Karolyn Williams went looking for a Craftsman-style bungalow in the Quad-Cities and ended up buying a 1920s carpenter's shop in Walcott with bare-stud walls and nofurnace.

But theCalifornia native, who runsan antique store in Rock Island, has vision and experience at turning derelict buildings into valuable properties.

With the help of carpenter Andy Richmond of Davenport, she transformed the buildingover the course of 20 monthsinto a comfortable living space with a kitchen-living room-office-great room on the first floor and a spacious master suite upstairs.

Thefaded cedar shake shingles that cover the outside still looka little rough, but step inside and it's a whole different place from when Williams bought it in February 2013.

Thewalls have been finished with drywall, the floor sanded and refinished, and a kitchen has been built on one end withhickory cabinets made by Amish craftsmen, topped with green granite countertops.

In the middle of the kitchen there'sa largeisland 8 feet long and about 3 feet wide with a sink, microwave and dishwasher, plus an overhang that provides Williams' main dining area.

Complementing the contemporary additions are pieces of the past: multicolored California pottery dishes from the 1940sin a glass-fronted cabinet and a1950 O'Keefe & Merritt white enamel stove.

"My parents had a stove like this," Williams says. "Every time I build a house, I put one in."

A door leads to thetwo-car garage she had built into an existing addition, aset of new sliding glass doors opens to a newscreened-in front porch andanother door reveals what had been the carpenter's finished office. Williams uses the former office as a pantry. One wall is decoratedwith a collection ofwhisk brooms.

The other end of the house is her living area, warmed by a new gas-burning fireplace and all manner of interesting accessories and furniture: a Morris chair reupholstered in animal hide, paintings, mirrors and rugs.

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Old Walcott carpenter shop becomes a comfy new home

60 Minutes' Anderson Cooper with Lumber Liquidators founder Tom Sullivan. Source: 60 Minutes.

Back in late 2013, flooring retailer Lumber Liquidators was the classic American success story. Founder and Chairman Tom Sullivan had taken the business from one location and turned it into the country's largest retailer of wood and wood laminate flooring in about 20 years. Investors who bought shares after the IPO in late 2007 saw 10-fold returns by November of that year:

LL data by YCharts.

Since then the company has faced a Department of Justice investigation into illegal wood sourcing activity, a weak housing market that has seriously affected sales, and now a report from 60 Minutes , in which Anderson Cooper accuses the company of selling laminate flooring that is not only illegal in California but could put people's health at risk.

Denny Larson & Richard Drury are suing Lumber Liquidators. Short-sellers are funding their efforts. Source: 60 Minutes broadcast.

The story came to 60 Minutes by way of hedge fund manager Whitney Tilson, a well-known investor with a short position in Lumber Liquidators stock. Furthermore, as was disclosed in the story, short-sellers are funding at least one lawsuit against the company.

Since the peak in 2013, Lumber Liquidators stock has been hammered by almost 70% as of this writing, and many recent investors are paying a heavy price in losses. The question on many investors' minds today: Who's right? Is the company sourcing and selling an illegal product -- and, maybe more important, a potentially dangerous one?

This is a worthy and important question, but there's one that's just as important: How much is the company exposed right now? Furthermore, what's the actual risk that this creates for the company? Let's take a deeper dive into the allegations and, more specifically, into just how big a part of Lumber Liquidators' business is driven by the products alleged to be illegal and potentially harmful to consumers.

Continued here:
What To Make Of Lumber Liquidators -- Should We Believe Anderson Cooper and Whitney Tilson?

WETHERSFIELD, CT (WFSB) -

With the snow buildup atop many homes and businesses, popping and crackling noises could be a warning sign.

With snow piling up after many recent storms, roof raking has been on the to-do lists for many homeowners.

We do it (roof raking) so there is less pressure to the house because of the snow," said Martin Burgos.

The pressure Burgos is speaking of could be causing distress to many roofs across the state.

When heavy snow starts to pile up, popping, cracking and creaking sounds could become a bit more familiar to some.

If you hear actual cracking and look up in the attic you will see physical signs of it," said Johnny Carrier, of By Carrier Inc.

