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Aikens Only Weekly Real Estate Product

Hunter
Sunday, May 19, 2013

Home of the Week...

his exceptional 3 BR, 3.5 BA home has 2800 sq. ft of luxurious upgrades.The televisions, surround sound, and custom cabinetry stay with the home. The downstairs master bedroom boasts a master bath including a steam shower. This move-in ready home has beautiful hardwood flooring, and ceramic tile. The bonus room and bathroom could be used as a 4th bedroom. This home has an oversized detached garage/workshop., as well as a separate unfinished apartment/additional workshop. Enjoy the peaceful outdoors in the screened porch overlooking a beautiful deck area perfect for grilling your next barbecue.

1414 Alpine Drive

MLS #80529 $468,000 Gracie Waters, 803-644-1716

Meybohm Realtors

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Home Hunter

Important Information and Numbers for Aiken County Residents

utIlItIeS
eleCtRICItY
Aiken electric Co-op 803-649-6245 or 1-800-922-1262 www.aikenco-op.org mid-Carolina electric Co-op 803-749-6400 or 1-888-813-8000 www.mcecoop.com South Carolina electric & Gas 803-442-2000 or 1-800-251-7234 www.sceg.com/en INfoRmAtIoN SeRvICeS
Aiken Chamber of Commerce: 641-1111 121 Richland Avenue E. www.aikenchamber.net Aiken Board of Realtors: 648-1891

AutomotIve INfoRmAtIoN
Newcomers have 90 days after establishing residency to apply for a drivers license. With a valid out-of-state drivers license, only an eye exam or statement of visual acuity from an eye specialist is required. Military personnel may operate on a valid drivers license from their home state.

dRIveRS lICeNSe

For Information Call: 1-800-442-1dmv (1-800-442-1368) www.scdmvonline.com

dRIveRS lICeNSe offICeS 1755 Richland Ave., Aiken 803-641-7752 1913 Ascauga Lake Road, North Augusta 803-279-6659
Newcomers have 45 days after establishing residency to purchase South Carolina license tags. To purchase license tags, you will need to fill out Form 400, available from any Division of Motor Vehicles office. Before getting your tag, you will need to pay the property tax on the vehicle at your local tax office. The South Carolina Division of Motor Vehicles handles vehicle tags. Offices are open Mon.- Fri. 8:30am - 5:00pm.

NAtuRAl GAS
SCe&G Gas operations 106 Langley Dam Road Aiken, SC 29834 (803) 643-5916

tAGS/ReGIStRAtIoN

telePHoNe
At&t Residential 1-888-288-2020 Business 1-866-620-6000 www.att.com Atlantic Broadband 1-888-301-8649

GoveRNmeNt
Aiken Co. Administrative offices 828 Richland Avenue W. 642-2012 Aiken City offices: 214 Park Avenue, S.W. 642-7654 Jackson town offices: 106 Main Street 471-2228 New ellenton City offices: 200 Main Street 652-2214 North Augusta City offices: 400 Buena Vista Ave. E. Municipal Bldg 441-4202 voteR ReGIStRAtIoN voter Registration office: 916 Vaucluse Road, Aiken 642-2030 tAXeS Aiken County tax office 642-2081

WAteR
City of Aiken 803-642-7613 www.aiken.net City of North Augusta 803-441-4219 www.northaugusta.net Jackson Water department 803-471-2229 New ellenton Public Works Commission 803-652-2862

Home HuNteR Ad deAdlINe every tuesday by 5:00 PM

Real Estate Sales Reps: lauren molony 803.644.2376 or lisa Storey 803.644.2373 Adv. Sales Manager: Kathy Boyette 644-2349 Advertising Director: dee taylor 644-2371

PuBlISHeRS NotICe
The Aiken Standard is pledged to the letter and spirit of the U.S. policy for the achievement of equal housing opportunity throughout the nation. We encourage and support an affirmative advertising and marketing program in which there are no barriers to obtain housing. All real estate advertising in the Aiken Standard is subject to the Federal Fair Housing Act, which makes it illegal to advertise any preference, limitation or discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status or national origin, or intention to make any such preferences, limitations or discriminations. We will not knowingly accept any advertising for real estate that is in violation of the law.

