Got a major house project looming and feeling overwhelmed? Need to remodel a room and need some inspiration to get going? Then let me introduce you to Jim Madsen, an award-winning professional building designer whose gallery of remodeled rooms includes this beautiful contemporary kitchen. I’m excited to have him as one of my blog’s newest sponsors because he has written a book that I really enjoyed and that I think you’ll find helpful, too.

It’s called 101 Great Building Design Ideas, and it’s filled with just that–one great idea after another in a very easy to read format that is filled with photos of his work. He also has a sense of humor and a conversational writing style, so it’s fun to read.

Some of my favorite sections of the book include:

• How to include a hidden door in your home, such as a bookcase that swings out to reveal another room or private nook (always wanted one of those!)
• Recessing sections of walls in a room to create a family photo gallery (love this idea!)
• Creating a built-in Coffee Center like this one (below):

• Why you should think twice before putting a professional-grade cooktop on an island unless you’re willing to have an updraft hood hanging in the center of the room.
• The type of wood that you shouldn’t use for kitchen cabinets, even though it might look beautiful.
• Why we should bring back the concept of “keeping rooms” in our homes–no TVs allowed.

Visit Jim’s Design Classics website to learn more. You can buy his book as either a hard copy or ebook.  He also has an impressive gallery of remodels he has done like the one shown here that’s fun to look through.

P.S. I’m finalizing my list of sponsors for the month of August. Hooked on Houses received nearly 250,000 page views last month and is one of the Top 10,000 blogs listed on Technorati. For my advertising rates and information, contact me.

Stephanie Morris, the owner of GeeZees, is one of my blog’s sponsors. She says that she was creating these for friends and family for years and they loved them so much that she finally took the leap into building a business around them.

Besides babies and children, wedding and couple canvases are popular, too.

Wouldn’t this be a great wedding or anniversary gift? The possibilities are endless. Create exactly what you want with your photo and words.

For more gift ideas, visit the GeeZees website and browse the galleries for yourself!

Now it’s your turn to tell us what you’re hooked on today! If you have something to share with us on your blog, then add your link below. Just please be sure to:

1. Add the permalink to the specific blog post, not your general blog address.
2. Include what you’re hooked on in parentheses after your blog name. Ex: The Red Cottage (antiques)
3. Link back to the party from your post so that your readers can come and see what everyone else is talking about today!
4. Visit as many of the other participants as possible and leave comments! That’s what a blog party is all about!
5. Double-check to make sure your link works and goes to the right page so it doesn’t get deleted! If you come back and see your link is gone, re-read these rules and try again next week.

I thought it would be fun to take a poll and see just how “hooked” my readers are on houses. Take the quiz (a version of what I posted here), and then tell us how you scored.

Are you Hooked on Houses? Give yourself a point for each of the following statements that you agree with:

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1. If there’s a “For Sale” sign in my neighborhood, I can tell you how much they’re asking for their house, and whether it’s worth it.

2. I have a habit of checking the real estate listings online, even though I’m not planning to move.

3. I think the best time to take a walk is at dusk–after people have started turning on their lights, but before they have closed their blinds!

4. I like to visit Open Houses and model homes, just for fun.

5. I will stop to take a photo of a beautiful house if I have a camera with me.

6. When I visit someone’s home, I immediately start looking around to see what changes they’ve made since the last time I was there.

7. I get upset when I see a beautiful old home that looks neglected and unloved, and I fantasize about “rescuing” it.

8. I have considered or have been told I should be a real estate agent, architect, or decorator.

9. I like to check out the local house listings when I’m traveling to see how much it would cost to live there–and then fantasize about either buying a vacation home or moving there for good.

10. I can name my favorite paint colors–or the ones I used in my house–off the top of my head.

*EXTRA CREDIT* Give yourself 2 extra points if you regularly read 3 or more decorating/house blogs or write one yourself!

