Yanic Simard, Houzz Contributor

For most designers, there are certain home decor pieces they return to time and time again. These elements instantly enhance any space, no matter what the style, and add personality, function or color (maybe all of the above). Regardless of the complexity of the space, these eight essentials give rooms the shot of style they need.

Tips on how to start a decorating project

1. Porter floor lamp. This classic lamp is the epitome of good transitional design a little bit of contemporary and a little bit of traditional.

By combining the elegant forms of a traditional lamp with the crispness of a minimalist metallic finish, the Porter creates a statement that can mix well with any style and add a sense of brightness even before you turn it on.

Use it: Behind your bedside tables, next to a sofa (paired or alone) or in an office.

2. Brno chair. Another modern classic that can suit any space, this cantilevered chair (seen here in the foreground) is great for bringing any space into the 21st century.

Use it: As a dining chair, an office chair, you name it. Consider using a pair as dining end chairs. Theyll serve double duty as extra guest seats.

3. Chinese garden stool. Speaking of seating extra guests, the Chinese garden stool is another designer go-to solution for all sorts of dilemmas. Its a stool, footrest and side table, and using one is an excellent way to add a pop of color and pattern or a touch of ceramic to round out a texture palette.

Plus, it moves outdoors with you as soon as the weather warms up truly a smart long-term style investment.

Originally posted here:
8 Must-Have Home Decor Pieces

By Sarah Rigg Special to Washtenaw Now

Briarwood Ford, 7070 E. Michigan Ave., in Pittsfield Township, recently completed a major remodeling and renovation.

The dealership was founded in 1986 in downtown Saline, later moving to its current location. The business is co-owned by Steve Whitener and Eddie Hall.

We started in late June and had about 30 people in portable office trailers from late June until about Oct. 24 or 25, Whitener said. Our target date was Thanksgiving, but we ended up back in about a month early. Everybody is back in the building now, and everybody is glad about that.

The renovation includes a bit of extra room, with the dealerships showroom being expanded 22 feet in length, Whitener said.

Weve been here 26 years and weve done some cosmetic work to keep it fresh, but its our first major remodel, he said. The front of the building, the showroom and offices are almost 100 percent new.

All the walls, carpet and furniture are new, and each employee has a new desk and storage areas.

We also updated the customer lounge, the restrooms all the customer touchpoints are 100 percent new, Whitener said. Its a great thing for the customers but also for employee morale. We have almost 80 employees here, and a lot of them have been here 15 or 20 years or more, and its nice for them to walk in and have a new desk and office space.

The main aim of the remodeling project was to update the look of the building, but some technology upgrades were also included.

Continue reading here:
Saline's Briarwood Ford completes remodeling, grand re-opening set

Remodels don t always have to be a complete overhaul. If you have furniture that is still in good shape, like this flamestitch chair, work the rest of your remodel around it. Changing the wall color is a good place to start. SUN/DEBBE DALEY

Deciding to redecorate a room can be a big deal, one that comes with at least a tinge of anxiety and perhaps an overwhelming feeling of not being able to pull it all together. You have to worry about what style is in for furnishings, how you should pull it all together and, as always, how much to spend.

To help ease the trepidation, consider first which pieces are going to cost the most. It could be the sofa and chairs or the area rug. How much do you really love the existing furniture? If it is in great shape, in a living room for example, and of good quality, but a bit dated, can you work around it and still pull off the new look? In most cases, the answer is yes.

Adding new items around the existing furniture is easy if you have fabric samples.

When it comes to window treatments, be willing to go out of your comfort zone. SUN/DEBBE DALEY

Once the walls are transformed, it may be easier to see the rest of the picture. Move on to the next major piece of the puzzle: the area rug. Again, to make the job easier, always bring along your upholstery and paint swatches.

As you add items to the room and get that boost of confidence that a job well done brings, that tinge of anxiety will subside.

If you're adding window treatments to the room, keep an open mind. Don't go with the most obvious patterns or solids that you think would work. Step out of your box. Try something new.

Accessories are the icing on the cake. End tables, a coffee table, lamps and artwork will complete the new room's look. Once that's done, all that remains is to create the entertaining and social schedule, sit back and enjoy the praises of your newly decorated room.

Debbe Daley, owner of Debbe Daley Designs and RAW Furnishings, is an interior designer with more than 25 years of experience. Follow her blog at blogs.lowellsun. com/daleydecor. She also blogs at debbedaleydesignsllc.blogspot.com.

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Rethink approach to remodeling

NORMAL The interior remodel at the Normal Public Library is completed and a celebration is planned on Wednesday.