Smaller, cheaper, beloved: Tiny house fans inhabit their niche

By Jamie Smith Hopkins The Baltimore Sun/MCT BALTIMORE _ Greg Cantori plans to downsize when he retires. Really, really downsize. His retirement home is 238 square feet _ one-tenth the size of the average new American house _ and sits in his Anne Arundel County, Md., yard. He and wife Renee can hitch it to a truck and take it with them wherever they go. Its so cheap _ thats whats so cool about this, said Cantori, 52, who envisions a surf-andturf future, alternating between the house and a sailboat. We bought the house for $19,000. We can live an extraordinary life for very little money. Its an example of the tiny house movement, which has collected a small but growing _ and passionate _ group of adherents. Some like the freedom from a big mortgage and high energy bills. Some, the freedom from roomfuls of stuff. And some see it as a promising option for workers whose rent overwhelms their paychecks. Tiny houses fall into two categories. Some, like Cantoris, are technically travel trailers _ tagged and road-ready. Others have foundations and arent going anywhere. The houses usually manage a lot of function in a little bit of space _ kitchen, bedroom, bathroom, laundry room _ and theyre often cute to boot. Gables. Wood siding. Even porches. These are beautiful works of art, said Joe Coover with Tumbleweed Tiny House Co., a California firm that sells tiny homes _ as small as 65 square feet _ and tiny-home designs. U.S. houses got bigger for decades, ballooning from a little less than 1,700 square feet in the early 1970s to 2,500 square feet last year, even as household sizes shrunk, according to Census Bureau figures. But the housing crash, foreclosure crisis and
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rough recession have pressed some to think differently about how much space they need. And a house you can move with you has a certain appeal to anyone stuck in a place worth less than its mortgage. But whether you can actually live in a tiny home depends on more than your ability to pare down your possessions. Location matters. Zoning, building codes, health codes and even private covenants in subdivisions can effectively render a tiny house illegal. In the eyes of the law, theres such a thing as too small. Some jurisdictions bar people from living in travel trailers, too, no matter what they look like. Thats the No. 1 issue _ zoning, said Steven Harrell, owner of Tiny House Listings (tinyhouselistings.com), where 20,000 to 50,000 people visit per day to check out tiny houses for sale. There are a lot of people advocating, Hey, whats the big deal? Why dont you ease square-foot (regulations)? Times have changed, the economy has changed, people are having to make choices. And tiny houses are one of them. Tiny houses arent the only example of small living. Microapartments of a few hundred square feet are popping up in some expensive cities, such as San Francisco, for young professionals whod rather spend their free time downtown than in a sprawling living room. Matt Hoffman, vice president of innovation at Enterprise Community Partners, the Columbia, Md., affordable-housing giant, said small dwellings arent a solution for everyone. But theyre a useful choice to have. More than 10 million people in America are housing burdened, paying over half their income on rent, he said. We want to see a range of housing options for people, he said. Its not a one-size-accommodates-all. Part of the early drive for minimum-size regulations was to
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Greg Cantori, right, and his wife Renee are pictured outside their 238-square-foot tiny-home parked near their current home in Pasadena, Maryland, March 21, 2013. They intend to downsize into the tiny-house in the future and taking it with them as they travel. The tiny-house was built onto a trailer frame that can be towed. (Kenneth K. Lam/Baltimore Sun/MCT)

Greg Cantori, top, is pictured with his daughter Andrea, 19, center, and wife Renee in their 238-square-foot tiny-house, in Pasadena, Maryland, March 21, 2013. The Cantoris intend to downsize into the tiny-house in the future and taking it with them as they travel. The tiny-house was built onto a trailer frame that can be towed. (Kenneth K. Lam/Baltimore Sun/MCT) great deals on other supplies, Coover said. Of course, that doesnt include the cost of land to sit the house on. Some tiny-house folks buy. Some rent. Some find people with extra space they dont mind sharing. In Cantoris case, its sitting near his bicycle shed in his Pasadena, Md., yard. His actual residence isnt huge, either: just less than 1,400 square feet for a family of four and their two dogs. Cantori has spent his life in modestly sized places. At 19, he bought a dilapidated sailboat, fixed it up and lived there for nearly five years _ all 180 square feet of it. His next move was to a studio apartment in Baltimore. Living cheaply has allowed him to pursue the nonprofit career he wanted, save money and go sailing on the side. His tiny home was built by a lawyer from Kansas who intended to live there with his family of three. Then the family grew by one. So he sold to Cantori, who flew west with his brother two years ago, rented a U-Haul and drove back to Maryland with his new home hitched to the back. For Cantori, the affordability of a tiny house is part of the draw, but also the ability to use less energy, take up less land and generally be lighter on the environment. A 6,000-squarefoot house not far from his neighborhood baffles him. Who would actually use that much space? The walk-in closets bigger than our tiny house, he said. His future retirement home is robin-egg blue, with a porch out front. Inside, theres a tiny stainless-steel fireplace, a closet and a combination washer-dryer. A table in the living room/dining area seats two, or up to five if folded out. The kitchen has an RV stove, microwave and small refrigerator. In the bathroom is a full-sized shower and a composting toilet. And up top, two lofts _ each a bedroom. Cantori thinks it looks spacious, thanks to high ceilings, white walls and 16 windows. Theres just nothing superfluous inside. No wasted space, he said. Its all about not wasting.

