Home Builder Developer - Interior Renovation and Design

Literarily famous emotion-haver and interior decorator Ayelet Waldman got mad this week at the news that the novel she'd published this year, Love & Treasure, had failed to make the New York Times Book Review's list of 100 notable books of 2014.

OK, so. Obviously this is very jarring to an author, to see a big long list of booksMANY bookson which one's own book has not been included.

But the true and terrible thing is: One hundred books is not so many books! Waldman is not fond of math, but let's do some arithmetic: The New York Times Book Review publishes weekly. There are 52 weeks in a year. So that means that fewer than two books a weekfrom the population of books that have been reviewed in the Book Review (agent, on phone: Great news! You're in the Book Review!)make the cut.

And half of those 100 Notable Books are nonfiction, which leaves only 50 slots for novels and short stories and poetry combined. So we're down to less than one novel a week.

This can be hideously depressing, if you write books. If you write one book, even. At some point in the processafter filing a first draft, maybe, or while awaiting page proofsan author walks into a bookstore and looks around at the sheer number of other books there: book after book after book, on table after table, shelf after shelf. And the same abundance that may previously have been inspiring becomes horrifying; the author senses very acutely what it means to be one grain of sand on a very large beach.

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Ayelet Waldman Has No Idea How Non-Notable It Is to Write a Novel

Cambridge, UK (PRWEB) December 04, 2014

The founders of Paintworks Cambridge, a UK-based company that offers top quality interior and exterior painters and decorators, are pleased to announce the launch of their new website. Thanks to the newly-updated site, customers can easily learn more about the company and their quality services.

Since the day Paintworks Cambridge first opened their doors, they have strived to offer the best interior and exterior decorating services in the Cambridge area, as well as full restoration services. From wallpaper removal and hanging and wood staining to masonry painting and special and lovely painting effects like sponging, rag rolling and marbling, the friendly and talented team from Paintworks Cambridge can handle it all.

For example, Paintworks Cambridges full restoration services can be completed on internal and external surfaces, and they will gladly tackle carpentry glazing as well as tiling. The company uses only the best possible materials and is proud of the many repeat customers that they work with on more than one occasion.

In addition, the founders of Paintworks Cambridge understand how chaotic and disruptive interior decorating and painting can be. As a result, they strive to do everything they can to make sure the entire process goes as smoothly as possible.

Don't worry about any disruption to your day to day life, we recognise the importance of maintaining a tidy working area and try to minimise stress and disruption. We work with care, consideration and cleanliness at all times, the company spokesperson said, adding that they truly enjoy bringing new life to a dull and tired room.

We thrive on turning a dated area in to an airy space to be enjoyed. No job is too big or small for us.

Anybody who would like to learn more about Paintworks Cambridge is welcome to visit the newly-updated website; there, they can read about the company and the top-notch services they provide, as well as reviews from satisfied customers who have worked with them.

About Paintworks Cambridge:

Whether people require interior or exterior decorating or both, Paintworks are confident that they won't find another decorator in the Cambridge area that ticks more boxes for quality of service. For those who live in Cambridge and need a decorator, call Paintworks today on 01223 502 950 or 07960 769 175 for a no obligation free quote. For more information, please visit http://www.pwpaintersanddecoratorscambridge.co.uk/

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Paintworks Cambridge are Proud to Announce the Launch of a New and More User-Friendly Website

(StatePoint) Curb appeal is important in setting a welcoming tone. And if your home is for sale, an attractive exterior becomes crucial.

"Realtors tell us that potential home buyers make a 'street decision' in less than 12 seconds on whether or not to view a home," says Niki Decker of Fypon, a leader in the synthetic millwork industry. "That's a very short time to make a good impression.

August marks the first National Curb Appeal Month, a great time to focus on ways to add value and design appeal to your homes exterior, whether or not you have plans to sell.

The experts at Fypon are offering their top exterior upgrade tips:

Swap a rotting wooden porch system with a new structural synthetic balustrade system that includes porch posts, top and bottom rails, balusters and all the other pieces essential to create a weather-resistant porch.

Trim out exterior windows. Use crossheads for over a window and top with a solid, decorative or recessed panel keystone accent piece. On the sides and below the window, use moulding pieces with plinth blocks in the corners to eliminate miter cuts.

Replace older, rotting wooden louvers with low-maintenance polyurethane louvers. Such functional louvers should have a noncorrosive fiberglass screen backing to keep insects out while allowing maximum airflow and ventilation to enter an attic.

A conventional older wooden door may be inefficient, worn out or plain ugly. Consider replacing your old wooden door with a solid fiberglass door, which is up to four times more energy efficient and resistant to rot, rust, dings and weather. Constructed as a complete system of components, Therma-Tru fiberglass doors, for example, are engineered to work together for lasting performance, security and energy efficiency.

Throughout August, homeowners can enter the online Door Do-Over Sweepstakes for the chance to win a new Therma-Tru fiberglass entry door. To enter the sweepstakes, visit http://www.TodaysHomeowner.com/DoorDoOver.

