Archive for the ‘Santa Fe Downtown’ Category



Santa Fe Neighborhood Quick Sketch: Acequia Madre

Posted Friday April 30 2010 by in Santa Fe Downtown, Santa Fe Neighborhoods
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The very phrase Acequia Madre–Mother Ditch–suggests something rough and elemental: a primordial slash in the earth from which life springs.  Yet Acequia Madre is one of the priciest streets in Santa Fe.  But then that’s Santa Fe, where mud homes on dirt roads are prime real estate. A few minutes’ stroll will convince you of the neighborhood’s charm. Softly curved walls, aged Mexican doors with weathered paint, cascades of wisteria and drowsy willows: this road that run along the eponymous  waterway—and parallels famed Canyon Road– is iconic Eastside Santa Fe.  Romantic and time bound.

Acequias have an extensive and proud history in New Mexico. Check out the website for the New Mexico Acequia Association to learn more about this cooperative tradition of water use. Area residents, and other lovers of the nationally registered historic Mother Ditch, gather each year to dredge out natural and civilization-generated debris.  The New Mexican’s article, Annual Acequia Madre cleaning celebrates four centuries tells the story of the 2010 Spring clean.

The neighborhood school, Acequia Madre Elementary,  has a reputation for solid academics, good teachers and strong parent involvement. Read up on Acequia Madre at GreatSchools.org. Due to Santa Fe Public School budget cuts, however, Acequia Madre is slated to be closed and its students relocated to nearby Atalaya Elementary. Read the Santa Fe New Mexican story at Board Approves Consolidation Plan; Acequia Madre Gets One Year Reprieve

While I depend on the City-Data.com websites for quality, statistic-based info on city neighborhoods, their classification of the Acequia Madre neighborhood is a head scratcher. According to City-Data, Gonzales marks the western boundary of the Acequie [sic] Madre neighborhood, Cerro Gordo, the northern, and Alameda, the southern.  The eastern boundary might be Camino Pequeno, but is unclearly defined. Acequia Madre itself falls partly in the so-called Historic neighborhood , partly in Los Vecinos de Calle San Antonio

To my mind, the neighborhood runs the length of Acequia Madre from Paseo de Peralta to Camino del Monte Sol.  Streets that spur off Acequia Madre are, in some cases, their own communities.  More on those in another post.

The largest cluster of amenities near the neighborhood are found in the small complex of businesses at the intersection of Garcia, Acequia Madre and Arroyo Tenorio.  Downtown Subscription the local coffee hangout, sits between the excellent Photo-Eye Bookstore and Gallery and the intelligently stocked independent bookstore, Garcia Street Books.  We have found incredible treasures browsing their shelves and tables of these two bastions of local culture.  Read the Garcia Street Books Newsletter for word on booksignings and benefit events. Visit the Photo-Eye website for info on new arrivals, auctions, gallery shows and more.

Years ago, I traded my plant knowledge and landscaping labor for voice lessons from a woman who coached opera singers and hopefuls and whose husband had been Dean and a tutor at St. John’s College.  That experiential cluster of garden, song and education remains for me a fair poetic representation of the spirit of the Acequia Madre neighborhood.

Controlling Chaos: an Interview with Santa Fe Landscape Designer, Allison Moore

Posted Friday April 16 2010 by in Santa Fe Downtown
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Landscape Design by Allison Rani Moore

A garden is a do-si-do between Nature and nurture.  The gardener works to fall in step with the weather and plants to create a beautiful multi-sensory dance that plays out over the seasons.  Add a few more humans, each with his or her own whims and will, and the choreography becomes that much trickier.  To harmonize these divergent forces is the job of the landscape architect.  Allison Rani Moore calls it “controlling chaos.”

Moore’s grandparents were landscape Architects who met during their college years at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.  Moore’s grandfather was hired by John D. Rockefeller to be in charge of the gardens at Colonial Williamsburg.  But at home, the gardens he and his wife created were wild and unstructured and their road trips with Allison marked by direct, full sensory experience of the plant life they encountered. (“Here, taste this.”) Moore grew up enchanted and influenced by both formal and loose styles of plant management.