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{To take a tour of the beautiful 1872 Victorian Italianate home at the top of the post, visit Lookiloos, one of my favorite blogs for house addicts!}

Check out this bungalow that was bought from a Sears catalog in 1933. It has 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, and is on the market in Claverack, New York, for $199,000. I thought it had so much potential that I knew it would be perfect for one of our “5 Changes” challenges. If you’ve never played before, it’s simple. Take a look at the photos of this house and then tell us: What 5 changes would you make?

In the right hands, I think this house could really be a charmer. Do you agree? What 5 changes do you think would make the biggest difference?

Thanks goes to Hooked on Houses reader who goes by the name “Just Off the Taconic” for giving me the link to the listing.

If You’re Hooked on 5 Changes:

• Stuck in the ’80s: How Would You Update This House?
• Jennifer Lopez’s 1970s Colonial: How Would You Lopez It Up?
• This Old House Lost Its Charm. How Would You Bring It Back?
• What 5 Changes Would You Make to This Old House?

Yesterday we took a look at Mary Richards’ third-story apartment from “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.” Today I thought I’d show you what the Queen Anne Victorian really looks like. Here’s the information from the 2007 real estate listing information, when it was on the market for $3.6 million in Minneapolis, Minnesota:

This 1892 Queen Anne Victorian was the setting for the Mary Tyler Moore show. Recently and completely renovated for today’s family. The main floor parlor and living room have incredible woodwork. A new kitchen and family room, suitable for entertaining, and a totally new master bath, was added to the home. There is a 3rd-floor guest suite with three bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and a separate living area. This home offers a three car garage, and over 9,000 square feet.

Here’s an image of it used on the show in 1970, and the photo above is what it looks like now.

In this exterior shot, Mary walks out of the house toward the street and you can see the chain link fence that used to surround the old house. Thankfully, it’s gone now!

The renovation included a nearly 3,000 square-foot addition that added two bedrooms, three baths, and expanded the kitchen. Here are the photos featured in the real estate listing:

The sweeping mahogany staircase in the entry – gorgeous:

I found these two photos of the dining room from an earlier listing, before the renovation several years ago, but there weren’t any photos of it in the more recent listing. I’d love to see what changes, if any, they made to it:

The kitchen, which is now four times its original size:

The house has 8 bedrooms, 5 full baths, and 4 half baths. This is the master bedroom:

This article explains that the house now has exercise, sauna, crafts, office and billiards rooms and servants or nanny’s quarters. The third-floor space–which the owners referred to as the “Mary Tyler Moore Suite”–went from being unfinished attic space to a home office and media room.

I found this photo taken of it a few years before its renovation, when it was very brown. At the time it sold for around $1 million:

The house had been divided into apartments like they were on the TV show, but the extensive renovation returned it to a single-family dwelling. (Big thanks to Derek of Derek M Designs for sending me these photos! He also found old photos of the house with the “Impeach Nixon” banners on it that I mentioned yesterday. You can see them on my Facebook page. Flickr image at the top of the post via Mosippy’s photo stream.)

If you missed it: Mary Richards’ Apartment on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.

If you love looking at Famous Houses like this one, then check out my Houses Onscreen page for a list of all of the ones I’ve featured so far from movies and television series, or click on Celebrity Houses to see where your favorite stars live.

Welcome to another Movie Monday, when I feature the houses from our favorite films and television shows. I grew up watching “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” reruns after school and wishing I could have an apartment like hers when I grew up. And of course I’d have to have a best friend/neighbor like Rhoda Morganstern (Valerie Harper) to go with it. Mary Richards lived on the third floor of an old Queen Anne Victorian in Minneapolis, Minnesota, behind those signature Palladian windows with the iron balcony. We get a glimpse of the house here as she drives her white Ford Mustang up to it during the first season:

In real life, those Palladian windows at the top of the house led to nothing more than an unfinished attic space. Later owners reportedly finished it and turned it into a media room.

The owners of the house got so tired of drive-by gawkers when the show was in its heyday that they hung an “IMPEACH NIXON” sign across the front of the house so the show couldn’t shoot new exterior shots to use in later seasons. That’s why producers had Mary move to a high-rise apartment in 1975. (Note: Derek of Derek M Design found photos of the banners for me. I posted them on my Facebook page if you want to see them!)

