Home Builder Developer - Interior Renovation and Design

The term sustainable living is being enhanced by a new home feature that used to be earmarked as an extravagance.

The addition of elevators to Central Okangan homes, whether installing the finished product or creating the space for an elevator shaft in an older home, is beginning to have an impact on the local real estate market.

And realtors are beginning to take notice, as the baby boomer generation ages into retirement, many are wanting to remain in their homes long after their mobility becomes limited.

Nazi Khajavi, a local estate agent, said the market trend is clearly placing greater prominence on elevator installations as a desired feature for new homes.

I think people who live in walk-ups and are in a wheelchair or have trouble with stairs, elevators can help accommodate them so they can continue to live in a two-storey home, Khajavi said.

In this market, she says the traditional rancher option that retired folks might have migrated to in the past to eliminate the stairs issue isnt the trend house buyers are necessarily looking for today.

They like the two-storey house primarily because of the views that second floor offers. So if you have an elevator, that opens up access for people who otherwise would be limited to the main floor. Having an elevator opens up the house to those who are mobility challenged. And the other aspect is just the convenience of moving up and down in the house or if you are having to move items around that otherwise would be hauled up or down the stairs, she said.

With a price range that tends to start at about $28,000, Khajavi says right now house prices for people wanting elevators tends to start at about $750,000 and up.

But if the demand continues to increase, she sees that changing, noting that if you are not elderly or in a wheelchair, its not a feature you would think of including in your house.

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Home: Getting elevated a good thing for boomers

August 21, 2014 - Intended for fire alarm and emergency communication systems, Wheelock Exceder LED Series includes ceiling models for horns, horn strobes, strobes, speakers, and speaker strobes. Series features dual voltage 25/70 Vrms, field selectable tap settings from 1/82 W for speaker models, and field selectable candela settings of 15, 30, 75, and 95 cd. With frequency response spanning 3008,000 Hz, speaker and speaker strobe models suit mass notification applications. Eaton Corp. Eaton Center Cleveland, OH, 44114 USA Press release date: August 13, 2014

Eaton Provides Energy Efficiency, Cost Savings with Expanded Line of Wheelock Exceder LED Series Ceiling Notification Appliances

LONG BRANCH, N.J. Power management company Eaton today announced that its Cooper Notification business has expanded its Wheelock Exceder LED Series to include ceiling models for horns, horn strobes, strobes, speakers and speaker strobes. The Wheelock Exceder Series is the industrys first line of notification appliances to utilize high-efficiency light emitting diodes (LEDs) as the strobe light source to help reduce overall costs in fire alarm and emergency communication systems.

The addition of new ceiling appliances completes our low candela line of Wheelock Exceder LED products, said Huyenchau Villas, product manager, Eatons Cooper Notification business. Our break-through optical design and energy-efficient LED technology leads the industry in low current draw, which equates to lower installation costs, reduction in materials and overall system savings for customers.

Exceder LED ceiling appliances offer one of the industrys smallest footprints in a sleek, modern design. For faster and easier installation, the series includes dual voltage (25/70 Voltage Root Mean Square), five field-selectable tap settings (1/8 to 2 watts) for speaker models and multiple audible settings for horn models, field-selectable candela (cd) settings (15, 30, 75, 95 cd), and convenient mounting options for both new and retrofit construction.

The Exceder LED speaker and speaker strobe models feature the widest frequency response range in the industry spanning 300 to 8,000 Hertz. Ideal for mass notification applications, the wider frequency response range allows the speaker to reproduce frequencies closer to the original sound, improving the clarity and comprehension of the intended message for intelligible communications.

Eatons Cooper Notification business offers the Exceder LED ceiling speaker data files for the EASE Evac software design tool from AFMG technologies to help system designers meet intelligibility code requirements,. To import the files, visit http://www.coopernotification.com.

To learn more about this solution or others from Eatons Cooper Notification business, visit http://www.coopernotification.com.

Eatons Cooper Notification business is a leader in developing integrated, advanced technology and code-compliant solutions for life safety and mass notification, providing critical, emergency communications for higher education, industrial, commercial, government and military markets.

