CORRECTED! PROTECTED?


Housing market 'correction is behind us': price index
Financial Post
Published: Wednesday, September 30, 2009


Home prices in Canada rose 1.6% in July, the third straight monthly increase after eight consecutive declines, according to the Teranet-National Bank house price index.

Prices rose in all of the six metropolitan areas surveyed, the first time that has happened in 13 months, the report stated.

Moreover, in three of the six areas - Halifax, Ottawa and Montreal - prices rose to levels above their pre-recession peaks.

Nationally, prices were still down from a year earlier, off 5.1% in July, representing the eighth consecutive 12-month decline.

Nevertheless, the recent monthly gains indicate "the market correction is behind us," said National Bank senior economist Marc Pinsonneallt.

"Furthermore, prices have more than recovered the lost ground in three regions out of six. This is a huge difference with the U.S. Case-Shiller index, where all of the 20 cities surveyed have yet to experience home price increase over the last 12 months."

Ottawa home prices gained 2.6%; Toronto, 2.2%; Vancouver, 1.5%; Halifax, 0.8%; Montreal, 0.7%; and Calgary, 0.1%. For Calgary, it was the first month-over-month advance after 12 straight months of declines.


PHOTO: Brian_Beijl

Modern kitchen design

Kitchens have become a place to gather as a family, entertain, socialize place to do home work.  certain areas such as the stove areas used in food preparation. Use a simple rope light or specially made under counter light to accent the cabinets and counter tops. selecting kitchen cabinets for a modern kitchen, most designers like to choose a single style of door, usually  consistency of color and form. Hardwood with evenly sized planks or large tile flooring materials commonly used styles.Here are some photos of modern or contemporary kitchen designs. sleek clean look to them.
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Love the kitchen faucet.
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Decorating Inspiration

decorating ideas and inspiration.Have you ever been in the position  something to your living room or bedroom, but don't know where inspiration will guide you to ideas, pictures, and resources for beginning  decorating project.


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Decorating Styles

 market available for home decorating, difficult to decide just what your favorite style is. Read here for information about different styles of decorating, find resources for products, deciding which is best  decorating a single room or a whole house guides to decorating styles helpful.

But you seldom get education on styles of decorating. This short guide from About will steer quizzes and resources to help you determine your specific decorating style.



The style guides will help you focus in on your likes and dislikes and learn elements that will achieve your dream room  home express your very unique taste.many things through school.





Wedding Decoration Tips

weddings are grand several days with elaborate ceremonies, which lasts up to one week. Indian wedding function is divided in to three sections pre wedding functions, post wedding functions. These functions include the entire family, friends and relatives in the celebration and involve many costume changes. The bride  preceding the wedding and are showered with gifts and attention. The wedding the groom mounts a grandly decorated horse and rides to the wedding ceremony accompanied by his family and friends.  mostly travel by decorated car. The bride traditionally attire, which is normally heavy zari work and embroidery on her wedding day and sparkling jewelry given to her by family and close friends.

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wedding function use to take place Today modern Indian wedding decoration is a mixture of Indian ethnicity, richness and Western culture and custom.  Indian wedding decorations are theme based, as people mainly resources. Flowers have always been a part of Indian wedding decorations. flowers of different kinds like roses, jasmine, and many more. Decorative rented for Indian weddings celebrations. Different pattern of tents are available like bandhani print, Gujarati satin cloth depending on the budget wedding is an outdoor one than shamianas are a wonderful idea. decorations  depending  flowers and artifacts find a special place among the decorations engagement parties, irrespective of the theme.Traditionally, Hindu weddings are solemnized at a well decorated Decor of the  across India, the basic concept remains groom, who tie the wedding  erected at the wedding venue, primarily to conduct rituals like exchange of garlands Mehendi is one of the important pre-wedding rituals followed in many parts of India.primarily in the northern parts of the country, where henna is considered auspicious for festive mehendi is an indispensable part  Muslim weddings, people following other religions have also adopted it, with the changing times.
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Holiday Wedding Decorations

 wedding decorate or what colors to use? Don’t panic, this should be the least worries! There are several ways to choose your wedding décor, especially if the happy occasion falls on or near a holiday? Holidays are the perfect backdrop for weddings and can only make the day more special. Read on for some holiday wedding decorating ideas.
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ghosts and goblins for elegant Halloween décor nicer elements of the day’s decorations and incorporate them into a Halloween wedding theme. For instance, at the reception, use orange, purple or black linen table cloths for color and class

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 Instead of carving a jack o’lantern, use a small pumpkin with an elegant, elaborate carving and a candle inside for a centerpiece. crystal candy dish filled with your favorite treats. Use red, orange and gold fall flowers and incorporate autumn foliage into the bouquets and hang orange, purple twinkle lights.

