Home Improvement
Easy Ways to Save Energy
With this fall's spike in oil and natural gas prices and the further impact Hurricane Katrina will have on this winter's heating oil supplies, it's become more important than ever to make sure our homes are as energy-efficient as possible...Log Cabin Living: Soften the Décor with Fabric, Artwork, and Plants
If you're looking for a rustic living experience, log cabins - either individually built or from a prefab kit - are a great choice; but they do present some unique decorating challenges. Most often the interior walls around the perimeter of the home are constructed of the same rough logs as the exterior; so what do you do to define your décor, or to provide a new look to a home that's become boring to you...Turn a Tract Home into Your Own Personal Retreat
We're all familiar with tract homes: white or light gray houses featuring small rooms with white walls, prefab cabinets, a postage stamp of a front and back yard. Well, you can transform one of these generic-looking houses into a personal retreat reflecting your own unique identity; all you need are a little creativity, some paint, and a careful selection of the right furnishings...Restoring a Home? There are lots of design and materials decisions to make
When building a new home or renovating an old one, there are innumerable choices in commercially produced building and finishing materials...Add a Dynamic Design Accent to Your Homewith the Right Staircase
Stairways are a wonderful thing. They suggest a path to things unseen, hidden destinations, secret lives. If you have a multistory home or are planning to build one, take a few minutes to think about the stairs...For the Friend Who Has Everything - A Consumable Gift
As the holiday seasons approach, most of us switch into gift-giving mode, and start looking for that perfect item for each of our friends and family members. And we all have one or two individuals on the list who are incredibly hard to shop for, not because they don't have interests, but because they already have absolutely everything they could want or need. The newest DVDs? Got 'em. A great cashmere sweater? Closets full of them. The best kitchen gadgets? The top golf or skiing accessories? Tickets to the latest shows? Got 'em, got 'em, got 'em...Introduce Your Kids to Your Favorite Classic Toys
Remember toys without batteries? Without buttons and video screens, that involved physical activity? Toys that engaged the child's imagination? This holiday season, think about introducing your children or grandchildren to the toys, games, and books that excited you when you were a kid...Food of the Month Clubs Go Gourmet
The first food of the month club, started decades ago, may have been the Fruit of the Month Club; the company sent out a box containing several pieces of a different fruit each month - different types of apples, pears, and more exotic fare. The idea caught on, and now numerous coffee clubs, beer clubs, and other gourmet food clubs delight thousands of lucky recipients each month...Do-It-Yourself Hits the Housing Market: Build Your Own Home Using a Kit
Customize your new home and still enjoy the convenience of modular housing with a do-it-yourself kit. Whether you want a log home, a conventional stick built home, or a geodesic dome, there is a wealth of choices which allow you to build in a variety of options according to your own needs...Twenty-First-Century Barn Raising: Build Your Own Barn with the Right Kit
In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in some areas of the rural United States, whenever a barn was needed, it was normal practice for the farmer to call together his neighbors and, over the course of a day, put up a rugged, spacious barn that would serve its owners for decades. The practice made a difficult and lengthy task easy and fast as it forged a bond among members of the community...Wood Boilers: An Improvement on the Traditional Wood Stove
Wood boilers take the idea of the traditional wood stove and improve on it, solving some problems inherent in wood burning and making wood a clean, safe, and efficient source of heat...The Long and Short of It: Finding Clothes for Tall and Short Men
Ill-fitting clothing does not give a good first impression; men wearing high-water pants, or baggy sweaters with sleeves too long for them, can look unkempt and unprofessional. In this regard, tall and short men have one thing in common: It's awfully hard for them to put together a complete, functional wardrobe that fits right and is comfortable while presenting a stylish, impeccable look. Unless a man has the funds to order custom-tailored garments, which can be expensive, his choices may be limited...Are You a Paper Packrat? Here's a Creative Solution.
Are you incapable of throwing out a piece of paper because you're afraid you may need the information on it later? Do you have piles of paper on your desk, boxes of magazine articles and brochures in your closet, and heaps of magazines and newspapers tucked in a corner of your bedroom..."The Further You Go, the Behinder You Get": Interest-Only Mortgages Are a Bad Deal!
