Home Builder Developer - Interior Renovation and Design

Mark Sorensen and Kathy OBrien Sorensen found the perfect piece of land for their Delafield home.

Have you ever passed a home and wished you could go inside to see the rest of it?

Ive been able to do just that since taking on the job of writing the At Home With features for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

For years, Ive had people contact me and suggest I write about their homes, or the homes of relatives or friends. But Ive also contacted homeowners on my own to say they should share their unique homes with our readers. Ive even rapped on their doors or accosted them in their gardens.

Homes Ive done have been in every category imaginable; modern, Victorian, new, historic, full of high-end amenities, or filled with kitsch.

Because we haven't been able to go into homes due to the coronavirus, I decided to dig up some of my favoritehomes from years past to share with you.

These are homes that have stood out in my mind for different reasons.

I hope you will enjoy reading them as much as I enjoyed taking a trip back in time.

Here are some favorites, numbers six to 10, in random order. The top five will be printed next week.

Landscaping and flowers surround the lake side of the Delafield home of Jeff and Laura Otto in 2016.(Photo: Michael Sears, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

Many striking homes Ive written about were renovated with a good amount of work done by the homeowners.

One of my favorites is a Delafield home onLake Nagawicka that had stunning wide-open space with views of the lake and lush gardens all around it.

Here Jeffand Laura Ottodid the redesign and lots of work on their 1990s home themselves, but in some spots, it took them awhile to get things right.

One examplein the 2,600-square-foot home is the living room fireplace, whichtook three tries.

First a generic brick was added, then chiseled off.Stacked stone was added next, but that still wasnt what they wanted, so it was removed. Finally a blend of three natural stones was used to get the look they wanted.

It was so perfect, in fact, that the homeowners decided to add the same stone to cover most of the concrete siding they had already added at the front of the house, which faces the lake, and to a good portion of the front of the garage, which faces the road.

Jeff Otto redid the fireplace bricks three separate times until he was happy with the way it looked. He was so happy, he even used the bricks on the outside of his home.(Photo: Michael Sears, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

Multiple attempts at perfection also happened in the master bathroom.

There a multicolored natural stone was first added on the walls and the area that surrounds a whirlpool tub; and a travertine was used on the floor.

But the tile just wasnt right, so it was taken out and replaced with a ceramic tile that matched the natural stone perfectly.

Changes were also made to the landscaping. First the homeowners hauled most of the 30 tons of limestone slabs and boulders to their home to build raised beds and accent areas around their home. But they later decided to add additional raised beds, so they rearranged boulders, which necessitated that changes be made to the homes irrigation system.

To make their gardens unique and beautiful, they spent a few thousand dollars on plants each year; most of which are annuals.

Included in that amount are two small palm trees at the front of the house and a large one at the back just off the road where it can easily be seen.

They also created a lush flowerbed that runs about 35 feet along the side of the home that has lots of flowers, apump, large rocks and garden art.

Large areas of glass and a spacious open patio distinguish this side of the Delafield home of Mark Sorensen and Kathy O'Brien Sorensen, as seen in 2017.(Photo: Michael McLoone, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

Location, location, location are words I often hear when I tour homes.

Never was that more apparent than when I visited a home in the Town of Delafield.

There Mark Sorensen and Kathy O'Brien Sorensensaid finding the perfect piece of land was the most important factor for them.

They wanted to live in a rural area with mature trees, so they settled on a two-acre property that fit that bill. But location came into play again when they were ready to build their 2,800-square-foot, two-level, modern prairie-style home.

Because they wanted to be off the road and in an area that was private, they scouted out spots on their property for the best location. They picked an area toward the rear of the property where they would get a lot of light into their home, and where they could have a walkout lower level.

Here trees were also a factor.

There was a large maple that would give them shade, as well as cherry trees and pines that could be kept.

But there were also pine trees where the house would be, so they moved 17 of them to areas near the house.

A chaise lounge affords a nice place to curl up and relax next to a wall of windows looking out onto the side yard. Large plants also help bring the outdoors in.(Photo: Michael McLoone, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

When they built the house, main components they used were galvanized metal, cedar siding, glass and exposed concrete. They also opted for a style of home that used some of the design principles of Frank Lloyd Wright, for example clerestory windows and an entrance with a lower ceiling that opens into the main living area where there are high ceilings.

After the house was built they added small-scale trees, including a Summer Glow Tamarisk, a ginkgo and a white pine.

They also decked out their deck, which was 40 feet long and about 16 feet wide, with a large table made of old pieces of wood, and they put rollers on the bottom of a big and old tree stump to use as a coffee table.

Brenda Rosin-Schaff and her husband transformed the rustic out buildings on their New Berlin property into amazing living spaces. What had been a dilapidated old barn has been turned into an entertainment area with several different lofts.(Photo: journal sentinel files)

Its not unusual to see old farmhouses beautifully restored. But it is unusual to see a restored farmhouse with its out buildings restored to the same level.

Thats what happened at a New Berlin farmhouse built in the 1890s at which Brenda Rosin-Schaff and her husband, Paul Schaff, made striking changes to a large barn and chicken coop on their 3-acre property.

When they started making improvements to the buildings, the roof in the barn was riddled with holes, and rain would come in. The chicken coop was on the verge of collapse and they had to either renovate it or tear it down.

So they set to work repairing them, and ended up creating unique and comfortable spaces filled with repurposed items as well as unique finds.

They include an oldcopper sink with a pump and an old farm table in the chicken coop, and in the barn there are four church pews that were reupholstered and painted, and an old workbench to which wheels were added so it could be used as a buffet/bar.

Theres also a leather couch in the chicken coop that can give views of a creek that runs through the property, and there are couches in the barns lower level perfect for viewing nature.

When the spaces were finished, the homeowners used them for entertaining friends and family, as well as to host charity events.

In addition to sprucing up buildings, extensive landscaping was also done.

Gardens and walking paths were created, and an alle (a walkway lined with trees and shrubs) was added near the house in an area that runs from the courtyard to the backyard.

