Featured

Create Jobs for the USA.

By "Chabby" Chaberek 2 Comments

Yes!!! This morning I came across this and could not wait to share it with you all!

Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks and Opportunity Finance Network are working together

to create and sustain jobs in underserved communities. They specialize in bringing low-cost

loans to small business startups, assist them in business planning, and get them to the point

of hiring new employees. To say I was shocked that a titan of corporate america see’s a direction

and is willing to put his money where his mouth is was an understatement. Before posting to this

blog, I checked out a couple of interviews Mr. Schultz did and found him to be a breath

of fresh air. He seems to have a tremendous amount of knowledge and ideas on how to bring America back

to prosperity.

Starbucks is donating the first 5 million dollars and as of Nov 1, 2012 we all can donate, just $5.00.

We think this is a great idea, and will be donating ourselves. Check out the link provided. We look forward

bringing you more stories like this!! Lets bring back the great USA! We all can make a difference. S. Chaberek

http://www.createjobsforusa.org/

Filed Under: American Spirit, Featured Tagged With: America, corporate america, create jobs, Howard Schultz, jobs, starbucks, USA

I have renovated a bunch of houses over the years and this one was the worst, but turned out to be my favorite. We were able to finish this ” head to toe” renovation in 4 months! I felt the most like an Artist with this renovation as I started out with very little bones. Once I got into it… well let’s just say the few bones I thought it had, were broken! EXAMPLE:The house was built in the early 1940’s and this was about the time they started using plywood as sub-flooring… Well it being a new product… the original builder installed it improperly. I want you to understand the proper way to install plywood but it would probably bore you. Let’s just say that I had to take up all the hardwood floors and re-lay new plywood. Do you get my point in telling you this, the house needed way more than a face lift. I had a vision for this project and I am the type that had to follow thru or the project would have just became “work”. I, of course saw money disappearing from my pockets with all the broken bones!(way over budget) Knowing full well that my vision for the house could not be compromised. I just worked faster in an effort to saving as much money as possible on carrying costs, so I could keep my vision alive! We could have a 10 page discussion on what it took to renovate this house, but these before and after pictures say it all! Stephen Spurling

Filed Under: Featured, Home Renovations Large and Small

Big Art. Where to hang.

By "Chabby" Chaberek 1 Comment

Upon moving into my smaller digs, I found I had very limited wall space for the art I have been collecting over the years. I took some to my small cottage on the North Carolina coast, but had a number of large pieces that I could not bring myself to part with or put in storage. While pondering my delimma, I decided the best place to hang and lite my Art was the large expanse, of often unused wall space, that ran up my staircase to the second floor.It also had a single light source at the top of the stairs. Since most of the pieces in my collection were framed in gilded gold frames, I knew the walls had to be a dark color for the frames to pop. Once again, I had the plan and it was time to complete the project

First I fashioned a scaffolding( not for the faint of heart) as I had to move across the space to paint then install my art work. I painted the walls a soft chocolate and hung my Art. I knew I needed at least 5 spots to light the walls, and the lighting had to be flexable and inexpensive. On a trip to my local IKEA, I found my strip lighting and installed a dimmer.

I absolutely love what I now call my gallery! I can sit in bed and look out into the hall and see my collection! It brings me peace and I reminess of the travels in which I found every piece. Steve

Filed Under: Featured, Home Decorating Tips by "Chabby" Chaberek Tagged With: cottage, hanging pictures, painted walls, stairwell

A Great “Before” and “After”

By Stephen Spurling 2 Comments

This project might be considered a teardown…. NO!!! Nothing is beyond saving, especially when a local city ordinance may require it to be moved over (in this case 3 ft) from the property line. That’s right, always check with the city before tearing down a detached building or garage that is sitting close to the lot line. This is especially true if you live in an older neighborhood. The requirements for setbacks on lot lines have been revised over the years. If your building is still standing… renovate it, because once it is torn down you may not be able to rebuild it in the same spot. This is why we renovated this little single car garage… Of course we changed it’s use to a small studio with garden storage in the back. I must say that this little building was brought back to life with style!

Filed Under: Featured, Home Renovations Large and Small

A Great Kitchen Renovation

By Stephen Spurling 5 Comments

This is one of my favorite kitchen renovations. I have posted before, during and after pictures that you must see! We not only put new cabinets and counter tops in, we changed the functional obsolescent of the existing kitchen. We opened the wall going to the basement, reconfigured the basement door which added about 4 more foot of counter top, base cabinet drawers and exposed a hidden window in the basement stairwell. We took out the pantry closet located in the small eat-in area,neither of which were functional and added glass door front cabinets and a window seat. We even reclaimed and refinished the pine floors that were hidden under several layers of vinyl flooring! This was a top to bottom renovation that stayed within the original character of the house, and in the process added even more!