MORTGAGE RATES: 2D
House
To Home
THURSDAY DECEMBER 15, 2016
Fiber art
Check out current
2D
2D
EXHIBIT
1D
MORTGAGE RATES
Nature’s remedy for blocking noise? Trees By DEAN FOSDICK Associated Press Landscape designers in cities are creating quieter living spaces by using trees to mute loud noises like sirens and air brakes. It’s called “soundscaping,” and it aims to restore peaceful, natural sounds like wind whispering through leaves, birds chirping or rain dripping from branches. “Massive walls are often installed to quiet freeway noise in major cities, but there are more aesthetic ways to handle it,” said Tim Moloney, who teaches landscape design at the University of Missouri. “Use vegetation for minimizing the background clatter.”The denser a tree’s lower branches, the better it masks or deflects bothersome noise, Moloney said. Evergreens are the preferred vegetative sound barriers because they are densely branched and are attractive year-round. Ideally, shrubs would be a major component of any green muting mix. “The thing with shrubs is you don’t have the height of a tree but they grow more quickly,” Moloney said. “Along with density, choose vegetation having desirable landscape qualities — fruit, flowers, canopy shapes, fragrance and fall colors. And for best results, plant them on an earthen berm.” Urban noise has become so annoying in many places that soundscaping has grown into a popular landscapedesign specialty, Moloney said. “The first line of defense is buffering,” he said. “That overshadows background noise just by virtue of proximity. Add a screen of vegetation and then look for other options. Perhaps the soothing sounds of a waterfall or a stream.” Healthy urban forests make for healthier neighborhoods and improve quality of life, said R.J. Laverne, an arborist and urban forester with The Davey Tree Expert Co. in Kent, Ohio. “Trees give us green spaces that get us outside, where we’re more likely to walk and get exercise,” he said. “They also help reduce stress levels. We can concentrate better and feel less fatigue.” Trees also improve air quality. “Trees absorb many of the air pollutants through their foliage,” Laverne said. “They provide a place for the particulate matter to stick. It’s the stuff floating through the air we inhale that aggravates our lungs.” The cooling shade from trees also provides economic benefits, Laverne said: “Among other things, we don’t have to run our air conditioners as much.” One challenge facing soundscapers in urban areas: There often isn’t enough space for planting trees and shrubs between the noise source and homes, especially for trees with low-hanging foliage.
This undated photo provided by the Central Oklahoma Home Builders Association and Authentic Custom Homes shows part of a recreation room in a luxury home in Oklahoma. (Authentic Custom Homes via AP)
Versatility’s the key in the modern rec room By MELISSA KOSSLER DUTTON Associated Press When asked to build a luxury home for a house tour this year, designer Kenyon Woods opted to include a rec room — but not the rec room of his childhood. Unlike old-time rec rooms with their wood paneling, ceiling tiles, box TVs and cast-off furniture, this one measures about 800 square feet on the main floor, with space for watching TV, shooting pool, rock climbing and more.
“Media rooms used to be off by themselves,” said Woods, owner of Authentic Custom Homes in Oklahoma City. “I’m tired of the theater or game room being separated. Today, families want to be together” even if they’re doing different activities. Recreation rooms of all shapes and sizes are popular in new homes, according to a recent survey by U.S. Houzz and Home, an online source of interior design photos and decor ideas. Gaming and entertainment spaces, gyms and playrooms were among
the top uses for rec rooms, it said. Clients often want “several different areas in one large, open space,” agreed Kristen DuChemin, design director for the Columbus, Ohio, homebuilder Romanelli & Hughes. For some, that means adding game tables like foosball, shuffleboard, air hockey and billiards. Chance Pack, spokesman for game manufacturer Valley Dynamo in Richland Hill, Texas, says sales of game tables, which dipped during the recession, have seen an uptick
as the home-building industry rebounds. Parents and grandparents like gaming tables, he said, because they are interactive and intergenerational, luring kids away from electronics and into family activities. “People are really focused on the entertainment aspect of their home,” Pack said. All seven homes constructed for the Street of Dreams Home Tour included recreation rooms, said Elisa Milbourn, direcSee Rec room p. 2D
See Trees p. 2D
This Nov. 25 photo shows soundscaping evergreens photographed in Langley, Wash. Soundscapers use trees to mask bothersome urban noise. Evergreens, like these alongside a Langley street are the preferred vegetative sound barriers because they are densely branched and attractive the year-'round. (AP photo)
This undated photo provided by the Building Industry Association of Central Ohio’s Parade of Homes and Romanelli and Hughes Custom Home Builders shows part of a recreation room in a luxury home in Ohio. (AP photo)
2D The Mining Journal
Thursday, December 15, 2016
House to Home Mortgage Index 30-YEAR Rate-Fee/Pts.