Greg Cantori can see his current home, right, through a window of his 238-square-foot tiny-home in Pasadena, Maryland, March 21, 2013. He and his wife intend to downsize into the tiny-house in the future and taking it with them as they travel. The tiny-house was built onto a trailer frame that can be towed. (Kenneth K. Lam/Baltimore Sun/MCT) stamp out dangerous tenements, Hoffman said. But small doesnt have to mean hazardous. It seems like its the right time to re-examine whether we can move back in a direction where smaller can accommodate people in a healthy and safe way, he said. The cost for a tiny house varies. Coover, a workshop host with Tumbleweed Tiny House, said the companys ready-made homes sell for about $40,000 to $60,000. But people who buy plans, purchase materials at a home-improvement store and build it themselves _ as in free labor _ will probably spend $18,000 to $20,000, including appliances, he said. One customer managed to keep the costs to just $5,000 by salvaging wood and waiting for

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Home Hunter

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A 100 WOMEN FUNDRAISER

to benefit the child advocacy center

FLOWER
11:30 2 pm
The Mifsud family has this treehouse as part of their backyard play area. It features bunk beds, a skylight and views of the yard. (Jessica J. Trevino/Detroit Free Press/MCT)

everyday flower arranging for your home

Backyard playsets reach a new level

By Chastity Pratt Dawsey Detroit Free Press/MCT

newberry hall

30 may
$45

power
STARRING

AIKENS OWN
cte designs

KARIN JEFFCOAT TERRY SHAFFER

the ivy cottage

JAMES YAUGHN
cannon house florist

laugh lunch learn

hosted by flo holford and maggie sacks

DETROIT _ It is the kind of tree house that a kid could spend all day and all night inside. Patrick and Cindy Mifsuds kids have in fact pulled allnighters in the cedar and pine play set nestled in their backyard in Dearborn Heights, Mich. The tree house sits a story above ground in an old-growth tree and is supported by beams. The tree was trimmed to accommodate and support the structure as well. Custom made a decade ago by the Outdoor Fun Store in Canton, Mich., the 10-by-10 foot tree house has five paned windows, a shingled roof and a nine-foot ceiling. The inside, with a kid-sized bunk bed with waterproof mattresses, is made cozier by a television and a fan both mounted into the walls. A ladder leads up to a landing and stairs lead up to the second landing at the door. A sliding board provides a swift and fun trip from the first landing to the ground. Maybe I wanted this kind of a tree house when I was a kid, Patrick Mifsud said with a smile. With two older children who have outgrown the playset, its now the domain of his 13-year-old son. A custom play set of this intricacy could cost about $25,000, said Dan Wright, owner of the Outdoor Fun Store. Backyard play equipment is not all slides and swings anymore. Sandboxes are going out of fashion, too, being replaced by spring-free trampolines, ziplines and rockclimbing walls. Modular and custom options are as vast as whatever you can dream up _ from swing sets with crawl tunnels or billy goat bridges to clubhouses, penthouses or contraptions that could rival the local county park. Dave Byrum, owner of Kids Gotta Play in New Hudson, Mich., formerly Rainbow Recreation of Michigan, boasts the largest factory in the nation for backyard playsets. It offers 100 customizable modular sets _ which the company refers to as play systems _ made of naturally decayresistant California redwood, western cedar and coast Douglas fir. They run from about $999 to as high as $45,000 or more. The modular equipment grows with the child _ pieces for stronger, older kids, such as monkey bars and chain ladders, can be added over time, Byrum said. The typical Rainbow play system runs between $3,000 and $4,000 and costs about $400 to $600 to install. Sloped or uneven backyards are accommodated with supports and frames to keep the play system level, Byrum said. Before selecting a design online or from a catalog, make sure to try it. Youve got to come into the showroom and let the kids test it out, Byrum said. Let the kids loose, see what they like. BACKYARD PLAYSET BASICS AND SAFETY Wooden playscapes, once typically made of sharp-edged lumber, have been retooled
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enjoy lunch at newberry hall learn the basics of flower arranging get the designers expert advice experience the container challenge receive 2 door-prize raffle tickets

PICK UP TICKETS AT THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS:

3 monkeys - material things nandina - plum pudding - tea garden gifts

This large, backyard playset in Novi, Michigan, is named The Carnival. (Kathleen Galligan/Detroit Free Press/MCT)

This ships wheel is part of a large, backyard playset in Novi, Michigan, named The Kingdom. (Kathleen Galligan/Detroit Free Press/MCT)

