You’ve gotta love a dad who understands that his kids are into gaming and therefor need to be able to be connected at all times. Gaming isn’t the only reason Jari Arkko fully networked his home near Helsinki, Finland, though. Being able to monitor everything in the home makes him feel like he has more freedom.
Recently we took a look at some of our essential cooking apps for the iPhone. Since not everyone has an iPhone and those who do still might prefer to use their computers while cooking, we decided to roundup 10 pieces of cooking software.
If bold colors, a big desk, and plenty of well lit storage sounds like your kind of office, you’ll definitely want to check out today’s featured workspace.
Sometimes after making do with an office that just doesn’t fit, you have to dig in and commit to an overhaul. Lifehacker reader Vincent Vega was sick of an office with old carpet and eight years worth of mismatched furniture:
After quite a bit of searching online I settled on IKEA for most of the furniture.The desk legs are Vika Annefors with a 78″ Vika Amon tabletop.
The cabinets are from the EFFEKTIV system. The EFFEKTIV stuff is all modular and has tons of options. I looked at several different lighting options but settled on the Inredia bookcase lights because the are so darn adjustable.
Now I just need some art! Comments are appreciated!
You can check out additional photos of Vincent’s workspace in the gallery below:
If you have a workspace of your own to show off, throw the pictures on your Flickr account and add it to the Lifehacker Workspace Show and Tell Pool. Include some details about your setup and why it works for you, and you just might see it featured on the front page of Lifehacker.
It's tough to completely screw up painting a room—dump the paint on the floor maybe?—but painting a room really well isn't that easy, either. Home blog Re-Nest's guide to painting a room efficiently offers a few expert tips.
Re-Nest’s guide to room-painting covers everything from making sure to remember to remove all the fixture and switch covers before getting into painting to the importance of edging in the areas you’re going to paint for nice even color and clean edges. If you’ve helped paint a room before but never done the cutting in part, it’s worth a read:
Cutting In: This is the most time consuming, but most important step to ensure a good looking paint job. When using the brush we just dip it directly into the paint can rather than pouring into a separate container to minimize wasted paint, but never dip a brush more than 1/3 [the] length of the brush or else you’ll risk ruining the brush because it will be very difficult to clean. When handling the brush, hold it as you would a pencil for maximum control. Press the brush lightly against the surface, then, as you move the brush, add just enough pressure to make the bristles fan away from the direction of your brushstroke. The bent bristles and the pressure will release a fine bead of paint that will spread perfectly along the edge you are creating.
Beginning at the corner of the room, use your angled brush to cut in (also known as edging), applying a thick band (2-3″ wide) of paint along the perimeter where you’re cutting in. Do this in 4-5″ long sections to ensure precision and a sufficient coating of paint. You will need to cut-in around all trim, ceiling/wall intersections, inside corners, and anywhere there is a change in color.
Check out the link below for the full guide, and if you consider yourself a bit of an expert hand at room painting, share your expertise in the comments.
Many financial advisers recommend buying a home to take advantage of the associated tax benefits. If you want the investment portfolio without the hassle of home ownership, life management blog My Life ROI has some suggestions.
Photo by TheTruthAbout…
Buying and long-term renting each come with their own long lists of pros and cons. On the one hand, the tax benefits of home ownership are pretty sweet. On the other, renters aren’t beholden to a fickle real estate market and can move fairly quickly if the dwelling no longer suits.
Many homeowners and serial renters each believe steadfastly—and with good reason—in their decision. How, though, do you know which option is right for you? While each situation is unique, blogger MLR says there are a few things to consider when deciding whether to plunk down your cash on a mortgage down payment or a rental deposit.
His post takes a look at the costs and benefits of both options, including some factors that often get overlooked. For instance, if you choose to rent a home, you can still bulk up your investment portfolio as easy as if you owned:
- Take the amount you would have used for a down payment and put it into an index fund or other investment vehicle depending on your risk tolerance.
- If your mortgage payment would be greater than your rent, take the difference and invest that, too.
- You are sacrificing the main benefit of renting if you do not invest this extra money.
- This allows you to start investing immediately, serves to not “tie you down” to any location, and is generally less hassle since you don’t have to worry about maintenance.
If you’re still up in the air about what to do, check out the previously mentioned Rent or Buy Calculator to help determine when it’s worth it to buy.