Holiday and Special Occasion Decorating

Birthdays, weddings, Halloween, and Christmas are perfect occasions to do something special for your home. Your family will love the ideas here for special decorating for all the holidays and special occasions that you celebrate.

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Seasonal Decor

Summer suggests light and airy interiors, fresh colors, and lots of flowers. In winter we want a cozy, warm look. seasons, including projects adapt your decor to the calendar and it doesn't mean a total redecorating. You can give any room a seasonal change by using some of these simple ideas.
winter with warm colors and soft, fluffy fabrics.cool, airy look is appealing. from About's Interior Decorating site, get some simple ideas for transforming home with the seasons.

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Home Depot Locations

The Home Depot is the world's largest home improvement specialty retailer with over 2,000 retail stores in the U.S. Find Home Depot locations  Vinings, Georgia, Home Depot is the largest retailer of home improvement products in the world serving consumers as well as home improvement professionals. Home Depot carries many exclusive brands including cabinetry. Home Depot's slogan
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Interior Design Challenge

Challenging all the creative designers and decorators! Here is one L shaped living space that should function as a living room and dining room. The design should be contemporary classic and not overwhelming or cluttered.

All furniture pieces in the pictures should be ignored. Only the dining table has been considered as pictured below (round 4 seater which opens to 6 seats when necessary).

Colors in mind: nature tones with hints of red and sea blue/green. Please recommend a total package. Everything from wall color to furniture to accessories.

Winning design and designer will be featured on Roxxn.com !

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Modern Bedroom Interior Design

When it comes to wanting to change the look of your bedroom, your best bet is go with something you are sure that you will enjoy for a long time to come. This is because not a lot of people have the extra money always sitting around to resign their bedroom every time they feel like it. The modern bedroom interior design is something that a lot of people find comfortable enough to stick with for many years. Whether it is just a typical modern design or a modern contemporary interior design, it is important to make sure that you still have a little bit of your own personal style in there since it is your bedroom.

Sometime a lot of people try to do is put together the modern bedroom interior design on their own in order to save a little bit of money. If you have a little bit of experience in designing rooms on your own then you really should have no problem doing it. If experience is not something you have a lot of then you might want to get the help of a friend or family member that can help you put together the modern bedroom interior design. Even if you offer them a little bit of money for their time it is still going to be a lot cheaper then hiring a professional.

Getting The Professional To Come In

Of course, not everyone has someone in their life to help them with the modern bedroom interior design. This means that if you are one of those people then you really need to consider looking to a professional in order to get everything you want done. You would not want to do it on your own anyways just to find that you failed at it. Because then paying someone to come in after you will just mean that you have paid for your modern bedroom interior design twice.

Just make sure that you are calling around to a few different places before settling on any one firm or design company. Make sure that they can provide you with references for people who they have done the modern bedroom interior design for in the past. This will give you a good idea of the work that they can really do. The modern bedroom interior design is not the most expensive design out there but it is still going to cost you a good bit of money since you are using a professional. In the end it is worth it though and you will always feel that it was money well spent.

Modern Living Room Interior Design

When it comes to interior design, this is something that is usually left to the professionals because they are the ones with the knowledge. The modern living room interior design is something that a lot of people are starting to get more and more interested with. The idea of going with a professional interior designer scares a lot of people because of the cost that is typically involved. But if you shop around you may in fact find that it is not as expensive as one may first think.

Also, the time and energy that you personally save by going with a professional for your modern living room interior design is well worth any amount of money you spend for it. You have to consider all of the factors involved when trying to decide whether or not it is in your best interest to do the modern living room interior design on your own. If you are not all that experienced in designing rooms, the mistakes you make could very well end up costing you more then it would have just to hire an interior designer.