15-YEAR Rate-Fee/Pt.
High rate
4.375
1
3.375
1
Low rate
3.75
1
3.00
1
Average rate
4.06
1
3.28
1
This graphic represents a Tuesday survey of regional lending institutions. Figures are based on rates at Range Bank, Northern Michigan Bank, mBank, Marquette Community Federal Credit Union and TruNorth Credit Union.
This undated photo provided by the Central Oklahoma Home Builders Association/Allenton Custom Homes shows part of a recreation room in a luxury home in Oklahoma. (AP photo)
Rec room from 1D
This photo taken on Dec. 2 shows circa 1990s woven “Paired Boxes” by Berkeley, Calif., based 90-year-old fiber artist and weaver Kay Sekimachi. The pieces are part of the "Kay Sekimachi: Simple Complexity" exhibit the Craft and Folk Art Museum in Los Angeles, chronicling Sekimachi’s decades-long career. The exhibit opened on Sept. 25, and runs through Jan. 8. (AP photo)
tor of education and special events for the Central Oklahoma Home Builders Association in Oklahoma City. Furniture makers have responded with multifunctional pieces that aim to get the most out of a space, said Patricia Bowling, a spokeswoman for the American Home Furnishings Alliance, in High Point, North Carolina. Portable bars and hightop tables with stools have become popular, she said.
“Whether entertaining means kids’ birthday parties or adult cocktail parties, bar furniture is an affordable alternative to the expense of built-ins,” she said. “A portable bar provides a serving counter, sitting/dining space, storage and more.” Kitchen islands also are playing a role in rec rooms, she said. They can provide seating or a flat surface for serving food, and have space to store games or dishes. If there isn’t space for an island or a bar, a beverage cart can be useful, Bowling said. “You can use them as a
nightstand next to a bed or in the kitchen or outfitted as a bar. You move it around as needed,” she said. Minneapolis interior designer Billy Beson also recommends tables with built-in game boards, and bean-bag chairs, which are great for TV viewing and can easily be moved when not in use. Keeping a space flexible is a priority, he said. “The rec room is back and definitely here to stay,” he said. “There’s a need for that space to watch a movie, play a game or have a party.”
Art exhibit showcases Kay Sekimachi’s woven fiber art By SOLVEJ SCHOU Associated Press LOS ANGELES — When 90-year-old artist Kay Sekimachi was a child in the San Francisco Bay Area, she drew, painted and made hundreds of dresses for her paper dolls. That love for textiles carried into adulthood. Over a 65-year career, Sekimachi wove intricate sculptural art, from 3-D wall hangings woven out of nylon monofilament fishing line to fiber tubes, woven boxes, and bowls made of lace paper, maple leaves and other materials. Fifty-five of the Berkeley-based artist’s works form the exhibit “Kay Sekimachi: Simple Complexity” at the Craft and Folk Art Museum in Los Angeles. The exhibit runs through Jan. 8. “She really is known as a master weaver,” said curator Holly Jerger. “She’s part of this overall movement that developed in the 1960s, where textiles went from mostly two-dimensional and functional to being a sculptural form. A lot of that was tied to the feminist movement as well, and women taking over those traditional practices but making them big and explosive and large-scale. Her work is more intimate.” From 1942 to 1944, Sekimachi and her first-generation Japanese-American parents were interned at detention camps in California and Utah. While there, Sekimachi took painting and origami classes. After the war, she studied at the California College of Arts and Crafts (now the California College of the Arts). She bought her first loom in 1949, took weaving classes, and connected with a mentor, weaver and textile artist Trude Guermonprez. Guermonprez introduced Sekimachi to the architecture-driven Bauhaus art movement, and also to double weaving. Instead of just one warp — long threads stretched through the loom and woven through horizontal threads called the weft — double weaving uses two warps simultaneously to create a layered effect. “Most of us weavers, we started by weaving things like placemats, hand towels, blankets, kitchen fabrics,” Sekimachi said in an interview. “Trude opened my eyes and made me see that weaving could be much more than these functional things.” A friend whose mother worked for manufacturer DuPont sent Sekimachi samples in the mid-1950s of the nylon monofilament, and she put it on the loom, making a wall hanging. Eventually, she wove several layers at a time. The stiff but malleable
