Real Estate in Boise, Meridian, Nampa
& All of the Treasure Valley

Jennifer Louis
Residential Real Estate Expert
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The Funky Side of Boise

The Funky Side of Boise

by | Dec 8, 2022 | Discover Boise

Welcome to Boise and Beyond’s blog series focusing on living like a local in Idaho.  If you are one of the many who have recently relocated to Boise and the Treasure Valley here are some of the best ways to fit in and acclimate to your new home.

Fun & Funky in Boise

Boise is often known for its great outdoors and connection to nature.  It is after all nicknamed, The City of Trees, but it also has a flare for the arts and a bit of the unusual.  Here are some of the sightings around town that locals love, and those visiting may scratch their heads, curious about the backstory.  Well, scratch no more…here is a bit of insight into Boise’s fun and funky side.

Traffic Box Project

For over ten years Boise has transformed what could be boring metal traffic boxes located around the city into pieces of art.  Local artists are invited to submit their pieces of art to be selected to be wrapped around one of these boxes around town.

Boise’s pioneering and transformative Traffic Box project challenges emerging artists and established professionals to “wrap” the nondescript utilitarian devices that control our streetlights. Boise City Department of Arts and History along with other organizations commissions illustrations, paintings, digitally designed images, quilts, mosaics, photographs, and even photos of sculptures to add a vibrant and unexpected twist to the street corners and intersections of the City of Boise, according to the Boise City Department of Arts and History’s website.

Each wrap lasts anywhere from 5-10 years and then they are rewrapped.  As of 2022 there are just over 225 traffic boxes displaying art throughout the city.

Location:  All around the City of Boise

Gentle Breeze

The City of Trees honors its name with the public art piece “Gentle Breeze” located Downtown in the park at 11th St. and Idaho St.

The glistening pink tree is hard to miss and includes features that make the leaves move in the breeze not to mention its adult-size swings for people young and old to enjoy.  You’ll often see locals and office workers making their way over to the interactive art piece with a cup of local coffee.

According to the City of Boise’s Art & History Department’s Karl Le Clair, , “It presents itself as a tree on top of a hill.  Again we are looking at the same scale berm. It creates some height and a natural pedestal for the artwork to sit on. (It includes) a tree on top of the hill with swings. There are full-scale park bench swings. The tree is 23 feet high and will provide some shade in the time it takes the other trees in the park to mature.”

Location: 11th St. and Idaho St., Downtown Boise

JUMP Spiral Slide

It’s hard to miss the JUMP center in Downtown Boise but one of its more exciting features is its outdoor parking garage slide.  The five-story spiral chute was created for kids and adults who are kids at heart.

If you don’t know about JUMP you really should.  It stands for Jack’s Urban Meeting Place.  Jack is J.R. Simplot and he is responsible for Idaho is famous for its potatoes.  JUMP is an event center and meeting place and regularly hosts various events with the mission being, “a place for everyone to discover new possibilities and explore their potential.”

Next to the spiral chute is the “slide zone” a slide feat in itself and was created as a team-building event.

Location:  1000 W Myrtle St, Downtown Boise

The Boise Castle

Boise’s Castle Home is hard to miss when heading down Warm Springs Avenue.  However, the unique architecture isn’t a historical monument, but rather a local entrepreneur’s dream turned into reality.

The owner/designer said the design was inspired by French and English castles he had seen/studied over the years.  the Boise Castle broke ground in 2009 and its finishing touches were added in 2011.  It’s modern architecture with a mid-evil flare.

The 5800 sqft, 5 bedroom, 5 bath home was featured on HGTV’s Extreme Homes, a segment on a CBS News segment, and a piece for Discovery Channel’s Daily Planet. Additionally, a hip-hop music video was supposedly filmed on one of the towers.

Location: 1700 Warm Springs Avenue in NE Boise.

Those are just a few fun and funky sites you may notice while driving around Boise.  Venture outside the City to Nampa, Kuna, Meridian, and Eagle and you will spot other unique sites that make the Treasure Valley the true treasure that it is.

