Archives for 2014
P.K. Subban’s Value
April 12, 2014 By Leave a Comment
Let’s hope management get their act together on signing P.K. to a long-term deal. Regardless of those nay-sayers, he’s a franchise player worthy of the salary.
6 Essential Tips For First Time Home Buyers
April 11, 2014 By Leave a Comment
Even better than being pre-approved is Certified Mortgage ReadyTM, something that we at John L. Scott can help home buyers with. It allows borrowers to compete with cash offers.
Shape of Home: Creative Gabled Wall Cutouts
April 10, 2014 By Leave a Comment
The elongated, gabled shape of a home in Kyoto is echoed within its own interior with a cutout motif appearing as doorways, windows and niches. Hazukashi House by Alts Design Office features a warm and cozy central gathering space clad in wood, extending the full height of the home, punctuated everywhere you look by the same repeating shape.
The result is a house that almost seems to be memorializing its own simple silhouette, paying tribute to an icon that we all instantly recognize as ‘home.’ The openings break up the large wooden wall in the dining area, allowing foot traffic and the transmission of natural light from one room to the next.
A timber-clad central stairway leads from this common area to the private rooms upstairs. Linear routes throughout the home lead from one of these gabled cut-outs directly into another, making the space seem to multiply as if with a trick of mirrors. How many can you count in a single room?
You’d never guess from the unassuming exterior, with its three stacked rectangular windows and lack of any other distinguishing features, at the complexity found inside.
Family Room Touches Anyone Can Do
April 9, 2014 By Leave a Comment
Easy and cheap fixes that will help your space look more polished and be more comfortable
The family room is where you unwind, play, chat, enjoy the fire and have dinner in front of a movie on the weekends. It’s also the room that often becomes a messy afterthought compared with other rooms. If you’re feeling blah about what it looks like, don’t fret. Here are some easy and free or cheap fixes borrowed from beautiful Houzz rooms that will let you relax in style.
Music Reveiw: On The Rocks “The Fifth”
April 8, 2014 By Leave a Comment
My dear friend Rob introduced me to this fabulous a capella group. The latest studio album from On The Rocks, entitled “A Fifth”, is their fifth studio album (clever huh?). If you have an Internet connection, you’re probably one of over five million people (as of this writing) who’ve watched the video for On the Rocks’ cover of Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance. (If you haven’t seen it, follow this link. Go ahead; I’ll wait.) The good news is that, the arrangement still sounds great on A Fifth these guys don’t just rely on gimmicks and fun choreography.
First, though, Bad Romance: there’s so much energy and fun in this arrangement, and these guys absolutely nail it. I’m not in love with the Poker Face snippet, but it fits; still, more impressively, these guys just know how to build a rich, full arrangement that doesn’t sound busy. The “walk, walk, fashion baby” segment is so intricately layered that it conveys a rumbling tension without sounding chaotic, and the whole song just flows and sounds great.
The rest of A Fifth is more of the same high-quality, well-executed arrangements; the only difference is that most of the rest of the songs are older mid-tempo tunes. That’s hardly a complaint, though: their version of Earth, Wind & Fire’s Sing a Song is crisply precise; their take on Brad Paisley’s Then drips with emotion; and their cover of CSNY’s Helplessly Hoping just shimmers.
What’s great about On the Rocks and A Fifth is that everything these guys do, they do well: We Don’t Eat is a collaboration with all-female group Divisi that is flawless. There are three originals on this album that stand up beautifully next to the covers here. It might be nice to hear a little more breadth of dynamics (and some of the syllables on And So It Goes are a little distracting), but ultimately, these guys have delivered a solid, stunningly-executed collection of songs.
Leafs Fan Jumping Ship to the Habs [infographic]
April 7, 2014 By Leave a Comment
After this weekend, it seems apropos…
How to Claim Your Energy Tax Credits
April 7, 2014 By Leave a Comment
Energy tax credits on select improvements available through the end of tax year 2013.
If you upgraded one or more of the following systems last year, you may be eligible to take a tax credit — up to $500 — on your return.
- Biomass stoves
- Heating, ventilation, air conditioning
- Insulation
- Roofs (metal and asphalt)
- Water heaters (non-solar)
- Windows, doors, and skylights
The energy tax credits are small, but at least a credit is better than a deduction:
- Deductions just reduce your taxable income.
- With a credit, you get a dollar-for-dollar reduction in your tax liability: If you get the $500 credit, you pay $500 less in taxes.
Limits on IRS energy tax credits besides $500 max
- Credit only extends to 10% of the cost (not the 30% of yesteryear), so you have to spend $5,000 to get $500.
- $500 is a lifetime limit. If you pocketed $500 or more in past years combined, you’re not entitled to any more money for energy-efficient improvements in the above categories. But if you took $300 back then, for example, you can get up to $200 now.
- With some systems, your cap is even lower than $500.
- $500 is the max for all qualified improvements combined.
Certain systems capped below $500
No matter how much you spend on some approved items, you’ll never get the $500 credit — though you could combine some of these:
| System | Cap |
| New windows | $200 max (and no, not per window—overall) |
| Advanced main air-circulating fan | $50 max |
| Qualified natural gas, propane, or oil furnace or hot water boiler | $150 max |
| Approved electric and geothermal heat pumps; central air-conditioning systems; and natural gas, propane, or oil water heaters | $300 max |
And not all products are created equal in the feds’ eyes. Improvements have to meet IRS energy-efficiency standards to qualify for the tax credit. In the case of boilers and furnaces, they have to meet the 95 AFUE standard. EnergyStar.gov has the details.
Tax credits cover installation — sometimes
Rule of thumb: If installation is either particularly difficult or critical to safe functioning, the credit will cover labor. Otherwise, not. (Yes, you’d have to be pretty handy to install your own windows and roof, but the feds put these squarely in the “not covered” category.)
Installation covered for:
- Biomass stoves
- HVAC
- Non-solar water heaters
Installation not covered for:
- Insulation
- Roofs
- Windows, doors, and skylights
How to claim the energy tax credit
- Determine if the system you installed is eligible for the credits. Go to Energy Star’s website for detailed descriptions of what’s covered; then talk to your vendor.
- Save system receipts and manufacturer certifications. You’ll need them if the IRS asks for proof.
- File IRS Form 5695 with the rest of your tax forms.
This article provides general information about tax laws and consequences, but isn’t intended to be relied upon as tax or legal advice applicable to particular transactions or circumstances. Consult a tax professional for such advice, and remember that tax laws may vary by jurisdiction.
16 Fairytale Houses
April 6, 2014 By Leave a Comment
Have you ever wanted to live in a hobbit house? What about a fairy tale castle or a gingerbread house. Well these 16 cottages below are just about the closest you could ever come to living in a fairy tale home.
In fact they might as well have been taken directly off the pages of a The Brothers Grimm book, they are so true to the magical realms they are created after. 
