Solid Teak Rainwater Bath

The nature-lovers and simplicity-dwellers are sure to like this. An unusual and stylish bath, the Rainforest bath is the first to have a hand-made wooden bath.

Hundreds of caringly curved timbers are crafted to make this unique boat bath. Each of these are made in natural Teak hardwood which are waxed for smooth hard-waring finish.

The taps must be wall-mounted or floor mounted. Please note that the bath is without over flow and also the colors may vary as each bath is individual. Each of these retail for $25,105.

Via - Loadedshopper

Simon Turner

Rotating Gas Fireplace

Share the heat with everyone and be the envy of Australian homes, with this Diva Gas Rotating Fireplace, produced by Spartherm.

Control the gas pressure through a remote control and comfort yourself to get heated with the fireplace that rotates as per your convenience.

A glowing sphere of warmth sliced open on two sides to reveal the inner splendor this contemporary fireplace can rotate at your will. This handy function likewise allows you to directly feel the cozy heat of the Diva fireplace wherever you may be in the room. Running on gas, the Diva is easy to use and functions at the touch of a button.

Simon Turner

Multi-Functional Pool Table

Pool tables typically dig a huge hole in our pockets resulting into their own marketing pitfalls. Hence, they’re out with new ways to justify their huge expense and massive real estate usage.

Moreover, they need recuperate from their downside caused by all the whacko games offered by Nintendo Wii.


To save their shrinking markets, the Pool table manufacturers are out with a new mantra, the “Fusion” Pool table/dining room table created by Aramith, our long-time leading manufacturer in the billiard industry. The multi-functionality Fusion table combines a dining table, a pool table and a game table all in one. How about a good game of pool after dinner?


Simon Turner

The Hidden Spells of Smells

Aromas affect us on a subliminal level - which is one reason we often underestimate their power. But thanks to a mix of ancient knowledge, recent research and new technology, change is in the air. Smell after all has a mysterious ability to plug straight into our memories and emotions - and their discoveries look set to shape our lives in subtle but significant ways.

What makes smell so powerful? Humans can recognise close to 10,000 aromas, and we breathe about 30,000 times a day. Smells are processed by the limbic system, an old area of the brain relating to memory and emotion. While responses differ across individuals, cultures, genders and age groups, certain scents can spark vivid feelings and recollections

There are signs that we're rediscovering our sense of smell. Supermarket aisles are packed with a growing array of air fresheners, home deodorisers and scent dispensers. US company Demeter sells a range of home fragrances, including Wet Garden, Never Lonely, Between the Sheets and the Christmas-themed Egg Nogg.

The ancient art of aromatherapy is also enjoying a boom, with essential oils being used in millions of homes. The typical blend names - relax, energise, focus, harmony, romance - suggest the moods we want to conjure up in our private realms. But it's the retail world that's leading the pack in the more sophisticated uses of aroma. Smell is a powerful hidden persuader, and many businesses are using "ambient scenting" to influence our shopping behaviour.

Recent studies show the careful use of scent, combined with lighting, music and store layout, can affect the way we shop. Pleasant smells shorten our perception of time, create positive associations, cheer up staff, and make us likely to browse longer, impulse buy, spend more and visit again.

While these aromatic discoveries are new, the basic principles are not. "Fragrance has been used for thousands of years to excite, arouse and tantalise," says Mark Gordon, marketing manager of fragrance specialist Ecomist. "Bakers in the 1960s would place fans near the ovens to push the smell out into the street and entice people in. We've just advanced technologically on that idea
The company's in-house Parisian perfumer, Yves Dombrowsky, has developed 180 fragrances which can be diffused through homes or shops with a small computerised dispenser. Gordon likens it to a high-tech offshoot of aromatherapy, minus the burning candles. Two of Ecomist's niche scents - the floral/spice mix Ronan, and the seaspray/citrus blend Ozone - have proved popular in display homes; surf shops go for the Mango blend, while cafes prefer Blueberry Muffin.

