Dispatch from New Orleans: The foundation saga, cont.
By Ariane Wiltse My mom arrived last week with the best of intentions. Like other relatives who have come before her, she came to help with my house in the Lower 9th Ward of [...]
June 2008
For Sale: ‘Extreme Makeover’ homes
You know those great big houses the team from the ABC series "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" builds for deserving families? Well, sometimes those big houses turn [...]
On the Fourth of July, this blog moves to my own website
Big changes, people! On the Fourth of July, this blog will move to my own website at www.kathyprice.com and I hope you will join me there to continue the conversation. I plan [...]
Dispatch from New Orleans: From the ground up
By Ariane Wiltse As the big day approached, the day when we’d jack up the house, cut out the old sills and rebuild the piers, I began to take great joy in watching my [...]
You write the caption
I found this photo over at the excellent L.A. Land blog. Where do you suppose these two guys are heading with this [...]
Laundry room/bathroom combo a great idea
In a previous post, Andrew C. wondered how to best use the extra space on the ground floor of his Crofton, Md., townhouse. He wanted both a larger laundry area and a [...]
Design challenge: A bigger laundry room or a new bathroom?
Andrew C., a reader from Crofton, Md., needs our advice on whether to add a bathroom to some extra space on his ground floor, or to enlarge his cramped laundry room. (See the [...]
Joni’s kitchen remodel: Mystery of the slipping tile solved
Patti here. Since our weekend tile project, which Joni and I wrote about in a previous post, we have gathered some valuable information. First and foremost is that thinset [...]
Famous Folks at Home: Whose Garden Room Is This?
Who does it belong to? Isn’t this a lovely garden room? The owner calls it a teahouse and may not visit for months on end because of a busy schedule. The garden was [...]
Guest Blogger: Why you should hire a licensed contractor
Our guest blogger today is Pamela Mares, an information officer with the California Contractors State License Board. Pamela is responding to a recent post titled: When a job [...]
Tank water heaters better, this green builder says
Over here at the Robinson/Price-Robinson abode, there has been a standoff concerning the new water heater we need so badly. Ours is likely 20 years old and not very [...]
Joni’s condo kitchen remodel: Setting the tile, finally
Patti here. I'm helping my friend and fellow nurse Joni spruce up her kitchen. See the whole project. Well, we got some tile up over the weekend. Whew, it was a lot of [...]
Two readers looking for contractors
The economy might be picking up. Folks are looking for contractors: Palm Desert/Coachella Valley Thanks for your words of caution regarding tips to research a contractor for [...]
Peel-and-stick solar panels
See a fast-motion video showing 2.25 kilowatts of Lumeta solar panels installed in 34 minutes. These will be featured at the Pacific Coast Builders Conference June 24 to 27 [...]
Miranda Hobbes, I knew ye not
Did I not watch "Sex and the City" reruns for the past four years? Did I not come to feel in some TV-induced mania that I knew Carrie, Miranda, Samantha and [...]
Bonus Round: How do you pronounce New Orleans?
As long as we’re keeping track of the rebuilding progress in New Orleans, I wonder: How do y’all pronounce the name of the city? As a not-very-well-traveled [...]
Dispatch from New Orleans: SoCal contractor moved there after storms
After I wrote about a green home renovation in New Orleans (see it here), I heard from contractor Tom Borland, who had made that home’s beautiful wood countertops. The [...]
My new shower curtain: Should I toss it out?
I was so excited about this new shower curtain, which was a gift for my husband. It was at about 35,000 feet, breathing airliner air, when I saw in a magazine this really [...]
Mammoth-area cabin earns silver LEED certification
A two-bedroom cabin at Tamarack Lodge, overlooking Twin Lakes in the Mammoth Mountain area, has earned silver certification from the LEED green building program. LEED stands [...]
Q&A: How to paint a brick fireplace?
