Posts in category 'Home Improvement'

I'm guessing you can see my smile from where you're sitting. OK, I'm not THAT excited about spring cleaning, but I'm not NOT excited. To be fair (for my Letterkenny friends) it's not so much that I love cleaning. It is mostly the fact that we can open the windows and doors and refresh the stale air we have been stuck with all winter. Combine that with a healthy dose of cleaning and decluttering and you have the makings of a happy author. Today I'd like to talk a bit about some of the cleaning tasks that are better left to the pros. Just like roofing, sheetrock and insulation when building a home; these tasks are "possible" for you and I but will have a much better result if we let the smarty-pantses do what they do best.

First out of the gate is upholstery. We recently had a guest stay...

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I've spent the last two weekends working on the lawn. To be fair I have also spent a decent amount of time hiking (snowshoeing actually!) and cycling. I mean, I'm not a crazy person! A man's got to have some fun. For me, escaping into the woods or out on the road is exactly what the doctor ordered (and keeps ordering!). But when those adventures were over, I was looking forward to attacking the yard and getting things cleaned up for this summer. Everything we are going to talk about today is valuable information (IMHO) whether you are planning to sell your home or just looking forward to some quality time spent in the yard with warmer weather. Let's get raking!

Although these statistics come from the National Association of Landscape Professionals, they are still impressive. 79% of consume...

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I have just had the pleasure of moving into a new space. I've actually been in this house for over a year now, but have migrated to a new room. It is much brighter (more windows) and much larger (with a bigger closet!). Since I'm finally feeling a bit more settled, I decided it was time to do some "nesting" and decorating. I've had some pictures stowed away in storage as well as some cool ideas on paint scheme. Now that we've got the spring cleaning out of the way (you DID clean last weekend, right?!) we can move on to making our spaces more our own. Let's get started.

A few years ago my girlfriend and I went to a really cool furniture store while visiting friends in Fort Collins, CO. It was all very cool "rustic" furniture and we even found a few perfect pieces for our home. The one m...

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I just had an amazing weekend of spring cleaning. For those of you who have been reading along, you know that means I had a fantastic time. Decluttering, organizing, scrubbing, shampooing and sweeping were all on the agenda and all were crushed! Of course the reward of a cold beer in the hot tub didn't hurt one little bit. Not to mention the tub was re-filled and we got the chemicals sorted out. You don't want to know what happened in that tub over St. Patrick's Day weekend! Thankfully we avoided the green food coloring.

If you're itching to get cleaning and you are (beyond) ready for spring, this article should help nudge you in the right direction. I have memories of mom (and us kids) taking down all the curtains, washing all the windows, laundering all the blankets and moving all th...

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As I write this, it's a crisp and nose-hair freezing 2 degrees outside. It's dark. And I'd much rather be under a big blanket finishing season 6 of Parks & Recreation. (I know!! Can you believe I've never watched this final season!?) Old Man Winter has us in his boney fingered grip and he does not appear to be letting up anytime soon. I'm still madly in love with winter and, aside from a few unseasonable warm-ups, it has been a great winter for getting outside and playing in the snow.

Last weekend I found myself "puttering" around the garage, filling up the snowblower with gas and running the weed wacker just to remind him of his duties. This got my mind fast-forwarding to spring and some of the projects I have planned for the landscaping around the house. In general we don't have m...

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