Home trends

Today's home trends:

 

Here are some of today's trends according to HGTV Magazine (June issue):

 

Instead of a doggie door, the dog house should imitate The Big House. (OK, few people are doing that, I hope.)  Uh, my dogs live in my house, as do most dogs whose owners love their dogs--and not that expensive designer dog fad.  (I get my designer dogs--crosses--from shelters.)

 

It used to be hardwood floors; now it's eco-friendly alternatives.  Instead of a fourth bedroom, opt for a room-size closet.  Out with jetted tubs and in with fancy showers; and among other things, chrome and brushed nickel are out, and matte gold and rose gold are in.  They didn't mention the glass tile backsplashes and quartz countertops.  (Quartz at least makes sense.)

Roof inspections

We recently had our lawn guy blow the leaves and branches off our roof.  Wow!  What a job that was; there were piles of leaves and branches--big and little--all around the house (that's lots 'cause we have a long rancher).  He did a great job of clean-up, btw.  However, later he told us that there was a depression on the flat part of our roof in the back--and the flashing wasn't looking so good.  Yep, we had to have that part of the roof replaced.  (We got our basic three estimates, of course.)  Oh, the roofers said that the house should be cooler this summer too, which was good news!  We talked to the city roof inspector when he did the final check, and he said they did a good job.  Anyway, in the latest issue (June 2015) of HGTV Magazine, they said--via Chip Wade of Elbow Room, that it's worth the money to have your roof inspected every three to five years.  I'm certainly grateful to our lawn guy (thanks, Steve!) that we got our roof fixed in time 'cause we've never had a roof inspection.

Mothers share their stories this month (link)

Check out this collection of mothers and their stories: http://www.dgdriver.com/write-and-rewrite-blog/category/all

Filling those open concept homes (link)

Even with today's trend of open concept houses--you know, rip out the walls and hope the beams and posts you replace them with (for load-bearing walls) will hold--you can make them look cluttered: 15 Ideas for Open-Floor Plans

Subtropical Storm Ana

Subtropical Storm Ana is scheduled to be a tropical storm soon.  All we got here in central Florida was a shower from a rotating band as it headed away.

Update: Ana is a tropical storm now and heading for the Carolinas.

Update: It's moving NW and should make landfall on the Carolina coast.

Update (8-10): Ana is now a tropical depression.