Greenbuilder's Weblog

nicolepersleyrealestate

greenbuilder — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 13:50:39 +0000

10 cheap fixes to boost your home’s value

Short on cash but ready to renovate? Think new door handles, not new doors, and spiffed-up appliance fronts, not new appliances.By Teri Cettina, Bankrate.com

Looking for ways to spruce up your home without putting yourself in the poorhouse? Whether you’re getting ready to sell your home or want to spiff it up inexpensively for your own enjoyment, we’ve got 10 good strategies for you to consider. The actual cost and payback for each project can vary, depending on both your home’s condition and overall real estate market values in your region of the country.1. Make your kitchen really cook. The kitchen is still considered the heart of the home. Potential home buyers make a beeline for this room when they first view a home for sale, so make sure your kitchen looks clean and reasonably updated. For a few hundred dollars, you can replace the kitchen faucet set, add new cabinet door handles and update old lighting fixtures with brighter, more energy-efficient ones. If you’ve got a slightly larger budget, you can give the cabinets themselves a makeover. “Rather than spring for a whole new cabinet system, which can be expensive, look into hiring a refacing company,” says serial remodeler Gwen Moran, co-author of “Build Your Own Home on a Shoestring.” (Read more about cheap kitchen fix-ups.)”Many companies can remove cabinet doors and drawers, refinish the cabinet boxes, then add brand-new doors and drawers. With a fresh coat of paint over the whole set, your cabinets will look like new.”If you’re handy, you can order your own replacement cabinet doors and door fronts from retailers like Lowe’s Home Improvement or The Home Depot and install them yourself.

2. Give appliances a facelift. If your kitchen appliances don’t match, order new doors or face panels for them. When Nicole Persley, a Realtor with Homage Real Estate of Florida, in Boca Raton, was sprucing up her own home to sell, her mix-and-match kitchen bothered her. The room had a white dishwasher, microwave and wall oven mixed with other pieces that were stainless steel with black trim. When Persley called the dishwasher manufacturer to see about ordering a new, black face panel, the customer service representative clued her in on a big secret: Many dishwasher panels are white on one side and black on the other.

“All I had to do was unscrew two screws, slide out the panel and flip it around. Sure enough — it was black on the other side!”Persley, who has remodeled numerous homes for resale, says that a more cohesive-looking kitchen makes a big difference in the buyer’s mind — and in the home’s resale price.

Delray green building project

greenbuilder — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 19:29:11 +0000

Delray Beach would benefit tremendously from this Green Project for many reasons. The positive PR generated by this project will help attract more tourism to the area. Delray Beach will become recognized as a “green” community by approving this type of construction complimenting such attractions like the green market adding to the charm appeal of the city. The building itself will drastically improve the immediate area that it is located in, providing a cultural and socially important piece of architecture as well as attracting a retail and professional tenant base, thus reducing crime and loitering in the immediate area. Two of the floors will be used for professional offices ie. for lawyers, doctors, realtors, etc. One of the floors will be used as a gallery type environment perhaps with a cafe and small retail area. The top floor will be an open loft residential/studio area that I intend to live and work in personally as an artist. The area of the completed construction dedicated to Louis Persley could be an important Library/Museum area for local and visiting people to learn about his legacy and contribution to architecture in our country as well as other recognized architect and art pioneers in history and currently working architects/designers that are dedicated to Green Building projects.

greenbuilder — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 19:27:27 +0000

Steel Shipping containers. The containers are properly called inter-modal steel building units (ISBUs). These containers can be stacked, and they are designed so that they can be interlocked at the corners. Shipping container steel structures now litter the ports of America as mementos of our Asian-trade imbalance, recycling the containers is part of the environmental friendly element in the construction process. Hurricane proof, flood proof, and fire proof ISBU’s are tough enough to be stacked 12-high empty — and thus can be used in smaller multistory buildings.

cargotecture in florida

greenbuilder — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 18:44:06 +0000

florida green architecture

greenbuilder — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 18:43:03 +0000

The concept of using shipping containers as buildings is not new, the containers are manufactured to be stacked as much as 12 high without compromising their structural integrity so second or third stories are very viable. The proposed project for NW 13 10th Ave, would be a 3-4 story mixed use building designed to provide appropriate parking and meet code requirements aesthetically and structurally. This building will be built using shipping containers and other “green” materials.

delray beach green architecture

greenbuilder — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 18:41:07 +0000

Green Architecture is an economical, energy-saving, environmentally sustainable development. One green building concept that has significant potential for humanitarian and commercial use: Steel Shipping containers

Hello world!

greenbuilder — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 18:39:31 +0000

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