While obtaining her five year degree from Virgina Tech, Moore spent a semester at The Arboretum at Flagstaff.  After graduation, she rounded and anchored her education through professional stints at with Julia Berman‘s Landscape design firm, Eden and Wardwell, with Santa Fe Permaculture and through running her own company: In the Garden.  Collectively, these experiences taught her the nuts and bolts of designing and installing landscapes in the high desert.

Currently, Moore is Project Manager for the Open Space and Trails Program at the Santa Fe County, a job she assumed in September of 2008. Working for the public ramps up the demands to reconcile human and environmental concerns.  Moore likes the chance  to work closely with community while acknowledging the challenges of balancing the realities of budget, timing and scope with the complex of human culture.

“For every project, we have to pay attention to cultural aspects: present and historical. We do an architectural survey, look at the history of the property, ancient ruins, petroglyphs as well as [the site's] living history: does it have an active acequia, for example?”

“We have to get projects okayed by thirteen tribes and both the immediate and regional community. We have to respect all the time periods.  Maintain a cowboy shack. Revitalize a windmill.  We work to balance new uses and needs, such as a bike or equestrian trail, with what’s there. We also look at use: are people using an existing trail or making their own trails?  If their making their own, why?”

Moore’s own garden is waking from its seasonal sleep at the home she shares with artist Laird Hovland at 2589 Camino Chueco, currently on the market in downtown Santa Fe. Check it out at Great Buys in Santa Fe, NM For more information on Moore’s work as a landscape architect, visit her website, Spirit of the Garden.

Fall Garden at Moore/Hovland home, Camino Chueco

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Santa Fe is rife with plant lovers and voluptuous gardens that belie the traditional notion of rock strewn xeriscapes. If you’re looking for plants, materials or guidance installing  your own leafy oasis, check out the list of Santa Fe Designers and Contractors at NM Landscape Designers and Contractors.  Agua Fria Nursery, Newman’s, Plants of the Southwest, Payne’s Nurseries and Santa Fe Greenhouses are good local sources of plants and expertise.

Bring your thorny gardening questions to the Santa Fe Master Gardeners. Or stock up on plants and know-how at the organization’s Annual Garden Fair on April 24th at the County Fairgrounds. Ambitious DIYers should do the informative and empowering Master Garden Program themselves through the NMSU Santa Fe County Extension Office.

Santa Fe is blessed with a number of excellent non-profits serving a variety of plant interests:

The Santa Fe Botanical Garden provides education and outreach to the greater Santa Fe community through its two nature preserves and various programs. The Native Plant Society of New Mexico holds monthly meetings; head to their website for contact info and details. The Santa Fe Iris Society meets the last Saturday of the month, from February through September. Contact Marilyn Bennett at 505.474.0261 for more information.Tesuque residents can share information and seeds through the Tesuque Garden Club; Call 982.3839 for info. Contact Jane Thomson at 986.0753 to learn more about the Sangre de Cristo unit of The Herb Society of America, which meets every other month.

Buying Smart in Santa Fe Real Estate

Posted Tuesday March 30 2010 by in Real Estate, Santa Fe Downtown
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Photo courtesy of Jonathan Tercero

“Will the Home Buyer Tax Credit be extended?”  Lately, we’re asked that question even more often than “How’s the Market?” Dr. Ted C. Jones, economist for Stewart Title, answers this with a firm and definitive “No.”  He also thinks interest rates are going up soon.  Jones should know.  Besides his considerable qualifications, he has lunch with Ben Bernanke every week.

Dr. Jones shared those predictions, and many other useful insights and tips, at last week’s economic and real estate forum bracingly entitled, “Adapt, Mutate, Migrate or Die.” His standout fact should serve as a call-to-action for both buyers and sellers: every 1 percent increase in interest rates is approximately equivalent to a 10 percent increase in price. With interest rates currently around 5%, buyers can buy more home and sellers can draw more buyers.  Sellers with no intention of buying another home may want to wait, as prices and sales volume are picking up, but sellers wanting another home should jump in and buy smart.  Even if they don’t reap maximum dollar on their current home, they stand to gain in a purchase. Jones’ blogpost, “Postponing a Home Purchase Waiting for Home Values to Decline Further May Price You Out of the Market” features an easy-to-follow table outlining the relationship between interest rates and buying power.

