Aging houses are fueling a home improvement boom

Tierney McAfee is a freelance writer and Country Living and The Pioneer Woman contributor who covers entertainment, holiday & entertaining, food & drinks, design ideas, DIY, and more. Well, if you need a little extra motivation to take that first step, look no further than the best home improvement shows on TV. The friendly hosts and genius tips will inspire you to finally tackle that DIY project you’ve been daydreaming about for months. He started building a fence but put the project on hold when he found it impossible to source new fence posts. Stacked neatly in his backyard is a minivan-size pile of gray lumber, all stuff Buhr salvaged from dumpsters and a fence demolition project. The river rock she wanted in order to help set an aquatic theme was nowhere to be found this spring, so Camille had to use 53 bags of pea gravel as a substitute.

Miss the studs and you’ll be pulling out more than the bars when you put your weight on them. Stainless steel, stamped tin, wrought-iron grillwork, glass, and wood painted to match your flooring or countertops are all possibilities. “The process is simple,” says Mike McAllister, owner of Riverside Kitchen Center in Mount Vernon, Washington. “Remove the small flange that holds the existing insert, then replace the insert with your material and add wood or metal stops to keep it in place.” Spice up your cabinets and drawers by replacing factory-issue handles and pulls with designs that reflect your personal taste. These days there is cabinet hardware available for every kitchen style.

  • Cash-out refinance vs. HELOC before deciding which is better for your financial situation.
  • It’s tempting to cave to the gallery wall trend, but the more individual items you hang on walls in an already-small space, the smaller it will look.
  • With Leanne’s interior design expertise and Steve’s experience as a carpenter and licensed contractor, there’s no stopping this dream team.
  • You can either have someone spray foam it or you yourself can install batt style insulation.
  • Good levels of insulation can make room interiors more comfortable as well as dramatically reduce your energy bills – by up to as much as 90 percent.

Architectural salvage-and-reuse centers are hotspots for ideas and materials. Choose a low-flow showerhead and you’ll get virtually the same sensation of water flow while saving money on your water bill. If your showerhead flow is already low (and shouldn’t be), check to see if hard-water deposits are clogging the holes.

Shared Walls: Why Fixing Cracks Should Be at the Top of Your DIY List

“In other words, if you’re contemplating a kitchen remodel but your roof is leaking like a sieve, you need to address the roof issues first before indulging in any updates,” says Matke. These are unsecured loans issued and supported only by the borrower’s creditworthiness, rather than by any type of collateral. Our sister company Rocket Loans® offers personal loans for home improvement and many other uses. Lenders typically require you to maintain 15 – 20% equity in your home after a cash-out refinance. This can limit the amount you can access for home improvements.

Things to Know About Well Water Before Digging

Use a similar procedure if you have a hinged door that leads to the attic. Installing polyethylene to the warm side of a exterior wall is very important. This is generally referred to as installing vapour barrier because the main function is to stop the warm moist air in your home from entering the cold interior space inside of your wall cavity. To insulate a wall cavity you have pretty much two different ways to do it.

Get free, objective, performance-based recommendations for top real estate agents in your area. It’s tempting to cave to the gallery wall trend, but the more individual items you hang on walls in an already-small space, the smaller it will look. Instead, pack a powerful punch with one piece of large-scale art on a wall in your living room. Having a single dramatic piece of art of the wall will draw the eye towards it, rather than highlight the limited dimensions of the room. The median home size in the U.S. is 1,650 square feet, but homes come in all shapes, sizes, and layouts.

Take a page from the farmhouse trend and ditch cabinet doors for an open feel in your kitchen. If you go this route, your cabinets will need to be meticulously organized, but ditching doors on overhead cabinets can really open up your kitchen. Similar to cool-toned walls, a lighter-colored floor can make a room feel bigger by better reflecting natural light.