interior design bathroom
ALBERTA...THE REVIVAL
Energy revival fuelling boom
Province set to regain status as national leader
By Tamara Gignac
Calgary Herald December 27, 2011
Albertans know all about the B-word: boom.
For much of the past decade the economic pace was blistering, led by massive projects in the oilsands. The result was scores of high-paying jobs, a red-hot real estate market and an influx of thousands of new migrants.
The party was good while it lasted.
But in 2008, Albertans were blindsided by another B-word: bust.
A collapse in energy prices, the result of the U.S. financial crisis, took the steam out of Alberta's once-buoyant economy.
The oilpatch shelved or cancelled billions of dollars worth of projects, jobs evaporated virtually overnight and ordinary Albertans struggled to pay their mortgages.
But after sputtering for much of the past three years, Alberta appears poised to regain its position as Canada's economic juggernaut.
All signs suggest prosperity is sweeping the province. Unemployment is low, cash registers are ringing and the energy sector is once again on a hiring spree.
It begs the question: is Alberta headed for another overheated economy?
Economists are certainly bullish when it comes to the province's prospects.
The Royal Bank of Canada predicts Alberta's rate of growth - four per cent this year and 3.9 per cent in 2012 - will outpace all provinces except Saskatchewan.
"Oilsands megaprojects will continue to generate tremendous economic activity and will be a boon to Alberta's economy for years to come," says RBC chief economist Craig Wright.
"The boom entirely emanates from the private sector - the source of an astounding 116,000 new jobs this year," Wright said.
Improved employment prospects have translated into a record quarter for Sharlene Massie's local recruiting firm, About Staffing.
Alberta is bucking the national trend, a welcome relief from the hiring freezes of recent years.
As long as there's continued growth in oilsands production and Alberta's unemployment rate holds steady at about five per cent, the good times should continue, Massie says.
But she admits the spectre of an overheated economy could spoil the party and usher in a labour shortage similar to that of 2006.
In the worst-case scenario for employers, Alberta's jobless rate would return to levels seen in the last boom, driving skilled and unskilled wages to unprecedented levels.
"We're not there right now. We're comfortable," Massie says. "There's enough jobs out there and every-body's happy. Let's hope we can stay this way."
A report this year warned that a looming labour shortage is the Achilles heel of the provincial economy and that industry should brace for a chronic scarcity of workers in the years ahead.
It comes as Calgary's oilpatch, and the rest of the natural resources sec-tor, is set to lead the nation with the highest projected salary increases in the year ahead.
But boom or bust, Alberta's shifting demographics will probably require a new approach to labour issues in the coming years, suggests Calgary Chamber of Commerce CEO Adam Legge.
The province has repeatedly looked to the federal government to change immigration policies so Alberta can hire the workers it needs.
There's expected to be a short-age of everything from tradespeople and health-care workers to financial service employees, retail staff and public-service jobs.
"We're going to face a labour shortage whether we have a strong economy or not because there aren't enough workers to backfill the retiring baby boomers," says Legge.
He says he believes inflation pressure associated with rising labour costs could prove troublesome for Alberta.
"As soon as you see wages being driven up - as they are right now - people have more spending power and are able to bid up prices on everything from houses to goods and services," Legge says.
"The Bank of Canada will want to keep an eye on Alberta because we will have stronger inflation in our economy than the rest of Canada."
A heated labour market is only one indicator of Alberta's changing economic fortunes.
Figures from Statistics Canada show a three per cent increase in retail sales in October compared with the month before - the largest increase in Canada.
It comes as more Albertans purchase new vehicles, electronics and clothing - a welcome prospect for retailers, who saw cash register receipts dwindle during the recession.
Discretionary spending is also on the rise in the province.
Recent reports suggest people are choosing to dine in restaurants more frequently, purchase a morning latte or even fly away on a holiday.
Alberta's housing industry also got a much-needed boost in 2011.
"The strength in our economy, combined with affordability levels that outperform most major centres, will continue to attract migrants to the city and spur further growth," says Sano Stante, president of the Calgary Real Estate Board.
But along with an economic boom comes social challenges, as cities and smaller communities struggle to meet infrastructure pressures caused by an influx of new workers.
Todd Hirsch, senior economist with ATB Financial, says he doesn't expect to see a repeat of 2006, when "people lived in tents by the river" due to lack of affordable housing.