If you’re a buyer wanting to take advantage of the Home Buyer Tax Credit, it’s not too late.  8 Tips to Take Advantage of the Home Buyer Tax Credit Before Time Runs Out offers some smart guidelines for how to rapid-focus your efforts to put the right home under contract.

Since we tour dozens of homes each month, we’ve put together a short list of best buys in Santa Fe: homes that we think offer excellent value for the price.  This week’s pics include a gem in Las Campanas for less than $500K, a clean contemporary pueblo with views priced just under $295K, and a steal-of-a-deal custom home in the Hills and Villas at Bishop’s Lodge, minutes from The Plaza and downtown Santa Fe.

If you’re looking in a particular price point or neighborhood, challenge us to find you a winner.

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Top Seven Reasons Banks are Denying Home Loan Requests clarifies what to expect in the current lending climate, and introduces a little known alternative for securing loans: Private Lending.

Santa Fe Neighborhood Quick Sketch: South Capitol

Posted Thursday February 4 2010 by in Real Estate, Santa Fe Downtown, Santa Fe Neighborhoods
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Rail traffic and an expanding middle class fueled the development of South Capitol in the early twentieth century. A rich and appealing collection of single family homes, condos, and small compounds, South Capitol charms with its architectural diversity. Craftsman bungalows intermingle with Pueblo Revivals, Victorians and Territorials. Construction materials run the Santa Fe gamut: adobe, brick, Pen-tile (a term for hollow bricks formerly made at the State Penitentiary) and framed stucco.   Mature trees abound thanks, in part, to the WPA.  Yards range in size from postage stamp patios to 1 acre spreads.

The district takes its name from its dominant landmark: the State Capitol AKA The Roundhouse, on Paseo de Peralta east of Don Gaspar.  Roughly bounded by Paseo de Peralta on the North, Old Santa Fe Trail on the East, and Cordova on the South, South Capitol’s western edge is less clearly defined.  Don Diego is the main artery yet the neighborhood breaks its line to include pockets of streets just west of Don Diego.

The Unitarian Universalist Congregation and  Temple Beth Shalom are both within the neighborhood’s confines. Nearby, on Old Pecos Trail, are the Santa Fe Children’s Museum, The Center for Contemporary Arts,  and The Armory for the Arts.  The elementary school that serves much of the area is Wood Gormley; Capshaw Middle School and Santa Fe High School serve the upper grades.

Great amenities abound in easy walking distance. What’s available depends on where you’re located. The Santa Fe Railyard is an intersection of galleries, shops, housing and public spaces.  Kaune’s Neighborhood Market and O’horis Coffee, on Old Santa Fe Trail, are an easy walk from the neighborhood’s eastern end.  Cordova offers a superabundance of restaurants and shopping including several of our favorite dining spots: The Pyramid Cafe, Saigon Cafe, Backstreet Bistro, and Maria’s. For groceries, head to Trader Joe’s and Wild Oats.  The neighborhood’s Northern end is just blocks from the Plaza with its trove of dining, coffee houses and shopping.  Walkability is high for Santa Fe.  Check out the Walk Score of our listings at 111 East Santa Fe Ave., The Bella Donna. Unit #4 is one of five contemporary restorations.

For a deeper look at issues of interest to homebuyers, check out the following resources. CrimeReports.com is self explanatory.  Usually, I turn to city-data.com for its fascinating compilation of demographic data and statistics. However, city-data.com does not recognize South Capitol as a neighborhood. Instead, it creates a statistical profile for what it terms the Don Gaspar Neighborhood which covers the bulk, but not the entirety, of this historic district.

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SOUTH CAPITOL UPDATE

Below are market stats for the South Capitol Neighborhood reflecting the state of the real estate market on July 16th, 2010.

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Santa Fe Real Estate News. Stories, Trends and More

South Capitol Area, Looking Up in YTD Residential Sales.

