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    Groceries now on the menu at Clark County eateries – The Columbian - May 24, 2020 by Mr HomeBuilder

    Rally Pizza hasnt gone through as extreme of a transformation as La Bottega, but it has added a pantry-items tab to the online ordering system. Baked goods like thick round loaves of sesame semolina bread, bake-at-home oatmeal scones and blondies are available. Rally also offers housemade items that arent normally available: granola; Oregon blackberry, strawberry-rhubarb and other fruit jams; and a pizza kit with dough, sauce and hand-pulled mozzarella. Customers can also buy Reister Farms eggs, Shepherds Grain flour and Water Avenue Coffee online and pick it up at the restaurant.

    Primarily, we wanted to offer our customers the ability to reduce their grocery store trips (and amount of potential exposure) by carrying pantry staples like flour and coffee at a low cost. The added bonus is that selling more of those items also allows us to keep buying from our local purveyors, like Shepherds Grain and Water Avenue Coffee, so its a win-win, Rally Pizza owner Shan Wickham said.

    Wickham and her co-owner and spouse, Alan Maniscalco, just started making bread, granola and jam for fun and decided to sell them to customers. They created the DIY pizza kits as a project for kids who were home from school, but they turned out to be popular with customers of all ages.

    Other places, like Cest La Vie and Rusty Grape Vineyard, have created weekend markets packed with pantry items and take-and-bake meals.

    Cest La Vie holds its weekly Petit Market from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturdays. Owner Keri Buhman said the line starts to form at 8:15 a.m. Only two people are allowed in at a time one in the store and one in the restaurant. Inside the store, Buhman typically stocks local goodies, wine and cheese. At the bottom of the cheese case, she has added new items, like date-night charcuterie boards filled with sliced cheeses, meats and accompaniments.

    Original post:
    Groceries now on the menu at Clark County eateries - The Columbian

    Step inside the ‘heart of the home’ with amazing kitchen renovations in 3 Louisville homes – Courier Journal - May 14, 2020 by Mr HomeBuilder

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    People spend countless hours in the kitchen over the course of a lifetime. From eating and drinking to cooking and cleaning, theres no doubt that we spend a significant chunk of our lives in the hearts of our homes.

    I love the way (a kitchen renovation) changes the way people are able to live and function in their house, said Brandon Bailey, co-owner of Bailey Remodeling & Construction, LLC, 201 Meridian Ave.

    When you get their kitchen right, it helps a ton. Especially now, when you cant go out to restaurants.

    Here, Bailey shares three full kitchen renovation projects he and his team have completed in various Louisville neighborhoods.

    This kitchen renovations in Maryhill Estates features a large island with seating for four, a gas range, stacked ovens and clean, crisp lines.(Photo: Photos courtesy of Bill Worley)

    This Cape Cod-style homes original kitchen was small, cramped and disconnected from other parts of the house.

    There was a lack of countertop space, Bailey said, explaining that the original layout created a large, unused area in the middle of the room. The kitchen also felt very disconnected from the sunroom,something the homeowners wished to fix.

    You may like: This renovated Northfield ranch-style home is a modern, craftsmen-focused dream house

    Working around a large steel beam that could not be removed, Bailey and his team had to completely redirect the plumbing in order to make the renovation happen.

    It turned out really nice, he said, reflecting on the bright new kitchen that includes a bar and new hardwood flooring. The new space now opens up to the dining room and feels more like an extension of the sunroom rather than a completely separate area of the home.

    This kitchen renovation in Windy Hills features a large marble island with seating for six, ample cabinet and storage space, a high-end gas range and stainless steel appliances.(Photo: Courtesy of Bill Worley)

    The Windy Hills renovation, Bailey recalled, was a high-end project in an already beautiful home.

    The cabinets that we took out were really nice cabinets, he explained, but they were a little dated. (The homeowners) were looking for a clean, crisper kitchen.

    A fresh, bright space is just what they received. Bailey and his team opened up the room by removing its original ornate columns and allowing extra natural light to flood the spacewith an 8-foot-wide sliding glass door that leads to the backyard. They also installed all new cabinetry, a 117-inch-long island with seating for six and brand-new appliances, as well as wainscoting in the connected dining room.

    Its less of a formal dining room (now), Bailey said. Its a little less traditional in nature.

    You may like: This arts-and-crafts style Norton Commons 'show' home is eclectic, global and contemporary

    A couple of other atypical additions included a large decorative hood and fancy, $120-per-square-foot backsplash. Bailey also had to rework all of the hardwood floorings to accommodate the new configuration.

    I like how (the renovation) changed the feeling of the house, he said. It became more transitional. Its just a very comfortable house to be in now more comfortable than it was, for sure.

    This kitchen renovation in Prospect features a large marble island with seating, ample counter space, stainless steel appliances and floating glass pendants.(Photo: Courtesy of Bill Worley)

    Creating a more functional space was the main goal of this Prospect kitchen renovation. In the original layout, an open refrigerator door created an awkward space to maneuver around, and the ovens were stacked in a corner.

    It took up an obscene amount of space and it wasnt usable, Bailey said.

    His team reconfigured everything to create a kitchen work triangle, extending a wall to allow for more cabinet space, as well as a practical pantry.

    [The homeowners]storage space went up significantly by doing what we did, Bailey added.

    They also refinished the hardwood floors, installed a larger island, and added a two-way fireplace that connects to the family room.