"I think you can call this a 'mini-boom,' at least relative to everywhere else in the country and even the industrialized world," Hirsch said.
"(But) if we did see a major collapse in Europe or a real calamity, that could knock the stuffing out of oil prices pretty quickly."
Hirsch is keeping an eye on developments with the Keystone XL project. The $7-billion Alberta-to-Texas pipeline proposed by TransCanada Corp. has been held up by a political battle in Washington.
The fate of Keystone XL could be a "harbinger of a more challenging environment" for Alberta's energy industry, he says.
"My feeling is this is not just one project we're talking about. It indicates we are in a whole new world in which putting pipelines in the ground is not going to be as easy or straight-forward as it was in the past."
So far, the province's fortunes have been mostly insulated from global economic turmoil relative to other regions.
But some observers, like Leonard Waverman, wonder if sluggish growth for Alberta's biggest trading partner - the United States - will eventually hit home.
The dean of the University of Calgary's Haskayne School of Business chooses a weather analogy to characterize Alberta's economic prospects in 2012.
"I'd suggest we have an economic chinook," Waverman says. "One must remember that chinooks are very capricious. They come in and move out very quickly."
But even as Alberta prepares for a new round of prosperity and good times, some still struggle to make ends meet after the recession.
During the past three years, Alberta recorded the country's second-highest increase in food bank usage, according to a recent HungerCount survey.
Talk of an economic boom is probably meaningless for the many house-holds still trying to find a way out of the last economic bust, says Kathryn Sim, a spokeswoman for the Calgary Inter-Faith Food Bank.
"We're seeing people bouncing back and they are coming to us as donors, which is lovely to see," she says.
"But it's hard to dig out of the hole. It's taking a longer time for people to get out of the situation they found themselves in when the economy crashed."
Photo By: Larry He's So Fine
THAT'S OUTRAGEOUS!
The 15 most outrageous home sales of 2011
By Morgan Brennan
Forbes Dec 25, 2011
The U.S. housing market is still in the pits, closing another year marked by falling prices, lackluster sales volumes and a steady stream of foreclosures. For the rich and famous, though, it’s been a year of record-breaking purchases.
We sorted through the biggest, splashiest home sales of the year to bring you a recap of the 15 we deem the most outrageous.
One of the biggest purchases of the year just closed: an US$88-million penthouse condo in New York City’s billionaire-coveted 15 Central Park West. The 6,744-square-foot apartment, which hit the market in November, sold less than six weeks later to Ekaterina Rybolovleva, the 22-year old daughter of Russian billionaire Dmitriy Rybolovlev, reportedly for the full US$88-million asking price.
It is the highest individual transaction in Big Apple history and the second-largest transaction in the U.S. for 2011. Jonathan Miller, chief executive of Miller Samuel, a New York City-based real estate appraisal firm, explained to my colleague Luisa Kroll recently, “This sale is an outlier. It works out to be about $13,000 per square foot, the highest on record, for anything, that has ever occurred.”
The pricey pad belonged to former Citigroup chairman Sandy Weill, who purchased it with his wife in 2007 for US$43.7-million — less than half of what it just sold for. The Weills plan to donate the proceeds to charity and Rybolovleva plans to reside there while attending university in the area. Despite Miller’s insistence that the gargantuan 15 CPW sale is an anomaly, there were two other pricey purchases in New York City this year, both for US$48-million apiece.
California’s real estate market welcomed several huge sales as well. The year’s largest individual transaction was the US$100-million purchase in March of a 25,500-square foot Silicon Valley mansion called Palo Alto Loire Chateau. Russian venture capital billionaire Yuri Milner reportedly plans to use the nine-figure compound as a secondary residence. The Levi Strauss estate, with its humble 2,050-square foot abode, in nearby Atherton sold to an unknown buyer for a hefty US$53-million in September.
The Spelling Manor, a Los Angeles manse formerly known as America’s most expensive home for sale, secured a buyer this summer after nearly three years on the market. The hulking 56,500-square foot Holmby Hills estate was listed for $150 million, and ultimately sold to yet another 22-year-old billionaire heiress, Petra Ecclestone, the daughter of Formula One founder Bernie Ecclestone, for a more reasonable US$85-million. Like Milner, Ecclestone has no plans to reside there full-time, and will split time between the palatial crash pad and one in London.
