From an awesome, low-stress kitchen makeover to a DIY duo’s cross-country renovation road trip, we’ve gathered five favorites posts from this week, in case you missed them.
1. Dream it, Do it: DIY Kitchen Makeover (Without the Renovation)
Photo: cottage4c
We asked one home blogger how she made her dream kitchen a reality without spending a fortune or tearing the house down.
2. 11 Sneaky Storage Ideas
Photo: cantyshanty.com
In the never-ending battle for storage space at home, it’s imagination versus square footage.
3. Renovation Road Trip: Here we Go!
Photo: Picardy Project
Bob Vila Nation contributors Picardy Project have hit the open road to criss-cross the country, visiting fellow DIY bloggers and lending a helping hand.
4. Solar Power Systems 101
Photo: solar.calfinder.com
Harnessing the sun’s energy to power homes is a viable and increasingly cost-effective option for homeowners. We break down how it all works.
5. 12 Outstanding Kitchen Island Options
Photo: inspirationgreen.com
The best ideas in storage, stove tops, and seating are bound to serve you a little kitchen island inspiration.
For more top content from this week, consider:
13 Easy No-Carve Pumpkins
6 Simple & Easy DIY Closet Door Transformations
11 Ways to Winterize Your Home on a Budget
5 Things to Do… With Straw Bales
Straw bales aren’t just for horses and hayrides anymore! This perennial sign of fall has become decorating and gardening chic.
For about $5 you can pick up a bale of straw at your local hardware store or nursery. That means you can have a lot of fun without threshing your wallet. Once your bale has served its purpose, it can be broken up and strewn to protect your planting beds during winter.
Here are just five fabulous and festive things you can do with a bale of straw.
1. FRONT PORCH DOOR
Photo: SouthernLivingAtItsBest.blogspot.com
Talk about curb appeal, the straw bales lining this entryway lead guests into this home in such an inviting way. A sense of warmth and harvest fills the air. Who wouldn’t want to come inside?
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Bob Vila Radio: Locating Studs
Whether you’re removing a wall or just hanging bookshelves, you’ve got to know where the studs are before you start.
Photo: hgtv.com
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Listen to BOB VILA ON LOCATING STUDS, or read the text below:
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App Review: Houzz Interior Design Ideas
Houzz Interior Design Ideas
Let’s say you love Asian home design. There are plenty of places you could turn for design inspiration. But Houzz.com and its Apple iOS app Houzz Interior Design Ideas may offer you the most impressive selection of eye candy.
As of this post, the service boasted 758,561 images for you to sample in planning your home decor. You choose a style, a part of a house, or both, and the app shows you pictures that match your search.
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5 Basement Workshop Essentials
You’re probably thinking I’m about to list my all-star tool picks. Nope. My five must-haves for a basement workshop have more to do with comfort, health, and safety. If you want to enjoy spending time in your shop—and protect your investment in tools—I think these items are truly essential.
1. Dust collection
Photo: RainyDay Magazine
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6 Pumpkin Festivals Not to Miss
Celebrate fall’s arrival at one of these fun, family-friendly events.
1. THE GREAT JACK O’ LANTERN BLAZE
Where: Croton-on-Hudson, NY
When: Through November 11
The Great Jack-o-Lantern Blaze in Croton-on-Hudson, NY
Van Cortland Manor is a historic 18th-century riverside estate in the bucolic Hudson River Valley. On select evenings through November 11, visitors are welcome for the Great Jack o’ Lantern Blaze, a breathtaking display of more than 5,000 hand-carved, illuminated jack o’ lanterns. During the event, the Manor’s sloping brick paths and heritage gardens are transformed into a Halloween wonderland, complete with synchronized lighting and suitably creepy sound effects. There’s the Tunnel O’ Pumpkin Love, plus flying ghosts, slithering snakes, a giant spider web, and super-sized dinosaurs, all made of fiery carved gourds. Advance tickets required. For details, visit Historic Hudson Valley.
Historic buildings eerily lit are highlights of The Great Jack 'o Lantern Blaze.
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- Green >
- Bob Vila Radio: Deep Energy Retrofits
Bob Vila Radio: Deep Energy Retrofits
The next generations will face fuel costs so high, they’ll make the standard twentieth-century under-insulated stick-built home a dinosaur.
Photo: coldclimatehomes.com
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Listen to BOB VILA ON DEEP ENERGY RETROFITS, or read the text below:
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Renovation Road Trip: First Stop, 86′n It
For the first stop on our renovation road trip, we were asked to help install wood paneling on the wall of a closed-in porch for Nikki and Marc at 86’n It.
As always in DIY, the plans changed a bit before we arrived, then changed a bit more as we got into the weeds. In the end Nikki and Marc decided to go with the original German siding that would match the rest of the home’s exterior.
Before
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6 DIY Standing Desk Projects to Keep You Healthy While You Work
It turns out that sitting is bad for you. Like really, really awful. It’s no surprise that a sedentary lifestyle isn’t healthy, but some are now arguing that sitting down is a harmful way to structure the body for extended periods of time.
The solution is simply to stop being so lazy and move around, right? Yeah, sure—if we had hours and hours of free time and non-stop amazing weather. The real solution might this: Get out of your chair by creating one of these great DIY standing desk projects.
Photo: Mint Design Blog
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Bob Vila Radio: Unclogging Gutters
When clogged gutters overflow, they can get so heavy that they pull the gutters loose and rot your home’s trim and siding. In cold climates, they can eventually cause ice dams on the roof that force water inside the house. Even if your gutter doesn’t fill to overflowing each season, leaving decaying debris in there is an invitation to carpenter ants and mosquitos.
Photo: davisw.wordpress.com
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Listen to BOB VILA ON UNCLOGGING GUTTERS, or read the text below:
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