    It functions and flows way better than it used to, Bailey said. This [renovation]totally changed the way [the homeowner]could cook in here and entertain.

    Reflecting back on this project which took roughly three months to complete Bailey considers just how crucial a well-laid-out, fully functioning kitchen truly is.

    You may like: Empty nesters turn 5,500-square-foot home into fresh space with entertaining in mind

    The kitchen is the core of the house, he said, and your life kind of functions through that especially now.

    As a husband and father of two, he knows just how impactful a great kitchen can truly be. We (currently) get takeout maybe once every two weeks, Bailey said. Otherwise, he and his family are preparing every single meal at home.

    My own kitchen needs to be remodeled, he laughed, as Im sitting here and were having this conversation, Im envious about how it would make our life function better on a daily basis if we had this setup.

    Know a house that would make a great Home of the Week? Email writer Lennie Omalzaataloha@lennieomalza.comor Lifestyle Editor Kathryn Gregory atkgregory@gannett.com.

    Builder/Interviewee: Brandon Bailey, co-owner of Bailey Remodeling & Construction, LLC.

    Kitchen 1: This was a full kitchen remodel in a Cape Cod-style house in Maryhill Estates that was built in 1951.

    Kitchen 2: This was a full kitchen remodel in a 4-bed, 4-bath, 3,241-square-foot, single-family home built in Prospectin 1997.

    Kitchen 3: This was a full kitchen remodel in a 4-bed, 5-bath, 4,600-square-foot, single-family home built in Windy Hills in 1999.

    Read or Share this story: https://www.courier-journal.com/story/life/home-garden/home-of-the-week/2020/05/14/louisville-kitchen-renovations-bailey-remodeling-construction/2981173001/

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    Step inside the 'heart of the home' with amazing kitchen renovations in 3 Louisville homes - Courier Journal

    Some Ideas to Consider On Your Next Office Remodel – SWAAY - May 14, 2020 by Mr HomeBuilder

    On Sunday, my best friend Charli called me from her home in Maryland. "Why do people have to be so mean?" she lamented. "Why?"

    She recounted her experience earlier that day getting mobile pick-up from Starbucks. (Oh, how I miss Starbucks.) A man named "Matt" in front of her snapped, rolling his eyes and growling about how his fancy coffee drink and almond croissant weren't ready on time. He did place a mobile pick order in advance after all.

    "I told you I ordered it, it's right there. Look at those bags, see my croissant is there!" Matt growled, pointing to the corner section where items were piled up. Belittling the barista who was working in already understaffed conditions. "I want my almond croissant."

    "There's no reason to be that nasty over a croissant," Charli shared in our conversation. "People just need to be kind."

    Whether it's a Starbucks mobile pick up order that can't be located for "Matt." A work deliverable that wasn't completed. An assignment the teacher asked your child to do over. A team member showing up late to a meeting. An email that was sent to the wrong person. The store selling you expired yogurts. The parent who is loudly on her own work conference call and won't put her kid on mute during Zoom Circle Time. The list goes on and on and on.

    We are all under a lot of pressure under COVID-19. And, sometimes, the easiest thing to do or say in the moment it's also the wrong thing. It's the unkind thing. It's the mean thing. Because in a time where we have very little control, well, being mean gives us some control back for a short time. It's a fleeting sense of satisfaction to unleash on someone else, to exert control over them, to be in control when you have no semblance of control otherwise with often lasting and damaging consequences.

    We are all under a lot of pressure under COVID-19. And, sometimes, the easiest thing to do or say in the moment it's also the wrong thing.

    Last year, I wrote a column for SWAAY entitled Please Don't Mistake My Kindness For Weakness. I argued that kindness was one of the most undervalued leadership qualities in our world today. The question I had asked was how could we afford not to be kind? Could we afford not to lead with kindness?

    Pre-COVID-19, kindness was still a synonym for being a pushover, for being weak, for being ineffective. Now, during COVID-19, it's a synonym for strength, power, and influence.

    Now, in this pandemic, kindness, compassion and empathy are the hallmark traits of leaders who will survive those who put their people first. These leaders know that when you care for your people, your people will care for your business. Businesses don't pivot without people. And great results during a pandemic won't come without kindness.

    The question I had on my mind last year was, can women afford to be kind as they lead? I walked the line, the careful dance of being too nice or too witchy, too trusting or too controlling, too compassionate or the ice queen/dragon lady/the Devil who wears Prada. (Disclaimer: I don't actually own any Prada clothing, but that still has a nice ring to it.)

    Could we afford not to lead with kindness?

    And now, it would seem, that kindness was and always has been my superpower. That, along with finding a vaccine for COVID-19, kindness might just be what gets us through this pandemic to the other side, to life post-COVID-19 and our next new normal.

    So please don't be mean. The next time you want to snap, have the last word, or just unleash yourself on someone else, remember this phrase that my father always reminded us of: "If you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything at all."

    And if someone is mean to you, you don't need to be mean back. You don't need to match every unkind word for another unkind word, you don't need to keep score, you don't need to bounce your anger back and forth like a ping pong game. Don't forget that silence is a powerful thing as Michele Obama says so poignantly, "When they go low, we go high."

    I am not suggesting that you be a doormat. If people are repeatedly unkind to you, you don't want them in your life. If you have control over their contact with you, change it.