Plants were obtained from friends as well as curbside, and 70 trailers of mulch were hauled from the recycling center one year.

The kitchen is shown in 2016 at the home of Michael and Cynthia Hosale and Diane Dziengel in Milwaukee.(Photo: Mark Hoffman / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

At an east side home I saw, I marveled not only at the way the house was restored, expanded and decorated, but also at the fact that it was done by three people.

It helped that they were lifelong friends and that they had the same style in decorating. Another plus was that the house was 8,000 square feet with four stories, giving them plenty of privacy with both common and private areas.

At the home, which was built in 1902 in a prairie style, Michael and Cynthia Hosale and Diane Dziengeldid a substantial amount of work, much of it themselves.

They restored all the hardwood floors, refurbishing a first-floor bathroom, replaced all the homes knob and tube wiring, painted and removed wallpaper, repainted and added wallpaper, turned a storage area into a sitting area and added custom decorative paneling for the lower walls in some rooms.

They restored the roof and chimney, added new copper gutters, had brick cleaned and tuck-pointed, stripped and painted the exterior trim and restored metal railings and trim at the front of the house.

They also had custom work done.

In the living room they had the fireplace restored, addeda wood coffered ceiling, decorative molding to frame the bay, and elaborately decorative radiator covers. Custom woodwork was also done in the bathroom and hallway.

The most dramatic changes occurred when they updated the kitchen and added an addition.

In the kitchen they eliminated two butler's pantries, a back hallway and a stairway to open the area, added a beamed ceiling and a two-way fireplace that can be accessed from the sunroom.

The first floor of the addition includes the sunroom, a conservatory withaslate floor in a decorative pattern, skylights and large windows with a small courtyard on one side, and a four-car garage/carriage house.

The pool room is shown in 2016 at the home of Michael and Cynthia Hosale and Diane Dziengel in Milwaukee.(Photo: Mark Hoffman / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

On the lower level they added a media room and a pool room that has a 15-by-8-foot swim spa - that had to be dropped in with a crane - and a spa room with a bathroom and dry heat sauna.

To make the addition match the original house, they only used materials that would have been available when this house was built both inside and outside.

Other extras in the home included two wide, 8-foot-tall sliding doors withfive horizontal panels each;a large pocket door that leads to the living room;fireplaces in the living room and foyer;and uniquely shaped windows in the living room.

Ed and Beth Sahagian-Allsopp restored the wraparound porch, part of which had been used for kitchen space when the Concordia neighborhood home was a boarding house.(Photo: Mark Hoffman, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

When you see big and beautiful historic homes that are in great condition, there are likely to be interesting stories to tell.

One of my favorites was a 4,000-square-foot, three story 1898 Queen Anne-style homein Milwaukees Concordia neighborhood.

When Ed and Beth Sahagian-Allsoppbought it, a previous owner had already made changes to return a good portion of the home to a single-family dwelling, as it had been turned into a 12-unit rooming house.

But it was still far, far from move-in condition for the current owners, who ended up doing much of the work themselves or with the help of friends.

There were plaster walls to be repaired, walls and ceilings that needed paint, and hardwood floors and molding that had to be refinished and/or repaired.

There were even bigger projects as well.

One of the most massive undertakings was to the homes 700-square-foot wrap-around porch, whichwas sinking. To restore the area, the homeowners jacked the porch up six to eight inches andreplaced the structural pillars and all the decorative trim. To duplicate the trim, they had to have nine knives and cutters made.

They also removed two kitchens that had been added to the porch when it was the rooming house. One could be accessed from a door in the front parlor, the other from a door in the middle parlor, which was also a unit.

Other large projects included removing asphalt siding, rebuilding the roof over the area where the two kitchens were, restoring exterior wood and other decorative elements, and painting the house in a painted lady style.

Additional projects on the inside included repairing wood trim, duplicating missing pieces on the home's Eastlake-style front staircase, and repairing full round bead and barrel molding.

On the third floor, which had a number of small rooms from when it was a rooming house, they did more work. All the bedroom closets had beenturned into kitchens they had to remove, they removed room dividers, closed up windows not original to the house and painted the space with historic colors

The Sahagian-Allsopp home has two fireplaces. This one is in the first-floor parlor.(Photo: Mark Hoffman, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

When they furnished the home they added unique pieces. In a parlor there is a Ming Dynasty Chinese tablemade from stone with a carved inscription of Chinese characters, and in the dining room an old hutch from Afghanistan

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Next week: JoAnne Kempinger Demski's Top Five favorite At Home Withs. Do you, or does someone you know, have a cool, funky or exquisite living space that youd like to see featured in At Home, when social distancing allows? Contact us at psullivan@gannett.com.

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Years of writing 'At Home With' have shown me many great houses. Here are some of my favorites - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

WELLSBURG Brooke County voters will choose from two Democratic candidates for a seat on the Brooke County Commission.

They are challenger Timothy Tim Hooper of 75 Abbey Lane, Colliers; and incumbent Stacey (Hukill) Wise of 108 Collins Lane, Follansbee.

Hooper has served for 22 years as a local government specialist for the state Treasurers Office. During that time he launched the West Virginia Achieving a Better Life Experience program, through which residents with disabilities can establish tax-free savings accounts for related needs without affecting their eligibility for federal assistance; organized training for businesses, agencies and others in reporting unclaimed property; and worked with county school boards in implementing the states supplemental retirement plan for public employees.

Hooper has worked with school officials to bring to schools the state Treasurers Bank at School, Get a Life and Networth programs, aimed at teaching financial literacy to youth at various ages.

He has been a member of the Democratic Executive Committee, Brooke County Economic Development Authority and Brooke County Rotary.

Hooper said if elected, he would push for improved radio communications and safety for all of the countys first responders, support more funding for services provided through the countys senior center and explore the creation of a county administrator position to pursue economic development and new jobs.

I will promote and strive to keep quality historic buildings and promote renovation over destruction, he added, alluding to the commissions decision to raze the former county museum to accommodate a planned addition to the courthouse.

