideas and the like. Easy reading, pretty pictures.

3) Design Sponge

Founded by Grace Bonney, this blog has several postings per week with topics ranging from decorating, DYI project, before & after, book reviews. Very thoughfully written.

4) Point Click Home

This is the official web site for Metropolitan Home and Elle Decor. It is well-categorized and have all the back issues covered. A great site to browse through past & current issues without having to store tons of old magazines.

5) My Home Ideas

This is the official web site for Sunset Magazine, Southern Accents, Southern Living, Cottage Living and Real Simple. It has tons of pictures (and tons of ads as well), but it is a wonderful site to browse through for tips and inspirations.

6) Redcover

We love this web site for its wide range of home decorating pictures, mostly international. Beautiful photography.

Backpack Shcool

Are you looking for a wonderful place for buying wonderful gifts? Are looking for some amazing fun things to buy? Then Posy lane is the site for you. They have the most fun amazing things for your kids also. insulated lunch tote , toddler backpack , kindergarten nap mat preschool nap mats are available in this site. They will definitely love the things in the Posy lane website. You might have been faced with the tough job for finding the right place for buying things for your kids. You don't have to think any longer, because Posy lane is here for you. It has the most wonderful stuff for your kids; they will surely love you for the things that you buy for them from Posy lane. The Posy lane site provides you with the most fun stuff which you won't find any where else. These items are also low priced; they will certainly not hurt your wallet much.

Autos

Launched auto-expanding compose boxes in Gmail for iPhone. This makes composing longer messages much easier since you're able to see more of the text you've typed. Just keep typing until you get near the bottom and then the compose box will magically expand by a few lines! As an added bonus, for all those iPhone users out there, auto-expanding compose boxes take away the need to press and hold to scroll with the magnifying glass.

OPEL ZAFIRA 2003 Autos workshop industry and everything about Opel Zafira 2003. Technical data, crankshaft, butt head, camshaft timing, cooling circuit, agent lubrication, overview of components, air ducting, charging, bankrupt system, pneumatically controlled systems, allegation burden control, air alter ascendancy in overrun, ACF system, crankcase breather. I am new to the whole Turbo design and function but I wanna go that route.

Designing & Building a Custom Home: Free Seminar November 21, 2009

Join us for our next free seminar on Designing and Building a Custom Home!

Seminar topics include:

Property: What to look for when buying land

Custom home design: The steps involved in designing your home and energy efficient options, including Energy Star certification

Building a home: Selecting the builder best suited for your custom home

PLUS, walk the Granite Ridge view lots located in the Prospect Hill Development (picture below), Georges Mills / Lake Sunapee, NH with Green Architect Jeremy Bonin and Realtor Dan O'Halloran after the seminar.

Saturday, November 21, 2009
10:00 AM - Noon

Bonin Architects & Associates Office
209 Main Street
New London, NH 03257

This informative event is perfect for anyone looking for land or has recently purchased land and is interested in building an energy efficient custom home.

Registration is required - seating is limited! For more information and to register online, click here.

Unique Pendants from DK Living

We think lighting is one of those things that's really hard to shop for. You either get the generic, boring stuff at Home Depot or Lowes or you get the really high-end stuff at specialty stores.

So we were a little excited when we saw these at DK Living. This company sells furniture and accessories that are simple but very unique. The prices are very reasonable too. They run between $200-800 for the fixtures.

Here are some pendants that are quite lovely...
----------------------------------------------------
This one is a mesh-wire in silver. It 's only $200.

We love this glass pendant. It's so simple and clean-lined.

This picture is terrible, but the pendant looks adorable in person. The bubbles are being tied together by very thin wires. It runs about $700 or so.

We just like the simplicity of this pendant.

This one is very glamorous. It's about $800.

The pictures are not so great, sorry. They look much in person though.

Pretty Chinoiserie Furniture from Guild Master

Going to trade show requires tons of stamina, let us tell you. You usually walk floor after floor of showrooms, and because you don't want to miss everything, you try to stop at almost every single one of them.

Until your eyes glaze over and everything starts to look the same...

At any rate, we saw this line toward the end of our trip at High Point. Although we were dead tired, it caught our eyes and we thought we show it to you. It's Asian and rattan, two things that we normally don't like, but these are done very well.

Here are some examples from the line.

The items run between $1200/per pair for chair to $1800/per pair for barstools. Not too bad for very high quality stuff!

For more information on the line, visit the GuildMaster web site. The site is for the trade only, but it has contact information so that you can be directed to a dealer nearby.

Architectural Firm Open House Success

We celebrated the Grand Opening of our new architectural firm office in New London, New Hampshire last week. What a great turnout! We had over 70 business owners, residents, and Chamber of Commerce members here - and for quite a while there wasn't room to move! Thank you to all of our old friends who came to congratulate us and to all of the new friends who came to introduce yourselves and learn about our architectural services.

Yankee Communications was also on hand for the festivities and grabbed our Principal Architect Jeremy Bonin for an interview which will appear on Kearsarge Valley Magazine in the next couple of weeks (watch for a blog post!).

Our neighbors in Baynham's Square (Ellie's Cafe & Deli, Vessels & Jewels, and The Banks Gallery) also held open houses that night and visitors were able to visit all of the Square's businesses. Hot hors d'ouevres were provided by Ellie's Cafe and we concluded the evening by sharing a cake decorated for the occasion.

If you didn't get a chance to come to the grand celebration, please stop by anytime to say hello!

interior design ideas

Daniel Eatock

Les bureaux de Facebook

Chrysler Pasta

Naoshima Bathhouse by Shinro Ohtake