Eatons Electrical Sector is a global leader with expertise in power distribution and circuit protection; backup power protection; control and automation; lighting and security; structural solutions and wiring devices; solutions for harsh and hazardous environments; and engineering services. Eaton is positioned through its global solutions to answer todays most critical electrical power management challenges.

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Notification Appliances utilize LEDs as strobe light source.

Denton, Texas (PRWEB) August 21, 2014

After opening their doors about a year ago, Rainbow International of Denton is nominated as one of Top 3 contenders for the Best Carpet Cleaning category in the 8th Annual Best of Denton County awards. The winner of this award will be featured in a special section of Go Pages Magazine and Lantana Living Magazine distributed to more than 30,000 selected homes in the county.

We are honored to be nominated as one of the Top 3 businesses for Best Carpet Cleaning, said Tom Johnson, owner of Rainbow International of Denton. We take pride in offering dependable, professional services to homeowners and business owners. We are always ready to offer quick, reliable help with basic carpet cleaning needs and expert restoration services in the unfortunate event homeowners or business owners experience water, fire, smoke, or mold damage.

Rainbow International serves Denton County and some surrounding areas, and specializes in carpet cleaning, carpet stain removal, carpet spot removal, deodorization, and tile and grout cleaning. The restoration experts at Rainbow International are also trained to offer expert restoration services for water, fire, smoke and mold damage in their home or business.

All nominations and voting are held online at http://www.BestofDentonCounty.com. Readers have been nominating and voting for The Best of Denton County for nearly a decade and it serves as a way to honor excellence in the community.

For information about Rainbow International and how they can help with cleaning and restoration needs, call them at (940) 483-9000, or visit http://www.rainbowintl.come/denton. You can also visit them on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/RainbowRestorationofDenton.

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Local Rainbow International Named in Top 3 for Best of Denton: Rainbow International offers carpet cleaning and ...

A Viroqua Boy Scout recently completed his Eagle Scout service project constructing two decks along the shore at Jersey Valley Park.

Derek Johnson, 14, an incoming freshman at Viroqua High School, worked with mentors to design and build two decks that are adjacent to a paved walkway along the western shore of Jersey Valley Lake.

Johnson began planning the project in October of 2013 and received approval from the Vernon County Land and Water Conservation Department to proceed with the project in January of 2014. Construction began on May 31 and the decks were complete on June 12.

Im grateful to Vernon County and everyone who supported me in my project, Johnson said. Im thankful to those who volunteered their time to help build the decks.

Johnsons project used money from a state of Wisconsin matching grant to Vernon County to help improve recreation at the park. The total cost of material for the project was $2,499.10. Nuzum Building Supply of Viroqua donated more than $400 to the project.

Johnson gave his final project report to the Vernon County Land And Water Conservation Committee, last Thursday. Committee chairman Will Beitlich said the county was thankful for the project and what it adds to Jersey Valley Park.

Johnsons mentors for the project were Vernon County Parks Administrator Rod Engh and his uncle Tom Mullikin of Wauzeka.

Johnson said a total of 308 volunteer hours were donated to the project by 19 different Scouts, adult Scout leaders, family, friends or community members.

Johnson has been a Scout since becoming a Tiger Cub Scout in 2005. He received his Arrow of Light, the highest award in Cub Scouts, from Pack 9, Viroqua, in 2011. He attended the Boy Scouts of America National Jamboree at the Bechtel Summit Reserve, W. Va., in the summer of 2013. He has served as Troop Historian, Patrol Leader, Senior Patrol Leader and is currently the Order of the Arrow Troop Representative for Troop 75.

Johnsons future plans are to join the military and/or study police science to become a law enforcement officer.

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Viroqua Boy Scout completes service project

As the sun started to set and the sky darkened on Wednesday, residents of the Oak Bluffs Camp Ground sat on the porches of their brightly colored Victorian gingerbread houses. Facing the Tabernacle, they waited for their cue.