Boise Real Estate Professional

Follow Jennifer Louis, Boise Metro Real Estate Expert and local relocation guide.  (208) 509-9122 or jennlouis@welcometoboiseandbeyond.com

The Hillcrest Spring Fling

The Hillcrest Spring Fling

by | May 13, 2022 | Uncategorized

Thank you all for coming and supporting our first annual Hillcrest Spring Fling on May 14th in Owyhee Park.  We had hundreds come from all over the neighborhood to support our community and enjoy the festivities.  Here are some of the photos from the event. There were many more taken.   If you’d like a copy of any of the images please contact Jolyn Laney with Laney Photography

We hope to continue this community event next year, so keep a lookout for it in the green, Hillcrest Real Estate and Community newsletter I send out early next year.  

 

Activities and Events

For the first annual event, we went all out to make it memorable, after all, Hillcrest is a one-of-a-kind community and deserves the best.

Food

There were two food trucks at the event, The Rusty Dog, serving gourmet hot dogs, fries, and drinks and for the more mature, outdoor-loving pallet we have Smoked & Baked BBQ.  If you RSVPd you will get two free vouchers to sample the trucks per household and a free drink at the Registration booth (BBQ or Rusty Dog voucher for adults and Rusty dog for kids).   The trucks had lots of other goodies if you want to try more or get an extra plate for reasonable prices.  Click on the links above for more on their menus and prices.  There was also a cotton candy spinner spinning non-stop during the event and everyone was welcome to try one.

Photos

We were so fortunate to have a talented family photographer at the event. Not to mention her family is part of the Hillcrest Community. Jolyn Laney with Laney Photography was there to capture this special day, but also to take family, couple, and friend photos over at her booth.  If you haven’t already signed up for a private session, you can make sure to get a photo or two of you and your loved ones at the event.  Hopefully, you brought your matchy shirts and best park clothes and don’t forget to smile.

Music

Lauren and the Nostalgics played from 12:30 – 3:30 their blend of pop/rock/blues/r&b covers and got everyone movin’ and groovin’!!!  Neighbors brought their chair or blankets, and umbrellas at the start of the day and sprawled out and enjoy the music.

Games

Kids from around the park grabbed a potato sack and hopped over to the finish line for a chance to show off their skills to their family and neighbors and won some fun prizes from local companies.  Adults and kids alike enjoyed the hula hoops and other fun and games.

Prizes

Most sponsors offered a raffle or gift and we had several winners that took home great loot and swag.

Fun

The 50′ inflatable obstacle course, smack in the middle of the park was a success.  Both kids and adults climbed, slid, and tumbled down in glee.   The talented Andrea blew everyone away with her one-of-a-kind beautiful face painting and her sidekick balloon twister, twisted up some incredible balloon animals, and well, whatever struck your fancy.  For those looking to relax, but still, have a good time they checked out the reading corner set up at The Library! at Hillcrest’s tent and got a free comic book

If you are interested in volunteering, sponsoring, or just more information for next year call/text 208-509-9122 or email jennlouis@welcometoboiseandbeyond.com

Sponsors

Hopefully you were able to check out our sponsor’s tables for great info that is useful for this neighborhood. Sherwin Williams on Orchard, OneTrust Home Loans, Eco Tree & Shrub, the Library at Hillcrest, Welcome to Boise and Beyond, Idaho Websites, and The Hillcrest Neighborhood Association.

Pronunciation Guide For Boiseans – Live Like a Local in Idaho

Pronunciation Guide For Boiseans – Live Like a Local in Idaho

by | Nov 23, 2021 | Uncategorized

Welcome to Boise and Beyond’s blog series focusing on living like a local in Idaho.  If you are one of the many who have recently relocated to Boise and the Treasure Valley here are some of the best ways to fit in and acclimate to your new home.

 

How to Pronunciate Places and Streets in Idaho

If you haven’t already noticed Idaho is particular about how things are pronounced around town.  It’s pretty obvious you are from out of town if you say you live in Boise and pronounce it “boy-ZEE” like the majority of the country, but if you want to sound like a local here’s a pronunciation guide to help you get going.