    And though you can't always avoid the people you work with who are unkind, you can act as a mirror, reflecting their behavior back at them. "I can hear that your voice is elevated, and I can see that your face is red and tense. And what you specifically said to me was unkind. Is there something else that is upsetting you?"

    Pre-COVID-19, kindness was still a synonym for being a pushover, for being weak, for being ineffective. Now, during COVID-19, it's a synonym for strength, power, and influence.

    Often times, people don't understand the impact of their words and their actions. Being a mirror can help them understand their impact. And some will even apologize for their behavior.

    However, the truly mean people simply don't care, no matter how much of a mirror you try to be for them. And in those situations, I focus on the kindness I can put back into the world to counter their meanness. Because in the end, like any good Disney fairytale, I always believe kindness will win. Afterall, the Disney villain is never the one smiling at the very end as the credits roll.

    There's never a good time to be mean, and even if there was one it certainly isn't now. We have no idea what's happening in each other's families or in each other's homes behind closed doors. We have no idea what's happening in our minds. Behind all those beautiful pictures on Instagram of homemade banana bread, inspirational quotes, and drive-by birthday parties, there is sadness, there is grief, and there is pain.

    So please just be kind. Be extra, extra kind.

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    Some Ideas to Consider On Your Next Office Remodel - SWAAY

    Bay Area Chefs Say They Wont Open Their Dining Rooms Anytime Soon – Eater SF - May 14, 2020 by Mr HomeBuilder

    On Tuesday, California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced guidelines for the states restaurants to reopen their dining rooms. The 12-page document paints a picture of the future of sit-down dining that many Bay Area restaurateurs had already been anticipating: servers in face masks, tables spaced at least six feet apart, and rigorous cleaning protocols.

    While the guidelines are fairly wide in scope, covering everything from disinfecting protocols to the proper use of face masks, a number of Bay Area restaurant owners felt they still didnt offer very many concrete details on exactly what would be expected of them.

    Kim Alter, the chef-owner of Nightbird a small, tasting menu spot in Hayes Valley, described the guidelines as pretty vague. A lot of us would love a little bit more direction from the government, she tells Eater SF, explaining that specific regulations would make it easier to implement policies than if individual restaurants just have to make those calls on their own.

    Ryan Cole, a partner with the Hi Neighbor restaurant group, which includes three San Francisco restaurants (Trestle, Corridor, and the Vault), told Eater SF that it seemed to him that 90 percent of guidelines, dealing with things like hand-washing and clearing dirty linens, were just common practice. He was surprised, for instance, that while the plan included provisions for six-foot distances between diners, it didnt set a specific dining room capacity reduction the 25 or 50 percent that many restaurant owners had been expecting.

    I dont care what the plan is, Cole says. I just want you to give me a plan and give me two weeks notice.

    Even if the current guidelines are more vague than she would like, Alter says that her main takeaway is clear: She doesnt see any way that shell be opening Nightbird to dine-in customers anytime soon: I dont see how theres going to be a high demand. I dont see people wanting to sit in a small space.

    Indeed, for many chefs and restaurant owners, the governors remarks simply reaffirmed plans that they already had in place. Weeks ago, Nite Yun had already decided that when she reopens Nyum Bai, her popular Cambodian restaurant in Oaklands Fruitvale neighborhood, it would be as a takeout-oriented fast-casual establishment the assumption being that dine-in customers likely wont return in large numbers anytime soon. After reading Governor Newsoms remarks, she simply said that shes still sticking with the plan, working with designers to reconfigure the the covered garage space on the restaurants patio to fit with the new style of service.

    Tommy Cleary, the chef and co-owner of the upscale yakitori tasting menu restaurant Hina Yakitori, says the guidelines confirmed what hes suspected for the past month now that it simply wont make sense to reopen Hinas dining room in the near future. The entirety of the restaurants seating consists of a single 12-seat counter, so spacing people six feet apart would mean a maximum of maybe six diners at a time. That doesnt make sense for our situation, Cleary said in a text message to Eater SF.

    Beyond that, face masks and other physical distancing requirements simply wont allow for the kind of dining experience that Cleary wants to provide. I just dont feel comfortable charging people $150 and having to dress like a surgeon and act like we are in a horror flick, alluding to the face mask requirement. For the time being, Hina will continue serving yakitori bento boxes for takeout, which Cleary says is a business model thats sustainable for his restaurant, though he suspects that many other restaurants that cant easily make a similar pivot simply wont survive.

    Fine dining and $300 tasting menus are probably done, he says. The line cook will be king.

    Local bars face an even more daunting path to reopening. Notably, the new guidelines explicitly state that bars that dont offer dine-in food service must remain closed during this phase of the reopening. For bar industry veterans like Will Herrera, the general manager of 200-year-old downtown San Francisco watering hole the Old Ship Saloon, the overall takeaway is simple: The service that the Old Ship has provided for 200 years with people from all walks of life bellying up to this bar, commiserating, and enjoying each others company still isnt allowed.

    Places like the Old Ship exist in a kind of awkward middle ground, Herrera says: Were not quite a restaurant; were not just a bar. The place has never exactly been known for its cuisine, but already, its started offering breakfast, sandwiches, and cocktails for takeout and it expects to open its space to customers in some capacity whenever restaurants in San Francisco are allowed to do so. Given hard rules, well apply them, Herrera says. Given soft rules, well do everything that we can to ensure the safety of our customers and our staff.

