When people tell me they’re just going to use white, I know they haven’t done their homework. White is one of the most challenging colors to work with as there are literally 100s of whites offered by each paint manufacturer. Just google your favorite manufacture, i.e. “benjamin moore and white” and you’ll get overwhelmed – Benjamin Moore offers Super White,  Linen White, China White,  Ballet White, Cloud Nine … and you have got to laugh at this one, Mayonnaise. Are we talking about paint or food?

It pays to research your colors before you head off to the paint store. You can buy a good book on paint colors, do your research online or my preference is working with an interior decorator to save time and money. My lesson learned came after auditioning 4 different blues until we found the right one for our new condo. When I tried a complimentary orange and got lots (I mean lots) of interesting feedback, I knew it was time to rely on someone else picking my colors. READ MORE

Programmable thermostats are one of the most popular home energy savings investments. A programmable thermostat means that once set, your heating and/or cooling systems will work automatically based on what you’ve told them to do, i.e. raise the temperature at 7am in the morning Monday through Friday but not until 8am on the weekends.

Many people don’t know which thermostat to buy, or how to program it after it’s installed. This short video from the EPA, Program Your Programmable Thermostat, provides a nice overview to help you through some of these concerns.

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Many electronic devices continue to draw power when they’re turned off. Some of these are intentional, i.e. your television remote will only work if there’s power in the television to receive signals. Unfortunately this standby power wastes a tremendous amount of energy …  or roughly 68 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity wasted a year, generated by 37 power plants releasing over 97 billion pounds of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere.

This vampire energy represents about 5% of the energy consumed in the US and costs consumers more than $3 billion per year. Breaking this down further, vampire energy used by electronics in passive mode, i.e. the clock on your microwave, or standby mode when you schedule your VCR to record a show, account for 5 to 8% of your home’s total electricity or roughly one month’s electricity bill. READ MORE

We love our holiday traditions and that often includes decorating with lights. Christmas lights are easy to set up, beautiful inside and outside our homes and small enough to store and reuse year after year. The question is how much electricity do our holiday lights use, especially if we leave them on 24 hours per day? Even more important is how much is our electric bill after the holidays, to pay for the lights?

Fortunately we now have LED lights (read LED Lights and Why They’re Great) and almost all commercial holiday lighting like the Rockerfeller Center tree in New York City, are switching to LED holiday lights. They sturdier using plastic instead of glass, they last longer and they use a lot less energy so the cost to light this tree is significantly lower. READ MORE

Weatherstripping is a very useful tool to stop air leaks around your doors and windows. Where ever you can see, or more important, feel air moving, there’s a gap and you’re losing your warm (or cooled) air to the outdoors.Weatherstripping can be added to your doors and window sashes to reduce the loss of conditioned air saving you money and keeping your living areas more comfortable.

There are many different types of weatherstripping and you’re likely to find they have different names so the important thing is to understand the concept. Weatherstripping is flexible as it needs to expand and contract as the gaps between parts of your home move. For example, when you open a door the rubber weatherstripping expands and then when the door is closed, it contracts to fill the open space between the door and the door jambs. READ MORE

This bathroom remodel started with the customer’s ideas – chocolate brown and lots of tile, including tiled walls up to 4 feet. The next step was a palette of colors and textures, our decorator’s interpretation of giving our customer an elegant, masculine bath.

From concept to the final results, it was an amazing journey with lots of twists and turns. Some changes were made to give the small bathroom more visual space while other changes were made to reduce costs as there are always trade-offs to be made. The customer loved the results! READ MORE

Holidays involving decorating the house, baking cookies, presents and lots of entertaining. Christmas is especially exciting for children as they dream about new toys but consider the 2 year old who spends more time playing with the boxes and wrapping paper. Holidays are really about memories of good times with family and friends.

When there’s too little time and too much to do like baking and decorating, it can be hard to slow down and include the children. If you think back to your favorite memories from last year though, it likely involves something you did together with your children. That should tell you that it’s far more important to make memories with your children than almost anything else you might do over the holidays. READ MORE

Every woman likes decorating their home and the holidays are especially fun, especially so when we’re able to pull lost treasures out of hiding, things we only get to enjoy during the holidays. As people are being more frugal this year, it’s an opportunity to learn to decorate with things you already own. Okay, maybe one new decorating piece each year … but I’d suggest you buy something you can use all year round.

Where does our decorating passion come from? Many of us got started when we were children, helping our parents get the house ready for the holidays. My mother did all the baking and cooking while my father was in charge of decorating the Christmas tree. I don’t actually remember decorating the house beyond plates of colorful cookies everywhere. READ MORE

Toilets have a lot of moving parts, and these parts get used quite a bit so guess what? Toilets need more repair than most other things in your home. This makes learning how to do your own toilet repairs more practical as you’ll learn skills you’ll use multiple times. These repeat maintenance and repair chores are the best ones for homeowners to tackle as they might take forever the first time but you’ll learn and benefit when you find yourself doing the same repair a few years later. Handling minor home repairs can also save you time and money.

There are many books for plumbing do-it-yourself. If you’re planning to tacking minor home repairs, make sure to get a home repair book with lots of photos plus step-by-step instructions and diagrams to help you complete the repairs if not easily, at least successfully. As you try more small home repairs, you will get more comfortable and things will go more smoothly. Don’t be surprised or embarrassed when it doesn’t work and you still have to call a handyman. It happens all the time. READ MORE

Holiday memories are ones you remember throughout the year. Holiday memories are ones that put a smile on your face. If you’re too busy taking care of others, fulfilling commitments and never finding time for yourself, you’re not alone. Women are natural caretakers but we need to take care of ourselves too! Here are ideas to help YOU enjoy this holiday season.

What’s important during the holiday season? What memories do you have from your childhood? When you children were young? You’ll quickly remember things you did with people who were special in your life, like baking cookies with grandma. Few memories are about gifts. READ MORE