Trying To Do It Yourself

If you are bound and determined to put together the modern living room interior design yourself then there are a lot of things that you need to do in order to make sure you have a decent shot at success. The modern living room interior design is luckily an easy enough one to start with if you lack a lot of experience with this sort of thing. You will first want to make a rough drawing or outline of what you would like the living room to look like when you are finished. Use magazine cutouts to piece together what modern living room interior design you would like to see in your own home.

Once you have all of that figured out you need to compose a list of all of the different things you need in order to get it done in a timely fashion. There is no need to be running back and forth to the stores all weekend when you could just save yourself a little time and do all of the shopping at once. Getting organized is the best thing you can do in order to make sure that the process of putting together your modern living room interior design is easy and done well. You will understand the importance of being organized once you get started and see how much it really takes to get the modern living room interior design in place.

NATIONAL MUSIC CENTRE IN EAST VILLAGE



Cantos announces winner for King Eddy design
Nancy Tousley
Calgary Herald
September 23, 2009


Allied Works Architecture, of Portland, Ore. and New York City, with BKDI of Calgary, is the winner of an international architectural competition to design the new National Music Centre at the King Eddy, it was announced today by the Cantos Music Foundation.

Brad Cloepfil, the firm’s 54-year-old founder, said he was thrilled to win the $100 million project, which offers a once-in-a-career opportunity: to invent a new kind of institution, a museum for the 21st century.

“The initial thing that caught my eye was the complexity of the vision in the description of what the National Music Centre aspired to be,” Cloepfil said. “It was so many different things, it was like nothing I had ever heard of, no nameable institution. It’s not just a museum, it’s not just performance space. It has this crazy blues club associated with it. It was quite a far-ranging vision.”

“To be a part of inventing a new institution, that’s something you don’t encounter. A lot of times you get to reconceive an institution, but to really invent one, which is what we’re doing, that touches on so many parts of music at once and concentrate it into some sort of cohesive place in Calgary is an amazing challenge.”

Cloepfil and 65 other international architectural firms answered the call for expressions of interest (EOI) sent out by the Cantos Music Foundation, which is transforming itself into the National Music Centre. The building program called for incorporating the historic King Edward Hotel, which became a legendary blues bar known fondly in Calgary as the King Eddy, until the building was condemned in 2004.

If all goes according to plan, the King Eddy component of the project, a live music venue and lounge, will be completed first, in time for the 100th anniversary of the Calgary Stampede in 2012.

Allied Works was chosen from a shortlist of top international competitors: Diller Scofidio + Renfro, New York, with Kasian, Calgary; Ateliers Jean Nouvel, Paris, France; Saucier + Perrotte, Montreal; and Studio Pali-Fetke, Los Angeles. All five architects presented their proposals at a public event at the Grand theatre on July 23.

Cloepfil’s proposal envisions a five-storey building designed as a series of “resonant vessels” or instruments orchestrated by the collections and programs of the new building.

“We really do see the building as an instrument,” Cloepfil said last July. “The body of the building is designed and detailed to refer to instrument cases, while the freer forms of the interior are influenced by acoustics. Entering an exhibition gallery, a visitor will activate a threshold of sound, there will be ambient sound throughout and an interactive acoustical area where visitors can make sound with their bodies. Silence will also be present as an important element of the soundscape.”

The new building also refers to the western landscape with canyons of space in its interior and an exterior clad with visually rich material that could possibly be stone veneer.

“There is a monumentality to the design that is intended to evoke the spirit of place,” said Cloepfil, who is known for the influence of the landscape on his work.

The National Music Centre at the King Eddy, to be located in the East Village, will comprise a collection of musical instruments that ranges from harpsichords to electronic keyboards, spaces for performance and education, a recording studio and a radio broadcast facility for the radio station CKUA.

Cantos needs to raise $75 million for the capital cost of the building and another $25 million for an operating endowment.

Allied Works was a frontrunner in the competition from the beginning, said Andrew Mosker, executive director of the Cantos Music Foundation.

“I would say Allied Works, better than any other firm, going back to the EOI phase, has been able to distill the true essence of our project. All 66 of those EOIs were spread out on the project room table and Allied Works’ was the first one I read, for no particular reason.