Patrons can check out DVDs free all day and there will be a variety of activities from 1 to 9 p.m. Folk singer-songwriters Stone & Snow will perform from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m.; Rick Eugene will do magic and balloon art from 3 to 7 p.m.; and light refreshments will be served from 1 to 9 p.m.

The renovation was prompted by the addition of a new automated book sorter that reads radio frequency identification tags on items being checked in, and then sorts them for reshelving. Patrons feed their returned items into the sorter that is located on the eastern part of the first floor, and can watch the process work through a large viewing window.

Accommodating the large sorter led to other remodeling, including removing several walls on the first floor that opened the space and took advantage of natural light from the windows. Walls were razed behind the circulation desk, providing a large open space for the library's audio, DVD and MP3 collections. The reference desk also was moved, giving space for CDs.

The former computer area is now a periodical area; computers were moved to smaller table clusters in the center of the first floor.

On the second floor, a "mother's room" and "technical playground" were added. Some offices also were moved.

The remodeling and the new sorter cost about $100,000, which was set aside from last year's budget.

More here:
Normal library celebrating remodeling work

Fred Schlipf has been a consultant for the construction and remodeling of more than 125 libraries in Illinois, including the Reddick Public Library in Ottawa.

Sunday afternoon he arrived a half hour before the start of a short ceremony that marked the completion of the $2 million nine-month floor-to-ceiling remodeling of the 1975 Reddick Library building.

Ive been looking around all the corners, he told The Times. I havent seen it since work began, and the results are very interesting.

There had been significant problems, he said.

The heating and ventilating system was in bad shape, and the floor of the adult department was hummocky.

The gradual upheaval of the adult department cement floor had become so bad the book shelves were almost in danger of tipping over.

Schlipf was pleased with the transformation.

It seems to me the community got tremendous value for its money because so much was done that really wasnt radical but more in the way of reorganization and rearrangement, he said. Its amazing what a really good interior design operation can do with simply reassigning spaces.

The redesign was by the librarys architectural firm of Engbert Anderson Design in Milwaukee.

Schlipf commended the library for its new quiet reading room, new teen room and the division of the single public room that had been in the library annex.

Originally posted here:
Its your place, enjoy' Reddick Library marks remodeling completion

By Karina Nova Monday November 10, 2014 6:28 PM UPDATED: Monday November 10, 2014 6:43 PM COLUMBUS, Ohio -

Narcotics officers tell 10TV that kids are finding more items they can use to hide drugs in their home.

Drug abuse can take a life at any age.

Zoey Lockwoods family still celebrates her birthday each year, even though she died of a drug overdose in 2010.

She always smiled. She always had a lot of friends, and then when she turned to be a teenager - she was completely different, says her mother, Susan Bell.

Susan assumed it was Zoey just being an emotional teen. Then by age 14, Zoey started smoking and caring less about her appearance.

It never crossed my mind that she would do that, added Susan.

Susan says she missed the signs that her daughter started doing drugs. When she found a piece of sandpaper in Zoey's room, she thought nothing of it and tossed it in the trash.

It turned out that out it could have given her a big hint as to what was happening in her daughter's world.

And I said to her What is a teenage girl doing with sandpaper in your room? Are you doing some home remodeling I don't know about? and we kind of laughed it off. She never did say anything, explained Susan.

Read the original here:
Drug Stash Secrets: What Could Be Hiding In Your Childs Room

When the Cooperative Health Center opens this morning, patients and staff alike will use a different door and enter a facility that is dramatically different from what it was on Friday.

Gone will be the poor lighting and crowded waiting area. Discussing medical issues with reception staff will be less public. Separate rooms, with sliding glass-paneled doors, will create a confidential setting to discuss billing. Medical exam rooms will no longer be down the hall from nursing stations and will now surround the two stations where the nursing staff will work.

The health center has been undergoing a renovation that, with the addition of a basement that provides more room for future expansion, will cost between $5.2 million and $5.3 million, said Kyle Thomas, the Lewis and Clark County assistant director of public works.

Its also in the midst of a $48,000 rebranding that will produce a new name and logo to go with the health centers new look.

Work on the facility started in December 2013, Thomas said, noting that the renovation will add about 10,000 square feet to the building. With the addition, the health center building will contain about 37,000 square feet. Of that total square footage, some 2,500 square feet have been added to the front of the building.

The 18 medical exam rooms represent an increase of five from what the health center had, he continued. The six rooms for dental procedures will double what was previously provided.

Phase one of the reconstruction is completed and all services that were provided in the old portion of the building are being moved into the new portion of the building, Thomas said.