Australia has been relatively slow on the uptake, but aroma marketing is gaining ground. Morrison has worked with fashion chain Supre to study the combined effects of music and scent. The conclusion? For Supre's target market (teens and young women), a mix of vanilla-scented air and loud dance music does wonders at the till.

Globally, the profit power of smell has infiltrated the realms of gambling, education, pop culture, fashion, interior design and the internet. When a Las Vegas casino pumped a floral scent into its slot machine area, gamblers spent 45% more. A US children's museum recently ordered a "dinosaur dung" aroma, and researchers are exploring the use of scent in schools and hospitals to improve learning, treat phobias and speed recovery. Singer Shania Twain has released a daffodil-scented "fragrance disk", and you can buy alarm clocks that emit a coffee scent, curtain fabrics embedded with tiny perfume capsules, and a gadget that lets you sniff products online, or concoct and email your own scents.

Top 10 scents to make you ...

- Feel safe, secure and nostalgic talcum powder

- Be more alert peppermint, citrus

- Relax lavender, vanilla, chamomile

- Perceive a room as smaller barbecue smoke

- Perceive a room as bigger apple, cucumber

- Buy expensive furniture leather, cedar

- Buy a home fresh baking

- Browse longer and spend more tailored floral/citrus scents

- Get road rage unpleasant smells rotting rubbish, air pollution

- Become sexually aroused a pumpkin pie/lavender blend (men); the sweat of nursing mothers (women)

Note: Individual memory plays a role. If you've had a traumatic experience involving vanilla, you probably won't find that smell pleasant.

Stockists

Est 9819 0726; Douglas and Hope 9417 0662; Husk 9827 2700; Kleins 9416 1221; Manon bis 9521 1866; Peony 9882 0662 http://www.peonymelbourne.com.au/

Simon Turner simon@marquetteturner.com.au

Colour Tips For The New Season

Colours can affect moods and emotions. We look at what colours are suitable for different room types. Colour can be created through both paint and furnishings.

The science of colour is nothing new. About 2000 years ago ancient Egyptian and Chinese civilisations used colour in healing, and looked to nature for cues on how to use it in their daily lives. Your preference for certain colours is very personal, and there is a lot of psychological research into why certain colours appeal to certain character types. Studies show colours have different effects on our moods and emotions.

Consider the nature and function of a room before you choose interior colours. Also, Marquette Turner suggest that if you are painting simply to sell the property, don't get too personal. Make sure that colours are neutral.

Mitchell Hartmann mitchell@marquetteturner.com.au

"Give your room a makeover" using online service Design My Room

"Give your room a makeover" is the proclaimed purpose of Design My Room, which launched into beta in August. The site lets users test out interior designs either on sample rooms provided by the site, or by uploading a photo of the real room they have in mind.

They can paint, furnish and decorate the room by selecting from thousands of products—from sponsoring brands Armstrong, Benjamin Moore, Kohler, Smith & Noble, Whirlpool and others—and then dragging and dropping them wherever they want. Rooms created by professional designers are also available for inspiration and copying. Users can save multiple versions of their room and offer them up for rating and comments to friends or the site's audience at large.

Then, once they've settled upon the look they like, shopping for the items they've chosen is made easy via an automatically linked shopping list, which keeps track of their selections all along.

Basic members of Design My Room are given one free project, which they can save and redesign as often as they like. A "plus" membership enables 5 projects for USD 4.95 a month, while premium members get 25 projects for USD 9.95 per month. Uploading a room photo costs an extra USD 25.

"When my wife and I renovated three years ago, we had to sign out samples from retailers and lug them around—a heavy piece of granite, a cabinet door, ceramic tiles, carpet swatches, paint chips. They must have weighed 50 pounds," explains Jesse Engle, vice president of business and product development at Massachusetts-based Swatchbox Technologies, which created DesignMyRoom.com. "Next time, we do it all on the site."

