Home Builder Developer - Interior Renovation and Design

The glaring exception to Washingtons otherwise hot real-estate market is the areas glut of vacant office space. A report released this week by commercial real-estate firm Savills Studley shows the percentage of DCs available office space ticked up during the second quarter of 2017 to 13.5 percent. So, what to do about our increasingly empty buildings? Developer Conrad Cafritz says he has at least one solution: turn them into apartments that double as office space.

Cafritzs concept, called e-lofts, debuted last September in a 1980s government building at 4501 Ford Avenue in Alexandria. He has since patented the process he used to convert the building, which he says saved him about a years worth of construction.

Previously occupied by the Department of the Army, the glassy tower was vacant for six years before Novus Residences, a Cafritz subsidiary, converted it into 200 loft-style apartments zoned for both residential and commercial use. Practically speaking, this means a resident can legally both live in her apartment and run a business out of it. Tenants who use their space this way can write off nearly 50 percent of the monthly rent as a business expense. Building manager William Loving says rents range from about $1,600 for a studio to over $3,000 for a two-bedroom.

The first year of the experiment hasnt exactly been smooth sailing. Fewer than half the lofts are leased. Novus recently hired Bozzuto to take over management of the building and increase our visibility, says Loving. He says the original management team was let go I was brought here to fix things. With a more complete staff and strategy in place, Cafritz says the building is on track to be 90-percent leased by December.

Some current tenants continue to use the building only as office space. Loving says a doctor leases three of the lofts for his holistic weight-loss center. Theres also a law firm and a makeup artist who uses one of the apartments as a classroom to teach beauty students. Residents who rent apartments in which to both live and work include government contractors, IT professionals, and artists.

Loving says another e-lofts locationat 5600 Columbia Pike in Falls Churchis in the works, and that eight other office buildings are under consideration to become future e-lofts. Cafritz declines to elaborate on any plans to expand the concept, except to say that its unclear whether well be developing these things ourselves or providing licenses to other developers to employ his patented building process.

Share this story!

Visit link:
Would You Live (and Work) in a Former Government Office Building? - Washingtonian.com

As extensive cleanup efforts continue at Willowridge High School, Fort Bend ISD will begin posting daily afternoon updates on http://www.fortbendisd.com/WHSmoldremediation. The daily afternoon updates, posted at 3 p.m., will include general school announcements, as well as information about the continued remediation effort underway and efforts to support students and staff. Fort Bend ISD District leaders are currently finalizing plans for the start of the 2017-18 school year, as students and staff members will begin instruction at an alternative location on August 22.

Tuesday, FBISD Superintendent Dr. Charles Dupre released a video to the community, thanking them for the outpouring of support and reaffirming the Districts commitment to replacing items that have been lost.

As plans for the start of school are finalized later this week, details will be shared with students and staff members directly, posted on social media, and shared on the WHS mold remediation website.

Read the original:
Update: Fort Bend ISD to post afternoon updates on WHS Mold Remediation Website - Fortbendstar.com

Willowridge High School

Willowridge High School

Relocation plan announced for Willowridge students displaced by mold infestation

Fort Bend ISD announced Wednesday that the students displaced from Willowridge High School due to a severe mold infestation will start the school year at nearby Thurgood Marshall High School.

The announcement comes less than two weeks before the first day of school and three weeks after Willowridge Principal Thomas Graham sent a letter to parents explaining that an aggressive mold infestation had taken over the nearly 40-year-old campus.

According the district officials, the mold ravaged almost the entire high school destroying nearly everything in it when the school's air conditioning was turned off for several days during construction earlier in the summer. The district expects remediation efforts to cost upward of $2 million.

BACK TO FOOTBALL: Meet Houston's new high school head football coaches

Willowridge staff has been housed at the Marshall campus since the mold was discovered in early July.

"Marshall High School has done a tremendous job of welcoming us into the campus and helping us in our time of need," said Graham in a video posted by the district Wednesday. "By having all of our students on one campus under one roof we can ensure that all of those educational needs are met during this very difficult time."

Thurgood Marshall High School Principal Alfred Holland said in the district video that students of the two high schools, which are about five miles from each other in Missouri City, already interact with each other in the community.

"They hang out on weekends together; they go to church together," Holland said. "So I think that this opportunity will help to bring the students even closer together in that they will be under the same roof to interact even more so."

Graham added that the two student bodies will become one as long as the Willowridge students are housed on the Marshall campus.