Make smart upgrades with a proven return on investment. For example, adding energy-efficient vinyl windows, like those from Simonton Windows, as a mid-range project to a home can have a cost recoup value of 78.7 percent, while adding vinyl siding can have a 78.2 percent recoup rate, according to the 2014 Cost Versus Value Study conducted by Remodeling magazine.

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National Curb Appeal Month: Tips to Upgrade Your Homes Exterior

In a windowless warehouse just outside of Chicago, where todays forecast is for below-freezing temperatures, Green Sense Farms grows leafy greens and herbs all year around. They sell their bountyprotected from insects, disease and brutal wintersto grocers like Whole Foods and some local restaurants. Green Sense grows their soil-free produce (they use coconut husk instead) in indoor growing towers. Beneath 30 foot ceilings, rows and rows of produce are stacked and CO2 levels, water, lighting, and humidity are precisely controlled.

"At capacity, were producing about three to four million pounds a year," said Robert Colangelo, the president and founder of Green Sense Farms. With their current footprint30,000 square feetGreen Sense can grow fresh produce that can be distributed within 100 miles to 20 million people.

Their success is another sign that the vertical urban farming movement is beginning to scale. In Cambridge, Massachusetts, MITs Media Lab is developing an open source version, known as City Farm. In Japan, just 60 miles from where the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster occurred, inside of a former silicon chip manufacturing facility, Fujitsu grows 3000 heads of lettuce a day that sell for three times the price of other lettuce.

Growers say they want to grow nutritious food in a new, sustainable way, and supplement field farms and greenhouses. They believe the technique can revolutionize farming in crowded urban metropolises, during cold winters, and in impoverished parts of the world. And, the growers add, their produce is already in demand because its local, available year around, and frankly, pristine.

"In the fieldtheres pests, theres animals, theres fungus, and theres weatherthe sun may shine, it may not," said Colangelo. "We see this as the future of farming."

Because City Farm is funded and backed by MIT, Harper says he is in a unique position to make his technology open source, to prototype rapidly and then spread it far and wide.

At the moment, he is working with universities and governments in Dubai, Accra, Guadalajara, and Detroit to develop vertical growing laboratories launching starting this January. In exchange for providing them with his technology, he hopes that each group will share their "recipes" for serving locals.

"We can optimize for different things," he said. "Like power use or water usethis is about harnessing the power of computing for food. Agriculture is thousands of years old but its only in recent times that weve been able to quantify a lot of the things around production."

And City Farm, Harper said, is trying to be the Linux of the vertical urban farm world.

"Were creating an OS that is open to the world," he said. "That will allow us to scale up faster."

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Vertical Farms Will Be Big, But For Whom?

Northvale, NJ (PRWEB) December 04, 2014

RAB Lighting introduces the 9 Watt SKEET surface-mount LED. This versatile low-cost fixture comes in round and square designs, measures just five inches across and just over one inch deep. SKEET fits on standard junction boxes, so its great for replacing old incandescent or fluorescent fixtures on ceilings and walls.

With its contemporary low-profile design, SKEET is perfect for hallways, kitchens, closets and other small rooms. At only 9 Watts, SKEET delivers nearly 800 lumens and replaces up to 100-Watt incandescent bulbs. Energy Star certified and rated for a 100,000-hour LED lifespan, based on IES LM-80 results and TM-21 calculations, SKEET provides high-efficiency, low-maintenance lighting for residential indoor applications.

SKEETs vandal-resistant diffusion lens provides smooth light with no glare. Best-in-class three-step binning delivers consistent fixture-to-fixture color consistency. Correlated color temperature (CCT) is warrantied to shift no more than 200K over a 5-year period.

This surface-mount fixture is designed for easy installation with a simple slide-n-lock bracket that mounts to 3 and 4 round or octagon junction boxes. SKEET is available in residential warm (2700K), warm (3000K) or warm/neutral (3500K) color temperatures and is UL listed for damp locations.

About RAB Lighting: RAB Lighting is a leading manufacturer of affordable, durable and energy-efficient LED lighting fixtures. Located in Northvale, New Jersey and founded in 1946, RAB offers well-designed, professional grade lighting through a broad network of electrical distributors. RAB also offers lighting design and engineering services, free of charge, to produce lighting layouts. For more information, call (888) RAB-1000 or visit http://www.rabweb.com.

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RAB Lighting Introduces the 9-Watt SKEET LED Surface-mount Fixture

Home depot cabinet refacing
Kitchen refacing by ReNu kitchen.

By: Andy Jun

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Home depot cabinet refacing - Video

Shani Associates - Architects Interior Consultants.
We are leading Interior Designing Contracting Firms offering innovative solutions for meeting the specific layout requirements of our clients. Our expertise lies in handling projects from...

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Shani Associates - Architects & Interior Consultants. - Video

THE UNITEDArchitects of the Philippines (UAP) is encouraging its members to allow the Professional Regulation Commission to assess them so they could get certified and recognized as Asean architects and work in other Southeast Asian countries.

Arch. Benjamin K. Panganiban, fellow of UAP Kadayawan Davao Chapter, said yesterday in the weekly Club 888 forum at Marco Polo Davao Hotel that there are only 40 Asean architects, including him, in the country. There are three of them in Mindanao.

