Lifestyle

Furniture and appliance stores in North Phoenix area

Lifestyle

(photo credit, kirobuch at StockExchange) Clients of ours need to furnish an entire home – their new vacation home.  They asked for local recommendations on retail sources for appliances and furniture. Thought I’d pass on the insider tips to our loyal readers. All four of them. For appliances, I recommend either B&B Appliances in Sunnyslope [...]

13 September 2010 Read the full article →

Sometimes it’s just too much

Lifestyle

This was taken with my Blackberry, so the color tone is ‘off’. I didn’t capture the whole closet because I was trying to avoid showing anything personally identifying (it’s not my kid, or even my clients’ kid, and the house is currently for sale). Nevertheless… I saw this in a home I was showing last [...]

29 August 2010 Read the full article →

When to *not* re-do a kitchen

Lifestyle

When the kitchen is vintage and the building is “mid-century modern”, and it’s a condo, there’s a good argument to be made for not re-doing the kitchen. This is kitschy and cute and “period”.  Long time readers may have deduced by now that I am a sucker for the mid-century modern look. And I even [...]

25 August 2010 Read the full article →

All about the Phoenix monsoon

Glossary Posts

This is a reprint of a post from summer 2009. When I was a kid and we moved here in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the knee-jerk reaction answer to “When’s the monsoon?” was “August”. With the heat island effect, it seems like the monsoon arrives earlier and lasts longer each year. In 2008, [...]

4 August 2010 Read the full article →

Did you know? We’re huge.

Lifestyle

Just an interesting little factoid I found today while looking for something else. Did you know that Maricopa County (which includes most of the Greater Phoenix metro region) is one of the largest counties in the entire country? Maricopa County covers 9,228 square miles! Within that are literally thousands of miles of land that are [...]

24 June 2010 Read the full article →

New house, same old lot

Lifestyle

Sometimes making the most of the livable space available isn’t quite as important as not pissing off the neighbors. – real estate wisdom by Heather (picture credit, Dwell.com’s “Houses We Love” contest. NOTE that the caption is mine, not theirs! Three of the finalist homes are in Arizona, and were designed by merzproject. Voting continues [...]

16 June 2010 Read the full article →

Recommended blog and handyman

Homeowner Help

Psst…  I found a really outstanding blog and an excellent craftsman who does home remodeling projects in the Greater Phoenix area: The RemodGeek. I can’t say enough good stuff about him, but his resume actually speaks for itself: …spent years in construction, residential and commercial, and remodeling from foundation to punch list. I have been [...]

10 June 2010 Read the full article →

Weekend fire restrictions in Tonto Nat’l Forest

In The News

Getting out of the unbearable heat town this weekend? If you’re heading to the Tonto National Forest, take note: there are fire restrictions starting Friday (June 11, 2010) at 8:00 pm local time. The restrictions begin at 8 a.m. Friday. Campfires and most types of fire-causing activities will be banned across the entire forest. Charcoal-burning [...]

8 June 2010 Read the full article →

Happy Memorial Day

Lifestyle

Enjoy your picnics and get-togethers. Spend a moment to remember our fallen heroes, the service they rendered, and the sacrifice they made for all of us. photo credit to StockExchange user linder6580 Heather Barr is a Realtor and a happy workaholic. She eats more than someone her size ought to be able, and is a [...]

31 May 2010 Read the full article →

Save on your phone bill

Homeowner Help

(photo credit StockExchange user gokoroko) I stumbled on this money saving tip by accident this morning. Do you have a land line telephone in your home? I do. Never use it. I called the phone provider – who is also my internet provider – and asked them to drop the line. Almost immediately, they offered [...]

7 May 2010 Read the full article →

Great packing, moving idea

Lifestyle

Color-coded packing tape marked with the name of the room the stuff goes in. This is so cool!  U-haul.com sells this stuff, $2.95 for a 30yard roll. Frugalista bargain-hunter anal-retentive tightwad that I am, I wondered if I could do better on pricing.  I looked around online and found that OfficeMax sells ‘paper tape’ for [...]

8 April 2010 Read the full article →