Seattle condo shortage?

How could that be? Everywhere you look, old houses are being torn down and condo's and townhomes are being built in their place. But two reporters Jeanne Lang Jones and Kirsten Grind write Seattle's condo pipeline expected to dry up.

How to terminate termites

Termites cause more than $5 billion a year in property damage, according to Terminix. Worse even, the company warns, the damage is usually not covered by homeowners insurance.

Winged termites or discarded termite wings often found near doors and in windowsills are signs of a possible termite infestation. Other signs include mud tubes, which are hollow, drinking straw-sized roadways for termites, and wood that makes a hollow sound when tapped.

Termites are rare in the Seattle area, but we do have them and powder post beetles and other pests. Always have an inspection when buying a Seattle home or real estate

How to terminate termites

The push for greener homes in the Pacific Northwest

As Earth Day approaches, remodelers are leading the charge to provide eco-conscious solutions for home remodeling projects, according to the National Association of the Remodeling Industry (NARI).

Faced with mounting scientific evidence that climate change threatens the health of our planet, Seattle homeowners are compelled to ask how they can make a difference. Green remodeling practices have become more popular as homeowners cope with ever-increasing energy costs, health concerns and diminishing natural resources.

Earth Day is April 22, and yet many remodelers are taking the approach that every day is Earth Day as they help homeowners choose eco-friendly solutions for their remodeling projects year-round.

The push for greener homes

5 steps to remodeling your Seattle home

Spending on remodeling is expected to reach $316 billion this year alone and the number is still climbing, according to the Home Improvement Research Institute. So make sure you know exactly how big a renovation you can afford and whether it justifies the time you intend to spend in your revamped home.

5 questions to ask before remodeling

Home Trends - Outdoor Living in Seattle

A Seattle homeowner’s experience doesn’t stop at the back door. With leisure time and entertaining moving seamlessly from indoors to out, creating an outdoor “room” remains high on the list of must-haves.

As the passion for outdoor living continues to grow and evolve, many Seattle and Bellevue-area homeowners have upped the ante on their desire for al fresco design and style. This very lifestyle-driven trend, borne from a marriage between the love of all things natural and a natural affinity for creature comforts, has blurred the line between inside and out-in every market and every climate zone-as the craving for creating a “whole home” experience and harmonized outdoor spaces ramps up. Just as for the inside of the home, an outdoor space plan should be driven by the family’s needs and activities-typically cooking, dining and relaxing-and of course, the budget and expected ROI-both financial as well as emotional.

Outdoor living

Do you know the difference between linoleum and vinyl?

Linoleum is made of environmentally friendly, natural materials, such as linseed oil, wood, jute and cork, which makes it a favorite green choice.

Linoleum naturally repels dust, and cleans up with little fuss.

While linoleum and vinyl both are a great value initially, linoleum can last 30 to 40 years.

Vinyl is a good choice for busy households because it's softer and easier to stand on, plus it doesn't absorb liquids, so it's ideal for the kitchen or bathroom, where liquids tend to get spilled.

More flooring hints here.

Going Green in 1 Year

The Seattle P.I. has a great list of 52 tips for Living Green. Going green all at once may be too much for almost anyone to accomplish. Instead, they suggest making just one new change or adding one new habit or resolve each week. You'll be surprised at how it adds up after just a year.

Living Green in 52 weeks

Seattle home sellers getting smart with "Green" remodels

Homeowners finding it difficult to sell their homes in a changing market are looking to remodel their homes using a "Green" approach. Not only is this great marketing, it's the right thing to do.

Green Remodeling for Smart Home Sellers

Modern Furniture Design Competition in Seattle

M+D+F 2008 is a juried exhibition to uncover and promote innovative modern furniture by emerging designers in the Pacific Northwest.

Organized by Design Within Reach Seattle and juried by local creative professionals in the design, architecture and art worlds, M+D+F provides an opportunity for peer, public and professional recognition for up-and- coming designers and firms.

These jurors will select 10-15 of the top entries to be exhibited at DWR Seattle on Thursday, April 17. A separate award will be given out to the designer whose submission best exemplifies environmentally conscious design.

This is a perfect contest for those who would like to design furniture for the Modern Home in Seattle.

