Home & Garden Resources | Lisa Jones Crowley, Realtor(R)

The Nest on the Hill

I believe I’ve mentioned that I have very lovely clients. Not surprisingly, they are gifted as well.

Here is the blog of Shannon and Dan, who purchased a home in historic Church Hill and have worked utter magic on it. I, along with all of Shannon and Dan’s friends, have been following their Facebook posts in wonder at the transformations as they’ve made them.

Now you get to see, too. Stay tuned as Shannon creates yet another place of wonder on her very promising start of a blog!

Ralph's Warehouse

Fabulous collectibles, furniture, rugs, mirrors sorted by era or style. Mid-century Modern, Art Deco & Nouveau…what more could a Richmonder want? A sale on said collectibles, that’s what! Ralph’s Warehouse is there at the ready this weekend with a “Quality MOVING SALE.”

Let’s let “Ralph” tell you about it in his own words:

“On location in Sandston (near the Richmond airport) join us in air conditioned comfort and choose among BEAUTIFUL pieces including: a pair of bamboo fretwork side chairs, a club leather sofa by Mitchell Gold, a steel queen size canopy bed, a set of six Suter’s of Harrisonburg vintage 1950′s dining chairs, an inlaid English armoire, lots of smalls and numerous other QUALITY items including a special selection of interesting vintage and mid-century modern furniture from Ralph’s stash, many pieces not seen before at the warehouse location. Ralph will also be bringing along lots of original artwork, antique oriental rugs, vintage costume jewelry, lamps, and more than a few surprises.

Antiques and decorative accessories aren’t your thing? There will be a healthy assortment of quality housewares, dishes and other clean utilitarian goods for sale as well. Bring a friend, your cash, or your checkbook! Checks will be accepted with a valid state ID for amounts over $100. Dealers, Designers and Stagers welcome. Bring a tote bag so your hands are empty to SHOP! Saturday July 31 from 9-4, and Sunday August 1 from 11-4. 105 East Union Street, Sandston, VA”

Visit Ralph’s Warehouse’s website here.

Building Science: How Heat Moves Through Buildings

Here’s an excerpt from an article and podcast from GreenBuildingAdvisor.com which provides a really nice explanation of how heat moves through buildings. If you haven’t read my earlier post on Passivhaus design, you can have a gander at that too.

The Basics of Heat Flow
As construction methods and materials change, and energy gets more expensive, how and why we insulate our homes become more important.

Why insulate? Read more…

The Fan Freestyle

Renaissance Richmond.com (Finding Architectural History and Following Historic Preservation in Richmond, Virginia) is a blog by Jessica Bankston which she began when she was a graduate student in VCU’s Architectural History department. It is a lovely blog filled with exquisite details on the history of our city’s buildings. It makes me so happy to think of all the amazing people who are devoting themselves to preserving these parts of our history as we go forward to redefine ourselves, our city ever better, ever better.

Passivhaus for Beginners

In “Food Rules,” Michael Polan describes how he found that the more he researched about food, the simpler everything became. It came down to, “eat food.” (Food your great-grandmother would recognize as food.) To me, the green building concept seems to get simpler the more I learn: you think of the building envelope, or the six sides of your home, as a balloon. A house-shaped balloon. It is far more efficient to fill a balloon with air when it doesn’t have leaks, yes? Now imagine that [house-shaped] balloon having really thick insulated balloon-walls/ceilings/floors on all six sides, but holes at the corners. Won’t it still leak?

I’m sharing an excerpt below of “Passivhaus for Beginners,” an article posted by “Musings of an Energy Nerd” on GreenBuildingAdvisor.com. It may seem a little complicated, but just think of that balloon.

More and more designers of high-performance homes are buzzing about a superinsulation standard developed in Germany, the Passivhaus standard. The standard has been promoted for over a decade by the Passivhaus Institut, a private research and consulting center in Darmstadt, Germany. Click here to read the complete article at GreenbuildingAdvisor.com.

Easy Crown Molding

From This Old House –

Crown molding makes it to the top of most remodeling lists because it adds charm and value to a home, not because people enjoy spending a Saturday trying to get the corners just right. Luckily, there’s a simple way to beat miter-saw frustration. Trimroc molding from Canamould Extrusions is a lightweight polystyrene foam coated in hard plaster. It cuts smoothly with a handsaw, and, as This Old House senior technical editor Mark Powers shows here, it goes up in a flash with joint compound. No coping, no tricky angles, and ragged joints disappear with a dab of mud. So in just a weekend, you can upgrade a plain room to an elegant space—and still leave plenty of time for the rest of your list.

See full article at ThisOldHouse.com.

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Home Fashions & Design