In its 34th consecutive year hosting the Street of Dreams, the Home Builders Association of Metropolitan Portland decided to do something different. They went urban – into the Pearl District. Each year designers clamor for the opportunity to design and style a home in the Street of Dreams. Apparently the allure of designing in contemporary penthouses with cascading views was irresistible to many, because the HBA experienced record interest from the design community at large in 2009. It was an honor to be one of seven designers selected. “The Luster of the Pearl” combined the allure of clean lines and redefined traditional silhouettes with texture and opulence. The color palette was fashion-inspired with unexpected color combinations like smoky violet and tiger-eye gold backed with metallic and warm neutrals. Our design included cosmetic reconstruction of the fireplace, mosaic tile improvements to the kitchen, artistic custom wall finishes and introduced new materials to the Portland market. The process was a whirlwind of early mornings, late nights and weekends. “With an extremely short timeline with large demands, this Street of Dreams challenged me in extraordinary ways that made me a better project manager, communicator, designer and partner to my vendors.” This project won the People’s Choice Award for Best Master Suite at the Northwest Natural 2009 Street of Dreams. For more about Angela Todd Studios, click here: https://www.angelatoddstudios.com/

In its 34th consecutive year hosting the Street of Dreams, the Home Builders Association of Metropolitan Portland decided to do something different. They went urban – into the Pearl District. Each year designers clamor for the opportunity to design and style a home in the Street of Dreams. Apparently the allure of designing in contemporary penthouses with cascading views was irresistible to many, because the HBA experienced record interest from the design community at large in 2009. It was an honor to be one of seven designers selected. “The Luster of the Pearl” combined the allure of clean lines and redefined traditional silhouettes with texture and opulence. The color palette was fashion-inspired with unexpected color combinations like smoky violet and tiger-eye gold backed with metallic and warm neutrals. Our design included cosmetic reconstruction of the fireplace, mosaic tile improvements to the kitchen, artistic custom wall finishes and introduced new materials to the Portland market. The process was a whirlwind of early mornings, late nights and weekends. “With an extremely short timeline with large demands, this Street of Dreams challenged me in extraordinary ways that made me a better project manager, communicator, designer and partner to my vendors.” This project won the People’s Choice Award for Best Master Suite at the Northwest Natural 2009 Street of Dreams. For more about Angela Todd Studios, click here: https://www.angelatoddstudios.com/

In its 34th consecutive year hosting the Street of Dreams, the Home Builders Association of Metropolitan Portland decided to do something different. They went urban – into the Pearl District. Each year designers clamor for the opportunity to design and style a home in the Street of Dreams. Apparently the allure of designing in contemporary penthouses with cascading views was irresistible to many, because the HBA experienced record interest from the design community at large in 2009. It was an honor to be one of seven designers selected. “The Luster of the Pearl” combined the allure of clean lines and redefined traditional silhouettes with texture and opulence. The color palette was fashion-inspired with unexpected color combinations like smoky violet and tiger-eye gold backed with metallic and warm neutrals. Our design included cosmetic reconstruction of the fireplace, mosaic tile improvements to the kitchen, artistic custom wall finishes and introduced new materials to the Portland market. The process was a whirlwind of early mornings, late nights and weekends. “With an extremely short timeline with large demands, this Street of Dreams challenged me in extraordinary ways that made me a better project manager, communicator, designer and partner to my vendors.” This project won the People’s Choice Award for Best Master Suite at the Northwest Natural 2009 Street of Dreams. For more about Angela Todd Studios, click here: https://www.angelatoddstudios.com/

Also known as the Giant Bird of Paradise, the giant strelitzia is used in this small powder room as a wallpaper mural. The mural itself consists of 6 consecutive panels that tie together at the ends, essentially allowing you to cover the area you need by connecting multiple murals.

In its 34th consecutive year hosting the Street of Dreams, the Home Builders Association of Metropolitan Portland decided to do something different. They went urban – into the Pearl District. Each year designers clamor for the opportunity to design and style a home in the Street of Dreams. Apparently the allure of designing in contemporary penthouses with cascading views was irresistible to many, because the HBA experienced record interest from the design community at large in 2009. It was an honor to be one of seven designers selected. “The Luster of the Pearl” combined the allure of clean lines and redefined traditional silhouettes with texture and opulence. The color palette was fashion-inspired with unexpected color combinations like smoky violet and tiger-eye gold backed with metallic and warm neutrals. Our design included cosmetic reconstruction of the fireplace, mosaic tile improvements to the kitchen, artistic custom wall finishes and introduced new materials to the Portland market. The process was a whirlwind of early mornings, late nights and weekends. “With an extremely short timeline with large demands, this Street of Dreams challenged me in extraordinary ways that made me a better project manager, communicator, designer and partner to my vendors.” This project won the People’s Choice Award for Best Master Suite at the Northwest Natural 2009 Street of Dreams. For more about Angela Todd Studios, click here: https://www.angelatoddstudios.com/

Andrew Almeida
Design ideas for a mid-sized rustic shade backyard landscaping in Boston.

