ARDENT SUPPORTERS of Proposition 89, the “Clean Money” initiative, plan to make their position known loud and clear when former President George H.W. Bush and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger attend a fund-raising dinner in Hillsborough tonight.

According to protest organizers, the fundraiser is at the home of interior decorator Katherine Boyd, a Republican donor who achieved “pioneer” status for raising $100,000 for President George W. Bush’s 2000 campaign and “ranger” status for raising $200,000 for his 2004 campaign. According to fundrace.org, which tracks campaign donations, Boyd also gave $30,500 to the Republican National Committee in 2004. Read more…

Most homeowners know seasonal maintenance is a must. Spring is the perfect time for routine maintenance checks on many areas of your home. But how do you decide what needs to be done, and in what priority?

The experts at ServiceMagic.com, a Web site that helps connect homeowners with prescreened contractors in their area, offer the following checklist to help you shape up your home for spring:

* Gutters and downspouts: Remove leaves and debris from gutters and downspouts. Reattach gutters that have pulled away from the house. Run a hose on the roof and check for proper drainage. If leaks exist, dry the area and use caulking or epoxy to seal the leak. Read more…

Savannah College of Art and Design alumnus Guclu “Guch” Durusoy (B.Arch., M.Arch., 1999) knows that architectural designs often endure for many years. As a result, he strives to create designs imbued with eye-catching details that will continue to awe viewers.

“Your work is on display for decades to millions of people who walk by your creation,” Durusoy said. “The impact that your work has on people is greater than any other art form I can think of.”

Durusoy, originally from Bursa, Turkey, resides in Arlington, Va., where he is an associate architect for SK&I Architectural Design Group. The Washingtonian Magazine and the Washington, D.C., chapter of the American Institute of Architects recently awarded his project, The Metro, with the 2006 Residential Design award, and featured the building in the June 2006 issue of the magazine. The juried award recognizes excellence in the residential architecture of the metropolitan region. The building also received a 2005 Monument Award from the Northern Virginia Building Industry Association and the Maryland-National Capital Building Association. Read more…

Who doesn’t know the story about David grabbing a single stone from his pouch, placing it in his sling and letting it fly at the giant Goliath?

What you didn’t know is that today, Goliath has transformed into huge, real estate conglomerates who market on a broad scale to buyers and sellers.

David Sirsi, a Realtor and Broker, and his wife, Bonnie, are a power couple, who followed their own dream to serve clients.

Miki Garcia: Why did you and Bonnie leave the hallowed halls of a large real estate company?

Dave Sirsi: Conventional real estate is rapidly being defined through the larger corporate real estate companies and the smaller, locally owned firms. Of course, corporate real estate views transactions from broader need than the local firms. Both of these entities offer specific advantages and disadvantages based on the sellers’ paradigm of desired needs. Read more…

Q How do you know what’s the best paintbrush for the job at hand?

When you’re staring at a paint store’s brush display, the array of shapes and bristles can be daunting. And there’s the obvious question about whether a three-inch-wide brush that costs nearly $20 can really help you paint so much better than one of the same width and same bristle type selling for $1.29.

The best brush, and the best use of your money, depends, of course, on what job you’re doing. If you’re painting window trim, which is one of the trickiest painting jobs, or have a large expanse of wall or siding to cover, a top-quality brush will help you get the job done more quickly and efficiently. If you value your time, the higher cost of the brush becomes almost insignificant. But if you’re just touching up a few dings, a cheap brush makes more sense. Not only does it cost less, but it’s easier to rinse clean. Read more…

Brenda and Mark Cantrell spend hours every week in their yard caring for their English-style garden and tending to the Texas native perennials that line the green path winding around their Eldorado home.

“We both grew up in the country, so we’ve always been around gardens,” Mrs. Cantrell said. “I just love the whole process. I love designing and picking the color schemes.”

The Cantrell’s garden is one of seven that will be featured in the McKinney Garden Club’s annual fundraiser, the McKinney Home and Garden tour. Last year, the tour raised enough funds to donate $4,000 to help landscape the McKinney Performing Arts Center, $500 to benefit Chestnut Square’s schoolhouse landscape project and $500 for the McKinney SPCA’s landscape project.

Cantrell and the six other families on the tour will be given a sneak peak at each other’s homes the friday before the tour. Read more…

Neville Tuli is looking for $33.5 million to invest in what may be India’s hottest market: Art.

Soaring prices for contemporary Indian works prompted the chairman of Mumbai-based Osian’s Connoisseurs of Art Ltd. to start the nation’s second art investment fund. Osian, with sale rooms in New Delhi and Mumbai, will start raising money on June 5, Tuli said in an interview.

Days after the Mumbai stock exchange had its biggest weekly drop since 2001, a painting by Indian-born Francis Newton Souza sold at auction for a record $1.2 million. Prices of works by Indian artists such as Souza, Vasudeo S. Gaitonde, Tyeb Mehta and Maqbool Fida Husain are being driven up by a global surge in art investment, coupled with growth in Asia’s fourth-biggest economy that has swollen the ranks of the nation’s wealthy. Read more…

A painting by Chinese artist Chu The-chun fetched 3.2 million dollars at auction in Hong Kong Sunday, underscoring a growing worldwide taste for Asian art.

The inky black and red “Rouge, La pluie de petals sur le village; Blanc, Le nuage au-dessus de la maison No. 53″, painted in 1960, sold for more than six times its asking price of 512,000 dollars.

Auctioneers Christie’s said the sale set a record for a work by Chu, who is considered among the greatest of China’s modern masters.

Other works by modern Asian artists also fetched higher than expected prices. Read more…

With an opulent lobby, decadent restaurants and eager staff, the Miramar Garden Taipei fits in with the five-star hotel set. However, with rates averaging NT$2,300, it stands apart in terms of price.

The Miramar is Taiwan’s first hotel started under a build-operate-transfer (BOT) model and the savings are passed on to guests. The hotel is the first under former premier Yu Shyi-kun’s plan to increase tourism on the island by 2008 through cooperation with private businesses in the industry. Read more…

Luxe hotels and restaurants are changing the island’s image

A narrow driveway, barely wide enough for one small car, curves sharply away from the main road along the northern coast of the Spanish island of Mallorca. It twists upward through groves of gnarled olive trees and almond trees in full blossom. The landscape falling away below is wild and unspoiled.

Half a mile up sits a small hotel, Ca’s Xorc, like a gem stuck in a rock, with a sweeping view of Mallorca’s jagged mountains, the colorful port town of Sóller, and the Mediterranean beyond. A stone dining patio gives way to a lush tropical garden. Only singing birds and bells from a distant herd of sheep punctuate the midday calm. On the opposite side of the hotel and down several verdant terraces, the far edge of a swimming pool that’s built over a sharp slope seems to pour out its contents into the deep valley below. Read more…