But while US$85-million may seem like an exorbitant sum to throw down on what essentially will be a pied a terre, David Kramer, the Hilton & Hyland agent who represented Ecclestone for her L.A. purchase, says the wealthy British family consider it a good investment. “If you say to someone who has billions of dollars, ‘Hey I’ll get you 43% off of a landmark home that in a good market really would be a US$100-million or more home, they will say let’s do it.”
Many real estate experts, Kramer and Miller included, chalk up increased interest in the home market among the big-money set to the same thing: perceived bargains. The weak dollar coupled with depreciated home prices (even at the high end) have translated into investment opportunities, particularly for rich foreigners looking to hedge fortunes in brick and mortar assets.
All of the headline-grabbing sales that have transpired this year have led to even more high-profile properties hitting the sale block. A plethora of trophy homes are available like Manhattan’s US$90-million Woolworth Mansion, Guess co-founder Armand Marciano’s US$63-million Beverly Hills compound, a US$60-million private resort in Indian Creek, Fla., and the less expensive but equally noteworthy US$12.5-million former Sinatra estate called Farralone. A US$175-million ranch in Jackson, Wyo. also came to market this year.
“I am seeing unique, special properties that no one ever would have thought would come on the market,” says Kramer. “These are properties that, like a piece of art, can and will never be duplicated. They can be considered part of people’s collections.”
South Florida’s luxury market has welcomed big spenders, too. Miami clocked four transactions priced at roughly US$20-million or higher this year. The most recent, the sale of the Setai South Beach’s palatial penthouse for US$21.5-million, is believed to be the highest price ever paid for a Miami Beach condo unit. The Thai-inspired apartment, which had belonged to Netscape founder Jim Clark, had been listed for $27 million. Another Russian billionaire, Roustam Tariko, coughed up US$25.5-million for a Star Island estate, the highest price paid in Miami since 2006.
“We have had an influx of rich people that have come to the city recently,” says Farid Moussalem, a ONE Sotheby’s International Realty agent who represented the buyer of Sunset Island’s Villa Tranquilla estate. The property was sold by American billionaire George Lindemann for US$19.8-million this summer, about 34% off the initial 2009 asking price of US$30-million. “I don’t think this is over; I think next year we will see more of these kinds of high-end sales,” says Moussalem.
Some ritzy residences didn’t find buyers this year until their asking prices were drastically cut. Oracle’s Larry Ellison, No. 3 on the Forbes 400 list of the richest Americans, picked up Porcupine Creek in Rancho Mirage, Calif., for US$42.9-million, 43% off the initial US$75-million asking price; fertilizer billionaire Alexander Rovt scooped up New York City’s Sloane Mansion an hour before its foreclosure auction for roughly US$33-million, or about 48% off the initial US$64-million ask price. Perhaps the biggest high-end discount sale of the year was Le Reve, a massive Versailles-like compound just north of Atlanta, Ga., that finally sold this summer for US$9.5-million. It had been originally listed at US$45-million.
Also making our roundup were two infamous foreclosures, both repossessed by lender Bank of America. Patricia Kluge’s Albemarle estate in Charlottesville, Va., once listed for US$100-million, was taken by the bank in February for US$15.26-million; and San Francisco’s St. Regis penthouse, once listed for US$70-million, earned the title of most expensive bank-owned property when it was sold back to the bank by former owner-developer Victor MacFarlane in lieu of foreclosure. That penthouse found a buyer just recently for US$28-million.
Interior Design Video..... Beautiful Home Remodel
Interior Design video..... Beautiful Home Remodel
San Diego Interior Designer Rebecca Robeson reveals Interior Design videos like you've never seen before on YouTube..... the Beautiful Home 
Exotic House with Victorian Style
Here is the inspiring pictures of house design that you can use as the reference in building a new house. More pictures about the house interior design and decoration can be seen below.
Chenchow Little presents us small house with traditional Victorian style “The Skylight House” in Sydney, Australia. It looks so different and unique. This beautiful house is not too large but with the creative and innovative design, it can be the comfortable house. It is called The Skylight House which has two floors. The interesting thing of this house is that there is a small courtyard with a tree at the center of this house. It gives the fresh impression to the room, especially for living room, dining room and kitchen. It gives the natural light and fresh air to the rooms. There is also small terrace at the second floor; it can be the favorite place for the family to enjoy the natural light.