He said, I am a motivated individual with a solid commitment toward providing excellence. One core belief of mine is to lead by example. Its important to foster an atmosphere that is tolerant, cooperative and unified. Additionally, I possess a strong work ethic and uphold equity within the workplace.

In her fourth year as a county commissioner, Wise has more than 20 years of experience in senior housing services and rentals and is office/site manager of Colonial American Development, which operates Rockdale Village Senior Living Community.

She is former co-owner and treasurer of Wise Enterprise, a housing and recreational vehicle park rental company.

Wise said as commissioner she prepared the applications for nearly $300,000 in grants received from the state Courthouse Facilities Improvement Authority to make the main courtroom handicap-accessible and improve security for the jury room; install LED lighting, sensor lights that shut off when a room is empty and other energy-saving measures; and ongoing upgrades to its heating and air conditioning systems, including moving the boilers from the buildings basement in the floodplain.

Wise said if re-elected, she will work with the other commissioners to pursue a courthouse addition to house all of the countys court facilities without raising taxes.

She said bringing the courts together will improve their efficiency and allow the county to receive funds from the state Supreme Court for the use of county space.

Wise said she will continue to work with other officials and local economic development groups and public service districts to improve the countys emergency 911 center, make high-speed Internet service available to residents and businesses and extend water and sewer lines to unserved areas.

As a commission, we have tried to be good financial stewards by being financially responsible in all day-to-day operations, she said, adding she will continue to take that stance.

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Hooper, Wise seek seat on Brooke commission | News, Sports, Jobs - The Steubenville Herald-Star

When Californias Department of health announced Tuesday night that restaurants in Napa County could reopen dining rooms for dine-in service effective immediately restaurant owners in the region must have breathed a collective sigh of relief. The countys stay-at-home order has, of course, taken a huge financial toll on its much-vaunted, Michelin-star-spangled dining scene. Now, local restaurant owners are moving forward with a limited return to dine-in service and, in some cases, with great caution and an eye toward public health and safety.

We only have one chance to do this right, says Christopher Kostow, the chef at the Restaurant at Meadowood and the Charter Oak, both in the Napa County city of St. Helena. If we do it wrong, the impact from both a health perspective and a reputational perspective could be very negative.

In Kostows case, for now, hes planning to reopen just one of his restaurants, the Charter Oak, which just started doing takeout business a couple weeks ago. Rather than move straight into full service, Kostow says his initial plan perhaps starting as early as this coming weekend will be to continue his takeout business and allow customers to eat their food in the restaurants large outdoor courtyard, if they choose to. A return to full dine-in service is probably still quite some time away, in part because hes not sure how much business there will really be.

Were going to be more conservative before we go at it full tilt, Kostow says.

Still, a number of Napa restaurants are planning to dive right into full service. Tamer Hamawi, co-owner of the downtown Napa taqueria Gran Electrica (the lone West Coast outpost of a New York-based mini-chain), tells Eater SF that hed been anticipating some kind of reopening announcement, but the news definitely came as a big surprise to just kind of be dropped like that last night.

Nevertheless, the restaurant plans to reopen its dining room for dine-in service by Tuesday, May 26 at the very latest. Gran Electrica is fortunate, Hamawi says, to have a very spacious and airy dining room, plus a large back patio where they can seat customers who dont feel comfortable dining indoors. Well remove some tables well space everything out as much as we can, he says.

And Angle, a French restaurant in downtown Napa, will start serving customers this weekend, with a limited dine-in menu that will be available from noon to 8 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Owner Bettina Rouas tells Eater SF that customers will be seated outdoors, with just a couple of tables inside reserved for customers who dont like dining outside.

The layout of even the outdoor area will have to change drastically, Rouas says: Were going to do it correctly I mean, were not going to just shove a bunch of tables out there and serve, irresponsibly.

Honestly, from what I understand, I dont think anybodys ready to rush out, Rouas says. But I think people are ready to come out and support. And I think everybody is ready to get some air and some sort of normalcy back.

Maria Gonzalez, manager of the Model Bakery, a 30-plus-year-old cafe and bakery in downtown St. Helena, says the current plan is to wait until after the long Memorial Day weekend to reopen the cafe to dine-in customers. At first, there will be two tables, placed either inside or outside the restaurant, with each table limited to two customers at a time. Its going to help us a little, as customers start feeling comfortable, Gonzalez says.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the Oxbow Public Market, downtown Napas prominent gourmet food hall, tells Eater that the marketplace is currently planning to open its communal seating areas both indoor and outdoor the first week of June.

Some of the regions higher-end, most widely celebrated restaurants are also taking a slightly slower approach, in part because the logistics of reopening pose so many challenges. The Restaurant at Meadowood, Kostows flagship, three-Michelin-star restaurant in St. Helena, wont open until the hotel that its a part of reopens and that wont likely happen until later this summer. Beyond that, Kostow says, the restaurant will need to take time to let its reservation book fill up again and to tweak its menu to eliminate tableside preparations, which arent allowed by the new state guidelines.

Ken Frank, the chef at longstanding French fine dining destination La Toque, explains that part of the problem is that his restaurant has been completely closed this whole time Its like opening a new restaurant, he says. He has to fill up his pantry, and his cooks have to start from scratch in terms of preparing all of the stocks and broths that the kitchen uses.

So, La Toque is aiming to open to the public on Friday, June 5 and, to be sure, Frank says, it will reopen as a significantly different restaurant than it was before. This time, it will have a la carte options in addition to the five-course tasting menu the restaurant is known for, as Frank isnt convinced that all customers are going to want a long, elaborate tasting menu right now. And there will be significant safety measures, Frank says: We will be taking temperatures. We will be requiring people to wear masks. Well have cotton white glove service in the dining room.

I dont feel the need to be first, Frank says. I want us to be the safest restaurant.