    For other restaurant owners, the newly announced guidelines for reopening are a clear call for creativity and out-of-the-box thinking. Fernay McPherson, who owns Minnie Bells Soul Movement, says her fried chicken restaurants physical space will prove especially challenging for any socially distanced form of dining in: Its a kiosk at the Emeryville Public Markets food court, where almost all of the seating consists of communal tables. The level of uncertainty has prompted McPherson to think about whether creative collaborations might be the only way to move forward for instance, whether theres a way to partner with a bar that doesnt normally serve food in order to help that bar reopen. I think partnerships are going to be big right now, McPherson says. Collective working is going to be big right now, for folks to survive.

    Like many other restaurateurs, Nigel Jones, chef and co-owner of Oaklands Kingston 11, has kept the lights on at his Jamaican restaurant by shifting to takeout and delivery a focus he expects will continue to be necessary even when dining rooms begin to reopen. He says hes already been thinking about remodeling the normally bustling restaurants dining room, devoting more of the space to conducting takeout business. The chef has another forthcoming restaurant, Calabash, thats still in the construction stage, and he says the long-term impacts of the pandemic are informing the design choices hes making now. The business was always meant to be a market restaurant with a significant takeout component, and Jones plans to lean even more heavily into that aspect now making sure that the physical space has wide enough lanes for customers to easily move in and out of the restaurant.

    Im not banking too much on the dine-in posture in the short term, Jones says. For better or worse, he says, this is what the future of the restaurant industry is going to look like, and restaurateurs who are still just trying to bring things back to how they were before are making a mistake.

    There will be some shake up in this industry, Jones says. The traditional gatekeepers may not be the ones who are viable in the long term.

    4828 Telegraph Ave, Oakland, CA 94609 (510) 593-2004

    298 Pacific Ave, San Francisco, CA 94111 (415) 788-2222

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    Bay Area Chefs Say They Wont Open Their Dining Rooms Anytime Soon - Eater SF

    Drivers license, vehicle registration offices moving to new building – Rexburg Standard Journal - May 14, 2020 by Mr HomeBuilder

    REXBURG Madison County recently remodeled the former Payless Shoe Store to make room for a consolidated drivers license and vehicle registration office. The new facility is located at 510 N. 2nd E. Suite 1.

    Its one stop shopping, quipped Madison County Sheriffs Public Information Officer Isaac Payne. It makes it more convenient.

    Payne said that the former Payless fits perfectly into the countys plans for its offices.

    It looks great. It has a nice lobby and a workstation for all of our employees. I dont think you will recognize it as the old building anymore, he said.

    According to Madison County Assessor Shawn Boice, the county will pay around $2,700 a month or $32,000 a year to lease the building. It also helps that the former Payless has lots of parking spaces, he said.

    Its a good deal because its below market rent, Boice said.

    Boice has heard people ask why the county commissioners just didnt build a new office instead of leasing the Payless building. Doing so would have cost a chunk of change, he said.

    Common sense tells me a lease payment is more effective for us to get into a building than to come up with millions of dollars, he said. It will be well over 20 years before (rent) hits $1 million.

    Boice said workers started remodeling the building earlier this year at a cost of around $135,000.

    The remodeling of the buildings exterior has been completed and all thats left to install are computers and fingerprint machines, Payne said.

    Its been this last month that theyve been finishing up the inside construction, he said.

    The commissioners had frequently heard residents complain about having to walk from one building to another to get their drivers license renewed and vehicles registered . It wasnt unusual to hear requests to consolidate the two offices, Payne said.

    The county commissioners, county offices, and the sheriffs office came together and made it happen, he said.

    Boice says that on a daily basis, people come into the vehicle registration office looking to get their drivers licenses renewed.

    We send people across the street multiple times a day. Its more convenient to combine them (offices), he said.

    The two offices have suffered from growing pains, Payne said.

    The old drivers license office is in the same boat we are. We have outgrown our buildings. We dont have enough space as it is. This will give us a little bit of breathing room. We can expand out a little bit, he said.

    Payne said the county had been in discussions about expanding for about a year, and says that county workers are looking forward to the move.

    Im really excited about it. I know a lot of our employees are excited about it. They can better do their jobs. It will more easily help the community out, he said.

    Its expected that the drivers license and vehicle registration offices will be open in the new building by June or July. For more information call 208-359-6200.

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    Drivers license, vehicle registration offices moving to new building - Rexburg Standard Journal

    5 Clever Ways To Maximize Natural Light in Your Kitchen – Earth911.com - May 14, 2020 by Mr HomeBuilder

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    The kitchen often gets more use than any other room of the home. Its the place where people go to eat, cook, gather, study, work, and entertain. So, it makes sense to have a kitchen that is as well lit as possible.But artificial light cant compete with natural light in terms of clarity or color or cheerfulness, for that matter. And by maximizing the natural light within a space, you can also help reduce the amount of energy that you may use.

    If your kitchen seems dark, and youre looking for ways to brighten it that wont drive up your energy usage, these kitchen updates can help.

    Not all types of glass are the same and not all types are reflective. But there are several kinds of glass tile backsplashes that can help reflect and boost the natural light thats already in your kitchen.

    There are two kinds to look for:

    Glass for a backsplash will cost between $20 to $30 a square foot, with most backsplashes requiring around 30 square feet for $1,200 to $1,500.

