Our business transaction was nearly complete when I learned that Laura is partners in a company called Orange Street Design Studio. This is an excerpt from their website:

Orange Street Design Studio is the collaborative project of two designers brought together by a unified philosophy and passion for design. Brooke Richard and Laura Watson combine innate sensibilities with formal education, both having earned their Master of Arts in Interior Design. Following graduate school, each designer went on to gain a breadth of experience in prominent commercial and residential firms, and have since become adjunct professors of design. Ultimately, they merged their individual talents to establish a design studio with an uncommon approach.

The studio covers a broad scope of design, including architectural renovation, interior and event design, and custom furniture. From the Vegas strip to a quaint street on Nantucket, they have worked on high-end residential spaces, retail stores, offices, and restaurants, and are always ready for the next challenge.

Studio design by Orange Street Design

POINT OF VIEW

We believe a well-designed space should inspire, surprise, humor, delight, and comfort those who experience it. Every project brings its own story and depth, and that uniqueness is brought to the forefront of each design. Our goal is not to achieve a particular style or look, but rather to create a design that is harmonious and relevant. Our inspiration has no boundaries, from an elegant urban boutique to a rough and tumble lumber yard with simple reclaimed timber. Deep roots in fashion, psychology and the arts are manifested in thoughtful and unexpected ways. The result is an authentic collaboration of minds and materials, with a bit of edginess and humor for good measure.

Dining room design by Orange Street Studio

CREATIVE STRATEGY

Throughout our creative process we assume various roles. We are part psychologist, understanding the visions, objectives, and lifestyles of our clients; we are part artist, tapping into our passion, innate design sensibility, and background in the arts; and we are part technician, using learned tools and advanced technology to actualize our design effectively and skillfully.

Personally, I’m in love with the style they evoke. It seems to me, and this is just one man’s opinion, to be a successful marriage of classic furniture, Danish or Swedish simplicity and just a pinch of Brooklyn Hipster. Don’t tell Laura, but I have already stolen a number of ideas from her website. Shhhhhh!

Anywho, welcome to Jamaica Plain Watsons! If you are in need of some killer interior design skills, Laura’s your gal.

Zillow has Jamaica Plain outpacing all of it’s neighbors, including but not limited to Roslindale, North Dorchester, West Roxbury, Mission Hill, etc.  The multiple listing service provides very accurate, real time data as well. In comparison, Jamaica Plain has remained surprisingly level over the last five years.

5 year real estate inventory for Jamaica Plain

I’m no analyst mind you, but it seems to me that we have a much healthier market now. While the number of homes on the market spiked throughout 06′, the number of properties going under agreement and making it to closing is very strong. I attribute this market resilience to our strong community. Despite the best efforts of the recession, Jamaica Plain drew a hipster line in the sand and we’re not crossing it.

$/SF values showing pretty steady over last 5 years.

$/SF values are a good way to commoditize real estate values if you’re looking at large quantities of property. It’s too easy to get hung up on the listing prices and overlook the varying size of a given unit.

If you would like more relevant real estate market data – feel free to ask for customized reports. I can drill down to almost any parameter and track it. Just email me at www.TheBostonHomeTeam.com, or better yet, check out our new website and sign up for regular market updates.

Urban gardening is sexy.

Okay, well maybe that’s pushing it a little bit – but it can certainly be fun and healthy. In Jamaica Plain it’s even a bit cool possibly. I recently went to a panel discussion at the Universalist Church entitled The Carnivore’s Dilemma and the place was packed with hip shaksters, albeit the kind with dirty finger nails.

I’m one of those people that spends an inordinate time on the web perusing feeds, reading blogs, researching topics in an admittedly impatient A.D.D. sort of way. In any case, I’ve learned a great deal about the benefits of having an urban garden, not to mention the other benefits of greening up the surface of the planet and reducing storm water runoff. I have found gardening to be incredibly rewarding and soul centering. No really! It calms me.

In fact, according to an article by Susan Wyatt,  getting outside and getting dirty could make you smarter. “A new study finds that naturally occurring bacteria in soil could enhance learning. And as a side benefit, it appears to be a natural anti-anxiety drug, but without the side-effects.”

One of the things I’ve learned in my short five years of gardening is to be patient. This is not a talent in abundance in my life. However, as I’ve watched my garden morph over the years I’ve learned to not get too uptight about the little setbacks. Mother Nature is on an entirely different timeline than us.

