Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Mom coaches kids to act retarded...

I ran across this earlier this morning....
Wait a minute now...I think I know this woman....
According to the Associated Press, Rosie Costello, 46, of Tacoma Washington, admitted in U.S. District Court that she collected more than $280,000 in benefits, mostly from Social Security. Apparently, the oldest son, now in his twenty's, was caught on court video surveillance successfully and rather articulately arguing his way out of a traffic ticket... and I have a hard enough time convincing people that my kids are actually normal.

Monday, February 12, 2007

Plans are made for changing

Well, after making the plans to remodel the master bathroom as our next major project, we did what any self respecting do-it-yourselfer would do and changed them at the last minute. We are now remodeling the Jack and Jill bathroom linking our kids bedrooms. We made that decision primarily because I simply cannot live without a shower. If I cut the old fiberglass shower out of the master bathroom, I'll have to draw a bath before work every morning, hardly practicle. Since the Jack and Jill bath is not in terrible shape, adding a shower extension and ring to the clawfoot tub in that bathroom seemed like a more logical solution for creating a shower than the complete overhaul required in the master bathroom. I had replaced the water damage floor in the Jack and Jill bath over the summer. No problem right? I thought I would be in for a simple project, adding a shower extension tube to the fixture in the tub and installing a shower curtain ring. Nothing to it...Wrong. The project seems to have morphed into much more than I had originally conceived. We are now relocating the sink, completly re-tiling the entire bathroom, adding a linen closet, installing new fixtures (the old ones didn't match the new shower hardware) and installing recessed lighting. We went by Lowes and purchased the material for the project over the weekend. We went ahead and bought the floor tiles, grout, and thinset, but we didn't pick up the backerboard because we didn't have the van at that time, which is clearly indicative of an impulse buy, and one beyond my span of control. So, even though we didn't actually start the project, we have nearly all of the material required to do so piled up in the living room, which is a great motivator in and of itself. Take a look at this wonderful tile here...

Wednesday, February 07, 2007

Reclaiming Downtown

When we purchased our home we were not exactly in the market for an older home, and certainly not the turn of the century relic we now own. What we were in the market for was a property we could run our small business from. This inevitably lead us to scouring over the many town centers around the lowcountry; places where residential and retail co-exist harmoniously. We were originally drawn to the old village in Mt Pleasant and placed a contract on a FSBO that had a large detached garage. The house was only one block off Coleman Blvd, a main thoroughfare with the potential for plenty of traffic. That deal fell through...thankfully. The real estate market in Mt Pleasant is insane, especially in the Old Village, and the price of our original find was staggering. After the sticker shock of the Old Village, we developed a keener sense of what we were looking for. This process involved months of research, and weekend after weekend of day trips followed by evenings full of researching potential properties that had made our short list. We knew that we needed something with good traffic that could serve the purpose as both a primary residence and a professional services office. Although we were searching in Mt Pleasant, West Ashley, and North Charleston, we ended up in my hometown of Summerville. We had our search area narrowed down to just a few blocks in the historic area of downtown because we felt it offered the most promise for finding a mixed use residence. After a month or so, the perfect house appeared on the market. We were aware of it immediately and had a contract on it within four hours of the initial listing. The former owner used the very large room over the detached garage as a dance studio. With the exception of the mirrored walls, we felt that the detached building would make a perfect home office for our mobile diagnostic imaging service. In fact, most of the older cottages on the east side of town had already been converted to businesses. Chiropractors, law offices, and accountants occupied most of the small cottages in town, so we felt that the property would be a natural fit. It isn't ironic that we found the perfect property in a historic district. Mixed used residential/commercial zones were common in 18th and 19th century townships for a variety of reasons. Although not initially aware that we were contributing to the economic revitalization of our downtown area, we quickly realized that the mixed-use property combines a unique quality of life with the convenience of working in a growing community. Our live-work arrangement provides ample office and business space with a cozy living space - all with the charm and attention to detail that are an integral part of Historic Summerville life. Mixed use zones are making a comeback. In 1991, downtown Summerville, like many small towns across the country, was facing hard times; 40% of the building were vacant. Lifelong residents Rick Sutton and Cada McCoy rolled up their sleeves and did something about it. They drew together several hundred people and spent a year meeting, talking, exploring, and researching. The result was the formation of D.R.E.A.M., the non-profit organization dedicated to the revitalization of the downtown area. Since 1992, D.R.E.A.M. has helped to bring focus and support to Summerville and its downtown.
Summerville D.R.E.A.M. is a member of Main Street SC an affiliate of the National Main Street Program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Thursday, February 01, 2007

2006 Cost vs Value Report Released

The 2006 Cost vs. Value Report was issued this week. This years report takes a new look at the specifics for 25 typical remodel projects, the result of which is a handy matrix of cost-to-construct figures (which are inclusive of labor, material, sub trades, and gross profit) Many of which are not only higher than in previous years but also, according to Remodeling Magazine, are considerably more accurate. Estimates of resale value were also reportedly more accurate than ever before, thanks to a record 2,188 members of the National Association of Realtors that completed the magazines e-mail survey. So, any surprises? Not really. One thing I did find interesting was the stats for replacement windows. I knew replacing the inefficient windows in an older home would make the list as an investment that would be recouped not only in the percentage of value added to the home, but also in reduced energy consumption. What I didn't know was that according to the survey results, wooden replacement windows actually add more value than their vinyl cousins. Hmmm, interesting....very interesting indeed.