The new entrance and parking lot for patients is off Fee Street, around the corner as it were, from the current entrance that is familiar to those who come for health services.

Phase two work on the building will prepare it for the return of its dental services. Dental services have been temporarily relocated to an office at 251 Saddle Drive, which is a half-block east of St. Peters Hospital, the health centers website noted.

Its going to be so nice for all those folks who have suffered through the construction, said Ellen Feaver, the vice chairwoman of the health centers board.

Link:
Remodeling brings a new look and feel for CHC

BEFORE: When an addition off the back of this walk-out basement created a larger family room, great effort went into hiding the new beam in the ceiling and the new columns in the walls where the old back wall of the house used to be. This ensured that the new space would feel like one large room rather than two small rooms next to each other.

Annie Schwemmer and Ann Robinson

Editor's note: Portions of this column were previously published on deseretnews.com and on their website at renovationdesigngroup.com.

Identifying load-bearing walls is an important part of home remodeling. However, just because a wall is a structural wall doesnt mean it cant be removed if needed. Removing a load-bearing wall is not a design deal breaker.

We have discussed removing structural walls in this column before, but it is worth discussing again.

Removing a structural wall is not so difficult that avoiding this possibility should be the driving factor in the redesign of your home. The most important consideration is to determine how your family functions and how your home can be changed to support your lifestyle.

If a structural wall needs to come down to achieve your goals, then so be it.

Removing a load-bearing wall will require the services of a structural engineer. When a project requires structural changes, the municipal body that will issue the building permit will require stamped, signed drawings and calculations issued by a licensed structural engineer.

Before beginning to draw final drawings, we like to meet with the engineer at the home to consult on what the existing structural conditions probably are. At this stage, design professionals use their expertise and experience to make educated assumptions regarding the structural framing of the house. If the structure is not visible, a few test holes may be cut here and there which are helpful. However, it is not until the contractor actually tears into the project that the whole structural story may be known.

There are many ways to put a house together some much better than others so it is not shocking or upsetting if part of the solution has to be reconsidered. When you have created a great team with a competent, experienced architect, engineer and contractor, the adjustments can be quickly made, and you are on your way again. There is usually not a great financial impact to such a redesign. Keeping a 10 percent contingency fund will help in not being stressed by the adjustments that may happen along the way.

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Removing load-bearing walls can be hard but worth the effort

For those who yearn for the days of a silent public library, a visit to the Reddick Library in Ottawa is in order.

Based on public input solicited during the planning process, one of the many features of the newly remodeled building which will see its grand opening Sunday is a quiet reading room in its northwest corner. In order to provide the maximum quiet, the room is far away from the new circulation desk and other high traffic areas, said Library Director Kathy Clair.

We took to heart that a number of people in the community said that they wanted one space that was reminiscent of a traditional library that was absolutely quiet, she said. So we created that space in probably the most pleasant corner of the building.

With north and west windows, glass interior walls, big comfy chairs and long work tables, the quiet room already has been claimed by folks with books and periodicals as well as students with homework who need to focus on studies.

Signs inform patrons that the room is a technology-free zone, a ban that applies to e-readers and similar devices.

A grand opening for the entire library will be from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 9.

For those who like ceremonies the event will start with a ribbon-cutting at 2 p.m. in the new community room and remarks by library officials.

There will be light refreshments and music provided by The Flute Studio. Patrons will be able to take self-guided tours with plenty of library staff members available to assist and answer questions.

Clair said the librarys new color scheme has drawn the most favorable comments from patrons. She said the second most commented-on aspect of the remodeling is that even though the exterior dimensions are unchanged, the inside appears larger.

The space is used more efficiently, said Clair. There are literally no wasted corners now.

More:
At Reddick Library, a quiet oasis amidst the bustle

It was bound to happen. I was walking around all cocky like I was president of the world orsomething. So darn ahead of the game....somebody crown me Queen of the ORC. I will give seminars on how to work this gig. There will be a reality show......

Yeah....then BAM. The fall was long and hard. We had to go to Chicago to take my father in law to the doctors.

Crikey......will I even finish now?

I say that because I do have a few paying clients that might need some attention ya know?

Anyway before I left we did make a little progress.

Welcome to week 5 of the ORC!

If you follow me on Instagram then you saw we played around with the art gallery wall.

There was only one problem.....the picture on the bottom left was just not working. Too small and we only had 2 for the other side. Since this is for family I can improvise:) I told the ex bunny to paint something up before I got there.

It might not look much different but when you see the whole wall you will get it!

Other decisions.....We ordered 2 of these to go behind the sofa.

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Design Indulgence