Archives for October 2013
Seattle Landscaping Ideas: 12 Monthly Tips for Year-Round Success
October 25, 2013 By Leave a Comment
Today’s infographic comes from Akina Designs.
Textural Wallpaper Imitates Scrap Wood Without the Work
October 25, 2013 By Leave a Comment
The charming mismatched look of a weathered scrap wood wall can be achieved with a lot less time and effort using a wood-textured wallpaper series by Dutch designer Piet Hein Eek. The patterns range from rustic barn wood stripped of white paint to time-worn cottage-style wainscoting.
It’s the designer’s second collaboration with Dutch wallpaper company NLXL; the first was based on ‘waste furniture’ and came in a soft palette of pastels and creamy off-white, with individual strips looking like the legs of dismantled tables and chairs. 
The new collection is even more convincing, with a matte finish that eliminates tell-tale glare. While it may not have the tactile benefits of real scrap wood, nor the sense of history, it’s a fun way to get a similar look.
Read more: http://dornob.com/textural-wallpaper-imitates-scrap-wood-without-the-work/#ixzz2iSrmRN8S
The Seattle Real Estate Market Update
October 24, 2013 By Leave a Comment
Seattle home prices rise again: The Seattle market’s home prices leapt 1.9 percent in July over the previous month and 12.5 percent over the past 12 months, according to the closely watched S&P/Case-Shiller 20-city home-price index. Seattle, Tampa, Fla., and Washington, D.C., were the only three metro areas that saw monthly price gains accelerate from June to July. The average price for existing single-family homes in King, Snohomish and Pierce counties, as measured by the Case-Shiller index, was still about 18 percent off the 2007 peak.
Source: The Seattle Times, September 24, 2013
http://seattletimes.com/html/businesstechnology/2021886999_caseshillerxml.html
New report shows no let-up in Seattle apartment building boom: If you think there are a lot of apartments under construction in the region, just wait. This year, developers in the tri-county region will open about 7,500 new apartment units, according to a report that Seattle company Dupre + Scott Apartment Advisors issued Monday. That’s the highest level since 1991, but not a record. The most eye-popping data are not the numbers; rather it’s where the apartments will be built. Spoiler alert: it’s Seattle.
Source: Puget Sound Business Journal, September 24, 2013
http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/news/2013/09/23/new-report-shows-no-let-up-in-seattle.html?ana=RSS&s=article_search&page=all
King County home prices dip; shutdown threatens closings: The housing market’s rebound slowed in September, with King County home sales sliding 14 percent and the median price dipping 2.3 percent from the prior month. Now a federal government shutdown threatens to snarl thousands of homebuyers and sellers who are trying to close deals, say lenders and real-estate brokers.
Source: The Seattle Times, October 15, 2013
http://seattletimes.com/html/businesstechnology/2021964803_homesalesseptxml.html
Taking ownership: Millennials consider buying to escape rising rents. It’s a vexing question for many younger adults — aka millennials, born between the early 1980s and early 2000s. Mostly 20-somethings, they’re watching rents surge and wondering whether today’s still-attractive interest rates might begin to climb out of their reach, too. At the same time, this crowd came of age watching the housing market in 2007. In some cases, their friends and family lost homes.
Source: The Seattle Times, October 18, 2013
http://seattletimes.com/html/homesrealestate/2022051165_hrerentersowners20xml.html
Home bidding wars increase in Seattle, says Redfin: The percentage of Seattle homes for sale that received multiple bids increased in September to 57 percent, which is the highest increase for the month out of 22 large U.S. markets. Seattle online real estate company Redfin said the number of Seattle homes with multiple offers rose from 49.2 percent in August to 57 percent last month. Redfin added that Seattle had 1.4 percent of offers that averaged higher than asking prices. Only San Francisco, with offers 7.3 percent higher, experienced a higher percentage.
Source: Puget Sound Business Journal, October 23, 2013 http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/blog/techflash/2013/10/home-bidding-wars-increase-in-seattle.html
10 astonishing ways music affects your brain
October 23, 2013 By Leave a Comment
There’s a reason Bach was sent on the Voyager mission out of our solar system––music is one of (if not the) greatest creations of humankind. Modern psychology explains some of the effects music has on your brain. Here are some:
Singing together brings us together
Since music is often a social activity, making it together can help bring us together.
A study of almost one thousand Finnish pupils who took part in extended music classes, found they reported higher satisfaction at school in almost every area, even those not related to the music classes themselves (Eerola & Eerola, 2013)
Explaining the results, the lead researcher Päivi-Sisko Eerola, said:
“Singing in a choir and ensemble performance are popular activities at extended music classes. Other studies have established that people find it very satisfying to synchronize with one another. That increases affiliation within the group and may even make people like each other more than before.”
And
Babies are born to dance!
Infants as young as five-months-old respond rhythmically to music and seem to find it more interesting than speech.
In a study by Zentner and Eerola (2010), the babies spontaneously danced to all different types of music, and those that were most in time also smiled the most.
Maybe music really is in our genes!
See the full article at PsyBlog.
Here’s another great article you should read: https://www.musicinstrumentscenter.com/best-benefit-of-music
Expand Your Living Space: Build A Deck
October 22, 2013 By Leave a Comment
Extending a home’s outdoor living potential is quickly gaining popularity. This is a great infographic from http://www.ricksfencing.com/
Historic Stone Home Gets Steel Extension
October 18, 2013 By Leave a Comment
From my hometown of Montreal, a quaint stone structure with a steeply-sloped roof and many small windows now sits next to a steel monolith with large expanses of glass – two opposites coming together across the ages, much like the four generations now living under its roofs.
Architect Henri Cleinge (images by Marc Cramer) set up this extension and an intentional dialog between disparate periods of time, leaving the stone structure alone as much as possible on the outside and connecting it delicately to the addition via a single second-story bridge.
Inside, the original volume retains its rustic character, reinforced with the use of traditional wood furniture and minimal essential renovations. The new space is stark, white and modern by comparison.
The children, grandparents and great grandparents inhabit the old building while the parents and primary clients live in the new. The structures meet through two-level living rooms positioned in close proximity but set at different angles, again to accentuate the distinction of old and new.
Read more: http://dornob.com/intergenerational-200-year-old-stone-home-steel-extension/#ixzz2hjmnTeS6
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