"For this transitional time, we will not have Willowridge students and we will not have Marshall students," he said. "We will have students that we will all service."

Fort Bend ISD will hold a community town hall meeting and celebration to share further details about the remediation and transitional plan next Wednesday, Aug. 16 at 7 p.m. at Marshall High School, 1220 Buffalo Run in Missouri City.

The district has created a page on its website about the Willowridge remediation and relocation that it is updated daily at 3 p.m.

See the article here:
Relocation plan announced for Willowridge students displaced by ... - Chron.com

A pond can make a great addition to any landscape. Homeowners may write it off as too expensive before getting an estimate or doing much research. If you're interested in adding a pond to your backyard, contact a professional. He or she will be able to to determine the best course of action for your particular space and can give you a better idea on the cost for a pond, highlighting certain factors integral to pricing.

Size and ShapeThe size of your pond will be a big factor in the cost. The larger the pond, the bigger the excavation and prep work. Giving your pond a really unique shape will increase the price but can have great visual appeal. If shape is less important, there is the option for prefabricated liner shells, which will decrease the cost to install a pond. Your climate will determine whether liner will work or not.

Pond LinerThere are a couple of different options for liners, all of which will impact the cost to install a pond. Most permanent garden pond liners include concrete and fiberglass. These liners last a long time: 50 years or more if maintained properly. Flexible liners are typically made out of different plastic products. These typically last 10 to 20 years. Plastic rigid liners are another option, but they can increase the price since they can be difficult to work with and are susceptible to damage from ice. This is good for homeowners in warm locales who are looking for a cheaper alternative.

Pond LocationDepending on what kinds of plants or fish you may want to have, location will be important. It's smart to consult a landscape designer who can help you determine what shaded areas might work best. This will ensure it is put in a place that will take less of a beating from the weather.

Pond SurroundsInstalling stone edging or other surrounds to your pond will spruce up the area and make it stand out even more. While increasing your total cost, it will add that finishing touch to make your pond look like a part of your yard.

Pond MaintenancePutting in a little bit more on the cost to install a pond will help you in the end with maintenance. By putting in a good filtering system, the water should remain clearer and collect less algae. This can also prevent dirt runoff which can cloud the water. If you put fish in your pond, then you will need to maintain UV heaters and chemicals to keep the water stabilized.

Waterfall Feature If you opt to include a waterfall, this can be a great addition to a pond and will give you that zen water sound in your space. Be prepared to pay more for the plumbing and design involved in creating one.

Was this page helpful? Please Select5 - Extremely Helpful4 - Very Helpful3 - Helpful2 - Somewhat Helpful1 - Not Helpful

Original post:
2017 Pond Installation Costs | Price to Add a Pond

A number of major projects in Grays Harbor and Pacific counties are hung up because the funding for them is part of the state capital budget which, after a full legislative session and three special sessions, has yet to be passed.

Certainly the Westport dredging is a big one, but given that there is $70 million in spending for school construction it is hard to say what is more important, said Sen. Dean Takko (D-Longview). Cosmopolis school cannot go out to bid on their remodel as they do not know when they will get their SCAP money from the state.

SCAP is the School Construction Assistance Program, which provides funding assistance to school districts that are planning major new construction or improvement projects.

There is a strong expectation that the capital budget will be approved this summer, but its not clear when. Its been stalled over a fight in the Senate involving a fix that Republicans want to get around a state Supreme Court decision involving water rights.

Takko says some of the larger-ticket items are $8 million for a Naselle Hatchery renovation and $3 million in renovations at Twin Harbors and Cape Disappointment state parks. While those large projects get a lot of attention, Takko said some communities are waiting on amounts far less that can have just as great an impact.

Although it is only $30,000, North Beach Water cannot pay the contractor for a job as the Department of Commerce has told them they cannot forward the state money to them until the budget passes, he said. So even though the money is not the millions that some are waiting for, it has a big impact. This project on the Long Beach Peninsula would install a new well field to help the region with some of the water quality issues theyve had in recent years.

The mayors of both Aberdeen and Hoquiam agree the restoration of Fry Creek and the construction of the North Shore Levee are two of the most important projects either city has faced in many years. Increased flooding in recent years has created headaches for homeowners and city public works departments, and hundreds of residents are required to carry federal flood insurance, which is expensive, and properties within the existing floodplain have very low resale value.

