Taureg's Profile

Make a back-up on another disk and store offsite. This is the ONLY way to protect your data and files if you they are large, e.g., .5TB or more. Simply backing up to another device and keeping it on site gives you no protection against fires, floods, etc.

If your files are small enough, store them on-line - but I would not do that with confidential and important data, which is too easy to hack.

This is the way every computer center operates, for a reason.

Aspersions and another company whose name escapes me makes little USB devices that you attach to your laptop (the sender). You attach another one to your receiver. Total cost $150. If you have a sub, you can add a receiver for that too. It makes any set up wireless. I have used it for years.

While I am a huge fan of Aperion, an audiophile friend thinks the wireless speaker solution isn't quite there acoustically - but if you are playing stuff from iTunes or on TV, that shouldn't concern you.

After 9/11, I had asbestos in my rugs from the collapse of the WTC (I live nearby). I had my rugs tested 3 times and finally came up with "moderate" asbestos. The EPA contended that it was not a health risk and so could be left as is. Fortunately, a scientist at the EPA went out on a limb and disputed their assurances. It was a huge controversy unknown to most people.

I am relating this story because if the EPA stated that very, very fine (pulverized) asbestos in rugs and upholstery wasn't a health risk because it was unlikely to become airborne, then intact siding certainly isn't. This stuff is only dangerous when it is moving. BTW, if the house has popcorn ceilings, or old floor tiles, that could have asbestos too.

BTW, I am a political liberal but, having been up close on 9/11, after a disaster, I would NEVER trust government assurances of what is safe.

I had all my rugs, etc. replaced.

That little nice allowed coffins to be move up and down the stairs (really!)Old brownstones have them. The perfect place for a Day of the Dead diorama!

I would play with bright colors, like those used in Mexico or in I hard Bratagan's architecture. Look up at a brilliant blue wall above a bright yellow stair case with a wonderful fuchsia bannister above a lime green staircase. Or use more neutral colors but play with the planes and spaces you have to make a geometric composition.

Why not make the balcony , especially the top of the upper windowed area, and the front stairs railing look more like its twin? It might not be exciting, but it doesn't sound like you're being paid for that. It will calm all of that down visually.

The staircase and the front door are mis-matched. Whatever solution you come up with for the downstairs, even out the space by putting some type of frame around the door and some width to the handrail. I would also make sure sides are built to enclose the area under the steps - they look very cheesy now.

I would get rid of the plant patch. It isn't about the plants - it is that it also doesn't align or relate visually to anything and reduces the area in front of the stair, which is just strange - and an accident waiting to happen. Plants are the least of the problem with that slapped together lower area.

Of budget allows, have the top of the window molding and crown the same height as the newly framed door. The bottom of the windows should come up and maybe have planters under them. Depends if the owner wants a sun room or an open porch.

Good luck!

This is the double http://www.cosmoligne.com/table-basse-design-xcentric-p-805.html?language=en&osCsid=3849015234cdeefcc9ee8523084c7097

It is hard to find something for a wall that size. The only thing that comes to mind re: length are hand painted vintage Japanese Boys Day banners - but I don't think they're wide enough to make a statement.

Width is something you need to consider as well as length.

Depending upon your color preferences, why not see how wide you can get fabric in solid colors and, using double weight stretcher strips from a serious art supply store and a staple gun, make large fabric colored squares of each co,or and arrange them down the center of the wall? I'd guess you need 60" width or so.

Assemblages will get lost on a wall like that. And remember - the ideal viewing distance for art is twice the diagonal so you need something BIG when it is up 25'.

The others are right about needing to address the space, not just the surface, but you'd need something large to hang.

And I would remove that stuff from the bottom of the wall.

After a bad bike accident wrecked my back, I spent $340 for the Vertebra chair - in 1985, with an architect's discount I have never, ever regretted getting it. Ergonomics was barely born but is was an excellent design. And, I learned recently, a 70's design classic.

Don't skimp on a desk chair.

If you have a serious amplifier, it is too high for many media consoles. Quite the bummer when looking.

If you don't want to destroy them, read up on archival textile materials. Wood is a huge problem, even if covered by fabric, and so is paper. The acid I each will destroy your textile.

I have a large tribal textile collection and can give you an option. Buy stretcher strips in an art supply but make sure they are larger than the piece, so it won't touch it. Stretch unbleached muslin over the frame, so it ends up like a canvas. Use a staple gun to attach the fabric with staples at the back. Then hand sew, using (thread to be researched) the textile to the fabric so it is well supported. Don't do this for anything heavy. You can then mount it directly on a wall or get strips or whatever to frame it. Display away from ALL light sources, if valuable (light bulbs emit UV).

Not expensive but does take time. For inexpensive textiles that you don't care about, use map tacks to attach directly to the stretcher strips, through the muslin or other fabric.