Home Builder Developer - Interior Renovation and Design

One tough aspect that seniors face as part of aging in place is housecleaning, home maintenance and repair.

Why should you care? Aging in place is a strategy that many seniors employ, but they may not consider the tasks of home maintenance when they do.

The gist Seniors are capable of managing some tasks, but they must outsource others, while still others go undone.

The rest of the story A study titled, "Challenges to Aging in Place: Understanding Home Maintenance Difficulties" reported that 53.5 percent of maintenance tasks of seniors got done by outsourcing, 9.7 percent got done using tools and technologies (think Roomba), 7 percent left the task undone, 4.3 percent got done just through the senior's perseverance with the task and 4.3 percent got done with assistance from others.

Outfitting the home for aging in place

Aside from making accommodations in the home for aging in place and paying for those changes, another aspect of aging in place is house cleaning, upkeep and home maintenance. All of these become more difficult as we age.

I write this as I get mentally ready to shovel my neighbor's driveway. She's a widow in her 80s. Why mentally ready? It is cold out. Balmy to some northerners, but not to me. Anyway, it got me thinking about the problems that seniors may have when aging in place. There's not one right approach, just an approach that's right for you.

My twice-widowed father, also in his 80s, is putting his house on the market because he doesn't want to deal with the responsibilities of maintaining a big house when he's the only one in the home. In contrast, I know a woman who is 101 and still living on her own in her family home and wouldn't have it any other way.

I came across an article in the spring 2011 issue of Journal of Housing for the Elderly titled, "Challenges to Aging in Place: Understanding Home Maintenance Difficulties" by Fausset, Kelly, Rogers and Fisk. The article was interesting in how the writers categorized the issues and solutions in home maintenance for seniors. They categorized tasks, ranked them by difficulty in performing the task and considered the different solutions to complete the task.

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Keeping up around the house

Terraced pool and tropical softscape form one of the entertainment areas created for a home in Santaluz.

A landscape renovation project can be overwhelming, even just thinking about the concept of what stays and what goes. There are many factors to consider in the early stages of a conceptual drawing for a renovated backyard or front yard.

The residential project featured here, in the Santaluz development east of Rancho Santa Fe, had great bones to work with existing established trees, for example which just needed fine-tuning. The homeowners, with our guidance, decided what was feasible to keep and what had to go.

The front yard was stripped, except for an amazing Canary palm, which we designed around. The homeowners wanted a formal theme, which was created with plant materials such as various hedging shrubs, boxwood shrubs and varieties of ornamental grasses and roses with just enough turf to round it all out.

The entry concrete was finished with Topcast etching and accented with Quartzite flagstone. Accent Unique LED lighting was used throughout the project.

The backyard was designed with a tropical theme, since existing large vegetation (birds of paradise and Phoenix Roebellinis) were scattered throughout. We created several entertainment areas, such as a covered patio structure with heat lamps and a chandelier, an elegant barbecue structure with a stacked-stone backsplash and a trellis accent feature, which dressed up an existing fire pit. Decking concrete used to create this hardscape also was finished with Topcast etching and Quartzite bands throughout.

A patio structure with stacked quartzite columns invites family and guests to sit back and relax.

The plants that were added were a creative mix of varietal flaxes, Leucadendron, Arbutus compacta (strawberry bush), Kalanchoe (flapjacks) Cycas revoluta (Sago palms), Cocos Plumosa (queen palms), ginger, hibiscus and agaves, just to name a few.

The homeowners newly renovated landscape has enabled them to extend their indoor entertaining to the outdoors and enjoy being on a vacation in their yard.

Local interior designers, architects, contractors and decorators are invited to showcase a recent residential project in this space. Contact Home + Garden editor Chris Ross,

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Backyard gets tropical makeover

Cottage Chic Master Bedroom Tour
Interior designer Paula Velez takes our cameras on a tour of her master bedroom that she calls her "cottage". This video comes from Steven and Chris. Want mo...

