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Do you plan to go to any of the houses on the Parade of Homes this weekend? Several Brandon homes will be open.

I’m not looking to move, but I do like to get decorating and remodeling ideas from other homes. I’ve noticed that a lot of newer homes seem to have a lot of nooks and crannies built into them. I suppose they look nice with a chair and side table, but how functional are these little coves?

Another popular style these days is the three- or four-level home. Do you like that style? Seems like a lot of unneccesary stairs to me.

I do like a lot of the amenities I see in new homes, though. A lot of new bathrooms, for example, feel like fancy hotel bathrooms.

There is a story in today’s Argus about a Brandon home that will be on the Parade of Homes. It has heated floors under the slate in the basement. The owner said he was skeptical about not having the entire basement carpeted.

When my husband and I finished our basement last year, we went with roll vinyl. It’s a European kind that doesn’t require gluing down. It lays nice and flat without any glue. Just for good measure, though, my husband put double-stick tape down around the perimeter.  It’s great stuff. It’s thick and sort of springy because of the padded back side. And even though it’s put down directly over concrete in the basement, it isn’t cold underfoot at all. And it’s a heckuva lot easier to Swiffer vinyl than it is to vacuum carpet. A lot of people have mistaken it for real tile, since it is a tile pattern.

Anyway, there are lots of ways to decorate. Maybe I’ll get more ideas from the Parade of Homes this weekend.