There could be sagging ceiling tiles, wood rafters or sprinkler lines, and it could be harder to close doors or windows.

Professionals suggest that if this happens, snow should be removed from the roof.

That is something that is cause for alarm, I would say you don't need to run out of the house right away but you definitely need to get it checked right away," Carrier said.

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Cracking and popping sounds from roofs could be cause for alarm

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March 7th, 2015 7:00 pm by Matthew Lane

KINGSPORT Change has come to city hall.

Well, at least in the form of new paint, carpet, and furniture for the 60-year-old building, along with some reshuffling of the space in the city managers office.

The renovation is the first phase of a two-phase overhaul and relocation project taking place at city hall. City Manager Jeff Fleming said the work took about five days and wrapped up last week.

Its a great way to make use of the facilities we have available to us and also modernize them to where they are more user friendly for our citizens, Fleming said.

Kingsport allocated $150,000 in last falls bond issuance for the two-phase project. The work recently completed included a fresh coat of paint in the second-floor hallway and new paint, chairs and two 80-inch televisions in the second-floor conference room.

The council room is L-shaped and the place where the public sits ... they could not see the screen, so we replaced it with modern TVs viewable from the gallery as well as for board members, Fleming said. We upgraded all the technology so as were presenting were able to take turns presenting around the table. Its a wireless device that connects to a laptop and can project on both screens at the same time.

The conference room chairs were re-purposed to other departments throughout the city while the public gallery chairs are planned to be surplused out, Fleming said.

They were original to the building in 1962, Fleming said. They were very narrow and werent very comfortable for guests. The new chairs are wider with spacers and more comfortable without being too close to the person beside you.

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Offices and meeting rooms at Kingsport City Hall have received a needed makeover

Submitted by Howard B. Owens on February 13, 2015 - 2:27pm

The third of five meetings for the Police Facilities Task Force had members looking at drawings and maps and thinking about traffic patterns, parking and floodplains.

The committee reviewed the proposed sites for a new police station, looked at the options for remodeling the current location -- the old Brisbane Mansion -- and asked why a variety other locations in the city weren't considered.

The task of the task force is to come up with a recommendation for the City Council by July 1.

They meet next on March 10 to look at financing options.

Their virtual tour of potential locations started at 56 Ellicott St., the former Santy Tires location.

Advantages include access to Ellicott Street and Evans Street (a driveway would extend along the north side of the Salvation Army building), high visibility Downtown and the opportunity for all new construction.

The downsides include being in the floodplain (though, by a slight margin, the highest of the sites in floodplains), some level of environmental remediation because of the former auto repair shop and gas stations, and proximity to the Della Penna property.

The Della Penna property itself has been taken off the list because the lot size is slightly too small and it will require significant environmental remediation.

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Task force learns there are no ideal locations for new Batavia PD headquarters

City of Dreams Hotel Tower Macau Zaha Hadid Architects
http://www.zaha-hadid.com/architecture/city-of-dreams-hotel-tower-cotai-macau/

By: ZahaHadid Architects

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City of Dreams Hotel Tower Macau Zaha Hadid Architects - Video

Naysayer - Architects live in Roncade (New Age)

By: Alberto Isolati

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Naysayer - Architects live in Roncade (New Age) - Video

Pier Solar and the great Architects #47 - Die Magieschule
Nix mehr verpassen: http://goo.gl/iYz3bn Playlist: http://goo.gl/mZJVbh -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------...

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Pier Solar and the great Architects #47 - Die Magieschule - Video

Architects - Dead Man Talking Live in Stuttgart Longhorn 2015
Architects in Stuttgart Februar 2015 mit Bless The Fall , Every Time I Die und Counterparts.

By: Halbtags Held

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Architects - Dead Man Talking Live in Stuttgart Longhorn 2015 - Video

Architects - Naysayer, Red Hypergiant + Grave Digger (C Club, Berlin)
Architects live in Berlin, C-Club, 28.02.2015 3:23 - Red Hypergiant 4:14 - Grave Digger.

By: LaZ Chris

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Architects - Naysayer, Red Hypergiant + Grave Digger (C Club, Berlin) - Video