by Alison Moore Smith | Jun 22, 2010 | Design Your Own House, for Home
Decorating an entire home from the ground up is quite a challenge. There are thousands of parts and pieces that make up a custom home. It can be overwhelming. In the last house, my breaking point was the day the builder asked what kind of thresholds we wanted. This...
by Alison Moore Smith | Jun 21, 2010 | for Home
According to the US Census Bureau's Survey of Market Absorption of Apartments (leave it to the feds to complicate every possible title to make it nearly impossible to understand), the median rental price for an unfurnished rental apartment in the US (as of 2008) was...
by Alison Moore Smith | Jun 17, 2010 | Design Your Own House, for Home
The water in Lindon, Utah, has about 15 grains per gallon, making it considered “very hard water.” Hard water is the bane of my existence. It leaves spots, ruins pipes, shortens the lives of appliances, and makes bathrooms and kitchens look terrible—on the...
by Alison Moore Smith | Jun 17, 2010 | for Home, for Money
We have two great cars that we love. Mostly we love that we own them free and clear. I never want to have an auto loan again. But as they get older, we are facing the reality that we have auto repairs in our future. Maybe the near future. Sam's 1992 Hyundai Santa Fe...
by Alison Moore Smith | Jun 16, 2010 | Design Your Own House, for Home
Selecting and purchasing the lighting for an entire home is a major undertaking. There are tens of thousands of styles, dozens of finishes, myriad brands, and more varieties of bulbs than I can count. Wading through them all to find the ones that you want to live with...
by Alison Moore Smith | Jun 11, 2010 | Design Your Own House, for Home
Who knew choosing a vacuum could be so stressful? With a central vacuum, you're pretty much committing for life, so it carries long-term consequences. When we built our last custom home we found out—the hard way—how painful those consequences can be. We choose a...