My front garden in Jamaica Plain

For example, when I started working on my yard, the entire property was covered in a nasty layer of asphalt. I pried this all up and recycled it. We then had to build a huge sieve out of 2×6s and 1/4in chicken wire – and hand shoveled the top 8-12 inches of soil through it, removing as much of the yucky stuff and rocks as possible. I can’t even begin to tell you how hard this was. Then we brought in a lot of loam.

I worked with a landscape architect named Jen Russ to begin with to create a plan. She had great ideas and a good knowledge of plants that would work well in my location. The problem in hindsight (unforeseeable) was that we set up the focal points of the yard based on which properties around my house were crappiest and should be shielded from view. Surprise! The Brewery District emerged shortly afterward with the development of the old Haffenreffer Brewery by the JPNDC and the old crack house behind me and the rest of the real

estate abutters turned over and fixed up the dilapidated old wrecks, hence, changing the view. Now the best view was the worst view. I realized quickly that I needed to bring in the BIG GUNS. This is when I really got to know Rich Gargiulo. Rich owns Treeworks Earth Designs (617-983-0813) and also lives in Jamaica Plain. He’s a big bear of a dude – and watch out – he’s full of ‘piss and vinegar’ as my mom used to say. Rich loves the outdoors. He will literally hug your trees. It’s a little overwhelming at first, but his energy is catchy and his work ethic is astounding. Rich doesn’t stand around talking about how to get something done. Over the last three years Rich has taken exquisite care of us and created an amazing place for my family to enjoy. We started with the ‘hardscaping’ which wasn’t even on my radar before Rich showed up. I had some stepping stones planned, but Rich was thinking bigger. The giant granite blocks and very organic Japanese-esque stones create a real sense of permanence.

Japanese Pine and Mountain Laurel

Rich and the rest of the guys on his crew are artists. He has transformed my property into something extraordinary, a real diamond in a previously rough neighborhood. Also, as I am a Realtor, property value is always on my mind. Landscaping is the #1 most overlooked item for people when considering selling their homes. Don’t just spread some fake red mulch around. Put some thought in and you will be rewarded. Every year we make tweaks, get rid of dead plants, plant some new ones, and spend a little time making design changes. This year I moved the vegetable garden around a bit. The plants that grow below ground and the lettuces went down in the raised bed – where the gal-darned squirrels won’t eat them. (The little buggers don’t even steal the whole thing, they just sample a little bit and leave it. Yuk, who wants to eat a veggie some squirrel slobbered all over?)

The tomatoes, peppers, pickling cukes, etc. are all going to be grown hanging upside down from shepherds poles on our 2nd level deck. This way we can water them easily, monitor growth and our daughter Vitoria can take part in the process and be fully engaged with the growing cycle of the plants.

Hanging baskets for growing veggies upside down.

I’m going to rig up the poles with stainless steel inserts so I can quickly attach them every year and take them down again in the winter.

There are a number of El Cheapo upside down hangers out there, but you can do it cheaper and better. If you want to go really low tech, just get some old 5 gallon buckets and cut a hole in the bottom. There’s no shortage of websites to give you advice on the subject. I’m ordering mine online, and I’m going with a reusable wire basket design. It has a canvas outer bag that literally zips up for ease of planting.  Supposedly you get better, stronger plants with less  water consumption and higher yields.

I have been experiencing a lot of stress in the last couple months as I prepared to plant my first veggie garden. Newbies have so many questions and so little experience after all. Have no fear, there are no shortage of resources. I recommend reading a lot of info on the web before you even start asking humans questions.

5 Gal planter

There is definitely some lingo involved in gardening and it helps to know the basics. Create a bookmarked file and start dumping stuff in as you go. One of the best resources I have found so far is the no frills University of New Hampshire – Garden Guide. It has an overwhelming amount of info about all aspects of gardening. And yes, there’s an app for that. For iPhone users, check out Gardening Toolkit. It helps pick plants that are appropriate for the location, has a todo list, how much to water, when to harvest, etc.

The bottom line is that we need to do whatever we can to help the recent movement toward a more ’slow food’ culture. Not only do we need to learn how to grow our own food, but we need to teach our kids the importance of land stewardship. Just like foreign language, these types of concepts are easier to learn as a child. They become second nature. My daughter, for instance, now instinctively conserves water, ‘to save Mother Nature’.