Mary walks outside and you can see the ugly fence that surrounded the old house. It has since been removed, thank goodness, as you’ll see tomorrow in my post about the house as it looks today:

In the first script, there was a description of what the writers had in mind for Mary’s apartment, including “ten-foot ceilings” and “a wood-burning fireplace,” which the set designers brought to life:

In the first episode of the series, Mary Richards has just arrived in Minneapolis and her friend Phyllis shows her the apartment she’s going to rent to her on the third floor:

I thought it was kind of fun to see it as an empty space, before Mary moves in. Note that they even put ugly drapes up for the scene, which are never seen again:

When they open the drapes, it reveals Rhoda Morganstern, who is washing the windows of her new apartment (so she thinks):

After Mary moves in, we see where she plans to sleep in this one-room apartment–on a sleeper sofa in the middle of the room. This always made the idea of sleeper sofas seem so glamorous to me. That is, until I had to sleep on one and realized how uncomfortable they are!

This shot shows the wall next to the door, with her famous “M” on the wall.

A view of the wall with the tiny kitchen to the left, the wood-burning fireplace, and the door to the walk-in closet and bathroom to the right:

I love this shot because you can see that the ceilings are vaulted and beamed:

In this shot you can see that there are hardwood floors in the apartment, and that the shag carpeting is an area rug, not wall-to-wall as it sometimes appeared (at least on the “lower level” of the room). The furniture moves around a lot from scene to scene. Sometimes the sofa has its back to the window. Other times it is off to the right, like it is in this scene with Phyllis (the hilarious Cloris Leachman):

I was always kind of fascinated by this cute little kitchen:

It could be open to the main room, or Mary could pull down this window to close it off:

Here’s a look inside the teeny kitchen, with the window closed. Mary and Rhoda are looking in the mini fridge, hoping to find something to feed their guests who came expecting dinner. They find a carrot.

Here’s another view into the kitchen from the dining area, with the window up. There’s a pot rack that wasn’t there during the earlier kitchen scenes (the little girl is Bess, Phyllis’s daughter):

Can someone explain to me how Rhoda managed to live upstairs from Mary, even though Mary’s on the third floor? Never figured that one out. Another head-scratcher: where is that octagonal window, which you can see in this shot, on the front of the house?

Here’s a cast photo from a later season that shows bookshelves on another wall (the door to the hall is to the left of Gavin MacLeod and Betty White):

Mary Tyler Moore Show Trivia:

Test audiences hated the show. Rhoda was “too New York.” Mary was “a loser.” And Phyllis was “too abrasive.” The network didn’t have high hopes for it.

CBS originally gave “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” a terrible time slot on Tuesday nights against “Mod Squad,” which was the #1 show on TV at the time. It was later “rescued” and moved to Saturday nights, where it thrived, but it wasn’t a big hit right away.

The writers intended for Mary Richards to be divorced and leaving a bad marriage behind. In 1970, this was deemed to be way too controversial, so CBS made them change it. You may recall she comes to Minneapolis after her boyfriend of 2 years refuses to marry her.

Gavin MacLeod was originally considered for the role of Lou Grant, but he asked to read for the part of Murray Slaughter instead. Murray was going to be Mary’s nemesis at the news room, but after Gavin was cast and the writers could see the friendly chemistry between the two, his character was rewritten.

Via Mosippy's Flickr page

Here’s the house as it looks today after a complete restoration and a new kitchen addition.

UPDATE: To see interior photos of the house, check out this post: Inside the Queen Anne Victorian from “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.”

If you love looking at houses from TV shows and movies, check out my Houses Onscreen page, which lists all of the ones I’ve featured so far and gives you a glimpse of Coming Attractions that I’m working on now. So far I’ve posted about TV shows like Brothers & Sisters and Gossip Girl. I’d love to hear your suggestions for others you’d like to see in the future!