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Napa Restaurants Can Reopen Their Dining Rooms Right Now Heres Why Theyre Waiting It Out Instead - Eater SF

WASHINGTON While both the president and vice president plan to attend the Demo-2 commercial crew launch, there will be far fewer people attending the first American human orbital spaceflight in nearly a decade than once expected.

The White House announced May 22 that President Donald Trump will go to the Kennedy Space Center for the Demo-2 launch on May 27, but provided few other details about the visit.

Vice President Mike Pence had already announced plans to attend the launch during the May 19 meeting of the National Space Council, which Pence chairs. Ill be with you next week, he said to Bridenstine, who participated in the meeting by video conference from the Johnson Space Center.

Excited to welcome @POTUS Trump and @VP Pence to @NASAKennedy to usher in a new era of space exploration on May 27th! Bridenstine tweeted May 23. Under President Trumps leadership, we are once again launching American astronauts on American rockets from American soil. The commercial crew program that supported development of Crew Dragon started in the administration of President Barack Obama, and built on the commercial cargo program started during the administration of President George W. Bush.

Presidents have rarely attended NASA launches. President Richard Nixon was at KSC for the November 1969 launch of Apollo 12, the second mission to land astronauts on the moon. President Bill Clinton attended the STS-95 shuttle launch in October 1998, whose crew included senator and former astronaut John Glenn. Obama visited KSC to view the launch of the STS-134 shuttle mission in April 2011, but the launch was scrubbed because of a technical problem, and he did not return when the launch did take place a few weeks later.

A similar fate could befall Trump and Pence. In addition to the risk of technical problems scrubbing a launch, weather forecasts are not promising, with one by the 45th Space Wing released May 23 projecting only a 40% chance of acceptable conditions. Those projections exclude other issues, such as weather conditions at abort sites along the launchs trajectory, that could also scrub a launch.

While both Trump and Pence plan to attend, the number of other official guests will be limited because of the coronavirus pandemic. According to a slide presented at the flight readiness review for the Demo-2 mission May 21, visible in an image of the meeting released by NASA, KSC is preparing to host just 465 guests, of which 250 are assigned to a causeway site designated possible backup/overflow only.

NASA has also restricted the number of media credentials for the launch and changed media opportunities. At a May 22 briefing at KSC to discuss the flight readiness review that was just completed, a press conference room that ordinarily would be standing room only had no reporters present, with questions taken only by phone.

Here we are today in an empty room, talking to cameras, and all of us are six feet apart, said Bridenstine. The press conference participants, who normally sit shoulder-to-shoulder at the dais, were spread out across the stage to comply with social distancing guidelines. We all walked in here with our masks on.

A bigger uncertainty is how many members of the public will travel to watch the launch. Bridenstine has for weeks urged the public not to travel, instead recommending people watch the launch at home. NASA has provided special virtual guest content on its website and social media channels.

Were asking people not to travel to the Kennedy Space Center, and I will tell you, that makes me sad to even say it, Bridenstine said at a May 1 media briefing about the mission, saying that he was concerned that a mass gathering could spread COVID-19.

Local officials in Floridas Space Coast region have provided mixed messages. Were excited about the return to human space flight from Floridas Space Coast and understand the caution around traveling to view this historic launch, states the website of Space Coast Office of Tourism. There is plenty of room along our 72 miles of coastline to watch the launch and practice social distancing but we urge visitors to plan ahead.

A check of hotel booking sites May 23 found that a number of hotels in the Space Coast area, including in the cities of Cocoa Beach and Titusville, had vacancies around the May 27 launch date. Such hotels would ordinarily be fully booked for a launch as significant as this.

Viewing opportunities will also be limited. The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, closed since mid-March, plans to partially reopen May 28, a day after the scheduled Demo-2 launch. The slide from the flight readiness review briefing stated that Delaware North, the company that operates the complex and hosts viewing opportunities even for relatively routine launches, will have no public guests for Demo-2.

You will have had a lot more people watching nearby at previous launches, Pence told the Demo-2 astronauts, Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley, who appeared by videoconference at the National Space Council meeting. Theyre encouraging Americans to watch from afar, but I want to assure you that the president and I are looking forward, looking very much forward, to cheering you on.

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Trump to attend Demo-2 launch, but fewer other guests - SpaceNews

The top floor is reserved for the family while the rest of the home is up on rent

The task at hand was to convert an old single-storey home in a small town in Karnataka into a contemporary one, with the addition of two more floors. For Vinay Mavinakere, founder and principal architect, Sudaiva Studio, this was a special project as the home was in his ancestral town and belonged to his parents. The home was envisioned for renting out, with the top floor reserved for my folks as their holiday home that they visit once or twice a month.

Spread across 500 square feet, the top floor is a one-bedroom studio, with an additional 450 square feet of terrace space. Reveals Mavinakere, During construction, the astonishing views of the rain tree canopies from the top floor inspired the construction of an additional floor for a studio space to be used as a pied--terre for the family, who now live in Bangalore.

As you view the home from outside, you notice the intricate jaali work running the length of the built structure. The architect wanted to work with a simple, cost-effective material that looked native, but was used in an extraordinary way. The idea of a perforated jaali wall was born that made for a striking faade whilst enclosing the corridors.He used custom-built aluminium C-channels to hold the perforated clay blocks together within a grid running horizontally as well as vertically.

Talking about additional floors, Mavinakere says, Building on a load bearing structure posed considerable challenges. Structural interventions included the use of steel beams to strengthen the existing slab on the first-floor level. The top floor studio had to be structurally light. The setback from the mass of the other floors provided a visual relief to the faade.

Inside the studio, an open plan accommodates a living room, eat-in kitchen and a bedroom. Within the compact plan, the living and dining spaces are demarcated with the use of colour. Primary colours in the living room furnishings and wallpaper echo the colour palette used in the building exterior. A perforated screen above the sofa provides ventilation while also casting visually arresting shadows from the western sun.

To keep the already tight space uncluttered, we chose very few furniture elements that doubled up in function wherever possible. For instance, an extension from the kitchen counter serves as a dining table, work table and also an additional preparation zone for the kitchen; a deep sofa with generous cushions also serves as a daybed; nested tables serve as side tables when required and can be stacked together when not in use, explains Geeth Gopinath, creative partner who did the interiors of the home.

