|
August 5, 2000
Here are eight quick tips for apartment dwellers, from Apartment Living: New Designs for Urban Living by Barbara B. Buchholtz and Margaret Crane (Rockport, $35). Many of the book's suggestions apply only to those who own their apartments and are free to repaint, restain floors, change countertops or make structural changes, but these ideas will work for renters: Story
Revitalization begins when people move in
What does it take to revitalize a blighted city neighborhood?
Lyrical response: 300 letters, 200 e-mails
The headline on last week's column was "Do you know the words to Shanty Town?" We learned that more than 500 of you do.
Home & Garden briefs
FOR THE PROUD COLLECTOR: Whether you're a kitsch junkie who harbors garden gnomes and old beer bottles or a minimalist who collects bare surfaces, there's something in your life you have to have more of. Mary Engelbreit, doyenne of classy camp, offers suggestions for displaying your acquisitions, from old buttons to Bakelite clocks to sock monkeys to maps, in Mary Engelbreit's Home Companion: Collections (Andrews MacNeil Publishing, 2000, $12.95). Included are tips on collecting and a history of popular collectibles. Available at booksellers.
 Home front
It's your move. A chess set and a Chinese checkers game designed by architect Michael Graves are the latest additions to his line of home accessories that bring class to the mass. Graves named the chess set when the Wall Street Journal asked him to choose the item of his own design that he thought would be the hottest seller in the months ahead. Graves, who doesn't play chess, created the minimalist wooden game board and smooth, egg-shaped playing pieces "only because Target asked me," he said. "I don't think such a chess set has been produced since the Bauhaus," the architecture movement blending science, technology and art that was founded in Germany in 1919. The chess set is $59.99; the Chinese checkers, $29.99, both available at Target.
Military files and pension records can yield a bounty
McFurren Murray stood 5 feet 6 inches tall on that August day in 1864 when he became a soldier in the Union Army. He was 21 years old. His hair was black, his eyes were blue, and his complexion was fair.
Noise, funk, etc.
If you're rediscovering the '60s again for the first time, here are tips from Twist magazine on how to achieve the hippie-chic look in your room:
Israel marks its 52nd anniversary
The State of Israel is celebrating its 52nd anniversary by issuing a gold and two sterling silver coins with the theme "Love thy neighbor as thyself." Rabbi Akiva, a sage of Talmudic times, said "To love one's neighbor as oneself" is the essence of the Torah, Jewish law.
Wanted: Florida's oldest collector
The Claude Pepper Foundation is searching for the oldest stamp collector in Florida to help introduce a new 33-cent commemorative stamp being issued in Tallahassee Sept. 8 to honor the late Florida senator who championed the rights of the elderly.
St. Petersburg Times real estate classified ads:
Other recent real estate stories:
Lower your taxes with homestead exemption
A nation of homeowners
How good is your escrow coverage?
Don't ask
To have and to hold a mortgage of their own
A testament to hope (Jan. 23, 1999)
Program can help with down payment, closing costs
From hope to homeowner (Jan. 9, 1999)
Woman's untidiness leads to legal wrangle
Commission add-ons (Jan. 2, 1999)
Children are not to be seen here either
Other real estate links (from Yahoo!):
Cost of Living calculator: compares the cost of living in any two cities. Also includes links to Salary Calculator and Moving Calculator among other tools. From the folks at HomeFair.Com.
Best Places to Live 1997: From Money magazine.
MoveQuest: maps, financing tools, price data, logistical tips.
TenantNet: a resource for residential tenants' rights.
FAQs for Home Buyers and Owners: From the America Society of Home Inspectors.
Home Buyer and Renter Consumer Information: From the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Home Buying Tips: from the U.S. Government General Services Administration.
R-Net: Real Estate and the Net: links and tips for the busy. Of interest to investors, brokers and consumers. Accepts factual ads.
Real Estate Library: collection of informative articles about buying and selling real estate.
Realtor.com: includes info on buying and selling real estate, allows you to browse property ads in the U.S. and locate realtors.
Regional real estate links:
Florida Home Builders - features Florida developers with Web sites.
Florida Living Network - listing of real estate companies and Realtors in Florida.
© Copyright 2000 St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved.
Looking for some helpful real estate links on the Web? Click here.
Contact real estate writer Teresa Burney via e-mail at burney@sptimes.com. |