“I remember the first thing that struck me about their EOI was the way they addressed every single aspect of the project. The vision and understanding of what we wanted to build, their related experience with cultural, and particularly music museum, projects.”

“I think that they, better than anyone else, truly understand the vision we are trying to create here at the National Music Centre at the King Eddy. It’s a new way of looking at cultural buildings, music museum collections and programs all tied into one. It is truly the museum of the 21st century.”

Among the other commissions Allied Works has won through international design competitions are the Booker T. Washington School for the Performing and Visual Arts, Dallas, Texas; the Museum of Arts and Design, New York; the Clyfford Still Museum, Denver, Colo., and the Walt Disney Animation, Pixar Animation Studios, Los Angeles and Emeryville, Calif.

Allied designed the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, the University of Michigan Museum of Art, and the 12-storey expansion of the Seattle Art Museum, which was added to a building designed by Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates.

The public favourite in an online survey was the proposal by Studio Pali-Fetke, Los Angeles.

Mosker said Cloepfil’s experience in designing cultural buildings, the expert team he has put together, which includes exhibition designers who worked on the Stax Museum of American Soul Music, and the chemistry between architect and client, were all considerations the led to choosing the AlliedWorks proposal.

Cloepfil was able to sum up the soul of the project, Mosker said, in “a place that people can return to and that didn’t invade the space it is in but complemented its surroundings. Movement is away from large-scale architecture now. The deep meaning comes from inside, from what goes on in the building.”

The architect, who will be spending every other week in Calgary for the next three or four years, has ties to Calgary, where he has had friends for 40 years, and to Alberta. His maternal grandmother was from Tees, near Red Deer. He said he is looking forward to flyfishing here and to skiing in the winter.

When asked if it is possible to bring the project in on its $75 million budget for the building, Cloepfil said, “As possible as it is to bring any building in on budget.

“There is still a lot of work to do to wrangle the building’s scope into shape, since it has so many simultaneous aspirations. I think the design process will have a big impact on synthesizing things. It’s certainly an adequate budget and that’s not always the case either. People’s dreams are usually much bigger than what their development committee has told them they can raise. I think they’ve done a lot of good homework. They seem extremely well prepared.

“Pre-design and planning essentially will take us through the rest of the year,” he said, “to review everything and do our due diligence, compile information and get the team organized. Then I think we would ideally start on the design cycle on the first of the year.”

The building, which is still awaiting confirmation of its funding from three levels of government, is the first phase of a project that will eventually include a concert hall, expanded gallery spaces and retail space, and is considered the main cultural focal point of Calgary’s East Village development.


VIDEO:
http://www.calgaryherald.com/entertainment/King+Eddy+design+lead+East+Village+revitalization/2025661/story.html

BLACK GOLD & REAL ESTATE



Fort McMurray surpasses Calgary, Edmonton as most expensive housing market
By Mario Toneguzzi
Calgary Herald
September 23, 2009

CALGARY - Fort McMurray is Alberta's most expensive residential real estate market, surpassing both Calgary and Edmonton, says a report released today by Coldwell Banker.

The 2009 Coldwell Banker Home Price Comparison Index of most expensive and most affordable North American markets evaluated average home values for select 2,200 square foot single-family dwellings with four bedrooms, two-and-one-half baths in 345 markets across Canada and the United States.

In Alberta, the average price in Fort McMurray was $638,000, eclipsing Calgary at $525,525 and Edmonton at $432,250.

"While Canadian home prices have been on the rise again following a brief market downturn, today's historically low interest rates have kept the dream of homeownership within reach for most of today's homebuyers," said John Geha, president of Coldwell Banker Canada. "It is particularly interesting to compare the affordability levels now seen across North America and other global centre. Compared to many major markets throughout the world, Canadian real estate looks like a bargain."

The study's four-bedroom, two-and-a-half bath home is what would typically be sought for middle-management corporate transferees, said the report. "It's what we call the 'aspirational home' and is usually purchased by move up buyers experiencing lifestyle changes," said Geha. "Despite record-breaking prices in many of Canada's major markets, these homes are selling, as buyers take advantage of today's historically low interest rates. These move-up buyers have been a critical component in our resurgent real estate market, and will continue to play a major role in Canada's recovering economy."

