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Teatown Lake Reservation update | #PoundRidge #RealEstate
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Daily Archives: December 10, 2014
Just How Much Rainwater Can You Collect Off Your Roof? | #BedfordCorners #RealEstate
When we watch the evening news, the weatherperson will oftentimes say things like “X city received an inch of rain today”, which does not really sound like all that much. We imagine a single inch of rain in a small puddle somewhere it seems rather insignificant. But what if you knew that a single inch of rain could allow you to collect hundreds and hundreds of gallons of water, if not more? Now that one inch of rainfall seems like a lot more!
Let’s take a look at a hypothetical example to see just how much water we can collect from rainfall. If you have 1,000 square feet of roof on your house, and it rains just 1 inch, you can collect 600 gallons of water to be used in your garden, for washing your car, or just for drop irrigation around your property. That’s 600 less gallons you have to pay for and use from your town water supply! So how can you do the math for your own roof? Just multiple the square footage of roof space you have available X 0.6 gallons per square foot per inch of rain, and you can see how much water you can collect from each inch of rain that falls.
So if you have 2,500 square feet of roof available for water catchment, and a single inch of rain falls one day, we see that:
2,500 X 0.6 = 1,500 gallons of water can be harvested for future use…from only one inch of rainfall!
On average, Americans use about 69 gallons of water per person per day for bathing, cooking, cleaning and flushing toilets – and is just for indoor water use and does not account for any watering/car washing going on outside. That amounts to about 2,100 gallons a month for each person – or only slightly more than you might be able to collect off your roof in a single rainstorm. Sure, you might not want to use that water for your showers or drinking water, but it can be done…and many people are putting cisterns in their yard and systems in their house to be able to do so. But if you are not interested in doing that and just wanted to use it outside, using a rain barrel or two under your downspouts can make a big difference in your monthly water usage and bill. Let’s take a look at one more example to see how much of a difference collecting rainwater can make – If you live in Boston, Massachusetts, which gets an average of 42.53 inches of rain per year, and you live in a house with 1,000 square feet of roof space…
1,000 X 0.6 X 42.53 = 25,518 gallons of water collected each year in Boston, MA.
That’s a lot of water that you can save (and money!) by hooking up and using rainwater catchment systems at your house. It’s a big return for a very small investment, and I bet you will hear something different the next time the weatherperson says “X city received an inch of rain today”!
Astorino: No Tax Hikes, Layoffs In 2015 Westchester County Budget | Chappaqua Real Estate
Westchester County has approved a 2015 budget plan
, with a modest spending increase and no hike in the tax levy.
The $1.75 billion spending plan also contains no layoffs, and maintains and improves essential service delivery, according to the office of county Executive Rob Astorino.
“This is a smart and responsible budget that protects the interests of all county residents,” Astorino said in a news release. “It strikes the right balance between taxes and services.”
The budget increases spending by 0.5 percent, or $10 million – less than the rate of inflation, the release said. There will be no reductions in services, and the county’s safety net was maintained with spending for the Department of Social Services at $545 million, the release said.
The tax levy will remain at $548 million for the fifth year in a row, and sales tax was projected to rise by 4 percent to $414 million, the release said.
The budget passed by a vote of 10 to 7, winning the vote of all seven Republican and three Democrats on the Westchester County Board of Legislators, the release said.
The board did reach a compromise in borrowing to pay tax certioraris – the claims made against the county by property owners challenging their tax assessments. The county will only borrow $5 million rather than the $8 million it borrowed last year, as an alternative to service cuts or layoffs that otherwise would have been used to offset costs.
read more….
http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2014/12/09/astorino-no-tax-hikes-layoffs-in-2015-westchester-county-budget/
The Japanese Porch | Armonk Real Estate
I’ve written in the past about the essential nature of transitional spaces in a home, which are used to link interior and exterior areas. These spaces have been assigned a variety of names throughout the world — loggia, veranda, lanai, portico. Japanese architecture has its own version, called an engawa.
The engawa is a generous hallway, a roofed transition zone, located between the interior rooms in a Japanese home and the garden, created by extending the interior floor outward. It’s a room that defies traditional description — neither completely enclosed nor completely open. In Japanese culture it has a social importance, providing an informal meeting space, a place for sitting, greeting one’s neighbors and sharing a cup of tea. While it’s similar to other architectural elements, it’s also uniquely Japanese. But it’s worth considering in your own project no matter where you live. Here’s why.
Why would the Japanese, whose culture prizes every last square foot of space, give over such a large part of a home’s area to a seemingly functionless space? The reason lies in its diversity of function. It serves as a wide hallway connecting rooms, a sunshade, a wind buffer, a seat for viewing the garden or resting, an informal room in which to host friends, a step to move between garden and interior, a shelter from the elements and an expansion of interior space.
A Strong Connection to Nature
The engawa’s versatility is evident in the simple form of this cabin, designed for a couple of dedicated bird-watchers. As we view it from the gable end, we see that the center volume is flanked by two smaller slots of space — the engawa — which functions as a circulation zone and flexible screened porches. The engawa provides the frame against which to view the natural environment around the cabin.