    If you want something that will increase the amount of light in the kitchen and make it seem larger at the same time, consider a mirror backsplash. Mirrors are excellent at amplifying the amount of natural light in a space, so covering your backsplash with a mirror will definitely brighten things up.

    Mirrored backsplashes can be one continuous mirror or they can be made up of mirrored tiles. Either will create a unique look for your kitchen while it helps make the room brighter. Although the mirror can make the room seem larger, it will also reflect the items on your countertops. So this option works best if you store small appliances and other items out of sight.

    Mirrored backsplashes cost between $8 and $15 a square foot for a total of $240 to $450 for a 30 square-foot area.

    Glass is a very reflective material, so installing as much of it as possible in your kitchen can help you boost the amount of natural light. If you have paneled cabinet doors, its fairly easy to replace the inner panel with glass. Its also possible to replace the entire cabinet door with a glass front.

    If you dont want whats inside your cabinets to be on display, you can opt for wavy or obscured glass instead of clear. The idea is to use a reflective material, though, so the result wont be as brightening with matte or frosted glass.

    A replacement cabinet door with glass inserts costs between $20 and $50 on average, depending on wood type and style.

    When youre looking for ways to reflect and boost natural light, dont overlook the power of paint. Using a satin gloss paint on your walls and a high gloss paint on trim and cabinets can go a long way toward brightening up the whole kitchen.

    Make sure that you choose lighter colors for the best effect. And while high gloss and semi-gloss are more reflective, they tend to be a little overpowering if used everywhere, so stay with a satin finish on the walls and keep the higher reflection for woodwork.

    Painting your kitchen has a cost of around $400 to $800; painters typically charge around $50 per hour.

    Adding windows in an existing home isnt always a feasible option, especially if all youre trying to do is boost your natural light and not completely transform your homes exterior too. But installing a solar tube is a good alternative. This is a tube you run from your roof to your kitchen that will literally pull in the sunlight. Its not going to give you a view to the outdoors, but it wont change the appearance of your home and it wont require you to cut into siding either.

    Solar tubes cost around $500 to $1,000 depending on size and distance.

    If your kitchen is too dark and you find yourself using artificial light during the day to make it usable, consider investing in any of these ideas to help maximize your natural light. Any single one can help make a difference on its own, or you can layer them for greater effect. Boost your natural light and start reducing your energy consumption today.

    Cristina Miguelez is a remodeling specialist at Fixr.com, a website that connects consumers with service professionals in their area and estimates the cost for remodeling projects. She writes about home improvement tips and tricks to help homeowners make better home remodeling decisions.

    Feature image byAndr Franois McKenzie on Unsplash

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    5 Clever Ways To Maximize Natural Light in Your Kitchen - Earth911.com

    Theyll never finish remodeling The Brady Bunch – The A.V. Club - May 14, 2020 by Mr HomeBuilder

    When I was a kid, my brother and I had a game wed play after school: How quickly can you guess which Brady Bunch episode youre watching? One tip-off was the music: If the kids ran into the house to a tune with an upbeat tempo, (do-do-dooo-do, do-do-do-dooo-do), it was likely a fun-filled episode featuring a celebrity guest star or perhaps a road trip in a camper. If one of the kids strolled into the house with their head dragging, Charlie Brown-style, with the incidental music playing at a slower pace (wah-wah-waaaaah-wah, wah wah wah waaahhh-wah), it was probably going to be more of a downer episode, about an unrequited crush or not making a team.

    The clues didnt really matter: We usually guessed the correct episode in 10 seconds or so. We knew them all. We were the target demographic for The Brady Bunch in syndication, settling down with it every weekday for a full hour, lying on the scratchy loden front-room carpet with our chins in our hands. There were other shows we loved: The Partridge Family had the advantage in the musical department, and we raced through dinner to watch Happy Days every Tuesday night. But none captivated us like The Brady Bunch, which has maintained a similar hold on pop culture for decades, never leaving for long. As recently as late 2019, the now-AARP-eligible Brady kids were still reuniting for new onscreen adventures. This time, it was under the roof of the split-level ranch that they never actually shared as a family, though their TV characters didif you ignored the fact that its groovy mid-20th-century interiors were actually located on a soundstage. There they were, 50 years later, renovating that Studio City house to resemble those Paramount Studios sets, with the help of some extremely 21st-century celebrities: the onscreen personalities of HGTV. The Bradys were blurring the lines between real life and fantasyand not for the first time.

    In a half-century, The Brady Bunch has evolved from sitcom to cartoon to variety show to drama to parody to reality series, molding and re-molding itself to fit the prevailing styles, tastes, and sensibilities of multiple eras. It all began in the late 1960s, when Gilligans Island producer Sherwood Schwartz wanted to capitalize on the different types of families that were following in the wake of a relatively new wave of no-fault divorce, the sort seen in big-screen comedies like Yours, Mine, And Ours and With Six You Get Eggroll. This was the zeitgeist that produced Schwartzs famously blended Bradys, even if their show never mentioned the d word: a widower with three sons marrying a widowor is she a divorce?with three daughters

    The story of a lovely lady (Florence Henderson) bringing up three very lovely girls (Maureen McCormick, Eve Plumb, and Susan Olsen) and forming a family with a man named Brady (Robert Reed), who was busy with three boys of his own (Barry Williams, Christopher Knight, and Mike Lookinland), wasnt much of a hit in its original broadcast run. The Brady Bunch aired on ABC for five seasons, beginning in 1969, yet never cracked the Nielsen Top 30. But other factors helped sustain the Bradys longevity. Previous sitcoms like Family Affair and The Courtship Of Eddies Father also had school-aged characters, but this one was primarily focused on the kids viewpoints, not the parents. The younger Bradys had the adults greatly outnumbered, leading to a plethora of plots involving sibling rivalry, school, dating, and other topics that their peers watching at home could relate to.