Santa Fe Market Report
Featuring South Capitol Area
Presented by Prudential Santa Fe

Active SFAR Listings
All Santa Fe Listings (7/16/10)
Residential: 2805
Residential Land: 1546
Farm & Ranch: 134
Commercial Buildings: 199
Commercial Land: 77
Live/Work: 21
Multi Family: 36

South Capitol Area Snapshot
Residential Listings (7/16/10)
Active: 86
Pending: 4
Sold: 54*
Average DOM: 218*
Average Listing Price: $591,081*
Average Listing Price Per Sq.ft: $277*
Average Selling Price: $543,175*
Average Selling Price Per Sq.ft.: $255*
% of List Price: 92%*

*Sold (7/17/09-7/16/10)

Days on Market (DOM)
South Capitol Area – Residential Sold*
Days on the Market

Selling Price: % of List Price
South Capitol Area – Residential Sold*
Percentage of asking price

MLS Comparison, Sales Year To Date
South Capitol Area – Residential – 2009 v. 2010
(1/1/09-7/7/09) – (1/1/10-7/7/10)
Year To Date Comparison

Real estate agents Malissa Kullberg and Joshua Maes, AKA Changing Gallery, use their listings, where appropriate, to showcase the art, photography, sculpture and other creations of emerging and independent talents. Artists receive 100% of the proceeds from any sale. For up-to-date market info and full access to the MLS, visit: Santa Fe Real Estate Downtown.

What It Takes to Sell a Home in Santa Fe

Posted Friday January 29 2010 by in Real Estate, Santa Fe Downtown, Santa Fe Neighborhoods
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Ready to get radical?
You think you’ve done it all: decluttered, staged, priced and marketed your property appropriately, and it’s still not selling.  What now?
Through open houses, in-house broker tours, MLS tours and showings, your agent has had opportunities to gather feedback as to what people do and do not like about your home.  In some cases, you simply can’t provide what is desired.  Buyers are looking for a pool, a different location, a bigger yard–something you don’t have.  On the other hand, there are often gems to be scavenged from the feedback. Question is: are you willing to act on what you learn?
In the case of our listing at 133 Sombrio, we kept hearing disappointed noises about the kitchen and baseboards. Everyone loved the vigas and refinished red oak floors.  They admired the wood-framed double paned windows, the covered portal, kiva fireplace, extra garage space and laundry room.  But the kitchen? Nyeh. So we, the real estate agents and the owner, who flew back from California, took three days to replace tile, paint cabinets, change out hardware, upgrade light fixtures, patch and paint walls.  Two days after we finished, we received multiple offers.
If you want or need to put your home on the market soon, forearm yourself with somebody else’s hindsight.  Start by taking everything up a notch.  Declutter as if you’re a hoarder.  If your furnishings don’t show the house to best advantage, consider a stager.  Think you can’t afford it?  There are stagers who consult by the hour and use your own furnishings.  And if your home is empty, there are professional housesitter/stagers who will bring their eye-enticing furniture to your place and keep it looking warm and lovely while deftly accommodating showings. Curb appeal is often as easy to remedy with muscle as cash. Some landscape and nursery professionals will offer on site, low cost consultation to help you spend your DIY energy and money in the improvements.
What about a pre-inspection? Typically, buyers will schedule and pay for home inspections after the home is under contract.  Having a certified inspection report in hand for a buyer avoids potentially deal-killing surprises deep into the transaction.  Do you know the five most preventable problems that can scuttle a sale?
Did you work with your agent to price your home at the market rate–not what you think you need or want to have in order to buy the next house.  Don’t gamble on an inflated price. Pricing your home to sell out of the gate will bring you the highest ultimate return.
If you have some money to spend, Top 10 Must-Have Features in Today’s New Homes and Remodeling Magazine’s 2009 Cost vs. Value Report will give you ideas about what trends are attracting buyers. In the words of Kris Berg, FrontDoor.com, “Yesterday’s avocado green shag carpeting is today’s granite countertop.” Would you have this perspective?  Your home is your nest, but when it comes time to sell, you’re serving someone else’s taste.
Selling Your Home in A Buyer’s Market can be a success, but now more than ever, success favors the exceptionally prepared.  We have lists of reliable and flexible professionals and an arsenal of articles like the ones above. We also have muscles and out-of-the-box marketing we’re not afraid to use.  If you’re serious about selling your home, give us a call.
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Real estate agents Malissa Kullberg and Joshua Maes, AKA Changing Gallery, use their listings, where appropriate, to showcase the art, photography, sculpture and other creations of emerging and independent talents. Artists receive 100% of the proceeds from any sale. For up-to-date market info and full access to the MLS, visit: Santa Fe Real Estate Downtown.