In addition to the obvious benefits for users, category-specific sites like Design My Room give brands a clear line of communication with the consumers most likely to listen. Style-forward consumers are eager to create and share content, acting as curators for peers who are looking for inspiration. Time to apply this concept to the niche of your choice!
Website: http://www.designmyroom.com/

Simon Turner simon@marquetteturner.com.au

IKEA Organises Furniture Swap

Over the past few years, swapping clothing, books, music and movies has taken off around the world, with groups meeting for swaps offline and online. Now, Marquette Turner has learnt from it's sources that flat-pack behemoth IKEA is organizing a furniture swap at its Amsterdam store: a husselmarkt. The swap, which will take place on February 9th, will let up to 250 people bring in furniture—which doesn't have to be made by IKEA—and swap it for items brought in by others. IKEA will also add 12.000 euros worth of furniture to the mix.

The event is part of a marketing campaign that encourages customers to think like designers, which includes experimenting by rearranging furniture they already have (roughly translated, husselen means to shuffle, or move around). To help people redesign their living spaces, IKEA offers a tool on husselen.nl that lets users draw a room as it's currently arranged, and then move around pieces on-screen. Any furniture that no longer fits their rearranged room can be brought to the husselmarkt.

It might seem contradictory from a business point of view: if people swap, they'll buy less. But IKEA knows that once a consumer rearranges a room, or gets a new couch (even if it isn't strictly new), they're likely to want a new rug, lamp or table to complete the makeover.

Will Australia's IKEA follow suit?

Simon Turner simon@marquetteturner.com.au

Detonate or Renovate? Japan's Tradition

Homes in Japan last for only 30 years. The government wants to change that!

Even though Japanese houses are supposed to be built to withstand earthquakes, few of them defy demolition for more than a few decades. The housing stock is amazingly young: more than 60% of all Japanese homes were built after 1980 (see chart). That is because there is almost no market for old homes in Japan. New legislation to be put forward this month will try to remedy that.

The roots of Japan's unusual housing market go back centuries. Buildings were often razed by earthquakes or fire, so durable houses were rare. Earthquake insurance largely did not exist until the 1990s (and even today is little used).

In post-war Japan land has value but buildings do not. The law separates the ownership of the land and the structure, so the two are distinct in Japanese minds. After the war, the government sought to foster private home-ownership by offering tax incentives for new buildings. The policy was a great success. Arguably too great: by 1968 there were more homes than households to occupy them.

At the same time, tax burdens abound for selling land with old buildings. After around 30 years homes are demolished for new ones to spring up. Because the lifetime of houses is short, cheap construction materials are used and the buildings are not maintained. There is no tradition of do-it-yourself home upkeep. Just as there is little interest in secondhand furniture or clothes among the sanitation-obsessed Japanese, so too home-owners prefer to build anew rather than refurbish the old.

There is also a dearth of institutions and expertise that might oil the gears of a market in old houses, from surveyors to judge the quality of a property to banks that assess its value and provide a mortgage. As a result, where 89% of British homes have had more than one owner, and 78% of homes in America and 66% in France, only 13% of Japanese homes have ever been resold.

But attitudes today are changing. The constant rebuilding places an unnecessary drain on people's financial resources, says Koichi Teramoto of the Ministry of Land. A couple easing into retirement may demolish their house to sell the land in order to move into a smaller abode that they must then build from scratch. Although better-built homes cost more up front, they cost far less over time—as much as one-third less after a few generations, according to Mr Teramoto.

The ministry also worries that the constant demolition is terrible for the environment. The costs to the wider economy are also great. A home is more than a man's castle: it is typically his most important financial asset. Not in Japan. For most of the post-war period land prices soared, so the lack of a housing resale market was not a problem. But since the bursting of the property bubble in the early 1990s, most land prices have fallen: some are as much as 80% off their peak. That houses also depreciate in value constrains consumption and adds to deflationary pressures; which in turn pushes people to be particularly cautious savers (more than 50% of Japan's household wealth is kept as cash in bank accounts) and helps to keep interest rates barely above zero.

