HINSDALE Work could soon begin on a new softball field at Hinsdale Central and a renovated exercise room at Hinsdale South High School.

During a District 86 Facility Committee meeting Wednesday, plans moved forward with both projects, but final approval from the school board is still needed in order to break ground.

The softball field, which would cost about $250,000 has been on the districts to-do list for some time, according to school board member Ed Corcoran.

In order to complete the softball field, a permit application has to be filed with Flagg Creek Water Reclamation District.

District 86 Chief Financial Officer Bill Eagan said work on the field could start as soon as Oct. 1 if the project goes out to bid by next week.

The project cost would include a stormwater study, according to the district.

Remodeling the weight room at Hinsdale South includes bringing in new exercise equipment, a cage, installing a new floor and a swipe system to record people going in and out of the facility.

Hinsdale South Principal Stephanie Palmer thinks the swipe system will be an effective mode of to tracking who uses the weight room and when, but the floor is her main concern.

Mostly were excited about refurbishing the flooring, it is old and damaged, Palmer said. And we do need some new equipment, some more modernized equipment, but we also need to replace some damaged equipment.

Corcoran suggested that it would also be nice to establish a time when taxpayers could use the upgraded facility.

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D-86 discusses new Hinsdale Central softball field

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Three Creeks Community Library will close for about two weeks in September for a remodel that will provide some new features for visitors.

The branch at 800-C N.E. Tenney Road will be closed on Monday, Sept. 15; the anticipated reopening is Wednesday, Oct. 1.

Items checked out at the Three Creeks library between Monday and Sept. 9 will have an extended due date of Oct. 1. Three Creeks borrowers whose holds become available during the closure will be notified to pick up their items at the downtown Vancouver Community Library instead.

The project estimated at $160,000 to $175,000 is a chance to catch up on some deferred maintenance at the 12-year-old branch, said Karin Ford, public services director for the Fort Vancouver Regional Library District. But it also will be a chance to shift the floor plan around and create some new spaces for new services.

They include construction of a laptop bar in the teen area.

"We will add an L-shaped bar with five stools in the teen alcove, where there is no room for a free-standing table and chairs," Ford said.

Laptop bars are popular at other libraries in the district that have been built or renovated in the last few years.

The remodel will set the stage for a pair of glass-walled study rooms. Space has already been cleared, with the removal of two rows of book shelves adjacent to the teen area.

"People in the community are looking for meeting spaces," said Sue Vanlaanen, Fort Vancouver Regional Library District spokeswoman. The branch has a community meeting room, but it's for bigger programs and can't be divided into smaller spaces.

Link:
Three Creeks library closing briefly during remodeling

Gayle Plessner and her husband love their dogs, but the sound of the rain on the roof of their California home made them lament winter, the season of muddied paws, in 2012.

"I remember thinking that it would be great if we had a mud room for the dogs," Plessner said.

So when the couple decided in April 2013 to remodel their six-bedroom contemporary home in the Westlake Village planned community on Los Angeles' outskirts, Plessner turned a 10-by-12-foot room off the laundry room into a pet zone, adding a water-resistant polka-dot floor and a separate dog door with access to the backyard for Lucy, a 2-year-old golden retriever; Hermione, a 5-year-old pug; and Snoop, a 6-year-old Chihuahua mix.

Plessner was going to eliminate the bathtub in the bathroom adjoining the dogs' room but instead removed the glass shower doors and made the tub more accessible for bathing them.

Designers say more dog owners are considering their pets' needs when building or remodeling their homes: asking for pooch-friendly spaces, ordering specialized cabinets for pet bowls and food, and adding canine-only showers and tubs.

"Pets and children are very important to our homeowners. So whether it's dogs or cats or gerbils or fish, we need to include them in the design process," Los Angeles architect Tim Barber said.

Marc Bekoff, author of "Why Dogs Hump and Bees Get Depressed," said pets want to feel at peace and safe.

"Animals are smart and emotional, and people are now factoring that into a lot of things. And a place in the house where a dog can get away from it all is really important," he said.

Whether with people or their environment, dogs also crave contact.

"They love the feeling of their back or their butt against a wall or a corner," Bekoff said.

See more here:
Places for pooches

Steven Randel, Houzz Contributor

Laundry rooms rule. If you have the luxury of space, laundry rooms can be more than places to clean clothes; they can be welcoming, accessible places for more activities, such as caring for pets, sewing, doing DIY projects, wrapping packages, starting seedlings and more.