Selling Your Santa Fe Home in a Buyer’s Market

Posted Thursday January 14 2010 by in Real Estate, Santa Fe Downtown, Santa Fe Neighborhoods
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Abundant inventory is described as a buyer’s market: great if you’re a buyer, but what if you’re a seller?  The tough news is that the value and appeal of your home will be measured against a greater number of homes than in a neutral or seller’s market.   You’ve got competition and potentially lots of it.  Your mission?  Don’t be a “comp.”

When agents set out to determine the price of your home, either because they are interested in listing it for sale, or because they have buyer’s interested in making an offer, they will do what is called a “CMA, “  or Comparative Market Analysis.  In a CMA, your home is stacked up against active, pending, sold and expired listings that have COMParable features and locations: “comps.” Homes with extras, such as a kiva fireplace, will command more money; homes without such extras, less. Because no home is exactly like another home–even tract homes may have slightly different lot sizes, orientations and upgrades–a CMA is both an art and a science.

Despite its limitations, a CMA is a fact based tool.  If you don’t like the results, don’t get emotional.  Mine it for info you can turn to your advantage.   People tend to focus on the active listings, the price for which someone in the neighborhood is trying to sell their home.  But the market value of an active is unknown until someone makes an offer. Pay close attention to the comps that have sold.  Pay even closer attention to the listings that expired.  Buyers voted in favor of the sold home.  The expired home was kicked out of office.

Once you’ve looked at what sells and what doesn’t, use that measure against your own home.  Understand that not having a fireplace might hurt you with some buyers, and accept the price cut.  Now, turn your attention to your home’s assets.  Barabara Corcoran addresses this brilliantly in her book If You Don’t Have Big Breasts, Put Ribbons on Your Pigtails: “What matters is that you identify and play up what you’ve got.”

Look at your home as if it were a theatrical stage set or work of art.  Presenting is more than just decluttering and removing personal items.  “The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak, ” said abstract painter Hans Hofmann.  Let the beauty of your home speak by taking away the visual noise that prevents its charms from being heard.  Try these 30 Can’t Miss Staging Tips from HGTV’s Lisa LaPorta.

If you can afford to invest a little money, Remodeling Magazine’s 2009 Cost vs. Value Report offers tips on how to get the best return on your investment. Do you have nice wood floors that are in shabby shape?  Have them refinished or DIY –if you can do professional quality work.  Ensure you have dynamite curb appeal: weed, trim trees and bushes, repair, remove or replace a fence, add color. (We removed a chain link fence in front of our listing, a Casa Solana Stamm located at 133 Sombrio in downtown Santa Fe.  Visitor feedback confirmed what a huge impact this small gesture had on the home’s streetside presentation.)

Showings are job interviews for your home. Make sure they are dressed-to-impress.

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Real estate agents Malissa Kullberg and Joshua Maes, AKA Changing Gallery, use their listings, where appropriate, to showcase the art, photography, sculpture and other creations of emerging and independent talents. Artists receive 100% of the proceeds from any sale. Currently displaying work by Mark Frossard, Laird Hovland, Jonathan Tercero at 133 Sombrio in Casa Solana, downtown Santa Fe. To schedule an appointment, call: 231.7598. For up-to-date market info and full access to the MLS, visit: Santa Fe Real Estate Downtown.

