Like thousands of other folks hoping to snag tickets to the popular PBS “Antiques Roadshow” visit to Grand Rapids on Saturday, Lou Ann Lanham-VanSlyke has vintage treasures she wants to know more about — not just their value.

Her items — a mirror in a handpainted wooden frame and a set of botanical orchid prints from the early 1900s — will make the trip with her to DeVos Place for an appraisal from an expert with the “Roadshow.”
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Despite a slumping economy, home improvements remain a popular investment for homeowners. With paint rollers and hammers in hand, they’re getting the most out of their home-improvement dollar with do-it-yourself projects that make a dramatic difference.

Three-quarters of Americans and Canadians plan to renovate this year, even though only one in 10 homeowners plan to sell their homes, according to the fourth edition of the annual KILZ Roller Report. Read More…

Most of us have developed a unique personal style and we know what fashions work for us. But when it comes to decorating or remodeling our homes, particularly our kitchens and bathrooms, style preferences can be harder to pin down.

“Consumers are spending more time — and money — to customize kitchens and bathrooms,” says Ginny Long, director of online and direct marketing for Moen. So how can you identify your personal decorating style to incorporate it into these rooms?
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Lisa Spencer, a Whatcom County interior designer with experience serving residential and commercial clients, recently launched Lisa Spencer Interiors.

Spencer has been an owner and co-owner of an interior-design business in the county for 12 years. She previously worked as a managing senior designer for a firm in Carmel, Calif., and as the primary consulting designer and coordinator for The Pebble Beach Company Resort and Golf Course on California’s Monterrey Peninsula.

Lisa Spencer Interiors offers a variety of services, providing turn-key service for new construction, renovation projects and model homes that covers design coordination, planning, budgeting, purchasing and installation.

Touring model homes, have you ever longed to take some of the furniture with you?

Now you can in Chandler.

Tempe-based home builder T.W. Lewis is getting rid of items from model homes that have sold and has opened a showroom on the northwest corner of Arizona Avenue and Elliot Road.

“We pretty much have everything you would expect in a furniture store, from furniture to accessories to designer bedding sets,” said Tracy Lucas, the builder’s director of marketing. “We have a lot of one-of-a-kind pieces.”
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