New York Renovator

I took the boys to the dental hygienist the other day. I just love this dentist’s office, everyone is so friendly and the place is so clean and colorful. So as the hygienist worked on my son’s teeth, we chatted for a while. We talked about education in general, and online education in particular, which is becoming very popular.

She said to be a dental hygienist, all you need is a two-year degree. The courses are mostly science-based, and it’s a pretty heavy dosage of a science education. Honestly, as fun as the hygienist made her work look, I don’t think that’s something I’d really like to do. I like teaching– not necessarily in a school, but I like giving instruction on tjhings I know. Maybe I’d be better suited as a tutor or some kind of a specialist in instruction. That would be fun, I think! Then again, there’s the education. So many employers are paying less attention to merit and more attention to that piece of paper from a college. But the good thing is that online institutions have become just as competitive and instructional (even more so, now) as “real” colleges and universities. One particular place that has some interest is the School of Education at Saint Xavier University. They are based in Chicago, but have become renowned for their outstanding MS Curriculum. The curriculum is suited for modern instructional methods, including integrating technology, literacy, and development of curriculum for K-12 all the way up and into college level and specialized instruction. I think it looks great! If you are interested in learning more about Saint Xavier University’s online program, check out the website. The School of Education is accredited by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE), and they offer degrees in business, education, and health care.

The more I think about our present economy and the employment future, the more I see that the days of getting a 9-5 salaried job at a factory for your lifetime is OVER. Workers today have to be more innovative, more flexible, and more educated than at any time in our history. I’m keeping all this in the back of my mind for myself but also for my children. I think online educating is the way to go: it’s extremely flexible, affordable, and convenient.

My local news source linked to a Move.com article detailing some exprected trends in kitchen remodels. To be honest, I really question the trends. They seem extremely extravagant. Now I know, I know, I live in Upstate New York, not exactly within the realms of the Beverly Hills/Manhattan Home Re-Do specialists. And I admit, I do view “trends” with a wary eye. To me, “trends” are less about “what’s hot,” and are more about “stuff that corporations are marketing to consumers.”

Here are some of the trends that are being marketed to us this year … everyone is buying so we have to have it too … becoming popular:

1. Granite countertops.

Are they kidding?! There was a flurry of news reports in July and August, claiming that granite countertops emit radon. I blogged about it, too. Besides, granite is THE most expensive countertop you can buy (unless you want gold plate). I am highly suspicious that granite countertops are the new “trend” at the same time that people are losing their 401Ks and manufacturing jobs continue to be outsourced (by the way, do we still have any manufacturing companies in the U.S.?)

2. Personalized, decorative tile backsplashes.

Again, this is a highly customized feature. I seriously doubt that people are going to want to spend 5 times more for decorative tile for their backsplashes.

3. Glass front cabinets.

Not terribly thrifty, but glass front may eventually be cheaper than solid wood. Still, it’s another semi-custom feature. I think consumers are going to lean toward more stock items, things that are durable and easy to maintain.

4. Stainless steel appliances and white appliances.

When did white appliances go out of “trend”? I think 99% of us have white refrigerators, right? Stainless steel appliances have come a long way. I think they used to be priced right around $2500 when they first came out; I saw one at Lowe’s for about $1,500 recently. Still… a refrigerator is a refrigerator. Does it really matter if it has a micro computer memory chip to make the perfect ice cube? Do you think you’d pay $1000 more for a fridge because it has stainless steel covering? Not me, anyway.

5. Turquoise and pink colors.

*screams in horror*

I FINALLY got rid of all the turquoise and pink paint from when they did it to my house in the 1950s! Noooooooooo!

“It’s any color pink. Pink is the hot shade. Bubblegum, raspberry pink, cherry pink… all those pinks are big. The other big shade is turquoise. Turquoise jewelry is hot and we’re starting to see that in fabric and wallpaper design. It’s just now starting but it will get huge.”

Ladies, if we want the men to pitch in in the kitchen, JUST SAY NO to pink.

6. Round or oval tables.

7. Hardwood floors.

Again, #6 and #7 are in moderately higher echelons than the other existing choices– rectangular tables and vinyl flooring. I have seen some very nice hardwood-looking resilient flooring at Home Depot. The stuff is amazing– my local Walmart actually installed it recently on their floors. The stuff is beautiful and incredibly durable. It’s called “Trafficmaster Vinyl Plank flooring.” It installs in strips, like laminate flooring, but it has sticky tabs that make it stick together. When I re-do my kitchen, I’m using that stuff. It wil last forever, and be a breeze to maintain.