By: Steven and Chris

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Cottage Chic Master Bedroom Tour - Video

Just 1st Steps -2-
My Name Is Mohsen Farag, An Egyptian Architect Interior Designer. This Video Contains Some Of My Work. See Just 1st Steps -1- : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBg7GnPJhmE See My Portfolio.

By: mohsen farag

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Just 1st Steps -2- - Video

The man behind some of Frances splashiest new boutique hotels talks about minimalism, flea-market furniture and the films that inspire his work wsj.com

WHEN IT COMES TO inspiration, French architect and interior designer Jean-Philippe Nuel often finds himself wandering over to his bookshelf and randomly picking out a volume of poetry. Rimbaud, Mallarm, Octavio Paz.

Its just to have a little bit of soulful input that goes beyond the realm of graphic arts, says Mr. Nuel, whos comfortably installed beside a virtual-flame fireplace in the lounge of the Cinq Codet in Paris, one of his latest boutique hotel projects.

Trained as an architect at the citys Beaux-Arts, Mr. Nuel, 54, has designed the interiors of some of Frances splashiest new hotels. Their styles range from the luminous, cream-colored suites of the Intercontinental Htel Dieu in Marseille to the hip Art-Deco-meets-street-art of Pariss Hotel Molitor, a restored 16th-arrondissement landmark.

The designers latest venture, opening this spring, is the sprawling seaside Cures Marines Hotel Thalasso and Spa in Trouville, a destination once frequented by wealthy Parisians for the fashionable casinos and thermal baths. It was also a favorite with the literary set, from Stendhal and Flaubert to Proust and Marguerite Duras, and Mr. Nuel says hell pay tribute to some of their best quotes in the dcor.

Im always influenced by the history of each place, but I never try to reconstruct the past, Mr. Nuel says with a smile, from his perch on a low-slung sofa of his own design. And as much as I like creating contemporary furniture, you should feel at ease about putting your feet up on the table. Otherwise, theres no point.

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Checking In With Hotel Interior Designer Jean-Philippe Nuel | wsj.com

Friday, March 13, 2015, by Jenny Xie

All photos by Douglas Friedman via Arch Digest

Ten years ago, interior designer Celerie Kemble set out to build her dream vacation spot on the picture-perfect northern shore of the Dominican Republic. The latest Architectural Digest puts Playa Grande Beach Club, the fruit of her labor, on full, splendid display. The NYC-based designer, whose previous exploits also include dreaming up a glam Manhattan pied--terre for Barbie, fashioned her vacation compound after Dominican vernacular design, incorporating metal roofs, hand-cut fretwork, and plenty of breezy panels and fanlights. The interior is awash in pastel-hued schemes and decorated with a mix of Kemble's own designs, vintage flea market finds, and custom pieces by local artisans.

The "familial resort," marked by cabanas and bungalows, also includes a 22-foot high central clubhouse (). As AD highlights, Kemble painted its ceiling pale aqua and covered the floors with "handmade tiles in a pink, navy-blue, and yellow pattern."

Celerie Kemble's Dominican Rpublic Retreat is a Study in Tropical Whimsy [Arch Digest] All Celerie Kemble coverage [Curbed National]

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Designer Digs : Escape for a Minute to Celerie Kemble's Sublime Beach Retreat

Introduced as interior designer for the 152-room SLS LUX Philadelphia Hotel, the iconic Phillipe Starck found it easy to strike the right chord with his audience of city movers and shakers.

Turning to Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff, the Frenchman thanked the recording impresarios for giving him "the kind of music that has allowed me to make good projects."

"This is my opportunity," Starck said of his first Philadelphia project, "to be able to pay my debt to you and your music," to which he listens as he designs.

With speeches, gold bricks, and daytime fireworks Friday at the Kimmel Center's Hamilton Garden, developers Carl Dranoff and Sam Nazarian, CEO of Los Angeles-based sbe Entertainment Group, led the tributes to Gamble and Huff.

The old building, simply called "309," was the home of Philadelphia International Records, where the two men produced 175 gold and platinum discs by the O'Jays, Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes, and Teddy Pendergrass, to name three of many.

