Skip to content

Page Header

Posts categoriezed as Blogs

House Blogs Internacional

House Blogs Internacional published on

 tuscan1.jpg

One of my (many) dreams is to buy an Italian villa or a Spanish castle to retire to do in my old age. Like 44 would be nice. With all the unfinished work going on in my New York homes, I figured it would be a nice diversion to have a look at some European house blogs and plan my retirement project. Perhaps the project will come up sooner if the election doesn’t go my way. I AM a member of the EU, you know. Marrying an illegal alien does have it’s benefits.

Without further adieu….

farmhouse.jpg

No Ordinary Homestead is about an 1834 farmhouse near Frankfurt, Germany. It’s actually about a lot more than the house. The blog is hosted by a Texan gal who is into rock climbing, wine collecting and road trips. She and her ex-pat hubby are planning on building a rock climbing wall and wine cellar. Warning: Stop reading now if you are turning green.

courtyard.JPG

There is a courtyard between the house, the barn and the guest house. I warned you! Now you’re sick, right?

avocado.jpg

This is the before photo of their avocado bathroom. They saved the tub, but replaced everything else with “the new”. Personally, I love the avocado and would have kept it. So, take that you rock climbing, wine collecting, skinny blond with average taste. You don’t have the chutzpah to go avocado!

casamarec.jpg

Palazzo Pizzo follows the renovation of 200+ year old home in southern Italy. Yes, it’s one of the houses in the photo above.

Like my own blog, there aren’t many before and after photos of her actual renovation. Just lots of daydreaming about what she is going to do.

Like this:

bathroommosaic1.jpg

And this:

kitchenstyle1.jpg

stone.JPG

This Really Old House is written by a woman named Lola. That’s my dog’s name, so I like her already. And her husband’s name is Dawg.

The home is in northern Burgundy and I’m not seeing any finished shots so it’s safe to say there is nothing to get too jealous of. Yet. It was interesting to go back to her first post and find out how they came across this one house that spoke to them. They also looked at a Loire 19th century farmhouse and a home that lost its charm after they learned it was located in a town that was a deportation camp for French Jews in WWII.

Other reasons to feel a bond with Lola:

The house doesn’t have heat.

They’ve owned the house for 2.5 years and it’s still not habitable.

But her last post was in July, so maybe it’s a finished cream puff by now. In that case, Bitch.

Bed Stuy Blogger Finally Leaves House

Bed Stuy Blogger Finally Leaves House published on 7 Comments on Bed Stuy Blogger Finally Leaves House

fear.jpg

I’ve been following “The Amber Show” for the past week now. Gal moves to NYC. Someone is shot and killed outside her apartment within the first week of living there. Gal stays holed up in apartment.

Well, she finally got out! Good for Amber! But she’s still terrified of the neighborhood (Bed Stuy) and needed to be transported by car to another area. Now she’s thinking of packing it in and moving elsewhere.

I don’t know what to say about this. Part of me just wants to shake her and say “Snap out of it! You can’t hide in your house!” but I don’t want to sound like a stereotypical cold hearted New Yorker. Fact of the matter is, I don’t know what it’s like to have grown up in a place where crime and violence don’t exist. NYC was never the wild west, but it does tend to harden people.

The shooting was most likely drug related. Nothing actually happened to her, except that she had to witness it. If I was Amber, I would stick it out a few more months and see if I felt more secure. Running and hiding isn’t always the best way to solve problems.

Granted, this part of Bed Stuy can be sketchy even though it’s only about 8 blocks from my house. But as we all know, crime can happen anywhere. I knew two people murdered separately in upstate’s Sullivan County. Brooklyn: zero. 1 shootout, a rape, a drug dealer next door, some break-ins, 2 wife beaters and squatting pitbull fighters: Park Slope circa 1994-2004. Flashers wanking off: Several, every single neighborhood! They love me. The night we moved into Bed Stuy, my husband ran out and broke up a fight between 2 brothers, one of them mentally disturbed. I thought he was going to get himself killed. He didn’t, and the brother is now on his meds and says hello to us every morning. That’s about the worst thing we’ve witnessed in Bed Stuy.

So far.

The Suburbs Blog Too

The Suburbs Blog Too published on 3 Comments on The Suburbs Blog Too

bloglarge.jpg

So wait, you mean Brooklynites aren’t the only ones blogging about their neighborhoods? People from New Jersey have something to say (Sorry, Shore Chic!). That’s what a recent NY Times article says, anyway.

Baristanet out of Montclair is said to be the mother of all suburban blogs. Creative snob that I am, I couldn’t get past the boring design and photos of “those suburban types”. It wasn’t inviting me in. Of course founder Liz George gets the last laugh since she actually has a financially successful and well read blog.

Red Bank Green is more my speed, both in it’s writing style and design. It has a more young, hip feel. The writing reflects that as well. Yes, I do realize the irony. I am neithor young nor hip.

The Loop, serving parts of Westchester is both purdy and informative. They have rumor, rant and rave sections which is always fun.

Long Island is lacking in the blog department. That’s probably because the place is completely devoid of character and people are too busy getting manicures. I mean both men and women. Hey, any readers out there from Lawng Ieyland? Sorry! Love the place. Really.