Welcome to Hooked on Fridays, a party I host at the end of each week to celebrate the things that make us happy. I’d like to wish all of my American readers a Happy Independence Day. Thanks to the 4th of July, it just doesn’t seem like summer without some red, white and blue. I love this patriotic white house from Country Living, all decked out for the holiday.

Take a look at this festive table setting created by Susan at Between Naps on the Porch. Hop on over to her blog to see the rest of the photos. I especially love what she did with those little red and blue chairs, turning them into cupcake holders:

Another blog friend, Kimba of A Soft Place to Land, shared this idea for casual red, white, and blue entertaining–filling Mason jars with bandanas and silverware:

This weekend is extra special in my family because we’re celebrating my Grandma Hazel’s birthday. She’s turning 93 this year! Here’s a recent photo of her with me and my son Jake, who she has always doted on:

Now it’s your turn to tell us what you’re hooked on today! If you have something to share with us on your blog, then add your link below. Just please be sure to:

1. Add the permalink to the specific blog post, not your general blog address.
2. Include what you’re hooked on in parentheses after your blog name. Ex: The Red Cottage (antiques)
3. Link back to the party from your post so that your readers can come and see what everyone else is talking about today!
4. Visit as many of the other participants as possible and leave comments! That’s what a blog party is all about!
5. Double-check to make sure your link works and goes to the right page so it doesn’t get deleted! If you come back and see your link is gone, re-read these rules and try again next week.

Melissa’s Beautiful Life party is in full swing today, too, so be sure to pay her a visit!

Hooked on Fridays Participants

Powered by… Mister Linky’s Magical Widgets.

These homeowners take their home security seriously. Why bother with a run-of-the-mill alarm system when you can post armored statues to guard the front door?

This 2-bedroom home, described as a “fabulous Cape Cod in Encino on quiet cul-de-sac,” is listed for $1.6 million. No word on whether these unfriendly fellas come with it. (Via CurbedLA.)

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The Winner of the Dali Decals Giveaway:

Thanks to all of you who entered the $50 gift certificate giveaway to Dali Decals! Hey, you’re all winners in my book, but only one of you gets the g.c. Drumroll please . . . and the winner is Alek from the lovely blog From the Right Bank to the Left Coast. Congrats, Alek!

Tomorrow is Hooked on Fridays, a blog party I host each week to celebrate the things that make us happy. If you want to participate, simply write a post on your blog about something you’re “hooked on.” I’ll have Mr. Linky up and ready to go by 10:00 Thursday night (ET) so you can add your permalink to it. See you then!

According to the Daily Mail, Mel Gibson’s house in Greenwich, Connecticut, just won’t sell (oh, boy, do I really want to do another post about a Greenwich house after the last one caused so much trouble?). It’s been on the market since 2007, when the price was set at $39.5 million. Two years later, it has been slashed to a paltry $29.75 million. So if you love a good bargain, now’s your chance to snap it up!

“Old Mill Farm” was designed and built by the architect Charles Lewis Bowman in 1926 for a client who loved horses. It has 15 bedrooms and 17 bathrooms, with 16,000 square feet.

The grand living room with cathedral ceilings, dark wood-paneled walls, and stained-glass windows:

The house comes with a maze on the property. I love the gate leading to it:

I think I could be perfectly happy living in the charming staff quarters:

The grand house sits on 77 acres. The grounds and formal gardens were beautifully designed by landscape designer James Doyle.

Gibson has been in the news a lot lately since Robyn, his wife of 28 years and the mother of his 7 children, filed for divorce. Soon after, he announced that he is expecting an 8th with his Russian girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva. He said we can now refer to him as “Octo-Dad.” (I’d rather not.) You can see the rest of the photos and get more Mel Gibson gossip in the Daily Mail article.

If you love peeking inside celebrity houses, check out the Celebrity Houses page to see all of the others I’ve featured.