Boise – BOY-see

 

Kuna – Q–nuh

 

Owyhee – oh-WHY-hee

 

Nez Perce – Nezz-PURSE

 

Kootenai – KOO-tuh-nee

 

Ustick – YOU– Stick

 

Chinden – CHIN-den

 

​Curious about the unusual way of pronouncing these cities and streets?  You’re not alone, but if you dig a little the history is quite interesting.  Take Owyhee for example.  The street is actually named after the Owyhee Mountains, but Owyhee is actually an older English way of pronouncing Hawaii.  Yes, the islands.  Some of the original explorers of this part of the country were Hawaiians. The Owyhee mountain range located in the southwest corner of Idaho and parts of eastern Oregon was named after a group of trappers from the Hawaiian islands who disappeared while on an exploratory trapping expedition.

Boise, or should we say BOY-see is also a name with an interesting background.  Boise is actually French for “wooded”.  The legend has it that French-Canadian fur trappers in the 19th century spotted the tree lined valley along the Boise River and shouted, “Les Bois.  Les Bois!”, French for “The Woods, The Woods!” Relieved to have found what they considered an oasis from their desert trek, they called the area Les Bois, which eventually became pronounced, Boise.  On a side note, my husband is French and all his relatives still continue to call our home, Boise as is pronounced in French, (BOIZE) or Bois, as in French.

For more history and ways to pronounce local streets, cities, and names around town check out these two articles.

 

Boise Real Estate Professional

Follow Jennifer Louis, Boise Metro Real Estate Expert and local relocation guide.  (208) 509-9122 or jennlouis@welcometoboiseandbeyond.com

Boise’s Home Improvement Struggle

Boise’s Home Improvement Struggle

by | Oct 14, 2021 | Boise Home Tips

*DUE TO A LINK ERROR ON THE NOVEMBER 2021 NEWSLETTER CLICK HERE FOR THE ARTICLE ON PRONUNCIATION IN IDAHO

Recent growth coupled with the pandemic has spurred the home improvement craze in the Boise Area.  There’s just one problem, Boise has a current home improvement struggle to locate materials and the pros to get the job done. Here’s what is behind the lag in home improvement service providers and some ways to get around it.

New Construction

The past several years the Boise Metro Area has seen tremendous growth.  It’s no secret that Boise housing is struggling with a major supply/demand issue. The counties within the Treasure Valley have put great priority on encouraging builders to build to work towards meeting the growing needs and this has created a huge demand for construction labor and materials.  Unfortunately, Boise, like many other areas in the US has a shortage of laborers due to the last economic crisis when many left the industry and the majority didn’t return.  A recent article by KTVB7 talks in detail about the challenge builders are facing to find construction laborers.   Additionally, the pandemic created a material supply issue all across the construction trades from steel, lumber to paint and cement, creating even more delays in getting homes built.

So what does new construction have to do with a Boise homeowner’s home improvement struggle?  It’s simple.  Builders can provide subcontractors with volume work,  giving them multiple homes to work on.  This saves them time in having to go out and constantly quote out new jobs or order materials for individual projects.  With so many of the trades dedicated to the builders, individual homeowners are finding already scarce construction trade pros harder to secure.

Materials in Short Supply

As the previous subheading touched on, construction materials have become hard to secure especially in 2021.  A lot of this is due to demand, but then you add in a pandemic that caused supply chain issues, closed factories, loss of laborers to make the materials and the materials dwindled even more.  Take the freeze that happened in Texas earlier this year.  The unexpected weather caused huge factory shutdowns and affected the principal ingredients needed by most major paint manufacturers in the US. If you’ve gone to Sherwin Williams or Benjamin Moore lately you probably noticed they were out of a lot of paint and as of the first week in October most of the major paint companies in the Treasure Valley said they had no exterior paint to sell that week leaving paint contractors scrambling to find paint from competitors or other locations.