Fry Creek restoration will include a number of improvements that would help mitigate flood risks, including removing culverts, creating a stormwater holding pond, and installing a new tide gate and pump at the mouth of the creek. These measures would allow for increased flood control and help return the creek to a more natural state.

The capital budget has $315,000 in it for the restoration and flood reduction design which is ongoing as public comment is taken and adjustments to the plan are made and another $1,915,000 for the implementation of the plan.

The North Shore Levees planning and design has been funded by a grant from the Chehalis Basin Flood Authority. As FEMA continues to look over the draft plan sent to them last month, there is just under $30 million in state and federal funds for construction of local priority flood protection projects in the current proposed capital budget.

There is $2.5 million in the latest budget draft for the Westport Marina project, which could go toward digging the marina out to depths of 15 to 17 feet. According to Port of Grays Harbor Public Affairs Manager Kayla Dunlap, the marina has not been fully dredged since 1980. Marina Business Manager Molly Bold said she has applied for the permits needed to perform the dredging, but fixing a start date for the project cant be done until the funds are released.

There is also more than $900,000 in the budget to make major improvements to the marinas public boat launch. The current gravel lot would be paved, the portable toilets replaced with restrooms, and a fish cleaning station installed.

As the cities of Hoquiam and Aberdeen look for solutions to the low-income housing shortage in the region, enlisting the help of the Seattle-based Low Income Housing Institute to find suitable locations and funding, $6 million is listed in the current capital budget for use in providing grants for high quality low-income housing that will quickly move people from homelessness into secure housing.

Dawn Thomas, legislative assistant to Rep. Brian Blake (D-Aberdeen), provided this list of projects in the area that are awaiting capital budget approval:

Construction of a compact roundabout smaller version of your typical roundabout at the intersection of State Route 12 and State Route 107 in Montesano, $550,000.

State Route 105 bridge replacements at Smith Creek, North River and the Middle Nemah, more than $1 million.

Development of a safe, multi-use trail crossing on the Willapa Hills Trail at State Route 106, $401,000.

Replacement of noncompliant comfort stations in Ocean City, $1,526,000.

Aberdeen landslide repair, $373,000.

Development of the Gateway Center in Aberdeen, $1,750,000.

Replacement of the Hoquiam Coastal Harvest roof, $206,000.

East Grays Harbor Fiber Project, which would spread fiber optics through Elma, the Satsop School District and all of east county, $436,000.

Hoquiam Library preservation, $250,000.

Lake Sylvia State Park Legacy Pavilion, $696,000. Friends of Schaefer and Lake Sylvia State Parks has pledged $200,000 of private investments into the project, which would construct a pavilion that could hold 80 people, complete with a fireplace, kitchen area and moveable walls that can be placed so the park could attract winter visitors.

Pacific County historic county courthouse grants program, $364,000.

Here is the original post:
Senate's failure to pass a capital budget leaves local projects hanging - The Daily World

Wednesday, August 9th, 2017

By Nancy Allen

Keith Canary of Rockford speaks during a public meeting Tuesday held by the Ohio. . .

CELINA - Officials of a 4,500-head dairy proposed for northwest of Neptune say they plan to proceed despite a meeting on Tuesday attended by a large crowd composed mainly of opponents.

About 140 people packed the Mercer County Central Services Building conference room for the Ohio Department of Agriculture's open house and public meeting. Prior to the meeting, a few people outside the building carried signs calling for a boycott of Dannon Yogurt, which would buy the dairy's milk to make yogurt at its Minster plant.

The meeting was called to gather comments on draft permits to install and operate for MVP Dairy LLC, a partnership of VanTilburg Farms of Celina and McCarty Dairy LLC of Colby, Kansas. Twenty-five people with concerns about the dairy spoke during the 90-minute public comment period. One person spoke in favor of the dairy.

Most of the concerns focused on odor, manure runoff, groundwater contamination, exhausted wells, road damage from truck traffic and decreased property values. The meeting was punctuated by bursts of applause after several people had spoken. Many expressed concerns with nutrient-management issues that such a large facility might create. Many mentioned the Grand Lake Watershed's distressed status and issues with toxic blue-green algae. Some speakers criticized VanTilburg Farms management practices.

VanTilburg and McCarty family members attended the meeting but did not speak.

Melvin Steinbrunner, 8270 Rice Road, Celina, worries about the odor of the waste generated by 4,500 cows.

"The smell will be horrendous," he said. "I hope the people in Columbus think of the people who have to live here, because we're going to be stuck with this mess."