Welcome to another Movie Monday, when I feature our favorite onscreen houses. Who could forget Meg Ryan’s charming brownstone from the 1998 film “You’ve Got Mail”? It was definitely one of the highlights of this romantic comedy for me, along with her character’s equally charming children’s bookstore. This movie was a chance to reunite Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan five years after they found love together in “Sleepless in Seattle.”

In “You’ve Got Mail,” Ryan plays Kathleen Kelly, who runs The Shop Around the Corner, and Hanks is her business rival Joe Fox, who runs the megastore Fox Books. Even though they’re both involved with someone else, they’re falling for each other anonymously, through daily e-mails.

Kathleen lives on the Upper West Side of NYC in a brownstone that the movie’s writer and director Nora Ephron says she believes was on West 89th Street, “But I could be wrong. Who remembers?”

During the opening credits, the camera pans up the brownstone and into Kathleen’s apartment:

I kept hoping for a better look into that bathroom she’s stepping out of, but this is pretty much all we see of it:

Greg Kinnear plays Kathleen’s boyfriend Frank. She watches him leave through the peep-hole to be sure he’s really gone before she checks her e-mail:

Watching to be sure he’s walking down the street. . .

And checking for messages from “NY152,” as Hanks calls himself online (she’s Shopgirl):

In the ’90s, when I was a new stay-at-home mom living out in the country and feeling very lonely and cut off from the world, my husband surprised me with an AOL e-mail account for Christmas. I got a kick out of seeing Meg Ryan checking her AOL e-mail. First are all of those noisy dial-up sounds that I had forgotten about. Then the little cartoon guy who looks like he’s running to fetch your messages. And the waiting and hoping that you’ll be told that you have mail.

In 1998, all of the e-mail talk and Starbucks visits in this movie seemed fresh and hip.

Her bedroom. I noticed that the furniture moves around a bit throughout the movie:

See? The bed is now angled off to the left:

The dining area, peeking into the kitchen:

With her boyfriend, played by the adorable Greg Kinnear:

In this shot you get a glimpse of the great woodwork in the hall, and the trim around the doors:

One of the few glimpses we get of her living room and sofa:

Look who I spotted behind the grocery store cash register — it’s Sara Ramirez, the actress who plays Dr. Callie Torres on Grey’s Anatomy! I looked it up on IMDb and sure enough, this was her first film role:

The Shop Around the Corner

“You’ve Got Mail” was a modern update of a 1940 romantic comedy called “The Shop Around the Corner,” starring James Stewart and Margaret Sullavan. In the original, the shop was in Budapest and called Matuschek’s. Alfred (Stewart) and Klara (Margaret Sullavan) worked in the gift shop together and drove each other nuts, not realizing that they were actually secret pen pals who hoped to meet someday.

In a nod to the original, Meg’s independent bookstore was named The Shop Around the Corner:

Tom Hanks plays the owner of a new bookstore that has opened in the neighborhood called Fox Books. It’s one of those superstores that tends to put the independent ones out of business. Kathleen doesn’t know that’s who he is when he brings his father’s young children into the store one day. And he doesn’t know that Kathleen is the one he’s been e-mailing back and forth with for weeks.

The bookstore decorated for Christmas:

She can’t compete with Fox Books and soon goes out of business:

It still upsets me every time she has to close her shop. Do you ever secretly hope movies will end differently for once? Like, this time, she’ll find a way to keep it open?

Joe figures out that Kathleen is Shopgirl, and they manage to overcome all of the various plot complications–like how his store put hers out of business–to find love together in the end.

• If you’re interested, there’s an article about the “cheese and antiques” shop that was used as the exterior for The Shop Around the corner, and why it had to close in the NYT. The interiors of the book shop were filmed on a soundstage.
• “IamNotaStalker” tracked down the brownstone that was used here.
• Diana at The Devine Home wrote a great post that analyzes the decorating in the brownstone that I found really interesting.

If you love looking at the houses from movies, then check out Houses Onscreen, a page where I list all of the ones I’ve featured before and list the “Coming Attractions” that I’m working on for future Movie Monday posts.