Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Seattle Designer Offers Personal Incite on Remodeling

When Seattle Designer Judy Tall finalized her divorce, she packed up her belongings in Mercer Island and began the move to her newly purchased Tudor in Denny Blaine. According to the Seattle Times, she fell in love with the neighborhood and her master bedroom with an abundance of natural light, but wasn’t 100% sold on the rest of the place. She waited a year before remodeling, and says that “you have to know how you live in a house, and what works and what doesn’t.”

Photo Courtesy of Seattle Times, Tall’s expansive master bedroom

Before Tall became an interior designer she was an acupuncturist, and tries to brings elements of healing into play with her design concepts. She told the Times that whether you’re moving into a new space, or someone recently moved out or in, there are several emotions that come into play when redesigning or remodeling your home. Tall said that a large portion of her clientele chooses to remodel because they’re going through a life transition, and that’s just what she was going through when she decided to redo her home in Denny Blaine. From her choice in tranquil paint colors, to the picture rail below the coved ceiling, Tall tried to make each and every room in the place more cozy and comfortable for her to live in. She believes that every change serves a purpose, and should bring great joy to a living space. For more information about her Tudor design, visit the Seattle Times.

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

How Much Has Your Rent Increased? Rental Prices: Past and Present

Do you find yourself wondering what your rental cost would have been, had you moved into your basic one bedroom apartment 3 years ago? Me too! The cost of rent in the Greater Seattle area has steadily risen over the past few years without inventory changes, although builders are starting to pick up where they left off, and apartment building construction is now on the rise all over the city. If you were to take a look at the cost of living in your neighborhood, say in 2007, how much do you think your overall cost of living would change? Well we’ve got the results! Seattle Metropolitan has compiled a list of the stats and the changes might make you resent your non waterfront view home. For instance, the average cost of rent in the Ballard neighborhood back in 2007 was $755, and today the same unit costs around $1,188. Ouch! Take a peak at your neighborhood, you might wish you could rent a time machine.