There really isn’t a downside that I can see to all this. Feel free to comment if I’m wrong. As I see it:

1.  By planting a garden you get free food and the satisfaction of having grown a living organism.

2.  No fossil fuels are burned to transport your food.

3.  Storm water runoff is slowed and cooled – preserving the environment.

4. The heat island effect is mitigated.

5. Everything looks a lot more attractive – unless you’re into that post apocalyptic look.

Each First Thursday of the month businesses along Centre and South Streets are transformed into galleries featuring works from local artists. Open receptions, at each location, from 6:00 to 8:00 pm, offer a chance to meet the artists, enjoy refreshments, and experience Jamaica Plain’s fabulous businesses in an entirely new light. Artworks usually remain on display for the remainder of the month.

Viejo’s portraits show an intimate relationship with her subjects, real or imagined, with often surreal effects. The paintings investigate the division of the painting surface and the relationship of the figure to pulsating color and geometric environments. In addition to the amazing artwork on display at the reception, DJ Just Joan (Casey Williams of Bella Luna’s Cash For Gold fame) will be spinning an eclectic sound to set the mod. Come share a glass of wine

Anclados (Anchored)

]]> http://www.thebostonhometeam.com/blog/first-thursday-jamaica-plain-catalina-viejo-lopez-de-roda/feed 0 http://www.thebostonhometeam.com/blog/free-history-lesson-jamaica-plain-walking-tours http://www.thebostonhometeam.com/blog/free-history-lesson-jamaica-plain-walking-tours#comments Fri, 14 May 2010 16:56:38 +0000 wbrokhof http://www.thebostonhometeam.com/blog/?p=757 Last Saturday, May 8 began the annual walking tour season of the Jamaica Plain Historical Society.

Horse-drawn wagon on Centre St in Jamaica Plain

2010 Historic Walking Tours
All tours are free and open to the public and are offered on Saturdays at 11:00 a.m. sharp. Tours last approximately one hour except for the Jamaica Pond tour which lasts 90 minutes due to the longer distance covered. Tours are canceled in case of rain. No reservations are required. Please join us and bring along a friend!

Jeff Stineback - Realtor

If you happen by one of our open houses in the near future, or if you’re thinking about calling us for some home buying help – you may be talking to Jeff as well now.

Jeff & I have worked together on and off for about 10 years now. We started out as ‘newbies’ together at Prudential Maxfield & Company and spent our early careers down in the trenches of Boston real estate. Jeff took a couple of years to devote to his other passion – rock n’ roll. Jeff played drums for Harriet Street & Mieka Pauly, both locally and on tour. Lucky for us, he chose real estate and restarted a healthy career.

Jeff lives in Dorchester (Lower Mills) but he’s more than a little familiar with the boroughs of Boston. He has an extensive knowledge of zoning and thus he is very good at analyzing development potential and determining the ‘highest and best use’ of a property.

We’re excited to have Jeff on board – frankly, he’s a real good dresser, and we could use a little more of that around here. I have a real aversion to wearing anything but ultra casual (much to the chagrin of my manager) and just going to an appointment with Jeff takes it up a notch for me.

Seriously though, we’re honored Jeff was interested in working with us. We weren’t really looking to grow the team – we’re a bit picky about how our team is perceived and when an organization is working well and finely tuned you don’t want to mess it up. However, Jeff is a hardworking, creative and outgoing dude who will bring a new dimension to our business.

Welcome Jeff!

A bike lane is a separate, narrower lane for bikes running along the right-hand side of the road. A sharrow is an image of a bicycle and an arrow painted on the street as an encouragement for bicyclists and as a bike-rights reminder to motorists.

Bike lanes come to Jamaica Plain

The plan calls for:

• Bike lanes on both sides of the street on: Centre between Green Street and Lakeville Road; and Centre and South between Sedgwick and Burroughs streets.

• A bike lane going uphill and a sharrow going downhill on steeper sections of the corridor: Centre between Hyde and Jackson Squares; and South between McBride and Sedgwick streets.

• Sharrows on both sides of the street on: South between New Washington and McBride streets; Centre between Burroughs and Green; and Centre between Lakeville and Hyde Square.

The city is also considering adding short painted lines running perpendicular to the edge of the bike lanes to alert bicyclists to the “door zone.” That is the area where an opening door of a parked car can hit a bicyclist.