To remedy the problem, the prime minister, Yasuo Fukuda, this month plans to introduce new tax rules to encourage the construction of more durable buildings. Under a draft of the “200-year homes” policy, national, regional and municipal property taxes may be reduced by between 25% and 75% for up to seven years for houses that adhere to robust building standards. Mortgages for such homes can be longer (50 years as opposed to the traditional maximum of 35 years) and building approvals will be simpler.

Property experts think these measures are too timid, however. They argue that a true market for used homes needs standardised methods of construction, as well as more transparency about the quality and value of houses. Far more generous tax incentives are vital too. Until then, homes in Japan will continue to fare like the country's ubiquitous electronic gadgets: be treated as disposable.

Jan 3rd 2008 from The Economist print edition

How To Do Up a Property That's Run Down

One of the most popular kinds of home show on TV at the moment are the ones that focus on buying run down houses, doing them up and selling them for a profit. This is known as "flipping".

The only reason for the person buying the house is to do some work and then sell it on again quickly for a profit. The idea is to make a quick profit and then move onto another property.

The profits from flipping houses can be quite large, especially if you know what you're doing. Depending on how much work you need to do on the property you should be able to turn them round pretty quickly.

Deciding whether the house is suitable for flipping usually requires looking at why the house is being sold. It's not really desirable to flip houses that are in reasonable condition, remember the worse the standard of the house the cheaper it should be. Most companies that specialize in doing this will look for a property requiring a fair amount of work. Flipping houses make them much more desirable to people.

The idea is to buy a house at much less than its market value due to its poor condition. People want to buy perfect houses and so will be put off even if only tiny things need doing. If there are only small repairs to do you should be able to get the house back on the market within one month. The price when selling the property should cover the mortgage, renovation, costs associated with selling, and provide quite a nice profit.

Fix it properly
Many companies that renovate houses do so properly. When flipping houses they do not just make cosmetic fixes, they will also go beyond this. Thus, you should do a pre-purchase pest and building inspection so that you can work out exactly what needs doing. You may find out that you need to spend more on renovation than you expect. This will ultimately reduce your profit, or even wipe it out completely.

A frequent type of home that is targeted by flipping home companies are foreclosed homes. This is because they do not attract as many people and so are often cheaper, they can be as low as 60% of the actual market value and only nee a little work to get them in order. These kinds of homes allow the company to do up a house very quickly and make a good profit.

Most people will try to get profits on the first couple of houses with the intention of buying houses with the profits without having to borrow money. In time this can become a very successful business and you'll be able to pay less on each house. If you are able to find houses in your local area to flip then you will already know more about the market which could be beneficial. Good Luck!

Simon Turner. simon@marquetteturner.com.au

Simple Ways to Improve Your Life

Most fundamentally, recognise that happiness is a state of mind and not something which can be defined objectively. You can change your state of mind in many ways including the following suggestions.

More importantly than anything else, live with a partner whom you love and respect and who feels the same about you.

Kiss and cuddle and compliment often and regularly buy unexpected little gifts.

If you have a son or a daughter. Tell them often how much you love and admire him/her and do anything to help him/her.

Have a cat or a dog and stroke them often.

Keep in close touch with relatives and a small circle of friends. You can't beat their love and support.

Conversely, if there is a person in your life who is a negative influence and who is dragging you down in some way, don't be afraid to get remove such a person from your life.

Smile a lot. Smiles make you miles better - and you smiling will make others smile. As Rabbi Nachman of Breslov (1772-1810) put it: “Always wear a smile. The gift of life will then be yours to give.”

Laugh a lot. If you need some help.

Say what you mean and mean what you say. Honesty really is the best policy.

Be politely assertive. Say how you feel and explain what you want. Friends and colleagues can't be mind readers.

