Featured Home Owner and DIY Blogs

Home owners share advice on remodeling, DIY projects...

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Home Ownership Blog Archive

	See How They Glisten! Posted by: MichaelNYC on 7/28/2010 Over the July 4th weekend, with temperatures in the high 90s, I found myself hankering for a refreshing ice-cold beverage. I made my way to the kitchen and the 20-year old Magic Chef refrigerator that came with my home when I purchased it. I poured myself a glass of iced tea and took that first exciting swig...but something was amiss. The tea wasn't so much "iced" as "colder than room temperature". I quickly did a spot check of other items in the old 'fridge and discovered this "lack of ful... Read More
	It's Always Something Posted by: kjb2052 on 7/13/2010 If there's one thing I've learned about owning a home, it's that there's always something to be done to it... in it... around it...for it... Before my husband and I bought our house, we lived in a small apartment. Ahh, the carefree days of the landlord having your garbage disposal replaced when it starts making that strange gargling noise. Having the building manager send out a plumber to fix a clogged tub. Telling the management company you need your carpets steam cleaned, si... Read More
	Sharing Poison Ivy Posted by: shamaker on 7/6/2010 3 The other week, I contacted poison ivy from, I suspect, vines I was pulling along the fence that separates our backyard from two of our neighbors'. The poison ivy most likely was hiding among the other vines that grew alongside and under and over and, well, you get the picture. It was a mass of green weeds that had to go and my arms and legs paid the price of my weeding activity. As I was pulling the vines, I was thinking of how long we had waited before addressing the rock garden al... Read More
	What Make's A House A Home? Posted by: bigdreamer1 on 6/14/2010 I hate leaving unfinished business. When I do something I want to finish it so I can have closure, enjoy the fruits of my labor and check it off of my to do list. What a mess I was. Going, going, going from store to store and errand to errand like a woman possessed. I wore Mj out with my relentless planning and need to do so much so fast. He said, "Take a break, relax." I wanted everything to be perfectly organized and I wanted it NOW! I'd walk into Wal Mart knowing I needed so many thin... Read More
	NeighborlyNeighbors Posted by: etiquetteguy on 6/14/2010 Neighborly Neighbors I have recently been approached by two different families concerning a real problem with neighbors. In searching my library of etiquette books, I found no reference to this and so am addressing it here. The matter at hand is unannounced visits by neighbors. In the ‘old days’ one did not call on anyone without phoning first to see if it would be convenient. Today, this consideration has seemingly flown out the window. We visited close friends a couple... Read More
	"The Money Pit" Posted by: justcallmemom on 6/14/2010 If you own an older home and have never seen the movie, "The Money Pit," you need to put it on your "movies to see" list. Our house is almost 90 years old and we have lived in it for 27 years. Almost all the updates and repairs that have been done are virtually unseen by most people who visit - we have had a new septic system put in, a new roof, a new furnace, a couple new water heaters,a new well pump, several sump pumps, and lots and lots of plumbing and pipes replaced. Any time we hear some ... Read More
	A house vs. raw land: What's your take? Posted by: toorockmysoul on 3/19/2010 Recently, our son came over for dinner with his girlfriend. After dinner, we found him in my wife's studio overlooking the back end of our 5 acres. The scene eventually turned into a conversation in which he mentioned to us that he has been casually looking at property, specifically raw land. This actually surprised us, as he had never mentioned it before this night. Nonetheless, we listened to his desires of one day soon owning a parcel on which he could build a small cabin. The... Read More
	Under Contract Now Where's My Loan? Posted by: bigdreamer1 on 4/28/2010 It's funny how so many things in the home buying process are backwards. You can get pre approved to buy hundreds of thousands worth of real estate but nobody will promise to give you any money for it until you have already signed a contract saying that you will buy it. On a resale you fall in love with a house but it's only until after you have signed the contract that the home inspection is ordered that could ultimately break the deal if there are any problems. We've agreed to buy a new contru... Read More
