Design

Design is the creation of a plan or convention for the construction of an object or a system (as in architectural blueprints, engineering drawings, business processes, circuit diagrams and sewing patterns). Design has different connotations in different fields (see design disciplines below). In some cases the direct construction of an object (as in pottery, engineering, management, cowboy coding and graphic design) is also considered to be design.

Designing often necessitates considering the aesthetic, functional, economic and sociopolitical dimensions of both the design object and design process. It may involve considerable research, thought, modeling, interactive adjustment, and re-design. Meanwhile, diverse kinds of objects may be designed, including clothing, graphical user interfaces, skyscrapers, corporate identities, business processes and even methods of designing.

Thus "design" may be a substantive referring to a categorical abstraction of a created thing or things (the design of something), or a verb for the process of creation, as is made clear by grammatical context.

Toll house

A tollhouse or toll house is a building with accommodation for a toll collector, beside a tollgate on a toll road or canal.

History

Many tollhouses were built by turnpike trusts in England, Wales and Scotland during the 18th and early 19th centuries. Those built in the early 19th century often had a distinctive bay front to give the pikeman a clear view of the road and to provide a display area for the tollboard. In 1840, according to the Turnpike Returns in Parliamentary Papers, there were over 5000 tollhouses operating in England. These were sold off in the 1880s when the turnpikes were closed. Many were demolished but several hundred have survived as domestic houses, with distinctive features of the old tollhouse still visible.

Canal toll houses were built in very similar style to those on turnpikes. They are sited at major canal locks or at junctions. The great age of canal-building in Britain was in the 18th century, so the majority exhibit the typical features of vernacular Georgian architecture. In the English Midlands, a major area of 18th century canal development, most are of mellow red brick and hexagonal in plan, and sufficiently tall to give the lock keeper a good view of local traffic on the canal. Being small, most have proved unsuitable for occupation, and so are often used as shops or tourist information outlets.

Rehab Addict

Rehab Addict is a TV show documenting home renovations, which airs on DIY and HGTV. Rehab Addict debuted on the DIY network on October 14, 2010. Beginning in January 2014, Season 4, was moved to airing on HGTV's prime time schedule.

Host

Nicole Curtis (b. August 20, 1976) advocates for the preservation and restoration of existing architecture over demolition when feasible. She has rehabbed homes in Saint Paul, Minnesota; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Detroit, Michigan; and Akron, Ohio. Her work centers around pre-World War II homes, and her renovation philosophy is to "restore old homes to their former glory" rather than modernization.

Curtis grew up in Lake Orion, Michigan and graduated from Lake Orion High School in 1994. Her family owned a garbage business. She attended college in Georgia, Florida, and Michigan and had her son, Ethan, before she graduated. As of September 2014 she lives in a renovated 1904 home in Detroit. Curtis originally intended on studying law in college but later switched to education.