Charles Wurster, who lives a half mile away from the site, said he and his wife may move if the dairy is built. He noted that numerous other livestock facilities have sprouted up around him in recent years.

"We've all been silent and complacent too long," Wurster said. "We polluted our own lake, and now we look to pollute a Great Lake. We must stop building CAFOs (Confined Animal Feeding Operations) and get back to our roots."

The proposed dairy is located in the St. Marys River Watershed, which eventually flows to Lake Erie.

Barry Davis, who lives on Davis Road, called the dairy's officials "greedy millionaires" and said he worried about a diminished quality of life if the dairy is built.

Jeremy Leugers, 7320 Bogart Road, who lives less than a mile from the proposed dairy, asked ODA officials to consider how the dairy would affect the community.

"Please think of all the people this will upset," he said. "Not the few who will make money."

At one point Kevin Elder, director of the ODA's Division of Livestock Environmental Permitting, reminded speakers that they had been instructed at the beginning of the meeting to keep their comments to three minutes each.

"This decision affects the rest of our lives, and you're limiting us to three minutes," a man said from the audience.

Neptune-area resident Maria Suhr urged crowd members to elect leaders who protect the environment and water quality.

The Daily Standard publisher Frank Snyder, whose son, daughter-in-law and three grandchildren live near the proposed dairy, said 4,500 cows would produce the same amount of waste as 19,000 people, based on information from a Canadian university.

Dennis Piper, Celina, said more and more livestock operations are moving into the northern part of the county, which traditionally has been dominated with row crop agriculture.

"You can see a trend of migrating the livestock from the southern part of the county to the north part," he said. "We have to learn (from) what happened in the Grand Lake Watershed."

Piper's comment was followed by thunderous applause.

Keith Canary lives across from Heartland Dairy Holdings LLC, 3101 Tama Road, a 1,200-head operation southwest of Rockford. He told the crowd that he and many other community members fought against the dairy's application for state permits more than 10 years ago, but it did no good.

Canary said Hopewell Township roads near the dairy have been "destroyed" due to the constant truck traffic to and from the dairy. When manure is irrigated onto farmland, he and his family must stay in their home for days afterward. Canary said he brought a spray bottle with manure in it. Crowd members chuckled when he offered to retrieve it from his car so he could spray it on Kevin Elder, director of the ODA's Division of Livestock Environmental Permitting, who facilitated the meeting.

Canary said he believed Tuesday's meeting would not change MVP's plan to build the dairy.

"What you're saying, doing, posting is not going to do squat," he said. "The only one that can pull the plug on this is VanTilburg."

Theresa Howick, 7531 State Route 197, Celina, spoke in favor of the dairy, saying she believed the ODA and MVP officials would protect the environment.

The public can submit written comments on the dairy's draft permits until 5 p.m. Aug. 15 by sending them to lepp@agri.ohio.gov, faxing them to 614-728-6335, or mailing them to the ODA's Division of Livestock Environmental Permitting, A.B. Graham Building, 8995 E. Main St., Reynoldsburg, OH 43068. Comments should be typed or handwritten legibly and should include the person's name, complete mailing address and email address.

Elder said a responsiveness summary to comments from Tuesday's meeting and any other written comments received by the Aug. 15 deadline would be mailed in about four weeks to those who commented.

Kyle VanTilburg this morning said the meeting did not change MVP officials' plan to proceed and pledged to run the facility correctly.

"It was hard not to take some of the things said personal, but at the end of the day we know we are doing things right and following regulations," he said.

VanTilburg has said the enclosed barns, the manure-flushing system and a state-of-the-art anaerobic manure-treatment system will control odors.

Every few hours manure will be flushed from the cow barns' aisles to keep water from standing and attracting flies. The anaerobic manure-treatment system should produce little to no odor water, VanTilburg said.

Ken McCarty this morning said he understands community members' concerns expressed during the meeting.

"I think the meeting was a good avenue for people to express their concerns, and there were some valid concerns, but I believe all are addressed in the permit adequately and are going to be monitored and addressed by the ODA," he said this morning. "I believe the best practices we are going to implement between the VanTilburg family and our family I think will quell any and all of those concerns."

The 82-acre site is located adjacent to Hasis Road on the south side of U.S. 33. MVP's owners on March 20 announced plans for the multimillion dollar facility and on April 20 held an informal open house for people to ask questions. A community meeting was held on June 19.

