Bothell, WA

Even though my blog’s main topic is Seattle Real Estate, I’d like to venture away from home sales, marketing information, and my own opinions for a moment to share with you my newest feature. Each month, I’m going to be posting at least one article about a local home, sharing with you ideas for design and décor from some of the Seattle area’s most interesting (at least to me!) homes. To kick things off, I decided to begin with some amazing holiday decorations from the Bothell home of Vickie and Jim Kahlke.

Each year, Vickie starts early and fills her home with creative and wonderful decorations for all of her guests to see at her legendary Christmas Eve feast. This year her home was filled with beautifully decorated trees and she turned her dining room into a snowflake-filled winter wonderland. Many of the decorations are handmade, and she puts it all together into such a beautiful package that I thought it would be a wonderful day-after-Christmas start to my newest blog series.

Let’s start with the trees. Yes, I said trees. By my count, there were at least 4, but I may have missed one somewhere… The main tree is in the living room, set back in front of a set of bay windows. It’s decorated with holiday bears, cute little holiday signs, and tied all over with bows. And of course, the presents under the tree all match the theme.

Because the Kahlkes are wine aficionados, there are two more trees – decorated in wine theme. One for white wine, one for red, placed on either side of the living room. The lights are grapes on the vine, and ornaments are all themed to red or white wine.

The living room decorations create a warm and festive environment, but it’s the dining room and especially the table centerpiece that really caught my attention. Because we’ve had record snowfall in the past week leading up to Christmas, she decided to add some very snowy decorations. With two feet of snow outside, she said “I’m not going anywhere, and it’s a winter wonderland outside, so I may as well make on inside, too!” Based on some garlands she’d seen decorating a store, she took fishing line and white pom-poms and made beautiful snowy garlands to hang from the chandelier. She took more, smaller pom-poms and threaded wire through them to make some very clever napkin rings. Placemats were made with sparkly white felt and cut in the shape of snowflakes. Other snowflakes were scattered around the center of the table, making the table festive and fun.

Next month’s featured home: a custom condo with modern finishes in Seattle’s Queen Anne neighborhood.

If you're trying to sell Bellevue Washington real estate, you should probably know that while it's important to put time and effort into the interior, the exterior requires even more attention to detail. As a matter of fact, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) reports that exterior remodeling actually has a larger return on investment than that of interiors. Considering Bellevue Washington real estate buyers are few and far between, it makes sense that a buyer's attention needs to be grabbed instantly if there is any hope for a sale.

This isn't to say that it's all about exterior curbside appeal when it comes to Bellevue Washington real estate. After all, those same statistics also show that taking the time to remodel bathrooms, kitchens and interior rooms have a seventy percent return on investment which is slightly below the aforementioned figure above.

The remodeling projects which tend to grab the most attention tend to be vinyl sliding and its replacements, wood decks, and fiber cement although generally anything that improves the curbside appeal and overall look of the home works in your favor. For the time being, making these slight but important improvements and changes could play an important factor in getting buyers to knock on your door.

You should be aware that during your Bellevue Washington real estate selling efforts, remodeling should not be limited to the actual home itself. Planting new trees, doing some yard work and some general beautification of the lot itself can give the property as a whole a dramatic facelift and in turn increase its curbside appeal. Don't get too carried away with these improvements however. Make changes, improvements and repairs that show but not that they'll force you to drive up the price or lose lots of money.

My oldest son Chandler, began playing junior football this year and I'm VERY excited that he's a Viking at my alma mater Inglemoor High School. The Inglemoor Junior Football league is part of the Greater Eastside Junior Football Association and the love they have for one man runs very deep!

Duane Ranstrom who was a coach and long time member of the extremely close knit family of football suffered a life threatening condition on June 7, 2008. His heart suddenly stopped while watching his sons indoor arena football game. He was deprived of oxygen for some time and is now in a persistive vegetative state. Duane is only 44 years old!!! In addition to his love of football, he was a member of the Circuit Riders, a country gospel band, and through his music he shared his faith with so many.

Duane is now living near his families home in an assisted living facility and makes progress everyday. Beckey, his courageous wife has set up a website at CaringBridge to tell his story and track his progress for all those who care so much about him. Here's Duanes' story. I have not yet had the pleasure of meeting Duane but he sounds like an amazing man!

I would like to ask for everyones prayers for Duane, his wife, kids and brand new grandbaby. Please pray for the Miracle of his coming out of the coma and pray for a full recovery so Duane can continue to touch the lives of many.

The love for this family runs very deep throughout the community. In less then a weeks time, a spaghetti fundraiser was put together and over $37,000 was raised in one night! That's LOVE! At our very first practice another parent told me there is a lot of love in the Inglemoor family of football and I'm beginning to see it.