State of the Santa Fe Real Estate Market at start of 2010

Posted Thursday January 7 2010 by in Real Estate, Santa Fe Downtown
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On Sunday, January 3rd, The Santa Fe New Mexican rang in the new year with the article Promising Signs in Santa Fe’s Housing Market Slide.  Statistics compiled by Alan Ball, a title officer with Southwest Title and Escrow, showed the number and price volume of Santa Fe residential home sales at their lowest point in decades.  Comparing 2009 with 2005, the peak market of the last decade, showed a 56% decline over the 5 years –from 1.2 billion to $540 million. Indeed, the sales volume of 2009 ($540 million) was even lower than the sales volume at the start of the decade ($578 million.)

Still, Santa Fe fared far better than many markets. And there’s good news for both buyers and sellers.

Low interest rates and abundant inventory collectively offer a point of entry for many buyers shut out in the past.  A search for single family homes within the Santa Fe city limits, shows the following:
Under $200K = 33 homes
$200K-300K = 120
$300K-400K =95

Roughly 95 of those are within a few miles of the Plaza, including the downtown Santa Fe neighborhoods of Casa Solana, Casa Alegre and Barrio la Canada which we’ve covered in previous blogposts.

For those who qualify, the pot sweetens with the addition of the Federal Housing Tax Credit. Not just for first-timers, homebuyers who have “…owned and lived in their previous home for five consecutive years out of the last eight years” also may qualify for a $6500 move up credit.  Follow the link for a clear presentation of the incentives’ details.

Sellers face tougher competition on the market.  At present, the absorption rate–the number of months it would take to sell all the homes on the market at the pace at which they are currently selling–is 29.71 months. Add to this the fact that homes are selling at roughly the prices they were in 2005, meaning a net loss for those who bought at the market’s peak. To sell now demands realistic pricing, excellent presentation and smart marketing, if not patience.

Sellers can console themselves that Santa Fe is still a good investment.  Just one year ago, the absorption rate was a grimer 34.3 months.  Plus, median prices have risen 50% over the decade, from $296,000 in 2001 to $447,000 at the end of 2009.  We don’t hit the crests of California, neither do we spelunk down to its cavernous lows.

Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow;
The year is going, let him go…
–Tennyson

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Real estate agents Malissa Kullberg and Joshua Maes, AKA Changing Gallery, use their listings, where appropriate, to showcase the art, photography, sculpture and other creations of emerging and independent talents. Artists receive 100% of the proceeds from any sale. Currently displaying work by Mark Frossard, Laird Hovland, Jonathan Tercero at 133 Sombrio in Casa Solana, downtown Santa Fe. To schedule an appointment, call: 231.7598. For up-to-date market info and full access to the MLS, visit: Santa Fe Real Estate Downtown.

Christmas Eve on Santa Fe’s Canyon Road

Posted Tuesday December 29 2009 by in Local Events, Santa Fe Downtown
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The cold was frightful.  Snow and ice covered much of the ground.  But those who braved Nature’s buffets for the annual Christmas Eve walk on Canyon Road in Santa Fe reaped the rewards of a sweet, community ritual that defines the winter holiday for many in the City Different. Tradition reports that luminarias, the little bonfires that dot the walking paths, were originally set out to guide people to Mass; farolitos, the small bags of sand and votive candles, lined the way for Christ’s arrival. Today, these symbols define a spectacle of light and fire that draws thousands of locals and tourists alike to the Santa Fe’s historic eastside.

Some galleries offer cider, hot chocolate and biscochitos.  In recent years, stands have sprung up selling hot drinks. Or for the price of a song, sidle up to the carolers clustered around a luminaria.  No matter the cold, I’ve never found a group to exclude a frosty newcomer.

If you missed this year’s ritual, mark your calendars for 2010.  The farolito walk is one of the many reasons why Santa Fe made Away.com’s Top Ten Destinations for Christmas Vacation

Santa Fe Local Biz Review: Violante + Rochford Interiors

Posted Friday December 11 2009 by in Local Events, Santa Fe Downtown
2 comments

Photo courtesy of Wendy McEahern

We met Paul Rochford and Michael Violante through “The South Capitol Treehouse:” their moniker for the second home and rental property they own at 111 East Santa Fe Avenue.   Paul’s persistent good nature, preternatural politeness, and highly attuned sense of responsibility made me want to know more about him. In time, I met Michael–gracious and attentive–and learned that the two had just conjoined their talents and style to create VR Interiors: an interior design and staging company.  Work ethic, integrity, and professionalism merit the pair a blog mention and wave of the quill from this champion of local creatives.