The PRC has encouraged all the architects to apply as long as they comply with the requirements, Panganiban said.

In Mindanao, Jaime B. Gonzaga, UAP District 1 director, said there are about 5,000 licensed architects that were registered under the association. He said some of them, however, were hesitant to apply as they needed to go to the head office of PRC and secure necessary documents.

Among the requirements include having five-year practice of the profession and providing designs on what they specialized. The registration fee is P5,000.

The PRC has to assess on what is the specialization of each applicant, Gonzaga said.

Panganiban said this is part of the government-to-government where the country can offer or tap services from other Southeast Asian countries in line on the implementation of Asean integration which would be in full swing starting next year.

The members of Asean has mutual recognition arrangement (MRA) on architectural services.

Based on the MRA, the objectives of this arrangement are to facilitate mobility of architects; to exchange information in order to promote adoption of best practices on standards of architectural education, professional practice and qualifications; to conform to the spirit of Asean co-operations based on fair distribution of resources and benefits through collaborative researches; and to encourage, facilitate and establish mutual recognition of architects and set up standards and commitment of technological transfer among Asean members.

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Architects told to get Asean certification

NASA Headquarters, in Washington, provides overall guidance and direction to the agency, under the leadership of theAdministrator. Tenfield centersand a variety of installations around the country conduct the day-to-day work in laboratories, on air fields, in wind tunnels, and in control rooms. Together, this skilled, diverse group of scientists, engineers, managers, and support personnel share the Vision, Mission, and Values that are NASA.

To implementNASAs Mission, NASA Headquarters is organized into four principal organizations called Mission Directorates:

Aeronautics: Pioneers and proves new flight technologies that improve our ability to explore and which have practical applications on Earth.

Human Exploration and Operations: Focuses on International Space Station operations and human exploration beyond low Earth orbit.

Science: Explores the Earth, moon, Mars, and beyond; charts the best route of discovery; and reaps the benefits of Earth and space exploration for society.

Space Technology: A catalyst for the creation of technologies and innovation needed to maintain NASA leadership in space while also benefiting America's economy.

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NASA Headquarters | NASA

Foreign Investment In Condos, Apartments, Retail Fuel Latest Development Wave in Sunshine State

Apartment and retail developers have been especially active in this next wave of activity hitting South Florida shores. About 2,700 units apartment units delivered in 2013 and another 3,700 units expected to deliver this year, the first two consecutive years of increasing multifamily construction since 2009, according to CoStar Portfolio Strategy.

The mixed-use Worldcenter across from the American Airlines Arena in downtown Miami will bring around 750,000 square feet of retail space through a joint venture between the Forbes Co. and Taubman Centers, with Macys and Bloomingdales signed as anchor tenants. The first 10-block phase of the $2 billion project will include retail, residential towers, an expo center and a hotel. Developer Daniel Kodsi has unveiled plans for the 60-story Paramount Miami Worldcenter residential tower, which along with other elements of the project is scheduled to begin site work in the first quarter of 2015, with vertical construction planned for midyear.

It's a scenario repeated across most property types in Miami and other South Florida markets, where some of the nation's largest private construction projects are under way or on the drawing board. The latest developments are being fueled by a strong local economy led by tourism, foreign investment and the resurging professional and business services sector.

Investors from Europe, Russia, the Asia/Pacific and the Middle East have joined Latin America capital, which historically dominated investment into Miami and South Florida, Neisen Kasdin, vice chairman of the city's Downtown Development Authority and Miami office managing partner at law firm Akerman LLP, recently told CoStar News.

Argentine investors, once a small part of the Miami property market, have emerged as particularly active in South Florida of late. A group headed by the family that owns Coto Supermarket in Argentina recently bought a 1.25-acre parcel at 300 Biscayne Boulevard Way on the Miami River for a record-setting $125 million. The land near the Epic Residences and Hotel, which could accommodate hotel, residential, retail and office uses, features waterfront access with the capacity to dock boats.

"We are seeing a shift of focus towards clientele whose interests lie in development projects," said Octavio Rinaldi, CEO at CWV Realty Group, the Miami-based real estate investment and development company which negotiated the land sale. "The Miami market has re-emerged as a lucrative investment market."

Multifamily development remains strong even as rent growth has begun to slow down in Miami after several strong years. New apartment, retail and mixed-use projects continue to start across the metro almost weekly, particularly in the Brickell submarket.

Strong pre-sales of new condo construction in the coastal Miami market reflect hot demand for new properties, according to the latest new construction market report released late last month by Cranespotters.com and the Miami Association of Realtors. At the end of October, nine new condo towers had been completed year to date in Miami-Dade County east of I-95, with 54 under construction, 62 approved but not yet started, and 66 towers announced but not yet approved.

"South Floridas preconstruction condo market is booming east of Interstate 95 in the tricounty area as the area heads into the winter buying season," said Peter Zalewski, founder of Cranespotters.com. "Industry sentiment suggests that preconstruction condo sales are expected to strengthen further during the upcoming historically busy winter tourism season."

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Construction Cranes, Foreign Investment Soar In Red-Hot South Florida