Give lots of compliments. You will make others feel good about themselves and find that this gives you pleasure too.

Give small gifts to your friends. To give is even more pleasurable than to receive.

When your birthday or Christmas is coming, prepare a list of the presents you'd like and give it to a partner, relative or friend to 'manage'. That way people won't struggle to choose a gift for you and you'll receive what you want and like.

Use your credit card as a convenient way to pay for your major expenditures on a monthly basis - not to obtain credit at an outrageous level of interest.

Don't gamble. There's enough uncertainty in your life without you adding more - and anyway, in the long run, you can't win. (A little flutter on the lottery is allowed.)

Give regularly to the charities of your choice. Make at least one of those charities an organisation addressing world poverty. Regularly increase your contributions as your income rises.

Wear the most expensive after-shave (usually men!) or perfume (usually women!!) you can afford. It will make you feel good.

Whether male or female, get your hair done. This will always make you feel better about yourself.

Surround yourself with pleasant smells. Have flowers, pot-pourri or scented candles in most rooms of the house and in your office.

Every so often, spend a little time observing the night sky. As you contemplate the distances and time involved, it will put your life and your concerns into more perspective.

Mitchell Hartmann

mitchell@marquetteturner.com.au

Secrets to Stress-Free Decorating for Christmas

Your home is your Christmas holiday oasis and decorating it can be overwhelming. By the time you find the right style, budget and energy to start and finish the project, stores are decorated for Valentine’s Day.

This season, don’t let holiday decorating get you down. Follow these basic tips from Marquette Turner to make decorating a positive experience.

1. Have a plan.

Take time to decide how you want to decorate and plan ahead before you start shopping. Collect ideas and images from magazines to pinpoint the holiday style and theme you want in your home.

Whether it’s a focus on the outdoors, vintage toys or a color scheme (try silver and gold versus the traditional red and green), identify these cues to focus your search and make it easier to transform your home.

2. Be patient and delegate.

Rome wasn’t built in a day, and your seasonal décor style won’t be either. Craft a personal theme or style through the years, buying and collecting holiday accents as you go.

Also try to make holiday decorating a family affair. Use your family to help unwrap decorations to reveal favorite holiday themes and include them in your shopping to create new traditions. Collecting your family’s input involves them in the process and cuts down on holiday work and stress.

3.Find Bargains

The holidays are an expensive time of year, so finding ways to save money is important. If you see a holiday idea or accent in a store that is priced beyond your reach, look for coupons online. These sites offer deals for various retailers that carry holiday decorating items. Taking a few minutes to shop for these savings can be well worth it in creating your holiday haven.

Don’t forget to shop post-holiday sales and benefit from the cost savings offered on leftover seasonal items.

4. Be versatile.

Buy items you can use in a variety of ways. For example, holiday-themed tins have many alternative uses, including adding color to a table setting or making a fun display of tins you’ve collected over the years. Items like Arnott's Tins add nostalgia to your décor and can also be used as stocking stuffers or teacher gifts.

5. Use nature.

Try using elements from the great outdoors to spice up this year’s decor. Gather foliage from outside, including pine branches to create a rustic feel in a centerpiece or on a windowsill.

A simple and affordable way to add style to your home is by filling a large glass bowl or colored dish with an array of nature or food items. Foods with vibrant colors, such as berries, add rich texture and fragrance to your entertaining area.

6. Let it shine.

Lighting is a simple and classy way to set the holiday mood. Place candles throughout your home to evoke holiday scents and add a soft glow.

Wrap holiday ribbon around votives to add a special touch or lower lighting levels for a cozy feeling. Try to conserve energy by purchasing energy-saving bulbs and turning off holiday lights during the day. And remember, a fire in the fireplace sets an enchanting scene.