Competition Rules

Spring flowers in Seattle

Time to plant that garden. And make sure you plant lots of beautiful flowers for cutting!

If you've got a beautiful home, you'll want a beautiful gardent to highlight your Seattle real estate.

Here are some tips for keeping cut flowers alive longer. All cut flowers have a finite life span once harvested.

It's best to try to grown them yourself, but if not, here are some tips when buying:

When buying them, look for these signs of freshness:

• Leaves and petals that are upright and plump. Avoid wilted stems.
• Flower buds in color and blooms that are not fully opened.
• Clean, green leaves.
• Unbroken stems and petals that are neither battered nor bruised.
• An absence of slime where stalks have been sitting in water.

Once home, the flower must be quickly rehydrated by cutting at least an inch off each stem while they are submerged. This will remove the airlock in the stem's water column. Make an angled cut with clean scissors, or a sharp knife. The cut flowers should be transferred immediately to a vase of fresh, warm water.

The key to long vase life is good sanitation: Use a clean, sterile vase and fresh water as well as the powdered preservative from the florist. This should be dissolved in warm water and then added to the vase. It will feed the plants and prevent bacteria from forming. If you don't have preserver, you can add a tablespoon of sugar and two or three drops of bleach per quart of water.

With these tips, you can keep you flowers fresher longer.

Only two more days to visit The Home Show

The 64th Seattle Home Show ends Sunday, closing the 600 exhibits that have been stuffed into a half-million square feet of display space at Qwest Field Event Center.

There you will find 100's of ideas for remodeling your old Seattle bungalow, modern Belltown loft, Lake Union houseboat, Queen Anne Victorian or any other Seattle real estate you may own!

Seattle Home Show

Wallpaper Madness

"When Norinne DeGal opened a wallpaper showroom in Los Angeles called Walnut Wallpaper & Trim, her concept was simple: to feature the latest designs and make them available not just to decorators but also to the general public...."

There are many great places to buy wallpaper in Seattle to decorate your home. One of the first thing many people do when they buy real estate is to redecorate, and that includes painting and putting up new wallpaper.

Pushing Paper to New Extremes, The New York Times

Palace Papers

Cavern Home

"Fresh Designs Revive Wallpaper", Seattle Times

Seattleites moving to Mexico

"Onward, the Mexican land rush.

Lured by beachfront vistas, quaint colonial backdrops and a historic construction boom, thousands of people who own real estate in Seattle are heading down Mexico way to snap up vacation homes, retirement villas and investment properties.

Heartened by sweeping reforms in the country's judicial and foreign-investment systems over the past decade or so and heightened interest from investors, many Americans have watched the values of their south-of-the-border properties head north in surprisingly short order"

Moving South/Seattle Times/ 3/27/05 by Steve McLindon

Home decor for kids and their parents

The Kindergallery online shop offers original paintings, limited edition works, prints, stretched canvases, box art, photographic works, felt design products and wall decals. This comprehensive range includes something for every budget and is replete with gift ideas for any occasion. Each piece has been hand-picked to inspire the imagination of children of all ages. Kindergallery hopes that its collection will encourage children to acquire the visual language of art and design in a stimulating and lasting way. So if you want to add a little color, and fun to a kid room I highy suggest to take a look at the works from Kindergallery …here are some beautiful examples from them.

Locally, I love Blue Bottle Gallery. Though mostly for adults, the owners Andrea and Matthew Porter have a great gallery that features a series of art by Matthew that's perfect for all ages. His Animal alphabet series and his “Monkey World” Series are darling and both are done in a limited edition format. This is a great Seattle gallery, located on the Pike/Pine corridor at 415 E. Pine Street.

Modern Bedrooms for Kids

For those who love modern furniture, here is a piece of functional & stylish furniture that would be perfect for a kids bedroom. By challenging the common norms for kids furniture Mimondo creates functional furniture in stylish imagery designs that gives an aesthetic balance in the room.

In Seattle, a great source for modern children's furniture is Tottini. They have all kinds of furniture for the modern offspring. And some of it tends to be smaller for those raising children downtown in a condo or perhaps in other smaller Seattle real estate digs. They even have "Not made in China" for those who don't wish to poison their children with Chinese toys and plastics.