Well, that’s my take on what the talking heads are saying about kitchen trends. I’d really like to know what you think about all this. I read these “trends” lists with a skeptical eye, but I do wonder if it’s just me being too cheap, or do I really have a pulse on the average homeowner’s thoughts? Let me know!

Our new kitten, Olivia, has more than doubled her size now! She was originally the runt of the litter, and you could hold her in one hand at 8 weeks. She is now quite the two or three handfuls, and her Siamese heritage is starting to show, too. She knows her name, but her most favorite word is “Friskies” (the canned cat food).

She’s also been very cat-like, shredding the nice fabric on one of my lovely wing chairs. I was mulling over buying her a cat scratching post at the store, but they didn’t look very durable and were expensive! So two of the children decided to set aside some time, rumble around in the garage for some materials, and build her a bona fide cat-scratching post! It is entirely made from scrap materials (plywood and some old carpeting remnants) and saved me $20!

In the photo, you can see the leg of the wing chair that I do NOT want her to rip up. It’s a very nice wing chair and has been damaged in the past by previous kitties. :S

It’s obvious she loves her new post! Those razor-sharp kitten claws are amazing.

Here’s a photo I took on “Pets” setting. Yes, she IS a blur these days! Keeps us busy…

Some new readers to my humble bloggy abode have recently been requesting photos and more information about our renovation work here. I haven’t done much renovation this summer, but last summer and the past few years, we worked hard on the gardens, exterior and basement work, and gutting the living room.

I have tried to organize our stories in a convenient manner. Here are some links to click to read about our work and see some of the photos. (Be prepared, some photos are mighty scary!)

I had spent time researching the history of the house and property (it goes back to 1855), and blogged about it here. If you like history, you’ll like this post.

There’s Our Story here, which is a condensed version of the year 2007.

And if you want to know about this crazy family that took on this project eleven years ago, you can read more about it here.

I am in the process of looking for a new template for this blog, where I will be able to list some of our “classics” posts so you can see all the stuff we’ve been doing around here. The blog itself is also a work in progress! But I promise THAT will be done before the next century. Thanks for your questions and thanks for reading about our adventure!

When we gutted the living room, money was really tight. (It’s always tight, though). Yet, I gritted my teeth and decided to shell out the additional $70 to buy materials for Cat5 installation. Cat5 is wiring for ethernet– DSL internet. Previously, we simply had long ropes of ethernet cables strewn across the living room from the DSL router to each computer. I tried to hide them, of course, but they still looked awful, like a big black spider web of cables. And in some cases, I couldn’t use Cat5 for a computer because I couldn’t string cable across a doorway. I’d use wireless for the computer, but if we use the cordless telephone in the living room, that computer would lose it’s connection. Grr.

So… back to gutting the living room. OK. We pulled out the walls and some of the noggin (bricks between the studs, my post about it is here). I installed electrical wiring, telephone wiring, and ethernet Cat5 wiring (my posts where I blogged about it are here). Here are a few visual aids:

Learning HOW to install it was harder than the actual install. That took some time. When I felt confident enough, I made a total of four connections for the living room (we use four computers for our homeschool lessons)

This is the finished project for the connections at the work station. At each computer work station, there are more modems, ready for Cat5 ethernet cables to be plugged in.

Well, anyway, today the kids and I moved the furniture (well, they moved it) and we dusted and organized the room to prepare for school lessons. And we also shifted the computers around. I had to unplug all the cables and create new workstations. And BOY OH BOY am I thankful I didn’t have to lace ethernet cables all across the floors and walls this year!! I am slapping myself on the back for it. I am SO glad I paid that $70 for the wiring and installed it.

Moral of the story– it is true, it’s better to do everything you can while the walls are open rather than regret missing the opportunity later. I am so elated that I did something right this time, lol!

This concept is new to me: the strawbale house. From what I can gather, it’s a type of house construction that uses hay bales as walls. The walls are plastered with a clay mix. The house foundation and roof are built like any other home: a concrete basement or slab, a wooden joist floor, a sill with wood studs that support a roof. Bales are placed in between the wood studs of the walls.