At 8:50 p.m., Bob Cleasby carried a round paper lantern down the Tabernacles center aisle and hung it out front. As soon as Mr. Cleasby hung the lantern, it was time for the Camp Ground to light up. Brightly colored paper lanterns bordering the Tabernacle were turned on and in unison, people waiting eagerly on their porches illuminated the paper lanterns hanging from their cottages. By 8:51 p.m., the neighborhood was aglow. It was the 146th Grand Illumination.

Bob Cleasby led the crowd in song. Mark Lovewell

The Grand Illumination, which takes place on the third Wednesday of every August, is an evening steeped in tradition from beginning to end. The night began with a performance by the Vineyard Haven Band, which was formed in the same year that the Grand Illumination first took place. Mr. Cleasby then led a community sing-along, during which he directed the audience as they sang songs such as Ive Been Working on the Railroad, The Swiss Navy (a crowd favorite), and other upbeat and patriotic tunes. Close to 10,000 people take part in the ceremony and stroll around the brightly decorated neighborhood afterwards, while the band continues to play.

Per Illumination tradition, the oldest member of the Camp Ground lights the first paper lantern that Mr. Cleasby then hangs up. This persons identity is kept secret until the night of the event. This year, the honor went to Bill Nicholson, who is 91 years old. Right before lighting the lantern, he came onstage with his wife Barbara, who has been coming to the Camp Ground since 1930. Mr. Nicholson first came to the Island in the 1940s, when he was a radar specialist at a naval air base here. He met Mrs. Nicholson at Inkwell Beach while she was vacationing with her grandfather. A few years later, the couple married and bought a cottage in the Camp Ground, where they live to this day. Mr. Nicholson recalled living in the cottage years ago when it had no hot water and the couple heated the bedrooms by cutting a hole in the ceiling on the first floor.

Other traditions are more personal. Mr. Cleasbys wife, Marietta, spends the morning and afternoon of each Illumination night doing a themed painting of the Camp Ground. This is a tradition she has kept for close to 50 years.

Each lantern has a story. Mark Lovewell

I paint all day long and I finally raise my head and I look up and I go Gosh, its 6o clock! and then I have to hurry to get over here, she said.

This year, Mrs. Cleasby chose to paint the front of the Tabernacle. Mrs. Cleasby also had the honor of painting the lantern that Mr. Nicholson lit, going the lantern with an image of the Tabernacle as well.

As people strolled around the beautifully lit neighborhood, they enjoyed a mix of lanterns both modern and old-fashioned. Some lanterns, like the ones that decorated Steve and Dawn McKennas house, date back to the mid 1800s. Though Mr. McKenna is not certain of the lanterns exact ages, hes been able to make a pretty good estimate by looking at how the American flag is painted on the lanterns.

Link:
Tradition Lights the Way at Grand Illumination Night

Click photo to enlarge

File photograph by John Medina The St. George Coptic Orthodox Church is hosting its sixth annual Egyptian Festival at 395 W. Rincon Avenue in Campbell. The festival opens tonight from 5 to 9 p.m. and will continue through Sunday.

The St. George and St. Joseph Coptic Orthodox Church is sponsoring the sixth annual Egyptian Festival of Campbell.

The festival opens Aug. 22 from 5 to 9 p.m., and will continue through the weekend, Aug. 23-24.

"This year's event is very special," said festival director Nagy Gad.

Gad said that this is the first year the new church is open after construction.

The building is Northern California's first Coptic Orthodox church to be built from the ground up, according to Gad.

The festival will boast a "Sphinx Playground" with games, face painting, activity booths and a Nefertiti bazaar souvenir booth. Folklore performances are scheduled throughout the weekend.

Traditional Egyptian fare will be available from the King Tut Buffet and Karnak Caf. Options include grilled meat, sandwiches, wraps, vegetarian dishes and desserts such as baklava and konafa.

Gad said the church has seen more people attending the festival over the years.

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Campbell: Sixth annual Egyptian Festival returns Aug. 22-24

Two of the country's largest developers plan to build a $150-million high-rise apartment complex at Hollywood Boulevard and La Brea Avenue in Hollywood.