Signage and an education and police enforcement campaign are planned. Many motorists and bicyclists don’t know, for example, that using a bike lane is optional.

While the plan was generally well-received, there were some concerns that the variety of markings in central JP will be less safe, especially for younger riders. Gupta said the city will talk with merchants in the area between Burroughs and Green streets about possibly removing some parking. That would allow for bike lanes, rather than sharrows, to be installed there as well, creating a bike lane-only section between Sedgwick Street and Lakeville Road.

In a larger scale, the city also is looking at ways to mark bicycling routes on side streets to connect Centre/South to the Southwest Corridor and Emerald Necklace bike paths.

Loft-like open plan

I can’t tell you how many buyers I’ve worked with over the years who needed to be convenient to the medical area – but they are many. If you’re not familiar with Longwood Medical Area, is a medical campus in Boston. Centered on Longwood Avenue as it runs from Huntington Avenue to The Riverway, LMA straddles the Fenway-Kenmore and Mission Hill neighborhoods. It is most strongly associated with the Harvard Medical School and other medical facilities such as Harvard’s teaching hospitals, but prominent non-Harvard and non-medical institutions are located there as well, such as museums, colleges and research centers.

The four Orange Line stations in Jamaica Plain are not helpful here – but the Green Line to Heath Street or the #39 bus is. Many of these buyers need to have immediate access to one of these modes of transport as their lives are crazy busy and there is no time for pesky commutes.

[Enter] Home of the Week. The rather loft-like condo at 90 Bynner Street in Jamaica Plain. This home is located across the street from the #39 bus stop, and just a couple blocks from the terminus of the Green (E) Line.

Somewhere along the line, this 1925 apartment went condo and some of the walls were redesigned to reveal a very open plan with a wall of windows as the focal point. There is a nice master bedroom with a wardrobe style closet, and the second bedroom which will likely be an office or guest room for someone.

Beyond the convenience of the location, and the short walk to Centre Street and Brookline Village, I think the park at the end of the block is one of the most valuable attributes. The “Emerald Necklace” was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted.

The park system is over seven miles long from end to end. It covers 1,100 acres. To help you find your way to the Emerald Necklace parks and from one park to another, you can download a map here. The maps will show you where you can find many of the things to make your visit to the parks enjoyable and convenient, including:

Natural Features:
* Ponds
* The Muddy River
* Vistas

Park Features such as:
* Historic bridges and fountains
* Sculptures and public art
* Recreation facilities such as tot lots and sailboat rental
* Athletic facilities
* Picnic areas
* Emergency telephones
* Rest rooms

Getting Around:
* Paths, both paved and unpaved
* Suggested walking and bicycling routes
* Emerald Necklace Parkways
* MBTA transit and bus stops near the parks
* Parking lots (There are only a few.)

The full Emerald Necklace Map is 31″ wide by 17″ high. You can download a PDF of the entire map and zoom in to print just a part of it.

The Emerald Necklace Guide link below, allows you to view the material that is on the back of the map. It gives an overview of each of the 9 parks, highlighting what each has to offer, and tells the story of the history of the parks. The history includes Frederick Law Olmsted’s role in creating the six parks extending from the Back Bay Fens to Franklin Park in the later 1800s. Lastly, the Guide gives information about nearby greenspaces: the Esplanade, the Southwest Corridor Park, the Boston Nature Center and the Forest Hills Cemetery.

Emerald Necklace Map
Emerald Necklace Guide

We’re having an open house Sunday 16th, 12p-3p and there will be a drawing for $500 gift card. Also check out our www.TheBostonHomeTeam.com for more photos and a virtual tour.

]]> http://www.thebostonhometeam.com/blog/convenient-commuter-condo-jamaica-plain-longwood-medical/feed 0 http://www.thebostonhometeam.com/blog/brookside-play-structure-jamaica-plain-southwest-corridor-playground http://www.thebostonhometeam.com/blog/brookside-play-structure-jamaica-plain-southwest-corridor-playground#comments Sat, 06 Mar 2010 15:54:52 +0000 wbrokhof http://www.thebostonhometeam.com/blog/brookside-play-structure-is-hoppin It almost feels like Spring again – but I know better. Boston has a way of tricking you with a nasty snow storm in March. Let’s hope this 53 degree day proves Spring is finally here.