Paul, a Santa Fe native, has owned and sold several successful local businesses (restaurant, catering company, and Canyon Road art gallery, among others) over the past 18 years. He began his entrepreneur career as small fry selling his arts and crafts roadside and door to door. His charm and moxie were so effective, the neighbors finally called his mom begging to have their finances rescued from the kid they couldn’t refuse.  Around age 9 or 10, he started trolling antique stores with friends, identifying an early passion for design.  After graduating from B-school, he turned his golden touch to a series of business that all did well, despite being opened in strange economic times.  Michael, meanwhile, developed and expanded his creative strengths as VP of Design for ACC (AKA American Country Collection) for 17 years.

” What we ideally like to do is clean lines and a mixture of contemporary and antiques, bridging the old with the modern, because much of the new and contemporary has been inspired by the ancient.” Yet while they “enjoy exposing people to new things, new ideas,” the best designs “depend on the clients’ sensibilities.  We [commit] the time to find out how they live.”

“A big part of what we do is bringing someone’s past into their present. Michael is really brilliant at figuring out how to bring a quirky sentimental item into context,” says Paul.

Violante & Rochford make strong efforts to be Green, both in their use of sustainable materials and their  support of local artisans and craftspeople. “Even though the world is our oyster and it can be very much easier to go to a manufacturer, part of our definition of being Green is supporting the local economy.”

Their clients’ homes, and their own rental properties, range through some of downtown Santa Fe and Santa Fe county’s most beautiful neighborhoods.  “We love South Capitol. It’s charming, sleepy, beautiful, moody, with well established gardens. The area is so different from anywhere else and yet completely appropriate to Santa Fe.”

No website yet, but Violante & Rochford Interiors can be contacted at: 983.3912 where you will most likely reach their assistant, Natasha.  Email: morafine@earthlink.net

***UPDATE: Violante & Rochford Interiors now has a website that’s attractive, clean and easy to navigate.

Photo courtesy of Wendy McEahern

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This week in Santa Fe’s alt/indie/emerging cultural scene….
“Bah Humbug: Twelve Artists Take on Christmas”opens this Friday at 5 PM at GF Contemporary, 707 Canyon Road.  This first annual group exhibition and benefit in support of The Food Depot and The Empty Stocking Fund involves some pretty fabulous talents in the local alt/indie cultural scene.  For more information, go to the BANG! Art Gallery website.

Red Cell calls High Mayhem “consistently interesting” and “the reason I didn’t just leave Santa Fe after a year.”  High Mayhem describes itself as “a not-for-profit emerging arts facility, record label and multimedia production collective based in Santa Fe. Join them this Saturday at 9 PM for Duos! Two very different possibilities in the world of drum and bass duos.  With Ray Charles Ives (RCI), MVIII Los Duo and Creatures of Routine. 2811 Siler Lane, Santa Fe.  Cost: $10.

ALSO NOTED:
Check out MyHungryEye™: the online home and selected works of Jenna Gersbach, an artist and photographer currently living and working in Santa Fe.  Jenna’s has strong creative muscles and manic professionalism.  Smart, driven, delightful and decent, she is one to watch.

And, finally,  another shameless plug for The End of Being: an esoteric guide to difficult and unusual art, music, film, people and ideas (because any city worth its grit needs someone willing to explore such things….) Powered by Red Cell and Patricia Sautoff.
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Real estate agents Malissa Kullberg and Joshua Maes, AKA Changing Gallery, use their listings, where appropriate, to showcase the art, photography, sculpture and other creations of emerging and independent talents. Artists receive 100% of the proceeds from any sale. Currently displaying work by Mark Frossard, Laird Hovland, Jonathan Tercero at 133 Sombrio in Casa Solana, downtown Santa Fe. To schedule an appointment, call: 231.7598.