Reinforcing the area's residential building boom, the project called Hollywood Horizon would be built on a corner that has had a church since 1959. The intersection on the western edge of Hollywood Boulevard's commercial district is near some of L.A.'s top attractions, including the famed TCL Chinese Theatre.

"This is a very important property in the sense that it is the gateway to Hollywood," said William McMorrow, chief executive of Beverly Hills real estate investment firm Kennedy Wilson, one of the two developers of the apartment complex.

Indeed, a shiny public sculpture called Hollywood La Brea Gateway stands on the southeast side of the intersection. The stainless-steel gazebo popular with picture-taking tourists is held up by statues representing actresses Dorothy Dandridge, Mae West, Anna May Wong and Dolores del Rio.

Its less glamorous neighbors across the street, however, include liquor stores, a massage parlor and a pawn shop, remnants of Hollywood's rougher-edged past. Some recent real estate projects failed, but there are signs of a turnaround.

Just south of the intersection on La Brea is a $120-million apartment complex called the Avenue, which was reborn in 2011 as a rental property after the original developer went bankrupt trying to build condominiums on the site.

To the east, at 7060 Hollywood Blvd., is a once-shabby 1970s office building that Kennedy Wilson and its developer partner LeFrak Organization gutted and renovated in 2008 after a previous owner unsuccessfully tried to convert it to condos. Today the tower houses offices of concert promoter Live Nation Entertainment Inc.

Now LeFrak and Kennedy Wilson are turning their sights on the northwest corner of Hollywood and La Brea, where they plan to build Horizon Hollywood, a trio of apartment towers with shops and restaurants.

"This is a community going through a major rejuvenation," said Richard LeFrak, chief executive of the LeFrak Organization, a prominent New York real estate firm.

Since 2003, there have been 3,326 residential units completed in Hollywood, and 1,145 more are under construction, according to the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce. An additional 3,675 residences not including Hollywood Horizon are in planning stages.

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Developers have faith in church site on Hollywood Boulevard

In the four years since the approval of the Downtown Columbia Plan a master guiding document aimed at revitalizing the heart of Howard County's core city Columbia Town Center's progress toward becoming a true urban destination has been marked by the addition of high-profile restaurants and retailers, the renovation and expansion of city landmarks and the construction of a new, modern apartment building.

This week, its progress will be marked by what some say is the biggest boon so far: the opening of the county's first Whole Foods Market, which occurred Wednesday inside the community's iconic, Frank Gehry-designed lakefront building.

But, according to county officials, the revitalization is not just about adding mouth-watering restaurants, high-end retail and arguably the nation's most coveted grocer. It's also about putting in the work and making downtown a thriving employment center.

"There has to be more than just some great retail and cool apartments," said Mark Thompson, the county's director of downtown redevelopment. "For the Downtown Columbia Plan to be successful, the employment piece needs to be there. And it needs to be there in a big way."

And although it hasn't been as obvious, downtown's growth as a destination for employers has grown in lock step with its other, higher-profile amenities. According to Thompson, in spring 2012 the vacancy rate for the 19 office buildings in downtown was 21 percent. In just two years, that number has dropped to 14 percent. If you exclude the American City Building a nine-story lakefront structure with high vacancies that owner Howard Hughes Corp. is in the midst of evaluating Thompson said that number drops to 8 percent.

It's a trend that he and others, such as County Executive Ken Ulman, say shows progress in the revitalization of the downtown's employment base.

"Town Center, like any downtown, can only thrive when it has balance," Ulman said. "There has been a lot of demand for retail in downtown, and the residential is coming along. ... but the important third leg of the stool has to be the office product."

Ulman said one tangible sign of progress was the July groundbreaking of Little Patuxent Square, a nine-story, mixed-use building in the lakefront neighborhood that will house 160,000 square feet of office space, in addition to residential and retail. The structure, built by Costello Construction, was the first new commercial building in downtown in more than a decade.

"Costello's project was important because it's a sign that the demand is there," Ulman said. "It's a really important validation of the economy."

