Create an Awesome Mini Terrarium Out of an Old Light Bulb

While perusing one of our favorite sources for DIY projects, ManMade DIY, we saw this great project to make a terrarium out of an old light bulb. As you know, we love terrariums and upcycling light bulbs and therefore could not resist the opportunity to share this project with you.

This how to, which we discovered on ManMade DIY, comes courtesy of Julie Melton fromTinyTerra guest blogging for The Hipster Home.

To make this equally adorable and chic terrarium you will need an incandescent light bulb, sand, 4 small adhesive silicone bumpers, sheet moss, reindeer moss, tillandsia, and a small toy (or anything else you would like to put inside your terrarium).

The project requires a few simple tools, small needle-nose pliers, scissors, long tweezers or chopsticks, flat head screwdriver, and safety glasses.

We love these mini terrariums and think they are a great way to turn an old light bulb into a nifty Valentine’s Day gift. We also think they would look rather swell on our windowsill, bookshelf, and desk…not that we are dropping hints or anything.

For the complete instructions, check out The Hipster Home.

If you would prefer not to go the DIY route, light bulb terrariums are available from Julie’s Etsy store TinyTerra for $42.

[images Julie Melton]

]]> http://chicagonorthshorehome.com/2010/02/09/chicago-flower-and-garden-show/ Tue, 09 Feb 2010 18:12:09 +0000 Jason Hartong http://chicagonorthshorehome.com/2010/02/09/chicago-flower-and-garden-show/

The Chicago Flower & Garden Show will take place at Navy Pier from March 6th to 14th, 2010. Monday-Saturday: 10:00 a.m.-8:00 p.m. & Sunday: 10:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m. Check the official site for admission and parking details.

For further questions, call 773.868.3010 or email: flowershow@chicagoevents.com

The official event site, www.chicagoflower.com

The first time I reached for a bottle of beer at a friend’s home in the traditional yet very stylish Cotswolds, I became obsessed with the fridge. They had an off-white masterpiece of high quality retro with all kinds of high polished chrome fittings. Whenever I happen to pay them a visit, my eyes always wander towards their kitchen to catch a glimpse. I admire the line of fridge designs as I would a 1956 Saab Sonett I sports car. Both are designed to please the aesthetic sensors in our brains while functioning as top notch machines. Form follows function but function doesn’t need to be ugly. The SMEG fridge is available in a multitude of colours and sizes. Most are on the smallish size in comparison to William Perry “The Fridge”, but who needs to store fifty boxes of frozen TV dinners? Fresh food is better for us anyhow. The retro chrome appliance also tends to travel from home to home just as a 52″ flat panel tv does. At least that’s what I hear.

SMEG makes a complete line of kitchen appliances to fit a stylish home of traditional or contemporary flavour. To buy SMEG Stateside, visit SMEG USA Inc.

Interesting article posted by re-nest abundant design for green homes.  I could see exceptional growth potential with this type of architecture considering the cost of scrap materials.  I’d find it satisfying to design a rather complimentary garden and outdoor room for such a property.

Ever wonder how container architecture works? Where do the containers come from, how are they modified and exactly how much do they cost? Well, we’re hoping to do a container house at our architecture firm, so earlier this week we headed to the south side of Chicago to Vaccaro Trucking, Inc., a container shipping, storage and modification company.

If you are looking for something to do this blustery December weekend, why not see the Nutcracker.  The Civic Ballet of Chicago will be performing at the Centre East in the North Shore Center for Performing Arts, 9501 Skokie Blvd., Skokie, IL.  The performances will be held on December 12-13 at 3pm. Tickets are $35.00 and can be purchased by calling 847.673.6300 or by clicking here.

Winter in the Chicago area can be expensive for a homeowner.  There are all kinds of commonsense ways to help on being efficient in a cold climate.  It’s not always easy to remember all the various ways to winterize, so here is a helpful link to refresh your memory.

There are healthy signs in the Chicagoland real estate market.  According to the Illinois Association of Realtors, pent-up demand and a tax credit drive, have pushed sales up 33.3% in the Chicago area, as of October ‘09.  Statewide, numbers are also up in the double digits, at 24.2%.  These are encouraging signs for sales that have been on the decline over the last couple years.  Between the record low interest rates offered on mortgages and the tax incentives, buyers are stepping off the curb to take advantage of the buyers market.  For more on this latest trend, click here.

Interested in seeing what’s available in Chicago or the North Shore?  Call or email Jason Hartong of Prudential Rubloff.  Tel. 1.847.512.2781 or email. jhartong@rubloff.com

The Evanston Symphony Orchestra will hold it’s holiday concert at Evanston Township High School auditorium, on December 6th 2009 at 3:00 pm. Located at 1600 Dodge Avenue in Evanston.

