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MUMBAI: A year ago, Gold, at Rs 27,385 per 10 grams was not only expensive but a lucrative investment bet given the kind of run-up seen in its prices ever since the financial meltdown of 2008. Taking cue from its historic run-up, many investors had thronged to buy gold then that eventually crossed Rs 32,000 per grams in September '12, prompting investors to buy even more of the yellow metal anticipating even better returns. Today, a year down the line, these investors have nothing much to cheer about. The consistent correction in the prices of the yellow metal over the past six months has resulted in mediocre 6% returns for those who invested in the yellow metal a year ago. BSE Sensex, on the other hand, has risen by over 9.2% during this period while mutual funds investing in large and mid cap stocks, generated 8.36% on an average, during this period. To put it simply, after having emerged as a strong hedge against inflation and a contra investment option to equity markets over past five years, gold has begun to mellow down sending strong signal to those obsessed with the yellow metal that is probably is the time to look beyond. It probably is time, once again, to considerequities for a larger part of one's investment portfolio after providing for risk-free investment options like bank fixed deposits, PPF and other similar products. While many investors may be perturbed by the recent crash in the mid-cap stocks, market analysts suggest that the crash was more peculiar for stocks with relatively weaker balance sheets or where pledged shares were getting sold in bulk. Stocks of companies with fairly strong balance sheets and visible growth models continued to do well even during the market crash. Thus, even as the S&P BSE Small Cap and Midcap indices fell by 15% and 8% respectively in the past three months, the average decline in the net asset value of the midcap mutual fund schemes was lower at 5.4%. Gold too declined by close to 5.4% during this period. However, S&

designers boiler house rooms avanti consulting engineers The presenter of the ever popular Grand Designs has lent his watchful and withering expressions to many a building project. The show follows some of Britain's most ambitious self-building projects, as individuals attempt to design and construct the home of their dreams (you can currently catch it on More4 and 4oD). McCloud also hosts the Grand Designs Live London show (www.granddesignslive.com), which takes place at Excel in spring, and spearheads Grand Designs magazine. You once said you 'wouldn't know a trend if it hit you in the face'. How do we keep our homes looking fresh if we don't follow trends? Trends are interesting things. They're like fish. They appear and then they go off very quickly. I think Rem Koolhaas once said architecture takes so long that if you try and follow a trend, by the time you have finished, the building it will be out of date. I'm all for people following their autobiographies, expressing themselves in their homes. What magazines do is underline that if I use that colour or buy that fake fur rug, I will be happier and win the approval of my friends. Which is possibly true but it is more interesting if you do your thing and find your way. Build a home that reflects your personality, which is much more individual. So how do we make our homes future-proof? Keep them fresh - paint the walls. Wash and polish the windows, that helps. Wash the curtains, steam clean things, keep them fresh and not cruddy, brown and grey. You can rent a steam cleaner that will renew your home. You don't even need to paint, you can wash your walls and the stains come off, just like people and clothes. Also, go and buy stuff that is beautiful and crafted. My argument is: is it better to buy five pairs of trainers at £100 each that last you a year each or one pair of boots that will last you 15 years? I think you'll find the latter represents much better value for money. The same goes

Well, resolving such issues is important because of many reasons.

Beth Kamm and her husband, Dr. William Kamm, appreciated the distinctive midcentury modern home at first sight and became its second owners in 1964. Architect Charles E. King had designed the sleek home in 1957; he had married Audrey Marsh and practiced in her hometown of Belleville. While the Kamms raised three children in the house, King gained fame over the decades. In 1991, Architectural Digest named him one of the "Top 100 Architects in America." He finished his career in St. Louis and died here in 1993. Nearly a half-century later, the Kamms still enjoy the brick ranch but are surprised that their home is drawing new attention. Recently, the Belleville Historical Society mounted a retrospective tribute to King's work and held a tour of seven of his estimated 100 area homes. The Kamm house, built for Raymond Lippert, was featured, along with King's original blueprints, passed from the Lipperts to the new owners. Beth was pleased when 150 people toured. Visitors included King's son, James, who came from Colorado for the event. "He had never seen it, and he really liked it. Everyone was very appreciative of the house. We're really honored; nobody has ever paid much attention." According to the historical group, King practiced in Belleville from 1947 until 1961, when he and Marsh divorced. Then in 1967, he married St. Louisan Constance Goldman-Baer and they lived in Pennsylvania and Florida, moving to St. Louis in 1990. King died at the age of 73 in 1993 at his Central West End home. The Landmarks Association of St. Louis features King in its spring newsletter. Andrew Weil, executive director, said the group would like to host the King retrospective at its downtown gallery, possibly in late winter or early spring 2014. Although the Kamms kept most of the original features, they made some important changes to accommodate their family of five. They enlarged the house from 2,300 to 3,800 square feet, with five bedrooms and three and a half baths. They

the avanti group WASHINGTON - Julie Friedman, 40, and her fiance, Jonathan Spector, 48, were on a mission last fall to find a home that would comfortably fit the two of them plus their combined five kids. They were well aware that any house might need some tweaking to fit the bunch, so they brought along Howard Kandel, who is a design builder - a contractor who both designs and remodels homes. Thanks to new technology, little needs to be left to the imagination when it comes to home building, renovations and purchases these days. Remodeling companies use 3-D home-design software to present computer images of what a renovated home could end up looking like. "At the end of the day, very few people have the imagination to be able to look at a set of plans and have any idea of what that's actually going to look like," Kandel says. "We can throw in furniture and wall coverings, paint colors and different materials and literally build it probably to 90 to 95 percent of what it's really gonna look like." Friedman, who is a landscape designer, had always wanted a rambler with a U-shaped patio. "I wanted to feel like you would walk out of the back of your house and be surrounded by the garden, surrounded by the house," she says. "And somehow we just found it." Her dream home was on the market in Rockville, Md. But there was one problem: It was short two much-needed bedrooms. Cue Mr. Kandel. Using a 3-D home-design software package called Chief Architect, Kandel showed Friedman and Spector a lifelike rendering of what that house would become if they converted an unwanted formal family room into two extra rooms for the kids. "It really felt like what your home was going to look like," Friedman says. "Some of the girls' rooms were going to be these bright fun colors instead of just a plain white room, so he was able to change the color of the walls and change the color of the furniture." Companies such as Kandel Construction and Bowa in the Washington area work wi