Walls and Ceilings

  • Spiff Up Your Standing Inventory

    Like most real estate agents these days, Lori McGuire has had to step it up a bit to get buyers to sign a contract. A Realtor in Orange County, Calif., McGuire is working with three different builders in Covenant Hills, a gated community in the master planned development of Ladera Ranch. Prices...

  • On the Level

    Many a well-meaning tear-down builder has incited ire in Chevy Chase, Md., even while honoring the neighborhood's venerable architectural styles. The problem hasn't been with the interpretation, per se, but rather with what happens to classical forms when they are put on steroids.

  • Good Neighbors

    Five likeable projects prove that not all teardowns warrant a crackdown.

  • That's a Wrap

    Let's face it, housewrap—the thin sheet of material that goes between the sheathing and the siding—won't save you money or help you sell houses. In fact, if you ditched the housewrap you'd probably save yourself some cash up front. But omitting the product would be a really bad idea, because that...

  • Fed To Make It Rain Liquidity

    Cutting the Fed Funds Rate and the discount rate 25 basis points on Tuesday were not enough to satisfy Wall Street, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average, NASDAQ, and the S&P 500 all fell by more than 2 percent in the wake of the Federal Reserve Board's rate cut announcement. But investors and...

  • Subprime Bailout May Be Coming Soon

    Rumors are swirling around Capitol Hill that the Bush administration and representatives from the mortgage industry are feverishly working on a plan that would freeze the interest rate for subprime loans, essentially providing a life raft for more than two million Americans with adjustable...

  • Facing Fire

    When the June 2007 Angora Fire burned its way into the residential streets of South Lake Tahoe, Calif., firefighters were ready. The neighborhoods, unfortunately, were not.

  • Energy Star Gazing

    With electricity prices rising as much as they have been for the last five years, it is important that you outfit your homes with as many energy-saving features as possible. One way to do this is with Energy Star-qualified lighting packages.

  • Between The Gaps

    There's a curse of obscure origin that goes: “May you live in interesting times.” Someone must have slipped that message into Sam Rashkin's fortune cookie, because Mr. Rashkin has been having two very interesting years.

  • Ragavan Residence

    THIS 1960S KITCHEN SUFFERED some of the typical ailments that usually afflict out-of-date spaces—low ceiling, lack of adequate natural light, poor access to the outside (both visual and physical)—but a series of simple interventions by architect Stephen Varenhorst brought the space into the 21st...