"When we [Gamble, Huff, and Thom Bell] tried to buy the building [in the early 1970s], no one would give us a mortgage, so we had to go to New York to Chemical Bank," Gamble recalled.

"These two men established a gold standard we intend to meet," said Dranoff, who announced the plans for the $220 million project, designed by New York-based architecture firm Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates, 15 months ago.

Starting on the 18th floor will be 90 one-, two- and three-bedroom condos and two penthouses at undisclosed prices.

Construction is set to begin in the fall.

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Music history in South Broad hotel-condo project

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Mohamed and Ahmad Mobarak will soon be heading home and back to work at a spot where they were arrested from a little more than a week ago.

NBC4 brought the story of search warrants at the Mobarak business along state Route 161, at the Beechcroft Newsstand.

Federal agents and local officers took items from the Mobarak home and businesses as part of their investigation into alleged crime activity with multiple suspects.

Today in federal court Ahmad and Mohamed were allowed release by federal judge Elizabeth Preston Deavers after arguments by the U.S. Attorney's Office to try and keep them in custody.

The judge ruled that the brothers don't present a flight risk, or a danger to the public, and would allowed to return home early next week on some sort of monitoring system or device.

We need our clients out, we need them to work with us, 250 alleged institutions defrauded, we need to work on that, they are not a threat to the community in any way shape or form, Mark Collins, attorney for Ahmad Mobarak said.

Prosecutors called an agent with the IRS who talked a little about the case against the brothers saying in part they are accused of manipulating some 6000 credit cards, over a 3 year period, wiring nearly $200,000 overseas.

The U.S. Attorney's Officer argued that the brothers were flight risks,there was evidence to warrant them staying behind bars, and face long prison sentences if found guilty.

Today the brothers learned that when the hardware for monitoring systems come in, they will head home.

He's pleased, feels like any one of us would, looking forward to returning to his buinsess, Dave Thomas, attorney for Mohamed Mobarak said.

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Federal Money Laundering Suspects To Be Sent Home Until Trial

Listen Story audio 4min 30sec Updated: 11:30 a.m. | Posted: 7:25 a.m.

Somali-Americans in Minnesota and across the United States are again facing problems sending money to relatives still living in east Africa.

Last month, the bank that handled the majority of cash transfers from the United States to east Africa stopped providing the service. Aid organizations say there will be a humanitarian crisis if the financial pipeline doesn't expand soon.

That worries residents of the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood near downtown Minneapolis, home to thousands of Somali-Americans. It's not hard to find people who regularly send cash to family in or near Somalia.

"If I don't send any money, there's no way they can live," said 28-year-old Ayub Ali, who earns a modest living as a truck driver.

This month Ali again scraped together $700 and came to Kaah Express, a storefront money-wiring business on Cedar Avenue. Ali said he sends money to his wife and children, which they'll use for the basics including food, clothing and rent.

"She doesn't have any income except my income," he said.

During Somalia's recent civil war, Ali's family fled to Nairobi, Kenya along with many others.

According to the charity Oxfam, many of the 10 million people who remain in Somalia are deeply dependent on money sent from relatives overseas. The group says $1.3 billion in remittance payments flow in to Somalia from around the world every year. The funds account for as much as 45 percent of the country's economic activity.

Somalis in the United States may only send money if a U.S. bank is willing to facilitate the transfers. Any bank that does risks multimillion dollar fines if it runs afoul of federal antiterrorism financing laws and complying with the laws is increasingly difficult.

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Blocking wire transfers could spark a humanitarian crisis in Somalia

205 Grace Chapel Trail in Providence, Pike Road AL homes for sale
Remarkable Estate Home in Providence, this stunning 5 Bedroom, 3.5 bath beauty comes with 2 Living areas, one upstairs and one downstairs. Stainless Steel Appliances, Hardwood Flooring, and...

By: Sherry Watkins

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205 Grace Chapel Trail in Providence, Pike Road AL homes for sale - Video