Archive for the 'Home Improvement' Category

July 26th, 2007

Tessellar - World Wide Home Construction Blog

If you would like to take a few minutes to read about a different culture and industry, then I urge you to have a look at the Tessellar Blog. Here you will find the author Mazlin Ghazali writing from Kuala Lumpur in Malaysa about houses and neighborhoods around the world. He is curious about people and places and interested in finding out how to create better homes for more people. You can never read enough about improving the lives of others in this world, and I find this site a fascinating difference from some of the other blogs I have seen. He offers a link to his alternative site: http://www.tslr.info where you can find more information on Tessellation planning if you are interested. If not, have a look at some of his recent posts to see what he is talking about: Growing up in a Xhosa Village, The Yanomamo: ‘shabono’ and ‘waiteri’, Communist condo, Building the Iban Longhouse, Hakka Clan Houses, Roots, Everybody Needs a Home, Slum-Like Tokyo, Are Architects living on Past Glory?, and Unlikely homes.

Mud House Bangadesh The blog is about as standard as it gets for a blog making it very easy to navigate. Posts are right marginalized with black text on white background and orange header as borders. The posts contain a series of relevant pictures in each post which are all very well done and appropriate in both size and quantity. They also lend true flavor to every post, and in a blog like this they are critical elements. There is a left navigation system where you will find favorite blogs, a blog comments and discussions menu, pictures, squidoo lens, copyright information, and a blog archive. At first glance, it seems that the recent posts menu is missing from the blog, but if you scroll through the top navigation system you will find a recent posts menu on every link in that menu. In the top menu, you can find the links to the blog, Home, Theory, Research, Practice, School, Library, and an FAQ’s page. These seem to be a categories menu of sorts for the blog as they are all located on the blogspot domain.

I will give this one a 3.3 for now, it is fairly new so I would expect in a few months time it would probably get a higher mark. The blog scores well for uniqueness, appearance, and content. Navigation will bring the mark down a little as the search for the recent posts menu threw me off a little, but if this menu is placed on the main page in the left navigation bar I can’t see it being a continual issue. The blog’s discussion menu in the left navigation bar shows that it also has a nice readership already, which is great to see in such a young blog. Activity is a little sparse, with 7 posts in June and 16 in July. The improvement in July is a good indicator of the blog’s growth, so as mentioned I would expect to see more activity as the blog goes on. The author is clearly passionate about this work, and writes beautifully about it. The content is informative and well researched, and if it stays at this level, I anticipate this blog doing very well on content alone. Overall I think this is a great blog that many will find informative, but being only a couple of months old, it is difficult to say much more than that. However, if the topic interests you, bookmark it and keep an eye on it. This one should do very well down the line.

Did you enjoy this review? Click here to join our forum and get a review!

- Chrissie

If you would like feedback from your blog please make one of our Free Blog Poll’s!

July 2nd, 2007

Freshome - Furniture - Gadgets - Inspiration for a Better Home - Blog Review

If you are looking for some tips and tricks, or perhaps a new gadget or two to throw around the house, stop into Michael’s blog Freshome - Furniture, Gadgets, Inspiration and More for a Better Home. Michael started this blog because he wanted to know more about home improvement and he enjoys sharing beautiful things with his readers. Here you will find tips and tricks on home improvement, neat products, home gadgets, dream homes, and many more. If you want to know how to make your home more 21st century style, he also enjoys bringing the modern into his daily living, and sharing this with you. He will be the first to tell you he is not trying to sell you anything, just offer you suggestions on beautiful home living. See examples of this in his posts Modern Bedroom Inspiration #6, SKiN Sofa, Beehive Inspired Table by Hoon Roh, Tricks to Keep your House Cool this Summer, Tsubomi chair, Wall Stickers from Canthaveitstickit, Twin Arc Lamp, Green Roofs Collection, Holden Monaro GTS Turned into a BBQ Grill, and Raindance Rainfall Shower.

Navigation on this site is somewhat awkward, but with just a few changes it won’t even be noticeable. The posts are centered down the page and there are both left and right navigation bars. There is a few formatting issues going down the right hand side of the page, as you have to find the right sided menus after some mega-scrolling all the way down to the bottom. On the left hand side you will find a series of advertising, the blogroll, and the friends list. On the right hand side you will find the recent posts menu, categories section, ads, and feedreader. The categories list is pretty comprehensive, if you have some specific renovating ideas in mind you will be able to find some tips fairly easily. Check out the links on architecture, bathroom, bedroom, dream homes, furniture, garden, home gadgets, ideas, kitchen, tips and tricks, and a miscellaneous section.

I am going to go with a 3.5 for this one. I thought the blog was well laid out, despite some formatting issues. There were appropriate pictures that contributed to the posts and were appealing for the reader. Content I did not have any problems with, and the blog is certainly unique in both its design and its niche. I think the left navigation menus can be moved around a little so that the ads are maybe below the menus which are the meat of the blog. And the right navigation bar needs to be readjusted though I suspect the pictures are putting the format out of wack. This blog is doing very well with its 480 readers so there are few suggestions I could offer outside of that. Take a look at it if you are a home tinkerer, you will be happy you did!

Did you enjoy this review? Click here to get your own blog reviewed!

- Chrissie

If you would like feedback from your blog please make one of our Free Blog Poll’s!