Story By Laura McAlister - Photos by Lee Walls Jr.The 2012 Decorators' ShowHouse will have lots of firsts this year.In the 36 years the Alabama Symphony Orchestra Volunteer Council has hosted the event, the 2012 ShowHouse in Vestavia Hills will be the first to have a gymnasium with a regulation half basketball court as well as a rock climbing wall.But perhaps the … [Read more...]
2012 Parade of Homes
Scroll down to read stories on this year's Parade of Homes, including the Greater Birmingham Association of Home Builders' video promoting the industry and event, this year's first Ideal House and a look inside one of the 18 villages to be featured in the Parade.By Laura McAlister Journal EditorThe Greater Birmingham Association of Home Builders has a message, and … [Read more...]
Every Home’s a Stage
By Laura McAlister Journal EditorGone are the days when a sign in the front yard and maybe some cookies in the oven are all the prepping homeowners need to sell their house. In this market, Lisa Bond said, it takes much more.Lisa, who lives in Hoover, is a home staging consultant and redesigner and owner of The Stagehand Home Staging and Redesign Services. She works … [Read more...]
Movers and Shakers
By Donna Cornelius Journal Features WriterAt a time when some real estate companies were shutting their doors due to a plunging economy, Henry Ray and Wilmer Poynor were opening theirs.Ray & Poynor Properties started Jan. 15, 2010. A little more than two years later, the company is not only surviving but flourishing.One reason may be that neither man is a … [Read more...]
Efficient & Effective
By Laura McAlister Journal EditorLindsay and Jonathan Handey might have had different approaches when it came to making their Vestavia Hills house a long-term home they could raise a family in. But in the end, they both got what they wanted and more.The couple purchased the 1952 ranch-style house near Vestavia Hills East Elementary in October 2010. The kitchen and … [Read more...]