All the best! Simon Turner, Marquette Turner

Extreme Makeover: Home Edition

Extreme Makeover: Home Edition is devoted to rebuilding families' homes when the family is in need of new hope. The family will then be sent off on a one-week vacation while the house is renovated or demolished, depending on its condition and the family's needs. (One episode in season three did not include a vacation because the family's daughter was in isolation at a local hospital).

Beginning with Season 3 the demolitions have become quite creative -- the team has used falling trees, tanks, and even monster trucks to accomplish the task where needed.

Consistently in the top ten programs in the US, this emotive reality series follows the transformation of a family's house, including all rooms, exterior and landscaping. The home is made over by the team in seven days and is hosted by Ty Pennington, formerly a carpenter on the show Trading Spaces (similar to Changing Rooms in Australia).

The show is one of America’s top-rated series and has become more popular than the original Extreme Makeover. It has won back-to-back Emmy Awards as Best Reality Program and is in its 4th season.

Coming to W. Channel in January.

Simon Turner, Marquette Turner

Trumped! Look Inside Donald's $125 million Palace

Donald Trump's $125 million Palm Beach, Florida mansion is the most expensive U.S. home on the market. Read on then watch the guided tour.

In 2004, Donald Trump bought Maison de L'Amitie at bankruptcy auction for $41.25 million. With the refurbished version, complete with a ballroom, a 4,100 square foot conservatory, 100-foot-long swimming pool as well as 2 others, a media room, a library and 475 feet of oceanfront, he aims to set a U.S. sales record.

The mansion has 80,000 square feet of space but no chandeliers. Lighting and other fixtures have been left out of the home, so the new owners can customize it to their taste.

The French Regency “palace” also features an eight-car garage, carriage house, guest house and pool house.

"It's just a fantastic piece of property," Trump says. "The biggest site. The biggest oceanfront. The best location in Palm Beach. And Palm Beach is the richest community in the world."

Now take the tour of Maison de L'Amitie.

Simon Turner

The Basics: Insulation & Air-Conditioning

Insulation

Insulated homes are cooler in summer and warmer in winter. Because of its inherent energy efficient properties, installing insulation means that you will save on both your heating and cooling bills.

The two types of insulation are bulk and reflective foil, however the most important thing to consider is the r-value. The r-value is the thermal resistance of the insulation and the higher the number, the more effective the insulation is. The range for r-values is between one and four.

Air-Conditioning
The three common types of air-conditioning include split systems, fixed units and ducted air-conditioning. All of them will cool your home but the differences in installation and running costs will greatly influence what you will select.

Therefore you need to consider things such as where the air-conditioner will be placed and what you want to use it for exactly. Professionals can help you out with this, helping you choose a system that perfectly fits your needs.

Simon Turner

Star Homes: Shaquille O'Neal

Listed at: $35 million

Bought from former Heat teammate Rony Seikaly in 2004 for $18.8 million, O'Neal's 20,000-square-foot Mediterranean-style Star Island home has eight bedrooms, an indoor basketball court, an outdoor tennis court, swimming pool and a dock.

Mitchell Hartmann

Wallpaper-By-Numbers

Remember how paint-by-numbers took the angst out of arts and crafts when you were a kid?

Well, now Wallpaper-By-Numbers offers the same "freedom" to express yourself on the walls of your home. Designer Jenny Wilkinson developed an idea of printed outline designs on wallpaper which can then be filled in using paints, colouring pencils or felt tip pens - easily manageable for anybody who's capable of colouring within the lines.

A "Borders" range is also available if you or the kids don't feel quite up to colouring in an entire wall. For more information visit: www.2jane.com/walls-and-windows.aspx Simon Turner

Chromotherapy-Equipped Shower

The Kosmic steam and shower cabin can be illuminated with a choice of eight colours to best suit your mood.

From the vitality of red to the harmony of green, the feel-good fitting offers light relief by the bucket-load. The chromotherapy-equipped unit works to ease away the winter blues. Chromotherapy - or colour therapy - is a form of holistic medicine that uses light to promote relaxation and stimulate wellbeing.

