David Galassi, building official/director of Marion County building department, adds a few things to a shadow boy while putting the finishing touches on his "work of art" Monday morning.

When remodeling contractor Mike Pryor visited the Marion County Building Safety Department on Monday morning to get a permit for a window change-out job, he was met with a surprise.

Now that makes it feel like the building department, said Pryor, who operates American Remodel and Tile in Ocala, as he looked at the recently completed 30-foot long trade themed wall mural in the client waiting room.

A vintage Yankee mechanical hand drill, a stick ruler, several types of circular saw blades, an antique caulk line and a level thought to be about 100 years old are a few of the tools that are arranged in wood framing and shadow boxes in an artistic tribute to the building trades.

Most people dont want to be here, but getting a permit is a necessity and we try to make being here more pleasant. Were charged with making sure state building codes are followed to ensure life safety, said David Galassi, the department director and a building official.

Galassi, head of the department for two years, was a building contractor in Chicago for 25 years. He is experienced in Victorian renovation and has worked on a Frank Lloyd Wright home.

Several employees worked on the mural over the last two weekends in July as volunteers. The tools were donated by employees. The adjacent wall is done like a wall framing job, with a window and a site sign for a fictitious contractor showing what should be on a site sign, including the contractors number, Galassi said.

The waiting room also features a television tuned to the Home and Garden TV channel and a status board that displays appointments and other information.

David Doolittle with Sunshine Pools was at the department Monday, accompanied by his grandchildren Hailey Doolittle, 6, and Dylan Doolittle, 7.

As the youngsters looked at the mural, Doolittle said he has to pull permits in five surrounding counties in the course of his work.

Excerpt from:
Building department 'art wall' is visitor friendly

Miami Beach, FL (PRWEB) July 29, 2014

Home Show Management Corp, producer of the Miami Home Design and Remodeling Show, has been bringing consumers of home improvement products and services together with the trade for over forty years. The Labor Day weekend tradition opens to the public Friday, August 29th and continues through Tuesday, September 2 at the Miami Beach Convention Center. Participating exhibitors state that the sales generated at the show are a significant share of their annual business.

According to the Miami Association of Realtors, Miami real estate sales, particularly for single-family homes, continue to reflect strong demand. New condo construction has slowed the sales of existing condos, but the movement in the single family housing market should continue. Real estate growth goes hand-in-hand with home improvement spending, said Sharon Berube, spokesperson for the Show. So, the strength of the single-family home market should continue to fuel growth in home improvement spending.

Recently the National Association of the Remodeling Industry reported significant increases in both home improvement bid requests (up 6.29% )nationally and sales conversions( up 5.83%). Businesses exhibiting in the Labor Day Weekend show hope to match those national gains with strong sales during and following the event. If tradition holds true, said Berube, they will!

About the Home Show: Each Labor Day weekend, the Miami Beach Convention Center is transformed into a one-stop, interactive marketplace featuring thousands of products for home improvement, remodeling, interior design updates, outdoor improvements and enhanced South Florida lifestyles. In addition to a wide range of products on display, the show offers consumers the opportunity to talk one-on-one with professionals. Special show pricing offered throughout the five day event is an added incentive.

The show will also offer attendees entertaining activities at the event including complimentary seminars by industry experts on a variety of home improvement projects,. The Home Improvement Stage will feature tv lifestyle and design expert Jennifer Farrell who is currently featured on the Emmy-nominated series Home Made Simple (Oprah Winfrey Network). Jennifer will share top ten design tips for kitchen and bath remodeling, and offer special insight for condo owners on best practices for compact living. In addition to seminars the show features the Artist Encounter art show, featuring pop artist Stephen Gamson, daily cooking shows with guest chefs from around South Florida, original designer room settings by professional members of the interior design community, wine tastings and more.

Show hours: Friday (8/29) 6:00 pm-10:30 p.m.; Saturday & Sunday (8/30-31) noon-10:30 p.m.; Monday, Labor Day (9/1) noon-7:30 pm; Tuesday (9/2) 6:00 pm -10:30 pm.

Show Info: http://www.homeshows.net . Like us on http://www.facebook.com/FloridaHomeShow and follow us on Twitter @FLHomeShows.

Read more here:
Miami Home Design and Remodeling Show: A Forty Year South Florida Tradition in the Home Improvement Industry

New restaurant will open in Alex's old spot

Elijah Katkin hopes to have his new restaurant, The Brickroom, open by Aug. 1 in downtown Ashland where Alexs Plaza Restaurant and Bar operated. Daily Tidings / Jamie LuschJamie Lusch

By Teresa Ristow

Posted:2:00 AMJuly 26, 2014

The Plaza's newest restaurant will open early for espresso and close down late with music and drinks, and owner Elijah Katkin hopes it will serve as a locals gathering house.

