Think you can renovate better and chaper than a contractor? Do you live in the Los Angeles area? Then HGTV’s popular new renovation show Professional Grade is looking for you. The goal is for you to find high-end materials on the cheap, do most of the labor yourself, and hire and manage subcontractors — such as plumbers…
So I’m sitting here watching HBO’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm” with Larry David, one of my many guilty pleasures, and Larry is in one of his typical fixes. He’s offered to let the residents of a battered women’s shelter use his washer and dryer when theirs has gone on the fritz. Of course, if you know…
Here’s a clever ad that ran July 9, 1965 in the St. Petersburg Independent: The newspaper ad reads: “Buy an Opel Kadett. Put it in your garage and suddenly your garage never looked so cavernous. Opel’s 58 inches of width makes all sorts of room for tricycles, lawn mowers, bushel baskets and sleds. However, do…
When Kristina Johnson and David Franke remodeled their California kitchen and laundry room, they did a surprising thing: left the door off the laundry room. Of course, I had a question about that missing door: “Why?” You might have to love appliances as much as Kristina and Dave do to understand the reasoning: The high-end,…
First, what are home energy auditors? These are professionals (accredited through BPI or certified through RESNET) who go into homes and measure or assess how much energy is being used and wasted through leaks and lack of insulation and bad HVAC systems and watt-sucking appliances. The idea is to figure out ways to make that home more…
Where to put the dog bed? That is the question. In my own house, I tend toward the philosophy of: Let’s put the dog bed in the middle of the living room so my fur baby doesn’t get lonely. But not all people are going to warm up to this idea. I’ve never crated a…
Butcher block counters are so gorgeous! They evoke French country kitchens and a slower, more thoughtful time. In truth, they are not for everyone. More than one homeowner has rued the day butcher block was chosen, If the finish is not rock hard, they can get stained, gouged and encrusted with years of accumulated foodstuffs.…
Before we start generating energy onsite with solar panels and geothermal, we should cut down on any needless uses of energy in our homes. That way, we'll need fewer solar panels to give us all the energy our homes need. But we are mostly in the dark (pun intended) when it comes to energy use.…
I knew we were on our way to a Depression Era decorating mentality and now we have arrived. Thank goodness we have artists living at the poverty level to show us the way. As seen in this feature in the New York Times, an artist who makes sculpture from driftwood and his resourceful partner have…
When famed kitchen designer Susan Serra visited Copenhagen this month, she stayed in this apartment and sent back this photo. In this living room, I was struck by the deep-set windows, which add so much charm. It creates a feeling of thick walls, and provides shelves for plants, flowers and other things of beauty, and provides a…
This beautifully restored little cottage is right on the levee in the Holy Cross area of the Lower 9th Ward. The exterior colors include: • House siding: Bright yellow • Doors, window mullions and foundation: Pumpkin orange • Door jambs, door trim, window frames, fascia, and corner quoins: Periwinkle blue • Steps, cornice above windows:…
This is one of the best budget kitchen remodels I’ve seen. While you can see a dramatic change from before (bottom) and after (top), notice that the cabinets are the same, the window is in the same place, all the appliances are in the same locations and the floor and ceiling are the same. So…