	Dealing with the High Cost of Home Energy Posted by: toorockmysoul on 3/6/2010 1 Recently we took advantage of a program through our state, to essentially have an energy audit done on our home. After a short wait on a list, we finally came up for our audit. We were surprised to find that we already had a pretty decent rating! However, we were given the report with many suggestions to increase the energy value of our home. At our level, we will get all of our updates/repairs pretty much paid for through the state program as long as we accomplish the points required of us... Read More
	Trying To Buy A Home Posted by: bigdreamer1 on 1/28/2010 It's so hard to find a house that you like. Well, let me rephrase that. One you like AND can afford. One house we went into smelled like moldy cat and the other was missing the front portion of the stove. Never seen that before. There is always something and you typically can expect that you are never going to find everything you wanted in one house. It's either price, location, the size of the yard or that extra sink you won't get. Unless your pockets are super deep and sometimes even then som... Read More
	Home Sweet Home? Posted by: katecaffrey on 1/19/2010 Home Sweet Home? My family lived in a nice-looking, larger-than-average-sized house happily for around 10 years. My parents were doing a good job financially-stewarding and decided it was time that they fulfilled one of their life-long goals of building a new home—a new, cozy home-base that would be open to my sisters, our friends, and even a home that could potentially act as a future haven for their up-coming grandchildren. Besides, there were better education and extra-curricula... Read More
	A story of joy, being home owners. Posted by: toorockmysoul on 1/3/2010 1 The new year came in like a wisp of breeze on my silent closed eyes. Yes, I slept through the whole event! Maybe it's age, who knows, but I just couldn't muster the effort to greet 2010 until I woke the following day. So there I was.... Sleeping in I was left to watch the re-run of the Rose Parade on the Travel Channel! I never in all my years have figured out (minus the time zone difference) why they always seem to show the parade at dawns crack, and hour when most civilized people are st... Read More
	2010 Goal Setting for Home Owners Posted by: bugcandy on 12/31/2009 As the Founder of StageofLife.com, I wanted to wish our home owner readers a Happy New Year in 2010. To help provide some ideas on new opportunities for your life this New Year, check out our... "Goal Setting Worksheet." Print it here. Feel free to complete this worksheet with a family member or friend. You'll be surprised at the answers you'll re... Read More
	Molly -vs- The Christmas Tree Posted by: kjb2052 on 12/11/2009 This is the first year we are celebrating Christmas with our one-year-old Labrador Retriever, Molly. Molly is very sweet, but also VERY energetic... and into everything... and constantly craves our attention, and will stop at nothing to get it. Have I painted you a clear picture of our precarious little labbie? Can you also see where this is going? My husband and I had decided we would not get the 5'-6' Christmas tree we normally get, and would instead avoid the... Read More
	When the heater doesn't cut it. Posted by: toorockmysoul on 11/19/2009 With winter officially here and the temperatures dropping, much goes through my mind of late. First thing is, "it's cold!". Another is the warm and comfortable temperature inside the house. And still another is how hard a struggle it is at times to maintain that cozy and comfortable warmth within. We are in the midst of an early cold snap this past week. With the temps bottoming at -18F at night and just scraping a smooth 7F by day, the task is an around the clock effort. We primarily hea... Read More
	Little Boxes Posted by: kjb2052 on 10/14/2009 When I was in high school, I was convinced I wanted to live in a tract home. I think that's because the tract homes in my area were the newer homes. Homes that had sidewalks, and nicely paved streets, and culs-de-sac. And then in college, and even when I was very newly married, I still thought I wanted a nice NEW home. Not a tract home - I was over those. But a home that didn't look so dated. No weird colored tile in the kitchen or bathroom... no old scuffed wood floors. I didn't ca... Read More
	The Throne Posted by: spicegirl on 8/16/2009 A little background for readers who don't follow my regular blog: I started a DIY update project in my bathroom that became a THING. Under the ceramic tile was not concrete backer board, but rather 2 inches of poured concrete. (Had to be sledgehammered out.) Under the layer of wallpaper (that I didn't put up, but knew was there), was ANOTHER layer of wallpaper that happened to be covering up drywall that was missing its paper covering. All the walls had to be patched. Every aspect of the u... Read More