A combination of banking deregulation, the growth of the mortgage industry, and the recent housing boom has resulted in a proliferation of mortgage products available to prospective home buyers. Conventional fixed and variable interest mortgages, which traditionally have required a 20 percent down payment, have been joined by a number of government-backed and private mortgages requiring little or no down payment and available with or without "points," or lump sums paid up front in exchange for a lower interest rate...Upscale Seasonal Rentals Offer Adventure, a Change of Scene
Imagine renting a villa in Cannes, a penthouse in Aspen, a beachfront property in the Caribbean. It's possible to rent beautiful homes in the most popular resort areas in the world, for prices ranging from a few thousand dollars a month up to six figures...Kit Homes: Popular for Over a Century
Kit homes, or homes that come in pieces ready for assembly, are not a new phenomenon. Back in the nineteenth century, people all over the United States could open their Sears, Roebuck catalog and order one of several styles of homes that would be loaded onto a train and shipped to the customer. Craftsman homes in a few distinct styles can still be seen in just about every state in the Union, and are now considered historically valuable properties...Need Storage or Work Space? Consider a Utility Shed.
Whether you just have lots of miscellaneous stuff to store or you need room for a specific purpose, the range of utility sheds on the market provides a valuable addition to your living space...Sleeping Cool for Summer
Summer's coming, and so are long, hot summer nights. And with utility bills going up along with the price of fossil fuels, it might be a good idea to find ways to combat the heat without flipping the switch on that energy-hogging air conditioner...Buying a Home? A House Inspection Is a Necessity.
Are you thinking about buying a new home? If so, hiring a skilled home inspector to examine the structure before buying is an absolute necessity...Custom Goes Modular: Creating Your Custom-Designed Home
It may seem like a contradiction in terms to think of a modular home and a custom-designed home as one and the same, but with the creative and efficient building techniques developed by the current crop of upscale modular home builders, it's easy to construct a unique home off-site, ship it, and assemble it on the homeowner's land...Celebrate That New Home with a Great Housewarming Gift
Whether you have a friend or family member who bought a home, or a new neighbor who just moved in next door, a carefully chosen housewarming gift will be a welcome gesture. Flowers, home-baked goods, and gift baskets filled with delicious foods are all great ways to say "good luck" or "hello"...Keeping Your Children's Memories: Save Photos, Drawings, School Papers and Toys
If you're like most parents, you have scrapbooks full of pictures of your kids and other family members. But have you given thought to collecting memories for your children? A little planning and effort on your part will create a collection of memorabilia that will call to mind many happy times as your children approach adulthood...Condo or Co-op? The Difference Has Real Consequences.
Condominiums and cooperatives are both, for the most part, apartment complexes where the residents have an ownership interest. Both generally share in the cost of maintenance...Condos: A Great Alternative to Single-Family Homes
Whether you're just starting out and shopping for your first house, looking for an easy-care retirement home, or want upscale, maintenance-free digs that leave you time for more exciting pursuits, a condo might be the perfect choice....Cluster Housing - Environmentally Friendly, Socially Supportive
Cluster housing, which is beginning to be considered in New Hampshire, uses a different approach...Real Estate Bubble Burst? Wonderful!
Realtors and real estate developers around the country are bemoaning the fact that the real estate market has slowed down in recent months...Creative Uses for Build-Your-Own Storage Areas
Build-your-own kits for storage sheds and barns can provide valuable room for your excess stuff, making your life a lot easier. But there are many more creative uses for these outbuildings...Living Small a Growing Trend
"Living Large" is a saying that connotes the excess of the last decade of life in the United States. Elaborate, custom-built homes, many boasting thousands of square feet in living space, luxury cars, designer clothes all reflect an obsession with material things, a desire for "more," that permeates every class of society...Food
August Is Blueberry Month!
There's no better season than summer, when access to fresh, locally grown produce is at its peak. And August is great, because locally harvested blueberries abound....Add Some Pizzazz to Your Meals with Gourmet Specialty Foods
Adding a touch of flavor to basic ingredients can turn a so-so meal into a delicious and unexpected treat. The addition of carefully selected gourmet jams and sauces can bring a whole new world of flavor to simple fare....Pest Control
Control Pests without Harmful Chemicals
Garden and household pests - unwanted insects, including flies, mosquitoes, fleas, cockroaches, and moths, and intruders like mice and rats - are annoying, destructive, and potentially harmful to the health of humans and pets. But the use of chemical toxins to control these pests is a problem - who knows what some of these chemicals themselves can do to the health of our family members...Are Termites Eating You out of House and Home?