This large, backyard playset in Novi, Michigan, is named The Carnival. (Kathleen Galligan/Detroit Free Press/MCT) with rounded edges. Bargain hunters and do-it-yourselfers beware of pressure-treated wood because it contains arsenic. Choose cedar instead. Platforms, bridges and ramps need guardrails. Children should not play on wet equipment. A home play area should maintain a shock-absorbing surface, such as mulch or wood chips, at least 6 feet around and about 3 to 4 inches deep for rubber mulch and 6 to 8 inches deep for wood chips. Be sure to use landscaping fabric underneath any mulch to keep out the grass and weeds. Wood chips available at landscaping or gardening stores will suffice. Some play system owners opt for recycled rubber that looks like landscaping mulch. Its offered in a variety of colors from $12.99 to $14.99 for a 30-pound bag. Metal swing sets start at about $199 at toy stores or big box merchants. Wooden modular systems can cost $999 and up. Sources: Outdoor Fun Store, Kids Gotta Play

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Home style: Upholstery guide; huge bag clip; removing melted plastic
By Mary Beth Breckenridge Akron Beacon Journal/MCT
ON THE SHELF: BOOK COVERS UPHOLSTERY BASICS Whether you just want to re-cover a drop-in seat or reupholster an entire chair, Hannah Stantons Style, Stitch, Staple can help you through the process. The basic upholstery guide covers the skills needed for a variety of upholstery projects. Stanton, a designer and upholsterer, introduces readers to the tools and supplies used in the craft and teaches them how to refresh their furniture, from fixing a frame to giving their upholstery professionallooking details such as piping and tufting. For inspiration, she also showcases some projects reupholstered by other people, both professionals and doit-yourselfers. The creators discuss the processes they Style, Stitch, Staple: Basic Upholstering Skills to Tackle Any used and the challenges they Project, by Hannah Stanton is published by Running Press faced. and sells for $23 in softcover. (MCT) Style, Stitch, Staple: Basic Upholstering Skills to Q&A: REMOVING and if you pry it, it might Tackle Any Project is pub- MELTED PLASTIC FROM pop off. He suggested using lished by Running Press and AN OVEN a stiff putty knife and trysells for $23 in softcover. : I preheated my Ken- ing to lift the plastic at one WHATS NEW: BAG CLIP more self-cleaning corner. CLOSES LARGE SACKS oven, unaware that a plastic Be careful not to damage Handy Camel is like a chip silverware holder was inthe oven surface, however. clip on steroids. side. How can I remove the He said the coating on the The oversize bag clip is concrete-hard melted plastic surface is important to the 12 inches long, big enough buildup? Would you advise self-cleaning function. to close bags of garden soil, turning the self-cleaning A razor scraper can be deicer, charcoal and other option on with the hope that used to remove melted plasbulky items. The hinged de- the plastic will disintegrate, tic from some surfaces, but vice grips the bag securely or is there a potential of I hesitate to recommend that and has a built-in handle toxic fume release? without checking with the : Dont use the selfto make carrying the bags manufacturer. I tried concleaning cycle. Beeasier. tacting Sears customer sersides releasing fumes, it The clip can be adjusted vice but received no reply. on the bag for use as a pour- could cause the plastic to catch fire, said Rudy Gering handle, too. meister, owner of Advanced The Handy Camel costs Appliance Service Co. in $14.95, or four for $44.85. Akron, Ohio. Shipping is $8.95. Germeister said hes found It can be ordered at www. that melted plastic is brittle, handycamel.com.

Grilling is a summertime tradition at households across the country. The family grillmaster typically looks forward to a night spent preparing a perfectly grilled meal for his or her family. But few grillmasters look forward to cleaning the grill, a necessary step to ensure your next grilled meal is as safe as your last one was delicious. If cleaning the grill is a chore, then at least it is one of the easier chores around the house. All it takes is some routine maintenance to keep a grill clean and safe, and such maintenance need not take much time. Brush the grates with a brass wire brush. The surfaces of the grill are best cleaned with a brass wire brush, which can quickly and effectively remove leftover food and marinade from the grill while preventing the growth of bacteria. Soak the brush in hot,

How to clean your grill

soapy water once the grill has been cleaned, and keep the brush indoors to keep it from succumbing to the elements. Prevent rust. Spraying the grill with cooking oil after it has been cleaned can prevent unsightly and potentially unhealthy rust from forming over the life of your grill. This will increase your grills life expectancy

and give your family members and guests some peace of mind knowing the grill is bacteria-free and wellmaintained. Clean the grease traps. Grease traps can be a fire hazard, especially if they are not routinely cleaned. Grease is very flammable, and it can easily increase the temperatures on the grills surfaces. Ridding a grill of grease might require a little elbow grease of your own, but its worth the effort to reduce your risk of fire. Dump the coals. Charcoal grills might not be as widely used as gas grills, but traditionalists who have stayed loyal to charcoal must dump the coals once the night has ended. Give the coals ample time to cool, shutting off oxygen to the grill to speed up the process, and make sure there are no coals still burning before you discard them.

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