On the interior we see the screened porch and circulation zone visible to the left, along with the sliding door, which can completely close it off from the living space. One has a sense for just how connected this arrangement allows the inhabitants to feel to the surroundings. Fully open to the sounds of the birds, the rain and the wind, this flexible porch allows them to have an intimately experience from the shelter of the home.
Japanese architecture prioritizes a deference to and a reverence for nature. Shaped by strict limits on available space, the architecture has developed to include many ways of appropriating small footprints into large gestures, ones that extend beyond their spatial constraints, making spaces feel larger. The curtain-wall house shown here is a great example of dedicating a large amount of space to an engawa in a small home. The porch establishes a connection to the city in this case.
Being able to alter the shell of a structure based on the natural rhythms of a place — daily or seasonal weather patterns — reasserts the importance of the natural environment in our lives.
Here the engawa is enclosed by a massive drape that the owners can alter (the drapery itself and via a set of doors) depending on the local conditions.
Flexibility
Creating a place that coexists with nature always requires some adaptation of the shelter to make best use of a particular environment. The engawa is an ingenious device for allowing a home to buffer climatic changes. It’s much like dressing a building in layers. Too hot? Slide open the shutters. Too windy? Slide them closed.
This project uses both the engawa concept, with sliding screens (seen to the left and right) as well as the more open veranda, or nure-en, seen in the center.
read more…
http://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/34439424?utm_source=Houzz&utm_campaign=u860&utm_medium=email&utm_content=gallery4
Bathroom Design Ideas | North Salem Real Estate
If you’ve been thinking about giving your bathroom an overhaul but aren’t sure how, one way to start is to look to the latest design trends for inspiration. We’ve made it our mission to find out what design ideas are expected to make a splash in 2015 to help make planning your bathroom makeover project a little bit easier.To compile our list, we enlisted the help of four award-winning designers, who share here their predictions for thelooks, finishes and features they think will be on everyone’s radar next year. They also reveal how they would work these ideas into their own projects. Start building your beautiful frameless glass shower now, use Glass Shower Direct’s simple glass shower builder to customize your perfect glass shower and have it shipped to your door directly from the factory.
1. Feature floor tiles. Statement-making floor tiles proved popular in 2014, and this striking look doesn’t appear to be leaving in a hurry, says interior designer Jasmine McClelland. “I have done a couple of feature floor bathrooms this year. They are stunning and provide a great design opportunity when working with challenging bathrooms that have no clear walls for a feature wall,” she says.
“In smaller bathrooms a feature floor tile adds style without overwhelming the space, and when used in a larger bathroom, the effect is elegant,” McClelland says. “I love the space when the freestanding bath hits the feature tile … beautiful!”
2. Natural beauty. Want a bathing area that’s welcoming and serene? Then drawing design inspiration from nature is a great way to warm a typically very hard room of the house and infuse the space with a calming vibe. It’s one of the key bathroom trends of 2015, according to designers Simona Castagna and Darren Genner of Minosa.
An easy way to incorporate this trend into a bathroom design, Castagna and Genner say, is to buy frameless shower door or introduce earthy materials like natural stone or wood-look tiles. The luxe bath seen here features marble floors and an onyx countertop, as well as a walnut-plank feature wall.
3. Plant life. “I know some of us have been scared off indoor plants … but it’s time to reclaim the idea of indoor plants with cascading creepers that can dress any bathroom,” McClelland says.
If you’re eager to try this trend in your bathroom but want a more sophisticated and design-savvy alternative to potted plants (hanging or not), a vertical garden may be the way to go, McClelland says.
“I love them for the interest and feel they bring to a bathroom and can’t wait to use them more in my designs for 2015,” the designer says. Another benefit of green or living walls is that they are good for the environment (as well as your health and well-being), she says.
4. The master suite retreat. Is your master bathroom cramped, not particularly inviting and tucked away out of sight? Then you may be more than happy to try this design trend when renovating your home.
Castagna and Genner say people want bigger bathrooms that are connected to the bedroom or closet, or even more open to the bedroom. People want to see their beautiful basins, custom vanities and freestanding baths from the bedroom, say the designers, who were the team behind the luxe, open-plan bedroom and en suite pictured here. They’re also using bigger sliding doors so people can open up or close off a space.
5. Clever water control. Say goodbye to basic shower and basin faucets, and hello to smart, user-friendly fixtures (such as thermostatic mixers; mixers that control multiple water sources, like the one used in this shower; and touchscreen-operated showers) that give users more control over the flow, mix and temperature of water, says Adelaide, Australia, interior designer Jordan Smith of Brilliant.
“Double showers would be a good place to use this, as multiple people can use the shower at the same time, with individual settings for their own shower,” Smith suggests when explaining how she’d incorporate this trend into one of her designs. “One mixer can control both multiple showers or a combination shower-bath.”
6. Freestanding bathtubs. According to McClelland, our love affair with freestanding baths isn’t over just yet, and not just because they make striking, sculptural design features, but because they help set the mood for rest and relaxation too. “The freestanding bath is more than aesthetic — it is emotive,” the designer says. “Clients connect with the possibility of a bathroom that symbolizes their own space or downtime, and a freestanding bath inspires this feeling of self-indulgence in the midst of a busy life.”
read more….
http://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/34677209?utm_source=Houzz&utm_campaign=u860&utm_medium=email&utm_content=gallery0