Human beings have been battling insects as long as both species have been on this planet. Bugs have been known to cause both mild and severe health problems, destroy crops, and generally make a nuisance of themselves. Termites, while not known to directly cause illness, can literally eat your house out from under you, causing structural damage that weakens your home, sometimes beyond repair...Eating You Out of House and Home
It's not your relatives; it's termites. These tiny insects can slip through the smallest cracks in your house and start eating all the wood in your home, until they turn your beloved refuge into a pile of sawdust. Capable of causing more damage than most natural disasters, these bugs are designed to eat-and eat-and eat. They eat twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week...That Termite Eating Your House May Save the Planet!
Termites are pests, right? Destructive, costly, pain-in-the-rear insects that can literally bring your house down around your ears if you don't catch and eliminate them fast enough....Some Simple Building Techniques Can Help Prevent Termite Infestations
Termites are a major problem for homeowners in many parts of the United States; these destructive insects can quickly cause serious damage to a house and even destroy the structure if not dealt with in time...Family Events
Let Your Wedding Invitations Reflect the Ceremony Itself
Wedding ceremonies these days are as varied as the couples who take that big step; from traditional church weddings to mid-air nuptials as the participants float underneath matching parachutes, the locations and modes of marrying are wonderfully diverse. Why not choose a wedding invitation which reflects the design and spirit of the occasion? Here are some considerations...Choose Full-Service Banquet Facilities for Weddings, Anniversaries, or Reunions
Maybe your daughter has come to you starry-eyed and announced her engagement, talking about all kinds of plans for a big, splashy wedding. Or your parents are looking forward to their golden wedding anniversary, and as the "glue" that binds the family together, you're being looked upon by your brothers and sisters, cousins, aunts and uncles as the natural choice to pull off a big anniversary party. Maybe you're responsible for a long-awaited family reunion, or a reunion of your husband's army buddies, or the annual firefighters' association banquet...Combine Gourmet Foods and Recipes for a Unique Offering
An attractive gift box or basket filled to overflowing with wonderful specialty foods is a great gift for your favorite gourmet; but why not add a unique touch by including a collection of recipes along with the basket...Add Finishing Touches to Your Wardrobe with the Right Jewelry
Add the perfect touch to that new outfit of yours by accessorizing it with the right jewelry. From fine silver filigree earrings to heavy copper bracelets and pendants, from delicate crocheted bead necklaces to abstract designs fashioned from polymer clay, the right piece of costume jewelry can do a lot to set off a particular item of clothing...Planning a Summer Wedding? Consider Combining It with a Family Vacation.
Is there a summer wedding in your future? If like many couples you have to fly in friends and family members from around the country for the event, why not take advantage of that fact to invite the whole group to a resort for a spectacular family vacation...Get Ready for Summer!
Ah, summer! Long hot, lazy days, picnics in the sun, afternoons at the beach, barbecues in the backyard...Provide a Quiet Retreat for Your Overnight Guests
f you've got family or friends visiting you, more than likely you're glad to see them, and they you. But even with the best of relationships, your guests (and you) are going to need some quiet time away from each other...Cool Comfort for Hot Summer Days: An Old-Fashioned Chocolaty Favorite
Remember chocolate ice cream sodas? Once a soda fountain standard, they've disappeared along with the fountains that were so popular decades ago, replaced by...After the Baby Arrives: Help Out with Thoughtful Gifts
If friends or relatives have recently added a new baby to the family, a thoughtful gift from you can make it easier for them to acclimate themselves to the new arrival....Recycle Your Greeting Cards-Creatively
My mother had a Christmas morning ritual that she followed for decades: after the presents had been opened and while Christmas dinner was cooking, she would peel the Scotch tape from the wrapping paper, then carefully fold the paper and put it away for next year; then she'd get a pair of shears and cut....