Summer Break

Irwin Weiner ASID - We're taking a rare week off from blogging to enjoy family and friends, but we'll see you next week! (Here I'm holding new grandson Oliver James Joyce in Minneapolis, MN.) Hope you're having a great summer, too!

 Click here to subscribe to our daily design videos and features. 

Today's Endangered Governor's Mansions

Irwin Weiner ASID - It's thrilling for me to see history preserved when significant architecture is restored. I was fascinated by the number of first ladies and other dignitaries who have conducted video tours of their state's governor's mansions, and then I realized that these mansions represent "the people's home away from home," a lovely democratic principle that probably doesn't work quite the way it sounds: "I want to stay overnight in my home away from home." Right. Not likely to happen.

There's controversy surrounding many governor's mansions - 43 states have them, and some governors no longer want to live in a tax-free, expensive home with costs footed by taxpayers. Watch the Wall Street Journal's video on For Sale or Rent: The Governor's Mansion. 

Here's a video of the first lady of West Virginia showing off her state's governor's mansion (see top photo) - and following the video are

Click to read more ...

Happy Halloween: Do You Live in a Haunted House?

Jay Johnson - Is your house haunted? Are you experiencing the presence of others ... with no logical explanation? About a third of the population believes in ghosts, and according to a USA Today article on the subject, that's about the same number of people who are baseball fans.

Well, Happy Halloween to you! On Design2Share, we look at home design in a very serious way, and we wanted to acknowledge that for some people, their home may be an uncomfortable, fearful place due to reasons other than a bad decorating job we can blame on the previous owners.

We spoke with a feng shui expert last weekend, and she says that she now combines her practice with "clearing" procedures, to help rid a home of what's called predecessor energy. That's a fancy term for ghostly residue or unresolved issues from folks who used to live on the land or in your home. Even if you live in a new-construction home, you can be dealing with predecessor energy. We know a couple who just moved into a just-opened condo building in lower Manhattan. Nothing has gone right for them, and living in their ultra-modern apartment is supremely uncomfortable. When they found out that their home was built on the grounds of an old churchyard, they said "Ah ha!" and asked us for help finding someone who could clear the energy and help them restore normalcy in their home. 

As our feng shui expert told us,

If I don't deal with house clearing issues, it's like putting fresh flowers into dirty water. What's the sense of that?

I grew up in a small Midwestern neighborhood where most everyone believed in the paranormal (it's a long story!). Let's just say that set of beliefs was part of the history of our community of 30,000 people. Many people I grew up with can personally attest to the presence of an invisible world, and I've come to think that science just has to catch up with some explanations of what's going on. My mind is open to accepting many beliefs and respecting what others are experiencing firsthand.

The following video shows you some practical advice if you find yourself experiencing what you think is a ghost or paranormal presence in your house. If you're in that third of the population who believes, then this may be for you. If you're not, then this should be entertaining fiction. But I thought, being Halloween and all, that this would be an appropriate "holiday video pick." Please leave a comment telling us of any experiences you've had in your home. Thanks for sharing.

 Click here to subscribe to our daily design videos and features.  

Fall Food - and Halloween Spider Treats

Irwin Weiner ASID - Happy Halloween, all you gremlins, ghosts, and ghouls out there in the blogosphere! We wanted to give a nod to everyone who's feverishly planning their party costumes (I just dropped a bundle on accessories to go with my 1980s-themed costume - and they're pretty hideous, if I do say so myself).

But "not hideous" is the concept of eating seasonally - eating what's grown locally and deliciously natural to celebrate the season. (No fair splurging on out-of-season food that's been jetted-in from Timbuktu, with a carbon footprint the size of Manhattan.) Carpe Season is a food blog that celebrates seasonal food, like the delicious Corn Chowder with Chilies (see top photo) ... and Minnesota blogger Liz has a way of photographing and writing about favorite recipes that she discovers in cookbooks. Check out her Fall Menus to enjoy some seasonally-appropriate food with a twist - I also loved her My Fall Cooking Playlist (music she likes to play while cooking during this gloriously crisp season) - and enjoy the following video with the Carpe Season duo of Liz and her husband Eric creating some spookily delicious (and totally junk food) Halloween Spider Treats!

 Click here to subscribe to our daily design videos and features.