Sunday, October 11, 2009

Rio 2016 Olympic Images


This post is not related to house plans or home design but I thought would be interesting for everyone. As you know Rio De Janeiro has been awarded the 2016 Olympic games. The Architectural firm of BCMF Arquietetos was responsible for envisioning the Olympic environment. I have included a few of the images they created. Some pretty cool stuff.




Chicago is a pretty nice town, but it is difficult to imagine a more dramatic backdrop for the Olympic games than Rio? I am looking forward to watching in 2016.

If you want to see more Rio Olympic images you can go to the official Rio 2016 web site

Saturday, October 10, 2009

Small Kitchens with everything you need








You only really need a few key things in your kitchen to make them function. It may be a coffee maker or a food processor, only you can make that call. Whatever you use everyday is a good place to start. Just remember NO CLUTTER !!

Friday, October 9, 2009

40 Modern Interior Designs

Modern Interior












































Wednesday, October 7, 2009

BOO !






Time to start thinking about HALLOWEEN !!!!!

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Cozy Spaces





Ok so cozy can be code for SMALL but these spaces are small cozy and INVITING. All 3 of these pictures make small look good!!

Monday, October 5, 2009

Vinyl siding done not so ugly!

Vinyl siding is hated by most Architects and by many quality home builders. It's bad rep is deserved for the most part - I'll list just a few reasons:
  • limited choice of colors - usually shades of beige
  • looks flimsy
  • seams are obvious
  • all those j-channels around windows and doors look terrible and not authentic
On the other hand vinyl is inexpensive. And nowadays everyone is trying to find a way to construct a house plan less expensively. So in the interest of being fair to vinyl siding I am posting a link to a Fine Homebuilding Article entitled "8 ways to make vinyl siding look it's best" (just click the link). If you use all 8 of the tips I would dare say you can have a vinyl siding done not so ugly!


My favorite tip is on how to eliminate the J-trim. The J-trim I think is one of those things that really makes vinyl stand out as vinyl. If you can eliminate or reduce it's use now you can have a siding installation that looks much more authentic.


By the way I have one more tip that's not listed in the article. Tip number 9 - Don't Use Beige. Next to J-trim, Beige is the biggest thing that makes vinyl look like vinyl. The CertainTeed website has a useful took called ColorView which can help you visualize various color combinations. I did the image below very quickly using that tool. I would suggest keeping the color scheme simple when using vinyl. Keep it all white or do a simple scheme of one body color with a contrasting trim color (such as below).

Friday, October 2, 2009

home number ? begins: my cabin in the city


I've lost count - no idea how many places I've lived now... So here's the deal. I spent the last three years in Ottawa - it was great, but I missed Vancouver the whole time, so as soon as a job opportunity came up in Van, I jumped on the chance to move back. So here I am, back in Vancouver. Which is GREAT. But this whole transition thing has hit a few snags. My job hasn't started yet and the start date keeps getting delayed...and I'm eating up my savings living life waiting for it to start. And I found a place. In a great neighborhood - the neighborhood I wanted actually. It has A LOT of potential, but it's in a serious ghetto phase right now and it's more than I wanted to spend, but finding something affordable that will let you have cats is downright impossible in this city, so as soon as I found something that had potential and said yes to cats, I jumped on it - even though it's a major diamond in the rough and will keep me from paying off my debts that much longer.

So it begins...the first 'before' sneak peaks above and below...my cabin in the city.