June 2014

The James B. Hunt Library on N.C. State’s Centennial Campus is winning awards right and left. And after experiencing a guided tour of this amazing building, I see why it’s garnering so much wide-scale attention since opening in 2013. Featuring a very cool, 2-million-volume capacity bookbot, quiet study areas, spaces for collaboration, fully-equipped music rooms, 3-D printers, a video game lab, and even a sustainable rain garden on a roof area, this beautiful library seems to have everything a 21st-century college student could possibly need or want. There are free mobile tour apps for Apple or Android. Or better yet, experience it yourself and join a walk-in tour on Wednesdays at 9:30, Fridays at 3:30, and the second Saturday of each month at 10:30.

And then there are the chairs. Chairs? What’s special about the chairs? There are more than 80 different styles of chairs at the Hunt Library. We tested out and photographed a sampling of them.

I love this video detailing the story of the Hunt Library:

Front porch in Raleigh, N.C.

This is the perfect time of year for enjoying outdoor living spaces and front porches can be just the spot for socializing with friends and neighbors or just relaxing quietly and enjoying the sights and sounds of nature.

What can you do to make your front porch extra-inviting this year?

Arrange a mixture of seating choices, including colorful pillows, on your porch along with a table to set things on so that you and your guests have a place to set down your cold beverage, book, or cell phone. Live plants are also a nice touch and so many varieties can live happily and carefree on a porch almost year-round here in N.C. An old-fashioned porch swing is always a fabulous, fun touch.

Dining tables, colorful rugs, and even curtains are popular additions to porches that can expand their use and turn a porch into another room of your house, one that is heated and cooled naturally.

Archives for June 2014

The James B. Hunt Library at N.C. State

Sprucing Up Your Porch