What’s your take on renting vs. buying a home? If you’re a homeowner, do you have any regrets? Renters, are you longing to put down permanent roots? Share your experiences in the comments.
A Beverly Hills house designed by architect Wallace Neff in 1956 for comedic actor Groucho Marx has sold for $8.8 million.
The Trousdale Estates home, which was rebuilt and updated but maintains its Neff footprint, is a one-story contemporary with walls of wood and glass. There are five bedrooms, six bathrooms, a library and a maid’s suite in slightly more than 6,000 square feet. The gated three-quarter-acre lot has downtown L.A. and canyon views.
Marx shared the home with his third wife, actress Eden Hartford, until his death in 1977 at the age of 86.
The house came on the market in August at $12.9 million. It previously sold in 2007 for $4,675,000, according to public records.
The 90210 ZIP Code had 212 single-family home sales in 2009 at a median price of $2,775,000, according to MDA DataQuick, for a price drop of 17.2% from 2008. The 2009 sales price per square foot for the ZIP Code was $739.
– Lauren Beale
Thoughts? Comments?
Photo: Although the house was rebuilt on the original footprint, the pool was relocated. Credit: Everett Fenton Gidley
In another sign that the foundation of the U.S. housing recovery may be shaky, the number of homes placed under sales contracts fell 7.6% in January, according to a national index.
The National Assn. of Realtors said its pending home sales index, a forward-looking indicator based on contracts signed in January, fell to 90.4 from an upwardly revised 97.8 in December.
That remains 12.3% higher than January 2009, when it was 80.5. The group blamed the weather for the month-over-month decline.
“January pending sales, though still higher than one year ago, remain much lower than expected given that a large number of potential buyers are eligible for the expanded home buyer tax credit,” Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the Realtors group said in a statement. “Moreover, the abnormally severe and prolonged winter weather, which affected large regions of the U.S., hampered shopping activity in February.”
– Alejandro Lazo
Photo: Realtor Sarah Carmona clears snow left by a February storm from a sale sign at a house in Reno. Credit: Bloomberg News
The typical rate that lenders were offering for 30-year home loans slipped below 5% again this week, the mortgage company Freddie Mac said in a survey released Thursday.
The survey asks lenders to report popular combinations of interest rates and points, the upfront fees borrowers pay to offset the cost of issuing the loan and sometimes to "buy down" the rate. The result is intended to reflect what people with good credit and a 20% down payment or home equity could expect to be offered.
For 30-year fixed-rate home loans, the combination this week was an average 4.97% in interest with an average of 0.7% of the loan balance in points, according to the survey, conducted Monday through Wednesday.
The low rates have been engineered by the federal government in response to the deep recession. Not since the 1950s have rates remained so low for so long, said Greg McBride, a senior financial analyst at Bankrate.com, citing data from the National Bureau of Economic Research.
The 30-year fixed loan has bumped around the 5% level since September, falling to a record low of 4.71% in a Freddie survey in December. So far this year, it's been above 5% in six of the weekly surveys and below seven times. It was at 5.05% a week ago.
The 15-year fixed-rate mortgage this week averaged 4.33% with an average of 0.7% in points, down from 4.40% a week ago.
The five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate loan, which has a fixed rate for the initial five years, averaged 4.11% with 0.6% of the loan balance in points. It averaged 4.16% a week earlier.
Because the Freddie Mac survey assesses lenders' offering prices, mortgage professionals say well-qualified borrowers often negotiate slightly better deals. The rate research website FreeRateUpdate, for example, said rates have held steady this week at 4.75% for a 30-year fixed loan for borrowers paying points of 0.7% to 1.0%.
Despite the low rates and thousands of dollars in special tax credits for home buyers, a report Thursday from the National Assn. of Realtors suggested that demand for housing is lagging. The real-estate group said its index of sales agreements for existing homes fell in January to the lowest level since last April, a trend that "raises concern about the strength of a recovery."
– E. Scott Reckard
We generally favor bright and white kitchens for their clean and classic look. But these examples of gray kitchens have us thinking differently. What if the kitchen was a moodier, calmer room than we generally imagine?
We stumbled upon an alluring Flickr set called Bathrooms (1960-65) and just had to share it during our Kitchen & Bath Month.
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