In its 34th consecutive year hosting the Street of Dreams, the Home Builders Association of Metropolitan Portland decided to do something different. They went urban – into the Pearl District. Each year designers clamor for the opportunity to design and style a home in the Street of Dreams. Apparently the allure of designing in contemporary penthouses with cascading views was irresistible to many, because the HBA experienced record interest from the design community at large in 2009. It was an honor to be one of seven designers selected. “The Luster of the Pearl” combined the allure of clean lines and redefined traditional silhouettes with texture and opulence. The color palette was fashion-inspired with unexpected color combinations like smoky violet and tiger-eye gold backed with metallic and warm neutrals. Our design included cosmetic reconstruction of the fireplace, mosaic tile improvements to the kitchen, artistic custom wall finishes and introduced new materials to the Portland market. The process was a whirlwind of early mornings, late nights and weekends. “With an extremely short timeline with large demands, this Street of Dreams challenged me in extraordinary ways that made me a better project manager, communicator, designer and partner to my vendors.” This project won the People’s Choice Award for Best Master Suite at the Northwest Natural 2009 Street of Dreams. For more about Angela Todd Studios, click here: https://www.angelatoddstudios.com/

Also known as the Giant Bird of Paradise, the giant strelitzia is used in this small powder room as a wallpaper mural. The mural itself consists of 6 consecutive panels that tie together at the ends, essentially allowing you to cover the area you need by connecting multiple murals.

Aurora Stone
Example of a transitional bathroom design in New York

Love is all around Dick "RJ" Valentine, especially when he enters his home garage. A professional race car driver, entrepreneur, chairman of The MBA Group of Companies, and owner of F1 Boston and F1 Outdoors kart racing facility, Dick is surrounded by some of his most prized possessions: a radiant blue Hennessey Venom Viper 650, a twin turbo Porsche, a 500e Mercedes, and a BMW model 750il, an M5 and an M6. And that's just the four-wheelers. Dick's garage is also home to four motorcycles: a BMW 1200LT, a BMW 1200RS, a Ducati 996F, and a Ducati ST4F. "I've basically driven everything short of the space shuttle," he jokes. His wife adds, "If it doesn't make noise, leak or have wheels, Dick doesn't want any part of it!" Driving for gold. RJ has been racing professionally for 30 years and has raced virtually every type of competitive race car at tracks all over the world, including IMSA Corvettes, Trans-Am Camaros, Riley & Scott MK3 World Sports Cars, BMW M3 V8's, Dodge Vipers, Porsche 911s, Pontiac GTO.Rs and Porsche GT3s. He has more than 325 professional road racing starts, and is one of only seven people to eclipse 120 starts in the Trans-Am Series. RJ's career Trans-Am record includes a 62% incidence of top ten finishes and in excess of 20 top-five finishes. In 2007, RJ and teammate Andy Lally claimed 5 victories, 2 seconds and placed 3rd for the 2007 GT Championship in the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series aboard the #66 TRG CRG/Maxter Porsche GT3. He has driven in over 20 consecutive Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona, a significant achievement given the grueling nature of this 24-hour endurance race. He uses his garage to house and service not only his personal vehicles, but his professional karts as well. That's where Lista comes in. Dick stores all his tools and parts using Lista garage workbenches with drawer cabinet pedestals, stationary riser shelves and overhead cabinets with retractable doors. "We use only Lista equipment in our racing trailers and at F1 Boston. In the racing environment, precision and quality are the name of the game. Lista is the gold standard in the business. So I wouldn't have used anything but Lista in my own garage."

Driveway entrance with flowered border

In its 34th consecutive year hosting the Street of Dreams, the Home Builders Association of Metropolitan Portland decided to do something different. They went urban – into the Pearl District. Each year designers clamor for the opportunity to design and style a home in the Street of Dreams. Apparently the allure of designing in contemporary penthouses with cascading views was irresistible to many, because the HBA experienced record interest from the design community at large in 2009. It was an honor to be one of seven designers selected. “The Luster of the Pearl” combined the allure of clean lines and redefined traditional silhouettes with texture and opulence. The color palette was fashion-inspired with unexpected color combinations like smoky violet and tiger-eye gold backed with metallic and warm neutrals. Our design included cosmetic reconstruction of the fireplace, mosaic tile improvements to the kitchen, artistic custom wall finishes and introduced new materials to the Portland market. The process was a whirlwind of early mornings, late nights and weekends. “With an extremely short timeline with large demands, this Street of Dreams challenged me in extraordinary ways that made me a better project manager, communicator, designer and partner to my vendors.” This project won the People’s Choice Award for Best Master Suite at the Northwest Natural 2009 Street of Dreams. For more about Angela Todd Studios, click here: https://www.angelatoddstudios.com/

