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The house I helped with three summers ago had orange 1990s brick the kind that dated the whole facade so aggressively you couldn’t look past it. The owners had been quoted just over $10,000 to have it professionally limewashed. We did it ourselves over two weekends for under $3,000. The difference was real, not just … Read more
I have watched a foundation crack develop over two seasons because someone kept putting off a $200 gutter repair. The gutters were sagging, the downspouts were clogged, and every time it rained, water was pooling right against the base of the house. The homeowner knew something was off there was tiger striping running down the … Read more
After 25 years in her home, a NerdWallet reader began noticing cracks in the plaster, doors not closing properly, and windows getting stuck, as well as problems with gutters that wouldn’t drain water properly. By 2024, an expert evaluation showed that the foundation was sinking, needing many steel piers to be placed underneath, along with … Read more
Ideas Home Accessories The most memorable room I’ve ever walked into didn’t have expensive furniture. The sofa was mid-range, the floors were standard, and the walls were a plain warm white. What it had was a shelf styled like someone had thought about it for longer than thirty seconds books alternating horizontal and vertical, a … Read more
The carpet in the first house I owned properly not rented, owned, which changes how much you care about things was a mid-tone beige that showed everything. I cleaned it the way most people do initially a supermarket foam spray on visible stains, a borrowed carpet cleaner when things got bad enough to bother. It … Read more
On one occasion, my client rang me up with three bids on the same office space: one was $40 per square foot, the second $150, and the last $300. The thing is, all three contractors toured the same building. Nobody was fibbing there. In fact, the spread in prices represented not only three separate scopes … Read more
The smallest bedroom I ever styled properly was about 9 by 10 feet barely bigger than a generous walk-in wardrobe in a Victorian terrace that had been converted into flats. The owner wanted it to feel like a sanctuary rather than a storage cupboard. What made it work wasn’t a clever trick or a single … Read more
Anyone can build a nice-looking website and call themselves a home renovation service. What separates a contractor who’ll actually finish your project on time and on budget from one. Who’ll leave you with a half-torn-out kitchen and a lawsuit isn’t obvious from a glance at their portfolio photos. I’ve watched enough renovation horror stories play … Read more
Living Hall Decoration Ideas: My own hallway was the last room I decorated. Two years after moving in. It got walked through dozens of times a day and thought about almost never which is exactly the trap most people fall into with their hall space. The thing is, the hallway is the first impression every … Read more
Dining Room Wall Decor The dining room I’m sitting in right now has one wall I’m still not happy with after four years. Not because I haven’t tried I’ve hung things on it, taken them down, repainted it once, hung different things, taken those down. The problem was never what I was putting on the … Read more
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