| Little Cooks in the Kitchen | | Posted Sunday, February 04, 2007 2:59:33 PM by Blog57 Team | | Armed with white chef hats and matching aprons, a group of Castaic Elementary School fourth-graders took over the Santa Clarita Valley School Food Services Agency's main kitchen on Friday, as part of the 12th Annual Kids Cooking Campaign. Started in response to studies that showed an alarming decline in the number of "family meals" students were experiencing at home, the program operates with a goal to help elementary school-age children experience the positive social and psychological values of eating together with family and friends, while also teaching children simple food preparation and cooking skills. Annually, one fourth-grade class from each SCV elementary school district is given the opportunity to select a theme and plan a menu before visiting the kitchen to prepare their selection.... | |
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| | | Setting design trends for 2007 | | Posted Monday, January 29, 2007 1:03:24 PM by Blog57 Team | | Setting trends for 2007, prestigious housebuilder Charles Church and its interior designers Chelsea Mclaine have chosen a design scheme to set the most intrepid home owners heart a flutter. Margot Paton, interior designer at Chelsea Mclaine comments; “The design scheme was influenced by the new homes surrounding environment, autumnal trees and buildings built of natural stone. We took these elements and carried them throughout the property in the form of natural colours such as stone, greens, acquas and yellows. Yellow particularly, is going to be a trend-setter for 2007" Chelsea Mclaine wanted to create a contemporary interior to contrast the very traditional exterior of the property, using lots of metal and glass furniture to create an opulent, yet sharp modern edge to the design.... | |
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| | | Home design help from your computer | | Posted Saturday, December 30, 2006 3:01:34 PM by Blog57 Team | | One of the more important new developments for homeowners planning to remodel or renovate is the growing use of in-home "computer assisted design" programs that help visualize what a finished project will look like. Computer Assisted Design (CAD), as it relates to homeowners, was first put into play by manufacturers wanting to show how their building products and materials might look on a home. Architects also used it to speed up designs and blueprints. More recently, computer assisted design began appearing as a staple in kitchen and bath showrooms and in "big box" home center stores as a slick and useful on-site planning and sales tool. It has just taken another quantum leap forward, right into our living rooms. Contractors of all types are fast replacing armloads of product samples and color swatches with notebook computers, digital cameras and state-of-the-art software that can show customers what products, materials and colors will look like on their specific home.... | |
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| | | Auto emotive styling for the kitchen Renowned Giugiaro ... | | Posted Friday, December 01, 2006 1:05:05 PM by Blog57 Team | | Italians are famous for their passions for fine food and fine cars, so when two of northern Italy's famous car design studios recently collaborated with kitchen manufacturers to create new designs for the home, it seemed like a natural, though not altogether obvious, fit. Torino-based Pininfarina, internationally renowned for its bold styling of generations of Ferrari and Maserati sports cars, applied its design expertise to three new lines of kitchens for Italian manufacturer Snaidero. The Idea, Ola and Viva lines are all contemporary and suggest the same combination of function and sensual form found in the best Italian race and sports cars. The cabinetry of the Viva series, for example, is available in three different types of lacquer finishing. Primary colour choices such as red evoke Pininfarina's car design tradition.... | |
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| | | Allrecipes.com and USA WEEKEND Magazine Announce Grand Prize Winner of America's Top Recipe Contest | | Posted Monday, November 13, 2006 11:04:22 PM by Blog57 Team | | Folks, we have a winner! The celebrity judges for Allrecipes.com and USA WEEKEND Magazine's 2006 America's Top Recipe Contest have roasted, puried, minced and sautied for weeks at the Seattle test kitchen to recreate hundreds of recipe submissions. With much anticipation and excitement, the five person judging panel has finally narrowed down the more than 9,000 submissions received to one contender -- Anel Schmidt's Cuban- inspired Turkey Mercedes. The 35-year-old Phoenix resident walks away with the grand prize of $10,000 and the coveted title of America's Top Recipe. The first annual competition kicked-off in May when Allrecipes.com and USA WEEKEND Magazine teamed up to begin a national search for the best, most original recipes in America. The entries were divided into five categories (International, Holiday Family Favorite, Kid Pleaser, Healthy Pleasures and Super Quick Suppers) and judged on taste, originality, visual appeal and adherence to category description.... | |