monofilament layers could be pulled apart and sculpted. In the exhibit, 1967’s “Nagare I” hangs in the entrance like a beautifully strange, vertical sea creature, woven out of six undulating layers of nylon monofilament dyed jet black. “It took me about an hour to weave an inch. I was weaving many, many layers,” Sekimachi said. In the ‘70s, she used a process called card weaving to make seamless fiber tubes. By threading vertical warp threads through cards or tablets with holes drilled through them, she created floor-to-ceiling tube hangings. The exhibit features 1974’s “Marugawa I” and “Marugawa II” in twisty black and white natural linen, and 1978’s “Marugawa IV” in orange, blue and natural colored linen. “There’s a crispness to linen when woven, and it has a lot of body,” Sekimachi said. When she started making woven boxes and bowls out of materials such as Japanese antique paper, leaves, lace paper and linen threads, she collaborated with her late husband Bob Stocksdale. He was a wood-turner who made wooden objects and bowls on a lathe. In the exhibit, their 1977 and 1999 “Marriage in Form” series combines Stocksdale’s wooden bowl forms with Sekimachi’s use of Kozo paper and hornet’s-nest paper layered and laminated over them. Inspiration for her first bowl came when some friends were making small jars or bottles out of hog intestines. “I thought, ‘Gee whiz, if they can make these out of gut, why don’t I make these out of paper?’ I had a lot of Japanese paper at the time,” Sekimachi said. Her bowls made out of the pairing of just two maple leaves look delicate enough to break with a touch. “They’re surprisingly very strong, because the veins of the leaf are wood,” she said. “The preparation — soaking them, getting them pliable — takes an hour. The actual pasting takes about half an hour. They dry overnight, and I would cover them tightly with Saran wrap so the leaves conform to the shape of the mold.” For newbies wanting to create artistic woven pieces, Sekimachi suggests taking a weaving class to learn the basics. It’s helpful to be in art school and study the work of other artists. Apprenticing with a mentor or weaver is invaluable, she said. At age 90, Sekimachi continues to work, including making woven jewelry that uses objects such as coral, shells and bone that she has found on trips to Hawaii.
This Nov. 25 photo taken near Freeland, Wash., shows vegetation being used to quiet highway noise in a residential area. The first line of defense against urban noise is buffering, like this vegetative mix of trees and shrubs growing from an earthen berm alongside State Route 525 near Freeland. Shrubs aren’t as effective as trees for muting bothersome sounds but they grow more quickly. (Dean Fosdick via AP)
Trees from 1D “But if you have a dense enough tree canopy, it doesn’t have to be designed
as a physical wall,” Laverne said. “Foliage, branches and trunks do a pretty good job of dispersing sound energy, especially in the high frequency ranges.
“Sound waves travel horizontally,” he said. “When foliage reflects it in different directions, it’s diminished. Sounds aren’t as loud.”
EXPERIENCE COUNTS
Since 1936 1900 Presque Isle Ave.
228-7255
FEATURED PROPERTY
228-9297
26 YEARS
Ronald Gingras, GRI Cell: 360-0850
500 S. Third St., Marquette 230 Bishop Woods Rd, Mqt This beautiful home has cathedral ceilings, cherry cabinets, granite, master suite, den, fireplace, large finished storage space and much more! (1095034) $472,500 659 E Division St, Ish This duplex was built in 1924 and was completely gutted inside and out in 2008! You can convert this to a single-family home by taking out one area. (1093452) Reduced! $88,000 2950 Co Rd 565, Gwinn Check out these 39 Acres with a spot cleared to build your new home or family camp on! Great hunting property with the Escanaba River state Forest Lands surrounding the property. (1097072) $52,000 10 Brandon Dr, Neg Twp Built in 2009, this very nice 3 bedroom, 2 bath home has an open floor plan, cathedral ceilings, fireplace, kitchen island, master suite and large deck with a 2 car garage! (1084963) Reduced! $193,500 2155 CO RD 565, Gwinn This beautiful custom built 4 bedroom 3 bath home has a gorgeous kitchen, tongue-n-groove ceilings, vaulted living room, fireplace, 3 car garage and a deck with a pool overlooking 3.4 acres! (1090884) $299,500
www.lookrealtyinc.com
Shop the Classifieds!!