One local company, Lucas Painting said the following in regards to the recent paint shortages they’ve encountered:

“We’ve seen paint and material shortages across most brands which has caused delays in work being completed. On many occasions, we’ve had to go to several stores before finding the product we need or stores are only offering paint in larger 5gal buckets instead of 1gal which forces businesses to buy more quantity of 1 color than they actually need.”

Ways around the shortage of construction trades.

With the recent growth, one way to get help getting those repairs or updates done is to find the materials yourself.  Once you locate and secure the materials ask your neighbors, or check local social media websites to see if you can find an experienced tradesman.   Nextdoor.com is a great resource to find a handyman, or newly relocated tradesman looking for work while they get their own business established.

If you haven’t already noticed Idaho prides itself on word of mouth and local recommendations.  With that said, a great resource is to ask your trusted real estate professional for a recommendation and maybe even ask if they would put in a call for you to get it scheduled.  Real estate professionals refer out a lot of business to various construction trades and these companies are loyal to them.  If your realtor calls on your behalf or recommends a business you have a good shot of getting on the schedule.  Once you have a subcontractor scheduled and the work is done, and paid for asking them who they recommend for your next project, and ask if they will put in a good word for you.

If you don’t know a real estate agent feel free to reach out to me, an experienced and trusted real estate professional throughout the Treasure Valley and I’ll do my best to get you in contact with the trades you need for your home repairs/improvements.

Boise Real Estate ProfessionalJennifer Louis, Real Estate Professional for the Boise Metro Area for a free home value analysis. (208) 509-9122 or jennlouis@welcometoboiseandbeyond.com

What Your Front Door Says About You

What Your Front Door Says About You

by | Apr 8, 2021 | Boise Home Tips

We’ve all heard about a home with “curb appeal” and one of the best way to boost your home’s appeal and ultimately value is through the front door.  That’s because the front door is the focal point of most homes and the color is a powerful statement.  There is a psychology behind door colors and even some historical meaning.  So, before you grab your brush and paint find out the meaning of popular front door colors.

Traditional and Bold

Boise Red Door
Boise Blue Door
Red is one of the most popular door colors across the United States. Historically, in Scotland and Ireland painting your door red could mean your mortgage is paid off. In China, a red door often signified a home with good luck, but back on this side of the Atlantic it typically symbolizes hospitality and gives off a positive, neighborly vibe. Still feeling friendly, but red isn’t your color? Well, blue is a great alternative. According to color psychologists, blue can signify an inviting home that’s trustworthy. A blue door can range from a bright sky blue to a dark navy, to a softer turquoise color. Another inviting positive and bold front door color is yellow. Yellow is linked to optimism and extraversion. Guests will expect sunny rooms and cheerful decor inside. Yellow tends to look best as an accent color on a door, rather than the entire home color and looks great against darker siding or brick.

Clean and Crisp

Boise Black and White Doors
Boise Black and White Doors
Black is becoming more popular and can make a home pop. Some may consider it a more traditional, or formal color, but it can give a home a modern look, and set against a colorful exterior can even give it a playful feel. Color psychologists say a black door gives the feeling of security and protection to those who come to visit or stay.  To play it safe and still give the front of your house a facelift consider the least neutral of the neutrals, white. This common door color can give the feeling of a fresh, organized, and clean home and looks great against brick or colored siding.

Fun and Playful

Feeling fun, adventurous and young? Orange, pink, or violet may be the right shade for you? Any of these colors can make a positive statement and make your home stand out on the street, but it’s important to make sure the rest of the home won’t clash or throw off these bold color choices.  A great place in The Treasure Valley to check out fun door colors is in many of the older neighborhoods. Take a stroll in Boise’s historic Northend or Nampa’s downtown historic area to see a range of colorful front doors or drive through Boise’s Bench with mid-century homes full of fun, colorful, and unique doors for every taste.  Here are a few of my favorites around town:
Boise Mid-century Doors
Considering selling your home and want to add curb appeal? Call Jennifer Louis for a free home value consultation to discover how to increase your home’s value in today’s market (208) 509-9122.