“An Evanston Symphony Christmas”, will showcase music selected by Director of Music, Lawrence Eckerling.  The selection will include, festive holiday carols, Winter from Vivaldi to Handel’s Messiah.  The chorus of 100 voices should be a joy to the auditory senses.  The concert attracts well over a thousand visitors annually.

Tickets are $23 for general admission and $10 for children.  There is special pricing available for families.  For more information, visit the Evanston Symphony website.  The event is sponsored by Romano Brothers & Co., an Evanston financial firm.

There are endless ways to add a little something, to spice up a bland living space.  New homes offer many desirable characteristics but many times lack anything to distinguish themselves, from the rest of the pack.  A great way to solve the cookie cutter syndrome is to buy antique salvage.  Anything from the kitchen sink to an ornate vintage mantel can be found and easily installed.

I’m rather fond of AGA stoves.  This native kitchen appliance of the British Isles, has a long history in cottages and country homes.  AGA cookers or as we call them in North America, stoves, have begun to emerge in stylish living spaces across the US.  Favoured for their sturdy construction and multitude of colour choices, they have a vintage look that lends well to the brands versitility in a modern dwelling.  Apart from being bought new, the older ones are very collectible.  For more about AGA stoves, visit aga-ranges.com

A great source for a vast range of antique salvage is, Salvage One.  The company is located in Chicago and carries everything from lighting fixtures to Victorian door knobs.  Plan to spend several hours there, as they have three full floors of showroom.  For further details, click here.

Recently, I was interviewed by the Chicago Tribune for a story about the fall in property values. The market that sticks out like a sore thumb, is the upper-bracket multimillion $ homes dotting the shores of lake Michigan. I have seen property values in this sector plummet by nearly half their values from the market peak. Just a few years ago these homes were selling for top Dollar, with multiple offers as the wealthy had to find places to secure their investments.

Now, with the stock market and property having gone through major corrections, most potential buyers are finding it hard to come up with the cash to invest in property. Many have their capital tied into their own property and over the last couple years, many of the properties they own have lost significant value, making it hard to trade up the property ladder.

For more on this phenomenon, here’s a link to the Chicago Tribune.

Watercolour Gardens has updated it’s website with more project photos in the portfolio section.  Looking to build a garden/landscape to enjoy the outdoors and entertain guests?  Watercolour Gardens provides landscape design services to meet the needs of many types of budgets. Whether it’s a small city space or a large suburban property, Watercolour Gardens offers design experience to make the most of your outdoor living space.  No property is to small or large for maximizing it’s function and beauty.  While based on the Chicago North Shore, Watercolour Gardens has been commissioned to create landscapes in both Europe and North America.  For more information about setting up a consultation, visit Watercolour Gardens by Hartong International .

The days are getting longer and warmer.  Here on Chicago’s North Shore, Spring happens quickly and is a short season crunched between Arctic Winters and Sahara Summers.  It’s one of the best times of year to get cracking with implementing plans for your outdoor living space.  Contractors love doing the heavy hardscaping, terraces and garden structures in cool Spring weather.

For a successful outdoor living space, also known as a garden, it’s best to consult a trained Landscape Designer.  There’s a lot more to landscape than just throwing in a few trees and shrubs.  When designed properly, a garden should reflect the style, geometry and scale of the property.  The outdoor living room when successfully designed will extend the function and comfort of your indoor space.

As designer for Hartong International, I offer several levels of service in the design process.  I can arrange sketch plans, planting plans and construction specifications for a recommended landscaper to construct your garden.  If you wish to hire Watercolour Gardens for just the drawings and specifications, you can arrange and manage your garden at your own pace.  It’s all a matter of preference and budget.  For more details about garden design, visit Watercolour Gardens by Hartong International.

A Spring tradition is just around the corner.  The Chicago Flower and Garden Show is due to start on March 7th 2009 and runs through March 15th 2009.  There are always fantastic displays, showing hardscaping and landscape design ideas for your home.  If you have interest in attending this years event, click here for more details.

The Chicago Botanic Garden will be displaying a 4,800sf exhibit titled, “Hope for the Healing Planet”.  From what I hear, it will be a remarkably interactive display with a focus on sustainable landscaping.  The public will get helpful advice on creating a healthier future for the environment and humans alike. 

Every vote counts! The backbone of a democracy is the duty of all it’s citizens to vote. Get prepared to find your polling place. In Evanston, you can contact the City of Evanston, to determine your voting location. Make sure to show up on November 4th 2008 or earlier for absentee voting.

The time has come again for the annual Green Living Festival. The event is being held on Saturday, October 4th at the Evanston Ecology Center, located at 2024 McCormick Blvd. The event hours will be from 9:00am-4:00pm.