	To Remodel or Not to Remodel Posted by: shamaker on 8/6/2009 1 That’s the question we debated earlier this year as we watched interest rates plummet and looked around our increasingly crowded dining room table. As we moved one child out of a high chair to the table and our youngest into the high chair, we realized that space was becoming a bit squished. Add to that the daunting thought of where were we going to put another backpack when our second child headed off to school in the fall, and we quickly decided that remodeling would be a good thing. Read More
	The cobbler and his wife's shoes. Posted by: toorockmysoul on 7/30/2009 It all started out innocently enough. A thought....a great thought. A vision if you will. And then another vision...and another and another. Essentially I have managed to renovate and remodel our entire house, never lifting a finger in doing so and didn't have to pay a single dime to have it done. Amazed? So am I! Here in lies the problem: if only I could close my eyes and bring all of these wonderful visions in my head to life! Thankfully I have a wife who is patient. Maybe ... Read More
	Surprise, Surprise... Posted by: kjb2052 on 7/7/2009 7 With new home ownership comes all sorts of little surprises… and normally not great ones. Like, “oh look, here’s a hole where a mouse could get it.” “Oh look, a mouse must have gotten in.” “Hm, I didn’t remember the paint peeling off this step when we moved in.” “I guess the step that used to be painted is concrete and not wood.” Etc, etc... You can usually assume that when an interrogative sentence starts with, “Honey, when we moved in…”, it’s not going to end in a pleasant surprise. Read More
	The green green grass of home! Posted by: toorockmysoul on 7/12/2009 Aah, the summer of 'green grass', 2009. There was a time I doubted I would ever be able to bring my dead lawn back to a green state of life. But two years after purchasing our home here in Alaska, my grass is green, I am loving it and it...lovin life! You see, this is not the first house we have owned. But it is the house we bought from 3,000 miles away, as we sold our cabin in the Central Sierra Nevada mountains in California a little over two years ago. That was the beginning of a major life ... Read More
	Anybody Want to Buy a House? Posted by: Joe on 6/24/2009 Our house has now been on the market for 67 days—not that we're counting or anything. Nine weeks ago, we were scrambling and pulling all-nighters to get the place decluttered, cleaned, and otherwise presentable. We think we did a pretty good job, and were excited to see what others thought. Even more importantly, we were hoping someone would snap it up right away! Well, that hasn't happened yet. We remain hopeful but a little more resigned to the likelihood that we're not going to be a spe... Read More
	Hades Strikes Back Posted by: spicegirl on 6/21/2009 Now that it is officially Hell-hot here in the south, and we have retreated to either air-conditioned safety or the pool, I feel as though we are neglecting the outside of the house. Like the poor exterior is taking a beating of heat and moisture, and we are helpless against the forces of nature. By 3 PM., all of my plants have totally wilted. My beautiful spring hydrangeas have literally been burned to a crisp. I have little bacon pieces where petals were. The evaporation out of my founta... Read More
	Unfulfilled Desire Posted by: spicegirl on 6/10/2009 There are certain household appliances with which I have been obsessed: bread maker, ice cream maker, juicer. There are some household appliances I have flirted with buying: steam mop, crock pot, toaster oven. There are the outdoor toys I am obsessed with: leaf blower, assorted hose attachments. Then, there is the mother of all obsessions. My Moby Dick of household tools: the pressure washer. Just saying it gives me the tingles: it is almost onomatopoetic--the ‘sh” sounds approximati... Read More
	Home Invaders Posted by: spicegirl on 6/6/2009 1 Culture shock is inevitable when you move to a different part of the world. My husband (M) and I have lived on the west, east, midwest, and even crazy Canada since we've been together. Every place has offered us something new, and presented its own set of challenges. And, naturally, with all of those places under our belts, we could design our own utopian city--climate from here, food from there, entertainment from yet a third. And yet, in some ways, life in the deep south has been the most for... Read More