Wood-effect vitrified tiles have been used for the flooring with a muted colour and a rustic grain. The tiles on the floor continue as cladding for the kitchen backsplash all the way to the ceiling. They left the exposed concrete ceiling untreated to contrast against the more refined material palette of the rest of the space.

The terrace on this floor is the highlight of the studio, making for a vast open space to enjoy the view. We tried to create a carpet effect by peppering a few ornate and colourful accent tiles within a background of neutral grey tiles. The tiles were custom cut at site. We also added a row of potted heliconia plants to foster a visual connection with the sub-tropical surrounding of the building, adds Gopinath.

The home is a balance of oppositesrefined and rugged, minimal yet cosy, colourful and muted, compact yet allowing for a perception of expansiveness. The house employs familiar, inexpensive materials and techniques. However, inventive application of these materials have given it a contemporary edge, bringing the 1999-built home convincingly to todays time, concludes Mavinakere.

This 9,000-square-foot mansion in Karnataka is gilded in gold

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This home in Karnataka got a radical makeover with the addition of two new floors - Architectural Digest India

NEW YORK (AP) Filmmaker Sasha Joelle Achilli has made documentaries on the Ebola virus and now the coronavirus. Ask which virus scares her more, and the answer is easy.

The frightening thing about COVID is its everywhere, and you just dont know, she said. It is airborne and it feels much more easy to contract. So it was more frightening, definitely.

Achillis film, Inside Italys COVID War, is being shown on Frontline at 10 p.m. Tuesday on most PBS stations. While the documentary looks at the crisis through the eyes of an emergency room doctor at Cremona Hospital in northern Italy, the story is universal.

The scene at Cremona, where Dr. Francesca Mangiatordi calls various care providers, pleading for empty beds to place the coronavirus patients crowding her emergency room, could have been at any hospital where the pandemic has hit hard.

Achilli spent four months in Africa making the 2015 film Outbreak for PBS. Its not that Ebola wasnt scary youre more likely to die an ugly death if you get it but its easier to protect against than the coronavirus, she said.

Since shes from Italy and her father still lives there, the coronavirus story was more personal.

Finding Mangiatordi was a stroke of luck. A picture the doctor took of an exhausted colleague circulated widely online, and Achilli reached out before she even traveled to Italy. Mangiatordis cooperation, and that of her colleagues and family, enabled Frontline to tell the broader story through a personal lens.

It has a special quality to it, the intimacy she was able to foster and the trust, said Raney Aronson-Rath, executive producer of Frontline. That kind of trust usually takes a lot of time, but Sasha was able to build that trust very quickly.

Achillis camera catches a 30-year-old woman, sitting alone in a wheelchair and calling her husband to say her the X-ray of her lungs didnt look good.

It feels like a nightmare, the woman said.

Most affecting is the story of 18-year-old Mattia. Frightened that he was going to die, he was too overwhelmed to take a video call with his mother before being intubated. The nurses thought he wouldnt survive. Later, after his recovery, you see an emotional video reunion with his mom.

At one point, Mangiatordi looks worriedly at a work chart, wondering if there will be enough doctors to fill all the shifts because many of them had gotten sick. One such doctor, Laura Bocchi, says Im a patient and I unfortunately possess medical knowledge, as she isolates from her family.

Through it all, the medical staff rides a roller coaster, briefly euphoric when the number of cases go down only to see another rush.

After grinding days of work, Mangiatordi came home to a family she literally couldnt touch a husband whos both proud and fearful, and an 11-year-old daughter who cries at the thought of life without mom. We wouldnt know how to do anything, she says.

Some of the moments with her family are ones that Ill never forget, Aronson-Rath said. We didnt want to do a congratulatory film about doctors but what emerged was a heroic portrait of people trying to save other people.

Frontline has other coronavirus projects in the works, including a June 16 documentary investigating what went wrong with the response and others about the financial fallout and conspiracy theories.

Although Achillis father lived an hour away from where she was filming, she wasnt able to see him. In addition to making sure that she and a partner were fully protected while filming, there was the additional worry that they would unwittingly transmit the virus themselves.

Watching the film comes with a deep sense of foreboding. Purely by chance, Achilli says, the characters that she focused upon all had good outcomes.

I hope that it gives people strength, that if you are to contract the virus, there is a light, she said. I think we need strength right now. Were all living this quarantine. Were not seeing what is really happening.

Achilli finished her film and lived through stay-at-home orders from London. She recognizes that people are becoming antsy, wanting to get out of the house into some measure of a normal life.

Those people might want to watch her film.

Having seen what happened to the health system, having seen what the doctors had to go through, I think that the lockdown and going through these draconian measures is the only way to get this under control, Achilli said.

I understand that our freedoms have been taken away that were not used to living like this, and not used to having governments tell us what we can and cant do, she said. But when you see what theyre going through, for their sake, stay home.

Read the original here:
Film shows nightmare of an emergency room in Italy - The Associated Press

Photos courtesy of Bailey & Weiler Design/Build

When Don and Lisa Weiler decided to build a new home in 2002, they chose a local Bloomington designer named Craig Bailey. Not only did the Weilers get their dream home, Don also got a new business partner.

Craig nailed the style we sought and his ability to visualize our home before we even started building was amazing, Don says. Craig is incredibly creative and talented with design.

On the other hand, Don says, his background is in engineering and project management. We operate out of different sides of our brain, so together it made for a great partnership.

Discovering that the two men worked together well convinced them to start Bailey & Weiler Design/Build in 2005. Headquartered in downtown Bloomington, the company recently was named Builder of the Year by the Building Association of South Central Indiana.

We try very hard to deliver projects that create homeowners dreams with detail to budget, Craig says. We listen to our customers and create what they want on time and budget.