As with kitchens, there are a number of considerations and dimensions to be aware of when planning a multipurpose laundry room. Below are several functions and layouts to keep in mind.

How to have a spotless, beautifully organized laundry room

There are four primary areas and functions of laundry rooms:

Entry and prep. Install a laundry sink near the entry so you can sort, apply fabric treatments and soak stains if necessary.

Washing. It is good to have a countertop where you can place your sorted loads before putting them in the washing machine.

Drying. Youll also want another section of countertop for items that need to be line dried, as well as space to fold dried laundry.

Storage and ironing. Make sure you have enough room for a folded ironing board, which measures about 14 inches wide, 60 inches long and 3 inches thick (36 by 152 by 7 centimeters).

Nice extras. Of course, some people with large spaces want to use their laundry room as a craft or sewing area, mudroom or dog washing station. These are very specific to each of us; planning spaces with a little extra room for these functions lets individual habits dictate their use.

See the rest here:
Key Measurements For A Dream Laundry Room

If youput a bedroom in your basement, city safety codesrequire youto havean easy way to escape in case of a fire.

That usually means putting in a bigger window at an additional cost.

Sometimes, homeowners who wanted to avoid the cost of cutting a bigger hole in the cement, buying a new window and a putting in a bigger window well, would fudge.

They would tell city building and safety staffthe basement room they were remodeling was to be a sewing room, a den, a study -- anything but a bedroom.

So citystaff came up with a definition. If the room has either a closet or a bathroom, then it is a sleeping room and it needs a safe exit.

The definition has worked well for city inspectors dealing with people trying to avoid the cost of putting inan egresswindow.

But it became a bureaucratic nightmare for Laura Pales.

Pales played by the rules. She went to the city with the plans for her basement remodeling project putting in two bedrooms and a TV/rec room.

The city building and safety staff approved the plans. She paid $182 for the permit.

Butseveral weekslater, bureaucracy intervened.

See the original post:
Hicks: Is it a bedroom or not?

ROSELLE A Roselle hotel recently received a makeover by remodeling its brand from Country Inn and Suites to Holiday Inn Express and Suites.

Owned by Pearlshire Capital Group, the hotel also will see a 24,000-square-foot banquet hall addition likely completed by spring 2015, thanks in part to an agreement with the village of Roselle that will help with construction costs.

In the spring, the Roselle Village Board of Trustees approved the establishment of a business district on the hotel property that will allow Pearlshire Capital Group to impose an added sales tax, up to 1 percent, to help pay off the cost of the hall's interior construction, according to village records.

We had a board that wanted to get involved and aggressive in recruiting business. That set the table for this agreement, said Patrick Watkins, the village's community development director.

The renovation of the hotel was a thorough one that included changing furniture, equipment, the color scheme, signage and lighting, said Rehan Zaid, Pearlshire Capital Group's director and principal.

It changed from a traditional look to a contemporary look, Zaid said. Holiday Inn Express is a more recognized brand and gives us more of a competitive edge to compete in the market. It helps us cater to our customer base with better services and amenities.

The hotel originally opened as a Country Inn and Suites hotel in 2008.

A grand reopening and ribbon-cutting ceremony for the 101-room hotel took place July 24.

Roselle Mayor Gayle Smolinski announced the construction of the banquet hall at the ceremony, which was attended by 100 people. She said the banquet hall will be a nice complement to the hotel.

The ribbon cutting was wonderful," Smolinski said, adding the hotel owner did an excellent job of showing commitment to the community.

Visit link:
Roselle hotel rebrands, plans to open banquet hall in spring

My life changed the day I visited a friend who had downsized into a charming home perched on the perimeter of a little lake on the outskirts of Kansas City, Mo.

I fell in love with the quiet community of small, unassuming homes built decades ago around a sleepy lake.

After commuting a few hours a day between our home and my store, I was ready for a close location where we could stay when in Kansas City. Within days, my husband Dan had found a little fixer-upper on the lake and, ready or not, we began our downsizing adventure.

If a smaller, easier home sounds like heaven to you, too, I have great news: Your new nest can be just as big on style as the larger home you're leaving behind. Here are five tips I'm following as we transition to our new home.

Modify to fit your needs

The flow of our lake home comfortably fit the sweet elderly woman we brought it from, but Dan and I knew it was not going to work so well for us and how we do life.

We connected with a good friend who is an architect and got to work figuring out how to modernize the home and add our own personality. The remodeling project has taken more than a year, and while I was ready to pull my hair out a few times, I'm glad we did it.

If you have a chance to remodel or build your smaller home, list the things you absolutely have to work around.