    And unlike previous generations of adorable TV moppets, the Brady kids fought. A lot. Marcia and Greg ran against each other in the race for student body president; quintessential middle child Jan nursed a long-standing envy of her big sister. The fact that a sitcom-perfect family like the Bradys had their squabbles, and always stuck together at the end, was a valuable lesson for those of us who quarreled constantly with our siblings. The years separating the Brady kids also made for an easy transition for the young viewer: Start out watching at Bobby or Cindys age and you might idolize the older brothers and sisters, only to wind up relating more to Greg and Marcia as you grew older and returned to the show in syndication.

    Those reruns were another component of the Bradys enduring popularity, often packaged in a local stations after-school Brady Bunch Hour. It was easy to get caught up on all 117 episodes, and then rewatch them, while the look and layout of the Brady house imprinted itself on your brain: the wood paneling in the TV room, the toilet-free kids bathroom, the bizarre horse sculpture under the open staircase. And from that level of familiarity springs the third pillar of Brady immortality, unique to this franchise: As ubiquitous reruns fueled the series popularity, its characters proved flexible enough to fit an assortment of TV and film formats.

    Schwartz was only too happy to revisit his creation, whether the request came from an animation studio (for Filmations weak Archie knockoff, The Brady Kids) or psychedelic Saturday-morning kingpins Sid and Marty Krofft (for the retina-searing train wreck The Brady Bunch Variety Hour). TV reunion movies The Brady Girls Get Married (1981)and A Very Brady Christmas (1988) each led to spin-offs, but neither the odd-couple comedy The Brady Brides (1981) nor the hour-long drama The Bradys (1990) lasted longer than a season. The kids whod tracked their own growth from Kitty Karry-all to Marcia, Marcia, Marcia to crushes on Davy Jones were given a whole new set of Brady yardsticks to measure their own lives againstthough none ever achieved the staying power of the original Brady Bunch.

    Despite that lack of success, whenever all nine original cast memberslets not forget Ann B. Davis as live-in housekeeper Alicegot the chance to work together again, they signed up, give or take the occasional ripe-for-lampooning holdout. The Bradys familial bond had transferred to the actors who played them, and they kept bringing other people together, too. When the typically hackneyed A Very Brady Christmas debuted in 1988, my then-twentysomething friends and I devoured it eagerly, howling over plot points like architect dad Mike finding his way out of a collapsed construction site thanks to the sound of his family singing O Come, All Ye Faithful.

    Rather than adopt an ill-fitting seriousnessMarcias an alcoholic! Bobbys auto-racing career ends in a wreck! Greg grows a mustache!to get with the changing times, the Bradys would only survive the 90s by being who theyd always been: a vision of the American family as corny, inauthentic, and tied to the 1970s as their AstroTurf backyard. So it was with The Real Live Brady Bunch, the stage show created by Jill and Faith Soloway that debuted at Chicagos Annoyance Theater in 1990, which draped the likes of Jane Lynch and Andy Richter in polyester for faithful reenactments of vintage Brady scriptsunderlining their schmaltz and phoniness in the process. The Brady Bunch Movie (1995) took a similar, affectionately snarky approach, depicting the Bradys as an out-of-touch family that hadnt changed at all since their eponymous TV show had ended, sitcom-earnest fish swimming through ironic 90s waters of grunge, Guess jeans, and car jackings. The film opened at the top of the weekend box office; A Very Brady Sequel brought a very Brady Hawaiian getaway to theaters the next summer.

    The satirical message was clear: The Bradys idyllic existence was an unattainable facsimile of real life, an example even its stars couldnt live up to. Barry Williams autobiography, Growing Up Brady: I Was A Teenage Greg,provided the flip side to the stage and screen spoofs funhouse mirror. Williams scandalized fans by revealing that he once went on an innocent date with his TV mom, Florence Henderson; that he had showed up on set stoned; and that all three of the Brady kids male-female sibling pairings had harbored some level of romantic interest for the other. In Maureen McCormicks own book, Heres The Story: Surviving Marcia Brady And Finding My True Voice, she writes candidly about her eating disorder and a cocaine addiction that she says harmed her career irreparably.

    The illusion of the original series shattered like moms favorite vase in the path of a rogue basketball, with the next generation of Brady projects eschewing laugh tracks and third-act resolutions for something grounded in realityor a heightened form of it, anyway. This was more than future primetime stars Kaley Cuoco and Adam Brody playing versions of Williams and McCormick who cant stop making out with each other while in character in the 2000 NBC adaptation of Growing Up Brady. This was Americas Next Top Model winner Adrianne Curry living out countless fans daydreams by romancing Peter Brady while she and Christopher Knight were on The Surreal Life. In grand Brady tradition, their onscreen courtship led to a wedding and a three-season spin-off on VH1, but My Fair Brady and a few respectable runs on Dancing With The Stars were merely reality-TV dress rehearsals for last years A Very Brady Renovation, in which McCormick, Knight, Williams, Plumb, Olsen, and Lookinland reunited to transform the Brady house into the Brady house.