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| | | Updating a home's decor without breaking the bank | | Posted Saturday, November 11, 2006 7:14:59 PM by Blog57 Team | | Q We need design advice. The furnishings in our home came mainly from hand-me-downs, yard sales and an odd assortment of bargain sales that we just couldn't pass up. The bathrooms and the kitchen are functional but dowdy. How do we update without blowing the children's college fund? A Save the college fund for the children and let's use some reasonably priced, local resources. Start out by giving the bathroom a squeaky-clean but lively appearance. Tile the floor, walls and shower/tub area with white subway tile. This is available at all price points, from puffy-looking tiles to beveled to flat/smooth tiles. It is worth the price of the labor to install a bright, fresh surface to begin creating a WOW factor. Grout the tiles with a bold color such as chambray (royal blue), turquoise or Boston fern (leaf green).... | |
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| | | Regional property boom leads to massive growth in allied sectors -Value of real estate projects in the ME region has | | Posted Thursday, November 09, 2006 11:14:36 AM by Blog57 Team | | The continuing boom in the regions property sector has resulted in a follow-on impact on related industries including interior and exterior design, kitchen, table and dining products, home technology, arts and crafts for the home, and garden & outdoor living that seek to capitalize on this development. According to Messe Frankfurt, organizers of the Dubai Ideal Home Show, which will take place from November 30 to December 3, 2006 at the Airport Expo Dubai, the event will attract hundreds of manufacturers, distributors, retailers, designers, exhibiting products and services for the discerning regional consumers. Industry statistics indicate that the total value of real estate projects currently under way in the Middle East region has already crossed the US$1 trillion mark, said Mr.... | |
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| | | A new counter culture | | Posted Tuesday, November 07, 2006 1:14:36 PM by Blog57 Team | | Concrete countertops aren't your average kitchen surface. In fact, they're totally unique, custom fit to your kitchen and specially designed to bring out your personality.Concrete countertops offer a treasure trove to designers, who find the only limits in color, finish and enhancements are the limits of their creativity. And while to date the counters have predominantly graced the kitchens of high-end homes, they're becoming increasingly affordable for other homeowners."People are getting bored with the same old, same old, with granite and synthetic materials," said Jared Tompilio, a designer for Cheng Design and account representative for Cheng's proprietary countertop product, Geocrete. "Concrete is gaining in popularity -- it's exciting what you can do with it."In Jackson, where many home trends are certain to appear early, Clint Isaacson, co-owner of Advanced Concrete Solutions, said concrete counters are definitely popular.... | |
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| | | How to choose the best cooktop for your kitchen | | Posted Tuesday, November 07, 2006 7:09:22 AM by Blog57 Team | | Cooktops have made kitchen design more flexible, but the wealth of products available has made choosing the right one a difficult task for consumers. So here are some basic points to think about before you buy, offered with assistance from the folks at Whirlpool, GE, Maytag and Wind Crest. There are gas cooktops and electric ones. They offer many of the same features, including flexible surface heat with high-output burners, enamel surfaces for easy cleaning, and self-ventilation systems or downdraft designs. Electric cooktops use either standard coil burners or smooth-top ceramic glass in which the heating elements are sealed beneath a solid surface. Electric models provide constant, even heat and, unlike many gas cooktops, let you maintain steady and very low heat.... | |
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| | | NewsMakers Hermantown Lumber | | Posted Sunday, November 05, 2006 3:25:23 AM by Blog57 Team | | Deb Wittmann, ASID, has been hired as an independent kitchen design counsultant at the company's new kitchen design showroom. With more than 20 years experience, Wittmann will be offering free kitchen design services for those purchasing cabinetry through Hermantown Lumber. Previous Newsmakers Articles: Hermantown Lumber -11/4/2006 Lion Hotel Group -11/4/2006 The College of St. Scholastica -11/4/2006 National Bank of Commerce -11/2/2006 Hayward Lakes Visitors & Convention Bureau -10/27/2006 .... | |
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