To learn more about  us, and for full access to the MLS, visit: SantaFeDowntownRealEstate.com. **Access the MLS from your smartphone at: SantaFeDowntownRealEstate.com/m

Mad Science Brewing in Downtown Santa Fe

Posted Wednesday December 2 2009 by in Local Events, Santa Fe Downtown
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-2In the heart of downtown Santa Fe’s South Capitol district, a Mad Scientist is stirring a cauldron of mind-spurring experiments and impressionable young minds to create a new generation of revolutionary thinkers.

At least that’s her hope.

Once a week, age-clustered groups of students gather to  build electric motors, dissect plants, peer at small things through microscopes, assemble and launch a hovercraft and otherwise engage in scientific play.  Sprung from the head of Janette Fischer, a PhD Biologist with a Masters in Elementary Education, The Mad Scientists’ Clubhouse is an after school program designed to give kids–”Natural Born Scientists–an opportunity to see just how much fun science can be.

“More and more, because lack of money in the schools, teachers will perform an experiment like a magic trick. Students just watch and take notes, ” says Fischer.   The Mad Scientists’ Clubhouse is an ongoing opportunity for children to explore entertaining scientific questions “with guidance and encouragement, but without pressure or haste.”

“Some students who come to the Clubhouse used to love science, but are now sick of it because it’s become all talk.  There’s no license to make mistakes because there’s no time or money for it. Yet, some of the best scientific discoveries have been made because of scientific error.”

Currently, Fischer offers classes on Wednesdays (grades 1-3) and Thursdays (grades 4-6), from 3-5 PM.  The next semester starts the week of January 11.  The  popular program usually fills up, but with enough demand, Fischer will add a third class on Tuesdays. For more information, call: 505.982.0677.

A Hovercraft

A Hovercraft

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This Week on the Santa Fe Creative Scene…

Friday marks the opening of the first annual Santa Fe Independent 2009 Film Festival, featuring underground, experimental and art films from around the world.  This invitational event begins Friday at 5PM and runs through Sunday at 9:30 PM.  The 10th annual Santa Fe Film Festival opens tonight and runs through Sunday.

Also on Friday, head over to the Baca St. Studios for the Annual Baca Street Arts Tour and a chance to sample new chocolate creations by Ryan and Beth Helean’s House of Sin. Sculptor Laird Hovland will be showing five new bronze pieces.  Artist Erika Wanenmacher, will be offering discounts at Ditch Witch.  For more info, check out Charlotte Jusinski’s preview in the Santa Fe Reporter or call 505.820.2222 for maps and info. Show runs Friday Dec. 4th- 5-9pm, Sat Dec. 5th 10-4pm and Sun Dec. 6th 10-4pm.

From 5-7 PM, The Lisa Chun Gallery, 533 Agua Fria Street, will be having a Holiday show and sale featuring artwork by Ben Haggard and Lisa Chun.  Chun’s handsome collage work merges poetic word with voluptuous image.  Look for 20% off on smaller items.

On Sunday the 6th from 1-3pm, Mike Tait Tafoya will be playing at The Collected Works Bookstore at 202 Galisteo St #A  (505) 988-4226.

Also of note, Alt Curator, Red Cell, has launched The End of Being, a news magazine and Esoteric Guide to Difficult and Unusual Art, Music, Film, People and Ideas.  One stop shopping for all the unusual stuff that draws Red’s roving mind.  Co-hosted by Patricia Sauthoff, former Arts and Entertainment editor of the Santa Fe Reporter. Watch for an interview with Red in a later blogpost.

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Real estate agents Malissa Kullberg and Joshua Maes, AKA Changing Gallery, use their listings, where appropriate, to showcase the art, photography, sculpture and other creations of emerging and independent talents. Artists receive 100% of the proceeds from any sale. Currently displaying work by Mark Frossard, Laird Hovland, Jonathan Tercero at the Bella Donna, 111 East Santa Fe Ave. To schedule an appointment, call: 231.7598. For up-to-date market info and full access to the MLS, visit: Santa Fe Real Estate Downtown.

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