    In the years since The Brady Bunch ended, the residence at 11222 Dilling Street in Studio City, Californiarecognizable even without the words created by Sherwood Schwartz executive producer superimposed over ithad become a popular tourist destination. When the longtime owners decided to sell, they found plenty of prospective buyersincluding ex-N Sync member Lance Bassin the market for a piece of TV history. But they were all outbid by HGTV, whose producers paired the surviving Brady cast members with some of the channels top home-improvement personalities who, more often than not, were family themselves: Property Brothers Drew and Jonathan Scott, or Karen Laine and Mina Starsiak, the mother and daughter team of Good Bones. Meanwhile, various pairings of the original six Brady kids (no Geri Reischl substitutions, no cousin Oliver additions) assist, picking up Cindys favorite doll from Sherwood Schwartzs daughter, or helping to identify the proper dining room set at a resale shop. After all, no one could be expected to know the Brady place as well as the six actors who basically lived in it for five years.

    The experience is obviously emotional for the Brady cast, especially since its their first series en masse (reunion specials aside) since the deaths of their TV parents: Reed in 1992, and Henderson two decades later. (Ann B. Davis died in 2014.) The effect the Bradys have on the renovators is also compelling. No matter what generation they belong to, all the HGTV hosts bring their own memories to the job, and are committed to realizing them within these four walls. They feel the gravity of the task ahead of them, joking that America will be so mad at us! if the house isnt exactly right.

    The Brady Bunch is far from the best or even most memorable series to air on the small screen. But its hard to imagine another TV setting that the average viewer is able to visualize so clearly, down to the clown painting in the boys room and the floral wallpaper in the girls. And as a lifelong Brady viewer, I found it fascinating to see the artifice of the most familiar house in TV history brought to life, as the Brady actors and the HGTV crew tracked down the oversized amber glass grapes for the coffee table, and the long-outdated avocado-colored kitchen appliances. The cast is as thrilled as the renovators that theres finally a visible commode in the kids bathroom, and devoted viewers contribute their own knicknacks to the decor.

    In the series finale, the cast and their guests wander through the finished Brady home. Doesnt this make you feel like youre 12? Williams asks rhetorically, while McCormick hugs a familiar stuffed animal in the girls room. Susan Olsen proudly takes pictures of her own kids on the iconic staircase. Florence Hendersons daughter Barbara remarks as she spies the parents spot-on master bedroom, Its such a strange experience. You sort of go back in time, and have something that wasnt real, become real.

    Itd be a fitting capper for the relationship The Brady Bunch has had with its viewers: turning an actual house into a fictional home is not unlike trying to create the perfect fake family and bring it to life. Over the decades, the actors have forged their own clanan imperfect one, because the perfect family doesnt exist. But if the Brady Bunch legacy concludes with A Very Brady Renovation, its the right note to end on. The cast banded together to memorialize the place where they spent so much of their childhoodand where we spent so much of ours as well.

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    Theyll never finish remodeling The Brady Bunch - The A.V. Club

    The rules for going to the hairdresser and beautician – NJ MMA News - May 14, 2020 by Mr HomeBuilder

    Finally for those who have never activated the video camera in the calls on Zoom, to hide hair with regrowth or of unmanageable length, and for those who have done it alone in this period, to maintain the basic routine ( or depilation, manicure & Co), the time has come to abandon yourself to the expert hands of hairdressers, barbers and beauticians. The reopenings are close and will slowly start again from 18 May onwards.

    Inail-Iss have just made known the recommendations that must be adopted on the premises.

    The document, as explained on the website of the Ministry of Health , it is divided into two parts. The first is dedicated to a context analysis of the hairdressing services sector and other aesthetic treatments, while the second contains the hypotheses of system, organizational, prevention and protection measures as well as simple rules for the containment of contagion.

    Here they are summarized: -Aesthetic treatments can be carried out in c closed abine . Prohibited sauna, turkish bath and whirlpool tub . The rooms must be sanitized every day. The activities must take place exclusively on reservation during which the type of treatment required in order to optimize waiting times. Areas for the technical waiting phases must be provided , such as laying of color and separation barriers in particular for washing areas. It is also necessary to provide a minimum distance of at least 2 meters using alternate workstations and sanitize the rooms every day. The use of masks is mandatory both by the staff and by the customer starting from entering the room. During the beauty treatments the cabin panels must be closed . All equipment must be disinfected with hydroalcoholic or chlorine-based detergents. It is essential to ensure the shift between workers and their training on the use of Personal Protective Equipment. For the care of the beard and face are recommended surgical masks also visors or face shields. As regards the premises, it is recommended to keep the doors open and eliminate the heating and cooling recirculation systems.

    These, therefore, are the first indications to be followed in view of the reopening of the personal care services which are reported in greater detail in the document Hypothesis of remodeling of the measures containing the contagion from SARS -CoV-2 in the personal care sector: hairdressing and other beauty treatments approved on 12 May 2020 by the Technical Scientific Committee, established at the Civil Protection and published on the website of the Ministry of Health .

    The appeal of the salons for the early reopening of 18 May

    Phase 2 starts again: what will come to the salons after the coronavirus

    The salons have reopened in Denmark. And how will you go to the hairdresser in Italy?

