Bambi and Peter Cottontail may be adorable in the movies, but rabbits and deer can wreak havoc on your own garden by eating any plant which strikes their fancy. Most repellents contain ingredients repulsive to animals like blood, pepper and rotten eggs. You can think of your own by blending or using household solutions. Keep …

Whether you’ve got noisy neighbors upstairs at teenagers in their bedroom or a complex, a ceiling that is thin can permit a lot of noise to emanate down to the lower levels of the home. As a solution, you can soundproof your existing ceilings to dampen any noise pollution. You can decide among numerous different …

Poorly insulated attics enable expensive heated or cooled air to escape your house, wasting both energy and money. With the addition of insulation to your attic, you’ll not just lower your monthly utility bills, but also appreciate improved energy efficiency and increased comfort throughout the year. By lowering energy consumption, attic insulation also protects the …

While laundry may not be your favorite household chore, acquiring a well-organized and engineered laundry room may turn washday into a nice experience. Your budget and the available space restrict your remodel possibilities. Before proceeding, make a laundry room want list, to ascertain what features fit into the area and your budget. Rearranging If your …

Pop quiz: What do you call a relatively long, very low storage bit usually found at the dining room? If you said “sideboard,” “buffet,” “server,” “credenza,” “cabinet” or perhaps “console,” you are correct. The truth is, shops and furniture manufacturers utilize all sorts of names for this kind of piece nearly interchangeably. So although there …

I have never been a shoe-and-handbag girl. As a matter of fact, my standard-issue shoe is flat and comfy. Additionally, my handbag has not changed for a year or two now. I know that is a fashion no-no, but I found a cool purse (diaper bag) which was big enough for my tape measure, iPad …

Can you look around your house and think things seem too heavy? Or maybe you’ve succumbed to the McMansion bigger-is-better trend. My initial instinct in winter is to cut the excess flotsam and jetsam and actually start fresh. With the new year particularly, I love to think that it’s time to trim the fat. It …

What is it about living on the border that we find so attractive? Is it that the exhilaration of straddling the secure and the precarious? Or maybe it’s the capacity to be elevated on high, as though on a perch, from where we can examine our planet. Whatever the reason, not all steep slopes and …

It’s nice to see alternative holiday palettes on tabletops this season. Even though there’s nothing wrong with going with a traditional Christmas red and green tabletop, Brooke Pratt and Lindsay Reums out of Sucre Shop say they’re always looking for a distinctive twist in regards to their holiday installment. “I always push myself to set …

If you’re thinking about installing a fireplace, a design can be a good pick. It may be installed for much less price than a complete fireplace wall since it generally will not have a stone fascia, lights, or millwork. Designs vary from pragmatic and simple to modern designs which serve as sculpture in addition to …