In fact, this is the fourth time Bailey & Weiler has been honored with the award by their construction peers. Each year, local members of the construction industry select a company for the honor. Bailey & Weiler was selected for 2020 based on the quality of their design and construction projects, business reputation and contributions to the industry and community.

Humbled and thankful would be the best way to describe our reaction, Don says. It is an award from our peer builders, subcontractors and suppliers in South Central Indiana, which means a lot.

The company has 14 employees plus the co-owners. They are a great crew of talented and dedicated carpenters, designers and project managers, Don says. Many of them either ran their own company or worked with some of the best local builders that have since closed up shop.

Not surprisingly, both founders of the Bailey & Weiler company grew up to be exactly what they wanted to be when they were kids. Well, at least part of the childhood ambition for Craig who wanted to be a race car driver and a designer.

I learned construction and home design in high school, Craig says. My first job after high school was in construction.

For Don, I never really gave much thought to being anything but an engineer. When I was in grade school, I filled out a homework assignment with a very specific answer to that question: I wanted to be an engineer from the University of Wisconsin.

The college goal came from seeing his older brother attend the University of Wisconsin to become an engineer. My only brother is 15 years older, and my first memories of him are visiting his dorm room at Wisconsin, Don says. He was an engineering student and he had the cool railroad engineers lantern.

Dons father was a millwright at the local paper mill in central Wisconsin. His mother was a homemaker. If something broke, we fixed it, Don says. I learned a lot from them because they were always problem solving and had a great can-do attitude.

That attitude is a good one to have as a builder, Don says, because no project ever goes exactly as planned. There are always things to figure out. Every challenge has a solution. The key is to remain positive and honest in your effort.

Bailey & Weiler Design/Build specializes in the design, construction and renovation of custom homes and commercial properties. We have recently seen an uptick in remodeling, says Craig. There are very few lots and subdivisions to build homes on and the land costs are very high.

With the current trend of living closer to town, Don says the best way to get there is to buy and remodel an existing home. Remodeling in Bloomington has been on a steep incline the past few years. Homeowners who would sell and build new smaller or larger homes cannot find a lot on which to build or realize that the cost to build new just does not make sense relative to their current home.

As a design/build company, Craig says Bailey & Weiler can save homeowners money and avoid communication issues. Doing both design and construction we know how much things cost and can design to an individuals budget.

Don adds, Bloomington has many local designers and architects that we partner with on a regular basis. We love collaborating as part of a larger local team.

Bailey & Weiler also does commercial renovation and light commercial construction. Each of those markets has its unique needs and pace, so we have different people and processes dedicated to each segment, Don says.

Construction can start any time in the year. The design, selection and budgeting phase normally takes a minimum of eight weeks, Don says. We take the lead from our clients on the pace of design. The construction of a custom home normally takes seven to nine months with weather, home size and finish and timeliness of decisions being the most significant variables.

Bloomington continues to be a desirable place to live, which both Don and Craig say they understand. Its a small town blessed with the best the world has to offer, Don says. Our town is nestled in a beautiful natural environmentBut in the end, its the people that make Bloomington special.

Those people also are one of the greatest joys in his business, Craig adds. What I like most about our business is the people we meet and being able to help them create their dreams.

Read more from the original source:
Bailey & Weiler named Builder of the Year - Times-Mail

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MILWAUKEE (CBS 58)--We love spending time in our kitchen these days whipping up the perfect meal. So why not make sure it's the best space it can be?Senior designer Paulette Sodemann with Callen Construction in Muskego says there are a lot of considerations for a kitchen remodel, including size, functionality, and budget. But as you're planning, know the popular trends and what can really boost the resale value as well. Islands in the kitchen and open areas are two big concepts in big demand these days.

Another favored room in your home is the bedroom. More specifically the closet. Brian Hering with Tailored Living in Waukesha says you want to have your closet divided withtwo-thirds hanging and the other-third shelving. He also recommends bi-fold doors and storing your shoes at the top of your closet for the best use of space.

Remember when you're hiring a contractor, you have to be so careful. Any expert will say do your homework and seek out references. Both the National Association of the Remodeling Industry (NARI) and Better Business Bureau (BBB) are two great resources.

To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video

Link:
That tired kitchen or closet wearing on you? Try a redo! - WDJT

Jack Nicholson, Vivian Kubrick, Joe Turkel, Maxwell Craig, and George Holdcroft in The Shining (1980) // All rights reserved. Courtesy Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, Inc.

The Shiningis one of the greatest horror films of all time. The 1980 film was based on the Stephen King book of the same name. The story detailed the descent into madness of a writer who takes on the job of caretaker of the vacant Overlook Hotel through a severe Colorado winter. The film today stands as one of the finest of the horror genre for its great performances and direction by Stanley Kubrick.

The film starred Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall as the couple who are responsible for looking after the hotel during a winter season. Jack Nicholson portrayed Jack Torrance, a struggling writer who is seeking solitude in which he can write in peace. With his faithful wife by his side and young son in tow, Jack looks forward to several months free of distraction so he can complete his upcoming masterpiece.

Kubrick had never produced a horror film prior to The Shining, but apparently had always wanted to. Kubricks trademark cinematic elements the use of brightly colored settings and close-ups of intensely emotional faces had enhanced several of his previous films such as 2001: A Space Odyssey and Dr. Strangelove. These films were in the science fiction and comedy genres, respectively. However, Kubricks signature stylings made an easy transition to the horror genre and The Shining has garnered a reputation as not only a horror classic, but also as one of the finest films ever made.

Much of the films content has become pop culture fodder and even those who have never seen the film are familiar with the classic lines All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, and the meme staple, Heres Johnny. Here are some fascinating Shining tidbits that you may not know.

1. The author of The Shining book, Stephen King, disliked the choice of Jack Nicholson for the lead role, believing that Nicholsons generally crazed appearance from the opening scenes of the movie onward undermined the point that it was the Overlook Hotel that sent Jack Torrance over the edge. Torrance, in Kings novel, was a fairly well-adjusted guy at the beginning of the story and is gradually driven to insanity by the Overlook.