    Read more here:
    The rules for going to the hairdresser and beautician - NJ MMA News

    Dreaming of bathroom model? Be inspired by wish-list features – Boston Herald - April 24, 2020 by Mr HomeBuilder

    What began as a utilitarian space for personal sanitation has, in modern times, transformed into one of the most coveted rooms in the house. Bathrooms have become a place to relax and unwind, and new bathrooms are on the tops of many homeowners wish lists. Bathrooms can be as lavish as budgets allow. Wish lists can include everything from luxurious soaking tubs to rainfall showerheads to chaise lounges to televisions or home entertainment systems contained in the space. Those contemplating their own bathroom renovations may draw inspiration from the following features.

    Hot water recirculation system: Few things can be as disappointing as desiring a hot bath or shower only to find that the hot water tank has been drained. The home remodeling company Normandy Remodeling says water recirculation systems provide on-demand hot water. In such systems, hot water may continuously run through the pipes or there may be a pump underneath a sink. Either way, one neednt wait for the water to warm up any longer.

    Double undermount sinks: Bathroom time is at a premium, especially when people must prepare and leave the house together. Rather than jockeying for position around a single sink, dual sinks enable more breathing room and time efficiency. Undermount sinks are easy to clean because there is no lip around where the sink meets the vanity, preventing the accumulation of grime and gunk.

    Glass-free shower: Soap scum and water deposits can form on shower doors, even for homeowners who are diligent with cleaning. A sizable shower prevents water spray and affords the ability to forgo glass doors or curtains, thereby cutting down on cleaning and making the room feel more modern.

    Multihead shower: When redoing the shower, account for various shower heads so the water can cascade across the body more completely. This provides a spa experience at home.

    Touchless faucets and soap dispensers: These arent just for public bathrooms anymore. Touchless faucets and dispensers are more sanitary and convenient.

    Separate toilet room: A shared bath almost necessitates this type of set-up. The toilet is housed inside its own small space and closed away from the rest of the bathroom. Its more private and convenient this way.

    Heated flooring: You need not worry about stepping out of a warm shower onto a cold floor when heated flooring is part of the equation. This option is available in various flooring materials.

    Link:
    Dreaming of bathroom model? Be inspired by wish-list features - Boston Herald

    Discover the impressive and colorful palace in which the kings of the Netherlands make home offices – Explica - April 24, 2020 by Mr HomeBuilder

    Such are the cozy offices and other corners of the palace inhabited by Guillermo, Mxima and their three daughters.

    The kings of Holland, Guillermo and Mxima, They continue with their usual activities, although many of them have been carried out from the comfort of their offices inside the Huis ten Bosch Palace, a construction dating from the 17th century and located in Hague.

    The majestic building, which was ordered to be built by Federico Enrique, has been inhabited by Guillermo, Mxima and their three daughters, since March 2019, the date on which the rehabilitation works of the palace came to an end, the cost of which was $ 68 million.

    Before moving to the Huis ten Bosch Palace, the royal couple lived for 15 years in the Villa Eikenhorst, located about 3.7 miles from your new home.

    Through various photographs, the royal couple has not only allowed us to learn how they carry out their activities from home due to the coronavirus pandemic, but they have also taken us to visit some of the most emblematic corners of their palace.

    The Dutch royal palace was completed in March 2019 after several years of construction.

    In the postcards, Mxima and Guillermo are seen working in their offices with comfortable clothes, leaving for a better occasion the dress code they usually use in their official events.

    Guillermos office, as well as other rooms, have on their walls a painting of Guillermo de Orange, considered the Father of the Fatherland.

    In addition to the painting, in his office he also has a dark brown with black table, as well as a shelf where he not only has books, but also photographs with different members of his family.

    The room also has a room with four individual red armchairs, a round coffee table, as well as an imposing wall clock.

    In addition to this, the view towards the royal gardens is simply spectacular thanks to the three windows that you have in your office.

    This is how the office in which Guillermo Alejandro performs his real work looks like.

    Mximas office draws attention for the decoration of its walls, which are not painted in a single tone, but were designed with natural landscapes, thus giving a more welcoming tone to his office.

    In addition to his desk, which is located in a corner of the room, it also has various antique furniture, as well as a round table with a capacity of five people, which is illuminated by a very original ceiling lamp.

    This is the office from which Mxima is working from home.

    The lamp and the walls with natural landscapes are also present in one of the rooms that the royal house has, which is striking for its blue tones, which are present in the bookcases, the room and even on the carpet.

    The room, which is heated with the help of a fireplace, has a capacity for nine people and also in one of the corners it has a desk with two brown chairs with a blue seat.

    The blue color dominates in one of the rooms that the royal palace has.

    The Orange Hall, considered the most emblematic room of the building, was one of the few that did not undergo modifications with the remodeling, having preserved the 17th century paintings that adorn its walls and dome

    This room is illuminated by four chandeliers, in addition to having natural lighting thanks to the large windows that it has and which overlook one of the fountains in its gardens.

    Keep reading

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    This is the house and the kitchen where Anah prepares his famous enfrijoladas

    Meet the spectacular ranch that Joan Sebastian inherited from his son Julin Figueroa

    Meet the $ 30 million mansion where Pharrell Williams is quarantined

    .

    Continue reading here:
    Discover the impressive and colorful palace in which the kings of the Netherlands make home offices - Explica

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