One of ours was books. We needed homes for Dan's gazillion volumes. So we lined the walls of the living room with bookshelves.

See the original post here:
5 tips for downsized home decorating

Gayle Plessner and her husband love their dogs, but the sound of the rain on the roof of their home in Westlake Village, a planned community on the border of Los Angeles, made them lament winter, the season of muddied paws, in 2012.

"I remember thinking that it would be great if we had a mud room for the dogs," Plessner said.

So when the couple decided to remodel their six-bedroom contemporary home in April 2013, Plessner turned a 10-by-12-foot room off the laundry room into a pet zone, adding a water-resistant polka-dot floor and a separate dog door with access to the backyard for Lucy, a 2-year-old golden retriever; Hermione, a 5-year-old pug; and Snoop, a 6-year-old Chihuahua mix.

Plessner was going to eliminate the bathtub in the bathroom adjoining the dogs' room but instead removed the glass shower doors and made the tub accessible to the dogs.

Designers say more dog owners are considering their pets' needs when building or remodeling their homes: asking for pooch-friendly spaces, ordering specialized cabinets for pet bowls and food, and adding canine-only showers and tubs.

"Pets and children are very important to our homeowners. So whether it's dogs or cats or gerbils or fish, we need to include them in the design process," Los Angeles architect Tim Barber said.

Marc Bekoff, author of "Why Dogs Hump and Bees Get Depressed," said pets want to feel at peace and safe. "Animals are smart and emotional, and people are now factoring that into a lot of things. And a place in the house where a dog can get away from it all is really important."

Whether with people or their environment, dogs also crave contact.

Pacific Palisades, Calif., resident Pam Fillo considered the need for contact when designing a breakfast nook in 2008. Taking her cue from a magazine article that featured a window-bench-style seat with a single carved opening for a pet, Fillo hired Barber's firm to design a built-in dining bench with three arched openings for her dogs. Each nook provides room for a dog bed.

View post:
Pet projects pricey

Photo courtesy of All Decks and Improvement

This addition by All Decks and Improvement, when completed, housed a new master suite.

This is the first of four articles on building an addition to your home. Look for the next installment on July 17.

Summer is the season when things grow - your lawn, your garden - and possibly your house, too! Today, rather than "trading up," many people are opting to expand their present homes. And what better time for such a project than during this warmer, and often more relaxed, time of year?

PHOTO COURTESY OF thinkstock

More people today are choosing to add on to their present homes, rather than moving.

THE BENEFITS

Building an addition not only lets your family enjoy more elbow room now, but also may increase the future value of your home.

Additions have become popular these days because fewer homeowners are able to sell, said Fred Hirsch of Comfort Guard Contracting, Lodi. "People were holding onto their money because of the economy, but now they feel safer," he said. "They want to put it into their home and bring up the worth of the property."

"It is harder to sell a home today, so people are opting to add on to get more comfortable living space," agreed Ellen Tesauro, owner of All Decks and Improvement, Wayne. But she also cautioned, "You need to be careful - don't overspend on adding more rooms than are needed."

More here:
Need more room? Time to add on!

CEDAR FALLS | The R.J. McElroy Trustees recently awarded a $200,000 matching grant to support the remodeling project of the Hartman Interpretive Center's east wing.

The Friends of Hartman Reserve, along with the Black Hawk County Conservation Board, last May announced plans to renovate a portion of the center, citing energy inefficiencies, structural elements that must be replaced and lack of programming space.

Plans specify a ground-level entrance for greater accessibility; a four-seasons room with a larger deck; a library; a restroom; and a separate classroom to allow educational programming indoors.

"The award is a tremendous endorsement of our plans to remodel the East Wing," said Connie Svoboda, development coordinator at Hartman.

Because it's a matching grant, donors from this point forward will see their contribution multiply dollar for dollar until the $200,000 is raised.

Svoboda said contributions to the capital campaign have been steady. She hopes the challenge from the McElroy Trust will accelerate progress toward the fundraising goal of $2.2 million.

Donations are tax-deductible.

Donors can go online at http://www.HartmanReserve.org to view plans and download a pledge form or contact Svoboda for an appointment.

Civic organizations can learn about the renovation by inviting members of the Friends of Hartman Reserve Board to speak. To schedule a visit, call (319) 277-2187.

Hartman Reserve Nature Center is at 657 Reserve Drive. The Interpretive Center is open 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. during the week and from 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday. Trails are open from sunrise to sundown daily.

Read more:
Hartman Reserve received McElroy Trust grant toward remodeling project