The facility would have six cow barns, two manure-settling basins, each capable of holding about 8 million gallons; a 32 million gallon anaerobic wastewater cell; a 27.5 million gallon irrigation pond; and a 4 million gallon pond for silage runoff. The operational facility would employ about 35 people, MVP officials have said.

The design includes a visitors' center to educate groups about the operation, farm officials have said. A manager from the McCarty family from Kansas will manage the new dairy.

The farm would annually produce about 12 million gallons of liquid manure and 25 million gallons of treated wastewater that would be applied via a center pivot to 800 acres of surrounding farmland owned by the VanTilburgs and others, according to information in the draft permit to install. An architectural drawing includes a site for a "future potential" digester, which would convert methane into energy.

Correction:

A dairy with 4,500 cows would produce the same amount of waste as 198,000 people, based on information from a Canadian university. The error was made in reporting.

Continued here:
The Daily Standard - The Daily Standard

Like every fall, Georgia Southern students are coming back in full force. Friday is the official move in day for the dorms at GSU and classes begin on Monday. For many of the students, this will be their first time living in our community. Driving may be a little more challenging, as will wait times at local restaurants, plus the grocery stores will struggle to keep up for a few weeks. But soon, it will all level out and become normal life in the "prettiest little college town in America." With all the extra challenges for long time residents, please remember to offer a little patience as local businesses adjust. This is like Christmas to many of our retailers. I also like to remind our readers to go out of your way to welcome these new citizens and their parents to our community. Their initial experience in our community over the next few weeks will set the tone for their success here over the next few years. Be patient, kind, appreciative and mindful of the tremendous economic impact they are making on our community thanks to GSU, East Georgia College and Ogeechee Technical College. This is also a great time to take a look at updates and changes that have occurred on the Georgia Southern campus while the students were away:

Food services One of the biggest and most notable changes are the renovations at the Russell Union. They have completed a $1 million-HVAC upgrade and fulfilled an additional $500,000 in contractual obligations to renovate the Chick-fil-A and Starbucks that are located inside the Union. The renovations have dramatically improved and changed both restaurants. These restaurants are unique partnerships between GSU and the chains. They are operated by full-time and part-time GSU employees through licensing agreement. All of the employees are trained to company standards and the business operations are exactly the same as any other Chick-fil-A or Starbucks. The Chick-fil-A was built more than 15 years ago and was only designed to handle around $750,000 in annual revenue. The Union restaurant is now generating well more than $2 million annually. Due to this increase in volume of business, they were having difficulty keeping up with demand. To improve the customer experience, they have made significant improvements in the kitchen. Also, you will see new tile, new countertops, fresh paint and updated branding throughout. More importantly, a faster and better customer experience. Starbucks also was completely renovated and had its capacity expanded from 40 to 85 seats. Starbucks now offers a more open and inviting atmosphere, new countertops, flooring, updated decor, new furniture, more outlets for electronics and more social seating. All of the upgrades and renovations were done by Auxiliary Services employees with the university. Auxiliary Services employees 800 students and 500 of the student employees work in food services on campus. Both Chick-fil-A and Starbucks on campus will reopen on Friday. Also, Auxiliary Services will introduce a food truck mid-fall. A food truck will add a mobile kitchen to their menu of services. The mobility will allow them to prepare food on the go, including Paulson Stadium on game days. During the school week, the food truck will be located close to the bus stop near the stadium to offer a food option there. The food truck will be set up to handle multiple menus. Food services added Sushi in the spring in a partnership with "Sushi with Gusto." They prepare the Sushi fresh on campus and sell it in the three GUS Mart convenience stores on campus. The stores are located in the Nursing Building, Russell Union and Information Technology Building. "We are very proud of the fact that, for the fourth year, the meal plan price has not increased," said Eddie Mills, associate vice president of Auxiliary Services. "This is also the fifth year we have not increased the price for housing, transit, parking and health fees. We are very cognizant of the cost of higher Ed and work every day to try to provide quality services at an affordable price."

Parking and transportation: Reconstruction of the second half of the Russell Union parking lot is now complete, adding 115 more spaces than last year. This brings the total number of parking spaces on campus to more than 13,000, which includes Paulson Stadium. Parking services has moved away from decals this year and streamlined the parking registration process, which is completed online now. Students now register their vehicle using the license plate on the vehicle. GSU will enforce parking more efficiently using tag readers. This will prevent students from having to stand in long lines and having to place a decal on their car. Construction is scheduled to start on the entrance road at South Campus in September and is estimated to take about nine months. When complete it will align Akins Boulevard at the bypass with the entrance to the land across the bypass which was acquired by the university several years ago. South Campus currently contains plant operations. It will provide critical space for any future expansion of the campus.

