I have to admit that I am a sucker for hardwood floors, but having hardwood flooring installed is expensive. So when my wife and I discovered hardwood floors underneath the carpet of our 1950’s home, we were overjoyed. I mean, “refinishing” an existing hardwood floor is hundreds of dollars cheaper than having new hardwood installed. Sounds pretty peachy am I right? I mean how hard can it be to refinish a hardwood floor? Well, here’s a handful of things that I ran into while I refinished our floors: (more...)

Regardless of how much work you do on your home, a few simple tools can save you a lot of time and money. You don’t need to build a fence to justify owning a hammer…hanging a picture will do just fine. (more...)

Among the valuable life lessons I’ve picked up over the years, “clean as you go” is possibly one of the hardest to abide by for me, even today. For some reason digesting in relaxation on the couch has always made the perfect segue after eating a great meal. Of course then there’s family time, story time, bath time, night-night time, quiet time, pay-the-bills time, exercise time, and before I know it I skip over cleaning time right on to bed time. Unfortunately, choosing not to clean the dishes, stove, and counter tops only adds to the chore later on and often creates ugly stains that seem impossible to remove. (more...)

I hate invading insects. There, I said it! During the first year I owned my home, I constantly stumbled onto pockets of various marauding insects. Fire ants were most prevalent (and most hated), but I also encountered my fair share of flying, stinging bugs like yellow jackets and wasps and the occasional gut wrenching cockroach. I tried many pest control products including granules, boric acid, boiling water, and flame thrower but none work as effectively or apply as easily as Bayer Advanced Home Pest Control. (more...)

My husband and I were adamant do-it-yourselfers with our first house. We painted walls, installed ceiling fans and light fixtures, replaced door hardware, landscaped the backyard and finished off our garage. There was one house project we fell miserably short on completing. Installing wood blinds throughout our house. This was one time we knew we were in over our heads and called the professionals. (more...)

You know, when you embark upon a home improvement project, you don’t always realize the importance of the small details.  Such was the case with our kitchen remodeling project. (more...)

I love to garden.  No, I don’t grow tomatoes and corn.  Rather, I like to garden for the sake of beauty. Luckily for me, I have 15 acres of land.  So, I have a pretty extensive canvass upon which I get to work.  As a result, I have gardens all over my property.  Each one has been named according to some feature, such as the pond garden, the doghouse garden, the bench garden, the shed garden and more.  (more...)

If you are planning a kitchen remodeling project and you have the room, I highly recommend installing a separate range from your oven.  At the same time, you need to really give it some thought before you go this route so you can be certain the overall layout of your kitchen will be user-friendly and attractive. (more...)

When planning for my kitchen renovation, one of the decisions I had to make was what type of oven I wanted to have. After doing a bit of research, I ultimately decided to purchase a double convection oven - and boy do I love it!  Let me tell you why. (more...)

Bills!  Ugh!  (more...)