Successor to “The Great Room” First there was the “Great Room” (although in practice, it felt more like the “Great First Floor” — no interior walls anywhere). Now, privacy-starved families are pushing the pendulum back towards what I’ll call the “Great Kitchen” — a fusion of the Kitchen and Family Room. The Great Kitchen In...Read More
Renewal vs. Decline It happens to every neighborhood fortunate to get old enough (at least in the family-friendly Midwest): the original owners raise their kids, become empty-nesters, and downsize. All at once — or at least it can seem that way — the block is for sale. Is that an opportunity for Buyers? Like so...Read More
Sign(s) of the Times: “Vote For” & “For Sale” Are there really that many homes for sale at the moment? Drive down any busy urban Twin Cities street these days, and it can seem like the entire block is for sale. Until you realize that the names on a lot of the signs aren’t Realtors...Read More
Picking up Speed First, it was slow food — you know, the antidote to “fast food.” Now, it seems, the “slow movement” is taking hold and expanding to other walks of life. Slow design. Slow living. Slow money. Slow sex (from wikipedia, not me!) And now slow parenting (the label may be new, but the...Read More