Facility renovations The University Store received a face lift last year, which included new wooden floors and a more open shopping experience. Also, a new point-of-sale system allows customers to receive receipts via email for easier returns, exchanges and tax record keeping. The store now offers an in-house rental program with more titles, as well as a broader selection of eBooks. Other new features, including a customer loyalty program and online gift registry, are coming soon. Renovations continue at Hanner Fieldhouse, which saw various building systems and infrastructure upgrades over the summer. Mainly consisting of fire protection systems and HVAC, the facelift was completed during the year and includes more inviting signage and a welcoming and more efficient entrance. The track around the soccer field at the Erk Russell Park behind Paulson Stadium was resurfaced. This is where Tormenta FC hosts their games. In addition, renovations of all of the private suites at Paulson is underway and scheduled to be complete by the first home football game on Sept. 9.Delete - Merge Up

New construction Construction on the interdisciplinary academic building (IAB) has begun and is on schedule to be completed by the beginning of fall semester 2018. The building will replace two temporary classroom structures located between the Carroll Building and the IT building. The total project cost may exceed $33 million. The design and pre-construction services were funded by the state of Georgia for the new Center for Engineering and Research building. All services are currently being advertised for the project, with anticipation of design and program services to start this winter for the project.

Housing University Villas: All windows were replaced, vinyl siding installed, all entrance doors, the clubhouse, the bridge and gazebo leading to the pond were painted. More than 130 exterior surveillance cameras were installed. Wireless coverage in all apartments was upgraded, as was the CCTV system. A new fire alarm system and panic alarm system was installed. Freedom's Landing: New roofs were installed, exterior trim was removed and repaired and the wireless system was upgraded. During winter break, they have plans to install 13 new exterior emergency call boxes throughout the complex. Southern Pines: New windows were installed. Watson Commons: During the next four weeks, they will complete a summer project to renovate University Housings reception area. Ten private temporary lodging spaces were renovated to accommodate students who may be temporarily displaced from their permanent assignment. The new spaces look like mini hotel suites. If you head over to Georgia Southern to check out all of the progress, remember that by state law the speed limit on the entire campus is 25 mph whether marked or not. This includes the divided Akins Boulevard connected to the bypass. They police all campus roads with radar and are diligent about making sure everyone drives safe and responsibly on campus.

See more here:
Inside Bulloch Business with DeWayne Grice - Lots of changes while students were away - Statesboro Herald

8/8/2017

Erik Deneault, director of the Little Heroes Fund, and his wife, Dawn Deneault, put down new carpeting and flooring in an apartment in North Providence. The apartment is to be the home of Heather and Michael Novacek, their 11-year-old son Ian and 2-year-old daughter Grace Callanan. Ian has special needs and can no longer live in their current second-floor apartment because of difficulty with the stairs. The Little Heroes Fund was established to help families who have members with special needs. (Breeze photos by Charles Lawrence)

NORTH PROVIDENCE Organizers of the Little Heroes Fund are at it again, this time helping a local family in need create a home that works for them.

North Providence residents Erik and Dawn Deneault, with help from donors, installed new flooring throughout a first-floor apartment on Woonasquatucket Avenue. Heather and Michael Novacek had to leave a second-floor home because their 11-year-old son, Ian, who has special needs, could no longer live there due to his difficulty with stairs.

The family also has a 2-year-old daughter, Grace.

The Deneaults, partnering with Ruggieri Carpet, put down new carpeting and other flooring designed for wheelchair accessibility on July 18.

Oh my god, this is great, said Heather Novacek when she saw the completed work. It changes the whole look.

The Deneaults also helped install a new wheelchair ramp for the family.

Erik Deneault said he and his wife heard about the need through someone in the community following a June Funny 4 Friends comedy fundraiser to help get Ian Novacek accessible housing and equipment.

With our group, the Little Heroes Fund, a local church and a lot of support from the community with (the) Funny 4 Funds event, were all able to help make this new place a home (and) more handicapped-accessible for Ian, said Erik Deneault.

The Deneaults started Little Heroes to help families with special needs children who have major challenges due to unexpected costs of raising those children. The Deneaults daughter, Danica, has Aicardi syndrome.