2. The child actor who played young Danny Torrance, Danny Lloyd, would never make another movie despite delivering such a gripping performance in the film. Apparently, Lloyd tried to win roles for the remainder of his childhood before finally retiring from the business at age 14, just as he was entering high school.

3. The famous line uttered by Jack Nicholson after he chopped down the bathroom door with an axe, Heres Johnny, was entirely ad-libbed by Nicholson. Kubrick considered scrapping it but reconsidered and it now stands as one of AFIs top 100 movie lines of all time, despite its extemporaneous origins.

4. Stephen King claims that the title of the novel, The Shining, was inspired by John Lennons song, Instant Karma, in which the singer repeatedly sings the line and we all shine onlike the moon, the stars, and the sun.

5. The Shining made it into the Guinness Book of World Records as the movie with the most takes of a single scene. Kubrick was a stubborn perfectionist and he wasnt about to wrap any scene that wasnt up to his standards. He had Duvall repeat one scene a record 127 times.

6.Lloyd had no idea that the film he was making was a horror film. As far as the actor knew at the time, he was making a drama. Because Lloyd was so young at the time, Kubrick was determined to protect Lloyd and leave him in the dark about the nefarious nature of the film.

7. There is a real haunted hotel in Colorado called the Stanley Hotel. It was the inspiration for the Overlook, and it is considered one of the most haunted places in America. King stayed in the Stanley Hotel with his wife in 1973, later writing it into the novel 1977.

8. In one of the films most famous scenes, elevator doors open and blood comes gushing out and spilling into the hallway. This unforgettable scene actually took a year to set up and the only three takes to get it right. It seems that Kubrick got along better with machines than people.

9. Some observers have claimed that through The Shining,Kubrick confesses that he helped NASA fake the moon landing in 1969. It had been rumored for years by conspiracy buffs that Kubrick was in cahoots with NASA on the the supposed moon-landing prank. In one scene in the film, Lloyd wears a very prominent Apollo 11 sweater. Furthermore, the hotel room which Danny is told to never enter was changed from room 217 in the book to room 237 in the movie. The moon is 237,000 miles away from the Earth, and some of those conspiracy folks believe that this was Kubricks way of fessing up.

10.The scene in which Wendy Torrance finally realizes that Jack has completely lost it is the scene in which shediscovers the manuscript that Jack has been toiling over for weeks 500 pages of all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy typed over and over in multiple formats and languages. Some have suggested that Kubrick himself typed all these pages while other sources claim that he had his secretary, Margaret Warrington, do it. Regardless, it was a gargantuan feat the sort that would drive the most well-adjusted among us to the point of remodeling our bathrooms with an axe.

For more, explore the Entertainment section at FanSided.com.

More here:
10 things you didnt know about The Shining - FanSided

As Mary Wesson lay dying, heavily sedated on morphine, her family couldn't hold her hand at her bedside or whisper their last goodbyes. They could only shout through a window from outside Newfane Rehabilitation and Health Care Center.

She never responded the last time her children saw her alive.

The 79-year-old mother of four died May 9, becoming one of at least 23 residents who have died from Covid-19 at Newfane Rehab, where more people have died from the new coronavirus than all but two other nursing homes in Western New York.

We saw body bags getting wheeled out while we were standing there by the building," said Jeanne Blenker, one of Wesson's children.

The number of deaths at the 165-bed nursing home has drawn the scrutiny of the state Health Department, which sent an associate commissioner, among others, to inspect the facility a week ago. The acting administrator of the nursing home also talked by phone with state Health Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker on Wednesday.

The number of dead also exposed the peril of the state making nursing homes accept Covid-19 patients from hospitals.

"There's no doubt that the state dropped the ball on nursing homes," Niagara County Public Health Director Daniel J. Stapleton said at a County Legislature meeting last week.

[Related: Covid-19 outbreak at Tonawanda nursing home has led to 26 deaths]

Gov. Andrew Cuomo reversed that policy last Sunday a day after Wesson's death so hospitalized nursing home patients can no longer be sent back to a nursing home unless they test negative for Covid-19 twice, 24 hours apart.

State legislators have called for hearings or an independent investigation into the impact of the state's original policy. Some families blame the now-discarded policy for many of the nearly 5,500 Covid-19 deaths in New York nursing homes as of Friday.

Wesson's four children said in an interview with The Buffalo News that Newfane Rehab staff members told them the facility's Covid-19 outbreak can be traced to a single patient who was admitted upon being released from a hospital April 10. A nursing home official declined to explain how the new coronavirus entered the facility.

"We weren't able to go see her," Blenker said of her mother. "The place was locked down. She wasn't going anywhere. She was bedridden. Somehow it got into her room."

Mary Wesson (Courtesy Jeanne Blenker)The day before Wesson died, a nursing home administrator, in an automated call, assured families "that our expert medical and clinic team are working to proactively maintain the health and safety of our residents and one another. Each day brings a new level of challenges for which they are willingly and intelligently identifying and adapting to."

The acting administrator of the nursing home, Mike Toole, told The News the nursing home has followed all practices and guidelines set by the federal government. He also noted that a state inspection last week found no deficiencies.

Some family members told The News they appreciated the efforts made by the nursing home's employees on behalf of their loved ones, and they sympathize with how overwhelming the workers' days must be.

"The staff at Newfane seemed kind, helpful, responsive and apologetic for the most part," said Bonnie Crogan-Mazur, whose 85-year-old uncle died there May 4 beside his wife, another Newfane Rehab resident who also has Covid-19. "They set up FaceTime, which allowed my granddaughters to give (the couple) a mini-concert on harp and violin the night before (he) died."

But Bruce Blenker, another of Wesson's children, offered a harsh assessment of the nursing home and the governor.

"Why did Cuomo mandate Covid patients to go to a nursing home that is not qualified?" he asked. "I do not blame anybody except for Gov. Cuomo. It's directly on his shoulders, and I blame the executive staff at Newfane nursing home.

"This nursing home was not qualified to handle this.