Renovations and relocations

Continued here:
Downtown Columbia burgeoning as employment hub

Last updated on: August 21, 201415:58 IST

Take a look at the singer's two-bedroom flat in suburban Mumbai. Dentist-turned-singer/actor Meiyang Chang, who rose to fame with his stint in Indian Idol and went on to star in Badmaash Company along side Anushka Sharma, Shahid Kapoor and Vir Das, moved into his spacious flat a little over a year ago.

Covering an area of 1,300 square feet, the flat is located on the 15th floor, in Malad, a western Mumbai suburb, and has been decorated by Chang and his mum.

"This is my dream house, but not the dream location," Chang says candidly.

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"I didn't want to overdo it because I like simple designs, something that will make me feel at home.

"If I had appointed an interior decorator to do the job, the flat would end up looking like a hotel. I have taken some inspiration from a friends place for my new pad," Chang reveals.

This African lady statue (next to the door, left), Chang tells us, was gifted by an organiser when he travelled to South Africa to perform with musician duo Salim and Sulaiman Merchant for FIFA world cup in 2010.

"I didn't want a typical glass table for my dining space so I got this one that came with chairs and a bench.

"I liked the concept of bench. Also, I liked the idea of collapsible table because it doesn't occupy too much space. Plus, it doubles up as a study table too when folded half."

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PIX: Singer Meiyang Chang's GORGEOUS Mumbai home

Image: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

By Brian McCullough2014-08-21 18:15:14 UTC

For his day job, Brian McCullough is the CEO of ResumeWriters.com and has founded several companies in the online careers space. He started the Internet History Podcast as a crowd-sourced history project in February of this year. You can subscribe to the podcast here.

Jan Brandt is a legend in the world of marketing. She singlehandedly led the famous AOL carpet-bombing campaign that put millions of AOL trial discs and CDs in everything from magazines to popcorn boxes to banks. In the most recent episode of the Internet History Podcast, I spoke to Jan about this famous campaign, how the strategy developed and the analytics and data that went into it. What follows is a lightly edited transcript of portions of our conversation. Click above to listen to the whole thing, or download it in iTunes here.

Brandt was been recruited to AOL in 1993 with a simple mission: grow the subscriber base. At the time, online services were a novel product. The majority of American homes didnt have computers yet, much less, computers with modems. Also, AOL was a distant 3rd or 4th in the online services market, behind CompuServe and Prodigy. So Brandt was given free reign to get creative with her marketing efforts. Prodigy was famously spending millions of dollars on flashy television ads. But Brandt was convinced that old-school, unsexy, direct marketing might be the key to standing out. After all, she needed to get people to try the service, and the only way to do that was to get the AOL installation discs in their hands.

We started packaging them [the installation discs] in boxes and tins and things like that. It was my absolute belief that you could not send someone a package in the mailand I dont mean an envelope, I mean a package that you could feeland not open it. I felt that it was constitutionally impossible for someone to get a small box in the mail and not be inspired to open it.

Armed with this belief, she phoned up her boss, AOL CEO Steve Case, and asked for money to experiment with a direct mail campaign. Case was skeptical, but gave her the go-ahead.

The campaign was going to cost $250,000 and that was our first campaign. It was a lot of money for us at the time. Steve teased me that it wasnt going to work. I mean, he has, you know, something of a dry wit. But he backed me completely. He backed me on that and he backed me on the next millions of dollars.

It turned out that the campaign exceeded her wildest expectations. In the direct marketing arena, a response rate of 2-3% for a campaign is considered a home run success. But Brandt was seeing response rates which were multiples of that.

Ive done a lot of first campaigns and launched a lot of products [...] I have never this was beyond imagination. [...] The overall response to that campaign was a staggering over 10% uptake. And remember, this isnt people who are saying, I think I want this. These are people who are taking the disc, putting it into the computer, signing up, and giving us a credit card. The top list, for that, I have never seen in my life beforeor sincewas a 20% response. It was stratospheric.

Originally posted here:
Those Free AOL CDs Were a Campaign for Web Domination. It Worked.