We are ending July and we will be hitting August, the month known for high humidity, frizzy hair, and desperately trying to find any way to stay cool. Linden Hills’ Natural Built Home offers the following tips to try and stay cool in your home while being energy efficient:

Run ceiling fans in a clockwise direction to create a wind-chill effect that will make you “feel” 8-10 degrees cooler. Remember that ceiling fans cool people, not rooms — so turn them off when you leave the room.
Set your AC at 75 (or even 78) degrees. You can reduce your summer cooling costs by about 4% for every degree warmer you set the thermostat, according to Lee Schipper of UC Berkley
Cover Your Windows. Drawing your shades or investing in items like a shade screen can keep your room up to 12 degrees cooler in the summer.
Thinking of a new roof? Look into an Energy Star rated roof. These roofs will reflect more of the sun’s rays keeping your whole house cooler. The less heat that gets in the less you (or your AC) has to work to keep it cool! For extra credit, look into putting a green roof on your home. It helps keep the heat away as well as helping to mitigate storm water runoff

SALE!!! Natural Build Home is also offering a sale on some of their FLOR carpet styles, bamboo flooring, exterior paint and many other product. The sale runs through August 8th.

While on Tangletown Garden’s Garden and Art tour this past weekend, I happened across this awesome exterior in the Kenwood/Lowry Hill neighborhood. Even though this was not featured on the tour, I loved the funky sculptural piece as a center point for the entrance. Throughout my explorations of the city, I have come across some interesting sculpture pieces. Aside from the occasional leftover Peanuts’ Lucy or Snoopy sculpture in someones yard, there are some very unique art pieces used on the exterior. Please comment if you can think of any other cool residential outdoor sculptures in the cities.

This past Saturday, my wonderful friend surprised me with a belated birthday gift: two tickets to Tangletown Garden’s Garden and Art Tour. I don’t know much about gardening, but I loved the idea of putting local artists and local gardeners together to create a dynamic showcase of Minneapolis’ finest botanical backyards. Always being curious about how local city dwellers adorn their backyard, we struck out on our venture and I captured these images of some of my favorite patio/porch furnishings.

The above picture was one of my favorites of the trip. The backyard was heavily Asian influenced with a stream bubbling over a bridge that led to this charming pagoda style porch. From the red foo dogs, to the linens, to the lattice work on the settee, I wanted to sit in here all afternoon.

This house had an awesome place to sit and gather around a canopied fire pit. Look at the tile work on the firepit!

Usually I am not a fan of wicker. Something about it screams uncomfortable. Although these chairs definitely look fragile and uncomfortable, I loved their old, used charm.

Lastly, this table was gorgeous. I loved the vivid colors used in the plant motifs.