Today’s Link Love celebrates the bounty of summer!

Find Local Food
Local Harvest
Love buying from local food producers? Find a nearby farmer market or CSA on this site.  Full of reviews and advice, this is a great way to search so you can find the best places to get for juicy tomatoes, mouth-watering melons and more!

Garden Heritage
Seed Savers Exchange
So maybe a visit to the Farmers Market has inspired you to grow your own fruits, veggies and herbs.  A great resource is the Seed Savers Exchange.  It’s a nonprofit committed to biodiversity and preserving and sharing heirloom seeds.  If you want to grow a black tomato, a white watermelon or just some beautiful flowers, Seed Savers Exchange is the place to go.

Outdoor: Fire Pit Roundup
Remodelista
Remodelista took a look at hottest fire pits out there.  It’s a great way to add a focal point to the yard and express your personal outdoor style.  It will serve you well past summer, and even on warm summer nights, fire pits are the perfect place to relax with a tropical drink…

Island Life
Tropical Drinks Blog
Mix up one of these refreshing cocktails on a hot day!  Featuring margaritas, daiquiris and more, this blog contains a wealth of information on the best drinks of summer.

10 Ways to Beat the Heat
This Old House
If you find yourself longing for autumn’s cooler days, don’t despair! They’re right around the corner.  In the meantime, check out This Old House and their ideas for staying cool.  These basic, commonsense suggestions will help keep you comfortable and maybe even save money.

Vacations should be full of relaxation, a chance to get away from the demands of everyday life and let the weight of the world fall from your shoulders. Ideally, a vacation residence should facilitate that sort of mood – as this Swedish house, featured on Home Design Find, does.

It’s not large, and it’s not fancy, but it is well-designed and achieves its purpose: to blend in with its surroundings and offer a calming, water-centered retreat.  The “Swedish Mill House,” designed by Wingardhs, combines the warmth of Scandinavian design with the cool aesthetic of Japanese Zen.

The main feature is an outdoor pool that looks like a pond, with rocks and greenery surrounding it.  It is right off the deck of the house, so it’s easy to jump in after a sauna.  The pool and sauna are the focal point of the Swedish Mill House.  Of course, you can’t spend all your time sweating and swimming, so this vacation home also has facilities for cooking and sleeping.  But in keeping with the philosophy behind the design, the space devoted to these functions is minimal.

Blonde wood, stone and a wall made of glass emphasize the site’s natural beauty and look modern, yet warm.  Cool water surrounding the house relaxes the senses and lets life’s worries slip away.

Photos are courtesy of James Silverman.

Whether your feelings about your kitchen cabinets are close to “I can live with them” or if they’re more like “I downright dislike them,” this DIY Magazine article found on Apartment Therapy should be of some help.

DIY lists ten thrifty do-it-yourself kitchen cabinet projects step-by-step and are rather creative in their suggestions. They may be good options for those who want to give their cabinets some more life but don’t necessarily want to invest in new ones.

Here are a few ideas off that list:

• Antique cabinet: Give your cabinet an antique look with country blue paint topped with a burnt umber glaze. Gingerbread appliqués found in the woodworking aisle of a home center add extra character. DIY tip: We love applying glaze over painted cabinets and furniture for a classic look without the antiques-store price. What you’ll need: Cornflower blue paint, paint brushes, gingerbread cutouts, cream paint, wood glue, burnt umber glaze, rag.
• Screen cabinet: Even though this modern-feel cabinet front looks spendy, it’s light on the budget. We found the radiator screen at a home center. (Stroll the aisles of your local store and find all sorts of modern treasures like it.) DIY tip: Removing the cabinet door’s center panel yields plenty of replacement possibilities — glass, metal, fabric or beaded board. What you’ll need: Drill and 1/2-inch bit, jigsaw, white paint, paint brushes, 1-inch wood strips, black paint, wood glue.
• Say it with stencils: Simple-color cabinets with a daring design put a little punch into your kitchen. What you’ll need: white paint, paint brush, stencil adhesive, damask stencil (from modernmasters.com), stencil brush, aqua metallic crafts paint.

Photo courtesy of Apartment Therapy

I have had a chance to digest some of the stimulus money that is out there as it pertains to your home, and the more I read, the more I realize that you should not be talking to a builder or architect but rather your accountant.

I am actually half kidding. The basics: The credit is for products “only” that apply, and there is a 30 percent kicker on your taxes, up to $1,500 maximum. That number is good for high-efficiency furnaces, water heaters, insulation, windows and doors, even some appliances. Now, in my last post, I wrote about the average cost of replacing all the windows in your entire home, which would be around $20,000-$30,000. The maximum tax credit on that number is $1,500, but you can stretch that money out.

Here’s how: The windows that qualify need to be rated to a certain standard — a 0.30 U factor and 0.30 Solar Heat Gain Coefficient (SHG). But you do not need that on every window on your home. So depending on how your home is situated you may choose to put these higher-efficiency windows on a side that gets more sun or wind. Areas of your home that do not get blasted with harsh weather do not need the added upgrade and cost.

Then even with all that you still need to consult an accountant to make sure you qualify. Tax laws can be confusing. The fact is, new windows will lower your energy bills and add value to your home. And now you can even get a tax credit.

[Editor's note: Marvin.com has a page of information and resources about the $1,500 energy-efficiency tax credit here.]

Photo courtesy of RogueSun Media on Flickr