The Brickroom is set to open to the public by Aug. 1, occupying the space where Alex's Plaza Restaurant and Bar operated for more than 25 years before closing in January.

"We're really excited about this space and we feel very lucky to have the opportunity to take it over," said Katkin, 34, who co-owns the Brickroom with his mother, Gina Katkin.

The second-story restaurant was completely gutted, leaving only the hood in the kitchen, and redesigned with a more open, friendly configuration.

A larger granite bar replaced the business's old bathrooms, leaving more room around the building's front windows for a stage and dancing space than before.

An auxiliary dining room that was seldom used by Alex's was transformed into larger, more modern bathrooms.

Link:
Make room for The Brickroom

While spring may be the season for cleaning up around the house in the Beehive State, summer is the unofficial remodeling season for many Utah homeowners. Making the decision to invest in home improvements can be especially important.

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SALT LAKE CITY While spring may be the season for cleaning up around the house in Utah, summer is the unofficial remodeling season for many Utah homeowners.

Whether it's adding a room or upgrading an already existing space, making the decision to invest in home improvements can be especially important, particularly as it relates to home values.

Experts advise homeowners to compare the construction costs of individual projects to estimates of their resale value. In Utah, the top projects include upgrading a bathroom, adding a new deck or a garage addition.

Some other improvements are popular, but seldom yield high resale value, according to Angie Nelden, president of the Salt Lake Board of Realtors.

Adding new high efficient windows can help save money on energy conservation, but dont offer homeowners the same kind of return on investment that a kitchen or bathroom renovation would, she said.

For a minor kitchen remodel, the (homeowner) gets 82.7 percent recouped, Nelden said. However, window replacement recoups about 65 percent. And basement remodels also very common recoup about 78 percent, she noted.

Homeowners, she said, should put the most money into the areas that will get them the most return if they decide to sell. Taking that approach is usually money well spent.

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Remodeling? Experts say some projects add to home value more than others

Heineman

Tips for controlling clutter

Whether it's a separate room, a corner of the kitchen or a desk in the guest room, one challenge of having a home office is keeping it neat and tidy. It's still a part of the house and not everyone wants to see stacks, piles and clutter.

Here are some tips for staying organized from Emily Davis and Cara Applegate of Ducks in a Row Organizing in Charleston:

Add decorated baskets or bins under your desk for storing supplies and work information.

Make use of vertical wall space by adding shelves for more storage space and add matching boxes or bins to house your supplies and paper. Use wall-mounted calendars, file storage containers and magnetic or cork boards to help in vertical organization.

Designate specific places for all of your paper: a file or binder system or keep it electronically.

Try to get rid of as much paper as possible. You probably don't need everything you have.

Use websites and apps such as Evernote to help you organize your emails, documents and lists.

Use Dropbox to electronically share and update documents with clients or coworkers.

Read more from the original source:
Taking your work home: Personal touches, creative storage add to home office functionality

SIOUX CITY | Ben Catus, station manager for Morningside College's student-run KMSC-FM, likes to think he represents the eyes and ears of the campus.

Unfortunately, the radio station's temporary digs aren't equipped with a window for Catus to actually see outside of his broadcast booth.

"It feels weird to be on the air in this tiny room," Catus said, as he sat inside the makeshift Lewis Hall studio that was formerly used for storage by the Spanish Department. "It feels closed-off at times."

Since June, KMSC has been broadcasting a few buildings away from its longtime Hickman-Johnson-Furrow Learning Center home.

The change in locale is because of remodeling being done inside of the Learning Center as well as the ongoing construction of two neighboring buildings, which will soon house new classrooms and an expanded advising center.

The $13 million project is expected to be complete by fall.

Dave Madsen, head of the college Mass Communications Department, said he chose Lewis Hall as KMSC's alternate site because the station's transmitter happens to be on the roof of the building. Madsen admits the control booth -- which has no air conditioning and is cooled solely by two small fans -- is far from ideal.

"We're basically broadcasting from inside of a closet," he admitted.

Once the Learning Center remodeling is complete, Catus will return to the old studio.

Still, the station's afternoon DJ is making the most of the situation.

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HORLYK: Former storage room becomes Morningside College radio studio

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By Michele Lerner July 25 at 7:20 AM

When high school sweethearts Wendy and Alex Santantonio finished taking the SAT, they didnt head out for burgers or go to a movie to celebrate.

