Lifestylist® Suzanne Felber Is a Cover Girl!

The Lifestylist® Brands are a woman owned and operated business, and we were honored this month to be featured on the cover of the inaugural issue of Woman Owned Business Club Magazine. This is a great networking group for women and gives us a way to network with our peers and learn best practices for our businesses.

The magazine will be a place for us to share our business successes and to give tips to readers on lifestyle, beauty, and family as well. Lifestylist Suzanne Felber will be a contributing writer and looks forward to sharing lots of Lifestylist ideas and inspirations.

YES! Communities Offer Great Lifestyle Options

Land Lease Communities are such a misunderstood and undervalued type of community. As in every form of housing there are the good and the bad, but after touring some of the yes! communities in Oklahoma and Texas there is no doubt in my mind that this will be the housing of the future.
SE Homes of Texas has recognized for years how important it is to offer the right home for community living and I've really enjoyed working with them on this. Getting to see the finished homes and the people who live in them is such a delight - it's rewarding beyond belief to this Lifestylist® to know you can help these families live in the home of their dreams. With SE Homes of TX being a part of the Clayton Homes family - the largest housing builder in the country- they have the resources to build and design homes that no other company can match.
What is a land lease community? This is where instead of having the burden of owning and taking care of the land your home sits on you lease it from the community owner who then is also responsible for keeping up the streets, common areas, paying the property taxes and making sure that the community is well maintained.  Communities can have a little or a lot of community areas, and most offer on-site management so there is someone there every day making sure the community is run properly. Many of them are in prime locations and can offer swimming pools, sports courts, walking paths, community gardens, and clubhouses. Leasing instead of owning the land your home is on it can save you thousands in property taxes and insurance which you can then invest into your home. You are responsible for your home, but the community owner pays  for everything else.
The advantage of this type of housing over apartments is that you can own your own home, plus you aren't sharing walls or hallways with your neighbors. Each home is on it's own lot giving you room to garden or enjoy outdoor living.
I have been visiting communities from coast to coast because I've become so interested in this, and the quality of living that the yes! communities provided was above and beyond the others in their areas. Every detail from how the landscaping was maintained to the signage into and around the community is taken into consideration, and even though it is still winter up here everything was spotless! Not a blowing piece of paper or unpainted fence to be found.
What really set the yes! communities apart though was the people behind the name and the residents that live in these communities. Saying (and meaning) yes is the approach this company and it's people take and the difference this makes is seen throughout. Residents and staff are happy and are excited to be there because yes! has provided a wonderful quality of live for everyone involved.
What's in a name? Everything when you are talking about a YES! community.

Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays from The Lifestylist® Brands. Here's hoping that your holidays is shiny and bright!

On Hand™ by ODL Makes Getting Organized Easy

Help! The holidays are right around the corner, and I know I've got holidays items stashed from last year that I don't want to buy again.
Getting and keeping organized is not one of the things I'm best at, but as a Lifestylist®  I'm always trying out new products and ideas to help me stay focused and de-cluttered. And I found one that is so brilliant I can't believe someone hadn't thought of it before - On Hand™ by ODL.
With houses getting smaller and square footage being at a premium, ODL came up with a great way to go vertical and use an area that you already have in your home -doors. On Hand™ fits into a flush door and can be used in a solid core or specially braced hollow core door. It makes use of both sides of the door - one side gains valuable storage space and the other side become a display and communication area. Everything is adjustable and can be customized for your lifestyle.
I love this product because I am able to get smaller items out of the "mystery drawers" and put them in a place where I can actually find them. It's the ultimate way to organize spices, my canning supplies, and all of those kitchen gadgets I can't live without.
The drawers and cabinets in my bathroom always become a black hole as well - On Hand™ made it easy to find all of my girly stuff that I have to keep buying because I don't know where it went, bath products and even makeup.
In the utility room it became the pet organizer where I was able to hang leashes, collars, treats and there other goodies where they were easy to find and keep together.
The other side become a message center where you can write to do lists or phone messages on the glass with a erasable marker, and put soccer and bulky trash schedules behind the glass to keep up with everyone's schedules. I'm thinking it might also be the perfect place to display all of the Christmas cards we get this year as well.
I'm in love with this product, and I can't stop thinking about all of the fun ways I could incorporate this into The Home Idea Factory. My clients are loving it as well, and Reidman Development will be one of the first builders to offer it to their customers in their new Hammocks at Canandaigua.
This is a brand new product, but can find more information on the ODL website or feel free to contact us at: answers@lifestylist.com and we'll be happy to help you find a place that you can purchase this in your area.

The Business Council For The Arts

It's a great time to be a resident of Dallas, TX especially if you are a business owner. Not only is the cost of living 8% less than most United States cities, but we also have a mayor that appreciates the arts and the value they can bring to a city and it's residents.

The Business Council For The Arts recently presented their 2012 Obelisk Awards to a wonderful group of businesses and individuals that help the arts flourish in the North Texas area, and it was wonderful to see companies such as Capital One NorthPark Center, Half Price Books and others there to support this amazing organization.

Being a Lifestylist® is all about supporting the arts, and we were thrilled to be there to share this great event with you.

The Dallas Museum Tower Isn't a Good Neighbor

One of the best things this Lifestylist® ever did was to buy  The Home Idea Factory. Not only do I have space to try out new ideas and to foster lots of rescue animals, but I'm also only a few miles from the Dallas Arts District. - This wonderful gem is tucked away in downtown Dallas and you can experience the best in the culinary arts, discover new artists or ones that you have always read about, and appreciate what Mother Earth has graced us with in the Nasher Gardens or at the new Klyde Warren Park.
When I was driving to one of my favorite events - 'Til Midnight at The Nasher - I was literally blinded while I was driving over the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge. I'd heard about all of the controversy surrounding the new Museum Tower, but it wasn't until I seriously couldn't see while I was driving 45 miles an hour on a highway because of it did I realize how dangerous it is - not only to the Arts District but to motorists driving down the various highways beside it.
Not only is the Museum Tower getting a reputation for being a bad neighbor - it's going to kill someone.
Let's hope that The Dallas Police and Fire Pension Fund -owners of this $200 million dollar building do something about this issue before someone gets hurt.

The New Lifestylist Designed Home

Change can be a very scary thing, but when a company like SE Homes of TX - a division of Clayton Homes - can change people's perception of manufacturing housing it's exciting!
The recent home show that they had at their Ft. Worth, TX location shows why SE Homes of TX has emerged as a leader in design and lifestyle. All of the 5 Lifestylist® Designed homes were very well received, but the one that stole the show was definitely The Monarch. I've shared photos of this home with consumers living in very high end site built homes and with custom builders and developers, and none of them can believe that this is a factory built home.
I've never seen this floorplan before. It is perfectly in tune with today's home buyer and the lifestyle they are hoping to achieve. It's open, the master suite is in a separate part of the home and has access to the very cool patio that is enclosed on 3 sides and ships as part of the home.
The "pet parlor" has also been a hit - this space in the utility room featured a pet shower with hand held showerhead, and a feeding drawer that can be closed when not in use.
I'm excited about this positive direction for our industry, and think you will be as well. For more information, visit the SE Homes of TX website or email Ryan Blackburn at: ryan.blackburn@sehomes.com