The festival will focus on ways the public can contribute to reducing carbon emissions and living cleaner lifestyles. There will be presentations, demonstrations, tours of a mini-farm at Twiggs Park and activities to engage the entire family. The event is sponsored by local green-businesses and organizations, which will introduce products and ideas to live in an environmentally sustainable way.

The festival is being held as a free event and everyone is welcome to attend.  For more information call 847.448.8256.

As Summer is officially ending, it’s a fantastic time to get a new landscape designed and built. Trees, shrubs and perennials all do very well with being planted this time of year. The typical rainfall and cooler temperatures keep plants from getting stressed. There’s also plenty of blooms and foliage colour to be enjoyed in the Autumn months. Many plants continue to provide colour until around the first snowfall. Although, a thoughtfully designed landscape will give plenty of visual interest in Winter.

If you plan to build extensive terracing, decks and hardscaping, many contractors prefer to work on these projects during cooler months. Having a comfortable contractor, means you’ll likely get a carefully built finished product. Remember to hire a professional landscape designer or architect to design the landscape. Don’t rely on a contractor to give you professional results without a design. It’s always nice to see a properly designed plan in three dimensions, so ask your designer to arrange a scale model. This allows you to visually walk through a landscape before it’s built. For more information about landscape design, visit the Chicago Botanic Garden website.

For more information: Hartong International Design

Would you like to learn a bit more about the market conditions in Evanston? Looking for smart home renovation advice or need the financing to refurbish a home? Join us for a brief presentation and interactive discussion about North Shore housing trends. We will be covering the basics of renovation lending, smart renovation/design trends and overall market conditions on the North Shore. 

We will be holding two presentations during the month of September 2008. Join us on 9/10/08 from 6pm-7pm or 9/20/08 from 1pm-2pm at Rubloff North Shore, 1620 Sherman Avenue, Suite A, Evanston, Illinois. No need to make a reservation for our complimentary presentation. For more details, call 1 847 512 2781.

Jason Hartong, QSC Realtor, Rubloff North Shore

Corinne Guerra, Home Mortgage Consultant, RWF Mortgage, LLC

Having already run a successful fine Italian restaurant, the owners of Campagnola opened a complimentary venture last Spring.  The Union Pizzeria has an ambience reminiscent of a contemporary Milan eatery and a festive crowd at almost any hour of the evening. The high vaulted ceilings and creative lighting add to the overall appeal and visual enjoyment. A huge central bar with seating for 25, is a perfect place to sample the beer offerings from Belgian and German microbreweries. There is also a surprisingly large variety of wine choice.

I’ve eaten at Union many times and it’s never a dull scene.  The menu is fairly simple, with a selection of well made pizza, salads and casual Italian cuisine. I’d recommend the entire menu, considering the kitchen staff do their job well.  It’s not fancy dining but done with fresh ingredients and presented elegantly.  The staff are all very friendly and add to the overall comfortable setting.  

Union Pizzeria is located at 1245 Chicago Avenue in Evanston.  Nearby, is the Dempster Street EL station and several bus links.  Parking is usually pretty challenging. Often, a few runs around the block will land you a parking space with luck.  I recommend calling in a reservation, during peak weekend hours.  Union Pizzeria can be reached by tel: 1 847 475 2400 or visit www.unionpizza.com

While Summer might be ending soon, The Chicago Botanic Garden welcomes visitors all year long. The amazing variety of individual gardens continually change and always entice the senses with a new experience.

The park displays many garden styles and designs by internationally recognized garden designers.  John Brookes, one of my favourite designers, built an authentic English Walled Garden, that gives the viewer a taste of Europe’s historic gardens. The Japanese Garden has the subtle formality expected in such a garden, offering a place to reflect and relax. There are so many types of environments to explore, all with unique designs and character.  

I’d recommend an outing to the gardens over the holiday weekend. There is a fantastic variety of colour and foliage to see during late Summer. The park offers plenty to do and see for the entire family. For hours and a full list of upcoming events, visit the Chicago Botanic Garden’s website. Click here for more details.

Whole Foods will be hosting the FlavorFest, which will include music, food and cooking demonstrations. There will be plenty to do for the entire family. Old school bands like the English Beat and the Smithereens will be playing along with several local acts. It should be a perfect weekend and worth getting down to the city for the complimentary party at Trebes Park near Webster and Racine.

The festivities will be held on August 23rd & 24th, 2008. The hours will be 11am-9pm on Saturday and 11am -8pm on Sunday. For more details, Click here.

The importance of landscape garden design has become accepted in America, as property owners look to expand usable living space.  The term “outdoor room” has been floating around for years but as the public becomes more aware about creating useful green space, the implementation of sophisticated gardens has expanded. No longer is a homeowner limited to the traditional deck and lawn in their garden. Adding additional terraces and three season rooms have become a logical way to extend square footage to a home.

