Let me share with you a frightening formula: corner lot + busy street + toddler who is clearly going to be an Olympic sprinter (as long as races are held on a zigzagged track) + no fence = fretful nights where sleeping is replaced by nail biting and days are […]
Hey there! Just wanted to thank you for being so understanding when all those trucks, several workmen, and a back hoe recently tore you to shreds. It must have been a shock to experience such a violent upheaval – if you were confused, just know that we were too. We […]
Our laundry room is a crying shame. It’s dingy, it’s messy, it favors function over style a thousand-fold. This didn’t used to bother me. After all, it’s just a laundry room. But now that I have an infant and am doing approximately 65,000 loads of laundry per week, I find […]
Super Storm Sandy: Check. Power back on: Check (though it has flickered several times, in fact twice while I was trying to post this, and many in our area haven’t gotten it back AT ALL yet.) Internet, Phone and TV Service finally restored: Check, check and check. Price-gouged gas in […]
THE BOOK TOUR (caps intended to create a sense of gravitas) for The Homeowner’s Guide to Greatness is well underway and I have been having a blast. Here’s what’s happened so far… First stop was The Book Loft in Columbus, Ohio. This independent bookstore is located in the historic, cobble-stoned […]
Happy De-sigh-n Month! You might be wondering: why the sigh? Well, this is because I am a conflicted person. Let me try to explain… The realm of interior design brings me a great deal of joy, But it also brings me pain. I already have far more things than I […]
Top Ten Reasons to purchase The Homeowner’s Guide to Greatness on Amazon TODAY: 1. Kirkus Reviews calls it, “An amusing response to the woes of homeownership sure to be enjoyed by anyone who’s ever taken out a mortgage.” 2. Pig Pen from the Peanuts Gang gives it two thumbs up, […]
As I have mentioned a few times during Home Improvement (HIMP) Month, my husband Rob and I knew we loved our house from the get-go (i.e. from the first time we saw the photos online), but one thing we didn’t love from the get-go was the color of the house’s […]
It is perfectly normal to want a living space with lots of light. In fact, you might even say that this is a healthy human desire. But I have learned that there is such a thing as too much light. In the following post, I will detail how I came […]
Guest post from Suzanne @ Inspire; to breathe Oh yards! Trees, grass, and flowers: so many opportunities for beauty, and so many opportunities for…disaster. I have been reading Suzanne’s blog, Inspire; to breathe for a while now and have been continually impressed by her positive attitude and her sense of […]
Two years ago today, July 3, 2010, we moved into our house. So the Fourth of July was our first full day here. That night, we sat on our front porch watching fireflies flash on the yard, and fireworks flash above the trees in the distance. I sipped some red […]
(NOTE: In order to get in the right head space for this HIMP Month installment, please read the title of this post in the voice of Axl Rose singing, “Welcome to the Jungle.”) Weird thing about our house: we don’t really have a useable backyard. It’s narrow, sloped, and adjacent […]
Guest post from Leena and Bradley @ Bye Bye Brooklyn Get out a pencil and notebook because you are about to learn a thing (or thirty) about tools from some bona fide Home Improvement experts. Leena and Bradley said bye bye to their tiny Brooklyn pad and hello to a […]
Thankfully, our house was in pretty good condition when we bought it. Though it was built over 45 years ago, it was not really a so-called “fixer upper.” And the inspector sang its praises after he did a lengthy walk-through. Strangely, however, the walls were in far from perfect shape. […]
or: When Home Improvement Makes you Hyperventilate or: Home Improvement Projects that you are Unexpectedly Forced Into or: Home Improvement Projects that have no Style Aspect and Are Therefore Not even Remotely Fun or: When the Plumber Estimate Increases by 1000% in the Course of Seven Minutes or: Fun Fact: […]
I am honored that newly-married, uber-funny, super-mama Tori, of The Ramblings, agreed to do a guest blog on her experience with DIY-ing in honor of The Home Tome’s Home Improvement (HIMP) Month…She just moved to a new house: based on what she recently tackled with her Very Bloggy Wedding, she’s […]
Lately, in honor of Home Improvement Month, I’ve been suggesting that you “hug your house,” as if this is an obvious and everyday practice. In case this has left any of you scratching your heads and wondering if I’ve inhaled too many paint fumes, let me try to explain. Well, […]
The first project Rob and I Rob tackled in our house was to paint the brick around our fireplace white. This came as no surprise to anyone who knows us or who had visited our apartment in the South Bronx, where we had white walls, white furniture, white plates and…white […]