The state Health Department inspection team, led by regional Associate Commissioner Dr. Gregory Young, visited Newfane Rehab on May 8 and 9.

"The purpose of that meeting was to go there to talk about infectious control practices, evaluate what they were doing and also give them, tell them what they should be doing and what changes they should make," Stapleton, the Niagara County public health director, told the County Legislature.

"For example, they shouldn't have a Covid-negative person and a Covid-positive person in the same room, using the same bathroom. That's a problem," Stapleton told the legislators. "Moving residents around so that you have the positives in the same room, not sharing with somebody who isn't positive, that was one of the changes they were going in to do on Friday (May 8)."

Toole, who recently became acting administrator of the nursing home, said no Covid-19-positive and Covid-19-negative patients were in the same rooms.

Its actually incomprehensible to give the idea that we would jeopardize residents by cohorting them, positive and negative people," Toole told The News.

Stapleton said he is "confident that the information we initially received and shared with the Legislature is accurate, but I'm not going to get into a back-and-forth debate."

"The key is moving forward to protect residents and staff," he added.

State Department of Health surveyors came back for another visit at Newfane Rehab on Wednesday and stayed until almost midnight.

"They examined the facilities and the practices we are doing, and they found no deficiencies again," Toole said.

State Health Department spokesman Jeffrey Hammond confirmed Friday that no deficiencies were found in Wednesday's unannounced inspection. He also said that the facility's management rejected the state's offers of further aid.

"The department also proactively reached out to the facilitys administrator, offered to transfer residents if needed, assessed staffing levels, offered additional staffing resources and ensured an appropriate supply of personal protective equipment. The administrator assured the department he was able to adequately care for his residents and will immediately contact us if the situation changes," Hammond said.

Toole declined to say what he and the state's health commissioner discussed on their phone call.

"So the idea that the Legislature, the politicians, want to capitalize on this as a media sensation, that is their right to do so," Toole said. "But I can assure you that all the practices and the guidelines and the (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) guidance have been followed to the letter here at our building.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's guidelines say that when possible, nursing homes should give each Covid-19 patient their own room with a dedicated bathroom, and keep the room door closed.

So how did Newfane Rehab become a tragic hot spot for Covid-19 deaths?

Were not immune to the same phenomenon that has gone on nationwide and worldwide, and that is the best answer I can give you," Toole said.

An April 27 letter to families from Nancy Babis, regional director of operations for the owner of the facility, Maximus Healthcare Group, said at that time that there were "several cases in our facility."

Toole declined to explain how the new coronavirus entered the facility, citing patient privacy laws.

Newfane has provided the utmost care for all of our residents," Toole said.

The state Department of Health's unannounced inspection on Wednesday focused on Covid-19 and included DOH employees testing staff and residents "to help protect this vulnerable population," said Hammond, the state Health Department spokesman.

"There's no doubt that the state dropped the ball on nursing homes," said Niagara County Public Health Director Daniel J. Stapleton at a County Legislature meeting last week. (Thomas J. Prohaska/Buffalo News file photo)

County Legislator John Syracuse, a Newfane chiropractor, recommended moving patients out of Newfane Rehab and sending National Guard doctors and nurses, if needed, to staff a new facility, perhaps the mothballed former Inter-Community Memorial Hospital in Newfane.

The County Legislature on Wednesday sent Cuomo a letter calling for him to take those steps.

"Perhaps there will be some type of intervention," Syracuse said.

Sean Dugan said his mother, Sherry Dugan, survived Covid-19 at Newfane Rehab. But the chief of police at a community college in Colorado said her sickness scared him.

A police officer for 38 years, Sean Dugan was on the SWAT team that responded to the 1999 school shooting at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo.

Ive seen the worst of the worst," he said.

But when it comes to his mother's situation, he said he feels "very helpless."

"Thats not something a cop likes to feel," Dugan said.

He said his mother had no roommate until she was assigned one on April 10. Within days, she became sick.

"Mom got a fever sometime between April 12 and April 15 and they tested her, and she tested positive per the doctor on April 15 for Covid-19," he said. "And then they did separate her."

He said the family found out on Easter, April 12, that a person in the facility tested positive for Covid-19.

"When we found out, we said, Did her roommate have Covid-19, that you just gave her? Well, we didnt test her, she was exhibiting no symptoms. Well, coronavirus is asymptomatic. I know that and I'm not in the medical profession," Dugan said.

You dont put people together unless you test them, and if you cant test them, then you dont put people together," he added.

Crogan-Mazur, the niece of Edward and Lorna Crogan, said her first look at Newfane Rehab in February, before the virus outbreak, did not inspire confidence.

Edward Crogan (Courtesy Rhoney Funeral Home)

My uncles bed had a vent over the top, like an air vent, and it was black. We pointed that out to the nurse and we said, Is that mold? And she said, No, its not mold, its just dirt. They said, We cant put them together in a different room. The painter will come in and take care of that. You could tell they were trying to do remodeling while people were still in the room, because it looked like they had pulled out a sink and the wall was just nasty," Crogan-Mazur said.

She took a photo of the ceiling's condition to document what she saw.

The ceiling of Edward and Lorna Crogan's room in Newfane Rehabilitation and Health Care Center in February. (Bonnie Crogan-Mazur)

She wasn't able to go back and check if they fixed it because visitors were banned a few days later in the state-mandated lockdown.

Edward Crogan, of Amherst, a member of the Ontario Lacrosse Hall of Fame for his scoring exploits, died on May 4.

At last report, Lorna Crogan was still alive and receiving "comfort care," her niece said.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services gave Newfane Rehab an overall 2-star rating, a below-average rating in its 5-star rating scale. The facility earned 2-star ratings for health inspections and staffing and an above-average 4-star rating for quality of resident care.

Toole declined to discuss the condition of the facility.

"Im done with the conversation," he said. "Making accusations about the condition of the building is not something I want to address."

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Families angered, frightened as Covid-19 swept through Newfane Rehab - Buffalo News