Bob Vila discusses and visits Lincoln Road, with architectural historian Allan Shulman. Carl Fisher, �Mr. Miami Beach�, imagined Lincoln Road as a grand thoroughfare in 1915, along the lines of Fifth Avenue or Avenue de la Paix in Paris. Lincoln Road was home to elite shops, department stores, hotels, and theaters until its decline in the 1950s. It was reborn as a pedestrian mall through the vision of architect Morris Lapidus, who recreated Lincoln Road as a pedestrian mall and city garden for Miami with exotic plants and fanciful pavilions scattered throughout. In this century, Lincoln Road has once again been rediscovered and renewed. Today it is a Miami hot spot for shopping, dining, and people watching. Shulman describes the theatres, hotels, restaurants, and stores and how the buildings have evolved architecturally throughout Miami�s history.

Here's another great tip from BobVila.com. Before you remodel, consider how long you plan on owning your home. Some choices make more sense if you re selling sooner. Others, like adding personal touches, are better if you re planning on staying in your house five years or more. Keeping up with the Joneses can actually be a good rule of thumb if you re planning to sell your house within the next five years. First, take a look around your neighborhood. If it s rife with gourmet kitchens in granite and stainless-steel, bringing yours up to speed makes sense. But if homes are more modest in your area, a simple upgrade to your appliances, flooring and countertops might be more prudent. Bathrooms are always a safe bet for boosting your home s value. A new half bath (or two!), master bath or a larger, updated shower in the family bath are worthwhile remodels. But beware of super-fancy or trendy fixtures that can date quickly or not appeal to potential buyers taste. Studies have shown that new low-maintenance siding, windows and decks easily pay for themselves when you sell. But unless you plan to stay in your house for 10 years, skip the baroque fountain and the hot tub! Here s one more tip. Rather than bumping out for more living space, look to existing areas that are underused. Not only will it cost less per square foot, finishing your attic or basement will make the rest of your house more energy-efficient, and that sells, too. Find out more at BobVila.com: The ultimate home improvement web site! BobVila.com 2008

Bob Vila meets with Bob Berle at Elm Court in the Berkshire Hills. Berle�s great-great grandparents, Vanderbilt-Sloanes, had the home built in 1886. It expanded through several additions to become the largest shingle-style home in the United States. The original architects, Peabody and Stearns, oversaw all the additions to the home and kept it within its original character while adding some flare, like the Tudor timberwork and towers. The Vanderbilt-Sloanes liked size and when they copied a fountain from the Piazza Mattei in Rome, they increased it by about 20 times the size of the original. The grounds and surrounding gardens were designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, the landscape architect who designed Central Park in New York. The grounds beautifully transition the home into the surrounding countryside. Elm Court, named after a three hundred-year-old Elm tree in the backyard, has been the site of several historic gatherings including the 1919 Elm Court Talks that led to the Treaty of Versailles.

In his grand finale here in Malibu Beach, Bob take us on a tour of the tiled courtyard with palms and fountain. We get a surprise visit from "Home Improvement's" Tool Time Girl, Pamela Anderson Lee who talks about water heaters. And we look at the complex electrical panel. Starting with the garage door and its antique reproduction carvings to the lanterns and the pergola Then Steve shows the types of palms he brought in to exhibit textures, a Lady Finger Palm, a Pygmy Date in the rear and a Sago in the foreground and ferns in the background. He also brought in dwarf stock and primrose for color. Bob brought in a fountain from cantera stone. In other areas they are adding faux stone with latex paint. Inside we review the hybrid cabling system routed through one main area near the electrical system.

Bob returns to the Stockbridge, Massachusetts, landmark home Naumkeag for a tour of the elaborate gardens.

Bob visits the Global Solar factory in Tucson, Arizona, to see how they make their unique solar-electric (photovoltaic) devices. Neil Holstad, president of Global Solar, leads a tour of the plant. The factory itself includes many environmentally friendly features, including abundant day lighting, recycled brick fascia, graywater recycling, concrete containing fly ash, rammed-earth garden walls and energy efficient windows. They go inside the ultra-clean plant and see the unique flexible photovoltaic devices. The flexible material allows the devices to be used in many applications, such as the solar shingles used in the Habitat for Humanity project in Yonkers. Robert Wendt, Director of Technical Operations, shows Bob the materials used to make the solar cells and one of the manufacturing machines they invented for producing them.

Ryley and Mike Wescott inspect the basement concrete slab after the pour and then they go over other construction details in the basement.

It's off to Tucson, Arizona, where Bob tours Civano, a housing development using a variety of earth-friendly construction approaches.

Bob ties the look of the stone lower fa�ade of the Berkshire�s modular home to The Mount, famed author Edith Wharton�s home. Bob take a visit to Wharton�s Sunken Gardens with Stephanie Copeland, president of the Edith Wharton Restoration Foundation. The formal gardens are of a European style. Her garden design reflects her theory that each step away from the home is a step closer to nature. As the visitor descends the sloping terraced gardens they get closer to the forest. Wharton designed a Linden walk that uses Linden trees and bushes to create a box and windows looking out into the gardens and beyond.

Bob visits Vizcaya, a remarkable Italian Renaissance-style "palace" with formal gardens situated in Miami. Industrialist James Deering spent an amazing $20 million between 1914 and 1916 on Vizcaya. Doris Littlefield, the head curator, gives Bob a tour of the villa. Starting in the East Loge room facing Biscayne Bay. The house�s seventy rooms are designed around a center courtyard. Many of the home�s architectural pieces were antiques imported from Italy. The estate�s grounds, originally 180 acres, are now composed of 12 acres of gardens, some formal with 17th century sculptures.