Archive for October, 2007

October 12th, 2007

House plans

When we built our house, it was very difficult to decide on house plans. We knew that we wanted a house with a certain number of bedrooms & that it should be pretty, but that was all we were sure of. We really should’ve spent some time on the internet at the House Plan Shop. They have everything from log home plans, beach house plans, & even European house plans. Plus, they only carry the very best. Their plans come from the top selling architects & designers. I really like that you can shop by category or even garage style & they have such a varied selection.

It’s very easy to find the features you are looking for & this is a lot easier to use than flipping through all of the magazines that we used. We were working off of grainy black & white photos & we weren’t exactly sure what our house would turn out like. Thehouseplanshop.com has gorgeous artistic renderings so you get exactly what you want in your dream house.


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October 9th, 2007

To decorate or not to decorate

To decorate or not to decorate that is the question. Whether it is nobler to celebrate every single holiday or to have enough room to park a car in your garage… Actually I don’t know any more of the Hamlet line so my fake quote will stop right there. I have friends who decorate for every single holiday. Of course, I’ll decorate for Christmas, but trying to find decorations for Columbus Day is a little stressful to me. So I say bah humbug to decorating for all of the holidays. Here’s why:

  • It takes up a lot of space. It may seem like you just have one or two decorations for every single holiday but all of that adds up. These decorations are only used a few days a year & the rest of the time they just take up precious garage space.
  • I hate taking down holiday decorations. If you decorate for Valentine’s day & you leave the decorations up for a little while, then it’s time to get out the St. Patrick’s decorations. It just keeps going in this viscous cycle of cleaning procrastination.
  • I like my regular decor. To me, a lot of decorations are just clutter.
  • If you leave the decorations up too long visitors can figure out when the last time you cleaned the house was by counting how long it’s been since the last holiday.

Do you decorate for holidays besides Christmas?

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October 9th, 2007

Solar powered home

There have been an entire crop of decorating shows premiering this season that deal with “going green”. You can even watch how celebrities try to conserve energy on “Living with Ed”. It used to be that the main housing concerns were about price & style. Now it seems that more & more people are understanding how important it is to minimize our impact on the Earth, & rightly so.

I was really interested to read about the BP Solar Decathlon. BP took the solar technology used in space & adapted it for day to day use, they were the first ones to do this. They are one of the top solar manufacturers out there. BP is the only energy company that is helping to sponsor this event. BP has been involved in this competition since it first started in 2002. The idea is that 20 teams from different universities all around the world will design & build energy efficient homes that are powered completely by solar power. This year the teams & a reporter will be writing posts about their experiences at the BP solar decathlon blog.

I think that this is a great way to get the word out about alternative energy as well as figure out ways to use it more effectively. For instance, I had no idea that it would only take 200 square miles covered with solar panels to produce all of the electricity for the entire earth. It’s so nice to see an energy company that is concerned with lessening the impact on the environment. So when you are making a list of everything that you want in a dream house don’t forget to include “green”.


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October 9th, 2007

Fall home accessories

autumnleaves2.jpgFall is my favorite time of year. It’s always nice to see that Mother Nature’s favorite color is orange too. I knew that I was right. Here are a few easy ideas for fall inspired home accessories. Some of them are even free.

I’ve pressed fall leaves between books for a few days & then framed them in a variety of dollar store frames. This made for a large, impressive wall collage on a college student’s budget.

I’m not a photographer by any means. However, if you just go outside & take close up pictures of leaves you are bound to get a few good shots. During autumn it seems like it’s difficult to take a bad picture.

Use autumn colors. If you have a neutral home, bring in burgundies, oranges & yellows through pillows & throws. This will give your home a luxurious feeling that is still fun & elegant. Having fall inspired home accessories should make winter a lot less dreary. At last that’s what I’m hoping because it started snowing here about three weeks ago.

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October 9th, 2007

Back on track

I’ve heard a lot of stories about people my age who were so excited when they first got their credit cards in the mail. It seemed like free money. They had astonishing credit limits & best of all they had the ability to spend all of it. I’ve heard of several people who were tens of thousands of dollars in debt & they couldn’t remember one thing that they had bought. The worst part of all of this is that because of their bad credit they can’t get home loans. It’s standing in between them & their dream house. I’m sure it can seem quite overwhelming at times.

I was looking at badcreditoffers.com & they specialize in helping people with bad credit. They assemble the the top sites for free credit reports & credit counseling. They even have the top 10 credit cards, home loans & auto loans for people with a bad credit rating. You can compare the offers side by side & then even apply online. By doing this you can get a better interest rate than just choosing the first card that comes in the mail. This will help to rebuild your credit history as you pay on time & you will be able to get to your dream house after all. It’s a great way to get back on track.


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