Nope, these two spent the afternoon refinishing an antique table that now sits in the couples Old Town Alexandria home. Their 15-foot-wide home, built between 1885 and 1890, has been the focus of their do-it-yourself restoration projects for the past decade.

When we bought the house in 2003, it had been a bachelor pad for years, and not a chic one, either, says Wendy. One of our friends asked us why we were buying such a crappy house, and my mother tried to be nice about it by saying, Im sure it will be cute after you work on it for a while. Thirty minutes after we owned it we had already ripped out the ugly carpet on the stairs so we could start refinishing the hardwood floors.

The Santantonios moved to the Washington area for Alexs job, and Wendy worked for 15 years in nonprofit marketing before transferring her love of restoration work into a career as a real estate agent with McEnearney Associates in Alexandria. Wendy has been blogging about the couples experience with their Old Town house at http://www.oldtownhome.com and has used her knowledge to help buyers and sellers with older homes in Alexandria.

Just because you hate something about a particular house doesnt mean you have to live with it forever, she says. Its great to be able to personalize your home and make changes to it, but not everyone can visualize how that might work, especially on a budget.

The Santantonios estimate theyve spent about $100,000 over the past decade on restoring and remodeling their home, about two-thirds less than it would have cost if they hadnt done the work themselves. Wendy has the design vision for the home, while her husband, who worked at an antique glass restoration business one summer and for a general contractor for two summers in Cleveland, where they grew up, has the skills to handle her projects.

Some of the work hes done on their home has included building handmade wainscoting for the staircase; creating a unique wine bar from an antique cabinet, an Ikea butcher block counter and a wine refrigerator; and crafting a charming, one-of-a-kind kitchen chandelier from an old light fixture and a set of teacups Wendy found at an Old Town consignment store.

Because of our first-hand experience, I can talk to buyers about how involved a project would be on a scale of 1 to 10 and tell them whether they need to hire someone or they can do it themselves, Wendy says. Some friends of ours were looking at a cute 1950s Cape Cod house in Alexandria, but they didnt like this awkward laundry room/pantry space. I showed them how they could turn it into an entertainment nook with a wine bar like ours, and that helped them decide to buy the house. Theyll tackle that project first.

The Santantonios home looks tiny from the front because its so narrow, but the property extends deeply from the street and ends in a peaceful brick patio with a fountain. Every room in the home features a restoration project or an unusual decorative item found or created by the Santantonios. The couple have successfully blended historic architectural details with modern amenities.

Read the rest here:
A do-it-yourself long-term renovation works for an Alexandria couple

By OLIVER GOOD

Staff writer

Standing in the living room of Randy and Rachel Colletts remodeled downtown Marion apartment, it is hard to tell that the space in the C.B. Wheeler building ever housed a hospital, office building, or anything else.

The Colletts bought the space from Bruce and Belinda Skiles about two years ago and started remodeling in the spring.

Randy grew up north of Marion and wanted to return to the area for retirement.

The focal point of the living room is a gas fireplace that stretches from a hardwood floor to the ceiling on the east wall.

The interesting thing about this fireplace is that the veneer was crafted from stone taken out of the ground at Cottonwood Falls, Rachel said. It was taken to a place in Herington, where the stone was cut down to one-inch thickness.

Rachel hopes they can use walnut harvested from her hometown farm in Missouri in the mantel.

The original hardwood floor has been sanded and stained twice with one more sanding and staining left to go.

Damaged portions were repaired with wood taken from other areas of the house. The Colletts elected to keep some imperfections because of the woods history.

Original post:
Couple turn old hospital into loft apartment

Reddick Library patrons have been doing a certain amount of gawking this week after they first enter through the library's familiar brick exterior.

The inside is pretty different.

The north end of the building, which has been closed for remodeling, was reopened Monday, and the south end closed down as the library's $2 million renovation project moved into its second major phase.

The view through the main entryway's new sliding doors is of a new circulation desk right where the old one was located but looking much more sleek.

Director Kathy Clair noted the desk's three distinct transaction windows and that a lower customer counter means someone seated in a wheelchair can pull right up.

Elsewhere in the remodeled north end are new study rooms and a quiet reading room.

A new teen room is destined for the area behind the circulation desk, but the space is temporarily being used to house the local history collection and microfilm readers.

Other finishing touches remain to be completed, Clair said.

"We're waiting for some furnishings and finishes," she said.

Additional book cases are due by the end of the month.

Continue reading here:
Reddick Library starts new remodeling phase