From The People Who Brought You Materialicious…

From The People Who Brought You Materialicious… published on

work.jpg

Workalicious launched last week! It’s the brainchild of Justin and Gregory from Materialicious, the blog that is so informative it makes my head explode. If you can’t figure out what Workalicious is about from the title, I’m not going to tell you. But I will say it’s about design. In the work place. Check it out for yourself!

Tiny House

Tiny House published on 1 Comment on Tiny House

tiny-free-house-google-sketchup.jpg

Aspiring writer Michael Janzen recently launched two new blogs about tiny houses. His philosophy is: Tiny Homes=Freedom. I like his thinking….

“In a nutshell, tiny houses give you back freedom in the form of time, money, and peace of mind. Why? How? Simply because they cost less to own, clean, heat, cool, etc. The less money you spend on your home the less you have to earn or the more you keep in the bank. The less time you spend cleaning and maintaining your house the more time you have to for the things you like to do.”

Tiny House Design is sort of a cross between two of my favorite sites rolled into one: Materialicious and Shedworking. It covers architecture and design of all homes great (as in wonderful) and small.

Tiny Free House is all about the tiny home Michael is building. He’s trying to get his hands on some spare building material, but wouldn’t ya know it? He is in California.

Anyway, I plan to follow his wisdom and foibles so I can be ready to build my own tiny house when the time comes to replace that dang garage.

I Tagged Myself

I Tagged Myself published on 2 Comments on I Tagged Myself

hudde.jpg

Andres Hudde Junior High, 1980

I don’t really know from all this My Space and Face Book meshugas. This whole social networking thing makes me uncomfortable. It’s like junior high all over again. But there’s one thing I like to do more than anything else and that’s talk about myself. So when Jean over at Renovation Therapy posted that she was tagged, I made her tag me. Even though I don’t know what tagging is.

But anyway, what I have to do is answer the following questions…..

And link back to Jean. You know, at Renovation Therapy.

1. What did you do 10 years ago.

Let’s see…I think 98 was when I was working at Alkit Camera’s rental department. When I quit (gave the finger to the manager and did a cartwheel) I stole their photographer’s mailing list and sent postcards out to assist. I assisted for a few months and then started shooting weddings.

2. Five items on your to-do list today:

a) Find missing light fixture that sold online. Done!

b) Get parts for said fixture. Half done.

c) Photograph inventory for online stores. Not!

d) Pet and human food shopping. Buy wine. A little shopping. Made sure to pick up wine!

e) Clean house/do laundry after in-law infestation. 1 load

3. Snacks I enjoy:

Actually, I’m finding that I can eat an entire box of prepared salad from the local health food store. I like hazelnut gelato, Newman microwave popcorn and oh yeah, this weird chocolate flavored corn chip kind of thing the health food store sells.

4. What would you do if you were a billionaire?

Finish renovating my houses! Buy up some more houses in need of restoration. Take some nice vacations so I don’t have to work on any houses. Open a human/animal shelter. The homeless folks staying there would have the responsibility of caring for the pets. Hmm, maybe open a restaurant. Because I like to eat, not cook. I’d give about half of it away to charity.

5. Places I would live:

New York. San Fransisco. Realistically, that’s about it. Been there, done that. Always came home to NY.

Home Renovation Guide

Home Renovation Guide published on 1 Comment on Home Renovation Guide

logo.gif

Home Renovation Guide underwent an overhaul and recently relaunched. The Toronto based company covers the US as well. There are DIY tips, contractor searches and inspiration guides. Check it out, but not too closely. I want you to come back here!

In the editor’s own words:

“The Home Renovation Guide was originally created as a directory for qualified contractors, but in its new incarnation, the Home Renovation Guide is filled with tons of useful resources for the homeowner – everything from articles about home maintenance to personalized advice from experts to before and after galleries of home renovations (complete with full details). As an online publication, the Home Renovation Guide takes advantage of the immediacy of the web with sections like Hot Products for the latest and greatest, and the Home Improvement Blog that covers topics ranging from news in the renovation world to DIY projects happening at home. You may also notice a decidedly environmentally friendly slant, as we try to encourage the use of green products and concepts as much as possible.”

Brooklyn Blogfest

Brooklyn Blogfest published on

lyceum.jpg

Between Sustainable Flatbush Anne wooping in one ear and my husband commenting on the Lyceum architecture in the other, I couldn’t catch half of what was going on at the Brooklyn Blogfest last night. But I schmoozed, I ate and I had fun. There were informative speeches and shout outs as promised. Good stuff! I’m sure OTBKB will have more deets, as well as every Brooklyn blogger out there. And trust me….there are lots of them. And they’re breeding, people.

creativebed.jpg

Creative Times Eleanor and Bed Stuy Petra

door.jpg

Some bloggers were put to work. I managed to escape that.

fudge.jpg

What’s better than fudge? Brooklyn Fudge!

louise.jpg

OTBKB Louise starts the show.

New Blog Alert: Green 4U

New Blog Alert: Green 4U published on

http-green4uwordpresscomthumbnail.png

Looks like Green 4U just launched last month, so we can still catch up on the tips they have to offer. It’s kind of a “how to” blog. How to go green.

Tips include eating less meat (although the blogger is not a vegetarian), green tax deductions and intro to solar power. There is a whole section on how to contact your state and federal officials.

Blogger Leigh states “I am not a crunchy granola hippy living on a commune. I want to give the average person resources to make more informed decision on how they can improve (or at least not hurt) the environment.”

via Best Green Blogs

Primary Sidebar