In Canada, the report said Vancouver's price in the survey was $1.26 million, putting it in tenth place overall for the highest price in North America. La Jolla, California, topped that list at $2.13 million US. Canada's largest city, Toronto comes in at $824,347.

Outside of North America,. Singapore was the most expensive market at $1.9 million.

Spanish Home Design

 Spanish Mediterranean house is by the following characteristics. Exterior walls are usually stucco or brick, often painted white generally covered with terra cotta or brightly colored roof tiles and normally have a low-pitched gable distinguishing characteristic is the extension of the side or front wall courtyard entrance or porch. Windows are sometimes casements, framed by wooden or wrought iron grills or second story balconies.The garages quarters in the form of a small casita. There is a pronounced use of stucco doors, and windows. generally asymmetrical, with gabled wings configuration. The courtyards are designed centrally to provide ommunication to the outdoors, Carved doors, pilasters, columns, decorative railings, carved pattern stonework Spanish style house plans.Mediterranean Spanish house plans plans became very popular in the states of Arizona, Texas, California and Florida between 1917 and 1950. Spanish Mediterranean house plans still remain very popular in the United States today, especially in the southern states.
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Home Landscape Design

creating issues for the world and America being the leading country, we should work upon getting the green going. helping cure the ozone layer, helping global warming, and creating an image of a cleaner society.

sometimes called the information superhighway,  information freely available to you. I'm not saying to copy someone inspired and add your personal touch landscape contractor in this.Landscaping and gardening magazines is another great  inspiration quickly editors of these magazine take great care in showcasing the designers around the world, which can be a great source of inspiration. product exhibitions related to landscaping and horticulture industry. easily solve tour problems in particular home.

next time attention and watch how the interior and exteriors are chosen.  movies and television shows are very specific about selecting the locations for shooting good inspiration by looking into these movies and television shows.

Finally things around you. Whenever  friends, relatives, shopping malls, public parks, there are hundreds of places where busy city then it is already easier for you, because the natural environment is the greatest source of inspiration.


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Design For Home

lifestyle and personality. Regardless of it's size, personal touch and indulgence in your home that makes it look unique and warm.home decoration leaves them into frenzy considering the huge expenses, however,designing plan, surely achieve the right look at a much affordable price. home design tips that help you build your dream home.The right color: Color is one of the most important home design tips room expresses something and the right hues and shades latest in terms of textures and colors and choose what best reflects  personality.Home lighting: incomplete if it looks dull and dark. Use the proper illuminating system for adorning the interiors home design tip is avoid putting dark items in the corners where lightening is bleak. abundance.Place the main furniture first: One of the most effective home designing tips to avoid cluttering most important furnishing first. desks at all should be placed first and at the center of the room so that enough space rest of the furniture. Make sure that large pieces of the furniture are evenly placed in  placement of the main pieces is done, then place the rest the traffic in the room.
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Home Design Software

computer age is making software for a dazzling  genre is house floor plan software. With this type of program, literally home hobbyist or a trained professional, anyone everything from create house floor plans to landscaping the back  Home design software ideas can go from dreams to reality with the touch of a button. Creating house floor plans from home design software can be accomplished  number of notable features. Some software programs offer an optional landscape and garden program which allows the user to create a detailed design of yard desired right down landscape created can then be viewed through the change of seasons in order to create a colorful landscape  drag-and-drop capabilities that make designing
Because most house floor plan design software runs on the local hard drive of your computer,  software system requirements in mind when making a selection. home computer should always meet or exceed the system requirements of the software properly execute the program. time and frustration.


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3D Home Design

3D Home Architect: Home and Landscape Design Suite Version 8 gives the ability to fine-tune every element of home or landscaping design projects. achieve designer's goals, while unlimited customization guarantees designer's dream homes  powerful enough to generate buildable blueprint-style plans.Years ago I took some time to learn a 3d animation software package called 3ds Max. Given enough time and computer power I can generate nice looking 3d conceptual plans for a home library in 3d. Time is at a premium right now, specifically deal with this, making myself to come up with architecturally believable floorplan and a 3d rendering.
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