How-To: Installing a Flag Pole

CasaSugar — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 08:30:43 -0700

It may no longer be Independence Day, but flags add Summer style to your home year-round. So if you haven't already, consider hanging a flag on the exterior of your home to cheer up the neighborhood — be it an American flag, a state flag, or the flag of your favorite sports team! To learn how to install one, read more.

Position the bracket on an exterior wall of your home.
Mark the holes for the screws with a pencil.
Drill the holes that you marked. If your home is brick, drill with a masonry bit into the brick.
Screw the bracket into the wall, making sure you get the bracket on straight. Otherwise, the flag will not hang straight. Most brackets will require three screws.
Insert the flag into the pole, and unroll it.
Voilà! Instant curb appeal.

Source

Home Library: To Each His Home

CasaSugar — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 05:30:00 -0800

In a rare place where eclectic is the norm, where the title "interior designer" is alien, and flea markets and thrift stores replace big box and e-commerce retailers, To Each His Home ($45) by Bilyana Dimitrova would be the go-to design book. But, in a climate where design trends rule many of us, where finding one-of-a-kind, well-loved artifacts takes more effort than swooping up the hottest decorative accessory, Dimitrova's book isn't a design guide but simply a refreshing reminder that
our houses speak for ourselves, for better or worse. To see the rest of my review, read more.

For the eight free-spirited, creative types spotlighted in this book, their homes speak louder than others. From the colorful photographs of an accomplished architectural photographer and the multi-topic, meandering interviews with each homeowner (or renter), come clear portraits not only of idiosyncratic spaces, each more distinct than the next, but of people who couldn't exist anywhere but the homes they've created. You might find that the waterfront cottage and totem pole of a Native American or the creative city escape of a musician and a marionette maker don't inspire you, but that's the point. In your own habitat, you can coin your own how-to book. This book won't offer you any design tips, but it'll call on you to let your freak flag (or totem pole) fly.