The strawbale homes are acclaimed for their insulating abilities, and many builders also add energy-efficient systems (like solar panels) to the house.

Is this really a good way to construct a home? Honestly, I have my doubts. I mean… hay?? When I think of hay, I think of dusty, moldy, scratchy bales of yellow hay. Hay gets wet, it absorbs humidity, it degrades, doesn’t it? And laying plaster on the bales of hay seems impermanent. Plaster cracks, from subsurface movement, the drying of wood framing over the years, from winds, and from movement within the house. And where would the electrical wiring and plumbing go? I’m as baffled about this as I am about unlocked cell phones– what are those?

So I found this video about strawbale homes. It didn’t give me a lot of answers, honestly.

I am 100% in favor of alternative housing materials. I hate all the toxic chemicals being dumped into our homes. But to me, hay seems like another problem. It isn’t permanent, is it? I’m sure a house with hay in the walls must be very warm, but what if a person has allergies? Or if mold starts to grow? Or if a roof leak causes water to seep between the walls? Or you have a plumbing leak, or a wire short in an outlet receptacle? And do you need a special type of business permit for this? It seems so unconventional!

I checked my local library for any information about this unusual home building system, but found nothing in any library across 5 counties. Then again, I wouldn’t expect strawbale hoems to be veyr popular in a wet, intemperate climate such as Upstate New York. So I’m off to investigate more about this, on the Internet. If you have any input, I’d love to hear– leave a comment!

With all the news on the financial markets and mortgages, property values are on more people’s minds. Need to know your home value? Here are some valuable sites pulled from my bookmarks.

Yahoo Real Estate
This is my favorite site for finding property information. It’s very comprehensive.

Realtor
This is a good site to look for home values for homes that are currently for sale. It’s very comprehensive and has some good articles, too.

Zillow
It’s getting better, but there are still gaps. Information is added when property sells. So some of the “old” properties don’t show up. They have a very nice map feature.

Domania
This is done by LendingTree, so expect to see a lot of articles about mortgage loans. But the search feature is good. You can do a quick home value check or a home price check.

Cyberhomes
This site is still adding information, but it is quick and easy to use. It’s supposed to be a place where you search for your dream home. I punched in my zip code and nothing came up. I guess my dream home isn’t here. :-p

I check my own property value from time to time, and compare it with that of my local area and sometimes other states, too. I like to see how New York State is faring. Trust me, we’re still at the bottom of the least expensive places to live list.

If you know of any other websites for keeping track of home values, feel free to leave the link in the comments. I’d love to check it out.

Well I wish I’d seen this last year, when we were hunting for an electrician: ServiceSpider.com. It’s an online registry of contractors and handymen for your local area. It’s still growing, but it looks great!

Last year, the main reason I decided to do the electrical wiring myself was because we couldn’t find an electrician. It seems like more and more businesses are catering to commercial work, and very few were willing to wire up my living room and bedroom. So, I studied books and did it myself. It was a learning experience, to be sure, but I really would have preferred (and my nerves would have preferred) to hire out the jobs. It was just so difficult finding someone! I called everyone in our phonebook yellow pages, to no avail. The same thing with a plumber and appliance repairman. I have put my foot down– I won’t do the plumbing! But I have no idea where to find a plumber! So I am very, very happy to see a site like ServiceSpider.com.

ServiceSpider.com is a marketplace that connects service buyers and service sellers. Handymen and specialized contractors are available and searchable throughout the United States. What is unique is that you post your service request (it’s free to do so). This request with all its information is displayed in an open marketplace (like an auction) for service providers to see and make bids. It’s helpful to make your request as detailed as possible, to ensure accurate bids. You can post pictures of your mess service request for the providers to see. After you’ve gone through the listing process, ServiceSpider.com sends you a confirmation email and will send updates on the condition of your auction. Interesting! You can also log on to ServiceSpider.com to check for updates. It’s ingenious.

There’s also the opportunity to list yourself and your own business, if you want to be on ServiceSpider.com’s list. I really recommend that, because I can’t find you if you are not there! So check it out. I am thrilled to see stuff like ServiceSpider.com. Like I said, they are growing, so be sure to join if you are interested. They have a terrific Fall promotion going on, too: the first 100 people to post a project on the site will win a $25 gas card; and the first 100 people who complete their home improvement projects will get a $100 home improvement gift card. Nice!