For more information visit: www.kositalia.com/eng/homepage.html

Simon Turner

Top 10 Ideas To Add Value To Your Home

1. Make your kitchen really cook. The kitchen is still considered the heart of the home. Potential home buyers make a beeline for this room when they first view a home for sale, so make sure your kitchen looks clean and reasonably updated. For a few hundred dollars, you can replace the kitchen faucet set, add new cabinet door handles and update old lighting fixtures with brighter, more energy-efficient ones.

2. Give appliances a facelift. If your kitchen appliances don't match, order new doors or face panels for them.

3. Buff up the bath. Next to the kitchen, bathrooms are often the most important rooms to update. They, too, can be improved without a lot of cash. Even simple things like a new toilet seat and a pedestal sink are pretty easy for homeowners to install, and they make a big difference in the look of the bath.

4. Step up your storage. Old houses, particularly, are notorious for their lack of closet space. If you have cramped storage areas simply add do-it-yourself wire and laminate closet systems to bedrooms, pantries and entry closets.

5. Add a room in a week or less. If you have a three-bedroom house with a family room or study, the only reason it can't be considered a bedroom may be because it doesn't have a cupboard. Therefore, if you add one you've now got a four-bedroom house. That adds a lot of value.

6. Mind the mechanics. It's often very worthwhile to hire an electrician and plumber for a couple of hours to look over your electrical services, wrap or fix loose wires, fix any faulty outlets, and check for and fix any water leaks. Those details tell a buyer that someone has really taken care of the home and can really influence its price.

7. Look underfoot. Carpeting is another detail that can quickly update a home and make it look cleaner. A professional carpet cleaning is an inexpensive investment, especially if your rugs are in good shape and are neutral colors.

8. Let there be light. If you have boring recessed lights in your dining and living rooms, consider replacing one of the room's lights with an eye-catching chandelier. Home stores offer a wide range of inexpensive, but nice-looking, ceiling fixtures these days. If you have a ceiling fan and light, you can also buy replacement fan blades (leaving the fan body in place) to update the fixture's look.

9. Reframe your entry. Do you have a flimsy little knob on your main entry door? If so, spring for a substantial-looking handle-and-lock set. A nice, big piece of hardware on the front door signals to newcomers that this is a solid home.

10. Consider curb appeal. Although it sounds obvious, a nicely mowed lawn, a few well-placed shrubs and a swept walkway makes a great first impression. What buyers see when they first drive by your home is tremendously important.

Homes of the Rich & Famous: Greg Norman

VENDOR: Greg Norman
LOCATION: South Beach Road, Hobe Sound, Jupiter Island
PRICE: $US 65,000,0000
SIZE: 17,825 square feet
FEATURES: 9 bedrooms, 11 full and 3 half bathrooms



DESCRIPTION: Welcome to "Tranquility," a peaceful eight-acre estate with more than 16,000 square feet of air-conditioned space on Jupiter Island in Hobe Sound, Florida. The main house overlooks the Intracoastal Waterway with 370 feet of waterfront, and a 140-foot dock that can accommodate a large yacht with a lift for a smaller vessel...Estate includes a total of nine bedrooms , 11 full baths and three half baths in six structures.

Homes of the Rich and Famous: Jason Lee

Actor Jason Lee has just paid $US 3,350,000 for 5745 Hill Oak Drive in The Oaks area of Los Feliz.

Built in 1948, the Hill Oak Drive house is a “one-story European”-style house, with two and a half baths and a living room with beamed ceilings, hardwood floors and an Arizona flagstone fireplace, according to public records and listing information. Other features include a dining room with an adjacent patio, a kitchen with a Viking range and a SubZero refrigerator, a separate office/guesthouse, a secret garden with a spa, a rear patio with a fireplace and a barbecue area, a wine cellar, and a large driveway with room for eight cars, according to listing information. The 1.412-acre property has a pool and views of the Griffith Observatory.