Question: I have hated my brick fireplace since day one of living in my otherwise-fabulous home. I have considered removing the brick altogether and creating a brand-new one [...]
When a job goes bad, is the contractor the only one at fault?
There’s a story being reported in newspapers and TV stations around Southern California about a solider who returned from Iraq to find his house in Highland, [...]
New home-related recalls
Backyard play sets Units: About 11,000Distributor: Backyard Leisure LLC, of Pittsburg, KansasHazard: Hangers holding the chains for the gliders can break, causing a child to [...]
I’m not just enjoying my patio, I’m preventing disease
Do you ever feel you spend too much time outside enjoying yourself? I do. While the dishes and laundry and dust are building up inside, I can usually be found outside [...]
Stopping the catalogs
The worst part about ordering a home-improvement item or sample online is that you know you’re going to be receiving catalogs in the mail that you may not want, even if [...]
Pendant lights shown lighted and unlighted
Hadn’t realized what I was missing until I saw it — a website showing an art-glass pendant lamp both lighted and unlighted. Think about it: While most lamps look [...]
Alternative to a massive stove hood
Here’s an unusual design in a Los Feliz kitchen. Instead of a massive stainless-steel or stucco-looking stove hood over the gigantic range and built-in grill, these [...]
Rate This Remodel: Carrie’s ‘Sex and the City’ apartment
I guess the apartment where Carrie Bradshaw researched and wrote her columns in the “Sex and the City” television show probably did need a makeover. Several years [...]
Ask Kathy: Is there a home and garden show in Malibu?
Question: I am looking for a home and garden show in the Malibu area. Are you aware of annual shows there? -Reeve Answer: Not to my knowledge. I think Santa Monica [...]
Would this make your cat purr?
I’m not a cat person so I can’t judge this home-improvement innovation. Would your own kitty like a “cat run” like this for sunbathing, bird watching, [...]
Ceiling detail of the $20,000 kitchen remodel
I got a bunch of questions about the original ceiling and archway of the $20,000 kitchen remodel in the latest Rate This Remodel feature. So I thought I’d show the old [...]
Ask the Resident Builder: Can my neighbor prevent me from building a playhouse?
Question: I was recently building a children's playhouse and began to put the walls up. As I did, the neighbor who lives behind me came over and said that we were [...]
SoCal Garden Forum: What’s wrong with this elm tree?
Dear SoCal Gardeners: My mother-in-law gave me this Chinese elm tree (click photo to enlarge) and I planted it about five years ago. It’s never done that well. It grows [...]
Recalled: Log swings missing nail
I don’t really know why I’ve become so obsessed with recalled home-related goods. Some kind of personality disorder? A perverse interest in the wrongdoings of [...]
Joni’s condo kitchen remodel: a little snag in setting tile
Patti here. I'm helping my friend and fellow nurse Joni with the update of her condo kitchen. We were supposed to be laying the backsplash tile this week, but we hit a [...]
Famous Folks at Home: Whose Bedroom Is This?
This is a nice bedroom. Do you wonder who sleeps here? What to notice: Walnut writing table. Albert Bierstadt paintings. George Catlin print. John Rosselli bench. Schumacher [...]
Dispatch from New Orleans: The sweet sound of progress
By Ariane Wiltse Oh, what beautiful music power tools make — the steady hum of a compressor crooning like a late-night jazz singer in a smoky haunt, the staccato beat [...]
The votes are in: coolest green building products
Each year, the Pacific Coast Builders Conference (PCBC) holds a competition for the coolest building products. This year, 125 products were entered into the contest and were [...]
Dwell on Design conference June 5 to 8
If you want to stretch your design vocabulary, you might consider attending the Dwell on Design conference this week at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Put on by the San [...]
Rate This Remodel: $20,000 Northridge kitchen
First, here are the facts: • The kitchen remodel in this 1971 Northridge tract house cost $20,000 and was done in three weeks. (Click on the photos to get a larger view)• [...]