Don’t Make These Remodeling Mistakes

Remodeling MistakesSpring time is fast-approaching, and with it comes do it yourself (DIY) projects. Just because it is cold and dreary out now doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t be thinking about these upcoming projects and avoiding any remodeling mistakes. Take advantage of the fact that you will be indoors and do some brainstorming and prioritizing of the DIY projects you want to accomplish in 2012.

Zippy Shell recently published a blog highlighting The 4 Biggest Remodeling Mistakes and how to avoid these remodeling mistakes that we thought was pretty insightful. Here’s what they found: Read More

Some of the Worst Home Inspections Ever

This Old House has an incredibly disturbing, yet incredibly interesting series on their website titled “Home Inspection Nightmares“. It’s basically just a compilation of some of the worst home inspections and their findings, ranging from major mold issues to items such as zip ties and basketballs being used as stand-in hardware tools. There were leaks and leaky pipes (that’s a high water bill), hedges like this one that is overgrown and growing into crevices like chimneys, surprise and not welcome Read More

The Top 10 Projects to Increase the Value of Your Home

If you are considering moving into a “fixer-upper” type of home, are into the business of flipping houses, or are simply at a point in your current home where remodeling is necessary, the list of projects to increase the value of your home below will help you out. This list gives you insight as to which project have a higher return on investment than others. Some of the projects are major projects that require experts to come and help you tackle the project components. While others may be simple like gardening and enhancing your outside. If you love to garden and do not mind hard work, this may be a project for you to do it yourself. Some projects may appear to have a lower return on investment but in the long run they may help you sell your home faster and for slightly more money because they can differentiate your house compared to others in the neighborhood. A great project to consider is painting your house, both inside and out, can actually give you a huge return on investment and also give you a fresh look to your home.  It will help you determine where to start in the process by showing you which projects have the highest ROI (return on investment). Read More

How to Save Energy and Money During the Harsh Winter Months

It’s not incredibly difficult to find ways to save energy and money during the warmer months. Sometimes all you have to do is turn the air conditioner off and open a few windows. Winter is different. Unless you have a wood burner built into your house, you can’t just turn the heat off and have a different solution. For that reason, your focus should be on two things to save energy and money: 1) Keeping the warm air inside your home, Read More

Outdoor Furniture Maintenance to Make Your Furniture Last

It’s probably happened to a majority of us. We buy fancy new outdoor furniture for our patio for the summer, we love it… we show it off… we use it every other day. Then it starts getting cold and we don’t use it as often, but it still continues to sit outside. Then winter comes and it snows. And the furniture still sits outside. Then it gets stained. It stinks. It gets ruined. So outdoor furniture maintenance is lacking in this case, but lesson learned. Read More