The Mining Journal 3D
Thursday, December 15, 2016
Real Estate Classifieds
IT’S
NEVER BEEN EASIER!
SUBSCRIBE TODAY
Searching for a new car, home or just something to do this weekend? Make it easy on yourself. Subscribe to The Mining Journal and get a wealth of information available at your fingertips every day.
228.2500
EMPLOYMENT Local…Regional…jobs. Check us out at: jobs.miningjournal.net
It’s ancient but modern. It’s simple but amazingly complex. It’s infuriating but addictive. It’s the puzzle everyone’s talking about
Sudoku
Appearing daily in The Mining Journal classified section.
Open Houses
4D The Mining Journal
Thursday, December 15, 2016
SELECT REALTY’S FEATURED LISTINGS! Only agency to promote all listings in The Mining Journal NEW LISTING
NEW LISTING
NICELY WOODED ON QUIET COVE
NEW LISTING
REEK M ED C U NN A
KE AN LA ENGM
2253 Norwood St. Marquette 3 Bedrooms, 2 Baths $193,900 1098805
18 Birch Ln. Ishpeming 3 Bedrooms, 3 Baths $145,000 1098833
TBD E. M-28 Wetmore 18.78 Acre Commercial Parcel $120,000 1098793
TBD Engman Lk. Rd. Skandia 1.60 Acres of Vacant Land $29,900 1094504
DEVELOP OR BUILD YOUR CUSTOM HOME!
GREAT OPPORTUNITY TO RUN ESTABLISHED BUSINESS!
MOVE IN READY WITH FABULOUS VIEWS
2,656 SQ. FT. BUILT IN 2006!
/CRE TREAM S D E M U N NA
EK
RALP
ELI LIAN D A T I S H’
TVIL FORES
S IN L E BA
SILVE
R CRE
EK
000 Co. Rd. 492 Marquette 17.09 Acres of Vacant Land $139,000 1088875
601 Palms Ave. Ishpeming Business Incl. Building $499,900 1096703
415 Forestville Basin Trl. Marquette 3 Bedrooms, 2 Baths $290,000 1086096
14 Timber Ck. Rd. Marquette 3 Bedrooms, 3 Baths $299,900 1080688
NICE LARGE DECK!
CENTRAL LOCATION-CITY OF MUNISING
NEW PRICE
NEW PRICE
128 Rock St. Negaunee 3 Bedrooms, 1 Bath $69,900 1095472
321 W. Superior St. Munising 3 Bedrooms, 1 Bath $49,900 1094787
312 S. Johnson Lk. Rd. Gwinn 2 Bedrooms, 1 Bath $44,900 1096427
104 Queen Rd. Negaunee 3 Bedrooms, 2 Baths $34,500 1098429
Andi Goriesky 361-4655
Theresa Hunter 250-1981
Darlene Martin 360-9028
Ben J. Carlson 362-0068
Sean Leahy 362-1158
Pat Olson 250-2215
Jennifer Cosco 250-5548
Dana Swajanen 360-9048
Lee Haynes
Property Management
228-2772
Don Schinella 475-5238
Paul Wolfson 360-2772
Missy Lehtomaki REALTOR Assistant
869-2770
John Martin 361-9029
Julie Olson
REALTOR Assistant
250-0893
Stephanie Jones 362-3823
Breck Tonella 250-7138
Carol Brady 362-3152
Joe Papin 360-6506
Carrie Harvala 869-3573
Betty Kinnunen 906-202-2223
LeAnne Kachmarsky 360-4680
Lucy Anthony 250-5152
Karen Nygard 360-0327
Chelsea Perry 361-0207
Walt Maki 250-6265
Stephanie Bahrman 362-2699
Richard Toledo 906-202-9286
Alana Carrott 361-0589
Ron Hanlon 361-5882
Offering RENTAL MANAGEMENT ~ Call Today!
www.SelectMQT.com The only company in the U.P. offering the 3D Experience
228-2772