the cityhammer blog

Hamptons Photo by mborowick

Confession time: we're not watching season 3 of HGTV's Design Star. Tried, but couldn't. Its not a bad show, its just too time consuming for too little "design". We love HGTV, but have found that Design Star is better absorbed in smaller chunks. Thankfully, HGTV has a Vlog (Video Log?) on their site with bite-sized video content so the casual fan can keep up week to week with what they've missed. The Design Star Blog is a nice alternative if you don't have that extra hour for each episode.
Design Star Video Blog

Remodelista's Steal This Look is one of our favorite blog series on the net. This time around they've got a kitchen with black slate counter tops and open white shelves that could go either way...mod or retro. Of course with a canvas that sleek and plain, the deciding factor as far as mod or retro would be what you put on that open shelving. Remodelista's got some interesting ideas like white pottery by Heath Ceramics or Bauer Bowls in different bright colors.
Steal This Look: Kitchen

Sad but true news from the Zillow Blog, they're reporting the foreclosure of a second Extreme Home Makeover house this week. The first one was a home in Atlanta that was featured on the show 3 years ago. The family used the house as collateral to start a construction business, but apparently it didn't work out. The news this week came out of Oregon that the homeowner lost a battle with cancer and the family can't afford to pay the $250,000 mortgage left, along with the utilities and taxes for the property.
Extreme Home Makeover Foreclosures

Labels: Design Star, Extreme Home Makeover, Foreclosures, HGTV, Mod Kitchen, Retro Kitchen

Photo taken at the U.S. Customs House, Bowling Green, Manhattan - thanks to Pro-Zak

The Weekender Warrior checks in with Brownstoner with his latest project, a sagging stained glass skylight repair. Our inner-minimalist is screaming "LOSE THE SKYLIGHT ENTIRELY!" but to each his own...
Weekend Warrior: Fixing the Skylight

In what might be the mosty blatant example of an unqualified handyman's handiwork, Charles and Hudson's got pics of a shower that comes with it's own hanging electrical outlet, complete with dangling extension cord. Most of us get our morning jolt from a strong cup of coffee...this is clearly the next level.
Electrocution Waiting to Happen

Attention all Do-It-Yourselfers, Real LI, the real estate blog from Newsday is reporting that:

"one out of every 200 homes in New York State last year had some sort of foreclosure-related filing, from default letters to auction notices, a 10 percent jump from 2006. RealtyTrac said the number of New York homes that got foreclosure-related filings was 38,688."

With a foreclosed property, you can assume the prices will be cheap, but the renovations will be costly and time-consuming. Now that New York State is chock full of them, and the Federal Reserve has made it so that banks can once again lend profitably (mortgages and home equity lines), can the next reno boom be far behind?
Jump in NY Foreclosure Activity

Labels: Foreclosures, Handyman, Newsday, Shower, Stained Glass Skylight