Guest speaker

I will be speaking on the book publishing process at the Florida Writers Association meeting Thursday, April 7, at 6:30 PM in the Meeting Room at the Lakeland Public Library.

Home improvement poll

Reading articles in the newspaper and magazines and watching the remodelling home shows makes you wonder if everyone is buying granite, marble, Silestone, etc. for their countertops.  Is laminate truly a thing of the past?  Do floors have to be wood or tile?  "Throw away the vinyl," says a realtor; it gives bathrooms and kitchens a dated feel.  Use one-piece slabs of marble or solid surfaces in shower stalls.  Upgrade your closet with an organizational system, especially if you don't have a walk-in closet.  "High quality materials are now common in modest-sized homes."  And then you see people tearing out quality materials when they remodel because it's dated or it isn't them...  What are your priorities when remodelling?  Are you influenced by the shows and ads you see?  How important is being on the cutting edge to you?

What home buyers want link

From: HouseMaster eNewsletter

Kitchen personality quiz link

Here's an interesting quiz from Clean Home Journal: Clean Home Journal™ - Crafts & Decorating

Happy Easter!

Easter baskets for grownups link:

Home & Garden Television: Easter / Passover

HGTVPro toilet discussion link

Toilet Recommendations
I am tired of the current clogging all the time. Do you have any alternate recommendations?

Viva Terra

I received another organic and eco-friendly catalog recently; it has linens and home accessories and products. Link: www.vivaterra.com

 

Book review

Building a Cool House for Hot Times Without Scorching the Pocketbook       We've all heard that TV commercial that goes, "Don't leave home without it." Well, if you're thinking about building a home and want to do it right, "Don't build your home without it (this book.)"     Author Joy V. Smith describes herself as a resident of Florida, which is "hot and humid with possible hurricanes and subsequent loss of power." Whoo-eee! Means lots of air-conditioning, right? No! Author Smith set as one of her housing goals a home that didn't need to rely on air conditioning. In Florida? Sounds impossible.     But it isn't. Because Author Smith did her homework, you don't have to. She put several years into gathering the information that goes into a low-maintenance, high-comfort home -- even one in Florida!     How do you find the right location? house plans? the right builder? the right financing. Author Smith knows, because she slogged through the process step by step; and she documents it, so you don't have to.     She kept a diary of the building process - a day-by-day account of who did what and how it turned out. Just thinking about all that activity made me want to take a nap, a long one. Thank goodness Author Smith did all the leg work -- all I had to do was read about it, which was exhausting enough. But those things have to be done, and Smith tells how, when and where.     Anyone serious about building a house -- in Florida or anywhere else -- will save a lot of time, money, effort and energy by studying this modest-sized (61) page book. It will repay your efforts many times over.         --

Jean Goldstrom             

Editor, http://whortleberrypress.com/

Architect discussion

There's an interesting discussion going on on the HGTV Pro.com website:

Who Should Design My Residence?
People are going to residential designers instead of architects to design their homes. What do you think about this?

Book talk

I gave a book publishing talk to Musing WordSmiths last night.  I've been preparing for that with the help of other writers who contributed advice and information for a while now.  I took about an hour and a half--including questions--of the two-hour meeting, and they postponed their other plans.  (Whenever I asked the woman in charge, she said--Take all the time you want.)  I got a round of applause at the end, which makes you feel good.