Source: via
Bathroom Decorating Ideas for limited space
Bathroom decorating ideas, especially for a limited space need an effective design. Decorating a small bathrooms should be practical, comfortable, functional, spacious and relaxing. Effective lighting fixtures and pleasant decorating color schemes create the impression of larger space. Bright light and light colors are simple ideas for bathroom remodeling that add beauty and style to modern bathrooms design without sacrificing the functionality.
Lighting fixtures and light decorating color schemes are inexpensive ideas for bathroom remodeling that dramatically transform small spaces without extensive renovation. Bright light creates an airy feel and light decorating color schemes visually increase small spaces. Arranging a window in a way that allows more natural light into your small interior and provides privacy creates lighter interior design, saves energy and your money.
Sky lights are great ideas for small bathroom remodeling and making small spaces more comfortable and welcoming. Adding more lighting fixtures to your small bathrooms design along walls, in corners and on the ceiling is another effective way to increase small spaces size and add style to interior design. Bright illumination will make your small interior appear larger that it is.
Another important thing in bathroom decorating ideas is choosing the best bathroom tile ideas.
Another important thing in bathroom decorating ideas is choosing the best bathroom tile ideas.
Bathroom Decorating Ideas for limited space
Bathroom decorating ideas, especially for a limited space need an effective design. Decorating a small bathrooms should be practical, comfortable, functional, spacious and relaxing. Effective lighting fixtures and pleasant decorating color schemes create the impression of larger space. Bright light and light colors are simple ideas for bathroom remodeling that add beauty and style to modern bathrooms design without sacrificing the functionality.
Lighting fixtures and light decorating color schemes are inexpensive ideas for bathroom remodeling that dramatically transform small spaces without extensive renovation. Bright light creates an airy feel and light decorating color schemes visually increase small spaces. Arranging a window in a way that allows more natural light into your small interior and provides privacy creates lighter interior design, saves energy and your money.
Sky lights are great ideas for small bathroom remodeling and making small spaces more comfortable and welcoming.Adding more lighting fixtures to your small bathrooms design along walls, in corners and on the ceiling is another effective way to increase small spaces size and add style to interior design. Bright illumination will make your small interior appear larger that it is.
Another important thing in bathroom decorating ideas is choosing the best bathroom tile ideas.
Another important thing in bathroom decorating ideas is choosing the best bathroom tile ideas.
Interior Design In The Kitchen & Bath : DIY Kitchen Cabinet Hardware Installation
Interior Design in the Kitchen & Bath : DIY Kitchen Cabinet Hardware Installation
Kitchen cabinet hardware installation doesn't have to require an expensive contractor. Learn about do-it-yourself kitchen cabinet hardware 
The House "O" Modern Home Design in Mie Japan
Here is a modern home design, entitled "House O" located in Mie Japan. Home design is realized by architect studio based in Nagoya Japan, that was done by architects (Hiroshi Yokozeki, Yuji Shimiz, Kyoko Ikuta).
The residence features a cleverly integrated garage, that can be observed from the interior. According to the architects, “the sheltered car park serves as a physical extension of the road, drawing in visual focus through a contrasting stark-white finish. a glass partition draws a thin line between the indoor-outdoor boundary, allowing the parked automobiles to be on view from within the house. Pivoting around a central courtyard, the layout is organized in a spiral with varying degrees of privacy throughout. From the entrance, programs such as the bedroom and bathroom are nestled in behind the courtyard, while the kitchen and living area open up around the garage. Corners of the rectangular layout is shaved off to further establish a sense of motion in the circulation. A small loft area over the kitchen serves as a multi-functional platform with a view“.
The residence features a cleverly integrated garage, that can be observed from the interior. According to the architects, “the sheltered car park serves as a physical extension of the road, drawing in visual focus through a contrasting stark-white finish. a glass partition draws a thin line between the indoor-outdoor boundary, allowing the parked automobiles to be on view from within the house. Pivoting around a central courtyard, the layout is organized in a spiral with varying degrees of privacy throughout. From the entrance, programs such as the bedroom and bathroom are nestled in behind the courtyard, while the kitchen and living area open up around the garage. Corners of the rectangular layout is shaved off to further establish a sense of motion in the circulation. A small loft area over the kitchen serves as a multi-functional platform with a view“.
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