I know. I know. Apartment Therapy is old news. But, being one to resist what's popular, I have avoided it until now. This morning I found a great House Tour, Solar Powered Shack in the UK on a farm, on the beach. What could be more right with that sentence. Feast your eyes a bit:


House Tour: Helen & Frazer's Solar Powered Beach Shack Isle of Wight, United Kingdom



I don't know why. I just happen to think the British flag is extremely handsome.


I could wake up to this every morning for sure.

This ain't too shabby either.

Reagan "Big Dog" Thompson April 18, 2001 - July 13, 2009

Reagan "Big Dog" Thompson, the former 200 pound Old English Mastiff, died Monday morning, July 13, 2009 in his yard in Birmingham, AL. He had experienced an unknown cancer, which combined with the heat of the Alabama summer, and his old age, took his life. It is difficult to know for sure, but his family believes the cancer was not a painful type, and that he did not suffer. He laid down peacefully by the back fence and went to sleep.

Reagie was very loved and appreciated. To some, his size made him an intimidating guard dog, but Reagan was an extraordinarily gentle friend who protected his mother when she was pregnant by simply standing long ways between she and other people, and protected his baby masters after they arrived claiming them as his own. He was the dearest friend to his master, Blake Thompson. He enjoyed playing with large balls, playing fetch with firewood, sit, down, roll over, and belly rubs, walking down to scare the neighbors on occasion, and eating left-overs and dog food, pretty much anything but asparagus and corn on the cob (which he would swallow whole).

Reagan was laid to rest beneath the trees of his outlying property Monday night and a service of prayers and memories commenced led by his master, Blake Thompson. Following, the family decorated the grave with flowers, a stone made by Mom, and Reagan's favorite ball.
"Big Dog" is survived by his humans Blake, Brook, Elijah, Judah, and Zion, and his sisters Meredith and Fontana.

Reagan "Big Dog" Thompson's life was not filled with much adventure. Although he was able to live in 3 homes and go to the veteranarian occasionally when he was younger (the vet usually came to him due to his size), his life was definately filled with what matters...drool, stool, leftovers, and love. He will be missed.

Prefab homes...Who knew?

The Why??
Cost
Speed
Quality
Less waste


The Benefits of Prefab by Maxwell Payne in Helium. Read entire article...
There are a few key benefits to purchasing a prefab house. Also 'prefab' houses no longer mean double wide trailers; rather full size luxury houses are now built using pre-fabricated modules for each portion of the house. Its really a brilliant idea in the world of home building.--


Prefab Fab by Business Week. Read entire article...
Is the phrase "affordable, stylish house" an oxymoron? It may seem so, given a still-heated real estate market. The median price of an existing American home in September was $212,000 -- up 13.4% from the same period last year, according to the latest figures --

Container City located at Trinity Buoy Wharf in the heart of London's Docklands

Swedish Prefab

Irontown Homes in Utah

Prefab lux homes by Marmol Radziner in CA

they even have their own furniture line: http://www.marmolradzinerprefab.com/blog/furniture/

Tumbleweed Tiny Homes in Indianapolis, DC, and Seattle

Prefab Fun by MetroCabin in Miami, FL

Prefab fabulous by KAA Designs

And Myths of Prefab Anti-article by Chad Ludeman. Definately one to consider.

Just got in with new ideas and inspiration!

The Thompson's just got in from a wonderful vacation at the beautiful Logan Martin Lake. It was close to home, but far enough away to leave everything behind. The boys were crazy about the lake, nature, and the wildlife. The home was beautiful!!! And best of all, free! We played a little house swap with a friend's mom, which is totally the way to go. No guilt, just building memories with family!
The only thing I would change about the trip was to make the lake home MINE!!! :) I am really not good at taking vacations. I sit down to plan a trip and instead of going to expedia, I go to realtysouth's website. I don't know. I know that building memories with family is an investment in and of itself, but I would just rather not throw money away on hotels, gas, or airfare. So, perhaps the Thompsons aren't big on proper vacations, but we do hope to use all that saving on a proper recreational investment one day.
Here's our latest ideas and inspirations in the way of vacation homes as of late:
Blake and I are not beach people. Our dream vacation home is on a lake, farm, or mountain. And how about the Clayton i-House for a home option. Eco- (and wallet) friendly, it's not too hard on the eyes either.

And, did you know that there is a revolution going on? People living in smaller homes. Tinyhouseblog.com
documents the ins and outs of this fad in home style:

This is a cool tiny home community in Seattle

Idaho tiny house

Tiny house in the trees in British Columbia

Mike's Tiny house on wheels

Tiny modern in France

Stay tuned for Future Tiny homes and trailer conversions in the future...

If you're looking for helpful articles such as: '3 Proven Benefits Of Blog Commenting That Bloggers NEVER Told You", 'Getting More Twitter Followers with FeaturedUsers.com', 'Increasing your Blog Readership' and so on- check out Blogging Tips.

Two young boys walked into a pharmacy one day, picked out a box of tampons and proceeded to the checkout counter.The man at the counter asked the older boy, "Son, how old are you?""Eight," the boy replied.The man continued, "do you know what these are used for?"The boy replied, "not exactly, but they aren't for me. They're for him. He's my brother. He's four. We saw on TV that if you use these you would be able to swim and ride a bike. Right now, he can't do either."