Reading an article on the 'rehabilitation' of Boston's South End neighborhood, I was struck by how often it is that restaurants are the Robert Pearys of a district's transformation from 'blight' to 'destination.'  Enter the hot new eatery, enter the city's bold and beautiful.

I've often thought a better index--better and far more interesting--might be the amount of home improvement occurring in that specified neighborhood over a given period of time: how many DIYers returning from Home Depot every Saturday morning with a backseat full of projects; how many painting vans parked in the area during the workweek; how many overstuffed contractor bags lining the curb on trash day.

Boston's Back Bay and South End are two very different neighborhoods and yet, not so dissimilar: home improvement continues apace and we at Catchlight are proud to have completed multiple projects in both areas recently.