Ian Novacek, 11, looks at a photograph of his new apartment being shown to him by his mother, Heather. With Heather is her 2-year-old daughter, Grace Callanan. Ian has special needs and can no longer live in the familys current second-floor apartment because of difficulty with the stairs.

Erik DenEault finishes the carpet installation while Heather Novacek, in center, and Dawn Deneault sit on a sofa donated to the Novacek family through the Little Heroes Fund. Erik Deneault, director of the Little Heroes Fund, and his wife, Dawn, put down new carpeting and flooring in an apartment in North Providence.

Heather Novacek stands on the new floor and looks at the freshly painted walls.

View original post here:
Little Heroes helps No. Providence family revamp new home - Valley Breeze

When one thinks about ones childhood home, the house that contains ones earliest memories, in whose rooms one passed ones formative years, different images come to mind. For some, a kitchen filled with steaming pots carries the aroma and experiences of their initial domestic life. For others, a grand piano that once resounded with long-forgotten tunes is the object that represents the soundtrack of family life. Still others associate their first years with a beloved pet or with a ball they kicked around the backyard with their siblings.

But for artist Fatma Shanan, whose exhibition Works 2010- 2017 is on display at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, the object that has dominated her perception of her family, her childhood and her identity is the Oriental carpet.

Indeed, the painter, who hails from the Druse village of Julis, seems to have spread the carpet as far as it could stretch, creating dozens of renditions of the typical Oriental rug and placing them in different settings. The numerous paintings she has crafted illustrate Shanans evolution as a painter, but they also tell a personal story, the intimate tale of a young woman tracing her roots back to their starting point.

In the exhibition, curated by Doron Lurie, Shanan takes an unabashed look at herself and the different elements that weave together the story of her life. The act of telling, the artist seems to imply, doesnt coincide with a political dialogue. Her conversation with herself and her past is acutely personal, even if some might tout the warm reception shes receiving from the mainstream Israeli art scene as a victory for the local Druse community.

The painters self-portraits are some of her strongest and most bewitching pieces, and they are almost impossible to look away from. Two of them, placed side by side, Self-Portrait and a Carpet 1 and Self-Portrait and a Carpet 2, show an Oriental rug in earth tones spread out vertically. But hiding among the biblical-looking illustrations of figures and animals are outlines of the artist herself. She looks as though she could be stepping into the carpet or, alternately, merging with it until she becomes one with the fabric and fades into its folds.

One portrait has warmer shades, with its paler twin looking like the negative of a photograph. Through the paintings, the artist seems to be raising questions about the importance and weight our surroundings have on the shaping of our personalities, at times to the point that they could swallow us whole. She seems to be debating whether ones home is a safe zone, a shelter, or rather a suffocating place from which one should try to break free.

Another oeuvre, Self-Portrait and a Carpet 3, suggests that the answer to this question is at least as complex and multifaceted as the carpets the artist is so drawn to. In this demurely honest painting, Shanan depicts herself kneeling down with her head bowed, her face touching a carpet and hidden from view. Perhaps intentionally, she is positioned at an angle that Muslim worshipers use during prayer. Is the carpet, symbolic of her background, a source of solace? Is she seeking comfort in it or giving in to the power of her origins? In other moving works, the artist uses the carpet as a means to bridge inner turmoil and the outside world. Portraying young girls standing on carpets in unlikely settings such as an open field or a backyard in works like Lara and Mia, Shanan tests the thin boundaries between girlhood and womanhood, the safety of home versus the arbitrariness of the outside, youth and adulthood. The young women seem to be extensions of the artist herself as she revisits her old stomping grounds from the perspective of time.

In other paintings, carpets are rolled out on village rooftops, with an aerial view of children playing.

She juxtaposes the richness and beauty of the carpets with the dirt and claustrophobic density of the village homes, looking at them from high above. These paintings are especially intimate, so much so that it seems that the artist had no choice but to paint them from afar so as to keep the memories at arms length, a safe distance away.

Some of the works are playful and liberating, even humorous.

One such painting, called Stepping on Watermelon Seeds, shows a pair of barefoot legs stomping on a field of watermelon seeds. Its portrayal of the unmitigated joy that lies in the act of letting go is so straightforward and uncomplicated that it tempts the viewer to step right in. But Shanans unflinching gaze also rests on a carpet she places in the backyard of a decrepit old village home surrounded by the electrical wiring of an air conditioner.

Here and throughout many of her creations, the artist displays a casual understanding of the almost impossible balance of esthetics. The elegance and affluence emanating from the carpets are strong, but theyre there to offset the dank and sad surroundings.