Sherry Thomas of North Shore Magazine recently wrote, an excellent article about the European outdoor room philosophy, which is becoming rediscovered on the North Shore.

From European-style swimming pools to sultry outdoor living rooms, North Shore residents are finding more ways than ever to turn their homes inside out.

When Susan Forney first saw her sprawling estate home in Northfield, she fell in love with its Old World elegance and history.

“I’m the third owner,” she says of her 1923 property. “It was built by a gentleman who, around the turn of the century, designed a seal that was used for Ford motor cars.” As the man made his fortune, he and his wife (a transplanted Southern belle) moved into a mansion in Chicago and built the Georgian in the country, on a 22-acre spread with ample room for horses and entertaining, as a place to escape the oppressive city heat.

Click here to read the full article.

To learn more about landscape design in Chicago and the North Shore, visit Watercolour Gardens by Hartong International.

Please join us for a brief overview of current real estate market conditions in Evanston, Illinois. Corinne Guerra of Rubloff Wells Fargo Mortgage, will be speaking about available financing and renovation lending. Jason Hartong of Rubloff, will talk about about ideal homes for renovation and what type of projects a homeowner should focus on.

Please call Rubloff North Shore for details, 1 847 512 2700.  The free seminar will be held at Rubloff North Shore, 1620 Sherman Ave., Evanston, Illinois. August 9th 2008, from 11-12pm.  No RSVP required. 

Regardless of all the lending and foreclosure panic we hear in the news, real estate is still changing hands. Buying a home has become more about location and appearance than ever. A home must be a completely finished property with the perfect combination of amenities and finishes or either a real bargain fixer upper to sell. With high fuel prices, being close to an urban center or a university, will make a property more desirable. In the burbs, it’s important to be close to a rail network, with a short commute time. Look for suburbs with a sense of community and a traditional town center.  Sprawl and unincorporated areas have become far less attractive in a shrinking economy.    

I find most of my real estate clients are looking for, a vintage home that has been completely rebuilt or a unique contemporary house. Character properties are much more desirable than cookie-cutter properties. As a buyer, it’s important to look for a property with a good balance of detail and modern function. Look for a property with rooms that properly serve their intended use. Vintage properties that have been modernized properly will appear to be seamless in combining the old and new. A home with details like, real wood flooring, high-end appliances, copper gutters and cedar shake roofing will make a property show well, last longer and appeal to a larger number of buyers in the future. 

A huge but often overlooked area is, landscaping.  I see it all the time, a house that has been completely refurbished and the contractor skimps on the trees and shrubs. There’s nothing worse than seeing a home with lawn going right up to the foundation or fast food restaurant styled plantings. Landscape can make or break the total appearance of a property. Proper landscaping isn’t cheap and should be taken seriously. Make sure to hire a landscape designer with a formal education to plan and supervise the project. The results will be far more successful than letting a landscape contractor just wing it. A landscape constructed properly will include a balance of hardscaping that fits the architectural style, along with perennial plants, shrubs and trees to finish the space. The idea is to create outdoor rooms, which add more living space to a home. Expect to pay close to 10% of the real estate’s market value on the landscape.  By doing it right, you will be adding a great deal of value to the property. 

There are many ways to improve the overall appearance of a home to suit different budgets. Always remember quality over quantity. External factors can’t always be controlled but the temptation to buy a newer or larger home further away from civilization, isn’t the smartest choice in a tough real estate market. Make sure to buy for location and then go for quality and uniqueness.

The Chicago North Shore has a fairly transient population, which has helped to keep the real estate market moving forward.  If it were not for the number of large corporations and universities located in the area, property sales would have been badly pinched, like other parts of the country. 

Barron’s seems to think the market woes might be short-lived.  There are signs, the real estate market might have already reached a bottom. 

This real-estate rout has been more painful than prior ones, but it may be shorter-lived. Indeed, there are early signs of recovery.

A FEW YEARS AGO, AN ACQUAINTANCE SENT Wellesley College economist Karl “Chip” Case a T-shirt depicting a cartoon of a smiley-face house surrounded by soap bubbles, called “Mr. Housing Bubble.” But it was the words captured in a comic-book cloud on the shirt that gave this otherwise goofy image its bite: “If I pop, you’re screwed!”

The dark humor hardly was lost on Case, co-creator along with Yale economist Robert Shiller of the now-canonical S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices. In pairing recent sale prices of U.S. homes with the prices those same homes fetched previously, the index is substantiating what every sentient American knows: The U.S. housing market is in a deep funk, probably the worst in 50 years, according to Harvard’s respected Joint Center for Housing Studies.

Click to read the full article