I am not going to ask anyone to send a donation, but if anyone feels the call, a benevolent fund has been set up at Washington Mutual. This information has been provided by:

Billie Hartline, President
Inglemoor Junior Football
206-898-9021

"Thanks to everyone for demonstrating their love and support for Duane and his family. To date over $37,000.00 has been raised in support of the family. This far exceeds the initial goal of $25,000.00 and will be of real support to the family. I personally was overcome emotionally by the love and support demonstrated at the Spaghetti feed.

If you were unable to attend this special event and are a Washington Mutual account holder you can donate at any WAMU bank directly to an account in Beckey Ranstrom’s name (account # 4420333447). If you do not bank at WAMU you can simply stop in at any branch and make a donation to the before mentioned account number.

For anyone unable to the bank mail your check to Beckey Ranstrom to:

IJF
PO Box 8992
Kenmore WA 98028

And we’ll get it into the account"

PLEASE PRAY FOR DUANE AND HIS FAMILY

MIRACLES DO HAPPEN AND PRAYERS ARE ANSWERED

Sandy Noll
Realtor
Keller Williams Realty Kirkland
425-890-0878
sandy@sandynoll.com
www.letsachieveyourgoals.com
http://youreastsidehomespecialist.activerain.com/
Your Kirkland, Woodinville, Bothell Home Expert

In a recent meeting University of Washington President Mark Emmert announced plans to expand capacity at several campuses including the University of Washington – Bothell. Under the current plan, the UW Bothell would go from 1,900 to 3,800 students by the year 2017.

This announcements come after plans for the construction for a University of Washington campus in Everett have failed to come together. The primary reason for the failure was a debate over a location for a new school.

Randy Hodgins the University of Washington Director of State Relations points out that increasing the size of the student body will also help the area students by giving them more academic choices.

"They aren't quite able to offer the same array of programs and majors that, say, the Seattle campus is able to, or even some other comprehensive schools around the state. So with more choices and a larger student body, we think they'll also be more attractive to students in the Puget Sound area."

The addition of classes and new degrees definitely is an indicator of the shift of economy that is happening in the Everett area as it is being pushed from a labor market into a skilled work market. Additionally, the demand for classes is there. From personal experience I know that the University of Washington Bothell MBA program has far more applicants than it has capacity for.

Of course all of the University of Washington’s hopes for expansion of the Bothell campus rests on funding approval from the state, so if you want to see more education in Snohomish county, be sure to press your representatives to approve funding for expansion!

Jacquie Cliff - The Amazon Negotiator
Real Estate Agent, Loan Officer and Accredited Buyers Representative serving:
Lynnwood, Bothell, Mill Creek, Seattle, Bellevue, Marysville, Mountlake Terrace, Edmonds, Everett, Snohomish, Kirkland and the surrounding areas!
Call me with any of your real estate questions at 425-773-3149 or email me at Jacquie@jacquiecliff.com anytime!

Copyright © 2008 By Jacqueline A. Cliff, All Rights Reserved.
The University of Washington Bothell Campus Wants to Expand!

Doyle Chiropractic in Bothell/Kenmore. Very good chiropractor and these are my reasons.

I have been using chiropractic care for about 20 years. I have been a patient of about 6 different Chiropractors. When I was a teenager I didn't know what I should expect of chiropractic care, but now that I am paying my own bills and have had many different chiropractors I have found one that stands out above all of the rest. Dr. David Doyle and his staff are very friendly and helpful. I am not just a number there. I usually have 2 or 3 people each visit ask me how my daughter and wife are. They greet me by name as soon as I walk in the door (even if I pop in without an appointment) and within minutes I am back on a massage table waiting for my time with Dr. David.

In my past experiences with other chiropractors I have felt like I was in a herd of cattle with 4-6 people being adjusted at the same time with no privacy in one big room. Sometime you have symptoms that are private and you don't want other people to hear about your issues. I have also felt that some other Dr.s are trying to get me to come in way more than what might be needed. With Doyle Chiropractic and Dr. David I don't feel that at all. They are all low pressure and you meet with the doc in a private room.

I have been a patient of Doyle Chiropractic for about 7 yrs and I have not been happier. This blog posting is to highly recommend Doyle Chiropractic as your local Chiropractor. They are all very good.

Please give them a call and tell them how you got their phone number.

Doyle Chiropractic Clinic PS

16923 96th Ave NE Bothell, WA 98011

Tel#: 425-485-7332

Greg R Benson Real Estate Professionals serving Bellevue, Redmond, Kirkland, Bothell and surrounding areas

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