Sigmund Freud divided the psyche into three personality components: the id, the ego and the super-ego. The first is in charge of the uncoordinated desires and instincts of the personality. In that sense, Shanans carpets are her id.

They weave together the contrasting and conflicting joy and pain, sorrow and triumph that are part of growing up and looking back on what has made a person into who he or she is.

A video installation at the entrance to the exhibition catches the artist and the children on the rooftop in the act of unfolding the carpets. Carpet on a Flat Rooftop takes the viewer to the limit of the physical act of rolling out the rug.

Watching it on repeat, one can almost smell the dust and sweat wrung out of the fabric. Again and again, the carpet fills up the screen until it loses all meaning, and all one can wish is to join the artist as she covers every free surface of her world, carpet after carpet.

The exhibition is on display until October 28 at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art.

Share on facebook

Excerpt from:
The carpet as the id, the carpet as a home - Israel News - Jerusalem ... - The Jerusalem Post

Home improvement projects can resemble a military maneuver one miscalculation and everything is lost. I didn't want my decision to recarpet our stairs, hallway and bedrooms to be my Waterloo, so we prepared for the new carpet installation like we were preparing for battle. As everyone knows, winning a battle takes discipline, organizational skills and a plan. Unfortunately, I don't have any of those things. But I do like being in charge and giving orders, so I made myself general and rallied the troops to clear out the stuff that had accumulated in the bedrooms over the years.

It did turn out to be a battle a battle over where to put everything. When I ordered the carpet, I was told to expect installation in three to four weeks. Normal people would have used that time to sort through their things in order to avoid a last-minute rush. My family understands the concept of normal people, we're just not sure how it applies to us. That's why we waited until three days before D-Day before we started moving things out of the bedrooms.

OK, we didn't really start until two days before D-Day because the first day we talked about it a lot, then we looked at everything in the rooms and agreed it was going to be a ton of work. Actually, if I'm going to be perfectly honest, we only gave ourselves one day to prepare because two days seemed like more than enough time and we like to think we do our best work under pressure. I'm sure that's what Eisenhower would have done.

I didn't think it would be a problem, though, because I'd made a brilliant tactical decision to not have the master bedroom recarpeted. That would give us a place to put everything from the other bedrooms. The tactic seemed slightly less brilliant when our bedroom quickly filled up and we had a lot more things to clear out. So we made dozens of trips up and down the stairs carrying our treasured possessions, until the dining room and then the living room were filled. At least Hannibal got to use elephants.

Still, we soldiered on. Well, most of us did my son went AWOL a few times to play video games but we were making progress. Closets were emptied, bookcases were cleared and refugee stuffed animals were relocated to a safe spot. Ideally, all the outgrown clothes and toys would have already been donated, so we wouldn't have to waste a lot of our time and energy moving them around. Ideally, I also wouldn't wait until the last minute to do everything.

That night it was hard to sleep, surrounded by all the stuff from our kids' rooms, including Felicity an American Girl doll from the Revolutionary War period. She stood sentry while I slept, her vacant, soulless eyes unreadable beneath her tricorn hat. I doubt George Washington had to sleep under such difficult, and creepy, conditions. If he had, the Revolutionary War may have turned out differently and today we'd all be speaking English.

We suffered a surprise attack the next morning when the installers arrived an hour earlier than expected. Didn't they know I needed every minute I could get to clear out the stuff that I forgot was under the beds? I had no idea where I was going to put those things and was about to wave a white flag, when I remembered the bathtub had yet to be used as a storage space. Problem solved.

There was a momentary setback when the installers moved the bookcase from my daughter's room to reveal a very dark area on the carpet that was, I'm sure coincidentally, the exact same size and shape as the bookcase. Within the rectangle there were a variety of small twigs, pebbles, bits of fluff and press-on jewels. The installers looked at me, waiting for orders on how to proceed with an area capable of harboring a village of tiny lifeforms. I summoned my inner William Tecumseh Sherman and ordered them to spare nothing and rip it up from wall to wall. I chalked up the potential deaths of hundreds of innocent dust mites to collateral damage.

Now that most of the upstairs has new carpet, I'll eventually want new carpet in the master bedroom, too. But that means repeating the process and I'm not sure it's worth it. Floor is hell.

Betsy Bitner is a Capital Region writer. bbitner1@nycap.rr.com.

Read the original post:
Days of work done in last-minute maneuvers - Albany Times Union