slowartist's Profile

The most important thing is to spend less than they say you can afford. You benefit by knowing enough to negotiate aggressively and your realtor benefits from getting you to settle for a less aggressive negotiation. Don't think too much, your brain is wired to do its best thinking in the subconscious rather than listing everything out in front of you so trust your emotions after you've researched. Expect problems, learn to navigate them. Ask yourself what benefits you gain from owning--some are better off renting. That question changed what I purchased entirely and I am extremely grateful I came to it before finalizing any deal. Walk away from any high pressure meeting--if it is a reasonable deal, it will be available after you've had time to clear your head. It is stressful, but in my experience so worth the stress.

This is not a room put together by someone who does not care. The time to negotiate what it means to share a living space with someone is, well, before you live with them. Seems like you may have committed to living in a room you don't like. Be an adult and live with your decision. Ask, but be prepared to accept her taste gracefully.

I am no expert, but my advice is to just go look at places for a while to learn how the whole thing works--with as many agents as you can stomach. Go to at least one viewing without an agent--I learned a ton! Pay attention to what makes a property higher cost--it doesn't work how I was l always taught. Never listen to a realtor about what you an afford--they benefit by getting you to buy something more quickly. They get sales by "helping" you purchase slightly outside of your comfort zone. 10,000 is a lot of money to me, but would only make 600 dollars difference to a realtor, but a week or two delay. The realtor sees the benefit in getting you to purchase, and not in negotiating for your best interest. Know enough to do your own bargaining with any seller. Realtors spend on average two more weeks negotiating for personal purchases than they do for any client. I was actually very happy to work with no contract--most contracts I saw expected me to work with an agent exclusively--bad idea.

Current research says that your instinct about a home is a far better indicator of satisfaction further down the road than listing pro's and cons, so trust that gut not only about your agent, but about your purchase decisions. In other words--never talk yourself into a purchase.

I am always perplexed by these questions that start out, there's an empty space, how should I fill it? Sometimes there is art designed to be seen as you pass it by, or look at it from an odd angle, like up from the bottom of a staircase. But it makes more sense that a staircase be free of distractions. Seems like a color problem to me--the honey colored wood with that warm beige end up mimicking bad color balance in a photo.

When I bought my home, a question that seems so clear and obvious rose to the top, but I rarely see anyone ask on this site: what do I want to do in my home? It drastically changed the way I looked at the spaces I was choosing from. People want to rush in and decorate rather than design. I planned for flexibility, because I knew that things in my life may change. I don't have the perfect home, but I love it. And it has actually served to change my life rather than simply exist as a beautiful home. And, it is quite beautiful, if I do say so myself.

I agree with Orchid64; Japan has no coffee traditions of its own. I never lived there but was taken to several places that were supposed to be Tokyo's best coffee because I was a guest known to enjoy coffee. I also found many techniques for brewing and presentation, and very inconsistent quality. The technique and equipment in this post looks exactly consistent with what I see on Korean television programs, but even those programs acknowledge the Italian roots. Check out the Coffee Prince on hulu

the question of greener than thou is always thorny. But the refrigerator kinda seals the deal. The placement seems bad, it is behemoth, and that side by side with ice door is the worst. The overall design of the kitchen includes many improvements, but it follows a lot of current trends at the expense of good design. The placement of open shelves so low and adjacent to the cook surface seems disastrous even if the other open shelves seem great. The stainless appliances seem dated and that they are that way only as a bad style choice. Love the cork. This is like most reno's, including my own, a mixed bag.

You repeat the same problem you hope to correct: buying a useless gadget rather than a loved basic. The key here is to know your cook, or take a different route. I would never use the stupid potato fork thing, and have cast off countless trivets--some pretty damned cute ones too. I read the original article, and laughed because I love my meat thermometer and make regular use of it. I have a mandolin, but more often rely on my knife to produce similar results, and if I didn't already have the one I do have, I would choose a very different model. The point really is that the gizmo marketed to us as the preferred or latest is often useless to the cook. My best advice: never buy a painting for an artist unless you know, really know, their collections and taste. Buy a beautiful artwork for a cook--open them to something that can relate to the thing they already know and love--the simple fact is they know that thing more than you do, and giving a professional something from amateur knowledge just seems a little off. On the other hand--most people I know who love to cook also really love someone else's cooking. But people can be afraid to offer their food to an accomplished cook. My guess is they'd rather have the fruits of your labor than the wrong tool.

I painted my linoleum floor. I used 1 part epoxy acrylic concrete and garage floor paint. It made the visual difference I hoped for, but yes, significant traffic makes significant wear. It gets dirt ground into the surface, and it chips off the existing smooth surface. If your ceramic tiles are glazed with a gloss glaze, I would imagine that this will make the chipping problem worse.

I don't think it is the best solution for a kitchen. And it is a temporary fix.

you say you are a modern gal; your gull is much more modern with the artist's intention to render his perch. You asked the question because you know you are significantly changing what the artist intends. The value question here has more to do with your connection (or lack of one) to the art than it does to monetary value.

That said, the suggestion of a larger matte and keeping the original intact will at least avoid sacrilege and desecration.