Wealth corrupts, and even the most humble and weakest in society start misbehaving the minute it gets to their heads. Legends offered by several communities, separated by vast deserts and mighty rivers, show that this was, and still is, a problem in modern society. Among the Luo, a Nilotic people found in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania around Lake Victoria, the story of Mahe & Nyar Mgondho was narrated to children to provide moral instructions that I will let you figure out. The tale goes thus: Mahe, a poor fisherman scraping a living on Nam Lolwe (what many now call L. Victoria), moved to the town of Gwasi to see if his fortunes would improve. For many days, his fortune did not get any better. Sometimes he spent two consecutive days without catching anything meaning, meaning those days were spent in hunger.

MSI offers unmatched water damage restoration services, mold solutions and inspections, fire hazard cleaning, bio-hazard cleanup, hoarding and content cleanup, and more. We are the only company to win the Angie’s List Award for 7 consecutive years.

For the second consecutive year, we are proud to be ranked by Growth 500, making Woody’s Canada’s fastest growing cabinetry company. We are both honoured and humbled to receive this award and would like to thank the entire Woody’s Premium Cabinetry team whose incredible efforts made this possible.

Relaxed secondary lounge area on the lower floor, equipped with three consecutive full-height picture windows overlooking the wooded backyard. One entire wall is finished with vertical dark timber slat paneling as the sofa backdrop, paired with modular tufted leather sectional and oversized tufted ottoman coffee table. Large area rug softens the hardwood flooring, the whole space is oriented toward outdoor scenery to create a quiet leisure retreat away from the main floor busy public area, perfectly matching Canadian family multi-zone living habits separating formal and casual gathering spaces.

For the second consecutive year, we are proud to be ranked by Growth 500, making Woody’s Canada’s fastest growing cabinetry company. We are both honoured and humbled to receive this award and would like to thank the entire Woody’s Premium Cabinetry team whose incredible efforts made this possible.

This fantastic Travertine tiled kitchen floor was in a bad way. Not only had it not been treated to a proper clean and seal in a long while, but it has also suffered from natural pitting, leaving lots of little holes that damaged the overall appearance of the floor. Travertine is very aesthetic, but suffers from the drawback of being quite soft compared to other types of stone (typically it sits between 3-4 on the Moh’s scale of mineral hardness). The customer, who lives in the town of Sleaford a small Lincolnshire market town, was keen to have the situation remedied through a complete restoration. This would need to include small repairs, along with a deep clean and a fresh seal. My first job was to deep clean the whole area, which I did using a solution of Tile Doctor Pro Clean and clean water. Pro Clean is a strong alkaline product which has a long history of producing reliable results of a wide range of natural stone floors, including Travertine, Granite, Limestone, and Slate. I applied the solution to both the tiles and the grout lines, and proceeded to scrub it in using a scrubbing pad fitted to a rotary floor machine. This left the floor fresh and clean, but I would also need to restore the polish to the Travertine to really take its appearance to the next level. To do this I used the process known as burnishing, which essentially involves the consecutive application of different gritted pads to achieve a high quality polish on tiles. Our burnishing system, which consists of four pads, achieves fantastic results on high-end polished stone like Limestone, Marble and, of course, Travertine. I started by applying the Coarse grit burnishing pad, before gradually working my way through to the Medium, Fine, and finally Very Fine pads to achieve a brilliant shine and light reflection finish. To round off the first day of the restoration, I used a flexible matching filler to fill up any pitted holes present on the surface of the tiles. Following this, I installed a turbo dryer to make sure the floor would dry fully overnight, and be ready to seal the following day. The next day I returned to the property and proceeded to seal the Travertine tiles using several costs of Tile Doctor Colour Grow sealer to protect the tiles and also really enhance the natural colours in the stone. As an impregnating sealer, Colour Grow penetrates into the stone and fills its pores to safeguard it against ingrained dirt and stains from within. As you can see from the photographs, the combination of a deep clean, high quality polish and fresh seal really transformed the appearance of the floor from dull and lifeless to a really asset to the kitchen. The customer was absolutely delighted with the results, leaving the following feedback: “Very good job – delighted! Thank you Phil!” Phil Barrs Lincolnshire Tile Doctor

Silver Parallels Shower wall
Example of an island style beige tile and stone tile bathroom design with beige walls